Back from Sydney

Well I'm back on Long Island and back to reality after World Youth Day '08 in Sydney, Australia. Here are some highlights and moments that moved me:

- The closing Mass with Pope Benedict. I hear there were over 500,000 people there. It certainly felt that way
- Being close (enough so to take this picture) to Pope Benedict not once but twice.
- Attending the Matt Maher & Hillsong United concert in which they held Eucharistic Adoration for the 50,000 or so people that were there. Yes all those people and you could hear a pin drop.
- Meeting many cool Aussies and being present to hear Cardinal Pell of Sydney welcome the USA pilgrims as Australia's "most important friends" at the opening Mass.
- Witnessing the conversion that took place, especially in people going to confession for the first time in years.
- Playing the "pony game" with about 200 people from all over the world as we awaited the Pope's arrival.
- Learning how to play rugby.
- St. Mary's Cathedral and praying front of the body of Pier Georgio Frassati.
- Seeing the American flag and the Iraqi flag flying together on the same pole.
- Receiving a cape and Poland flag from some new Polish friends.
- Listening to over 20 Australians who were kind enough to say "the dingo ate my baby" on video.
- Making many new friends.
- Bishop William Murphy's (Diocese of Rockville Centre) catechesis.

There were certainly many more highlights. I am just so blessed to have been there to witness the Spirit. Now I hope that I can witness to the Spirit.

CCC 2365

Hello!
My name is Alissa and I am joining the Blog Team of "Rise of the TOB". I am thrilled to contribute some small amount to the great "New Evangelization" which our late Pope John Paul II called for, and worked for in a speacial way through the Theology of the Body.
I wanted to share one of my favorite Catechism references which I think has a beautiful take on the truth of the Sacrament of Marriage:

"Fidelity expresses constancy in keeping one's given word. God is faithful. The Sacrament of Matrimony enables man and woman to enter into Christ's fidelity for his Church. Through conjugal chastity, they bear witness to this mystery before the world.
St. John Chrysostom suggests that young husbands should say to their wives: I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us. . . . I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you."
- CCC 2365
I think St. John's words establish a very clear understanding of the beauty possible in human relationships when we take to heart the golden rule of loving God with our whole selves and our neighbor as ourselves. Our challenge in this day and age is to learn to live lives of such humble love that we would choose to speak as St. John suggests even when it is most difficult and when our wills pull us in other ways. When we make the choice to love, we continue to follow the path of Christ and often we begin to discover the joy of being in this world when our work and toil is to overcome evil with good, and bring peace where there is none.
God bless.

Off to World Youth Day

Well, tomorrow morning I will be leaving for Australia by way of Hawaii. Not too shabby, huh?

This will be my first World Youth Day experience and to say I am excited is a massive understatement. What a joy it will be to see over 200,000 young Catholics take over Sydney for a week - all culminating in Mass with our Holy Father. Certainly I was blessed to see Pope Benedict when he came to NY. I am doubly blessed to travel across the globe to see him again just a few months later.

I guess this isn't exactly Theology of the Body related, but JPII instituted WYD and penned TOB, so there... it fits! But seriously, this is a generation mixed of young people either starving for the message of the Gospel of Life or carrying the torches and waving the TOB banner. I would imagine the TOB presence will only be greater in Sydney as the teaching continues to grow. It will be interesting to see.

At any rate, I haven't been posting often any way, but it will certainly be 2 weeks before I put anything on the blog. Laura will also be away. We have a new contributor who will be introducing herself shortly. I'm very excited about having Alissa on the Rise team and i believe you will enjoy her insights.

Well, that's all for now. The heart of the summer officially starts today for me. After Sydney, it's a tad over a month before my wedding day. What a year God has planned for me. Amen.

A reading from the Book of Tobit

On their wedding night Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife,
"Sister, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord
to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance."
Sarah got up, and they started to pray
and beg that deliverance might be theirs.
They began with these words:

"Blessed are you, O God of our fathers;
praised be your name forever and ever.
Let the heavens and all your creation
praise you forever.
You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve
to be his help and support;
and from these two the human race descended.
You said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone;
let us make him a partner like himself.'
Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine
not because of lust,
but for a noble purpose.
Call down your mercy on me and on her,
and allow us to live together to a happy old age."

They said together, "Amen, amen."

Tobit 8:4-8

Yup, I'm officially leaning towards this as the OT reading at my wedding.

1 in 4 teen girls have an STD?

I must turn your attention to Matthew Archibold's (Creative Minority Report) coverage of a National Journal article that seeks to clear up some things about the recent CDC (Centers for Disease Control) finding reported in newspapers all over the country that 1 in 4 teenage girls have an STD.

This study which to me, a resident of Long Island, screamed out for abstinence education (which has not been federally funded on Long Island for 30 years) in our schools. Apparently, some on the other side of the fence took this to mean that abstinence education is not working. To which I reply - um, where is abstinence ed. being taught... because I certainly didn't receive it when I was in high school 8 years ago. Even so, I'll never understand the logic behind "have sex, so that you don't get a sexually transmitted disease". But then again, there are still teachers telling students that condoms are 99% effective when they've been proven to be 85% at most (for HIV) and 50% effective against others (Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Genital Herpes, HPV [perhaps]) . Credit to The Medical Institute for Sexual Health.

Living with the End in Mind

One part (of the many parts) of Pope John Paul II's message in the Theology of the Body, is to remind us as Jesus does in his conversation with the Saducees about the resurrection (Mark 12:19-27), that we are destined for a world beyond this one. And so, our lives here must be lived with our "next life" in God's Kingdom in mind. This isn't to say that we should walk around with a checklist of dos and don'ts that will "qualify" us for Heaven. What I am trying to say is that we need to take seriously our call to love as God loves - with everything He has, including His life. In genuinely pursuing our ability to love as He loves we are making ourselves ready for Heaven in the process, in which that ability will be most fully realized.

That being said, loving as God does means putting others first - sacrificing ourselves and taking up our own crosses. We can only get close to God when we put ourselves on Calvary with him. That means exposed, beaten, mocked, and eventually killed, as well as mentally, emotionally, and spiritually tortured. Sounds downright frightening. And yet we know how it turns out. We know the result of it... the gates of heaven are opened.

So why is it so dang hard to accept our crosses?

While I'm Not Blogging...

Consider checking out a great blog I should have mentioned a long time ago:

Reflections of a Paralytic

This is an exceptional blog by Chelsea Zimmerman who has a most inspiring story. I'm excited to add it to the blog roll. And since there is nothing new to read here... go check it out!

And then come back to Rise of the TOB... soon!