Dec
31
The Best of 2006
Filed Under Housekeeping | Leave a Comment
With Midnight just hours away, it’s time to look back at Soldier-4-Christ’s first year on the web. For me, it’s been a great and wonderful experience. It has taught me many lessons and has also made me confront my faith with a greater enthusiasm and courage. I only hope that it has done the same for you.
To ring in the New Year, I’ve arranged a special treat. Starting January 1st, the feast of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, you’ll be able to post comments after each post. Now, you’ll be able to tell the world what you think about Soldier 4 Christ and ask any questions you may have had, but weren’t able to ask before!
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Dec
26
The Good News of Christmas
Filed Under Church Seasons, Scripture | Leave a Comment
Merry Christmas, Everyone! My attempt to post something today has all but failed, so I leave you with words much better than my own…
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
Dec
21
Crunch Time!
Filed Under Church Seasons, Reflection | Leave a Comment
It’s a phenomenon we’re all familiar with.
The Calendar says it’s December 21st, and a chill goes up your spine. There’s only four days left until Christmas and there’s a list of chores to get through. The house needs to get decorated, the cookies need to get baked, the house needs to be cleaned, the presents need to be bought, the presents need to be wrapped, the presents need to be labeled, and the presents need to find a home. And did I mention the cookies?
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Dec
17
Gaudate! Seventeen Years
Filed Under Church Seasons, Family Life, Reflection | Leave a Comment
Yesterday was my 17th birthday. I spent six hours of it at work and seven more working on a research paper. And yet, despite all the day’s agrivations and inconveniences, I experienced an amazing peace in my soul. As I persevered in my work, I could not help but meditate on the many blessings God has given me in just seventeen years.
He has given me a wonderful family, three younger siblings, and two very devoted parents. Through them he has enlightened me with the gift of faith. He has saved me through Baptism, healed me through Reconciliation, and fed me through Holy Communion. He has poured forth his special graces through Confirmation, and taught my soul to be brave.
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Dec
15
A Prayer for Tonight
Filed Under Family Life, Prayer | Leave a Comment
Father,
Another night I find myself almost too busy to pull away and come to you here. That just goes to show you how messed up my priorities are, Lord. Help me to straighten them out. Father, again, let me tell you how much I love you, and how much more I need to love you. I need only to think of the great patience you have for me in times like these when I can so easily forget about you, and busy my mind with much more trivial matters. If I but had that love, if I wasn’t so worried about getting some assistance through the mere 5 minutes of prayer I devote to you when I have a favor to ask!
I think about that, Father. Prayer isn’t so much about getting anything. It’s really about giving you do worship and asking for the grace to adore you in all of my routine and perhaps mundane daily activities. And what patience that will take, Father! What effort that will take to achieve! But in your goodness, Lord, you have provided me with all that I need in order to begin, and to continue perfecting such a prayer all the days of my life.
And so, Father, I offer up to you this crazy schedule, this hectic lifestyle. May it somehow work to give you glory. I lift it up as a living sacrifice, a prayer burning with the emotions of my daily interactions, conversations, efforts, and frustrations. I ask only that you help me overcome my sinful habits in return, so that one day, I can live entirely for you, a day on which this living prayer can be made perfect.
Amen.
Dec
11
From Kindergarten
Filed Under Blessed Mother, Middle School, Prayer | Leave a Comment
When I was President of the Student Council in the eighth grade, we went from grade to grade putting together Marian prayers/poems/art to which each person from the class contributed. I requested kindergarten, and from their simple thoughts, I compiled this inspiring prayer:
Hail Mary full of Grace!
You love us and we love you. You are our Mother and you are always there for us. You always want to be nice to us and help us, just like you took care of Jesus. We want to show you what we have and give you a present, some flowers from us. Help us know how you could be Jesus’ mother, why you said, “Yes” to the Angel, and why you love us so much.
Ave Maria!
Dec
9
He Ain’t Heavy, Father…
Filed Under Family Life, Reflection | Leave a Comment
…He’s my Brother.
Today, I had the great privilege to serve Mass for the first time with my eight-year old brother Joseph. He did a great job. As he came into the Sacristy to vest up, I couldn’t but help stifle a chuckle. He was beaming. As he explained to me what we were doing, I helped him with his surplace which he had thrown on in a hasty fashion. Father came in from his few moments of meditation on the altar and greeted us with a few jokes. It didn’t take long for him to make that smile grow even broader. Grabbing the processional cross, I told Joseph that we’d go back to the vestibule. Just like that, he shot out of the Sacristy and raced down the aisle, heading for the back of the church. I nearly had to run to keep up. It was in the vestibule that he finally began to get nervous. He turned to me about two minutes prior to Mass and told me he “really didn’t feel good.”
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Dec
8
Each year on December 8th, the Church celebrates the feast of The Immaculate Conception. The Church has deemed it a holy day of obligation, requiring that we attend Mass.
Dec
5
An Appreciation
Filed Under Catholicism, Middle School | Leave a Comment
This is an essay I wrote in eighth grade about Catholic Schools. It’s kind of funny to read now, but it is all the same very true. The irony of it is that I eventually ended up in a public school.
Every school, be it big or small, educates young minds to prepare them for the world ahead. Whichever school you end up in, you can be sure that you will find a math class, a literature class, an English class, a science class, and so on. Each school has its difference; what sets it apart from others. Unfortunately, public schools have overlooked a very important subject matter that lies untaught in so many peoples’ lives: their faith.
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Dec
4
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Filed Under Church Seasons, Guest Writer, Prayer | Leave a Comment
Not only a great advent song, but a great meditation:
O COME, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that morns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! O Israel,
to thee shall come Emmanuel!
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