Its is truly a joy to write about this experience that happen to me recently. regarding Catholic Men's Fellowship of California. http://www.catholicmen.org/

let me set the scene for you... ill make it short hopefully and sweet. i have been soul searching for a group of individuals that i can be apart of. since a few months ago i was and have been going thru some really dark days spiritually. while surfing the web at night on a Thursday night the holy spirit took me to the website for Catholic Mens Fellowship of Pico Rivera. i saw that they were having a one day men's retreat, on early Saturday morning. i made a decision to go and it was an amazing day. i was so impress with this group of men that it left me thirsty for more.

fast forward to now, i have been looking for this type of group here locally in my hometown of Bakersfield ca. finally i was able to attend a meting, now this guys don't joke around, they meet at 6:30am on a Saturday morning. i remember the night before i had butterfly's on my stomach, i couldn't sleep, i was afraid that i was not going to get up, i was wondering how the meeting would be etc. its almost like i was a kid waiting for a big surprise.

well i made it to the meeting and man oh man was i surprised. as soon as i walked into the hall where the meeting was being held, the men who saw me knew it was my 1st time there and they immediately started it to introduce them self's, shook my hand and just made it me feel so welcome. you would think that i met these guys years ago and not minutes ago. i was sitting in a corner end table and i had the entrance door within my direct eye sight. so as every guy started it to walk in all were shaking my hand and introducing them self's and starting conversations and oh man it was so great. we chatted for a bit, then move onto breakfast and then the brothers open up the floor for sharing.

i have to say, its it truly a joy. a happiness, a super amazing feeling to have and to receive from god. because right there i can share with other catholic men that want to not just follow god but to love god and to give them self's to him completely. i knew that there were other men out there but i did not knew who they were. to be there in the room with so many dedicated god loving brothers inspired me to want to continue to grow in my faith and to continue with my journey. i can tell you some many stories from this meeting but i want to rather emphasize this.

we men need a support group like this. we need each other to encourage each other to pray for each other and to share with each other. if you are struggling with your faith, god, family, friends. if you feel like you are all alone and no one is there to support you in your journey. then i invite you to look for a group of men like this.

i have attended two meetings on this month for two different parishes St Joseph and St Francis, and i can tell you that my wife noticed that when i return home i was more at peace. i was more joyful and hopeful. i cook breakfast for my family, help clean up the house, did some chores. all weekend i was like i was floating on air and walk in on air. the holy spirit does surely touch you if you are open to receive him and you are willing to go out there and seek the fellowship.  

As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens his fellow man. proverbs 27:17. 

will you be willing to trust the holy spirit and let him lead you? i hope and pray that you will! 

God loves you!

Carlos Napoles 

Servant of Jesus Christ thru Mary! 

what the heck is advent?

hello brothers and sisters in Christ. its is truly an honor to be able to write to you again, well the title of this blog is what the heck is advent?

well don't worry this is going to be fun and simple.

well as you know this past Sunday December the 2nd was the begging of advent season on the catholic church. what does that means, well is simple. advent means a time to prepare for what is coming ahead. that all sounds pretty simple right. every Sunday during advent the church will light up one candle to celebrate something special every week. the 1st Sunday is hope, the 2nd Sunday is peace, the 3rd Sunday joy and the 4th is love. so every week we are supposed to celebrate and keep reminding us to apply the theme of the week in our daily lives. that is one of the many things to do in advent. the other thing that i wanted to emphasized is that we need to prepare for Christ to be born on the DEC 25th. well what is that mean, again is simple. think of it like this.

if you are dating now or think to back in the day when you were dating your wife or husband to be. what you guys used to do before going out on a date. 1st you talked about it, then you set up a day and pick up a place to go, something to do, eating, movie night, walking, or whatever.  you wanted it to do something with your special someone. then you were all anxious the week before the date. thinking about what to wear, for us men we got a hair cut, shave, bought some expensive cologne stuff like that. women well, went to the salon, for hair, make up, to get the nails done, bought clothes, shoes all of that. then when it was time for the date, we got ready, took a shower, got all fixed up. you drove somewhere to meet up or pick each other. and up until then we were all stressed out. finally once the date began it was all smooth from there. whatever activities were done they were fun and at the end of the day it was an amazing one. telling each other, hey lets do this again... sounds well to familiar.

well if you switch this to advent, this is the same thing. that is what advent is. we are waiting for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ. that's is it, but however this is so much more at the same time. why well. instead of getting ready on the outside we must get ready on the inside. we need to clean our souls, our minds our hearts. we don't need to and buy clothes, shoes, accessories. you don't need to go all out just for the heck of impressing someone. all you have to do is go back to church, if you are catholic and your have your sacraments, well what are you waiting for! go to confession. start fresh, so you can too receive our lord in the Eucharist as well as to receive him in your heart. that's is the meaning of advent. its a time of preparation, reflexion, prayer, alms giving, sacrifice and then on the 25th its celebration time....

you see our holy mother church goes to different seasons thru out the year to celebrate different events in the life of our lord Jesus Christ. for us Catholics, advent is the beginning of it all. so this is huge!

so come on what are you waiting for, get up go to church, call your local priest, schedule an appointment for confession, or walk in to the church and just stand in line. go to mass on Sunday's and while you are at it. dust off all the dirt that has been collecting for years on your bible, crack the pages open. let our lord be your personal guide thru the scriptures. open your heart, mind, soul and be hungry for our lord Jesus Christ. once you do your confession, do your penance. stand up to received the body. blood soul and divinity of our lord Jesus Christ. and i promise you, You will feel the love, passion, forgiveness, hope and joy that god has in store for you and your loved ones.

if you are not catholic, DON'T PANIC ITS OK!,  i want to personally extended an invitation for you and your loved ones to come and worship with us in on one of our many Sunday masses. although you wont be able to participate in the sacraments for now. attending mass its a very good 1st step towards Christ and his bride holy mother church. from there i invite you personally to approach your local church and inquire about RCIA classes. Right of Christian Initiation for Adults. its basically a program that will teach you all about the sacraments, Catholicism, the love of Christ thru the scriptures, church and sacred tradition and sacred scripture and so much more. but in the mean time if you are looking into the catholic faith and want to know more. hit me up and ill try to help you the best i can.

sincerely

Carlos Napoles

Servant of Jesus Christ thru Mary!

What kind of Christian am i ?

October 8, 2012

What kind of Christian am I ?

This was the question that my mentor Rick, asked me during one of our bible meetings. It’s a question that at first does not really relay the importance of the meaning of the question. I remember writing the question and that was it. Days later when I remember that I had to write about it I started it to ponder it and  the more I asked myself  that question the more I did not knew what the answer was… 

I did not ask my mentor for an example nor did i wanted it to know. it was an odd question one that perhaps i have heard before but not really paid attention to. i started to look deep into my soul, my actions, my words, my sins, my successes and my many many disappointments. the more i look the more i became disgusted with the person that i saw, how can i have left my self get so low, how was it possible that i have renounce Christ so many times ( meaning when i commit sins instead of doing whats right) when he give his life for my salvation. i did not wanted it to write this paper, however when i sat down and discuss this with my wife something came over me and i started it to remember all the things i used to do when i was a kid for God. ( or should i say all the things that my mom made me do because most of the time i did not wanted it to do them ) 

I remember when i was little i was very sick i had heart issues and my mom ask for saint martin de porres ( st martin of the poor as i have heard some people mention him ) intercession and promise that if was healed of my heart issues, that my mom would dress me to look like st martin de porres for a couple of years for thanksgiving for the favor received. well i did get better and i did ended up getting dress like st martin for a while. i also remember that used to participate in the town local festivities in honor of the blessed mother and st Joseph and i used to play the part of st Joseph. also during holy week i used to play in the passion of Christ as an apostle, i don't remember who i was but i remember being there in church participating in the last supper and all of that.

when i was 7 or 8 yrs old i started it attending Eucharistic adoration of the blessed Sacrament. my brother and i were regular attendants. we attended for so many years that my bro and i became sort of like leaders of the group, assisting the new guys coming in and helping to learn the prayers. the first few years i did not like it at all. we would have to go once a month on Saturday and spent all night Saturday from 7pm till 7 am in church praying. the latter years i do miss much now that i think about it, there were Manny good times there. last time i attended i was 14 yrs old. 

fast forward 14 yrs latter, i meet my wife when i was 20-21 yrs old. sorry honey if you are reading this, you know i suck at remembering anniversary dates... we spent many years both far away from church but in touch with God if that makes any sense to you. think of it like we used to pray when there was something bad going on but were not attending mass or doing any worship services. we even explore the protestant services once and watched many on television for many years. finally about when i turned 28 yrs old or so i remember getting kick in the gut and having the same feeling that i have today as i ask my self this question. What kind of Christian am I ?

however when i was 28 it was more of God calling my name and me feeling pull in his direction. i did not knew why but i decided to follow him. slowly but surely i begging to drag my wife and 5 kids to mass on Sundays. it was a mess i hated it Sundays because i wanted to be at mass in peace but by the time i got to church i was so pissed because the kids did not wanted to get up, they all wanted to shower at the last minute, we were late, the kids couldn't or not wanted it to find their clothes, i guess it was their way of saying we don't want to do this. my wife raised her kids before i meet them without having God as a priority in their life. so i can looking back now understand why it was such a mess on Sunday. plus I'm talking of dealing with kids ages 13 to 18 yrs old or so. finally after a year or two things were much smoother and i remember being able to received more from mass every time we went. not much changed for a while, we pray as a family every once in a while, at dinners too. but things were slow to changed. however i was changing more faster than what i could see. 

soon i was praying more, was happy more, was at peace more. difficult situations did not seem to disturbed me to much. i knew God was in control all thru out. i would fall here and there but i would get up much faster too. i attended bible study, i volunteer in church, i did what i could to help other people that need it help. ( i wont go into detail because God said don't let your left hand know what the right is doing ) and remember feeling good when helping others. my attitude changed, my purposed on life was clear and my life was fuller. my mission was to serve my Lord, my family and my church... 

now fast forward 5 yrs to where i am today, a lot has happen i remain faithful to continue to know about God, His truth and his word. alot has happen and my faith has been tested time and time again and i have grown weaker in my faith, my prayer life, my commitment to God. raising teenagers, young adults and now grand kids ( at 33 yrs old ) has not been easy. so many times i have ask my self whether i really understand what is God purposed in my life, i don't question whether God is right or wrong i question whether i listen to Him correctly or not. i question whether im a good dad, a good husband,  a good friend to my wife and a good son to my parents and a good brother to my siblings. i read somewhere once that st mother Theresa of Calcutta had some of my same struggles, some days she did not wanted to pray, she did not felt happy, or joyful, perhaps may be she felt lost like i do. however i remain puzzle at the fact that day in and day out she was able to carry her mission despite how she was feeling that day. 

knowing this about her gives me a great deal of hope, i am not alone there are others like me, but overall God is there for me i just have to make one choice, one action one word that would set me once and for all on the right path and that word is,YES to Christ! but on the other hand i let my feelings dictate what i do everyday if im joyful im on fire for God, if i am sad i don't really want to do anything like work, or pray or go to mass. i know that when im sad i should look for God more, i should want to be in His presence more not to want to leave his site. one thing is for sure, despite how much i talk smack about throwing the towel i really don't want it to. i love God, i love my family and my grand kids have giving me a whole different perspective on life, that is some of the stuff that helps to push me forward more everyday. i know that God has great things in store for me and my family, i have seen some of this things, God has spoken to me but like He says in the scriptures i am a man of little faith... 

so what kind of christian am i ? well the shortest answer would be i am a WIP. ( work in progress) Christian that is in a journey to learning how to let go and LET GOD! 

God bless you brothers...

 

No Time For GOD!!!!

in our daily life's we are so busy, between work, paying bills, raising kids and grand kids at the same time ( my case ) married life, our beautiful bride ( spouse ). there is hardly NO TIME for Jesus. it is so so easy to get caught up in the moment watching our fav show/s. on the internet watching the latest and greatest on sports and news and of course all the celeb gossip. and in between that cooking, cleaning and all the other things that are necessary to do to keep a household going. then by the time we look at the clock its 11 or 12 midnight and time to go to bed and tomorrow do it all again. we are operating on 4-6 hrs of sleep if lucky. but even though we have all the desire and intention to pray to God to spend time with Him, or to just sit and chat or to make devotion or to visit the blessed sacrament it just does not happen. we keep hoping for tomorrow and we promise to make time and we go on. but the truth is that most of the time it does not happen. we fall short time and time again. IM GUILTY of this. i do this all the time. some days i get better but most days i Fall Short. but here is the question. do we surrender, do we give up and say well i tried Lord but i couldn't do it so sorry. and just go on with our lives with the hope that in the end God will give us a d- for kind of sort of trying and he feels so much pity for us that he let us into his home The kingdom of heaven. NO I DON'T THINK SO, i don't want to take that chance. i want to continue to try to make time for God. i don't know how, ( i do but its hard ) but i must. cut off the tv, the comp, the distractions of the day and set aside sometime for God. i know that whenever i do it pays off. i feel good, if i have a horrible day it does not bring me down because i can feel Gods love thru all the bad. if i have a difficult issue at hand i put it on my fathers hands and he fixed it for me. i don't have to worry, i don't have to struggle i dont have to loose sleep over it God has my back. but men oh men when i fall short and i stop praying, or attending mass, or spending time with the Blessed Sacrament men things get hard. I don't blame God when things get though and its important that we don't. every time things get hard its an opportunity for prayer, for our faith to grow and for our patience to grow stronger and our love to grow deeper. dont be discourage because every time you try you have failed. Be encouraged by your failures because they will show you your weakness and then you can grow more spiritually and in love to Jesus Christ. so come on get up with me, lets walk again, lets start praying again, lets start hopping again and loving and trusting our Good Father in heaven again. He does not ask us for an impossible thing. YES WE CAN! YES YOU CAN DO IT! BELIEVE IN YOUR SELF AGAIN! and join me and so many others out there that are trying to and have successful begun are more personal and meaningful relation with Jesus and His Blessed Mother and His Holy Church. Amen Amen....

Jesus and our children.

i was struck by something i saw a while back in my church, as i discussed before i have my two granddaughters living with me. one is 4 yrs and one is 2 yrs old. our prayer life at home is weak and i have been working with my family to make it more a part of our daily life's. its has been a difficult task to do because to convinced all my kids ages (23, 20, 18, and 17 old twins) that Jesus should be a priority in their life's is not as easy as it sounds. but here is what gives me hope. my wife and i have been teaching our 4yrs granddaughter to pray. simple prayers for the guardian angel and to bless her self at night. so we take the kids to church every weekend, one weekend we walked in and my 4 yr old was in front of me, as i open the church door, she walked in and there is a blessed water font by the door, she reached in there and took some blessed water on her fingers and she blessed her self in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. and i was stunned. i did not told her to it, i mean i had on other occasions but not this one. and to see that she gets it. now i mean she does not understand the theology of the church, the church teachings, or the sacraments. she understands that she needs to blessed her self when she comes in. i know that i have done a horrible job as a parent, i had a lot of time and opportunity to teach my kids about God and His love and teachings. but i screw up and i cannot take that back its done and i have to move on. however now that i somewhat have learn from my mistakes i can now see that it is possible to start teaching the kids at an early age about God, his love and his church. that is the foundation you can take to start building on, from there it will be a lot easier for them to know when they are growing up about God. however this is were all of us as parent failed and have continued to failed. we think things like. whats the point, they don't get it, does it really matter, does God really cares if i do or don't. But come on the reality is that he does. he said in the gospel of Matthew 19"14. let the children come to me. here it is in black in white. so yes it matters it is what God wants us to do it. so its time brothers and sisters to wake up and do more for our faith but primarily for our children's faith, after all their soul is at stake here. i know now that i cannot make the same mistakes i did with our other children, i know that i have to do something else to change all the wrongs i have done. and whats more important God is and will be there with me. i don't have the strength, will, passion, or knowledge to teach my grand kids and my kids about God but i have to trust that God will show up when i need to say something and explained to defend the Church and his teachings. in proverbs 3:5 says the lord, put your trust in the Lord and in your self Not! so I'm working in making a commitment to put my trust in the Lord and let him guide me and teach me and show me and from there the rest will be history. so don't be discourage to teach your small children or all your children no matter what ages they are. if you put your foot forward God will be there to guide you and that is his promise. God Bless you all and i pray for you that you will hear Gods voice in your heart.