Sin

The sin that I think needs most deliverance in our society is laziness. Not lazy as in a couch potato but lazy in our actions. Like the other day, I was jogging in my neighborhood and I was kind of watching this older man pull his trash in from the curb. He was fine, but he was going very slowly. In the back of my head, I thought I should probably stop and help him out, but something held me back. I think I was too lazy to step out of my comfort zone and approach this man I didn't know. Instead, I just kept running. Of course, my laziness didn't have a huge impact on either of our lives (I felt so guilty with myself that after a few more blocks, I jogged back to make sure that he got it in ok), but if I had helped him, I could have saved him some trouble. I imagine that if everyone stepped out of their lazy little comfort zone, the world would be a much better place just by having the consideration and the forethought to do something for someone else.

Kony 2012

I think it's really interesting how quickly this Kony 2012 thing came and went. I was incredibly sick the day that we learned about Kony in class, and so when I came back I felt like the only thing anyone talked about that day was Kony. I felt completely blindsided with information. Then as quickly as it had been shoved in my face, it faded away, which is kind of sad because it is an issue that I think needs at least acknowledgement and awareness.
What I think is really great about this video was how very quickly the whole world knew about it. With today's lightning fast technology, I think it's really great that people were able to use that to do something proactive for once. And this is just the beginning: people can make videos about any cause from the environment to political prisoners. I think that the more the global community is aware of things that occur globally, the easier it is to do something.
I feel like I still do not know the whole story behind Kony and what is going on in Uganda, but I do agree, that Kony needs to be stopped. Obviously it won't be easy, and if (hopefully when) Kony is caught, the job doesn't end there. Uganda's existing government is not perfect either, and the LRA will most likely keep going without Kony, or at least try to keep going. However, I think that when Kony is stopped it could serve for an inspiration, like when Bin Laden was finally captured, for a collective global community to act out for many other causes.
I know this a kind of naive view of the world, but I think someday humanity can reach a point where we can work together for the common good.

Teenage Temptation

Economic Temptation: Today teenagers could be "tempted" economically to "buy friends." It sounds cheesy, like something out of a sitcom, but I think a lot of teenagers are concerned with who their friends are (whether they admit it or not). I think the idea of being popular is a huge social issue in high school. Everyone wants to be known and well-liked. People think they can become popular by making friends with the right people. But that is not how friendship is supposed to work; that is fake and superficial.

Magical Temptation: I think teenagers today could be tempted similarly to Jesus when meeting new people. Personally, I am always nervous when I am meeting new people and it sometimes causes me to act like someone else. I do not always do it consciously, but sometimes I do try to be a little "more toned down" or whatever quality it is that I think people will not like about me. I know I am not the only teenager who is tempted to do this to impress others. Actually, I think even adults do it.

Political Temptation: In movies, a lot of times you will see the "popular kids" running for positions like school or class president, and someone in the movie will say they just run for the position because they can. Although I do not think that is always true, sometimes I do feel like people run for those positions, not because they want to better their school or change things, but because they can, because the power is there for the taking. On the other hand, I think some people run for those positions with the best intentions, but not realizing that maybe they were not cut out for the job, and so they too were tempted by the power.

Saints Alive!

Because I did my project on Pope John Paul II, I was most interested in Pope John XXIII. As the predecessor of Pope John Paul II, Pope John XXIII made it possible for Pope John Paul II's great ministry. John XXIII was only Pope for 5 years, but in those five years he started to update the Church with Vatican II. Without Vatican II, Pope John Paul II would never have been able to become to involved in the people of the Catholic Church. He also was the first Pope to leave the Vatican in over 100 years, which later allowed for Pope John Paul II to make hundreds of visits and audiences with other religions, world governments and the people. I admire Pope John XXIII; it would have been easy for him to sit back in the Vatican and do what many popes had done before him, but instead, he took it upon himself to change the Vatican and the entire Catholic Church. It probably wasn't easy to convince many church officials that things needed to change, but he did it. In many ways, Pope John XXIII made the great papacy of Pope John Paul II possible.

Mother Teresa

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger , a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat." - Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was saying that in poorer countries she found it easier to minister to the people in need than to minister to the needs of people in rich countries. Feeding and healing people physically is much simpler than feeding and healing people spiritually and emotionally.
In the movie Leap Year, there is one line the main character says, something to the effect of: I had everything I wanted, but nothing I needed. As cheesy as that may sound, I think it speaks to what Mother Teresa was saying. Nowadays, people in rich countries accomplish and achieve so much, but they still feel empty because they do not have people to share their success and happiness with. People forget that material success is not the same as happiness. And that, Mother Teresa says, is far harder to help than nursing a physically malnurished man.  How do you take a lonely man and suddenly fill his life with loved ones? You can love that person, but you cannot make other people love him or her. You cannot just hand a person happiness. That is why lonliness is the greatest poverty of rich countries.

Contemplative Prayer

I really enjoy listening to pray-as-you-go. I think it's very calming. After first block, it's nice to relax a little bit and just listen to the readings. I think it puts me in a better mood for the rest of the block. I also like that  they take a bible reading and turn it into a prayer that relates specifically to you.

First Blog

First Blog