Hello readers!
It's been two weeks, but I'm back!
September went by fast. Faster than milk ('cuz it's pasteurized before you know it; get it?!).
"So when are you gonna tell us about your one month hiatus?" you may be wondering. All in due time.
But I've made some excellent progress with the Facebook game I'm making with my friend. The design is complete. I just now need to implement everything so I can get a prototype to test it out.
Regarding my Calorie count: the last 15 days of September it's been about 28,430 or 1895 Calories per day. My swearing (or no-swearing, really) I've lost track of because I've gone completely clean for ages.
And of course, monthly meals! I didn't skimp out on September. I cooked Filipino Pork Adobo. And it was easy and tasted amazing:
You can check out how I made it here: http://cookmenext.blogspot.com/
As far as my other goals, they're still being chipped at. I don't think I'll finish the entire Bible by the end of the year (slow reader). I'm trying to "get out there" more by enrolling with some of my local parish's ministry (like music). Still trying to learn new Ilokano words; still trying to improve my Tagalog. A lot of things getting done bit by bit on my list.
But the biggest "goal" that's missing in my list, if I'm honest with myself, would be to "find my call." More than anything right now, I'd like to know what the meaning of my life is: my purpose.
And to help me find my purpose I've been reading Os Guinness's book The Call and it's been a great guide for this internal longing I have.
"So Mark, what're you gonna end up being? A priest?" you may be wondering. Probably not. I have a lot of problems with Catholicism (read: the Catholic teachings) before I even consider becoming a priest. I have a lot more "Soul Searching" to do (and here I thought I was done when I moved from Canada to the USA!)
Til next update, keep hitting F5 for me!
Sometimes I feel like I'm being pulled out of the Catholic Church. Seriously. What words would you have for someone like me? How would you "re-evangelize" me?
ReplyDeleteHaving grown-up Catholic, I deepened my Catholic faith several years ago when challenged by Protestant friends to take my faith seriously. Their misrepresentations of Catholic teaching sparked a drive to study and learn my faith, praying, reading the catechism and Scripture to find answers to questions of faith that arose. At times I have spent time attempting to defend or represent the Catholic faith on an anti-Catholic forum. It is amazing the anomosity some former "Catholics" have for the Catholic faith.
However, one of the thoughts that keeps coming back to me, is concerning recognizing true faith by the fruits. Which of course can be subjective or biased. Mt 7:16-20 ""You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."
Recently, for some reason I have become more aware of when the fruit of faith seems more or less apparent; granted it is only my opinion. For example, maybe it's just where I live and work, however it seems like many at Mass just are not interested in greeting one another with a sign of peace. Also, when Catholics are asked about briefly explaining what they believe, there often seems a hesitancy to share that (and sometimes appear unable to explain), where that hesitancy is usually not there among many Protestants I meet. Then, most (not all!) Catholics I talk with, unless they are priests, seem much less comfortable with referencing and understanding Scripture, where that comfort is usually there among many Protestants I meet. Finally, reading a thread tonight about the perpetual virginity, which I myself question, I found the Protestant posters reasonable and charitable, while I could not always view many of the Catholic replies as reasonable and charitable. And other experiences particularly over the last week, and also over the last few years, have led me to wonder, how did we get into the state of often not being able to share or reflect in our actions what we profess to believe, or not be fluent in Scripture and the catechism, while we can often quote the lastest statistics of our favorite sports team and players, and what time the next game is on, and what channel?
I guess I'm just a little discouraged that we can sometimes "defend" or argue for the perpetual virginity of Mary (or against Protestant teachings) with little, if any, directly referenced support from the Early Church Fathers, which we indirectly make reference to, yet at the same time have difficulty explaining the basics of what we believe and why, often with little if any Scripture references.
I remember listening to EWTN on the way to work yesterday morning, and hearing a homily focusing on how marvelous St Francis was, and wondering why it is seldom mentioned that as a young adult, he stole from his own father? Can we not see the good in a saint, without being afraid to admit they were human with faults and temptations as we have today as Catholics?
God bless,
Jozef Sarach