Love, Where are you Hiding?

Love, where are you hiding? That is a question I ponder a lot these days. It seems to me like these days we are more inundated with more negativity and hate than positivity. I am not saying kindness and acceptance isn’t happening every day. But, I am saying that we don’t hear enough of the stories of love and hope.

As children, we would imitate what we saw. In some cases, we imitated bad gestures and were reprimanded. Is it really any different now? If all we see is hate, injustice, and negativity, will we just imitate and accept it as the new normal. Social media and the news are so fast to report the bad and the negative that it seems all the good just becomes a blur. On occasion, we get an inspiring story about how strangers come together to help each other in time of need. We are so touched by the story it makes us stop and think for a second. It provides us with hope and faith in people. It allows to see that positivity does in fact exists. Moreover, it makes us think of the possibility of a world filled with more love than hate.

Luke 10:25-28 states, “There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him. “What is written in the law? How do you read it? He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”   

Jesus illustrates the superiority of love above all things. Although, Jesus gives us just this simple task. We all realize and understand that the task at hand is quite difficult and challenging. To love your neighbor is really hard.  Just because you tell yourself you love them, doesn’t really mean you do. I can recall so many situations when I should have showed more compassion to someone in need, but instead I looked away and just went on with my day. Have you ever stopped and helped a stranger change his or her flat tire?  Did you just continue driving along rushing to your destination?  I bet some of you didn’t think anything of the situation or think of how that person could be in serious distress over a flat tire.  Still, some of us, drove away thinking “sucks for you” and continued forward without a pause. Too many times we are just so distracted surviving our day to day, we don’t have time to deal with being compassionate for others.

I like to think that we are more compassionate than it seems.  But, our environment and experiences have distracted us from our priorities. When we allow God into your lives, we can slowly retrain our minds to again focus on what is important and reprioritize God’s place in our life. By bringing God into everything you do, allows us to take baby steps into practicing love above all things.

Dear God,

Help me to be more compassionate, and understanding today and the days to come. Help me to keep my focus on my priority of loving you. I realize you may call upon me to help a fellow neighbor in need. Be with me and help me accept this important task.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Mission Probable; Not Mission Impossible

I always loved playing chess with my father. I liked the strategy and the thought process behind the game. But, I have to admit it I was never really good at it. I recall my father always trapping me in a few moves and just in a short time I would hear the words “Checkmate.” Then, we would just set up the board again and repeat the process. I played each time hoping that I would make a better move that would finally outsmart my father so I could finally win. Until his death, I had never won a game of chess against my father, but I was almost a victor on several occasions.

In today’s Gospel (Luke 10:1-9), Jesus sends out his followers on a mission.  Like the rigid movements of chess pieces, Jesus gives his followers specific instructions on what to take and how to handle themselves as they go about their mission. He urges them to “carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals, and greet no one along the way” (Luke 10:4) Jesus does this to emphasize that his mission is too important and that these missionaries need a singlemindedness focus to complete the task ahead. Theses missionaries needed to free themselves from their attachment to material possessions and greetings to people should be avoided as not to distract them from the fulfillment of their task.

Our mission every day if we to choose to accept it is to give glory to God. As followers of Jesus, we must take the time to be mindful and place God in everything we do. Jesus reminds us to keep the focus on Him. By keeping God our focal point, our tasks are easily performed so that we can get back to focusing on him. I believe that when Jesus asks us to rid of our attachment of material possessions it is a call to get rid of the distractions that take us away from his Father. The distractions of where we don’t put God first in our life. There is nothing wrong with wanting and desiring material blessings. It is wrong when we forget God in the process of obtaining those material things and in an effort to achieve our desires we do something bad or wrong. God wants us to be in our lives and when we place God first in our lives some us will just notice that what we once desired isn’t as important has that feeling of God being present in our lives. Many times I catch myself desiring something and then I pray to God and God answers me with something else and for some reason that thing I wanted so badly just dissipates. The truth is we want more of God in our lives, but some of us aren’t ready to make the winning move to actually take that step. We may feel like we are close on some days, but until we fully accept that God is all we need, we will never be say “checkmate” on our own distractions or desires.

Dear God,

Give me strength and give me courage to make you a priority in my life. All that I have and want is for your glory. Help me to be a humble servant to your will.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Keep Moving Forward

I recall being a child and constantly getting yelled at for running around everywhere. My father and mother had to be embarrassed because I would run up and down the aisles at movie theaters and at church. I was just being a kid enjoying the notion of never looking back. What happened to those days? As an adult, I notice we aren’t as adventurous or daring as we once were. Maybe its wisdom, or maybe we are just too lazy to be curious again – to look at things as if we were seeing them for the first time. As adults, we also find ourselves constantly being haunted by our pasts. Yes, we don’t want to make the mistakes of yesterday, but instead, we dwell in fear and we find ourselves paralyzed not being able to act. In some cases, it is simply just easier not to look ahead.

Life is filled with ongoing choices of sorting out priorities, which are important to us. For some us, we don’t seek to look what is ahead because we are too distracted with so many tasks in front of us. We wake up each day being a zombie going through the same schedule as the day before. Others, plan the day to the exact detail filling their itineraries to the max, and they too are distracted to see what still lies ahead – God.

Jesus calls us to follow him and to not look back. He wants us to make him a priority in our lives. He wants us to experience our life plans with Him in it. He wants to be apart or our decision making so that we can prepare for what is ahead in life- our eternal salvation. Jesus has the power to fill you with his grace so that we can be freed from our past so that we can live with him for God’s glory.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Jesus speaks about the severity and the unconditional nature of Christian discipleship. Jesus wants us to live in him at all times so as not to be distracted from our purpose of glorying God.

Every person has the choice to accept God into our lives. God calls us each differently and individually. We can choose to accept the love and grace He has provided for us or choose to continue to look backward and live in the past. God is what is forward in our lives. When we acknowledge that God is in everything we do our lives are filled with opportunity. When we place God as the most important priority in our life, things just get easier. Our daily activities become acts of glory. When we choose God first, we choose to the important work of proclaiming his kingdom. Will you accept this opportunity?

Dear God,

Help me to move forward in my life. Help me not to dwell in the past. Grant me strength and courage to make you a priority in my life. I understand that placing you first in my life allows me to offer up all my obligations and duties for your glory. Send forth your Spirit that I remain steadfast in proclaiming your everlasting kingdom.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

What Do You Hunger For?

I told myself this is the year that I would get myself into shape. So, I do what most people do. I joined a gym. I admit working out and getting healthy has really never been high on my priority list. But, I made this goal and I want to commit to it. My hopes are that my weak damaged heart will get stronger and stronger. I also hope those pants I bought will fit me better. So far, I have been making every effort to get the gym at least three times a week. I noticed that while my cardio sessions at the gym; I have developed this rather unique habit. I am not sure if it’s good or bad. I just know that I do it for some reason.

At the start of every cardio session, I get my headphones on and I place myself in front of a television that has the food network playing. That’s right. I watch cooking shows or shows about the best food to eat. I am such a sucker for great sandwiches and decadent desserts. Also, I am such fan of great bread. The thing is I love to eat and I love the feeling of great food satisfying my hunger.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the story of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. We learn about Jesus’ true compassion and hospitality for His people. Jesus also foreshadows the Last Supper as He blesses over the remaining loaves and fishes producing food for five thousand revealing God’s love and how He is committed to feeding His people.

We have that choice to accept God’s nourishment. We have to open up our hearts and minds to His great love and compassion for us. But, I know it’s hard to find God at difficult times. It’s easy to look the other way or ignore Him when you aren’t getting the results you desire.

So, what is it that you hunger for? Maybe it’s a physical, spiritual, or financial need that you desire, whatever it may be; God wants us to be part of it. He wants us to ask Him for our daily bread so that we can be satisfied in everything we do.

Now is the time to offer up our prayers and thoughts to God. Let us continue to remain steadfast in our faith in Him. Let us not get discouraged with how He answers our prayers, but understand that He provides what we need and not with what we want.   

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the many blessings that you have provided to us. Help us to remain faithful, and remind us that Your love and grace is all the nourishment we need. Let us build the habit of coming to You with for our daily bread so we may have our fill of Your love.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Take a Minute to Let God In

Have you ever noticed that when a traffic light turns yellow, suddenly drivers near the light accelerate faster? How about if there is a traffic camera or a police officer nearby? How fast are we then to react to the yellow light? I bet when we feel like we can get away with things we tend to get a little riskier with our decision making. But, as soon as we see possible consequences in the form of a camera or police car we react fast enough as not to bring any attention to ourselves. Traffic lights are there to provide order and to provide safety. Most of us, view them as obstacles in our way. When we are running late, we hate them. Yet some of us, are brain dead when we come to one. We see red. We stop. We see green. We go. We are so consumed and distracted in our own thoughts that we sometimes forget, we need to stop and take notice of what is right in front of us.

Today, we celebrate Father’s all across the country. We also celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. God reminds us that He has always been in our lives. He created us and wants to be a part of our daily lives. But, do we really take notice of His presence? For all of you that make the effort to go to Mass or Church services today, I applaud you and I hope you know that you are inspiring others with your willingness to take the time to be with God. However, after services is over, God invites us to remain in Him throughout the minutes of our lives. He doesn’t want to be with you just at Mass or at service. He wants us to invite Him in to our lives. He wants to be present in our decision making and He wants us to know we are never alone.

In Romans 5:1-5,

“Brothers and sister: Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

God has blessed with His Spirit. With that Spirit, He invites us to stop and take notice the He is with us through all the good and especially through all the bad. He wants us to lean on Him through our darkest hours and to never give up hope and to endure on. We are invited to live in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Let us keep our focus on God, and let’s start inviting Him into everything we do.

Dear Lord,

We are so thankful for your grace and love. Continue to bless us with your grace and Spirit so that all we do may glorify You. Lord, please shower your graces of love onto the many grandfathers, fathers, and fathers to be. May they continue to live in Your Spirit.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Cultivating a Positive Environment

I hate gardening. There I said it. It is just one of the chores like many others that I simply do not care for. Much respect for you garden aficionados out there in the world. Although, I am fascinated with the idea of growing things and keeping my landscapes maintained. I simply refuse to get myself to work outside; get on my hands and knees in the heat, and simply put in the work to maintaining a beautiful garden. It takes patience and dedication to make your garden as beautiful as it is. The thing is; I really crave to be a gardener. Not so much in the physical sense, but a mental gardener or landscaper of sorts.   Just like an overgrown garden filled with weeds and other parasitic plants, our minds fill up with negativity. It is these negative thoughts that must be weeded and dug out before they can grow and infest our way of thinking.

The information age is here and now. Information about everything is simply at our fingertips. However, during the course of this knowledge overshare we cannot simply disseminate all the possible bad weeds of information that clutter our mind. We can find thousands of websites of diet and detox plans. We can watch videos of people becoming healthy and fueling their awesome lifestyles. But, where is the negativity thinking detox plan or guides? If we are what we eat, then perhaps it is true that we think is what we do. The problem is that many of us, sad to say it, don’t want to be mental gardeners. Too often, we get distracted and think that not dealing with the bad will somehow make the bad just go away.

Negative thinking needs to be stopped at the root just like a weed needs to be dug out or it will come back again. When we rid of ourselves of negative thinking, we can be free to finally do better and be better. We have to take small steps in retraining our minds not to focus so much on dark emotions like anger, sadness, pain, and disappointment.  We need to stop our addiction to pain and sadness. Too many times, we easily forget the happy moments we have once shared, but when something bad happens in our life we are left scarred and we dwell in that negativity for weeks, months, and perhaps years. Just think about it now, when was the last time you laughed out loud or so hard that your cheeks started to hurt? How about the last time someone made you smile and it wasn’t forced? Now, think about the last time someone pissed you off? How about the last time you felt alone and sad? Perhaps, now you see how much easier it is to remember negative outcomes than good times.

Here at themindfulcatholic.com, we focus and train very hard to bring God into our daily lives. We make it priority to include God in everything we do. When we turn our focus on God, we finally get ourselves out of own way and realize that this life isn’t just about us. That all that we are, all that we do is really for the Glory of God. By being aware that God is fully with us at all times helps us to weed out and stop negative thinking in its tracks. In no means, are we guaranteed that life will be easy and we are to expect to be walking on rainbows and playing with unicorns all the time. It means that when things get tough, our God is looking out for us. It means that if we keep our faith and focus on Him, He will helps us weed out the bad and overcome negativity because doing God’s work can only bring about positive outcomes.  

Do we dare to cultivate a more positive thinking environment? The choice is always there for you to make.

It's Ok to Doubt

I watch TV. Maybe, I watch way too much of it. One of my regular habits is to watch the evening news. I tell myself that I am watching it to find out the weather for tomorrow and for the next five days. Instead, I am bombarded with stories of mishap, misfortune, tragedy, and chaos. As I watch, I often think about why a loving God would do such a thing? In the last week alone, the United States went through devastating tornadoes, floods sweeping homes away, and another mass shooting. I cannot begin to imagine what these individuals must be going through at a time when things just seem to fall apart. Moreover, I can understand how at these very difficult times it is easier to doubt God’s power and existence and question- Why?

As Christians, we are taught that these years on earth are to be used wisely and to be enjoyed, but it’s all in preparation for the greater life to come. I think at times we forget that our faith in God, doesn’t constitute that we are deserving of a perfect life, but instead, a perfect eternity.

Pain and suffering sucks. There is no doubt that we would rather have things work out the way we hoped for, but as we already know things are what they are. It is inevitable that a situation in our lives will not turn out the way we thought. As God’s children, we will pout and throw our tantrum like a four year old being reprimanded by a loving parent. That pain and suffering awakens us to God. God wants us to return to Him at our most difficult times.  He wants us to remember our purpose here on earth. Most often great pain is used as a tool to reinforce our purpose. We often hear the phrase “No Pain. No Gain.” Maybe, we need to apply that same mentality in order to grow our hearts stronger to God’s love. Maybe it’s ok that enduring great pain now brings about everlasting happiness later.

Each and every day God provides us with choices. He provides us with the ability to choose between what to do and what not to do. God continues to test us. He continues to push us toward things we find nearly impossible. It’s this testing and judging that we often hate the most. So, we must choose for ourselves in which direction we should take. Do we allow God to lead us? Or, do we allow ourselves to reject Him?

I believe that each of us endures our own pain and suffering that sometimes doesn’t hit the evening news telecast. Each of us will undergo tragedy, loss, and triumphant. My hope is that when things get to be so hard and difficult that we can take a step back and still see God. I hope we have the strength to get ourselves out of our own way to see that life in itself isn’t about us. That our lives and actions are all for the Glory of God.

My prayers go out to those who are suffering and going through devastation and tragedy. I hope God fills your minds and hearts to find that peace to live out today and the days to come. Let us hope that our faith remains strong in Him, who will deliver us from all this hardship.

Arrange Your Mind For Happiness

Last weekend, I was channel surfing and I came across the Charles Schwab golf challenge. I am sure you saw all the articles showing how Kevin Na, who won the tournament, decided to gift the prize of 1973 Dodge Challenger vintage car to his caddie. It was such a nice story to hear. Anyway, when Kevin Na was being interviewed, he said on day one of the tournament right before he was set to tee off that he visualized his name engraved on the trophy. I am fascinated of how people have the ability to manifest things into their own lives.  

At the crux of mindfulness, is to be fully aware of where we are and what we are doing. Taking that awareness and applying it to living more faithfully in God, I believe we have the ability to manifest God’s glory through our actions on a daily basis.

Our minds, much like our lives are filled with pieces that we are trying to piece together to form the best possible outcome. I don’t know about you, but some days just getting out of bed can be difficult. Too often, I find myself thinking about work, chores, or the long list of obligations awaiting for me. Some days, I am overwhelmed with the- to do’s of life; and all I really feel like doing is to curl back up into a ball and pull the sheets over my head and go back to sleep. But I failed to realize, that today I have the choice, today I have the opportunity, to make this new day a great day. I have the power to manifest happiness into this day.

Recognizing God in everything we do gives us purpose in daily living. Each action can now be served up to the Lord as prayer and devotion. With the right mind set, we can arrange our minds to serve God from the moment we wake up to the time we go to sleep. When we apply this mindset of God in everything we do, we can lead happier and more fulfilled lives.

I challenge you to start every day with the mindset that all my actions of today are for the Glory of God. You will see that you will no longer let negative thoughts enter in your mind. You will want to hop out of bed and get the day started. Yes, days will be hard. Things in your life will come up and you will get distracted. But, I urge you to re-arrange your mindset to be in service to God instead of waiting for God to simply answer you.  

Like everything else habits take time to form. Don’t get discouraged. Keep at it. Let God take the lead, and be ready for the wonderful and no-so wonderful things He wants us to endure.

Elevate Your Potential

I like riding the up escalator. Looking up or looking at what is to come.  However, we need to keep looking forward. We need stop ourselves from having the mindset of being satisfied with the things of the past successes. God awaits for our next adventure.

We all know someone or you have find yourself living below your potential. We were truly blessed with many gifts and talents, and so many great things happening in our lives, but we simply became too comfortable and settled with where our life has taken us. What we often forget is that God wants us to reach beyond the present to go even further.

We are called to increase life, happiness, wealth, love, and significance to the world. He has more in store for us then just our present lives and our past. We are seeds in the fields who haven’t finished growing. It is our responsibility to elevate to new levels in our abilities. We need God more during this time and we will see the vast improvements to our careers, our finances, and our relationships.

Remember we should be thankful and count our blessings. But God isn’t done with us. If I learned anything is that God is competitive with Himself. He likes to surpass and outdo His blessings to us. He wants us to be more blessed today then the day before.  Hence, we can keep pressing forward to make a bigger and better impact in the days to come. So if you are preacher, you haven’t spoken your best sermon yet. If you are a barista, you haven’t made your best cup of coffee yet. God tells us that are best days are coming.

We need to stop discouraging ourselves and talking down to ourselves. Get rid of that negative thinking.   No more thinking, Why can’t get a break? Why can’t I get that job or promotion? Why can’t I find that special woman or man? What’s wrong with me that no one wants to date me? We are God’s creation. His breath lives in us. We were made in His image. His greatness is in us. We have the capabilities to perform our destiny. We were born with the talent, the creativity, the desire, and the determination to go beyond our current potential. It is already in us. Our potential is an untapped well. We have to our part to dig in, get our hands dirty and do the work. We need to put in our very best effort to make better use of the abilities provided us with. It is our job now to be creative.

We are created by our loving God. Scripture teaches us we are special. However, just because we are special doesn’t mean we can sit and do nothing. We are special because God granted us with abilities to love each other more. Our talents and treasure is in service to others. I think you can agree we have come across that person who is really great at their job; like that doctor who you really like and has that special touch with his patients or that customer service representative who solves your problems and alleviates the stressful situation when your order is wrong or the wrongful charges on your credit card. Someone out there needs your special abilities.  Someone will need what your offer. God wants us to accomplish something.

So we are already know that we have great potential. But, are we ready to break free from our own limitations and elevate to the next level? Past failures often leave us with memories and fear. We find ourselves ignoring or walking around situations or dilemmas because of what happened before.  To elevate our potential we need to press forward and trust God more.

In high school I was overweight, and I remembered my peers telling me that I can’t do a certain thing because I was too big. I remember feeling like I couldn’t do anything right. I am too slow and unattractive. I felt beaten up physically and emotionally. Spiritually I was a mess too. I doubted God and blamed Him for everything. Then one day, I prayed that things would be better. I think when we pray God doesn’t just grant us our greatest desires but grants us opportunities to make things better. After that day, I made an effort to think more positive. I decided every day that I would thank God for something I am. I would start the day saying, I am a good listener. I am good at consoling at those with great pain. I am funny and I am reliable. I am a great friend. I trusted God and I was starting to heal from my self-esteem. I stopped listening to those peers who put me down and spent my time building the relationships with people who appreciated me. Someone will always need what you have to offer.

My point is what people think of you does not determine your potential. God has placed our potential to be great in each of us. We cannot allow negative thinking and bad attitudes to fester and grow in us like a cancerous tumor. We have to endure and press forward. God doesn’t let us dream without providing us with the necessity ability to obtain our dreams. He didn’t promise He would just give it to us, but He did provide all the tools for us to elevate ourselves to obtain our dreams and desires.

God doesn’t make mistakes. We may often find ourselves overwhelmed and find it impossible to go after our dreams. We must take a minute and remember God lives within us and He will not disappoint us. He will give us the opportunity to accomplish anything. God will not ask of you without already giving it to us. It is with great faith, you will discover gifts inside that you never knew were already there.

At times we will get rejected and knocked down. Don’t let discouragement grow in you. Don’t settle and don’t rationalize why it can’t be. Do not give up too easily on your dream. Just like God opens doors He will also close doors too. While we may not understand why He does what He does, it is important that we trust Him. It’s been life experience that if the door closes it’s because God has something better in store for me. I like to think that God is my GPS and he sees a traffic jam and I need to be rerouted. So when things feel like a dead end, trust that God will get you to where you need to be with the people who need you the most.

The Force Awakens - The Beginning of Someone Better

If you are like me and millions of other people, you probably saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Well, the movie speaks for itself and I will not bore you with my thoughts on who Rey’s father is or any other commentary. But, around that same time that the film came out, I was having my very own Awakening. I don’t know about you but 2015 was a tough year for me - dealing with my mother’s death and my own heart illness. I realized that whether life was going well or collapsing like a melting ice glacier, I wanted to be a better person. I wanted to be a better friend, brother, cousin, uncle, employee, leader, lover, and boyfriend. Most importantly, I wanted to know God better.  I had finally realized that a force was within me desiring to be more like Him. I knew it in my heart; I had been put on this earth for something more. I needed to be living at a higher level and I could no longer be complacent. I needed to be better for me, for others, and for Him.

We have been already experiencing the wondrous blessings from God. But, we should never be complacent. He calls us to be vigilant and constantly wants us to do more. God increases life through us. He challenges us every day to become better and to raise life to a new level. We simply cannot settle for anything less than are very best. We must awaken the force and push forward.

The Mindful Catholic is a resource for you. It will serve as a practical guide to help you grow better each day so that we can be at our very best. It is at our very best that we may also have the ability to serve Him best. I hope that you come with me on this journey to seek out the greatness that God has already placed within us. Now is the time to set aside differences, set aside mediocrity, and set aside negative thinking.

Like everything else, this is a process for growing and learning. Let us remember to trust God and have the faith of a mustard seed so that God’s grace will pour out on us with abundant blessings. The more our faith grows in God, the better we will become. We may just be surprised with ourselves and how abundant life will become.   

So, are you ready? The upcoming Blog posts and the Podcasts will go through the principles and practices that will help us become better each day. Understand that this is a process. We must do all we can do to improve ourselves and have unwavering faith that God will take care of the rest. This will be a life-changing process. You will be better. You will be more useful. You will be more productive. You will have better relationships. If you want to become rich or famous you will.  When you have faith in yourself and trust in God with all your heart; there is no stopping your potential. We just need to awaken the force within that God placed within us.