New Blog

I started a new blog using tumblr called Lead Me Along, so I won't be posting on here much.

You can find my new blog at www.leadmealong.tumblr.com.

Blessings,

Avery

FINALLY!!

The new site is FINALLY up, and the new show is FINALLY there! I'm not going to be posting on here any more, just on the website. So check it out!!

www.livewtl.com - the site

www.livewtl.libsyn.com -the show

We'll be on iTunes soon!

It's been one whole year since we started, can you believe it?

Blessings,

Avery

Update

Well, as usual when I write, life is crazy busy. But that's nothing new. I'm still working on getting the website up. It's a mess right now. Ugh. Exams start this week.

American History is tomorrow. I like history, but this exam is probably going to be the hardest. I have history the last period of the day and I'm always like dead tired by the time I get to the class. My history teacher is seriously a pro at making her room the perfect condition for falling asleep. Like if I ever have problems falling asleep ever again, I just have to simulate her room. 2:00 in the afternoon after getting up at 5:30, hungry, tired, bored. Having a projecter in the room to watch videos. Lying your head down on the desk. Having someone in the far distance talk in a monotone. That would be American History class. Like, I actually like the class and teacher and all, I just haven't actually caught like half of what was said this month. Life has been so stressful with getting ready for exams, lacrosse ending, dance recital, Confirmation, having the website down, hours of studying, the flood, trying to be in the mindset to work, HUGE honors portfolio projects, etc. I literally worked for 15 hours this weekend on school projects and packets. I counted. Ridiculous. There's no silence, no time to relax, no time to just be quiet. And for me to say that is weird, cause I'm totally an extrovert.

Well, aside from my rambling, I do want to let you know that I'm working on getting the site back up. I know I have been saying that for like a month now, but we'll get to it. 3 and a half more days of school. I can make it. Hopefully once school's out I can come up with something actually halfway profound to post on here.

Blessings,

Avery

Sorry!

Hey Everybody,

I'm writing to apologize about the show. As of right now, I still cannot connect to my site to publish. I have two shows done and ready, but they can't publish. I'm going to be redesigning my website over the next few days, so don't freak out if it looks different. Sorry about the show and site! Hoping to get it up as soon as possible.

On a side note: Thanks for all of the emails everyone has been sending with questions, comments, etc. I promise that I read all of them and I try to get back to everybody. However, I sometimes forget and these weeks have been crazy with the flood and exams and getting ready for the end of school. I promise, the second school gets out for summer, I will check my email and get everything replied to!

Blessings,

Avery

Please Pray

(This is the interstate 5 miles from my house- I have never seen an interstate flood this much!)

Hi Everyone,

Sorry it is taking so long to get this show out! My computer is still not working with publishing and tech support has yet to get back to me.

Just wanted to ask for your prayers. Right now, in Nashville, we are having some major flood problems. 10 people have died, and some of the schools are closed until further notice. Luckily, my family has been blessed not to have suffered too much from the flooding, but I just ask that you keep the residents of Nashville in your prayers.

Avery

Show Late

Hey everybody,

I'm hoping to have the show out as soon as possible, but it may be a while. With confirmation over the weekend and having relatives in town, I didn't have time to make a show. Now, with school coming to an end in two weeks, everything is crazy with exams and stuff. But I will try to work on the show a little over the next few days and get it out by friday night.

:) Have a great week!

Avery

Confirmation

Today was my Confirmation. It was a beautiful ceremony and here is a picture of me and the bishop. :)

Hope you all have a great week!

Avery

Hold Us Together- Matt Maher

A beautiful song from Matt Maher's most recent album, Alive Again.

Also, here is a video of Matt Maher explaining the song...

I think you all will really enjoy the message of this song.

God Bless!

Avery

By Your Side- Tenth Avenue North

We had a song at the confirmation retreat a few months ago, and I was listening to it on my iPod a few minutes ago when I decided to post it on the blog. The song is "By You Side" by Tenth Avenue North. I really liked the message of the song. Here's a video with the lyrics. Tell me what you think!

Blessings,

Avery

Serenity to surrender

Well, my spring break is officially coming to an end. Major bummer, I must say. It's been very relaxing and enjoyable, and I am not looking forward to returning to the monotony of the school year. Oh, well. Only six more weeks until summer.

For easter, my parents gave my sister and I these books with all kinds of quotes and such in them. I really liked looking through the quotes, but here is one that I really liked:

Why, my friends, would we not embrace every day? For even among the challenges in life, when we look closely, a challenge is just a blessing in disguise. When ridden of our vanities of this world and when we seek Christ, we see the true blessing that every waking moment truly reveals itself as.

I liked the message of this quote. Sometimes we get wrapped up in our worldly desires and things and we find it hard to surrender ourselves to God. Here is a beautiful prayer of serenity.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. --Reinhold Niebuhr

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. Proverbs 3, 5-6

It's not an easy prayer by any means. We can find it difficult to surrender beyond our selfish and hipocritical hearts to truly dedicate our lives to Christ and spend every moment living towards him. Spirituality and our relationship with God is a lifelong journey, and no one is perfect. However, it is our calling and our responsibility to embrace the blessings we have every day, amidst our sometimes seemingly difficult lives, and trust God with our lives.

"Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me. I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more." St. Ignatius Loyola

A prayer and a meditation for today.

Blessings,

Avery

New Show!

Live WTL is now mobile too! Check out livewtl.com on your phone or iPod!

This week's show: April 7, 2010

On the show:
Popple
An interview with Popple, a fantastic and inspiring Catholic band
Questions from You
Questions regarding Easter, also a few trivia questions
Music
The Song "salt and Light" by Popple and based on the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Avery

Easter

Hey Everybody! I hope you all are enjoying this wonderful spring weather and the lovely Easter weekend. I wanted to let you all know, the show is going to be just a little bit late this week due to the fact that I'm on Spring Break. But I'll get it out as soon as I can, and I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter.

Blessings,

Avery

P.S. What do you all think about the new blog background and graphic?

By the love of the Holy One

Just a quick reflection I'll give for this Wednesday of the blessed Holy Week, a time of intense meditation and reflection, a time to look back, evaluate our lives, and make our trust and intimacy with Christ the ultimate goal and driving factor in everything we do.

Here's a prayer I wrote that I'd like to share:

Lord God, Father God, we come to you as sinners and failures

We admit our faults and our hipocrisy

We despise the evil in our hearts and long with great desire to be close to you

Lord, we come as failures, but we come as your children, made in the image and likeness of You

We love you and praise you and honor you as the Lord most High

We desire within ourselves to devote our lives to Your Kingdom, and live as faithful disciples.

Lord, your sacrifice was ultimate

Words can hardly describe the price you paid for our glorious salvation

Honoring you as our God and our Father, we thank you

As a solemn vow, we dedicate our lives to your work and the work of your people

You made the world, made us, created this beautiful life we now live. Every day is a glorious gift from you, and it is our call and our responsibility and our joy to respond to this amazing love you have shown us.

Life is not always easy, but you are always there

Love is not always found in our people, but Love is always within you

We love you, we honor you, we serve you, we thank you.

This, dear Lord, is our prayer.

Amen.

Have a blessed holy week!

Blessings,

Avery

Finally Friday!

Wow, I feel monotonous in saying this week after week, but I must say, I'm so glad to be able to say "It's finally friday!" It's been yet another crazy-busy week in our household. Life is moving very, very fast. It's literally flying by my eyes. That is, I must say, except for when I'm actually living it. My statements seem to contradict each other, yes, I know. However, that's what I'm feeling. Looking back, I just see a whirlwind of laughing and crying, loving and trying to love, drama and stress and every emotion in between. Yesterday seems like just a second ago, yet tomorrow seems so far away. Life moves so incredibly fast when I look at it, but when I live it, it seems painfully slow. Like, science class? Balancing chemical equations? Learning about the civil war? Geometry proofs? Spanish verb conjugations? Research papers? Lacrosse practice? Dance practice? Planning a charity run? Everything-else-I-have-over-committed-myself-to? VERY VERY SLOW.... yet looking back, it went by so fast?

How can this be? How can it possibly be that two things that so dramatically contradict each other somehow intertwine to form this beautiful, confusing, puzzling, crazy, amazing thing I call my life? How can time move so fast yet so slow?

Ah, the mysteries of life. But, what, in its self, is life? Like, duh, its what we live, the greatest and most amazing gift from God. But, what is it? Why do we have it? What's the purpose? Sometimes it can be confusing. One verse that always brings me comfort in the midst of all this?

"For this is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

--Psalm 118:24

It's one that reminds me every morning (I have a poster hanging in my closet with this verse on it) why I'm doing what I'm doing. It reminds me why I'm getting up at 5:45 am daily and going to bed by 10 (hopefully). It reminds me why I even care about half the stuff I cram into the 24 hours we call a day. The reason: Jesus. It's simple, really. He made us, created us, came for us, showed us, died for us, reigns for us. Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, our God and our most Gracious King, he has made every day that we have. He's created it as a gift and as a blessing and he expects us to live out the gifts of days that he has given us.

So when you're having one of those days (or weeks, or months, or school years for that matter....) where everything just seems to be moving slow and boring and yet fast and crazy at the same time, remember the reason that we do everything we do. It's pretty simple. Because every day we live is a day God made, and we are to rejoice and be glad in it.

Blessings for this weekend!

Avery

New Show!

Hey Everybody!

Be sure to check out this week's new show, for March 21, 2010.

On the show:
Prayer
Talking all things prayer- from how to pray, when to pray, and some prayers from the saints!
Pure Faith: A prayer book for Teens
Absolutely a wonderful book by Jason Evert
Popple
Check out Popple's website at www.popple.us

Have a blessed week!

-Avery

Very, very important! Please read and respond!

This is a crucial week in America's history. Regardless of your political standing on other issues, it is a Catholic belief that abortion is murder. It is a grave evil. It is taking the life of an innocent child. If you want to read about the catholic belief, here is an article: http://www.catholic.com/library/Abortion.asp

Now, back to this week. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read this article. http://www.lifenews.com/nat6114.html Again, this is not an attack to anyone's political affiliation, this is just the truth, what's happening in our country right now. Our diocese did a campaign a few months ago where parish members filled out cards to send to senators to state our views on abortion. The same thing is pretty much asked here.

Send a note to your representative. We don't have much time.

Blessings,

Avery

Song for today

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs by Matt Maher: (do the first few lines look familiar? Read Matthew 5:3-12)

Blessed are the poor
The kingdom is theirs
Alive in the promise
To be dead to the world
Blessed are the meek
In honor of your Father
The Word at your right hand
The Spirit of truth

Unwavering is your voice
Unwavering is your hand
Unwavering is the heart that bled for the sins of men
Unwavering is your will
Unwavering is your plan
The fount of salvation on which we will stand

Blessed are the righteous
On bended knee
Found in this freedom
Committed to you
Blessed are those who see
The heights of glory
Found in the valley
And suffering for you

Unwavering is your voice
Unwavering is your hand
Unwavering is the heart that bled for the sins of men
Unwavering is your will
Unwavering is your plan
The fount of salvation on which we will stand

Send us out to be your hands and feet
Send us out to be your hands and feet
Send us out to be your hands and feet

Unwavering is your voice
Unwavering is your hand
Unwavering is the heart that bled for the sins of men
Unwavering is your will
Unwavering is your plan
The font of salvation on which we will stand

The font of salvation on which we will stand

Send us out to be your hands and feet
Send us out to be your hands and feet
Send us out to be your hands and feet
Send us out to be your hands and feet
Send us out to be your hands and feet
Send us out to be your hands and feet

-Unwavering, by Matt Maher

Well, there's not much to say....

So how's everybody doing? Sorry I haven't posted in a while... life is just so crazy and busy! I really don't have too much to say today, but I feel bad not posting in a while.

Life's going pretty good right now. Our lacrosse team won our first game in two years yesterday in double overtime, so that was pretty exciting. I managed to sprain my ankle pretty bad on Tuesday (at dance class, none the less, so I don't even have a good story!), so I've been hobbling around the house and school with an ankle brace and crutches this week, which is not too much fun, I must say. You know how you were always jealous of those kids who broke their arms and legs and stuff in like third grade? ( maybe that was just me....) Well, I'm not jealous anymore. I think my arms and back may just be more sore than my ankle from the crutches. The weather has been amazing here lately, so I've been loving the time outside. Except, of course, when our band class went outside and I got to try to walk half a mile to the park and then half a mile back in crutches yesterday, that wasn't exactly fun with all the hills and all. I'm hoping to be all better next week!

Well, as I'm sitting here musing on anything exciting from my life to talk about, I just thought of something. I'm publishing on March 20, and I have no clue what I'm doing for my show! I was planning on having an interview with Popple to share with everybody, but technology failed me. I was enjoying some chicken noodle soup at about 11:30 on the day of the interview, checked my email at 11:45, went upstairs to get everything set up at 12:00, and our internet was down. I was planning on using skype for the interview, so I couldn't connect. I restarted the computer like four times, restarted the router like six times, restarted the motum (whatever that is, I still don't know?), called tech support and talked to the lady on the phone, called my dad who was very helpful but still couldn't fix anything, practically restarted the entire electrical system for our entire lovely household, and nothing worked. So at this point, I'm thinking "Great. I've planned this interview for a month with like my favorite band in the whole world, and then my computer decides to crash and burn. Lovely." But, you know, it all worked out, and we've rescheduled. But the point of this paragraph is basically to ask for show ideas for next show, because I'm sort of not sure what to do....

I found a "Catholic Blogger Profile" thing on the internet when doing research on blogs a long time ago, and never actually did it, so here it goes... (some of these questions are pretty random)

Your Name: Avery

Your Age: 13, but soon to be 14! Only like one month to go!

Favorite Sacrament: Holy Eucharist

Favorite Season: Of the Church or of weather? I'm guessing it means weather, so summer. Without a doubt. No question in my mind. Whatsoever.

Favorite Church you've been to: Last year in Italy, my family went to the church of St. Francis in Assisi. It was truly breathtaking.

Favorite book of the Bible: I don't really have a favorite because they're all great, but I really do love the Book of Job. I think its the first book I really read seriously from the Bible, so it has some special meaning to me.

Favorite food: Something with pasta in it, or fruit.

What I'm wearing right now: What does this have to do with blogging?? But anyway, dark washed boot cut jeans, a bright purple shirt with some ethnic looking design on it, my cross necklace, dangling flowery earrings which my cat is currently obsessed with trying to eat, one white ballet flat, and an ankle brace.

Favorite color: It changes every day. Right now? Probably a bright sunny orange.

Favorite movie/TV show: For movie, anything Disney. TV show, without a doubt that would be Psych! (Although the season finale was kind of creepy...)

Something you're looking forward to: About a million different things.... Friday, my lacrosse game, the weekend, summer break, vacation, the CNMC in Boston this summer, Catholic Heart Work Camp, camping out in the backyard this summer, my birthday, Confirmation, dance recital, the list goes on....

Favorite prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Well, that's about it for today, I don't really have any great reflection or anything for today, but that's just what's going on in my world.

Have a great week!

Blessings,

Avery

New Show!

Hey Everybody! A new show is out for Live WTL! Check it out at www.livewtl.com.

This week's show: March 6, 2010

On the show:
Interview with Daniel from Special Chronicles
Check out these websites:
Daniel's Website: http://specialchronicles.tk/
Spread the word to end the word: http://www.r-word.org/
Special Olympics: http://www.specialolympics.org/

Popple
Enjoy the song "Fishers of Men" by Popple. Check out Popple's website at www.popple.us

Have a great week!

Blessings,

Avery

Church Retreat

Last night we had our retreat for Confirmation. It was an amazing experience, and I'll blog about it later (I'm pretty tired now... I've been sick the last few days, and I hardly got any sleep last night), but I wanted to share one of the songs from the retreat.

"City on our Knees" by Toby Mac

I'll post more about the retreat and put some more songs on later.

Blessings for the week!

Avery

New Show!

Hey everybody! So there's a new show out for Live WTL. You can find it, as always, at www.livewtl.com or in iTunes. For this week's show, I interviewed my Confirmation class. I totally admit that we are really spazzish (Spazzie? Spazzy? Spazzes? Are those words?...I'm not thinking so, maybe, I'll look it up... but I think you get the point here) It sounds a little weird in the interview because I edited out the really crazy stuff we said, so it kind of sounds like we're laughing for no reason, but you know, that's the fun of it. Enjoy!

Lent
What is Lent, why do we observe it, and what should we do for it?
Confirmation Class Interview
An interview with my Confirmation class about Lenten goals, Confirmation saints, and Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Trivia
Thanks to:
-sarah, 13, Michigan
-Mark, 11, Washington
-Elizabeth, 14, England
-Peter, 15, West Virginia
for the awesome trivia questions this week! Send your own to me at avery@livewtl.com

Note: There was a mistake on the show's trivia this week. The holy oils are actually made on Holy Thursday, not Tuesday of Holy Week, and they are made at a special mass called the Chrism Mass. However, since the late 1950's, some diocese have these masses on other days close to Thursday, like Tuesday. Sorry for the confusion there!

Coming up soon!

An interview with Daniel from the Special Chronicles podcast and a surprise from a cool band!

Blessings,

Avery

For the someone, somewhere, somehow....

As we come into this Lenten season, many of us are making efforts to pray more often and deepen our relationship with God. I've gotten quite a few emails lately from listeners regarding prayer. Prayer can be hard. We don't always know what to say, and it is easy for our mind to wander. One thing I always like to do in prayer is my "someone, somewhere" prayers. For example:

-For the someone, somewhere, who is suffering starvation today

-For the someone, somewhere, who is sick and alone

-For the someone, somewhere, who does not feel loved

-For the someone, somewhere, who is considering an abortion and needs Christ's light

-For the someone, somewhere, who is suffering domestic violence

-For the someone, somewhere, who does not know Jesus

-For the someone, somewhere, who feels pressure to do what they know is wrong

-For the someone, somewhere, who does not feel like life is worth living

-For the someone, somewhere, who needs this prayer right now

My someone, somewhere prayers are usually short, but they really mean a lot to me. We take so much for granted, and there is so much that we can't even imagine going through. Plus, its always nice to know that someone, somewhere prays for you and cares about you. Just think about adding that to your prayers this Lenten season.

Blessings for the week,

Avery

Just an update...

Hey Everybody! I just wanted to let you know, I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up with the questions from you for a little while, probably until May. Feel free to send them in, I may use them on the show, I just am really really busy right now so it may take me a while to get back to you. For now, I suggest catholic.com, a great resource. Also, look at lifeteen.com, it has some great answers too. Thanks! By the way, I still plan on posting on the blog regularly and doing the show, I'm just not able to answer usually about 5 questions a day on top of school, sports, homework, and all that. I look forward to working on that more this summer though!

Have a blessed Ash Wednesday!

Avery

God, my favorite color is green...

Reflecting on my prayer journal today, I started to think about prayer. Specifically, I thought about how my prayers change all the time. Well, that got me thinking about one time in specific, the first time I ever really prayed.

It all started on that chilly winter day in November. Well, most of it at least. I specifically remember it being cold because I was wearing my sister’s itchy hand-me-down sweater, the one with the polar bear on it. Our classroom was burning hot that day, and mom hadn’t let me get a donut after mass. I was hot, I was tired, I was hungry, and I had a cold. Basically, in my eyes, I was the most unhappy a six year old could be. I really didn’t want to be there. As lovely and quaint as little old room 136 was, there was so much else to do. Like color. Or play Barbies. The last thing I really wanted to do on this rainy November Sunday morning was put my sticker up on the attendance chart and recite my memory verse. Oh, and sit on the raggedy carpet squares that smelled funny. But Mom and Dad insisted. So I mentally told myself it would be okay and walked right up to that room to get my sticker. Little did I know, this day would change my life.

The topic of 1^st grade Sunday school happened to be prayer that day. As I look back, I really have an appreciation for Mrs. Kathleen and Mrs. Debby, my teachers. I don’t know how I could possibly try to teach six year olds about spirituality. But they did. And they did it well. I remember my memory verse from that day. Actually, I remember it quite well. It is the signature on my emails, my favorite verse to meditate on, and the motto of my show. John 14:6

For I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.

Now at that time, it didn’t mean much to me. Reciting that verse was just another way to please the adults in my life (and get a Hershey’s kiss if I said it right). But back to the lesson that day.

Prayer. My teacher Ms. Kathleen wrote in on the board in big chalk letters. She asked us if any of us knew any prayers. I immediately raised my hand.

Bless us, O Lord! and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

I proudly recited my dinner prayer. Ms. Kathleen was pleased. “Now, Avery,” she asked “what does that prayer mean?” There, I was stumped. Yeah, I said it every day before every meal, but did I know what it meant? Not a clue. I mean, I was six. I always had wondered what a “bounty” was, and when exactly we were receiving it. It didn’t really make much sense to me. I stared at her. She smiled and explained that we were giving thanks for our food. I still was wondering what a bounty was. Then a girl in my class, Sarah, raised her hand to recite the Lord’s prayer. Ms. Kathleen, again, smiled and asked if anyone knew what the prayer really meant. She had a good point there. We all knew a bunch of prayers. Ask me for the Hail Mary, and I’d have given you the Hail Mary. Ask me for the Glory Be, and I’d have given you the Glory Be. But did I have any idea what I’m saying? Nope. Not one bit.

That was when she began talking about our personal relationship with God. She told us God was our friend and he would always be with us. We could tell him anything. She said we could even tell him our favorite color. We could tell him about our friends and our pets, and even our parents.

Well, that got me excited. I was excited to meet this God who was going to be my best friend. I was excited to meet this God who would always be with me. And I was really excited to tell God about my cats. I guess I had prayed before then, but it wasn’t real. Not tangible. Well, I went home that night and prayed. I uttered the most sincere prayer I could think of. “God,” I prayed, “Thank you for my life. I want to be your friend. And God, my favorite color is green.”

Now over the years after that, my prayer life has dramatically changed. Obviously I say more than thank you and what my favorite color is. I listen to God, and it isn’t all about my problems. But that day, that chilly November Sunday when I really didn’t want to be at Church, that was the day I learned to pray.

Just a little reflection for this week. Think back through your prayers. The ones we've said so many times that they sometimes can feel like they've lost meaning. I can tell you this, they haven't. So think through the prayers you say, you just may discover something cool. Oh, and don't forget to tell God your favorite color tonight. :)

Blessings,

Avery

It's a small world after all!

So my website comes with these cool handy dandy features that give statistics and charts and stuff about my site, like how many visitors, the number of downloads, etc. I was looking at it earlier and was really surprised to see how many countries there were on the list of places that people had downloaded the show! There was a list of like 35 countries where the show had been downloaded. Some places I hadn't even heard of before... That just proves how universal our Church is. No matter where you go, you'll be sure to find at lease one of the 1 billion Catholics in our world.

Just thought I'd let you know that... I thought it was pretty cool!

Blessings,

Avery

Beautiful Song!

This week on the show we talked about 1 Corinthians 13 and how it relates to love. There's a beautiful song by Brandon Heath about this I wanted to share today...

Enjoy and God Bless!

Avery

New Show!

A new show is out for Live WTL! You can find it at www.livewtl.com

This week's show notes:

Trivia
Two of our Church's saints...
Scripture Study
1st Corinthians 13- what it means and how we can reflect on it!
Questions from You
What is occultism and why is it wrong?

Here's some specific questions:
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/quickquestions/keyword/occult

Here's a great article I found very informative:
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0007fea4.asp

For all the Harry Potter fans: (trust me, I'm one of them!)
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2001/0107fea1.asp

Here is what the Catechism says:
All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons,
conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the
future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of
omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all
conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis,
other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They
contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
(CCC 2116, emphasis added).

As always, feel free to send your feedback to me at avery@livewtl.com. I love hearing from everyone!

Have a blessed week!

Avery

Silence... Oh, how sweet the sound!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while… I hope everybody is doing great! Well, this week, I’ve been super lucky. We’ve had a five day weekend because snow and ice have been making all of the roads slick and really just can’t seem to melt. And this morning, as I was getting ready to go back to school, I was thinking about how refreshing the break had been. I had been able to relax, play in the snow, go sledding, have a sleepover with my friends, go to the mall, catch up on watching Psych (which a new episode comes on tonight, if you’re keeping score….) start recording, and even break out some of my acrylic paint and a canvas which had been hiding in the closet for quite some time. It wasn’t exactly a quiet, doing-absolutely-nothing weekend (which can really drive me crazy- I’m a people person), but it was really refreshing. For the first time in quite a while, I was actually not completely dreading school. Which by the way, is quite an improvement for me. I mean, I like learning, I love seeing my friends, even the work isn’t too bad, its just the whole cycle gets crazy. You throw in waking up at 5:30, spending an hour on a bus, sports practice, a few hours of homework, getting like 6 hours of sleep, and life gets crazy. And repetitive. And sometimes you just need a refresher. The same thing goes for God.

We can get super caught up in our lives- really easy and really fast. It’s easy to blow off God. I mean, we’re busy busy busy people. There’s always somewhere to go, someone to see, something to do, some homework or project or test to work on, and then, oh yeah, there’s God. But you have to remember, this is God. God, the creator of life. God the Alpha and Omega (beginning and end if you translate from Greek, just for trivia’s sake…) God the Father. Our Father. The One who loves us. Who made us. The Jesus Christ who loves us so very much that he gave the ultimate sacrifice on the cross so we can spend eternity with Him. Oh yeah, so that’s just God. I don’t think so.

In order to love God, we must know God. And in order to know God, we have to understand who He is. We must reflect. Meditate. Pray. That’s where the silence comes in.

Life is loud. Trust me, I know. Life is very, very loud. Somehow, someway, there’s always noise, it seems. But when I talk about silence, I don’t really mean like physical (soundical? Is that even a word?) silence. I mean spiritual silence. Now that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be quiet. I mean, it’s easier to pray and reflect when the radio and your phone and the computer are all off. But the silence I’m talking about is spiritual. We must silence ourselves and our hearts in order to listen to God.

Right now, think about the lunch table. If your friends or you are anything like my friends and I, you’re loud and crazy and you LOVE to talk to each other. Now imagine a conversation at the lunch table. Or even on the bus, if that sets the scene better for you. Now thing about what you would say. What you friend would say. Then think about what the 15 other kids at the table would say when they just happened to be hearing your lovely conversation. One thing I’ve found is, no matter what you say, someone’s going to disagree. Always. So at this lunch table, with the fifteen other kids who were really just eavesdroppers, someone’s bound to disagree. (Work with me here, I really do have a point. I promise.) So the debate begins. Then it gets to where about ten kids are having a conversation and talking over each other. A lot. Now this isn’t really a bad thing, trust me, it happens all the time. It’s really what conversation is. But whatever point you were trying to get across to your friend is not going to get there if you’re talking with these other people the whole lunch.

The same thing goes for God. In our lives, we have to silence our hearts. We must focus on our goal of salvation and promise that no matter what may try to get in the way, we’re going to spend time with Jesus. So this week, I challenge you to silence your heart. Pray to God, and draw nearer to Him and His Holy gift of salvation. It’s really refreshing to be able to get silent with yourself and pray. Just like the snow days gave me a refreshing perspective on school, prayer and intimacy with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, can give us a refreshing perspective on life, faith, and salvation.

May God Bless you this week!

Avery

Emptiness… and Fulfillment!

This week at my school, we were given a special opportunity to take part in a program with STARS. It was mainly about stopping bullying, kindness, and becoming less judgmental. It was a two day program that consisted of half of our grade going on one day and the other half going on the next. On the day we weren't in the program, we sat in teacher's classrooms and did "busy work" like copying definitions and doing worksheets on things we had known since like 3^rd grade. I remember sitting in the classroom on Wednesday afternoon, after almost an hour of copying full dictionary definitions and writing sentences in silence, and the feeling I felt wasn't really bored. It was more "empty". I couldn't really understand why we were spending so much time copying definitions of words we had known for years. (I still don't, by the way) And so, as I sat there in silence staring at the clock and wondering how much longer I could really take the emptiness of the busy work, I came a realization about my faith.

One thing that's great about God, our Savior and Redeemer is his Holy gift of love. We never ever feel empty when we are filled with the joy of Christ. We can still feel sad, afraid, even sometimes a little bit alone, but we never feel empty. We are filled with emotion as we are filled with the gift of Jesus Christ. I know as a teenager it can be hard to pray. It may be finding time to pray that's difficult, or even just the actual prayer itself. We've all had those moments where we really couldn't concentrate and we felt like we were just talking to the ceiling when we prayed. Sometimes we think our prayers should be answered sooner or in a different way. I know there have been times when I asked God for guidance, and it seemed that He just never answered. But looking back, I really see that it was me who never found the answer. Prayer is a conversation with God. You can't just ask God for guidance then wait for the heavens to open up and you to hear his voice coming from a burning bush. That's just not how things usually happen these days (not to say they couldn't, it's just not every day that we witness these). So when you search for God's call, when you search for a purpose or guidance in your life, stay open and listen. Listen to what Jesus is telling you. True prayer is a two way conversation, not a monologue.

So back to the subject of emptiness…. If you feel empty in your prayer life, take the time to embrace Jesus. With Christ's love and Christ's spirit, you'll never feel empty in faith. Fulfillment is a great thing. Whenever prophecies were fulfilled in the New Testament, it was a great thing. In our lives, the fulfillment will be our ultimate goal: Salvation. So stay open to God's call and work towards the goal of fulfillment in your life: Salvation in Jesus Christ. We've never been to heaven, but just from reading the words of our Lord, we know that its well worth the wait and struggles of our lives.

Oh, what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day….

So how is everybody? Honestly, I have to say that I'm just glad that this school week is over! Wow, life has been crazy busy lately…

I think my favorite Bible verse of all time has to be Psalm 118:24. I don't know if it's just the fact that I've heard it so many times, sang so many nursery songs about it, or what, but it always lightens my days and brings me peace, comfort, and joy.

"For this is the day that the Lord God has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Psalm 118:24

I think it's really a perspective thing. Sometimes we so caught up in our daily lives, we can forget about the real reasons we are here: To praise God, discover God, and build up his Holy Kingdom here on Earth. It's a verse I have posted on every wall in my room. When I get up in the morning (at 5:45 am- and I'm not really a morning person!), I sometimes think that there are about a million other things I'd rather be doing right now then getting up at an unearthly hour to get on a bus, to go to a school, to go to lacrosse or piano or dance class or something like that (which I really enjoy, it can just be stressful sometimes) to come home and do hours of homework. But I have to remember the blessings I have. Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Savior, and my King, blessed me with this day, these opportunities, these things. I have the blessing of living in a country where I can get an education. I have the blessing of living in a country where I can do fun things like sports, dance, and music. I've been blessed with a day, an opportunity, a life. So count every day as a blessing. There's song by the band Superchick called "We Live". It's really about embracing every day for the blessing from God that it is, and making the most of life. There's a verse in there that I'm remembering right now that says,

Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is storming
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day
Is a gift somehow, someway

We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love
We live, we love, we forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love 

So remember, every day that we have, every day that we are blessed with is a gift from God. We can embrace it and use it to build up His Holy Kingdom.

With something to think about…. May God Bless You!

Avery

Finding God’s presence in life… you know, just regular old life.

So, how's everybody doing? I decided to take a quick breather from studying right now. Between trigonometry, world issue research papers, the Constitution, chemistry, Spanish verb conjugations, Haiti relief projects and new piano songs, my brain is scattered everywhere today! Oh, and did I mention that tomorrow is a Friday, the day with all the tests at school? Well, I didn't write today to complain or vent (although sometimes that does feel pretty good, I will admit). I wrote to give you some updates and talk a little about God's presence.

Let's start with the updates. As many of you all know, there was a major earthquake in Haiti recently. It killed and displaced many, many people. I strongly encourage you to pray for the people there and look into sponsoring Catholic Relief Services with donations if possible. At my school, our NJHS project for this month is working with "Project Cure", which is an organization that helps with disaster relief. Try to take the time to look into an organization and keep the people there in your prayers. They are going through things that you and I can't even imagine. Our church's mission trip was actually scheduled for next week to Haiti, so I'm sure that we'll be sending relief. However, 15 people are not going to solve the problems without some more help. Churches may have special collections this week for Haiti relief, and I encourage you to at least offer prayers if you can't provide donations for these people.

Also, you may already know about the exciting opportunity I am looking forward to working on. My first "Teen Moments" segment aired today on Catholic Moments podcast with Lisa Hendey, and I am so excited to be on the show and look forward to working more on segments for the show.

So you may be wondering what all of this has to do with God's presence (and I apologize for rambling a bit… let's just say it has been a really, really long week). Well, despite the stress of schoolwork and such, I have found joy the last couple of days in trying to find God's presence in my life always. You know, when you are sitting in Church looking up at a huge crucifix and down on your knees praying, you can't help but feel God's presence. But I am talking a little more about the "outside world"… the everyday life when we don't always feel the way we do in Church. Sometimes life is random. We have absolutely no idea whatsoever what to say to something. That's when we have to turn to God, the creator, and our savior and say "God, it's up to you. Use me." And trust me, that's not always and easy thing to do. But it's the right thing to do. Now say you're not in a terrible situation. Like no one is telling you to cheat, steal, do drugs, that kind of thing. It's just the negative attitude of the people around you or the pushing and shoving and stuff in the hallway. One thing I used to do to remind myself of Christ's presence was pretend it was "shadow student day". Our school does that a lot, where people have their friends from other schools come and see our school. I would do the same with Jesus. When people were trying to get me to engage in negative conversations, copy homework, gossip, or do something that I knew was not in any way building up God's kingdom, I mentally said a little prayer. I pretended that Jesus was right there with me (which He was, God's always with us, I'm just making a point here.) Whenever you don't know what to do, whenever you feel alone, whenever you feel like no one at all could possibly understand what you're going through (and yes, we all have those moments), just remember God. Remember that nothing is too big for him. Nothing. Remember, He did make us all. He made us all the beautiful, wonderful, intricate people that we are. He gave us these emotions and totally understands us. He also made all the trees, and the birds, and the ocean. All that great stuff- that was God. So try today and every day to remember that and remember what's important. Not that your trigonometry test isn't important (look up Proverbs 4:13) but just remember that the events of today, the choices we make to draw closer to Christ today, that's what's really important. Find God's presence and you can do anything. You just have to be open to the call. Our plans aren't always His, but trust me, He's got greater plans than we can even imagine.

Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall? All you have to do is call…

Yes, I know it's corny. I'm getting the theme for my blog post this week from a 70's song by James Taylor ("You've Got a Friend"). But really, I think it has a good point that I want to dig into. Right now, I'm preparing for Confirmation in April. I'm doing a book with my sponsor called Have Faith: Sustaining the Spirit for Confirmation and beyond. The book is by Michael Carotta, and one of the points that he made during the first reflection was that we are always in different spiritual seasons. We can be in summer, enjoying the warmth and comfort of our spiritual lives, just like we love the warmth and comfort of the beach, the pool, and lazy summer days. Or we could be the opposite, in winter. We could feel cold and frigid, kind of like it is outside our windows right now (but, hey, I'm not complaining about that- I've had a four day weekend because of the snow!) There's also spring and fall, the in between seasons. If you are in spiritual spring, you may feel like your faith is blossoming. Or if you're in fall, you may feel like your faith is changing, just like the leaves. But remember, God's always with you. So whether it's winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call on God, and he will help you. So embrace the season you are in. If it's winter, pray for help and guidance to stay close to God. If it's summer, enjoy the season, and store up some of that hope and some of that love you have right now.

Also, I wanted to let you all know about an exciting opportunity I have been blessed with this week. I am happy to let you know that I will be having a segment on Catholic Moments podcast with Lisa Hendey called Teen Moments. The post above is actually the focus of this week's Teen Moment, but that won't usually be the case.

May God Bless you this week,

Avery

2010 Revolution of Faith

Last week I launched the 2010 Revolution of Faith program. You can find it online at revolution.livewtl.com.

It is a program designed for families that focuses on faith, fun, and fellowship. It is also about new year's resolutions. Many times we make new year's resolutions on new year's eve or day, but we all know that usually by the end of the year we have given up hope on these or completely forgotten about them. That's where the 2010 Program comes in. It will help you to evaluate your goals and see if you need to make any changes. It will also help you chart your progress. The goal is for you to make faith goals, family goals, and personal goals, then connect them. I hope you enjoy the program! If you have any questions, email me at avery@livewtl.com!