Live Greater The 90/20 Rule …

Dec 18, 2007

You know those weeks where it seems like you just have to keep moving or you might fall over and never get back up? Yeah, well that was this week for me. It was the week for final exams and on top of that two people dear to my heart went to meet the Lord. With the loss of people you love, it kind of puts things into perspective, and things like finals (while important) don’t really mean that much anymore. I did survive the exams but am still processing the struggles all humans have with death and loss. And that leads me to the message this week.

This is the final column for the “Born Alternative” series. We have been on a journey of discovering our identity and purpose in the Lord and redefining who we are in a culture that is in crisis. Most importantly we have come to see that Jesus and His Church are the alternative to our Team MTV society. With prayer, the sacraments, and Mary, we have opportunities to receive grace to make choices to live for the Lord. There is one final piece that is important to touch upon and that has to do with our perspective.

In college, a friend and mentor always used to say, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you deal with it.” In other words, you can’t control what happens to you but you can control how you deal with it. It took me a while to fully understand what that meant but upon reflection it is so true.

Living for the Lord and making choices for him everyday is not easy. Be prepared for a tough battle. Be prepared to be made fun of and not have people or our society understand. Be prepared for tough decisions, ones that used to be easy when we were not fully choosing the Lord. Be prepared to stand up to the pressure of Team MTV and what they want to give to us in this world. In this battle a state of being prepared is vital to stay strong in the Lord.

Amidst all these things that we will face, there is one thing that will help all the more. Catholic authors have different names for it but I like to call it the Catholic Imagination. If we train our selves and challenge ourselves to have a Catholic Imagination about all the struggles and adversities we have in our lives, we will deal with things differently.

A simple way to define the Catholic Imagination is a firm disposition and belief in God’s love for us and a desire to see all things with eyes of faith. If we can make a commitment to this way of seeing the world, no matter what happens to us, we can weather the storm and make it through with great hope.

So many times in our present culture we find ourselves realizing how hard it is to be a person of faith. We struggle with peer pressure, broken families, broken relationships, war, violence, and even death. With a Catholic Imagination we see with eyes that will not lead us to despair but lead us to a great hope of the way the Lord wants things to be.

A great way to choose and spread the faith is by the perspective with which we live life. This whole series we have talked about knowing who we are in the Lord and how to live for him. Choosing to live with a Catholic Imagination is a strong alternative rather than responding to the experiences of this life with negativity, apathy, and despair.

Imagine what would happen if we all lived with a Catholic Imagination? Not only would our culture start to look different but whatever we face we will choose faith and hope. Death looks a lot different through the eyes of our faith. A lot of people need to hear that message this week, including me…

God Bless You,

Rusty

Question of the week: Have you been a person of hope this Advent? How so?...

Next week: Christmas Special: A Time of Longing…

Rusty is a Seminarian at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward, Nebraska and is the co-founder of Live Greater Ministries. The Ministry's aim is to invite the youth of the Church into a dialogue about the present culture and how Jesus invites us to a relationship with him, finding true happiness and greater purpose.  More information can be found on their website at www.livegreater.net.