Easter 2016

Happy Easter! Today is the day that we celebrate the reason for our Christianity. It was a great lent season. Somewhat exhausting, but beautiful because of what God put in front of us. Track season, Pope Pilgrimage, Spring Break, retreats, workouts for summer ready, fellowship during fish-fry Fridays, more time for family, beautiful storms followed by amazing weather, new movie releases this time of year including Christian movies, etc. What a beautiful time to grow, evangelize, be alive, and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. Lent provides challenges, but through those you can grow and get closer to God, and that’s what it is all about. I know I’ve made mistakes and struggled, but we all do, but what a great reminder and opportunity to seek our Savior. Things that I collected online:

“We don’t have to agree on anything to be kind to one another. We are all citizens of heaven on a trip abroad. Christ is your passport home. Don’t lose Him. A meaningful life is not being rich, being popular, being highly educated or being perfect…it is about being real, being humble, being strong and being able to share ourselves and touch the lives of others.”

I don't know why I’ve been thinking a lot about my mother lately…She just keeps appearing in my thoughts and dreams. I just miss her because she was the first, and only woman at this point, to ever truly love me. She showed me what love was about, so I experienced it firsthand every single day for a couple of years, and that was enough…Jesus showed us what love was about when He died on the cross and that love story continues 2,000 years later. God sent us a mother to nurture us and to intimately experience unconditional love just to get a taste of how much God loves us. Nothing compares to God’s love, and at the same time, nothing compares to a mother’s love, and a son’s love for his mother. That’s God sent. In the movie Batman vs Superman, the two superheroes battled, but what united them was the love they both had for their own mothers. A son’s love for their mother is very powerful. I believe it because I lived it. I thank God every day for giving me a mother like her. She was tough as nails, she was very versatile, the jack of all traits, and was very loving to all people. To think about the many lessons she left behind. I figured out why I love to work out and be strong, why I love challenges, why I received multiple degrees, why I’m close to God, and love others. It’s because through all my actions, it reminds me of her. I’m a small reflection of her. It’s because of her, that I love God. He constantly sends me reminders of her, He even allows her to visit me in my sleep. Just like our Blessed Mother Mary points us to her son, my mother has done a good job pointing me to God. I sit here today, forever grateful. As I open myself up to God’s will, not mine, I pray that he grants me mercy and peace because only He can give us the love that nobody else can give. That’s why I try to be joyful, be positive, and have gratitude even as a single man. When you have God in your heart, you have everything you need. May God fulfill us all with everything we need and may His love reign forever. Amen.