Go Deeper

Category Archives: Go Deeper

LifeTeen.com Blog

Fear Factor: Will You Eat Beetles in the New Year?

20120-1_LT-FearFactor

What if during this new year we tried to accomplish just one or two things we’re afraid of? And not slightly meaningless things like sky-diving or beetle consumption. I mean things that have a ripple effect into eternity.

I’m afraid of wearing bright red lipstick. But I’m also afraid of seriously praying about a vocation to the religious life. I’m afraid of sushi. And I’m afraid to let go of resentment and love my enemies.

I think you can tell which ones are under the “slightly meaningless” category.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Consubstantial: What Does That Mean?

Consubstantial Meaning

But when we talk about the union of God the Father with God the Son, it is not enough to just say that they are the same. They are both God – one God in three unique Persons. By asking us to now use the word consubstantial when we pray the Creed (remember, the Creed is a statement of what we believe as Catholics) the Church is reminding us of the importance of professing that the Father and the Son are the exact same substance.

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Video

Matt Maher – Video Reflections on "The Love In Between"

Matt Maher talks to Life Teen about his new album “The Love In Between,” a collection of songs that reflect on the Catholic Christian sacramental life. There are a total of five videos. Come back each day this week to see more.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Vigil Homily by Pope Benedict at World Youth Day 2011

If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals. Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

My Encounter with John Paul II (World Youth Day 2011)

I vividly remember the first time I encountered John Paul II. I was at my first World Youth Day in 2002 in Toronto, Canada. I was 17 years old, about to be a senior in high school, and I was ready to explore the world. I wanted to visit Europe, travel the big cities of the world, have an adventure of a lifetime. I couldn’t wait to get out of town and go do something different.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Lessons Learned from the NBA Playoffs

I’ve been a huge sports fan for all of my life. I’m pretty sure I was born wearing a glove and dribbling a basketball. There aren’t many things that excite me as much as a good game of baseball, basketball, football, or hockey. I’ve played them. I’ve coached them. I’ve watched them. And this year, even though my Phoenix Suns didn’t make it, I’ve been really into the NBA Playoffs. 16 teams make it, but only one will remain, holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end. In my opinion it’s the best reality show on television, not just for the excitement, but for the little things you can learn along the way. Here are 5 lessons I’ve learned from this year’s NBA Playoffs.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Grading on God's Curve: Battling Spiritual Laziness

When I began my faith journey, I was constantly comparing myself to my peers. It’s like I was walking into God’s kitchen, shaking as I showed my Heavenly Father my report card. I tried to justify all of my sins. I measured my holiness by the sin of others instead of the holiness of God. I turned down the ability for greatness that His grace offered me. I settled for being “better than most” rather than all that He called me to be. I didn’t want to do the work. I eased into a spirit of contentment and lived a spiritual life that was “good enough.” Others praised me for my “B” effort in my faith, especially since so many kids my age were so much worse. But I knew I could be better, and I knew that God knew it, too.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Epic Quotes from JP2: Falling in Love with Jesus Christ

“Let yourselves be charmed by Christ, the Infinite who appeared among you in visible and imitable form. Let yourselves be attracted by his example, which has changed the history of the world and directed it toward an exhilarating goal. Let yourselves be loved by the love of the Holy Spirit, who wishes to turn you away from worldly things to begin in you the life of the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and true holiness (cf. Eph 4:24). Fall in love with Jesus Christ, to live his very life, so that our world may have life in [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Epic Quotes from JP2: Seeking Happiness

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Accepting the Challenge from JP2: Be Not Afraid

(Photo: Pope John Paul II collapses after being shot by a would-be assassin.) I believe that Pope John Paul II was one of the greatest Popes to have ever served the Church. History has shown him to be a man who can be all things to all people. He was an athlete, an actor, a writer, a priest, a bishop, an activist and most of all a follower of Christ… …In terms of leadership and bravery, William Wallace has nothing on this guy. During the years of Pope John Paul II’s service to the Church, he encountered many things that would make the average person run and hide.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Who Will Role Back the Stone? – by Archbishop Fulton Sheen

His friends did not believe in the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord. First of all, when the women went to the grave, they did not go to greet the risen Savior. They brought spices to anoint a dead body. Their problem was in moving back the stone. In front of this subterranean grave there was places a great millstone, with a hole in the center through which a pole would be put to roll away the stone. That is why they asked, “Who shall roll us back the stone in order that we may anoint the dead body?” [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

The Summary of Our Life – by Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Have you ever noticed in the Apostles’ Creed how quickly we pass over the earthly life of our Lord? Born, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, rose from the dead. We say nothing about the beatitudes, nothing about miracles. Just he was born, suffered, died and rose again. Just those three. That’s all there is in life. We’re born; the earthly life is passed over, because all that matters concerning an earthly life is whether we are doing the will of God. And then, resurrection. First, we are born to Christ in baptism. Remember that our Lord was born into [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

The Spirit and the Sin – by Archbishop Fulton Sheen

The night of the Last Supper our blessed Lord told of the three effects of the Holy Spirit. One of them was: “He will convict you of sin, because you did not believe in me.” How do we know we are sinners? By the Holy Spirit.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Good Thief, Bad Thief: Why We Need to be Penitents Desiring Salvation

I think most of the time I’m the thief on the left cross. I’m tempting Jesus. I’m yelling at Him. I’m talking to Him like he’s my equal. “Hey if you’re really God do this. Hey Jesus, if you really love me, get me out of (insert impossible situation here). And if you do, (insert impossible promise here that I’ll break in a week).” I’m the thief on the left.

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Video

Holy Week with Matt Maher

Prepare for Easter with our friend Matt Maher in this series of new video reflections. Come back each day of Holy Week for a new reflection. Make sure to share them with all your friends.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

So, You Ruined Your Lent

So here it is: soon it will be Holy Week, and the only thing running through your head is, “Where’d Lent go?” Maybe you never nailed down exactly what you were giving up, or your best efforts still came up short. If you’re anything like me, you’re wishing you could get a Lenten do-over… and this time take it more seriously.   Until next year, there aren’t any chances to go back to Ash Wednesday – but that doesn’t mean we’re out of luck. (With our God, how can we ever be truly lost?) We are now in the middle [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Service and Vocation (John Paul II Lenten Reflections)

Why are you here, you young people of the nineties and of the twentieth century? Do you feel perchance within yourselves “the spirit of this world”? Have you not perhaps come here — I ask you again — to convince yourselves once and for all that to be great means to serve? This service is certainly not mere humanitarian sentimentality. Nor is the community of the disciples of Christ a volunteer agency or social help group. Such a concept of service would imply stooping to the level of the “spirit of this world”. No! Here we are dealing with something [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Are you fearful of what following God might mean?

“And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the guards, and warming himself at the fire.” – Mark 14:54 Hey, Peter, what was it like to see your best friend get pushed around, mocked, spit on and lied about? Did you make eye contact with the guards or try not to? What did it feel like to turn your back on God, standing just yards away from Him beside a warm fire? Did you stand in the shadows so Jesus couldn’t see you? What did it feel [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Forgiveness (John Paul II Lenten Reflections)

A stranger is no longer a stranger for the person who must become a neighbor to someone in need, to the point of accepting responsibility for his life, as the parable of the Good Samaritan shows so clearly (Lk 10:25-37). Even an enemy ceases to be an enemy for the person who is obliged to love him (Mt 5:38-48; Lk 6:27-35), to “do good” to him (Lk 6:27, 33, 35) and to respond to his immediate needs promptly and with no expectation of repayment (Lk 6:34-35). The height of this love is to pray for one’s enemy. By so doing [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Purpose of Prayer (John Paul II Lenten Reflections)

Like the very first disciples, we come to Christ eager to learn how to pray (Luke 11:1). By teaching us the “Our Father” Christ establishes the pattern for all prayer. He explains our relationship with God and with one another: God is our Creator. He is our Redeemer. With him as our common Father we are brothers and sisters to one another. When Jesus prays he uses the Aramaic word “Abba” (Mark 14:36), which is what small children would have called their fathers. Only Christ, the Eternal Son who is one in being with the Father, has the right to [...]

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