ThirstyFountains

  What is life? .   A simple Google search defines it as, “the existence of an individual being” and then defines existence as, “continued survival.”   .   What does it mean, then, to thrive ?   .   Does merely existing satisfy you? Going through the motions, doing the same thing over and over again ? Or do you find that persistent emptiness closing in?   .   Sometimes, people think that this subtle, yet chronic presence only emerges at the end of the day , when you're alone, or in the quiet darkness .   .   And yet, I can tell you now that this is not always the case. I have felt this dissatisfaction in the morning, around people, and on the brightest of days.   .   Then what is the plan? How do we fix this? How do we let ourselves thrive, and not just exist? How do we convince ourselves that it is okay to not know everything, to take a risk, learn to love, be daring, mischievous, gentle, vulnerable, open our hearts...

Fire is the most powerful when it spreads. Think about it.      One match can light up a forest. One match can light a candle, and that candle another...and another...and another. One match can light up a room. One flame can spread and heat an entire house.  Fire is needed for trains, plane engines, and rockets. Fire is necessary.      Even more so, fire is essential in the Church. We need to spread the fire of the Holy Spirit to everyone and everywhere. We, as members of the Body of Christ, are called to evangelize. We are fundamentally wrong if we think that evangelization is supposed to be left to priests and religious (or even super -Catholics). It's our job to show Christ through actions and when necessary to use words. Our mission is to show Jesus to others. We aren't called to first preach facts about Him, but to share His love. When we want someone to like a certain food, we ask them to taste it. That way, they can experien...

We are going to die. (Great way to open the post, right?). Death is a reality we have to accept. There is such a poverty in death, a vulnerability. We don't know when we will die. Death can come suddenly, when you least expect it. It can approach slowly without remorse as it does with sickness and cancer. But it comes. The question is: will you be prepared? How many of us can say, "I regret nothing. If I died today, everyone I have ever loved would know it." ? However, until we die... let us live. Victoria Erickson tells us to "feel our lives while we are in it." (tbh when I started writing this post I had something completely different in mind but stay with me haha). Back to the poverty note above... The night of the Last Supper, Jesus reached His hand out to wash Peter's feet. But Peter pulled away. He couldn't let the Messiah, the King of the entire world, touch his feet. To most of us, our feet are the unpresentable, dirty, almost ugly part of oursel...

Matthew 21: 12-13 says, "Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those engaged in selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And he said to them, "It is written: 'My house shall be a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves." "  John 2:14 says Jesus "m ade a whip out of cords."  Woah. Imagine a Nazorean carpenter, filled with righteous anger, flipping tables and  whipping things .   Not exactly someone you want to mess with. The thing is, I believe we tend to see Christ as some soft-spoken, gentle handed, and meek man. And while He possesses them, He is not made up of only these traits. Reading the Gospel of Matthew and John, we can see that He is passionate and wild . He does not walk into the Temple and pay no mind to the evil going on. He steps in. He does something. He fights for what He believes in.  Recently, Fr. Mike Schmitz deli...