Live Your Catholic Life

Category Archives: Live Your Catholic Life

LifeTeen.com Blog

Don’t Look Back

2012-09_LT-BacktoSchool

So here is my advice to you . . . be radical! Don’t go back to your old ways. It’s a sad trend that we go on these awesome retreats, have this amazing experience of God’s power, fall deeply in love with Him, but then leave it all behind when we toss our flip flops to the back of the closet.

What if after St. Paul had his conversion experience with God, he went back to his old ways of killing Christians? That would be weird (and tragic). Then why do we think that we can return to our old ways? You don’t have to sell yourself short. Be different.

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Male and Female: What’s the Point?

2012-09_LT-MaleFemale

Have you ever wondered why God made you male or female? Think about it . . . God could have made us “unisex” like that billboard I saw in the airport, but he made us two genders. Why?

Well if we want to understand why we were created, we have to look back to the one who created us – God. In the Book of Genesis we learn that . . .

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

To Party or Not to Party: The "Good Influence" Argument

2012-09_LT-PartyorNot

Not going to the party makes a much bolder statement. It doesn’t mean you’re judgmental. It doesn’t mean you’re anti-fun or anti-friend. It means you’re pro-God. You might think people won’t notice or won’t care, but you’re wrong. No, the entire school might not take notice but some people will. Your courageous example to step away might be exactly what others need to see to do the same. There are others who, if given another option, would rather not be at the party.

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Thinking About Drinking?: The Bible, Alcohol, and You

2012-09_LT-ThinkingDrinking

I talk to teenagers just about every day, and the conversations are often the same. They deal with the Bible and what the Church teaches and how challenging it can be to live a holy life in an unholy culture. I’d say that most teens that I talk to are truly looking for the Lord; some, however, are looking less for the Lord and more for the “loopholes.” For instance: “I heard that the Bible doesn’t say drinking alcohol is a sin.”

“Well, no, the Bible does not say that drinking alcohol is a sin,” I respond. I then go on to explain that it does become sinful (very easily), if any of the following happen…

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Embracing Poverty

2012-08_LT-EmbracingPoverty

As the new year began, I was still jobless and doubting that it was God’s plan for me to make such a big move in just a few months. However, I went to daily Mass one day and found myself begging God to help me understand what He had planned for me. I remember praying over and over, “Lord, give me the grace to follow you, even unto death.”

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

I Will Wait: Mumford & Sons and Purity

2012-08_LT-MumfordSonsWait

Can we just have a moment of silence in respect of the creative genius that wrote these lyrics and immortalized my thoughts about purity for endless generations to come? ( ……. ) Thank you. Just put your eyes on this . . .

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Blessed the Beggar: Who Are the “Poor in Spirit”?

2012-08_LT-BlessedBeggar

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

This is one of those Scripture passages that many people “know” (meaning, they’ve heard it before) but countless people fail to understand. My own parochial school teacher taught us that it simply meant God loves poor people “more.”

Ummm, to put it as charitably and bluntly as possible . . . no, that’s not what it means . . .

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Bold Manhood

2012-07_LT-BoldMan

As a result, “loving your neighbor” has become more of a general accepting of someone for everything they choose to be and do. This idea is summed up as the great “virtue” of tolerance. On the surface, it seems like a great and honorable ideal. Everyone can do what they want without being judged and nobody hurts anyone else’s feelings.

Yet we find something radically different in the biblical vision of love. In the gospel of John, Jesus says “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

What Are Your #FirstWorldProblems?

2012-08_LT-FirstWorld

We observed workers moving rocks barefoot because they only had one pair of shoes and needed them to last. Families who lived in a landfill without electricity or running water, hoping to make a dollar a day sorting trash. As the mission director, Julia, told us, “I know that you think that you have problems in the U.S., but compared to what we have here, you live in heaven.” While we had grown up hearing about those in need, our first hand encounter was sobering.

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

What God Thinks About Fifty Shades of Grey

2012-07_LT-FiftyShadesofGrey

I decided to ask one of these teens at the pool what she thought of the book, and she turned bright red when I interrupted her. She even admitted to being embarrassed because I interrupted her at “a really naughty part.” When we talked about it, she said that she knew the sex scenes were “a little much” but didn’t see anything wrong with it. “After all,” she said, “It’s not like I’m sitting here at the pool making out with my boyfriend while I read.”

More »

LifeTeen.com Podcast

Step Up Revolution - Catholic Movie Reviews Podcast

2012-07_LT-CMR-StepUpRevolution CatholicMovieReviews

Step Up Revolution is rated PG-13 for some suggestive dancing and language. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

» Subscribe in iTunes
» Get the RSS Feed

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Modesty is Annoying

2012-07_LT-ModestyAnnoying

Modesty is annoying. That’s right, I said it.

And not just little brother level of annoying. It’s like stand-still traffic, spilled hot coffee, only AM radio, and little brother in the back seat level of annoying.

I really, truly, feel this way. Dressing modestly is not easy. You have to search longer when you’re at the mall. You can’t always embrace the new fashions without a little (or a lot) of modification.

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Fame, Fortune, and Faith

2012-07_LT-FameFortune

Do you ever look around at all the actresses, singers, athletes and reality stars and wonder why you can’t be famous like them? Maybe you pray at night that you’ll get “discovered” on YouTube. Or maybe you want to get famous spreading God’s word. That can’t be bad, can it? After all, can’t you do more for him as a celebrity than as an average person?

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Now What?: Advice for After a Youth Conference

2012-07_LT-AdviceYouthConference

When you wake up, you look at your floor, strewn with t-shirts, phone numbers of friends, and your journal. You remember the moments that challenged you, the resolutions you made to make changes in your life: to delete the songs on your computer, to change who you hang out with, and to basically be the Mother Theresa of the tenth grade.

More »

LifeTeen.com Podcast

The Dark Knight Rises - Catholic Movie Reviews Podcast

2012-06_LT-CMR-DarkKnight CatholicMovieReviews

Christopher Nolan ends his Bat-story, but will fanboys, Greg, and you love it? Find out in our review.

» Subscribe in iTunes
» Get the RSS Feed

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Catholic, Summer Book List

2012-07_LT-BookList

Now that it’s well into summer you’re starting to pass from the “Yes! I don’t have to go to school!” phase into the “Wow, I’m really bored” phase. It’s a great time to start digging a bit deeper into the Catholic faith, to start growing more in your knowledge and love of God. So here’s a list of some awesome books to get you started.

More »

LifeTeen.com Podcast

Moonrise Kingdom - Catholic Movie Reviews Podcast

2012-07_LT-CMR-Moonrise CatholicMovieReviews

Moonrise Kingdom is rated PG-13 for sexual content and smoking. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

» Subscribe in iTunes
» Get the RSS Feed

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

“Happily Ever After”: Does it Exist?

2012-07_LT-Happily

Today the song “Payphone” by Maroon 5 came on the radio as I was driving. Of course since then I’ve had it stuck in my head . . . particularly the line, “If ‘happy ever after’ did exist, I would still be holding you like this.”

This line annoys me. If I could say two things to Adam Levine (the lead singer) I would tell him . . .

More »

LifeTeen.com Blog

Marriage Impossible?

2012-07_LT-TomKate

Oh, Tom and Katie, what went wrong? What happened that made a love so exciting, so public, so strange and sort of off-putting, end? It made me wonder about the general state of marriage; about half end in divorce. It seems more and more that marriage is a mission impossible. (See what I did there?)

More »

LifeTeen.com Podcast

The Amazing Spider-Man - Catholic Movie Reviews Podcast

2012-06_LT-CMR-Spiderman CatholicMovieReviews

The Amazing Spider-Man is rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

» Subscribe in iTunes
» Get the RSS Feed

More »

  • Social Connections

  • 2011 Life Teen Missionaries
  • Life Teen Missions