Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel has come!

The last few weeks, I have been spending time in my prayer and heart "preparing for the birth of the Lord". Really, it's a funny thing to think about - how does one truly prepare themselves for the birth of someone who has already been born? I've spent extra time in the writings of the Saints. I've tried my darndest to figure out the meaning of the "Coming of the Lord". See, I know that in a few short months I will be shouting from the rooftops about the Resurrection of the same Man who was just born this very morning.


I began to place myself, once again, in the lives of those who were placed on the earth before Christ was born. I want to sing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!" when I put myself there. The idea that these people had no idea where their redemption was going to come from (outside of these little hints from a crazy guy named Isaiah ;) ) is a completely foreign concept for the hearts of us who often fall into complacency! They continued to be actively seeking their Messiah, their Savior. They knew He was coming, and they didn't want to miss a second of Him. They begged God everyday for Him to be born upon the Earth and save them! There were people who remained in the temple day and night to await His coming. There was confusion, brokenness and so much fear. Wow - so it's like today! I had a small moment of great rejoicing in the coming of Emmanuel today when I returned home from my sister's.


I was very much looking forward to coming back to Denver for this Christmas season! I even drove in conditions I probably shouldn't have for about 70 of my 900 mile journey just to be with my siblings this very Christmas Eve (watch the Broncos play and have breakfast with my family). I came back to my parents' house where my car is still stuck out front in the foot of snow that the plow left for us to park in, and no one else home. It was a beautiful experience to sit alone on Christmas Eve. I walked to my sister's for a couple hours, and came home soon after to finish wrapping and prepare for midnight. I pulled open my laptop to play my new favorite Christmas songs - Brandon Heath's "Night Before Christmas" (which I blogged about before), Phil Wickham's "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", and Francesca Battistelli's "You're Here", and jumped onto Twitter out of habit. I was trying to think of my Christmas Tweet to my friends on Twitter, when I looked to see what was trending. I was certain Tim Tebow would be on that list, and, alas, I was right. To my grandest surprise, there was something trending far more than Timmy tonight (despite his terrible showing of FOUR TURNOVERS) - Midnight Mass. Screaming "O, Come, Emmanuel" in my head when I drive past the Adult Stores, when I see the destitution of Flagstaff, when I think about the culture I live in everyday I walk on campus to bring Him to the students and the students to Him, suddenly was before my face. He's here! For a brief moment, the entire world stood still about 2000 years ago when a star appeared in the sky. Angels sang shepherds from their flocks to worship the tiniest and most vulnerable of people. More people in this world believe in the existence of angels than they do in the existence of God. People, the world was less shaken by Gabriel's appearance to Mama Mary, an angel coming to the earth to visit a human being and call her Blessed, than it was the birth of GOD. When I looked to see that more people were posting about Him, not just being born upon the earth, but that they had seen and received Him, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity just a few moments before was absolutely breath-taking. In that moment, joy was born again into my soul. In that moment, in my parents' basement, all alone on Christmas Eve, I found myself at a loss for words at the entire world standing still for yet another moment. The very moment He came down to experience humanity in humility.





REJOICE! REJOICE! EMMANUEL HAS COME TO YOU, OH ISRAEL!





The vulnerability of the Christ Child has brought me to my knees once again. He's here. So today, I hold Jesus in my arms. Today I bring myself to the manger stable, and I rejoice with my entire being at Incarnation. Happy birthday, beautiful baby boy, and welcome to this wonderful world You created.





"What came about in bodily form in Mary, the fullness of the godhead shining through Christ in the Blessed Virgin, takes place in a similar way in every soul that has been made pure. The Lord does not come in bodily form, for 'we no longer know Christ according to the flesh,' but He dwells in us spiritually and the Father takes up His abode with him, the Gospel tells us. In this way the child Jesus is born in each of us."


-St. Gregory of Nyssa - "On Virginity"

Well, I'm back...

I love the world; it's so backwards. Does anybody else notice this? We are currently celebrating Christmas as a world! Shoot, we didn't even get the turkeys in the oven before many stores, Starbucks and other retail areas had put up the Christmas decor. Wait, though, I'm Catholic! We still have Advent! How many of us will be sorry that Christmas is over on December 26th? Well, the Liturgical calendar has it right - we celebrate an entire 8 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS! Gotta love the idea of the octave!

This is all coming to me after listening to what is now most likely my favorite Christmas Song. Yes, I caved into the Christmas spirit a little early, as well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCitZPr2oD0 You should totally listen to this...





The Lord offered me the awesome opportunity to dwell more deeply on the mystery of the Incarnation through the Blessed Virgin through this song. I love the beauty of the Child Christ. How humble! This song really captures the confusion of the world - each of our lives, really - before the birth of Jesus. Frightened, hurt, frustrated, confused, lost. I don't actually want to dwell on the idea of conversion in relation to this song. Actually, I was granted a beautiful meditation on the Blessed Mother, herself.





Recently, a friend of mine gave birth to her first child. Because of the phenomena known as social media, I was able to see pictures of the beautiful baby girl before I could meet her this past week (Thanks for coming to Kona, baby Lucy!). I thought a great deal on the idea of birth - giving life. Then Advent happened. Whoa. Hey, world!! Mary is only in her 8th month of pregnancy - bun's not out of the oven, yet, kids! Kneeling after receiving communion one morning in the Newman Center chapel, I had an amazing meditation of Mary. I have always marveled in the idea of pregnancy and birth; I'm a woman who naturally has the inclination toward motherood! I have always loved the devotions to the Baby Jesus, like the Infant of Prague. It's beautiful to think of such great humility our Lord, our Master, and most importantly our greatest ally and Savior takes upon Himself! I have rarely spent much time thinking on the pregnancy of Mary. Ok, that's not true...but what a blessing Elizabeth had to place her hands the first Tabernacle - the holy womb that held the salvation and greatest gift to all of mankind! Instead of jumping the gun and holding the Infant Jesus in my prayer to prepare for His Birth (so backwards...so worldly!), I began to remember that she had to give birth first! The truth of patience is now before my face in prayer everyday as Mary and I both await the birth of her child! What was going through her mind and heart? "My Lord! I am so greatly pleased, but I simply cannot wait to meet Him!!" If she could wait the 9 months to bear the Savior for the entirety of humankind, I think I can wait one month with her to prepare my heart, mind, soul, mission, and most importantly LIFE for the coming of my King.





Since it's only halfway through the first of four weeks of Advent, I think there will be more to come on this meditation!

Katie

“My whole life I’ve looked at my faith as a code by which to live and eventually if I followed this code, I would be happy and satisfied. I thought I had a strong faith foundation but that foundation crumbled when I heard John Leyendecker’s talk at Focus Conference 2011. I heard of his strong relationship with Christ and Mary his mother, and realized that I did not have that in my life. I had never thought that a relationship with Christ was what I needed. I thought obedience was enough. During Dr. Reyes’s keynote, he spoke about how God gave us free will to obey him and love him. I thought that I had known this fact before and tried to explain it to others. So much more came out of it when he added that God will follow us no matter what we do; He will never give up on us. Faith seemed to become more of a journey with the Lord and not just obedience. Then came Chris Stefanick’s talk making all of us take a step back and look at what the Lord has done for us and how much he loves us. This made Dr. Reyes’s talk even more poignant because at that point I realized that Christ loves us so much that he will follow us on our journey through life. In one weekend my faith changed from being simple obedience to God’s Word to a journey with the Lord where I can have a relationship with my Creator and where I can run to him with any need that I have.”
-Katie, Freshman

Megan

“During a short talk with a FOCUS missionary, I was caught off guard by an offer to attend a FOCUS conference in Denver after the first of the year. I have attended Catholic Conferences previously when I was a teenager and was familiar with these big talks that are so intense and give you the feeling that you are on top of the world, and you are a changed person. Then reality hits and it’s back to the same daily life of sin and suffering. I am now a junior in college and have been distant from the church for about 2 years. As I sat there with the opportunity to take on this ‘Conference’ once again, I thought about how I did not want to take this scholarship away from someone who would be on fire for God after the conference more than I would be. As I thought about it, I made a promise to God; I will not use this experience for my own self happiness but to gain something more. What I did not expect was to fall in love with Christ in a way that changed my heart forever. I opened my heart to God, and He came into it with a purpose, a purpose to love me and take me on this pilgrimage that will be life- long and lead me to the kingdom of heaven. By the Grace of God, I have been able to see the light through the FOCUS conference, and I will always thank that one person God put in my life to encourage me to take a chance - one that will never be forgotten.”
-Megan, Junior

Student Testimonies

"The Newman Center has definitely been a highlight of my first year in college. It has, first and foremost, helped increase my love and knowledge of God through the bible study and has played a key role in helping me develop a strong faith. I’m especially glad that NAU’s campus is a FOCUS campus. The missionaries were extremely helpful in getting me involved and helping me feel comfortable within the community. Not to mention the FOCUS conference was an amazing experience and helped affirm my faith. Without the help of FOCUS and the Newman Center I can’t imagine how much more of a different person I would be. Especially in college when it can be hard to find people who have the same ideals, morals, and behaviors as you do when trying to live a Catholic life. I’m very thankful for all the people I have met through the Newman Center as they help keep me strong and remind me of God’s love for us as his children."

-Alejandro, Freshman

New Post Coming Soon!

The Adventures of Arizona are coming soon! Keep your eyes open for the excitement that is my life in Flagstaff!

Virtue of Patience

During fall outreach, I was having an absolute blast. I enjoyed meeting students and trying to convince them to be involved in a FOCUS Bible study. My one sadness was that, while we were getting a crazy amount of numbers, I was having a hard time finding a student or two or three who were looking like they were going to be potential student leaders. Sure, we had sophomores who were excited and getting ready to run with the mission, but we needed those freshmen! I was excited, but getting a little discouraged. I just prayed on my way to an event on campus. I asked God, "Where the heck are the leaders?" I went to the event, and Levi, one of our future at the time student leaders (meaning he's a student leader now, but he wasn't at the time), introduced Pam and me to a group of students who wanted to get involved in something Catholic, since they were, in fact, Catholic themselves. One of the girls and I started having an intense conversation. In the middle, she started crying and said, "Before I came down here, I was sitting with my Bible open and just asking Jesus for fellowship - strong, Catholic fellowship!" She was praying around the same time I was. I thought that surely this was the girl who was meant to be a student leader.

Fast forward a couple months - she'd been going to Bible study regularly and faithfully. She was doing really well. Then, all of the sudden, she disappeared, right about the time I wanted to start investing more heavily in her. I couldn't get a hold of her, and didn't see her for three weeks! It was strange. She suddenly showed back up and acted as though everything was ok. We had a strong conversation about how she basically dropped our friendship. I was so frustrated because I thought she was the student leader we were looking for! It turns out that's not the case - she didn't even go to our National Conference.

The semester started abruptly, and this girl was on fire. She attended the Passion Conference over break, and was lit up about everything. We had an honest conversation about Living Order and being faithful. I wanted her to think hard about stepping up as a student who could lead others around her. She became crazy faithful. She started bringing others to Mass and Bible study - girls I could never reach myself. She's on fire.

If I had started having the leadership conversations with this girl first semester, we'd have a weaker student in leadership who isn't stable and faithful enough to lead others her age. She's already basically discipling other girls. She even took over my Bible study this week when I went to the Team Director Summit in Nebraska to further discern whether I am called to be a Team Director next year or not! I've been impressed. I'm grateful the train was slowed for me though; patience is a great virtue.

Pray for this girl, as we continue to have conversations about discipleship. I think she'll be in discipleship before Spring Break!