Learn About Your Faith

Category Archives: Learn About Your Faith

LifeTeen.com Blog

Standing Up For Truth: It’s Worth It

By | April 3, 2012

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He was laughed at for the things He said. They called Him a liar. They even spit on Him while He was hanging on the cross. What I’ve experienced in my life is that people like to laugh at my beliefs when they don’t conform to what they’re comfortable with. I haven’t been spit on but I’ve been verbally slapped for sure.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Taming the Jealous Monster Inside You

By | March 28, 2012

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“Great news! I got a promotion . . . and I’m ENGAGED!”

My friend went on and on sharing the romantic story of how her tall, handsome, Catholic man proposed. Everything in her life seemed to be the stuff of her dreams . . . and mine. As she was oozing with excitement, I smiled and was happy for her, but inside I had this strange, silent but sickly feeling of envy. There was this small part of me that wanted her to gain 10 lbs, break out with acne, or just stop talking. (Ok, not my finest moment).

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Lust vs. Love

By | March 28, 2012

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In Matthew 5:28, Jesus says that, “Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

When Jesus said this, it was completely radical, because he revealed that lust (something that happens inside your heart) is a sin just as much as an external action. What we think with our minds and desire in our hearts is a big deal.

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Thou Shalt NOT Have Fun

By | March 27, 2012

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My image of God the Father, enthroned in heaven in flowing white robes and Birkenstock sandals, was overshadowed by my certainty that he didn’t want me to have any fun. Not only was God all about rules, he’d drop anybody that strayed off his path. Parochial school should have taught me how to live but instead I learned how not to die and burn. The result was that I treated Moses’ Commandments with the same reverence I reserved for one of Letterman’s “Top Ten” lists.

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Video

Saintly Minute: Mary the Theotokos

By | March 26, 2012

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You might see the title of this and think, “Theotokos? That’s as hard to read as Greek!” You’d be right, because it is Greek! Find out what it means – and how it applies to Mary – in this Saintly Minute video.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Do You Gossip?

By | March 26, 2012

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I wish I could say that seeing how hurt she was cured me of any desire to ever speak ill of anyone. I felt bad. But I also experienced the power of words for the first time, and the power of sharing a secret, fact, or observation about another person was intoxicating. While I knew it was wrong, I often resorted to gossip to garner attention. I operated under the assumptions of “I’m just saying what everyone already knows,” “I’d totally say this to their face.” Or, the ever popular, “Well, I’m telling people so they can add it to their prayer intentions.” While this used to prick my conscience, like any sin, the more I spoke the less I felt bad.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Library Thief

By | March 21, 2012

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The idea of stealing something is totally scary to me. I can’t even imagine the amount of fear that would paralyze me if I ever went to steal something like shoes, cash, or a camera. I would be shaking like a wet puppy in winter. But I would be sweating like it’s Phoenix in July. And I’m also pretty sure that the sick feeling in my stomach, the shame, and the guilt would drive me to return the stolen item the next day. I’m a sensitive person.

So, why am I writing about this commandment?

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Close Your Eyes: Porn and The Sixth Commandment

By | March 20, 2012

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I was once told that the easiest way to remember commandment number “six” is that it sounds like “sex.” At the time I thought it was just another lame example from my youth minister.

The funny thing is – I still remember it.

What wasn’t funny, however, is that at the time I somehow thought the “don’t commit adultery” commandment had little to do with me, an unmarried sixteen year old. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The truth is that this commandment isn’t only for married people. It’s violated by all ages – including teenagers – almost daily.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

St. Joseph: The Ultimate Dad

By | March 19, 2012

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In St. Joseph, then, we’re given a glimpse into the heart of God the Father. It would be completely illogical to think, after all the trouble of the incarnation, that he would fail to choose a man who reflected his divine image of paternal love with the highest possible measure of human faithfulness.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Envy, Anger, and Hatred in My Life

By | March 19, 2012

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“You Shall Not Kill” Exodus 20:13 As a little kid, I was jealous of my neighbor. He was my age, but he could hit the baseball better than I could. He would smack the ball into the outfield and everyone would shout “Run! You can do it!” I never heard “Run!” shouted to me. It was usually “Duck!” or “Open your eyes!” or “Put down the snow-cone until after the game!” We’ve all experienced knowing someone who’s better than you at something or has something Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Saint Quotes: St. Charles Borromeo on Sin

By | March 17, 2012

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“Behold Jesus Christ crucified, Who is the only foundation of our hope; He is our Mediator and Advocate; the victim and sacrifice for our sins. He is goodness and patience itself; His mercy is moved by the tears of sinners, and He never refuses pardon and grace to those who ask it with a truly contrite and humbled heart.” -Saint Charles Borromeo Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

An Irish Blessing – A Story about Saint Patrick’s Day

By | March 16, 2012

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You never know who God is going to bring into your life. This past week I had an amazing experience of God while waiting for my dinner. “Iced tea, please.” I requested with a genuine tone. “You guys goin’ to get ripped on Friday?” the waiter asked me (and my friends). “I’m sorry?” I asked a little confused and more than a little intrigued. “You know, are you guys gonna get lit up to celebrate Saint Patrick’s day this Friday?” he asked again, (obviously assuming that Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Parents: How to Love ‘em

By | March 14, 2012

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Let’s be real, I think the Lord had teenagers in mind when He came up with the fourth commandment. It’s no secret that the teen years are often the hardest when it comes to the parent-child relationship.

But does it have to be that way?

Not at all! When we realize that we have a responsibility to honor our parents, the relationship becomes a lot easier. Here’s a little piece of my experience with the 4th commandment.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Lazy Sundays

By | March 13, 2012

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My second favorite day is Sunday. Growing up, Sundays were lazy, watch TV or movies all day in my PJs, don’t brush my teeth until 3:30 pm kind of days. Then after Mass and Life Night, I started my two hours of homework because the rest of day I was clearly too wrapped up in more important things like watching Men in Black three times in a row. I always thought, “Surely this is what God meant when he gave us the 3rd Commandment – Laziness, bad hygiene, and procrastination.”

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LifeTeen.com Blog

My Name is God

By | March 12, 2012

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The concept of having a name is an interesting thing. Don’t you think? A name is one of the most basic necessities we possess. Think about it. Without a name we would not be able to differentiate one person from another. How different would your interactions with other people be if there were no such thing as names?

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LifeTeen.com Blog

What Do I Say in Confession?

By | March 8, 2012

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I stepped into the confessional and kneeled down at the kneeler. The priest opened the partition and I froze. I could not for the life of me remember what to say to the priest. Luckily he sensed my nervousness and walked me through the whole thing.

Because I know that sometimes we forget what to say I’ve provided a basic structure of what you should say at the beginning of your confession. I hope it helps!

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Do I Have False Gods in My Life?

By | March 7, 2012

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Then I realized that I was not much better than those pagan voodoo worshipers.

In my head I know that God was the only one worth my worship, but I still found myself turning to so many other relationships, habits, and even sins to save me when I was overwhelmed and in need of help. I knew that Jesus was my Savior, but often I turned anywhere else but towards Him when I needed to be saved from loneliness, hurt, or boredom.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Saint Quotes: Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati on Purity

By | March 3, 2012

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“With all the strength of my soul I urge you young people to approach the Communion table as often as you can. Feed on this bread of angels whence you will draw all the energy you need to fight inner battles. Because true happiness, dear friends, does not consist in the pleasures of the world or in earthly things, but in peace of conscience, which we have only if we are pure in heart and mind.” – Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Saint Quotes: St. Augustine on Lust

By | February 18, 2012

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“By Lust I mean that affection of the mind that aims at the enjoyment of one’s self and one’s neighbor without reference to God. Lust indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity. There is no remedy so powerful against the heat of concupiscence as the remembrance of our Savior’s Passion. In all my difficulties I never found anything so efficacious as the wounds of Christ: In them I sleep secure; from them I derive new life.” – Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Why Are You So Different?: When God Made Man and Woman

By | February 4, 2012

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Man lives more in the external world, because made from the earth and closest to it; it is his mission to rule over it and subject it. Woman lives more in the internal world, because she was created from an inner, human life.

Man is more interested in the outer world; woman in the inner world. Man talks about things; woman more about persons. Man fashions products of the earth; woman fashions life, having come from life, both Divine and human. Man, more related to the earth, makes sacrifices for things that are in the future and are abstract; woman, more related to the human, is more inclined to make sacrifices for persons and for that which is immediate.

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