A new kind of monster?

Ok, before we get into the meat of the conversation lets get one thing strait. In this post I will be using the words Geek and Nerd. All around the world these words have different meanings and definitions, so for the sake of this post I will be using the definitions used in this Wikihow site: http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-the-Difference-Between-Nerds-and-Geeks.

Now that's out of the way let us get to the actual post.

It seems lately, the more I research the priesthood and get to know more priests, it seems they all hold a certain level of Nerdyness and Geekdom. How is this possible!? I believe that I have found a new type of beast lurking in the world. And it is called the priest!

The priest holds so many years of seminarian knowledge and such great intellect that they definitely can classify as a Nerd.

Yet, also many priests I have come to know through different modes have all shone that they are Geeks also. They have an intimate knowledge of star trek and various science fiction items.

It is amazing!

Finally! A place where I can fit it. It is so beautiful. For so many years I have trekked the path bordering Geek and Nerd. Now I have come to find my home, in both senses. My home with God and myself.

The church doesn't have PMS

YAY! Finally Sunday has come! With it comes the ultimate and coolest celebration in this life, MASS!!!!!!! Though I have been having some major troubles with my health (No worries, nothing contagious) I still forced myself to go. Oh how I wish I could go to mass everyday!

Afterwords, my parish had the last day of the festive follies. There was food, and people everywhere! That's the most life I've seen on the church grounds for a long time. While I was sitting enjoying my fine German cuisine, Father Erik came by to make a bit of conversation. Some how the topic of me discerning the priesthood or marriage came up. Tara had mentioned that there is a certain girl out there, that is ready to fight tooth and nail for me to marry her.

Quirky Fr. Erik came out quickly with the fact that the church doesn't have PMS, you don't have to waste your spare money on jewelry and clothes, and your spare change can go to some fine "man lace" (The Father had a wonderful lacy alb today, nothing dirty geez)

I believe that these gems of great value will stick with me for some time. Shoot I may even make it a t-shirt as a great reminder.



Oh well, it is God's will not mine. I am completely in His service, and it is up to Him. Only He knows what's best for His flock.

Please pray for me so that one day I will come to know what God has for me.

Just found this.... Gave me goosebumps

BLISTERS!!!!!!!!

Ok, well for those who don't know what has been going on in my life recently here is a very quick recap: In August started talking to this girl I knew from kindergarten. One thing led to another and by September we were in a close relationship.

Fast forward to Halloween.
Lets just say something happened between us and now I wont see her for a LONG while. Which I think came to pass by the grace of God; because if something didn't change, both this girl and I would be in a world of trouble. If you haven't noticed on my facebook I have been a bit under the weather mentally to say the least. Because honestly the "break up" of sorts has left me a bit in the dark and distraught.

Yet, thanks to the prayers and support of some very close friends and family I came back to my devotion to Mary. Since that dark night, I hadn't been sleeping well, my life seemed to be in a tail spin. But one night as I lay in bed I looked up and there was my first real rosary next to my head. Picking it up I felt a rush of peace and love fill my heart and mind. It seemed as if Mary the Blessed Virgin herself had wrapped her loving arms around me. I am not ashamed to say I did cry a bit, but then I fell finally asleep in that loving embrace.

Since that night I have had a very strong love and passion for the rosary. I believe that I have mentioned before that I make all twine knotted rosaries, so I picked up that hobby very quickly again. The constant movements of my hands and reflection on the Holy Mother keeps my mind far away from the sadness and pain that fills up when I'm alone and not busy.

Right now I can already tell a few people would scoff at how broken up I am about all of that relationship stuff. I do have to admit that it was only about two months that we spent together, but for some reason she cut me deep. It was WAY too easy to love her, and in a round about way it seemed that she was pulling me away from God. So I praise God for what has happened and that I am alone now and can reflect on Him without... distraction. All of this has shown me where my priorities should be. (on him and serving his flock)

Thus I have some very painful blisters from my fanatical rosary making. (which by the way if you want one, let me know.)
Thanks be to God. AVE MARIA!

Finally! Once again under the spell of the compy

Well finally after TOO long our family has bought a new computer! Right now I kind of have mixed emotions. I am glad I can finally use the Internet at will. And most importantly I have found that the constant smell of white out and the clacking of the old type writer has gotten on the annoying side.

Yet, I hate the worldliness that it brings into the home. Sigh

Well right now after past events with my well almost girlfriend and the now rule of not being able to see or talk to her for two months, my mind is a little on the.... distraught. So hopefully I will be able to regularly update, because there has been a lot on my mind.

Oh and I want to say a huge shout out to Tara and her entire family. The baptism was beautiful. I don't think there was a time I wasn't either crying or on the verge all today at church.

Oh how GOOD it feels to be that close to God. I LOVE the Catholic church!

The burning of insense.

Well another day of bliss with a day off. I spent the majority of it with my mother shopping and spending time with a long lost friend. I was wondering walmart when I came upon the scent lisle. My nostrils were filled with a wave of sweet, bitter, and everything in between. I soon happened to the incense. My memory rushed right back to the good old days when my father burned incense all the time.

It was really cheap, and I enjoyed the smells so I decided to buy some. Looking through all the different smells named after seemingly random objects, I found one named "religion". My mind went strait to the beautiful incense used at mass.

I got it home and lit it right up. Soon my room was filled with the scent of Jasmine. Thinking of the name I decided to pray on the knotted rosary I just received from Rosary Army. Which are beautiful by the way.
With the incense floating through the air, my quiet whispers to Mary, and my mind floating through the decades; I soon realized the importance of the rosary to me and my faith.

As you should know I am a recent convert from the LDS church and I still have some thoughts of how happy I was back in the day. (Which wasn't the actual religion, it was just the friends I miss) And so I have some thoughts now and then to go back, and I actually think of how much better I would feel, because I wouldn't be completely isolated from all the friends I have lost since my conversion.

But when these thoughts of disparity and loneliness fill my heart I reach for a rosary near at hand, and almost immediately feel at peace and I am filled with love. I know that it is the love that the blessed ever virgin gives me. I know she is showing me the way to God happiness.

Surely without the power and love of God in the rosary I would have lost hope and strength and would have succumbed to the wiles of the devil. I know that when life becomes unbearable I have the refuge of the rosary to hold me strong. It is my earthly reminder of God's, Mary's, and all the angels and saints of heaven are behind me' silently guiding and helping me to be the better person I can be.

So out of my love I challenge you to join me in praising God through the rosary.

May God bless you all.

The winding path

As many of you have seen, I have gone on a deep tyrannic campaign against the Mormon religion. I have been pondering on the things I have posted, thought, and said; and really I have come to a realization.

Why am I singling out the Mormons? They haven't done any wrong unto me. If anything they have done nothing but shown me love and caring.

Why am I picking on their beliefs? Every faith and religion has it's flaws, everyone has a dark past. Heck even the Catholic church has had a lot of questionable things under it's belt.

Thinking of these things a great wave of sadness engulfed my heart and soul. I soon realized that through my pride I let the devil in my heart. Through my hatred I had strayed away from Christ. Which for me is one of the worst things I can do.

Like I said before, every religion has it's problems. We are all humans, so innately all of our faiths will have impurities. Yet there is one thing that we all have deep within that unites every soul; love. Love is the perfect religion. It gives to all, it cares for all, and its the bond that keeps us together as humans.

No matter what faith you are, what theological differences, or how we utter the name of God we are all brought together in love. Because in the end we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

We all may travel different paths but we all walk to the same goal. So I cry out to everyone and anyone who reads this, bring love into your heart. Let it radiate through your soul and eventually your life. Show your love to anyone you come to. No matter what they believe. I don't mean to produce hippy propaganda, but they may have something right about love.

So in a close I apologize for my actions and words. For they are un-Christlike and they do not show the love everyone deserves.

After all we still have the perfect love of God.

Oh the faint in heart. (Mormon Missionaries)

Well I was bored as usual and was surfing through the interweb and stumbled upon a video of a young man that used the mormon web site chat with a missionary.



This got my interest up and I decided to pit my knowledge I have gained since my leaving of the Mormon church against one of them.

So I entered in as my pen "Tate"
I asked a simple question about the scriptures they preach about and well it ended up pretty badly...

He quoted 2 timothy 4: 1-6 after I asked about how Jesus set up his church on Peter and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I quickly looked it up and read a little bit more into the context of what that scripture meant and I sited it to him and the real meaning behind the scripture.



It has been about 30-45 minutes and there is no reply from him. It's rather sad that these boys in white are the voice of the church; and if they are faced with a hard question they fall away and just forget about me. What if I was really trying to learn about their church and be a real possible convert?

Shame on the missionaries. I was hoping for some kind of challenge, but I must remember that I have the true word of God behind me.


Great I can feel my ego going up already :(

Jesus vs Jesus

On a comment I had about the video I posted about the Mormons about the different Mormon Jesus sparked up a fire in the belly for me.

It is rather interesting to reflect back on my experiences with Jesus. Back when I was a devout Mormon I believed in "Jesus" but never had gotten a connection. It was as if I believed in a ghost, that wasn't there. I did know God though.

No, not in the God they believe in, but the one true God. Back in the day when I was very active in the church I had no idea about their belief in how God was a man who died on another planet and was raised into "glory" of Godhood. Lets just say, if the missionaries taught me that when they were trying to get me to convert I would have definitely declined them and their constant urging towards baptism.

The God I knew was an all knowing being, the creator, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I believed on him; not some man that became god. I prayed to him for his mercy and his love, even though my prayers followed the constant repetition of Mormon prayer I still prayed with all of my heart. This I believe was the key to me being where I am now.

God, in which I prayed, heard me and my broken, lost soul. He had love for me and wished me to come into his grace. Not the false grace the LDS church brainwashes into it's members.

Through prayer and constant to devotion to God, even through the times in which doubt and hatred started to fill my heart for Jesus and the Mormon church, I was found by the loving arms of Mary. I believe that God guided me into the only full and holy church on the planet by Mary. In her I found love and peace. When I opened my heart to her she introduced me to a man who walked on water. A glorious man that lived and died for me. A real man named Jesus Christ.

As I entered the Catholic church I fell in love with the real Jesus. The humanly being of God in the trinity. As I grew closer to him, my heart opened to him and a connection grew. I soon felt a deep love that I never felt from the "Jesus" that the Mormons taught. I felt and still feel close to Jesus my savior and God. His teachings and sacrifices touch my soul. It all falls into place so to speak.

Now it makes sense that Peter was so humble he wanted to be crucified upside down, because he had such a love for Jesus that he could not bear to die in the same way the Lord had. I feel the same passion the teachers of old felt when they were persecuted and died for their love of Jesus. Now I know that I would happily die for Jesus our savior. Before I would have had doubts and reserves for dieing for "him".
That's because I would have died for a false imagining of a gold digging con man from New York.



I am a walking testament that people can be saved from this dark machine built by satan himself. I am proof that God the almighty is stronger than satan. Through simple faith and prayer He has lead me into the light of his grace.

Please if you read this and you have friends, family, or you yourself have been caught in the enticing snare of the devil and his false "Jesus". Let out a cry into God, the one true God of the trinity; for he and the angels of heaven call for you to come home. Cease praying and worshiping the "god" of Joseph's imagination. Bring your soul into the divine and everlasting love of Christ.

To be a priest or not to be a priest?

Over the past few weeks, even months I have been growing closer to the call of becoming a priest. Yes I am still very young and have many years before me; but I still cannot deny this small voice within my soul and heart. As I draw closer to God and his Catholic church, the voice of the spirit grows.

I have been doing a lot of research, prayer, and just deep thinking about my future and what God wants for me. As I begin to see the daunting trials ahead of me and how much time will be invested into this choice I don't feel what you would expect.

I feel a huge amount of peace and love fill my heart. Just writing about this is filling my eyes with tears. I can't explain why, but I just know that this is what God wants. I know that the prayers of others has helped me find this path.

Also as a small side note, I can't help but think that it is a little bit ironic that this has come to me during the year of the priest.



Thank you all for your help so far!

Finding the truth out of the lies.

I was watching my favorite youtube series (the adventures of Joseph smith) and I stummbled upon this persons interesting videos.

Disconnected

Finally! High speed interweb! If you haven't heard I did move a couple of weeks ago. We got settled in and the move went great; but when we began moving our services over to the new house we were told that we could not get DSL here! They just don't have the cables buried anywhere near us. So my family and I were disconnected to our Internet families. Thankfully the grandparents are semi-tech savy and keep their Internet.

For about two weeks or so I lost touch with many of my friends, family, and the world in general. I stopped talking to everyone, and when I did have the chance to get online my time was very limited so conversations were kept fairly short. Over time it seemed like people I knew and loved began fading back into being strangers; we just began to disconnect.

Yet, as of yesterday we have been set up with digis Internet. It it much much faster than our old connection and it's a lot cheaper too. Now I can bask in the blue/white glow of the computer screen for hours! I just finished some much needed cleaning of my e-mail box, and for any who don't know I am a faithful listener of Fr. Rodericks "Daily Breakfast". So I am way behind on his great and insightful podcast. It seems that the whole world opened back up to me. Also my friendships have grown back together and now it seems that the time apart has strengthened our "togetherness".

Also since the move I have been unable to attend mass every week. Due to work schedule problems, family, and the initial move itself. Being away from mass and the tender love it brings into my soul it feels like I have began to float away from the faith in which I had before. Lately I have noticed that my prayers have become robotic and shallow. This left a deep void in the armor of my faith.

Now life has settled down and everything is beginning to fall into the usual routine. I am planning to go to mass and be close to Jesus once more. The past few days I have been much more mindful of my prayer life; and my heart has began to rejoice in the divine love and mercy of God once more.

I find it interesting how closely related the events in my life are. How cutting off communication with the world around me isolated my heart and mind. And how cutting off my communication with God isolated my soul and left me feeling alone. It is a great lesson I'm going to take into my life from now until I die:

Prayer is the most important thing to have to be able to nurture a healthy relationship with the Lord. Without talking to him how could you expect to keep him close? Don't get me wrong though, I have experienced the times where prayer seems to be a side note and gets ignored. I have even gone through that time when prayer becomes a simple routine that falls into it's place like everything else. Your connection with God suffers even when you pray like this. It's because you begin to say the same things over and over again without using your heart or mind.

The only way you can maintain a strong healthy relationship with the Lord is to pray often and by pouring your heart into the words you offer up to him. At times it is difficult; even on late nights it may seem impossible, but it is important none the less. Through our prayer we have to cry on his shoulder when the pain is too much, give him much thanks and praise when life is going great, and we have to give him our entire hearts before anything else. For he so loved us, so too must we love him.

If it seems like it is impossible to still the mind and soul, just utter a simple prayer to be able to give him your full attention and love. I know when I was struggling to get back into deeper prayer I had to force myself to kneels for a very long time until I was able to give him my entire mind. Now even short little prayers before a meal bear my entire heart and being.

So I close by asking and reminding everyone who reads this to give it a try. Offer up your entire heart to the Lord. Strengthen your spiritual and religious life by getting back down to the roots of our religion; prayer.

Latin is not a dead language!

Well I have been packing to move, and going through my "library" I found my old Latin-English dictionary. Flipping through the worn pages I came to remember how beautiful and inspiring that language is.

It saddens me that people consider it to be dead, well I am officially declaring that Latin cannot die! Not as long as I'm alive.

Someday I will learn how to fully speak the amazing language.

I see the light! IT BURNS!!!!!!

Well woke up this morning with a fresh new look on my mornings.
Just yesterday a book I ordered finally came. It was a teen prayer book (can't think of what the title is at the moment.) Anyway it gave me a new appreciation of prayers and how to pray. (which was completely different than what I was taught in the Mormon church)

I woke with a simple very humble prayer and soon after I said amen I could not deny the deep urge to go to mass. Yet I was very apprehensive of going because I didn't know if daily mass was much different than the regular Sunday mass I have grown to be at home with. So with much mental debate and struggle I decided to go.

Being a usual nervous punctual type I arrived at the church about 45 minutes early. So I decided to explore the surrounding neighborhoods in my car. I'm not afraid of being early when it is in my hands, so I decided to go into the church about 30 minutes early. Entering I soon realized that I was the only person in the building that was under the age of 50! Oh well, it was nice to be able to pray in silence for once. (got to love those old people!)

To be honest it scared me at first. I was just sitting enjoying being so close to Jesus, then this older man sitting in the first row started praying the rosary in a very loud voice. I figured that he was just being loud about his prayers, but then everyone in the room started to finish his prayer. That's when it hit me. All of the hours watching Mother Angelica pray the rosary with her nuns came back to my mind with the momentum of a freighter. Smiling at my stupidity I pulled out my rosary in my pocket and joined in. It was a magnificent experience to join in with my friends in Christ. Really they seem like my only true friends anymore.

But that is for another time!

Today is a landmark in my new Catholic life; and may I say it is a magnificent one.
I confess that for some time since my first attendance of a mass I have been afraid of Fr. Erik at St. James. This fear was completely based on, well absolutely nothing. I think that is was just that Fr. Erik was the first priest I have ever met in real life.

But after today I have learned that Fr. Erik is truly an amazing man! He is truly a spiritual man and he has a unbreakable faith. (Also a personality any Mormon bishop would kill for!) Good job Fr. Erik you have helped me come home to the holy mother church. For that THANK YOU!

Also a HUGE thank you to Tara Evans and her constant help and support.

I'm back! And the life of Weber is still there too

Well today was the first day back to high school. Long story short, I was considering dropping out a while ago, but thought better of it and went back to see what I could salvage of my grades.
Which by the way was pretty much useless since the end of the year is so close. Oh well it's off to summer school for me! :)

Over my time spent in school I have noticed something very strange and interesting.

The student body of Weber High is very diverse in cultural and social backgrounds. Of course you still have the cliche clicks with the jocks, goths, and giant moths; but there is an underlying subculture of the school. A very dense and complicated network of bonds between friends and associates.

This "underculture" is not as sinister as it sounds. This group of people is a club of simple folk who come from normal places. Just your average joes so to speak.

Just because I call them simple do not be mistaken that they have a lower intelligence level. As a matter of fact the members of this tight social group are some of the most intelligent and bright students and people I have come to know. No, most of them are not the top of the class or are their names posted on the high achiever awards, this is simply because they are too smart.

These elite minds keep to themselves and stay in the underbelly of the social stage. These people are just like you and I, trying to live life well. Yet what makes them different is that their minds are sharp and brilliant. They are the masters, or the soon to be masters, of what they are passionate about; even if they don't realize it immediately.

These wonderful people I am desperately trying to describe are those few who keep this world running and functioning. They are the people who stand in the shadows holding this frantic world together. They are the mind, heart, and soul of the president, world leaders, and many icons we see today.

I am not trying to say that I am part of this fraternity of elites, but I can say I have seen it alive and thriving; right under the noses of culture and media. I can also say that I love every single one of them, because they understand how to live right, and know how to treat others with the dignity that they deserve.

Now you ask, "How do I know if I'm talking to one of theses select few?"

Well that's where this gets interesting. There is no outward difference that sets them apart, and there is nothing visible to see about them. But I have noticed that these people are the outsiders of the major social buzz. Some have labeled them geeks, freaks, or just plain out weirdos.

Yet also they may not fit into theses categories. This class of person is undefinable; for they are amongst us living in every walk of life. It could be the plumber under your sink or it could be that quiet girl sitting in the high school library. So keep your eyes peeled, for they are amongst us and they are planning to make the world a better place.

I had just finished at the best store ever! It was called Good Earth in Riverdale. Everything was healthy and organic. Nothing there gave me that feeling of disgust when I see a twinkie. It was just simply healthy heaven. But now I sit down to eat a greasy burger at Carl's Jr. right across the street. Is this what they call irony?

If only school was on TV like the discovery or the history channel. I would learn a lot faster and be able to retain much more. Sadly life isn't so great. :'(

The first day, a first post

Well due to boredome and a lack of interest in whats on TV I have decided to create this blog.

Some people seem to be fearful or repulsed by blogs because the writers of such blogs bring forth their lives and their personal things to the interweb. Well I am saying here and now, nothing of my life will be posted here that reveals too much, sorry to disappoint. Honestly I don't really thing that anyone will read this blog of mine anyway... Oh well :)