Figuring Out Summer: Productivity and Fun Combined

Summer time is almost here and I am really looking forward to it. It's a very interesting time of year I think. It feels somewhat less busy than all the other seasons, and yet this is the time when I feel like I am in the adult world the most, where I am working at a full-time schedule and pace. Every summer, I tell myself that I will be productive and do things like read books, work out, and learn skills hands-on. Yet, every summer, I still somehow manage to fill up my free time with...the internet, video games, and general laziness around the house. While these are not necessarily bad things, I just feel like I am wasting my time moreso on these activities than the ideas and plans I make.

Although, in the moment, I feel pretty accomplished when shredding on Guitar Hero

So, I am trying to come up with ways to make myself more productive this summer. This is similar to how my Lenten commitments in previous years pretty much failed and how this year I was better able to stick to my plan because of the goals I made. I want to come up with ways I can increase my skills while at the same time enjoy events and activities that are fun and involve family and friends. I don't want to be locking myself up in my room on my computer all the time, even on those July afternoons where it's 99 degrees and 99 percent humidity.

I got 99 problems and the weather is all of them

Adventures Around Town

Go to Shakespeare in the Park

I have not yet been to the Shakespeare Festival in St. Louis. In fact, the last time that I saw a Shakespeare play was when I was an intern for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival in Kansas City. This year, the festival at Forest Park is producing both parts of "Henry IV" and "Henry V". The latter is one of my favorite plays by Shakespeare and it is best understood after watching the events in "Henry IV" unfold.

Pilgrimage to Holy, Catholic Sites

My mother already says she wants to take me to visit the Black Madonna Shrine. I have already been to the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne once before, but I want to go again and this time add on a trip over to the old St. Ferdinand Shrine in Florissant where St. Duchesne also lived. Also, I want to take time to go see the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica and probably go visit the old Cathedral as well in order to not only see beautiful architecture but also to look at part of the history of Catholicism in the St. Louis area.

Go to a Concert

There are several really great concerts coming to St. Louis this year that I have to try to narrow my options (especially as I look at budgeting). The concert I want to experience the most is the David Rawlings Machine show which features John Paul Jones and Willie Watson in the band. The biggest reason I want to go is because I asked my father if he would like to go because it is music I think both of us would enjoy. Other options would be seeing Jack White at the Fabulous Fox, seeing Pokey LaFarge at a small stage in St. Louis, or seeing Old Crow Medicine Show at the Peabody Opera House.

Go to Grant's Farm

This is something that not only my mother wants to do but also something that I would like to do with my godson and his family. Last year we went to the St. Louis Zoo together and this year it would be another interesting experience up close with more unique animals.

Canoeing/ Rafting

Last summer I went on a float trip with college friends and it was a lot of fun. I tried to go one more time, but it never worked out. This time, I hope to get some practice on canoeing or rafting techniques by floating around St. Louis and if possible go on another float trip. It would be a great way to experience nature and get a little bit of exercise (not to mention cooling off in the water on a hot summer day).

Schlafly Brewery Tour

This is THE craft beer that I recommend from the St. Louis area. This is a leftover item from last year's summer plans. I think it would be a nice way to spend a weekend afternoon (possibly with friends or family) touring the place and hanging out in the tap room.


Around the Home

Morning Walk/ Jog

My hope is that I start off my mornings on a productive note by going on a walk. Not only would I get exercise, but walks in the morning help me clear my head and plan my day and/ or week. My hope is to walk around my new neighborhood, see some new sights, and eventually get to a point where I jog as well as walk. The plan is to walk daily and to do so before I eat breakfast.

Practice my Golf Swing in my Backyard

I keep (somewhat) jokingly telling my folks that they need to add a putting green to the backyard. This will be my family's first summer at the new home and I hope to take advantage of the large backyard we have. It's definitely not large enough for practicing with a driver, and probably not large enough for long distance iron shots. However, my hope is to practice my chip shots with wedges and small distance irons as well as get better at digging myself out of the rough.

Summer Reading List

What's a complete Summer To-Do List without reading books? There are some books at my house, such as The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes and The Silmarillion that I could possibly start this summer, or at least make a dent in the book (they're pretty dense but that's part of what makes them worthwhile). I have a couple of books on my Bucket List I hope to finish during the summer, which are The Confessions of St. Augustine and The Imitation of Christ

Maintain Blogging

How can I keep everyone updated on my life without blogging? I have been having a lot of fun with this blog so far and I hope to continue posting lots of various thoughts and articles on here. Not to mention, I have to keep my Reach teammates up to date with my goofy thoughts and comments (which means a quick shout out to the Holy Family team in Helena is in order. To Kristin, McKenzie, Melissa, and Elizabeth "Hi teammates!").

Weekly Catholic Movie Viewing

Part of this has been inspired by my Bucket List, in which I have a goal to watch all the movies on the Vatican Film List. This has gotten me interested in finding good movies with strong Catholic themes and messages. I noticed that more classic (50s and 60s) films provide such a message and appeal to a greater audience. So, my mom and I are planning on sitting down together once a week to watch a different classic Catholic movie (such as "The Bells of St. Mary's" and "The Song of Bernadette".

Harry Potter-Christianity Research Paper

I'll admit this one seems pretty weird. However, after a few observations of my own and discussions with friends, I have become way to curious about the connections between the Harry Potter books and movies and Christianity. So, my goal would be to read all of the books and watch all of the movies and take notes at moments that may mention Christian things and then create a paper analyzing these notes. Admittedly, this may be time consuming and I may have to continue this after the summer, but at least I can get started on the process. This project is just something to satisfy my own curiosity.

Creativity

A quick side note about this section. A part of my summer experience will be to find a place within my family home that I can be alone and allow my creative imagination to run wild. That's kind of hard to do in the house since it is smaller, and I don't wish to lock myself up in my room all summer. The best idea I have would be to make some space in the cellar. It has a cavern-esque aesthetic, would stay cool during the hottest days, and gives me privacy.

Learn Songs on the Guitar

Over the past few years I've been trying to teach myself guitar, yet I have hardly been able to get to the point of 1) Playing a song in its entirety and 2) Playing guitar and singing at the same time. There are only a few times when I've been able to achieve this. So, this summer, my goal is to be able to play multiple songs in their entirety and have them be songs that I can sing along to at the same time. While I would like these songs to be more rock'n'roll, I have recently been inspired to learn some Christian songs (because the musicians I've been meeting up here are AWESOME!).

Write a Play Draft

I figured as a writer and someone who has been invested in the theatre community for awhile, it's about time that I get down to writing a play. I have attempted writing a script a few times before, and none of them have gotten very far (or at least were kind of embarassing when they were finished). I have already been drafting a plan for a full-length play script, but I am also considering writing a one act. This one act play would be something that can be performed by university students and would be public domain (or at least cheap). After having been through several student directed one acts, and experiencing the difficulty of choosing a script, I would like to do something that gives students another good option. Also, it is on my Bucket List to produce a self-written play, and how can I produce a self-written play without writing it first?

Write a Novel Draft

After several previous attempts at writing a full story, I want to actually complete one. However, while my goal would be to write a novel worthy of publishing, I want to allow myself a little more creativity and to not be afraid to make mistakes that need adjustments later on. So, this is kind of the pilot story that allows me to see what I need to tweak and what areas of my writing are strongest that need emphasis. Also, it is on my Bucket List to publish a novel, so why not start my masterpiece now?


Life After Reach 

Study Economics 

This one is not for fun and games. This coming fall semester, one of my classes is Financial Concepts. I have never taken a finance or economics class in my life, so if I am going to participate in a graduate-level finance class starting in August, I want to try to brush up on my understanding of economics and finances.

Learn/ Rehearse Monologues

Part of an actor's job is being able to audition well (and part of a director's job is to sit through and understand the entire auditions process). An actor should have a few monologues in their repertoire, ready to deliver a 90 second performance, whether contemporary, classic, Shakespeare, Beckett, all kinds of genres and styles. I know I have a few Shakespeare monologues I want to memorize, but I also need to find modern pieces worth memorizing so I can get back in the acting game.

Holy Hour Adoration

One of the challenges I will be facing after Reach will be continuing my growth as a Catholic man. My faith life grew immensely during college which I credit to the work of the FOCUS missionaries I encountered and the faith community at Catholic Campus Ministry. On Reach, I am surrounded by people that are trying to grow in their faith as well, so I have the support of a community who understands my struggles and can help me. After Reach, it will be tough to find or commit to a community of Catholic peers. I will be busy with a job, school work, and possibly theatre activities.

Prayer has been a powerful experience that has helped me grow in my individual faith life. Ultimately, it's up to me to take action to grow closer to God (a community of Catholics is incredibly helpful though), and so I want a powerful prayer life at home that will help me continue my faith journey. Thankfully, there is an adoration chapel at the church just up the road from where I will be living. I can stop by there and make time to spend an hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Adoration is a powerful time to prayer and a time I plan to seek aid and refuge.

Daily Mass & Rosary

Mass is the other powerful experience that has helped me continue to grow in my faith. Going to Mass as often as I can will be incredibly beneficial to keeping my faith strong and alive. I pray that I can continue to go to Mass on a daily basis. The other daily thing I want to continue after Reach is praying the Rosary. It was incredibly powerful for me during Lent and has continued to be a tremendous form of prayer for me.



Of course, I will be making time to hang out with friends and family. And of course I hope to be busy with summer jobs. This is just a play on ways I can spend my free time during this summer so I don't feel like I am wasting it. I may have to make a schedule or some sort of plan of attack in order to figure out how to achieve all of this in one summer, but the beauty of having a plan with lots of items is that I have several options of goals that I can work towards on a regular basis.

What's the Rush? Ultimate Frisbee and Experiences in My Faith Life.

This past weekend, we had a ultimate frisbee game during our men's session and it was great fun to compete with and against some new friends and acquaintances. There was one round, however, that I remember a lot of turnovers happening, where one team had the frisbee, it dropped within five seconds and then five seconds later, after the second team gained control, the frisbee dropped again. This happened maybe six or seven times within a couple minutes.

It wasn't until Daily Mass yesterday, when I looked back at this moment in the game, that the inspiration for this post occurred to me. In our society, people usually rush into things. People speed down the roadway to get to wherever it is they are going.  People rush out of bed and out the door to get to class or work because they wait until the last second to start their day. People rush becoming romantically involved with someone because they feel good about the relationship and want to keep that good feeling. People also apply this style of mad rush to their spiritual lives, though it may not be recognized as rushing.

After Bible Study, people quickly go about their normal lives and by the next day the scripture passages they examined are forgotten. After Sunday Mass, people go back home and lounge about until Monday morning, when they forget what Bible passages were read and what the priest discussed in his homily. After a retreat experience, whether a day retreat or a full weekend retreat, people go back home and rest and when it comes time to start normal life on Monday morning, people forget what they had experienced and how it changed them.

Now, perhaps I need to clarify something. All of these statements I'm making are generalizations and may not apply to every person's experience after a retreat or bible study. Secondly, I believe that these statements are incredibly applicable to my own personal experiences with the knowledge that it is a generalization of these experiences.

Sometimes in college, after Bible Study, I would go back to my dorm and fall asleep and the next morning probably wouldn't have been able to recall what passage I had just studied. Sometimes at Mass I have a hard time concentrating on what is being read and what the priest is saying. Sometimes I come back from a retreat exhausted yet enthusiastic, but by Monday morning (like yesterday morning) I may wake up feeling ill, tired, and struggling to live the way that I had just invited the youth to live their lives.

I think this is because I quickly rush into the next thing that I do in my life. I do not take the appropriate amount of time to pause and reflect on what I experienced in retreat or at Mass. I do not just sit back and think about how these things I hear and see will impact the next hour, the next 24 hours, the next week of my life. I'm constantly moving to the next thing, unless I do not have any agenda to accomplish in which case I distract myself and lose focus.

Back to the ultimate frisbee game. The best moves I saw were the ones where people took their time, where players examined their options and slowly moved their way up the field. In a game like ultimate, players know that moving fast most likely increases chances of avoiding interference by the other team and that is why rushed plays are made. Often times a team loses control of a frisbee because of rushed movements. In our game, whenever I just took five seconds to examine the field before throwing the frisbee, not only did it give me enough time to look at how to best move forward but my teammates also had time to make themselves ready to catch the frisbee.

The same should be done in my spiritual life. After Mass, I should take some time to reflect on what I had experienced and what I had heard. Maybe I need to go look up the scripture readings again to better understand how they apply to my life. After a retreat, I need to take a little bit of time (once I'm all rested of course) to examine what I had experienced, what the youth experienced, and understand how to move forward with my life while applying those experiences and any changes that come with them to my life.

That's how it is in sports. In games like ultimate frisbee, I learn how rushing a move can benefit the other team greater than mine. Once I figure that out, then I need to apply a calmer pace to my actions in order to better benefit my team and benefit myself through the way I play the game. In my faith life, I need to take more time to examine my experiences and understand how to move forward because of them.

Post-Lent Journey: What's Going On This Easter Season

So we are now in the Easter season. We finished our sorrowful forty day journey of Lent and are now in the midst of a joyful fifty day journey to celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection, ascension, and the newness of life that comes from Him. I will talk more on that later. Right now I want to talk about the post-Lent journey in connection with our Lenten commitments.

So, during Lent, we all struggled with giving up something that we like or taking more action with things we should take action of. I know plenty of people that gave up soda (myself included) or restricted meat and fried foods from their diets. So now that Lent is over, we can start getting back into those things and having as much as we would like, right? Well, that's not really the purpose of sacrificing something during Lent.

The Lenten journey is all about connecting ourselves with the sacrifices that Jesus made. Through our own sacrifices we make a commitment to follow Jesus more closely so that we may be more like Him and have a deeper relationship with Him on Easter and during the Easter season.

Some of us may have struggled maintaining our sacrifices during Lent or forgot it at some point. That's all right. I myself during college tried to give up Youtube during Lent and ultimately failed halfway through. That does not mean that we can't pick ourselves up and continue to make an effort and strive to maintain that sacrifice during the rest of Lent (or even after Lent). Some of us may immediately get back in to the things we sacrificed once Easter hits. There's nothing wrong with that, but at the same time we must ask ourselves 'What was the whole point of the Lent journey if I just immediately go back to the way that I lived before Lent?'. There were years when I gave up eating meat or drinking soda during Lent and I told myself 'OK, once Easter comes, I'll get back into this stuff at a minimum' and, after gorging myself on the stuff during Easter, go back to consuming these things the way I did before Lent.

Maintaining the commitment after Lent is tough. Especially since the Easter season is a time of great joy and celebration. However, this year, I am striving to continue making a commitment during the Easter season (and hopefully afterwards). I know that there were things during Lent that were helping me not only become a healthier person, but I also grew in my faith because of my commitment. So, here is my plan for living out life post-Lent in connection with some of the commitments I made during Easter.

-Daily Rosary: This was an incredible prayer experience for me during Lent. Every time I prayed the Rosary, I focused on the Sorrowful Mysteries and contemplated the Passion of Jesus. It strengthened my understanding of Jesus' sacrifice, His suffering, and His love. It also helped me apply His struggle to my own struggles and understand what it means to take up my cross.

My hope is that I can better understand all of the other mysteries of the Rosary (Joyful, Glorious, and Luminous) and better connect Jesus' life and ministry to my own. This time, I will also have the help of a little prayer book called 'One Month Spiritual Rosary' which uses Scripture during the Rosary prayers to guide my meditation on the mysteries.

Along with the Rosary, I also hope to continue non-Rosary related daily prayer after Reach (daily prayer is a part of Reach ministry life). Thankfully, when I'm home, I will be within short walking distance of a church that has an adoration chapel.

-Soda Fast: This year, instead of immediately chugging a Mountain Dew every day, I'm hoping to limit my intake of soda to a bare minimum. I am doing this by designating one day of the week to drinking soda, similar to how Sundays during Lent are days where Lenten commitments do not have to be observed. I am thinking Sunday would be a fine day to designate as the day that I can drink sodas. My hope that on these days I will limit myself to just one or two drinks per Sunday.

The exception that I am applying to this rule is road trips. Whenever I am on a long journey (meaning longer than 2 hours), I will allow myself to have some soda to drink. This just adds to my own enjoyment of the journey and is something that I carry on from my own road trips and travels between college and home.

-Music Fast: Like soda, I fasted from my own music this Lent. And like soda, I will be designating one day of the week that I can listen to my own music, however I want to make it a separate day than when I drink soda just so I don't drive myself crazy waiting for the one day of the week to arrive. I think that Saturday will be the day that I can break out the iPod and walk around listening to my music.

Also, similar to soda, I am applying the exception rule of listening to music whilst traveling. Again, this is for my own enjoyment of road trips or just traveling in a car in general. Part of the fun of driving for me is jamming out to good songs.

-Youtube Fast: This is something I did not do during Lent but I should have. I began to notice that I was spending a lot of time on Youtube during my free time and I felt very unproductive and lazy. So, my plan is to avoid Youtube as a form of leisure. There are very few times I wish to break my fast. One exception will be whenever I want to watch a production of Shakespeare (or any other play production) as part of my theatrical retraining. The other exception would be for finding how-to guides or tutorials for anything I am learning over the summer, from swing dancing to creating a wooden canoe to survival guides.

-Saying Nice Things About Something I Would Rather Critique: This is something that I definitely struggled with during Lent and I will continue to struggle with during Easter. Sometimes my immediate gut reaction is to say something that I do not like about an experience or being critical of something. However, being focused on the negatives or on the surface level of something does not help me appreciate the good aspects of something.

If there is a movie that do not particularly enjoy, I can still find something good to say about it or find something that I enjoyed about it. If there is a song that I cannot stand, there has to be something positive that I find instead of putting it down. I think this will help me in my personal life with the people around me by not only increasing my positivity but also helping me find the good in people that I may at first be frustrated by or despise.

To Put Money to Good Use

"Riches prick us with a thousand troubles in getting them, as many cares in preserving them, and yet more anxiety in spending them, and with grief in losing them."-St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis has a beautiful riches to rags life story

One of the greatest struggles in my life is dealing with money. It is something that distracts me from my relationship with God and is something that I have used on selfish desires and obsessions. However, it is also somewhat necessary in this society to use for things like food, clothing, etc. and it can also be used to provide those necessities for people in need.

The great problem, as St. Francis of Assisi points out, is that when we become focused on money and gaining it on ourselves, it does us more harm than good. Now, everybody faces real concerns when it comes to figuring out "How am I going to pay the bill?" or "How will I feed my family?". There are several things that I ponder, however, when it comes to the issue of money.

Does money buy happiness?

I would not say that money buys happiness, although in our world we can use money to buy things that gives us joy and pleasure. We can buy food that we enjoy eating. We can buy clothes that make us feel good. We can use money for road trips and vacations that bring us positive experiences and memories.

How can I have that dream vacation in Fiji without some dough in my pocket?

Money can especially be used to bring happiness to the poor and needy in the world. With money, we can provide food and clean water for people in third world countries. We can donate money to clothe, house, and feed the homeless in our areas. We can provide financial support for missionaries and ministry programs that bring God to those who need to hear the Gospel. There are ways in which we can use money to make people happy without money and greed becoming a vice and struggle for us.

What would I buy right now?

I admit that I enjoy thinking about things that would bring me enjoyment if I did not have to worry about cost or the ability to afford luxuries. I would purchase concert tickets or buy CDs or vinyl records to support the musicians I like. I would rent a nice apartment with all of the furnishings I desire. I would go to the movie theater whenever there was a movie that caught my attention. I would buy packs of local craft beer. I would buy a nice suit or a nice bowtie.

Bowties are cool

One of my hopes is that the things that I would spend money on, if I had access to an unlimited amount of income, would be simpler, middle-class type purchases. Not only was that the way I have been raised, but I would also feel guilty if I spent an excessive amount on myself and did not give back to charities and people in need. Another hope would be that I would also use my money to help people by feeding the hungry, donating to missions in third world countries, or sponsoring a charity that does work to help the poor.

Why money is and is not a necessity for my Bucket List

In my last post, I mentioned my Bucket List. On it are objectives that do not require money in order to achieve them. For instance, I would like to able to do parkour, in which the only requirement for me to do so is running around outside or any free space around me. Or I also have the objective to read books like 'The Confessions of St. Augustine' or 'The Imitation of Christ', which does not require money since I can borrow those books from a library.

I like the library...especially because it's free and I'm cheap

However, there are other items that require money for me to achieve these goals. I want to go on pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago, which requires the purchase of plane tickets, proper trail hiking gear, and pocket money for food and souvenirs along the way. Or I would like to paint a legitimate Bob Ross style painting, which requires me to purchase the necessary paints, paintbrushes, and other equipment in order to truly accomplish the task (trust me, I tried painting like Bob Ross without the proper resources and it did not turn out the same).

Achievement and Giving

I wonder how often people today consider money as something that is to be used to give to other people rather than donating to our personal desires. I know that I struggle with this issue a lot. On the one hand, I put aside money for things that I want, but at the same time I come across other people or organizations that need the money much more than I do.

We can achieve many good things in this world by giving our money to people who need it. For example, many of the buildings on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield have the name 'Hammons' on them. That is because Mr. John Q Hammons and his estate have donated a large sum of money to the university so that these buildings could be built to house, educate, and entertain the students. Hammons now has a legacy around the campus because of that financial giving.

On Hammons Day, we gather in the JQH Arena and sing the Hammons Anthem. Then we have an ice
cream party in Hammons Residence Hall.

We achieve a lot of things when we give our money to other people who need it. We achieve building a bond or relationship with a person. We achieve the happiness of a ministry or an organization that we donate to.We achieve achieve the satisfaction of helping the poor and the hungry. If we truly donate a large sum of money, we achieve a long legacy with an institution that puts our name on buildings and plaques.

We must always remember that we cannot serve God and money. We are called to serve God with the gifts that he has given us. If that gift is an excess of finances, then we need to share that gift with people who are not as fortunate. This is a lesson I need to remember everyday, and be grateful for everyone who has helped me financially.

What Are My Goals?

GOOOOAAALLLLS!

Early on in life, my goals were pretty well established. Whenever I played sports like soccer, the goal was pretty simple: Score a goal. In school, the goal was to get the best grades possible. In high school, the goal was to get into a dating relationship. Yet, as I've become older and more independent, the goals have been harder to figure out. Sure, there's the straight-forward type goals of becoming a husband and a father, but there's other things I can't quite figure out like 'what do I want to be when I grow up?' or 'where do I want to live for the rest of my life?'.

Why are goals important anyway? Well, goals for me are important because they give me focus. Goals in my life help me understand where I'm going and what I'm doing. This clarity helps me understand areas that I need to grow in and keep me from completely wasting my time and energy on things that will not help me or make me grow in the long run.

Goals and the Theatre

David Tennant is an actor who had a big goal. Majority of people may recognize David Tennant as the man who played Barty Crouch Jr. in the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie. Growing up, David was a mega-fan of the Doctor Who series. He would talk about it at school and write about it in essays all the time. His goal was to one day play the legendary Doctor himself. That is how he got his start into acting. After making a name for himself as a Shakespearean actor and appearing in the Harry Potter movie, David finally achieved his goal and played The Doctor for three seasons.

I had a goal coming in to college. My goal was to be an actor in a mainstage performance at Missouri State. It was a rough start. One of my biggest struggles in the acting world is auditioning. I auditioned to be part of the BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) programs for Acting and Musical Theatre twice and did not succeed. For the first two years I was in college, I auditioned for the mainstage seasons and never received a callback. The only way I was involved with theatre during these first two years was classes, technical work for performances to receive credit for classes, and being an actor in student directed one acts (short plays). Finally, at the auditions for the Fall 2011 mainstage season, not only did I receive a callback (which was a first for me), but I was also casted in the mainstage show The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer. After two years of struggling through auditions, I finally achieved my goal.

Now, here's something to understand about the world of theatre and auditions. The success rate of getting a callback or a role based on auditions is actually pretty low in the professional world. I may audition for fifteen professional plays and only get one callback if I'm lucky. That's just the nature of the business now. Also, success in auditions not only has to do with how well I memorize a monologue and how well I perform, but it also has to do with surface level things like appearances. If a director is looking for someone who is skinny-as-a-stick and has pointy blond hair, then I'm not going to get the part because I'm obviously not that. The average successful actor is the one who perseveres through multiple auditions and really practices their craft in their private lives as well as their professional lives. David Tennant got to be as big as he was because he practiced hard just to be able to get work as a Shakespearean actor, and then had to keep pushing forward in order to achieve his goal of playing the Doctor.

Goals for Life and Spirit

One of the ways I have tried to establish goals for my adult life is by creating a Bucket List. This is not necessarily a preparation for death, but more of a creation of objectives for me to accomplish during my lifetime. With a Bucket List, I have several goals that I can work on either in the present or look forward to completing later in life or be a work in progress throughout my entire lifetime.

For example, one of my items on my Bucket List is to watch all 45 movies on the Vatican's Film List. That can take me over the course of decades to complete and if I don't have the means or time to do so now, then I can work on it later. Another list item that I can accomplish later in life is hiking the Appalachain Trail, but at least for now I can get started by keeping my body in decent shape and going on walks on a regular basis. List items that I am building up towards at the present, which gives me something to accomplish with my free time in between retreats, is becoming fluent in Spanish, publishing a book, and producing a self-written play.

Some of my goals and Bucket List items are more spiritual in nature, including going on a pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago. I think in the spiritual life there should always be goals, both internal and external. Since we are not perfect beings, there are areas for all of us to grow in that allow us to become closer to God. Not only that, but we are also called to help people in need, so having a goal that helps other people is also something important to have a focus on in my adult life.

Jesus Christ had a huge goal to achieve. He wanted to free us from our sins in order for us to be in Heaven with God. In order to do that, Jesus had to endure much suffering in His Passion. He had to endure abandonment, physical torture, verbal abuse, and carrying of the cross before He was finally crucified. He endured all of this in order to achieve His goal. Yet, along the way to Golgotha as He carried His cross, Jesus fell to the ground. Yet, because of the goal He had, Jesus picked himself back up and continued moving forward.

Ultimately, our biggest goal should be to follow Jesus Christ in order to be with God in Heaven. The greatest goal I have is to become a saint, and I can work towards that goal each day by relying on the grace of God to help me fulfill His will for my life. This week, Holy Week, is an especially good time for me to examine Jesus Christ's Passion and find ways for me to carry my own cross in my life. I hope to fulfill all of my goals in life as long as it is God's plan for me and it helps me follow Jesus Christ more and more each day. I want to carry out the command that He gave to the people in Luke 9:23 "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

My Brother Teammates: The Reach Men

So I meant to do this video blog way back when I was doing the blogs for the ladies that I have been on Reach teams with. However, for whatever reason, it just got pushed back to now.

I don't know where I would be without these two guys on my teams. I'm used to growing up and living with a brother, so adjusting to community life would have been a lot more challenging if I did not have a brother figure on team. I have enjoyed getting to know both Pat and Austin over this past year and grow closer to God because of what I have learned from them.

So here is the video you have all been waiting for:

Oh, and I forgot to mention these in the video.

Pat- I really appreciate your taste in Christian rap. I have come to enjoy the genre, especially music by Lecrae, because of your appreciation.

Austin- I really appreciate your enthusiasm for music and dancing. Seeing you enjoy those things brings joy to me.

Seasons & Joy

Back in March, right as spring weather arrived in Yakima, my team decided to go to Daily Mass at the Holy Family Parish. We had only been to this parish a few times before, but there was something different about this particular day. The chapel had a different feel to it than before.

And it wasn't just because the kneelers were extra cushiony that day.

This particular chapel has a very earthy tone to it. The wall behind the altar and the whole floor is made of large flat stones, the ceiling and support beams are made of strong wood, and the stained glass walls contain panels of various solid colors. The sun was shining very brightly through these different colors and I remember that this was one of the warmest days I had experienced in Yakima thus far.

For whatever reason on this day, I felt like I was in a small, rural, countryside church somewhere in the south. I imagined that this would be the kind of church I would find in Tennessee, hidden away in the Smoky Mountains. Even the priest had a southern look to him with his full goatee and his slicked-back hair that goes to his shoulders. I don't know why he reminds me of southern man, but he just does.

The team refers to him as Father Scar (except he's a good guy)

There was something about feeling like I was in Tennessee that brought me great joy that day. Now, I have never attended Mass in Tennessee, or anywhere in the south for that matter. I may have stepped into one or two of the old churches down there, but I don't really know what it was like for the pioneers and frontiersman of the time to go to church on a regular basis down there. Yet, for whatever reason, I felt like I was back in the Smoky Mountains and I was joyful.

A lot of that joy had to do with the season. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, the kind of day where I couldn't really feel the temperature, meaning it wasn't too warm and it wasn't too cool outside. It was the kind of weather I associate with the Smoky Mountains in late May or early June, the time of year my family would often go out there for a summer trip (man, I guess I really miss those mountains or something). My joy that day was associated with the feeling of the season.

How can I not be joyful when I think of being here?

I think a lot of us find joy in the spring time. I think my friends and family from Helena to St. Louis and beyond can definitely find a lot of joy in the spring time after this past winter. The warming of temperatures, the lack of jackets, the sun, the ability to wear shorts again! There is just something about the dawning of the season that brings me extra joy. 

I also find joy in the early part of the autumn season. I came to this realization last year on a drive down Highway 44 in Missouri. I was wearing long sleeve shirt and khakis, which made me feel warm enough outside, but I needed to put on AC to keep myself cool in the car (I think that is the perfect balance for me). As I was driving down the highway, I was seeing various colors along the side of the road. The trees were different shades of gold, red, green, orange, and brown. Dry, dead leaves would be tossed around by the wind. I was reminded of my childhood days of playing soccer in the fall, which were some of the best times for me growing up.

What my Saturdays looked like for about a decade

Autumn also brings relief from intense weather. It feels nice to have that cool down period after a hot and humid summer. I guess I'm the kind of guy that doesn't really like being overheated and I don't like freezing either. I like the perfect medium, those days when it's 65 or 70 degrees outside with a gentle breeze. So whenever spring or autumn first arrive, it feels like there's a weight lifted off my shoulders and I get excited.

I think it's good to recognize those moments when weather brings us joy. Some people enjoy walking in the rain or sitting on the porch watching a thunderstorm approach. Some people enjoy basking in the sun on a bright, dry day or taking a walk on a cool summer evening. I like to tell people that one of the beautiful things about living in Missouri is that I am able to get the full effect of each season. Sure, there are negatives to each season, but there is also beautiful positives. Summer may be intensely hot, but at least I enjoy the sun more and go outside more often. Winter may be cold or make travel difficult, but the snow is beautiful and adds to the atmosphere of times like Christmas and New Years.

I like the nostalgia I feel whenever spring and autumn arrive. I enjoy the colors I see and the smells in the air. That joy that I feel in these seasons also helps me feel joy in other moments of my life, like the way I interact with my family, my friends, peers, and strangers. I think one other beautiful thing about the season of spring is that the change in the weather and my attitude reflects that change from the Lenten season to Easter. Lent is a somber time as the Church reflects on Jesus Christ's Passion and Crucifixion just as the winter time is a little somber and dreary. However, Easter is a time of great joy and praise because Jesus rose from the dead just as I feel more joy when the trees come alive and the weather becomes brighter and more glorious.

So, I think I would like to end this post with some audience participation. I want to hear from all of you reading this post. Please leave a comment below with an answer to the following question:

What is YOUR favorite season and why?

Masculine Journey: What's the Next Step?

This past weekend, I was assisting in breaking down the stage set-up for the Catholic Youth Coalition (CYC) Convention in Helena. In my hurry to be helpful I volunteered myself for a job involving tools. I was asked to use a socket wrench and crescent wrench to take off a few nuts and bolts. It sounded easy enough, but I have only used those tools a few times in my life, and not on a regular enough basis to remember how to properly use them. After 15 minutes of getting nowhere, I knew that I needed to ask for help.

That's the part that hurts. I'm 23 years old, I should be able to just be given instruction and go from there without any guidance. But I knew that I had to admit that I had no clue what I was doing. The guy who gave me the tools was kind enough to demonstrate what to do on one of the bolts. My teammate Alec came over to assist me and in 5 minutes the job was done.

In my post on stories, I mentioned how being so focused on media leads to a lack of productivity in other areas of life. I think that is most definitely true in my case. I have spent so much time on the computer, watching stuff on TV, and playing videogames that I have not been able to increase my skills in other areas. Instead of being on the computer, maybe I should have been practicing how to use different tools. Instead of watching TV, maybe I should been practicing my ability to speak Spanish in order to become more fluent. Instead of playing videogames, maybe I should have been practicing on the guitar more so I am better able to play bar chords and write my own songs.

All of this relates to my masculine journey. As I have grown as an adult over the past several years, I have been trying to figure out what does it mean to be a man. Does it mean that I have to be a superstar athlete who spends every free moment in the gym? Does it mean I have to be a lumberjack and sporting a beard while living in the woods? Does it mean I have to be a savvy business man who wears suits every day? In a sense, none of these are the answer and yet aspects of each are the answer.

I may not have to be a superstar athlete, but I should enjoy playing sports and spending time with my friends and with retreatants playing soccer, ultimate frisbee, basketball, baseball, etc. I may not have to be a lumberjack, but I should enjoy being out in the wilderness and learn how to survive in the wild. I may not have to be a business man, but I should know how to communicate with people, get a job done, and enjoy dressing up in a classy suit every now and then.

It's moments like this past weekend when I stop and I ask myself "What am I doing with my time?". While taking down the stage, I saw guys who knew how to operate all sorts of tools and equipment with efficiency and precision that I had no clue about. Over the weekend, I saw the band playing their instruments with great skill because of the practice they had put into understanding how to use those instruments. During the dance on Saturday night, there were people swing-dancing and doing all sorts of crazy spins that made it look super easy because of how much effort they had put into learning how to dance like that.

Now, before I continue, I need to put this statement out there, especially because I need to understand this better every day. God gives each and every one of us specific and unique gifts and talents. That's why some of us are baseball players and some of us are dancers. That's why some of us are bookworms and some of us are filmmakers. That's why some of us are artists and why some of us are professional public speakers. God has given YOU certain talents and gifts and God has given ME certain talents and gifts that most likely differ from yours.

So, the realization that I came to when I saw all these different people with awesome skills wasn't "How come I can't do exactly what they're doing?" but more like "Why don't I put more effort into learning skills like these people have?". Sure, I can learn how to use the tools that these professional guys were using to break down the stage, but does that mean that I am qualified to do their job for a living? Not really. I can learn how to drum and practice my skills on the guitar more, but will I be good enough to perform live in front of a crowd or as a professional musician? Maybe, maybe not, but I know that it won't be exactly the same style as the people I saw this weekend. Can I learn how to swing-dance at an adequate level? Yes, but all of my movements will look and feel different than others because of the way I'm built and the way I move.

The thing is, as I continue to take steps to become an adult man who can provide for himself and one day provide for a family, I am coming to the realization that there is always something that I can be learning to increase my skills and better utilize the gifts that I have been given. When I come to moments like this past weekend and I have to ask for help, I feel like I have not grown as a man as much as I should. However, I shouldn't have all the answers at this point and it's beautifully humbling to have moments where I realize what areas in my life I need to grow in.

I would like to leave you with this thought. Jesus Christ is The Man, the one that I follow and model my life after the most. Now, Jesus came down to this world humbly and became both all man and all God, so He most definitely had a plethora of skills and talents (healing the blind, deaf, lame, possessed, etc.). However, He called upon several men to be His disciples. The Apostles did not have a plethora of talents and skills (at least, none of which are recorded in the Gospels). Most of them were poorly educated fishermen who knew enough to make a living by catching and selling fish. There was also a tax collector among the Apostles, who knew how to take people's money. Yet, these men were the first ones called by Jesus to walk across the world and evangelize to the people. These men had enough skills to do this job, but also relied on Jesus' teachings and guidance in order to learn how to do the job better. Eventually, after Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Apostles were able to establish the beginnings of Christianity because of the skills and talents they were given and what they had learned from Jesus.

I too have to learn from Jesus. I too have to realize what my talents and skills are. I too have to go forth and evangelize and share the Gospel with the skills and knowledge I have right now and not always be focused on the talents of others or thinking "I can't do this until I am better at this or if I know that". Peter may have floundered in the sea waters because he struggled with faith in himself, but remember, he was also able to walk on top of the water when Jesus asked him to. He was able to take that step out of the boat and onto the water.

.

Modern Stories

Warning: Spoiler Alert! This post may contain spoilers for different movies, TV shows, and books. Although, a lot of people probably already know most of any spoilers I may mention. Like, did you know Snape killed Dumbledore? Well, if you didn't before, now you do. Didn't read that part of the book yet? Really? It's been out since 2005, you should have read it by now...or seen the movie...or at least know that Dumbledore dies by the end. Look, all I'm saying is that spoiler alerts are silly. Just because you may know something happens doesn't mean you know how it's going to happen, so it doesn't really spoil much. So if you feel like part of a story has been spoiled for you, please don't be a sour puss about it. You were going to find out at some point. Just go look at the whole story if you are into it that much. If you're not into it, then it's nothing to get bent out of shape about.  Wait, what am I supposed to be writing about? Oh yeah...

Obsession

While stories have been a part of humanity since our earliest days, it seems that within the past decade or so, our society (especially in the United States) has obsessed over stories in ways like never before. Take the Harry Potter series. What started out as a mildly popular set of books in the late 90’s has turned into a global phenomenon. Some people read the seven book series on an annual basis. Some people only watch the movie versions which has led to the popularization of Harry Potter movie marathons on the ABC Family channel every month. Some people assemble Quidditch teams on their college campus, even though there is no way humanly possible for the sport to be played exactly as it is in the books.

Though you gotta admire the dedication of people who enjoy
running across a field while holding onto a broom.

The point is that people have become super obsessed with the story of Harry Potter and his adventures in and out of Hogwarts. There has been similar obsession with the Doctor Who TV series, which has become a recent interest to me. Doctor Who has been on TV since 1963, traveling across time and space with various companions and side characters. For 50 years, people have watched The Doctor battle alien races with his sonic screwdriver and travel in his Tardis which is a time travel device that looks like a phone booth (for those of you who haven't seen the show, I'm seriously not making any of this up). Since the reboot of the series in 2005, the show has reached a new level of popularity, even though the effects are cheesy and there have been over 12 men to play The Doctor now.

It's kinda like a nerdy version of James Bond. If James Bond peacefully battled
aliens and robots instead of blowing up human terrorists.

This level of obsession is so intense that it is hard to ignore, especially in the online world. This kind of fandom is also seen from people who are dedicated to the stories of Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Star Wars, and even comic books. People spend a lot of time and money going to conventions in costumes because of how much they have dedicated their lives to the dozens or hundreds of comic books that tell the tales of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Justice League, etc. 

Most recently, this kind of obsession is found in Netflix. Many people now dedicate entire days, weekends, or weeks to watching one popular TV show like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, and Dexter. After binge-watching several episodes in one sitting, people who glorify the show also complain about “What am I going to watch now?” or “Why do I have to wait until the next season?” when even just ten or twenty years ago, people asked these kinds of questions but they knew they would have to patiently wait for the episode next week instead of the next second.

Although now, the whole family can find out How He Met The Mother in nine days
instead of nine years. Totally worth it!

My Own Experience

As a little kid, I too had obsessions. I was hooked on the cartoons I watched in my childhood, especially on Saturday morning. Every Saturday, I would wake up before the sun rose to spend the next several hours watching each cartoon series in that block of time. During the times when I was committed to other things like soccer games or going on family vacations, I would make sure to record the shows so that I could watch them as soon as possible instead of wait for the reruns to come.

My philosophy at age 9

My other obsession was with video games, which in a way also features stories that people obsess over. Much of my free time was spent inside trying to get through some action game or something silly like Sonic the Hedgehog. My brother and I would often have to team up to complete the story mode on a game, which was a way for us to bond though often times we wound up battling each other in real life just as much as we were battling against the enemy in the game. My parents had to find ways to limit our time in front of the TV and push us outside in order to get us to stop playing games so much.

Sure I enjoyed stories from literature as well. I may not have been the biggest Harry Potter fanatic, but every time a new release to the series came out, my dad, my brother, and myself would take turns reading the book as quick as possible and would have to try to patiently wait for whoever was holding on to the book to put it down in order to continue forward with the story. I eventually got into manga (basically Japanese comic books) and would borrow fat stacks of particular manga series from the library. Much of my time on car rides or my free time in my teenage years was spent trying to get through the manga versions of Dragon Ball or One Piece or Yu Yu Hakusho.

Visual references for those of you trying to figure out what the heck I'm talking about.

Effect on the Culture

So, what kind of effect does this kind of obsession with stories have on our culture? Well, first off, you won't really understand too many jokes or shout-outs on TV or on the internet unless you are aware of what each current hit TV show or movie is about. Would you understand why someone calls you a Muggle or talks about going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry if you didn't know what Harry Potter was? Or would you be able to picture a Dalek, a Weeping Angel, or a Time Lord or understand what I mean by time being a ball of timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly stuff  if you hadn't seen an episode of Doctor Who before?

Second, the way people obsess over these stories shows just how much time people devote to these stories. People are spending so much money on DVDs or on Netflix or on Hulu Plus trying to find each and every episode of their favorite show. They spend so much of their free time in front of the TV or computer instead of going out doing productive things, volunteering their time, or even just enjoying the great outdoors. Don't get me wrong, I too have experienced this kind of obsession before, but many times at the end of watching many episodes of a TV series I feel unproductive or that I wasted my time instead of being glad and satisfied that I committed myself to this particular story.

Why Does It Matter?

Why do we care so much about these stories? Are the TV shows really that exciting that we seek a constant escape from our mundane existence by putting all of our time and energy into a series about a drug lord or a corrupt politician? Well, I think because majority of Americans live comfortably and have very few real world concerns (like how am I going to survive this week) then we have so much free time on our hands we want to be entertained constantly. And it is intriguing to get caught up in stories about good vs. evil, anti-heroes, battles for kingdoms, and everything else that allows us to examine our lives, morality, and mortality without having to put our comfortable lives in jeopardy.

And yet, should we be so absorbed in these stories that we should focus on nothing else outside of our work and family lives? No, because then our lives would begin to lose productivity and our purpose would be lost. We aren't meant to just sit around all day every day watching Game of Thrones. We are meant to go out and help those who are less fortunate. We are meant to work towards goals in our lives and focus on our purpose for being here. We are meant to live lives of adventure in reality instead of fantasy.

Although for Bear Grylls, life of reality and life of fantasy are sometimes the same thing.

What would we do without these modern stories? Would we actually go out and volunteer our time to help the poor and the needy? Would we really spend our days outside either getting lost in the woods or playing sports? Or would we get absorbed in other things? Would we as a society become more literate if we obsess over books like we obsess over TV shows? Would books and plays become phenomenons in our contemporary society like movies and TV shows are (even though some books do become movie phenomenons)?

Would people finally realize that every currently popular young adult novel
is pretty the exact same story?

What is the Balance?

My thoughts in this post are not meant to villainize these modern stories nor the people that obsess over them. Indeed, I am caught up in a dilemma considering I come from a performing arts field and hope to make a career out of telling/ performing stories that people enjoy. However, we as a society cannot just spend all of our time, energy, and money getting caught up in these TV shows and movies. As I said before, we are made for more. Now, this does not necessarily mean that people cannot enjoy a good TV series or that they should never sit down to become invested in a fantasy, so long as it does not compromise their morals nor acts as escapism from real life.

Meaning we should all move on and quit watching this show, people!

Can a person become invested in the stories found in modern TV hits? Sure, so long as one takes breaks between episodes and is more invested in family and friends and people in need than in the TV show itself. Can someone spend a weekend binge-watching a TV or movie series? Sure, as long as it only occurs on a rare basis. One year before college spring semester finals, a group of us got together to spend an entire 24 hours period watching the entire Harry Potter movie series and the next year we watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was a unique and rare experience and actually was a fun way to spend time with friends who are fellow fans of the series.

Can someone be a productive member of society and a committed fan of a modern story? I would say that's possible as long as their priorities are set correctly. If we cannot put down a video game controller to help somebody with a chore around the house, then priorities need to be reset. If we spend each weekend glued to the TV instead of spending that free time with friends and family or volunteering to help people, then priorities need to be reset. If we spend all of our money building up a DVD collection that isolates us and wastes our hard-earned money, then priorities need to be reset. Each of these situations have definitely applied to me at some point during my life and I have learned over time what my priorities should be and that I am not meant to be obsessed with these modern stories, but rather I am meant to enjoy entertainment in appropriate doses while at the same time being a productive and giving individual.

St. Labre Indian School

So this past week was my final journey to the St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, MT. I know I already mentioned it before in a previous post, but I had this desire to expand upon my description of the school and why I enjoy it so much. It is one of my favorite places that I have done youth ministry at, and I know that some of my teammates also consider it a favorite spot of theirs. I think that the fact that it is a favorite and the fact that I feel the need to go into further depth about St. Labre just shows what an incredible and unique place it is.

I got the idea for this post from a conversation I had with one of the teachers at the school. She is currently a teacher for the middle school, focused in math, as well as a part of the staff for the dorms on campus, but last year she served St. Labre as a part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corp. The JVs are a group of volunteers, like Reach, who dedicate a year or so of their lives to work for a region that they are placed at. There are many JVs spread out across the US, from Ashland to Portland to Yakima, and they serve the communities that they are placed in. The JVs at St. Labre help supervise the students who live in the dorms, tutor those students, act as substitute teachers for classes, and help out at events in the school.

Anyway, in this conversation, the young teacher, who is from Boston, explained how she had served at St. Labre last year and how she enjoyed it so much that she wanted to come back again and continue working at the school for another year. She was one of a number of staff members who had previously volunteer to serve the school as JVs and became part of the staff the next year, including Emily the campus minister that Reach coordinates the retreats with. And you can tell that these people are drawn to the school because of the students.

There would be very little reason for anyone to want to work at a location like Ashland. It is truly the definition of a small town. No chain restaurants, no real grocery stores, one little gas station, no movie theatre, no arts stores. Pretty much anything fun that you think of having in a big city, even in a city the size of Billings (the big city of the region), you have to travel a couple of hours to do because Ashland offers none of that stuff. Sure, the hills are pretty and if you're an outdoorsy person or a farmer, the region around Ashland might offer something for you, but as far as employment goes, Ashland is not a hotspot.

Yet, people come to Ashland to work at St. Labre. Not only that, but those who volunteer to serve just one year often come back another year to serve in some capacity. That is because of the youth that they encounter at this school. Not just at St. Labre, but at St. Charles Mission School and Pretty Eagle Catholic Academy on the Crow reservation (these three schools comprise the St. Labre school district if you will). You can tell that these teachers and staff members truly care for their students, even the wildest or least behaved students. Why do they care for them so much?

As I explained in my previous post featuring St. Labre, I didn't truly understand the lives of these students until they opened up during a prayerful talking circle. Many of the students come from family with deep, serious issues and some students would not be able to eat three meals a day if it weren't for school. Yet, despite the struggles they go through, the kids are about as normal as can be. These teachers know that these kids need a strong, positive adult presence in their lives who will not only care for them but also guide them along the right path. These staff members are truly great role models who enjoy interacting with these students. That's part of the reason why the male members of Reach were especially needed for these past two St. Labre retreats. My teammate Austin and I traveled from Yakima to Ashland twice (Alec, another guy on Reach, joined us on this last trip) in order to be positive male role models for the guys who would be attending the retreats.

Why else am I fascinated with St. Labre? Well, it is the only place that I have seen the Catholic community combine the tribe's culture with the church's. At St. Charles Mission School, the tabernacle (which houses Jesus in the Eucharist) is in the form of a tepee, there are prayers and song in the Crow language at Mass, and there is cedar incense which is used to cleanse and prepare those who are attending Mass. At the St. Labre campus, the church itself is constructed in the shape of a tepee, the Stations of the Cross inside were created using the artistic style of the tribe, and the design on the tabernacle also contains imagery from the tribe. The Mass also includes prayer in the Cheyenne (maybe Crow?) language as well as cedar incense.

Now, the Catholic staff at St. Labre have not always combined the cultures. When the school was first founded as a mission by the Ursuline nuns, it was established in order to help the Cheyenne children assimilate into the white American culture. For majority of the school's existence (it's been around for 125 years now), the religious who taught at and operated the school were using the education to assimilate the children. However, that was the thought process at the time. Majority of the mission schools from every religious order back in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century thought that the best way to help the Native Americans from becoming completely wiped out was to assimilate them into the white European-based culture. Over time, the staff at St. Labre have changed their ways and help keep the culture of the Cheyenne and Crow tribes alive by not just adding elements of the tribes' cultures to the Mass but also providing classes for the students to learn more about the cultures of their ancestors.

It is also amazing to look at the long history of St. Labre and see just how miraculous it is that the school is still operating today. Since the establishment of the St. Labre mission by the Ursuline sisters, the school faced the issues of poor funding, low food supply, floods, fires, racial tensions, lack of school supplies, lack of proper housing, fluctuating school attendance, and lack of staff. Over time, religious orders have come and gone from the school. What started out as a mission operated by the Ursuline nuns with the assistance of Jesuit priests became a school that was ran by the Capuchin priests and the School Sisters of St. Francis. Over time, majority of the religious have left so that now there is only one Capuchin priest and a couple of religious sisters at the school.

One of the biggest reasons for the school's current success is the way it receives funding. During the mid-twientieth century, the school began a mailing program in order to receive as many funds as possible by sending out as many letters as possible. With the aid of the mailing program, the school was able to reach out to more people and over time has been able to enlist big name companies as major donors. That is why St. Labre is able to provide its students with clothing, food, nice school buildings, and a new dorm for the students who cannot travel home during the week.

It's also important to recognize that while the school has been around for 125 years and has been a religious facility for all those years that there is still a need for evangelization on that campus. During my time at St. Labre, I have been able to attend Mass with the middle school and high school students on multiple occasions. This last time, I watched people process forward during Communion and saw that many of the students actually went forward for a blessing instead of receiving the Eucharist. So not only was it important for me to be there to help lead small groups on retreat and share my faith and relationship with God in words but it was also important to show that faith in action by stepping forward reverently and receive the Body of Christ. Then going forth joyfully to continue being a witness to all those around me.

So, these are just my thoughts as to why St. Labre is a unique and interesting school. Its isolation helped me become more invested in the school, the culture, the people. Walking around the place, I could feel that this place has an incredible history. I hope to one day return to the campus and see what the future has in store for the campus, the students, and the staff. I will just leave you with some pictures to help give you a better visual of the things I experienced at St. Labre.

Inside the Church, facing the tabernacle

The entrance to the Cheyenne Indian Museum, which is awesome
and has a sweet gift shop

The lobby of the sweet dorm (the center pillar is a prayer chapel)

One of the most important places on campus, the school cafeteria. I ate many delicious meals here.

The outside of the Church and a statue of St. Benedict Joseph Labre

Another view of the Church outside