Falling Plates

Christian Dating Memes

Can't get enough? There's more of them here.

 

Can't get enough? There's more of them here.

Making a Good Confession

What's Your Bedtime?

ICYC 2015

The highlight of the year for most high schoolers is the Idaho Catholic Youth Convention (ICYC). It's March 4-6 at Bishop Kelly High School. For those in Confirmation, the cost is covered in registration fees. For everyone else, it's $120. This includes hotels, four meals, an incredible experience at the event, transportation to the event, and buses during it. Get registration from Daniel starting this week. All forms are due Wednesday, January 27.

New Year's Resolution: Get a Daily Catechism/Pope/Mercy Email/Text

Our friends at Flocknote are revamping their Catechism and Gospel a day emails with not one, not two, but three new opportunities for the new year. Take advantage!

Read the Catechism in a Year: Join the largest group in human history (120k+) to ever study the catechism together! Get one email a day (MON-FRI) and cover the entire catechism in a year! We'll be using the Baltimore Catechism and including direct links to the modern Catechism for reference and further reading. We begin on Jan 4th, 2016.

Daily Works of Mercy: One short message each day...with one simple thing you can do to celebrate this Year of Mercy. Join us! We begin on Jan 4th, 2016. Sign up for a daily email or a daily text message. Brought to you by the Diocese of Steubenville, the Diocese of Syracuse and flocknote.com.

Popes in a Year: We know the current pope traces his authority all the way back to the first pope (St. Peter). But do you know much about all the popes in between? Join us on a journey from St. Peter all the way to Pope Francis. Each day (MON-FRI) we'll send you a short, little 1-minute something about one pope. By the end of the year, you'll know something about every single pope!

Comfort the Afflicted

This post is from Day 6 of the Best Advent Ever by Dynamic Catholic. Click here to read it in its original form.

Everybody is going through something.

When you walk into a room, how do you decide who you are going to talk to? Most of us immediately look for our best friends, other people we know, or those who seem the most like us. We often flock to the person who looks like they are having the most fun, who is the most attractive, or the most popular. We even tend to seek out people who could be the most advantageous to our professional life.

What if we all lived our lives like Matthew Kelly’s friend Joe? What if every time we entered a room we looked for the complete stranger or the person who seemed the most unlike us? What if we flocked to the person who seemed the saddest, most nervous, or most disengaged from the rest of the group? What if we sought out the person who seemed to be in the most pain?

Who did Jesus socialize with? The most marginalized people in society—the sick, the poor, the despised, and sinners. He interacted with the people we avoid, ignore, and mindlessly pass on the street. He spent time with them. He comforted them. He eased their pain. And he recognized each one of them as a child of God.

Continue reading...

Doing the Impossible

This is Day 4 of Best Advent Ever by Dynamic Catholic. See the post in its original form here and check out the Best Advent Ever here.

One summer when I was a kid, my parents charged me with staining our deck and fence. My dad bought the stain, the brushes, the rolls, and every other little thing I needed to accomplish my task.

I, however, was completely overwhelmed. My parents’ deck was enormous, and the fence surrounding the yard was no small task either. I had no idea where to begin.

When my dad got home from work, I told him I thought the project was too big for me and that it wasn’t possible for me to complete this goliath task. My dad merely smiled at my protest.

He took me outside and brought me down to the fence. He grabbed some tape and marked off a section of the fence. He asked me, “Son, do you think you can stain this much of the fence tomorrow?”

It was a small section of the fence. That was easy. No problem at all. But he didn’t want me to just do that small section; he had the whole fence in mind! I protested my case further. “Yeah, but look how much more there is to do!”

“Don’t worry about the rest of it. Just stain this section tomorrow. Do what you can, do what is in front of you. When I get home we will see how you did.”

Day after day, my dad taped off a section of the project and asked me if I could accomplish it. I always could. After two months of staining, I had finished the job. As far as I was concerned, I had done the impossible!

The world is a mess, there is no doubt about that. The problems are countless and the road to solving them seems endless. When I look at the issues that my family and friends face, I often wonder, “I want to help, but where do I even begin?” So many of the issues frankly seem impossible to solve!

At Dynamic Catholic, we have a number of quotes featured throughout the office. There is one quote in particular that causes me to pause every morning I walk by it on the way to my desk: “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible” (Saint Francis).

When I pass by this quote in the morning I think of my dad reminding me to start by doing what I can, accomplishing what is in front of me. Suddenly, instead of feeling overwhelmed, the process becomes simplified, and I am resolved to do what I can.

This Advent, don’t try and change the world. Don’t become so overwhelmed with the task of feeding every homeless person in America that you become paralyzed and unable give to that family in your community that really needs a meal this Christmas.

Don’t get so busy trying to comfort a world afflicted with suffering that you are unable to call that friend or loved one who could really use the sound of your voice.

Instead, ask God to give you the courage and wisdom to start with what’s necessary and what’s possible. God will see to the rest.

Squanto

What is Advent Again?