Go Deeper

Category Archives: Go Deeper

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 Read more [...]

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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 Read more [...]

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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 Read more [...]

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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, Read more [...]

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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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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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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 Read more [...]

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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 Read more [...]

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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? Read more [...]

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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 Read more [...]

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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 Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

On Fasting (John Paul II Lenten Reflections)

“Why do your disciples not fast?” Jesus answered: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Mt 9:15) Why fasting? It is necessary to give this question a wider and deeper answer, in order to clarify the relationship between fasting and “metanoia”, that is, that spiritual change which brings man closer to God. Food and drink are indispensable for man to live, he uses them and Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Conversion (John Paul II Lenten Reflections)

During the month of April, we wanted to help you dive a little deeper into Lent as well as highlight some of Pope John Paul II writings in preparation for his beatification on May 1. Make sure to share them with your friends.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

A Plan for Your Lent

Here we are, on Fat Tuesday – and if you’re like me, you’re scrambling to decide what exactly you’re giving up for the next 40 days. Will it be candy – no, procrastinating… or maybe you’ll finally tackle that missing prayer time. The possibilities seem infinite and overwhelming. Before you know it, there are going to be ashes on your forehead and all your Catholic friends will be asking, “So what did YOU give up this year?” Don’t worry too much. I’ve been thinking about it, and I have some rock-solid advice on how to make this the most productive (and rewarding) Lent ever.

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Desert Dwellers: Finding Life in Lent

Cool Breeze -or- Suffocating Heat Rain -or- Drought Rich color contrasts -or- Brown Lady Bugs -or- Scorpions Garden -or- Desert Given the choice, which one would you choose? I’ll go with the garden. In Scripture, the imagery of gardens and deserts provides for us a vast contrast of settings, themes and spiritual undertones. Many great moments in Scripture happen in gardens: creation, the fall, Jesus’ agony and arrest and the Resurrection. There are also great moments that happened Read more [...]

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LifeTeen.com Blog

How A Christmas Hymn Taught Me Humility

I love Christmas. Everything about it makes my heart happy – family, friends, food, and Christmas music. If it were socially acceptable, I would listen to Christmas music all year long. This year I have made it a point to not just let Christmas music be background filler while decorating my tree or making gifts. I’ve tried extra hard to listen to what Christmas songs are really all about. Some songs are full of warm fuzzy feelings of love while others are about what people hope to find under the tree on Christmas morning. All of these things have a part in the Christmas holiday, but how do they prepare us for Christ’s birth? After all, isn’t that what we are really preparing for?

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Video

Prodigal

Experience a story of forgiveness, family, and conversion in this Life Teen film. “…this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.”

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LifeTeen.com Blog

Priesthood is Supernatural

The priesthood is a place where humanity meets the mysterious.

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