Sacrament of Love

A friend asked me the other day if I was comfortable being single. I said that it's fine, but it does get lonely not having someone to share both the major and minor things with, someone who you could just tell how your day went, someone who would tell you how theirs went. I thought about it later that night/next day, and I started changing my mind a bit: yes, it gets lonely, but at the same time, I'm in one of the happiest points of my life right now. I have all the necessary things in place, and though a girlfriend would be nice to have, it's not necessary. What I have found necessary to my happiness lately has been God, and SHOWING HIS LOVE TO OTHERS. I have recently started to notice how sharing His love with my friends has an impact on their lives. I see them act happier. I see them go to mass more. I see them hang out more. I see them stay out of trouble. I see them love. I see them loved. It is truly my greatest joy to be a sacrament of God's love to those around me and to share it with them. It would be nice to share that love more in depth and personal with someone, but for now I'm just happy to bring a smile the faces of those I love.

I recently started talking with two of my old high school friends and catching up with where they are in their lives (these two people don't know each other, or if they do, they aren't close by any means). Talking with them, I was under the impression that the most stable times of their lives, the times they most enjoyed and stayed out of trouble, was when they were hanging out with me. One of them said that once I wasn't there to be a good model for her, she started to get into some bad situations, which led her down some bad paths. She finally started getting out of these situations and wanted to hang out with me some more. To think I could affect on someone on that kind of level without ever knowing is beyond me. I never changed a thing, I was just myself. I'm starting to learn that that's all I really need to be: MYSELF. So many people try to be things that they're not, things they're uncomfortable with, things that they believe would make them happy just because it makes their parents/friends/boyfriend/girlfriend happy. A person's happiness isn't necessarily dependent on others, or dependent on sacrifice. When I make others smile, it's not out of sacrifice, but out of doing something I enjoy (acting, dancing, joking around, breaking the ice, etc.). I encourage everyone to focus on their strengths and talents that they've been blessed with in order to bring that smile to my face, and to everyone else's face.

This past week I went to Irvine to play some basketball. I left straight after work and was an hour and a half early. I decided to call up some friends to see if they wanted to hang out and chill for an hour. One person picked up, and I ended up going over to her place with no apparent plan in mind. When I got there, I took my shoes off and just sat on the ground. She asked me how things were going and how the GL YATSE went. This somehow led me to talking about my presentation on Reconciliation and the priesthood. How crazy was it that a one on one conversation ended up being 100 times more effective than the (sub-par) presentation I gave on Saturday. I knew my material and also shared what I had learned over the weekend (which surprisingly was a LOT) with my friend. We had a great theological conversation, and I was able to make my point that the Sacrament of Reconciliation should be CELEBRATED instead of feared.

Mike asked me Saturday night if I ever considered being a Liturgist because he felt I have a passion for Liturgy. I comically cut him off and told him "no." I told him no primarily because I was starting to get burnt out on information and wanted a break before I even started thinking about theology again (I really felt bad about my presentation that day). However, he was right: I do have a passion for Liturgy and the desire to learn more about it. I like to see things done right in the Church after seeing so many people turn away because they have a negative view of the way things are practiced. It's ironic that the same thing that deters them from the Church is the same thing Vatican 2 tried to correct, but sometimes things aren't always implemented as planned. I find it funny that some of the people that leave the church for these reasons, are actually in the right mindset to begin with, and only think that they're wrong because things aren't practiced the way that makes sense to them. This is where Liturgy and the Rites come in. I believe all the Sacraments should be CELEBRATED, especially as a community (keep in mind all the sacraments are liturgies). I would like to leave something that should stick with people: the Catholic faith should be a celebration of love, not a fear of condemnation.

Much love,

Steven