Sacrificing to help others is part of what our faith teaches us to do, just as Jesus, in His perfect love, made the ultimate sacrifice for us. But what do we do when someone takes it too far and they begin to take advantage of our kindness and generosity? How can we recognize the difference between when our friends are taking advantage of our sacrificial nature or “walking all over us?”
We are all sons and daughters of God and as Catholic Christians we are all called to help one another. We are called to care for the poor. It’s important when caring for the poor to understand what it REALLY means to be poor. When we do this, when we enter into relationship with them, we enter into relationship with Jesus. This experience helps us to grow deeper in our faith and come to know Jesus in a deeper way.
Stress, worry and anxiety are all part of our teenage years. Many of us have friends and family members who can give us advice and support when needed. What we also must remember is that God is always there for us to lighten the load and take all of our cares and worries, wven when others cannot. God is always available 24/7. Jesus is all we need to be truly happy.
– As Catholics we are called to surrender ourselves to God. But what does this surrender look like? What does it mean to surrender to God? Spotlight guest and music missionary Danielle Rose shares the inspiration she receives from Jesus’ surrender on the cross and the complete gift of himself in the Eucharist. She shares her own story of surrendering to God and how that surrender has led her to discovering her truest self.
Parishes are the home of the Christian community; they are the heart of our Church, a place where God’s people meet Jesus. As baptized members of the church we are personally called to be part of the family of God. As we get older our role in the church changes and we take on more responsibility. So what can we, the young people in the church, offer our parishes?
Some of us may feel content with our lives just the way they are. But improvement to ourselves and our relationship with God should be an ongoing endeavor, and it does not occur without a little motivation, contemplation and action on our part. We may think we have a pretty good relationship with God…but we can always discover and experience God and Jesus in new ways. These experiences can bring us even closer to God. We can always work on doing a better “job” at living a life as a Christian.
A friend’s mom has cancer… your cousin didn’t make the track team … a man on the side of the road asks for money because he is homeless … These are all examples of situations where we could respond with compassion. Compassion actually means “co-suffering” or suffering with another. When we are compassionate towards others, we wish to alleviate their suffering. Compassion is connected to empathy. To show empathy means you enter into the experience of the suffering person. How do we do this? How do we show empathy and compassion to others? What would Jesus do?
Whether we realize it or not, we all have role models. These are the people we look to for advice and counsel. People who we model our behavior after, or people who inspire us to achieve more in our life. As Catholic Christians we can have lots of role models, but our ultimate role model is Jesus Christ. Jesus set the perfect example of love and forgiveness. By imitating Jesus, our ultimate role model, we become more Christ-like and grow closer to God. We can follow His plan for our life and our salvation.
