Hard to believe, but January is almost over and we are officially full tilt into our spring semester.  There are lots of things to think about…Fundraising Dinner, Excursion Outings, Captain’s Meetings, School Visits…

Breathe.

It’s easy to get caught up in the "back to the grind" mentality, even when your job isn’t a grind at all (like mine).  And I know I’m not garnering any work sympathy for all you cubicle dwellers reading this.  After all, my job is basically to have fun with guys.  If I’m not having fun, I’m probably not doing part of my job right (how many of you reading this can say the same about your job?)

But I digress.

I am excited because I find myself smack dab in the middle of another semester filled with opportunities…to meet new brothers, to hang out with HAWC guys, and to ask more people to run with the vision of FRATERNUS.  There was a time when each of those things, rather than exciting me, scared me to death.  As I continue now and into the foreseeable future (yes!) doing what I’m doing, I am filled with hope at what lies ahead.  Although the road can be uncertain, I do know one thing for sure:

I won’t be in a cubicle any time soon.

~Rush

Have you ever received a paradigm shift? Has a perception you’ve held ever turned on dime effectively changing the way you viewed the situation? I feel comfortable responding yes for you.

I was with Brad at Trinity Middle school last week talking with the class of 8th graders. Our weekly visit to share the faith is not scripted, I never know what to expect. Brad was sharing his witness and two of the guys were completely oblivious, breaking twigs and making each other laugh. We seperated them from the guys that wanted to listen and sat them on the benches right next to us. I felt the call to go and speak with one of them.

I sat with him for 25 minutes and we talked. He shared with me that the only real constant in his life is disapproval. He knows what he is doing wrong, he has oodles of people willing to point out how he’s failed. He’s dying to know he’s loved without conditions, without having to get it right all the time. He’s afraid love being withdrawn for the mistakes he’s made and the Enemy has isolated him, condemning him in shame. He’s frozen in fear and asks what am I doing right? I’ve been there. Positive thinking alone won’t overcome this. I was able to share with him the love of the Father, a love that does not condemn, judge, isolate, belittle or shame. A weight was lifted by Truth. I encouraged him.

I empowered him as the leader of the 8th graders, they all look up to him. He expressed to me the importance of having Brad and I in his life like big brothers. It was important for him to see me able to love him without condemning anything he’s done. The Lord will not judge until the last day, who am I to expedite the process?

Now here is where I received a paradigm shift.

After announcements at Trinity on Monday this week, I was hanging out with the 8th graders waiting to be picked up. One of the 8th graders approached me and asked if one of them could be pulled aside each week to talk with me individually. Here I am confused…the ones we pulled aside were seperated because they were being disruptive but this guy was jealous at that, it was an opportunity he wanted. Huh?

At the end of class yesterday I shared with the guys that in future classes they had the option to talk with one of us individually. The guy who shared with me the desire to talk asked if he could talk for the rest of the class. There were four minutes to the bell. We started talking and he told me about his struggle with pornography, a struggle he could not openly share in the group for fear of being laughed at. He let his guard down and talked about knowing it was wrong and wanting never to look at it, wanting something better for himself. I was blown away!

These guys are dying for someone to talk with them openly, someone they can share their struggles with. It is a blessing that these guys really understand the reason why Brad and I are at the school. It is not for us, it is for them. That desire is in all men, the desire to walk with a brother…cue FRATERNUS!

Lord, use me for Your Kingdom!

KWess

It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery as the purpose of God’s plan: “to unite all things in him.” St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church “a great mystery.” Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom, she becomes a mystery in her turn. Contemplating this mystery in her, Paul exclaims: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (CCC 772)

The more time I spend in prayer, the more I am confronted with the intimacy of a God who is Inexhaustible Mystery. The Bridegroom has descended from His Heavenly throne to dwell among us, to gently invite us into the furious love affair that He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Who are we, that God would find us worthy of such affection? Who are we, that He would even know our names?

We live in a culture that has forgotten the staggering truth of the Incarnation and is in desperate need of a renewal of sacramental imagination. To see with the eyes of Christ is to live with this imagination. To see mystery all around us, not as a puzzle to be solved but a reality into which we enter, is true freedom.

With our young men in FRATERNUS, it can often be intimidating to share the eternal truths and mysteries of our faith. In an effort to hold their attention or seek their understanding, I am all too tempted to forget the discomfort at the heart of the Gospel. We believe in a God who became Man, suffered, died, and rose again. We believe in a Church instituted by Christ Himself, left for us to be the guardian of the fullness of truth and the provider of the fullness of means of salvation. There is nothing easy about these truths. They are simple, indeed, but not easy. We must not shy away from preaching them with great love and boldness.

This morning, I met a missionary intern and six FRATERNUS brothers for 7am Mass at an all girls Catholic high school. We were a formidable (and noticeable) force, and I could not have been more encouraged. FRATERNUS is working when we have young men going to daily Mass by their own initiative (and with occasional encouragement).

This week, may you drink deeply of the Savior’s love as His Spirit draws us ever closer to the Father’s heart. Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

FRATERNUS is a needed apostolate, that goes without saying. Nevertheless, I will say more about it lest I set a record for the shortest blog in FRATERNUS.

While walking into Good Shepherd Catholic Church the other day a young guy said, “Hey, I know who you are.” Brad and I asked him his name and where he went to school. He told us he was in the 2nd grade and he went to Trinity. Although I’ve never met this young man he knew what FRATERNUS was and wanted someday to be involved in the program. Jason, our really, really cool boss once told us that he wanted us to become as essential to the schools as the water fountains. We are.

Brad and I were recently invited to the Trinity Middle School for a meeting with the rising 6th grade parents. As each teacher spoke about their classes and their teaching style, several mentioned the value that the FRATERNUS missionaries add to their classrooms. Being affirmed as a positive role model in the school reminded me of a story where I was told just that by a student. During a lunchtime conversation recently one of the 8th graders told me I was an awesome role model. I asked why (both because of my curiosity and because I wanted to share with you). He replied that I never say negative things to the students at school. No matter what they say to me or each other I don’t break them down with my words (Negative humor is a no no, thank you Jason for hammering that home). It’s an honor to be present in the schools.

God Bless

KWess

I just realized that I have neglected to share about the second TLH HAWC group, which kicked off in mid-November.  Seven young men have agreed to come together each Friday evening to pursue Jesus Christ in a deeper way and grow as His disciples.  Here’s a rundown of a typical HAWC meeting:

I generally pull up around 4:50 to the San Miguel Community Center where there are at least 2 or 3 brothers already there waiting for me…well not for me, but the pizza anyway.  They come running to my car, rip open the passenger side door, grab the pizza, and bolt inside to start devouring the four pies.  After scarfing down as many slices as we can in as short of a period of time as possible, we all head outside to play the HAWC mutant form of basketball.  It involves a lot of bear hugs, stiff arms, traveling, made up words, half court shots, and plenty of kicking the ball.  After about 45 minutes of letting the brothers tire themselves out, I try to round them up, head back inside, and start the discussion.

My favorite part of the discussions…the opening prayer.  I ask one of the brothers to volunteer to open us in prayer, and with the exception of one very eager brother, the rest look wide-eyed and fearful as if God will strike them dead for uttering one word to Him.  It’s quite comical to watch their faces as I look at them to see if they will be the brave one to begin us with a nice prayer from the heart.  Once one courageous soul musters a simple, “Thank you for this day and bringing us to HAWC.” followed by an Our Father, we begin.

This past week, we began to look at the 2nd Commandment - “Thou shalt not use the Lord’s name in vain.”  We spent a large portion of the evening discussing “grace”.  It’s such a commonly used word in Christianity, one that these brothers have undoubtedly heard many times, but when I asked them to define it they couldn’t.  To be smart and funny, they gave me every other definition of grace they could think of: a girl’s name, what you say before meals, and to be balanced and coordinated.  But when I pressured them to define grace as Paul uses it in Ephesians 4:29 (and after laughing for a while at their wittiness) they were stumped.  I gave them a simple definition that someone once told me: grace is a participation in the Divine Nature.  God’s free gift of grace is what allows us to become perfect and holy as He is perfect and holy.  They were able to then see what Paul meant that our words should “impart grace to all who hear.”  Our words are meant to reflect God and build others up, and when that is our focus we will avoid profaning His name.

I’m excited for what God is going to do in these brothers’ lives.  Most have grown up in amazing, Catholic families, and hopefully, by the grace of God, I can continue to challenge them to see their faith outside of the box and make their faith more real, personal, tangible.  Please keep the brothers in your prayers.

B-Rad

I just returned from Nashville’s annual “Youth Mass for Life,” celebrated by our beloved Bishop Choby and attended by several hundred youth from the three Catholic high schools in middle Tennessee. I was struck by the homily and had chills upon hearing the most recent statistics about abortion. Fifty-one million pre-born lives have been lost since the Roe v. Wade decision over 35 years ago. One in four people that should be living in this generation of youth are not with us. When you put this into our language, we should have nearly ten more young men involved in each FRATERNUS chapter across Florida and Tennessee, but those individuals were not given the basic right to life.

Of course, I saw many of our FRATERNUS brothers today and enjoyed pizza with them after the Mass. As always, the brotherhood is strong. One of our captains joined me in going around to the different tables and connecting with the young men present. We both agree that it is a great honor to serve them, to be involved with such a unique and effective apostolate.

We’re coming up on our 3rd FRAT night of 2010, with EXPOSURE outings around the corner and preparations for summer RANCH already being made. It is clear that the good Lord is blessing us in Nashville. I hear affirmations from various sources (parents, priests, brothers, administrators, benefactors, etc.) nearly every day. I also receive several phone calls a week from different organizations who want us to partner with them on various projects. We joined the Knights of Columbus just over a month ago and helped with their annual Christmas party that reaches out to the elderly population of lower incomes. Just before the holidays, we gathered boxes of wet wipes for the Hope Clinic, which serves women struggling with unplanned pregnancies. Tomorrow, we will team up with the Dominican Campus to put up over 3500 wooden crosses on their front lawn, representing the number of abortions that occur in a given day.

Though not specifically FRATERNUS events, it is a great honor to work alongside the Church in Nashville and to have gained the trust of so many people who want our brothers to be a part of their ministries. It is a great sign of hope, for people are looking to our young men to rise to the occasion.

To honor the thousands who will gather in D.C. next week, I’ll end with a quote from the late Congressman Henry Hyde:

“When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God - and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world - and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare him, because he loved us!’”

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn and Patroness of FRATERNUS, pray for us!

One of the foremost aims for FRATERNUS this year with is to enkindle in the brothers a deeper devotion to Our Mother, Mary.  After all, when one welcomes Mary into his heart, he also welcomes her Father, God the Father, her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, and her Son, Jesus Christ.  If we are hoping to raise up men of God who are disciples of Jesus Christ, should we not be entrusting them to the care of His and our Mother?

One lesson that has been reinforced many times over these past 5 months has been: you can’t give what you don’t have.  In order for me to “pass on” and encourage a greater devotion to Mary, I too must strive to deepen my own devotion and consecration to Our Lady.  I recently stumbled upon the book The World’s First Love: Mary Mother of God by Fulton Sheen, and have been absolutely mesmerized and inspired by the writing of this man whose own devotion and love for our Blessed Mother is so obvious and apparent.

I want to share one particular passage that I’ve been come back to and sharing quite frequently lately.  I hope it too may awaken something in your heart, further enliven your devotion to Mary, or at the very least help you to see her in a new light than you have previously.  So without further adieu:

“She is the one whom every man loves when he loves a woman - whether he knows it or not.  She is what every woman wants to be when she looks at herself.  She is the woman who every man marries in ideal when he takes a spouse; she is hidden as an ideal in the discontent of every woman with the carnal aggressiveness of man; she is the secret desire every woman has to be honored and fostered; she is the way every woman wants to command respect and love because of the beauty of her goodness of body and soul.  And this blueprint love, whom God loved before the world was made, this Dream woman before women were, is the one whom every heart can say in its depth of depths: ‘She is the woman I love!’”

I couldn’t of said it better myself.

To Jesus, Through Mary

B-Rad

I’ve always wanted to dramatically save someone’s life. A rescue from traffic maybe. Perhaps a burning building. By my grandiose sacrifice of my life they would live. Obviously that hasn’t happened. Although I haven’t wrestled a shark for a fellow human, I am called to look to the cross daily as my example of sacrifice.

We focused on sacrifice last week at FRAT Night as we’re walking through the virtue of Temperance. All of the Sr. Brothers recognized the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus laying his life down for all humanity. They understood that He died so that we may all have life. They wanted another (less perfect) example of sacrifice. I obliged.

I spoke about FRATERNUS. FRATERNUS does not exist for it’s own benefit; rather, it exists so that the brothers may come into a deeper relationship with their Lord. We look to the cross daily as our example for us as men and as an organization. They wanted to know if we make any sacrifices as an organization. I told them there were many unnamed sacrifices that that happen daily for the growth of FRATERNUS and for the holiness of all the brothers involved.

The brothers were inspired by the example of FRATERNUS. They challenged themselves to sacrifice one thing for a week for their FRATERNUS brothers everywhere. Our call to sacrifice for others is a daily one and it was incredible to see the Sr. Brothers on fire for that.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

KWess

Dear FRATERNUS Bloggers and Blogger Fans,

One of the most acclaimed independent documentaries in years is coming
to Jacksonville. Grassroots Films of Brooklyn, the producers of The
Human Experience are hosting a special one-night-only viewing of their
award-winning film at UNF’s Lazzara Performance Hall, Friday February
19th at 7:30 pm.

Winner of 27 awards, including Best Documentary at the 2009 New York
International Film & Video Festival and the Grand Prize for Best
Feature Film at the Toronto Moving Film Festival, The Human
Experience, tells the moving story of a band of brothers who travel
the world in search of the answers to the burning questions: “Who am
I? Who is Man and why do we search for meaning?”

Their lives are forever altered as they see, upclose and first hand,
the lives of the homeless in New York City, the orphans of Peru and
the abandoned lepers in the forests of Ghana. Share the experience and
see the beauty of man and resilience of his spirit with new eyes.

Pre-sale tickets are available for just $2 presale. Tickets at the door of the Lazzara
Performance Hall on show night, February 19th, will be $4 each.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

All proceeds go to benefit Fraternus, a free program for boys to help develop them into virtuous young men through regular meetings,outdoor excursions, discipleship groups, and summer camps. View the trailer for the Human Experience at
www.grassrootsfilms.com

I have a confession to make to all you loyal blog readers.  I have a Twitter.  I know, I know.  No one needs to know my every move and every thought.  But several months ago I made one, only to forget about it for a few months.  That is until a handful of the Trinity students found me on their and resurrected my tweeting habit from the dead.  Now I view it as another effective ministry tool, like my XBox 360 that I often play online with many of the brothers.  (You won’t find these methods in any Jason Craig, “Relational Ministry” presentation.)

Over the Christmas and New Years break I travelled home to New Jersey (where it was unnecessarily cold and snowed enough to make a polar bear cry).  While home I received these 3 tweets from 3 different guys at Trinity:

1. “ya brad u need to come to a game against innovation,maclay, or holy comforter”

2. “You better not! Haha but you do need to come to one of our 3 games the first week back from break!”

3. “dude you have to come to the maclay game”

I was stunned that during the break, when most kids are playing with new toys, hanging out with family and friends, sleeping in until noon, etc. these boys thought about me attending their basketball games when I got back.  One thing J Craig has taught me is to not underestimate the power of my presence.  Even when I don’t realize it, the kids are very aware of my attending lunch, recess, and especially sports games.  It was definitely an exciting, yet humbling moment to see for myself the impact my presence has on these boys.

B-Rad

P.S. - At recess on Tuesday, several of the Trinity 7th grade boys came up to Kevin and I and said “We’re playing Twitter.  We’re going to follow you.”  I laughed…a lot.  It was a very creative joke.