THE HEART OF A SEMINARIAN

A Roman Catholic Seminarian opens up his Heart and shares the Faith he Loves.

ADVENT AND NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Every year is the same thing with people and their resolutions and their failings.  When I was in high school and college, I use to workout from August to February for baseball.  In that time, I remember the large number of people in the gym after January 1^st and the much smaller number of people in the gym 3 weeks later.  In my opinion, the reason why so many people fail at their resolutions is due to the way they approach them.  To many, they face the challenges of a resolution without any preparation.  They try to change their lives cold turkey.  Whether it would be a diet, exercise, wanting to read more, or be more involved at church, one has a better chance at success when they prepare.

 

In years past, I personally have always used January 1^st as the start of my resolution and most of the time failed at them, too.  This year though, I approached my resolution using a Catholic mentality by using the season of Advent.  In the Catholic Church, the new liturgical year starts with Advent, which is a period of 4 weeks that the church prepares for the coming of the Lord at Christmas.  Before Advent started this year, I started thinking of the improvements that I wanted to make for myself, so I was ready to begin my attempts at the changes when Advent began. 

 

During the time of Advent, I did not try to make the changes instantly, but I used this time to prepare for these changes.  Many times the ideas of improvements seem good in our head, but they fall short when we attempt them in reality.  Either it was unrealistic or too large of a task, these glitches in our plans ruin our good intentions.  So in this time of preparation, you can see if the challenges are doable or not.  If not, then you now have time to make an adjustment.  This time of preparation can also be used to gradually decrease frequencies in habits, so you will be ready when the challenge begins to eliminate that habit.

 

Overall, this has been a tremendous Advent and I have great confidence in my ability to accomplish these goals due to preparing for them.  On Christmas, Advent ends and the new challenges to improve myself and to make myself a closer imitation of Christ begins.  In conclusion, if you did not use the Advent season to prepare for your resolutions, then please set aside time to help you prepare for your own improvements in your life for this new year.

 

posted by: muniz at 17:20 | link | comments |
commentary

THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY CALL TO THE PRIESTHOOD

Catholic Times column “On anniversary, seminarian remembers how God called him.” (12/18/05) continued.  Click here to read this short column.

 

This post is a continuation of my column in the Catholic Times.  This is the opportunity to express my feelings on the subject, while allowing you to do the same for a fruitful discussion.  For those who are new to this site, you may leave anonymous or signed comments by clicking on the word “comments” below. 

 

In my column, I shared my personal vocation story of how I answered God’s call to enter the seminary.  I always love hearing the vocation story of others, because they are all so different.  The same is true with me hearing stories of how they meet their spouses or how they proposed to them.  Everyone has a unique story of God impacting their lives.

 

Sadly though, many are afraid of answering that call, because there is uncertainty in what that calling might entail.  Many have developed their own idea of what happiness is in their own lives and refuse to see what God could offer.  When I pose the question to kids about become a sister or a priest, many say a firm ‘NO’.  But when I asked if they would do it if God asked them too, shockingly, they still say a resounding ‘NO’.  How is it that so many people could actually admit that they would purposely disobey God? (If this is not right in step with present mentality of cafeteria Catholics, then I don’t know what is.)

 

 I have learned in my life that God’s ways are always better than my ways and His plans are always better than my plans.  I just hope people can learn to trust their lives to God and find the joy in this dependence like I have found.  Once you do, you will be willing to follow Christ anywhere, even to death.

posted by: muniz at 23:30 | link | comments |
catholic times

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

It is funny how misunderstood the Immaculate Conception is.  Even funnier is that people who do not even go to Church every weekend try to argue with me about it.  They do not argue with me about the Mariological issues (issues about Mary), but they argue about what the “Immaculate Conception” is.  So as a service to the Church, I will give an explanation of the different aspects of this day and the real meaning of it, too.

 

What is the Immaculate Conception?

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin. (Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854): DS 2803)

 

What do most people think that it is being celebrated?

This Feast day does not celebrate the conception of Jesus.  The conception of Jesus is called “The Annunciation” which (surprise, surprise) is celebrated on March 25 (9 months before Christmas).

 

Why is the scripture for the Gospel reading on this Feast day proclaiming “the Annunciation” if the Feast day is about the conception of Mary?

The Gospel reading is Luke 1:26-38.  In this Gospel, The angel Gabriel said to Mary “Hail, full of grace!” The greeting or entitling of Mary as “full of grace” refers to Mary being born full of grace unlike the rest of us who were born in need of grace due to original sin.

 

What is Original Sin?

In the beginning, man was created in a state of holiness, destined to be fully “divinized” by God in glory (CCC 398), but man disobeyed and did not trust God.  As a result, man lost that state of holiness and harmony is broken between God and creation.  “By one man’s disobedience all were made sinners” Rom 5:12.  To conclude, humanity has an inclination to sin which was transmitted to us from Adam’s sin.

 

Due to time, this will be updated at a future time.  Any questions just or comments?

 

posted by: muniz at 23:07 | link | comments |
commentary

THE MEANING OF ADVENT

For Catholics and some Protestant communities, Advent is a period of time in preparation and anticipation for Christmas. It runs during the last 4 weeks before Christmas starting on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We have come to know this time in modern times also as a time in preparation and anticipation for Christmas. This is the all important shopping season (which I still need to start). But spiritually, this time is also very important and potentially very fruitful.

As stated before, Advent is a time in preparation and anticipation for Christmas. The problem is that we often lose track of the meaning of Christmas. We may know it is the birth of Jesus, but do we truly know what that means? This is when God came to Earth in the form of man, so He could start His grand plan to save mankind. So when Advent starts, it tells us that we have 4 weeks to prepare for the coming of the incarnate God, Jesus. Are you prepared? This is no different than hosting the family Christmas party at your house. In the month before the party, you do so much to prepare for the party. You send out invitations, scrub the house top to bottom, make up the menu, and even possibly buy new furniture. There is so much that we are willing to do to make sure the party is tremendous. Just imagine what we can do if we take that same approach towards our spiritual life. This Advent, have we sent out invitations as in evangelization towards people to share what we recieved from God? Have we scrubbed our house of sins or bad habits? Have we gotten new furniture as in improving our prayer life or adding a seasonal practice of prayer (like a Novena)? Have we set a menu of how and what we will offer people in our outreach and service to others? If we prepare ourselves like a Christmas party, then we will be ready to worthily receive Christ? Notably, do we take time to prepare ourselves in anticipation of receiving the Eucharist? These are both synonymous with each other.

posted by: muniz at 22:34 | link | comments |
commentary

1^ST YEAR ANNIVERSARY – THE HEART OF A SEMINARIAN

            I cannot believe that I have written on this blog for a whole year.  In this year, this blog has helped me grow so much and I thank you for being a part of this journey.  

 

When I first began this blog, I simply wanted to give another way for youth to talk about their faith.  This idea lasted for two days due to the fact that everything that I wanted to write about was not directed solely towards youth. As I began writing my thoughts, I aimed at a few criteria:

 

1) In everything you write, either teach something or share your life. 

2)  In everything you write, always keep it positive. 

3) Never try to bash anyone’s mistakes, but teach what is correct.

 

This blog has taught me to write and share my thoughts and have confidence in teaching and sharing my views of the world and the Church.  This has been a great year largely because I have had the chance to interact with you the readers.  9,500 hits are more than I would ever had expected since this blog started from scratch with no links from others.  I am proud of this blog and this work which has been accomplished.  I just pray that God wills it to continue.  Thank you and may God bless all of you.

 

posted by: muniz at 22:16 | link | comments (6) |

MR. CLUTCH?

Catholic Times column “When game is on the line, who’s willing to take last shot?” (11/27/05) continued.  Click here to read this short column.

 

This post is a continuation of my column in the Catholic Times.  This is the opportunity to express my feelings on the subject, while allowing you to do the same for a fruitful discussion.  For those who are new to this site, you may leave anonymous or signed comments by clicking on the word “comments” below. 

 

In my column, I wrote that as a youth all that I desired to be was like my heroes in sports, who always came through in the end for their team.  Just as I had that desire as a youth, I also carry that same desire for myself as a priest and a Christian to be able to come through for people in their time of need.  As it is true in sports, we may never know when the time will come when someone will come to us feeling like their life is in the bottom of the ninth, so we must always push and prepare ourselves to be ready for when that opportunity comes in front of us to come through for our team.

 

In the Church today, there does not seem to be a characteristic of the churches or their parishioners being active.  Yes, there are plenty of people who go to church regularly and there are people who volunteer for different committees, but there is not the sense that people are actively seeking the Lord.  Instead, people tend take the relaxed approach where they are only punished for really bad things.  God is calling us and expecting us to much more.  And whether they know it or not, the world is too.

 

When we go to the final judgment, God will not look at whether we were for him or against him, but He will look at whether you were seeking him or not.  Are you actively seeking God and trying to learn his will?  All it takes is to pray, read the Bible, join faith groups at Church, etc.

posted by: muniz at 18:18 | link | comments |
catholic times

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