A Testimony About FOCUS

Here is a testimony by John.  He is a great leader in the Catholic Community here at the Naval Academy.  I cannot wait to see how the Lord uses him to bring souls to heaven.  He is one of the most manly and virtuous guys I know, and it has been truly an honor to walk with him in our journey to the Lord. 

During my time here at the Academy the FOCUS missionaries have changed my life in extraordinary ways.  They have helped me develop a daily routine of prayer and a stronger dedication to God.  Marcos consistently reminds me of the profound and unearned love which God has for me.  This simple lesson, which I must learn over and over, has been a perspective changer and has helped me quite a bit in my faith journey.  Marcos makes sure I am staying up to date with my Religious commitments, and this accountability is very important so that my faith does not slowly slip.  FOCUS missionaries have had a profound impact on my life and who I am.  I know that I would not be the same man I am today without the positive influence of the FOCUS missionaries here at the Academy.

P.S. Congratulations to John on getting Marine Corp!!!

Another Semester Almost Over

As the semester starts to wind down, I realize we only have three more weeks left in the semester!

I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone.  The midshipmen are counting down the days until spring break and finals.  The missionaries are counting down the opportunities we have to reach them and introduce Christ, but I can tell you that big things are happening.  We have had more people come to daily mass this week then ever before and people are coming to bible studies and learning about the person of Christ.  We also just announced two mission trips for this spring break, and there has been a lot interest and many midshipmen have started to sign up.  Greg is leading a trip to Mexico City, and I am leading a trip to Ecuador.  I cannot wait to see how the Lord touches their heart, but until then we only have this last few weeks until Christmas break.

This weekend is the last home football game of the season, and the midshipmen are fighting for a bowl game.  They have to win six football games to be eligible for a bowl game.  They should make it, but even if they did not then you can bet that they are still happy about winning the Commander and Chief's Trophy.  That is the competition between the three military academies.  This year Navy beat Air Force, and when Air Force beat Army that made sure that Navy would keep the Trophy for the year.  Maybe next year Air Force!  Navy plays Army on December 14th and they hope to make it the twelfth win in a row. 



P.S.  Keep praying for us and the Naval Academy.

Catholic Midshipmen Retreat

Batman even made time to come to the retreat!

There were so many great things that happened on the Catholic Midshipmen Club retreat this semester.  These midshipmen are challenged everyday and in so many ways.  They are required to workout, go to all of their classes and meetings, and do their homework.  They have to go to formation and are tested in so many ways, and if they have any free time they usually use it to relax or sleep.  This weekend, about forty midshipmen gave up an entire weekend to go on a retreat, learn more about their faith, and pray!  To most people that would seem like a waste of time, especially prayer, but they chose to put their faith first.

There was great adoration where midshipmen were able to sit with Christ.  We even had prayer teams where people could come and be prayed over.  During adoration there was also confession, and it was great to see so many midshipmen go to confession and ask God for the forgiveness of their sins. 

Father Bruno, a Dominican priest, gave most of the talks, and also spoke about living life for eternity.  He also spoke about judgment and Heaven and how we are never alone.  My favorite talk was when he talked about the mass, and how we are taken into heaven during every mass. 



P.S.  Happy All Saints Day!!!!




Live Life For Eternity

This past weekend was the Catholic Midshipmen Club's big Fall retreat.  We were about twenty minutes away from the Naval Academy, which to a midshipmen is glorious and probably seems about a hundred miles away, at a Y.M.C.A. campgrounds called Camp Letts.  We got there Friday evening and after we had wonderful camp food we began our talks.  One of the midshipmen, named Peter, gave a talk on living life for Heaven and not just the Naval Academy.  A lot of midshipmen will workout and study for hours, and that is a great thing and is needed, but they often forget about prayer and living life for eternity. 


Peter preparing for his talk

People all around the world are doing the same thing (with a lot less of working out of course).  I often lose sight of the big picture.  We only get a little time on Earth, but that time is what we use to decide where we want to be for eternity.  If I lived my life for myself, and I wanted to do it my way without finding out what God wants, then the Lord will give me what I want.  If I want to be away from Him or if I put Him second, then because He loves me He will give me what I want the most.  He will give me an eternity of what I want, yet nothing other than Him can fill the infinite hole in our hearts.  I would be miserable knowing that I had given up the greatest gift of all, which is to be with God forever, and I would be in Hell.  Now, if I live for the Lord, knowing without Him I have nothing that can fill my heart, but with Him I have everything; if I do my work, be kind to people, and most importantly get to know Him; If I simply follow truth and the natural law written into my heart; If I let Him in to my heart, then the God who is love and truth Himself will give me everything I have truly ever wanted.  He will give me His entire self forever.  I would choose it, and He would give me Heaven.  The Lord does not make us go anywhere.  We choose our final destination, and because He loves us He gives it to us. Let us remember to live life for eternity. 




More great news of the retreat will come soon. 

Big Retreat Countdown...1 Day To Go

It is Thursday afternoon, and the Naval Academy FOCUS team is having a retreat tomorrow for the midshipmen.  We are traveling about twenty minutes to Camp Letts.  This is the big retreat for the semester, and most of these midshipmen have been waiting all semester.  I can feel their excitement as I talk to them between classes.  I know Christ will touch their hearts if they allow him to, but many people think that means a great emotional high.  Many people think that they are holy if they get a great feeling when they pray.  That is not always the case.

I remember when I played French horn back in high school, and one year we got brand new French horns.  They were so new that I could still smell the oils that they put on it.  No joke, they smelled like chocolate.  I was so excited that I started to play it more, and all of a sudden I thought I sounded way better.  This magic French Horn had made me a better French horn player!  The truth is that I probably was better, because I was finally practicing.  I would really just play some notes and have fun, but I felt really good.  Then after a while I got bored again, and I stopped practicing.  My skill lessened, and I thought to myself "Man, I need a new French horn!" I thought it was the new French horn that made me good, but when I finally realized it was not the new French horn that made me good, then I started to practice.  I mean I really started to practice.  I played scales and arpeggios.  I started private lessons, and I got better then I had ever been.  I began to enjoy playing the French horn, and sometimes it would get hard, but I would push through, and I would get better.  Sometimes, prayer can be similar. 

I used to think that a retreat would fix my prayer problems.  I would go on the retreat and it was easy to pray.  I would eat the chocolates that they would pass out, and I would get a sugar rush.  I would start praying, and I would think "Man, I am holy!  God Loves me so much!" I felt good, and I would leave the retreat on a spiritual high. I would go home and pray for a while, but after a time I would not feel so great about prayer.  I would think to myself "Man, I need another retreat!" I thought the retreat would make me holy, and I thought holiness or having good prayer meant that it always felt good, but the reality is that prayer does not always feel good.  In fact, that time when prayer does not "feel" well is usually when we are growing the most.  When you push through and pray and strive for God, then that is the time when you grow closest to Him.  When I learned this I started to truly pray, and I sometimes I still feel that prayer is tough, and that I am not getting anything out of it, but I push through and stay obedient.  Those times of difficult prayer always pass, and I need that union with Christ.  He calls all of us to Him, because He loves us and we are made for Him, so if you are having trouble in prayer just keep striving for Him and you will find joy and union with God. 


P.S. Please pray for all of the midshipmen at the retreat. 

Government Shutdown!!! WHAT?!

Before the shutdown happened, I told the midshipmen that if the government shutdown then the missionaries would still be there.  “We don’t work for the government.  We work for the Lord!” I reminded them.  Now that the shutdown has taken effect we are still here on the yard trying to spread the gospel. 

With half of the staff at the Naval Academy being civilians, the first thing I noticed on October 1^st was more parking.  Other than that, from the outside, everything seemed to be the same.  There were still guards at the gates.  The midshipmen still walked to class (which always reminds me of ants marching around), and the midshipmen still did their noon formation.  However, if you asked a midshipmen about the changes they could tell you a lot.  For instance, since about half of their professors are civilians many of their classes are practically put on hold.  Midshipmen have to go to class and sit there even if they don’t have a professor.  They are expected to read their books or work on new homework that the professors may have left, but they cannot ask their professors questions.  By law, a professor cannot show up to work or even read emails.  If the midshipmen is lucky (Or unlucky however you look at) they may be assigned a temporary military professor and be placed with two or three other classes.   For a while, they did not even know if the big Navy Air Force game was going to happen, but that was worked out and Navy had a great victory!  Hopefully, everything will continue to slowly go back to normal, but until then let us continue to pray for our country and politicians. 



P.S.  As of October 7th, civilian professors are back to work! 

 

What is Love?

Every time I ask people "What is love?" it never fails that someone starts to sing the song What Is Love by Haddaway.  I am sure you have heard it, and to be honest every time I ask people about love I think about the song too.  For the next hour the song is stuck in my head as I sing the opening over and over, and contemplate one of life's mysteries (I mean love...not the song by Haddaway.).  Have you ever thought about what love is?  I don't just mean romantic love, but also friendship love and love for family members.  The Greeks had different words for these different types of love, so that it would be easier to distinguish them, but I want to talk about what makes them the same.  



Romance

Every person desires to love and to be loved, and most of us believe that we cannot be happy without it.  We will search all of our lives for real love, yet how many people actually know what love is?  If you were to ask around you would hear so many answers.  Some people say love is a great emotion.  Some people say love is lust.  Some people say it is an instinct, and some people do not even believe in love.  One of my favorite answers I received was "Love is when momma gives daddy the last chicken nugget." I love that answer, because I think it is closest to the truth. 

I propose to you that love is not a great emotion; although emotions can be important.  Love is not lust, which is a perversion of attraction; although attraction can be important.  Love is not an instinct; although we always have the desire to love.   I propose to you that love is a free decision to give oneself for the better of the other. 



Friendship

I know some of you are thinking that I am crazy.  I bet you grew up thinking love was an emotion like I thought.  Now I am not here to say that you do not have emotions or that they are not important; In fact I think they are extremely important.  I think they make it easier to choose to love, but I do not think they are love.  Ask yourself how many times do your emotions change every day?  If you are like me then probably a lot. I am sure you do not always feel good towards the ones you love.  I bet there are days when they press your buttons, but you still choose to love them.  The emotions just make it easier to love.  The best example that I can think of is Jesus Christ as he carries his own cross to his own crucifixion.  Do you think he felt jolly about it?  No way!  He felt awful, but he chose to love.  He chose to give his life for our good.  He freely chose to die for our sins, so that if we chose to love then we could be with him forever in heaven.  Now, imagine the emotion he has when we accept that invitation.  Imagine the joy he feels when we repent.  Emotions are important, but love is the decision to give yourself for the better of the other. 



Family

Love is not lust or attraction.  Lust is the opposite of love.  Lust is use.  When a person lusts after another person then he or she is using the other person for his or her own gratification.  Attraction is different from lust.  Attraction is a good thing.  Attraction is God given.  There can be a lot of sexual attraction in romantic love, but usually not in the other types of friendships.  The difference between attraction and lust can seem small, but the consequences can be great.  Imagine that I make a huge cake that looks like a 3-D sculpture of St. Peter's Basilica, and you walk into the kitchen and you see my creation, and you see it for what it is, and you see it's beauty.  You have respect for the artwork and the hard work it took to make.  Now imagine some other people come into the kitchen and see the St. Peter's Basilica cake and all they want to do is eat it, and they grab handfuls until they are satisfied.  They don't realize the detail or beauty of the decorations.  They miss the entire artwork and it's majesty.  Lust does the same thing.  When someone lusts after another he or she misses the entire person.  Attraction recognizes the beauty of the other person and brings people closer, but attraction is still not love; although attraction can be important, and it can help us to love. 

Love is not an instinct either.  Love has to be free.  It cannot be forced.  We have instincts like the animals, but we also have free will.  We can go beyond our instincts, and that freedom gives us the ability to love.  Now, to those people who do not believe in love I am sorry you think that way.  Maybe this type of love is something you can believe in.  Call me a romantic, but I believe in love, and I believe it can last forever too.  If love is a decision then you can choose to love at anytime.  If you continue to decide to love then that love can last forever.  It is really up to us to love.  No other creature on earth can do it, and that does make us special.  It is a major part of what makes us in the image of God, and when we love like Him that will satisfy our hearts.




P.S. Six weeks exams are coming up for the midshipmen.  You can choose to love them by praying for them.