"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

--Marianne Williamson

I've read some blogs commenting about this poem, but I post this poem, this declaration, as a thinking tool, and ask that you just read it carefully and think about how true this is in your life. Furthermore, I challenge you to be everything that God has made you to be and in the words of Pope John Paul II (aka John Paul the Great) "Do not be afraid!" Lord, help me to not be afraid. Amen, and God love you.

"The good news isn't something, it is somebody"
-- Fr. John Corapi

For those who don't know me, I love Fr. Corapi, he is the man who spits that hot fire of truth. I must have heard him say this phrase 100 times but each time it is like the first because it is just clean cut truth. Yet I know I never thought of it before I heard Fr. Corapi say it and then it was like a great eye opener.

I have been struggling with someone I love in discussing the Bible. This person argues with me all the time by saying that the Bible is not the word of God because there are so many translations. And I used to just listen to what was said and sit back and let it go on, but recently, especially after seeing Fr. Corapi live and growing in my faith as I have lately, I couldn't let this person go untested. My argument was the same argument that Fr. Corapi gives in several of his talks that I have heard. The argument is that the Bible is God's word and that word is Jesus. From start to finish, Genesis to Revelation, everything is about Jesus Christ.

And in regards to the many translations it is actually quite simple to understand. In respects to the multiple interpretations, it can be broken up between Protestants and Catholics. Protestants do not have the Magesterial Teaching or the Sacred Tradition that Church has so they are themselves thier own magesterium and they can interpret the Bible into whatever they like because there is no Authority, they are their own authority.

Thus, the reason for so many translations is not that the Word has changed but that the people are misinterpreting the Word. For instance, if I said "I love all the hundreds of my brothers and sisters that read this post" (Wishful thinking I know, but bare with me) and somehow, someone 1000 years from now finds a copy of the post, and reads it. Without the proper understanding of the language or how to interpret the post one might interpret the sentence quite literally and think "Wow!! His parents were really busy!" and that would not be what was meant by it.

Pray for our seperated brothers and sisters in Christ, and pray that we may all be brought together in love of Christ. Pray for our priests and all the religious. And please pray for me and all of my loved ones [that could even be you ;) ]

Thank you, God bless

"Who-wa, Two-Times-Tuesdays!!!"
-- Dominos Commercial

Not only do I deliver pizzas for Dominos, but since I didn't write anything yesterday I'll give those lucky few who read this blog a speacial treat, a joke that my dad sent to me, enjoy:

MY DAD IS A FATHER

A little boy got on the bus, sat next to a man reading a book, and noticed he had his collar on backwards.The little boy asked why he wore his collar that way. The man, who was a priest, said, " I am a Father." The little boy replied, "My Dad is a father and he doesn't wear his collar like that." The priest looked up from his book and answered "I am the Father of many."The boy said, "My Dad has 4 boys, 4 girls and two grandchildren and he doesn't wear his collar that way." The priest, getting impatient, said, "I am the Father of hundreds" and went back to reading his book. The little boy sat quietly thinking for a while, then leaned over and said, "Maybe you should wear your pants backwards instead of your collar."

I heard this story on TV one Sunday morning and I have had it stuck in my head ever since so I figured I'd share it with you, lucky you.

This is my rendition of the anecdote:

A boy was pulling his wagon up a hill and was coming to the top of the hill when one of the rear wheels fell off and went rolling down the hill. The boy, looking frustrated, said “I’ll be damned!!” but what the boy didn’t realize was that he was in front of the rectory and a priest was out on the front porch and watched the entire incident. The priest called to the boy and said “My son, you shouldn’t curse.” The boy replied, “I know Father, I’m just mad at the wheel and it just slipped out.” The priest, understanding the world we live in, accepted this explanation and said “Be more careful and be sure to think before you speak, okay?” and the boy replied “Yes, Father”, and the priest watched as the boy fetched the wheel, fixed his wagon, and went on his way.

The next day the same boy with the same wagon went up the same hill and the same thing happened. Frustrated the boy said again “I’ll be damned!!” and again the same priest was out side observing, and again he called to the boy and said “My son!” and immediately the boy knew what he had done, and apologized again for the out burst. The priest thought “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” and then said to the boy “My son, the next time you’re frustrated instead of cursing say ‘Thanks be to God’.” The boy said “Yes, Father, I’ll try.” And he went down the hill, fetched the wheel, fixed the wagon, and went on his way.

The very next day the very same boy with the very same wagon went up the very same hill and the very same thing happened. Frustrated the boy said “I’ll be…” stopped himself, looked over at the rectory, noticed the same priest on the porch, took a breath, and said “Thanks be to God.” All of the sudden the wheel stopped and rolled back up the hill and jumped back into its proper place and the smiling boy went on his way. Seeing what had just transpired the priest exclaimed “Well, I’ll be damned!!!”

This is a reminder to us that even though we may have good advice to give, we sometimes don’t take our own advice. We must practice what we preach. It is also a reminder that even people in respectable positions are still human and must follow the same guidelines as each of us.

"Billions upon billions of years are just a blink,
a snap of the finger, in the context of eternity"
-- Fr. Larry Richards

This quote above is from a story that Fr. Larry Richards told this past weekend at the Steubenville Mid-America Youth Conference at Springfield, MO. The story that he told was of a giant where each movement of his took 10,000 years and this giant takes one grain of sand and walks to the top of Mt. Everest and places it there and he continues to do this until all the sand from all around the Earth are on the mountain. Each step was 10,000 years, each time he bent over pick up a grain of sand was 10,000 years and so on. And Fr. Larry ended by saying that it would take billions upon billions of years for this to happen and then that all that time is but a blink compared to eternity.

The reason I'm telling this story is tell another one. One of the several things that I took away from this Conference was that Jesus gave his life to us, and all he asks in return is our life. What do these two things have in common? Jesus is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, he is eternal. We are mere creations, mortal, we consider a long life 70 years or longer, and if the billions upon billions of years that the giant took placing the sand at the top of the mountain is but a blink in eternity what does that make our time? The point is that Jesus gave us His life (eternity) in exchange for our life (finite, mortal). Talk about a great exchange rate.

If we put these terms into finite measurements and liken eternity to $100 billion (I know there is no comparison between anything finite and infinite, just bare with me) and our life to a penny. Jesus is telling you he will give you $100 billion and all he asks for in return is your $0.01.

The catch is we must give our life to Him just as He gave His life to us, because He will not take what is not offered, one of my friends says it best "God is a lover not a rapist" he offers everything He is to us but will only take what is given; He will never steal anything from us.

Lord, I know I'm not worthy of Your life, help me to give my life and all that I am to You, not because it is my will but beacause it is what You ask of me.
Lord, I believe in You, help my disbeleif.
Lord, I trust in You, help my mistrust.

"No Pain, No Gain.

No Cross, No Crown.

No Gall, No Glory."

-- William Penn

In my time away, I've been a bit busy, between moving and trips it's been somewhat eventful. One of the first things that happened was I went to visit my family in West Chester, OH and while I was there my mother and I when to see Fr. John Corapi speak. And if you haven't heard of Fr. Corapi or even heard him speak on TV or Radio or even live I would recommend that you get wit the program. His ministry is very powerful and his personality is very in your face, he is one of the most hardcore preachers I have ever listened to, and his weapon of choice, The TRUTH.

He spoke about Spirtiual warfare, for those of you who have heard Fr. Corapi speak you know it is one of his favorite subjects. He encouraged, nay, commanded us to learn our faith. He discussed our role in the on going battle between good and evil in the battle for souls. He spoke on the importance of being in a state of grace, to be fit for battle and if one is not in a state of grace that person is either on the sidelines or on the wrong side.

Fr. Corapi spoke about the importance of knowing our weapons and the weapons of the enemy. Our greatest weapon is prayer and there is no better prayer than that of the Rosary. Again, he commanded (not encouraged) us to pray the Rosary everyday and when we think that we are too busy, he asks the question "Are you busier than the Pope?" he says his Rosary everyday, all 20 mysteries. He described the Rosary as the prayer of the Gospel (Gospel = Good News = Jesus Christ).

There was sooooooo much Truth packed into one day, it was like watching 4 weeks of EWTN in one day, and it was soooooooooooooooooooo worth it.

Again I ask for your prayers, and I ask that you pray for our preists, and pray for our preists, and one more thing pray for our preists (it's kinda important). Thank you and God bless.

PS. If there is any one who is reading this stuff, I would greatly appreciate it if you would give me a comment or two so that I know that i'm not just talking into space, thanks again.

J esus
O thers
Y ourself

I am third
-- Fr. Larry Richards

Wow, it has been quite a long time since I have done anything with this blog, I'm quite sure that I have lost any one who had been checking up with me and my blog. So I guess I'm just writing this stuff for my own benefit, oh well, I could be doing a lot worse things with my time (trust me I know).

I was looking at my last post and I saw that I was just talking about my last final being finished, well I'm starting this one off the same way, my Chemestry final was this past Friday and I hope that I did well. And tomorrow I will be starting my second session of the Summer semester at U of Memphis, so please pray for me and my classes.

This past weekend I went with the youth group to a Steubenville Conference and had a blast, it is one of the reasons why I'm typing this, because I feel that I must share what I got from the conference with as many people as I can and it has also provided me with plenty of ammunition to continue this blog. So this is just a preview of coming attractions and a blog of confidence. I pray that any one who does read this blog will pray for me and my blog, that I may keep it up and share all that I have in store to share with whomever wishes to read my thoughts here.

Until tomorrow, in Christ, always,

Me (Matt Hudson)