JESUS IS AWESOME!

God is Awesome! what a great title to start my newest blog and you will see as you read thru it, why i make that statement. First of all Thank You Jesus! for all the blessings received. Its has been a while since i wrote my last blog. a lot has change since and i thank Jesus for it all. I am now teaching the teens in my parish catechism to prepared them for their first communion. i have a new job and its going great i am getting more hours and have notice that i am more stress free! thank you Jesus!

The last few months have been a roller coaster ride to say the least, i have been feeling down a lot in my faith. struggling to trust Jesus that He in the end had a better plan for me. you see im like many of you. when i struggle i expect Jesus to come and rescue me right away. its almost like a 911 syndrome. im in trouble and i called LORD, LORD come and help me and i expect Jesus to come walking in my life right there and then and save me and He does not. At least i think or believe in those moments that He doesn't. But i know better He is always with me. I know its a cliche right we all here, God loves you, God is always with you, God wants you, etc etc. I think that the reality is that we have heard this so much and we continue to hear it that it almost looses its meaning. So we tend not to care about it as much as we should. My self included it.

But what i have learn so many times is that EMMANUEL Is With Us. God is truly with us, during happy times as well as difficult times. It becomes hard, difficult, confusing or frustrating that we struggle and we continue to struggle perhaps with the same issue/s or different and it seems that we can never catch a break. But if we struggle is because our own faults, Not Gods. We struggle because we make everyday decisions that separate us from God more and more. We don't realize how far from God are we till we struggle. How much we need God in our life's and How great is His love for us. In my life for example, we have been struggling financially for a while now. Perhaps about a year now, to the point were things got really really unconformable, we were borrowing money trying to make things work. The lack of work made it, even more stressful because it became more and more difficult to pay back what we had borrow the week before or so. To the point that we were behind in all of our bills. I threw the towel so many times and was mad and angry. Not so much at God but at my self for not seeing Gods plan for me. You see the year before this struggle i had gotten a few job opportunities without me looking. People were coming to me asking me to come work for them. Now don't get me wrong, i am not saying im superman at my job, but i am a pretty decent worker so i guess words gets around. But without knowing that were going to struggle so much financially i passed on those opportunities thinking naah. We are ok at work, yes we are slow but things are going to turn around. But they did not and so the struggle began.

But thru it all we continue to attend mass, continue to do prayers. But i have to say my prayers became shorter and shorter. I would say things like, God help me today. Lord Help me find work. Lord help me put food in my table. etc etc. when before i could really spend time in prayer during this time i did not. which is the reason i stop writing as well. i couldn't get inspire to write, i just couldn't. But as they say after the rain the Sun shine comes and oh sure it did for me. I got a phone call from my current employer, asking if i would be interested in doing an interview with them. Now in my own foolishness, i sort of said yeah sure but did not follow on it. Thought about it for a couple of weeks or so and then decided to call them and do the interview. I have to say that was a huge Blessing in it self. After the interview right there and there i felt this is it. This is were God wants me to go and i have been in my new job for two months now. Thank You Jesus!

But i also have to give thanks to Jesus! for kicking my butt and showing me some of the path that He wants me to go on at least for now. You see one of my many short prayers to God has been, Lord show me what you want from me? Show me what direction you want me to take with my spiritual journey with you and like they said be careful what you ask for. Because you might get it. Well its true, i had somewhat consider that perhaps Jesus wanted me to teach others about HIM. Now i have no masters degree or any formal schooling. I have been learning our true and rich faith, thanks to my brother in Christ Rick Lentz from http://www.brothertobrotherministries.com. Rick and i have been going threw some materials that have help me a lot and he has been a great blessing as well. But when my priest ask me if i wanted to take on a class on my own teaching students preparation for their communion and i said Sure why not, so i did. I have to say i have great blessings all around me like my "compadres" ( co-parents ) Sergio, Odon, Juanita, Frank, Teo and his wife. All these people are now my sons and daughters godparents and they have been instrumental part of our life's and in my walk with Christ.

I love teaching my students, i know its only been two months but i absolutely love it. Its a big responsibility. One that perhaps i understand But not yet Fully Understand! I have to think about what i want to say to them and how to explain it. How to make the class fun and interesting and engage them to participate. I just dont want to teach them the faith i want them to be on fire for the faith. I want them to have Agape for Christ. so that one day they too can evangelize others. I want them to know what they have, who Jesus was and is for them. How much He loves them and wants them in heaven and so much more. I know this is only the begging of my walk with Christ, i know he has a lot more in store for me and perhaps on a smaller or bigger scale. I cannot wait till He reveals the rest of it.

Its going to take a while for our financial situation to become stable, we owe a lot. But the reality is that every day it becomes easier to give our worries to God and let Him take care of them. He always has, i am telling you. I can prove it, i just tend to panic and i don't see Him or feel Him. Jesus Love You! and He loves you with all the love in the world. Its impossible for us to grasp it but we must believe it. Because it is true. Trust on Jesus that He will help you, call on His name and don't let Him sleep. Bug him 24x7 with all your worries and anxieties and stress and difficulties. He can take them all, He really can!

But be prepare to make some changes in your life as well, just as we ask God to help us. We must also help our self's and come closer and closer to him. Other wise how can we expect to ask Jesus to help us if we are not Willing to love Him and walk with Him! Jesus did not promesses us that we were never going to suffer He did however promesses us that our suffering would be Joyful walking with Him!

Servant of Jesus thru Mary.

Carlos Napoles.

Many failures! Many disappointments. Much more blessings!

Many months have past since I last wrote. Many bad things have happens but much more blessings I have received then ever before. Like any good Christian CatholicI had set different goals in my prayer life and knowledge of Christ. And like many times over. Ill start strong. Listening to audio CDs on catholic apologetics. Watching videos. Reading catholic and Christian blogs. Doing Espiritual  exercising to help my faith grow.

 And a couple of weeks will go by and ill be on top of things. And then out of nowhere something will come about that will change everything. Work will be slow or none. Frustrating or challenging. Or something will happen in my house or with my family. And I'll have to shift my focus back to deal with a particular situation or person. In the meantime not realizing that I have lost my focus on god.   And before you know it I stop praying as much and then the feeling of being drain out kicks in. 

But not realizing how much more blessings I get every time. I have failed so many times. I have to confess that to you reading this blog. I am not proud of my sins. But I am happy that every time i have fallen I have managed to get up and  start up all over again. 

Every time I have fallen I have Learn something different about me. I have learn a different weakness and strength. Every time I have fallen and got up I have 

done it thru the grace of god and by the same grace i have left some part of my sinfulness nature behind me and thankfully some hard and difficult sins have become more and more easy to avoid and not commit or think about committing. 

Many people including yours truly. Had the mentally to say. Well I have fallen time and time again so what's the point to get up again. I can testify to you that Thru the blessed mother the Virgin Mary. I am changing little by little. Every time I fall I hear the blessed mother saying. Get up Jesus is waiting for you with his arms wide open. Watch come and see how much Jesus loves you. 

Yes I hate to fail!  Yes I get tired of trying an not succeeding! Yes I want an easy life! But it is not what in want. It's what jesus wants out of my life! 

I am very blessed to have my priest in my life. Father Jorge Dela Torre. Has taught me a lot about god and his word and his teachings. My mentor and personal friend. Rick Lentz from http://brothertobrotherministries.com

Has been a great example To my life as a man

As a father. Husband. Disciple of Christ and a

Great catholic leader. 

And I can go on and on. I do have many things 

To be blessed for. And the only reason why is

That every time I have failed i have got up and 

Succeed In some kind of small way. 

So brothers and sisters reading this blog. When

You have fail. When you feel discourage and 

Wanting to quit. When all hope is gone. Remember 

god is always There. And two

You too could get up and try and try again. 

The path to heaven has been laid out for us. Thru

The ministry of the one true and holy and catholic

And apostolic church. Go bless you and your love

Ones. 

Sincerely

Carlos Napoles. 

Servant of Christ thru Mary! 

 

Love is Patitent!

hello brothers and sisters in Christ.

for my next piece i taught i share with you my thoughts on 1 cor chapter 13. the love passage i called it. we had this reading this past Sunday Feb 3 2013.

vs 4 to 7 Say's. "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,^d 5it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,^e 6it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things".

reading this verse but as well as reading the whole passage of chapter 13 we see that st Paul is trying to teach us what love is, how we must love each other as well as others. no matter if they are strangers or neigh boors, homeless or rich or poor.
i heard once a priest say that he used to ask young couples to describe what love was for them. some said that it was a chemical reaction. some said that it was a feeling. some said that it was an attraction for one another. some said that it was destiny....

then the priest would gone on to say, the following to each of the answers that were provided to him.

if love is a chemical reaction = be careful because it may explode.

if love is a feeling = be careful because feelings will die when the situation becomes tough,

if love is an attraction = be careful because you could be attracted to one thousand things that will lead you to sin and not to heaven so your soul will be on the line.

finally if love is a destiny = then what would you do when one of you guys passes away at a young age?

you see i too am guilty of this. i used to think that love was this that i just wrote. however the priest went on to explain that the theological virtue of love is. he would say that the theological definition of love was to love our spouses with all hearts and minds without waiting to received something in return as well as to assist them with living a life in accordance to god's law and good will. so that he may received them in heaven. but too often we look at love as a right, as a luxury or a thing to have so that we can be happy. but we don't want the bad, the ugly, the disappointments, heartaches, mistakes and so on. we just want what makes us feel good. that's how we look at love.
thru out my short time dating i used to look at love this way. it was until i meet my wife that i started to realized what love really is and what i need it to do as a men, father, husband to make sure that i can continue to cultivate the love and add all the things that love needs to continue to produce results and grow each and everyday.

as i said i above, i love my wife and i owe so much to this beautiful woman. my wife was best teacher, i have learn so much from her. she was also so Patience with me, i did not knew when i meet her and then i moved in with her how difficult it would be to be a husband, a stepfather of 5 kids, ages 5 to 11 yrs old at the time. i was no way at all ready for it. i taught i was and i convince my self time and time again that i could do this when in reality i couldn't. perhaps because i wanted all the joy and pride from it but without working hard at it. too many times i watched as my wife cry her heart out to me because i would not listen to her. she would talk to me about our issues and i would pay attention but ignore them because in the end i would just listen or pretend to listen but not do anything about it. this went on for about 3 to 4 yrs. many times my wife threw in the towel and called it quits. we would be OK for about 3 days and then spend the next 7 days fighting over the same thing. my lack of commitment to the relationship. many of those times when my wife would throw in the towel and called it quits i would ask and begg for forgiveness, i would convince her to give me one more chance that i would change that i would make it all worth it and so for. many times looking back now i realized that i did it perhaps out of not wanting to loose. i hate to loose so for a long time i look at our marriage as a game that i could have not loose nor did i not wanted it. i knew i loved my wife I'm my own special way but i did not knew really what love was. now that so much has passed now is when i realized how much my wife has loved me from day one till now and how much i have love her as well.

finally at the end of year 4, i begging to changed for the better, something woke up in me. god begging to work on me. although i know that god has always been working on me it was until that time that i finally decided to let the door open so he could come in. i begin to spend more time with the kids, i finally started it to realized what an amazing gift it was to have them with me. ( my wife and i lost 2 kids due to miscarriage) so after all that time of me not wanting to be involved in my step kids life i did. by the way i hate the word step. so i refer to my wife's kids as my kids. so that may throw you off OK as i tell story's here with you. also during this time i begging to spend more time with my wife. our love really Begin to grew, little by little. we started to want to attend church but did not really got around to do it. but i knew that i should. i felt comfortable, stable, happy. but even then i began to think that i knew what love was, but yet was still wrong.

its taking me almost all this years together with my wife and kids to understand what love is. almost 12 yrs. so what is love. well its easy its the ability to put others first and your self last and for the vast mayority of the time that's what my wife did for me and the kids. that is love. that's why i say that my wife is my best teacher, because every step of the way when i screwed up, she was there waiting for me patiently, to help me raise back up. to assist me in understanding what had gone wrong and what need it to be change to make it work.
understand this, i was always responsible, i always have work hard, i always worry about putting food in the table for the family. for last 11 yrs or so i have been the only support that my family has. i don't say this to rubbed in or to boast me. no i say this to say that because of that i too often loose sight of what is really important in life and that is god, love and my family and too many times i chose to work to provide the family with some extra cash instead of having some downtime to provide the family with some real bonding time.

fast forward to now where i am today. i spend  time with my wife not much because we have alot going on. with work, my parents, my faith, with god. with having custody of my two grand kids and raising our 17 yrs old twin males and then worrying about our 19 yr old daughter who is about to have her 1st child. our 21 yr old daughter that it going thru a difficult time as well with her relationship. its difficult to balance it all. but thruout all my wife has been there every step of the way for me and for the family. now one of the things that i have began to do with my wife is to clean the kitchen on friday nights. thats how we spend time together. we go to church and spend time with the blessed sacrament when we can, we go to the gym when we can and we go out when we can. again right now its all about the kids and grand kids. ( we called our oldest kids, kids too. because for us no matter how old they are they are still kids) so just for fyi. we have 5 kids ages 25, 21, 19, and twins boys 17. but soon we pray my wife and i will have time for each other. so i can repay her all the kindness, all the love, all the joy, all the tears, all the heartaches, all the good things and bad things that i have put her thru. because in the end my wife has showed me what love is and i cant wait to showed her how much i love her and our entire family.

Servant of Jesus thru Mary.

Carlos Napoles.