Catholic Teens 10-3-06
Hey All—
Salesman for God
The priest who helped facilitate my return to the Catholic Church had a great line:
When someone would complain about God or the Church He established, Fr. Dulek would look at them and say “That’s a question for management, I’m in sales.”
Of course the conversation did not end there, and Father was happy to go deeper, but it reflects the role we have.
We’re all in the sales department. We don’t make up the rules, we just implement them. And going further, we’re not in charge of all the background details, we just present the product…Christianity. God does the rest.
Indeed, we get into trouble when we start thinking “it all depends on us.” It doesn’t. We’re just the instruments. God is the one who moves hearts.
Of course, a good salesman totally believes in his or her product, and is therefore much more convincing. The more convinced we are of our “product” Christianity, the more effective we’ll be as “salesman for God”.
(By the way, I wasn’t Catholic 7 years ago---but that’s a story for another time J ).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question O' The Week:
“If God is all forgiving, why would He throw Adam & Eve into Hell for just eating an apple?”
-Well we don’t know if Adam & Eve are in hell. And God is all-forgiving. But you have to want that forgiveness. Remember, the people in hell don’t want anything to do with God, much less forgiveness from Him. The people in hell have rejected God completely.
-As far as “just for eating an apple.” You could say that about any sin. “It’s just a lie.” “It’s just sex outside of marriage.” “It’s just an abortion.” At the root of all sin is a choice to do the opposite of what God desires. The same evil intention is there whether the sin is “serious” or “small”. And of course, the “small” sins lead to bigger ones.
-Even though it was just a piece of fruit, it was done to challenge God so that, in the words of the serpent, “they could become like gods.”
*Note: Time for you guys to send in some more questions…I’m getting low J
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intentions:
-For our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
-For a family, formerly of Stevens Point, who just experienced a miscarriage.
-For Jan (my Mom) who is having surgery tomorrow.
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism.
-For the continued recovery of Fr. Dennis Worzella
(He is hoping to come back to Stevens Point soon!)
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Announcements:
The Youth Group, Generation JPII will be picking up full-steam ahead in September.
The next meeting is Sunday night, October 15th 6-8PM. We’ll be talking about Modesty & Chastity—anybody think those aren’t needed today?! Mark your calendars!
Look for meetings to be held the 1st & 3rd Sunday of each month
God bless you!
Phil Lawson
For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com
Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.
Salesman for God
The priest who helped facilitate my return to the Catholic Church had a great line:
When someone would complain about God or the Church He established, Fr. Dulek would look at them and say “That’s a question for management, I’m in sales.”
Of course the conversation did not end there, and Father was happy to go deeper, but it reflects the role we have.
We’re all in the sales department. We don’t make up the rules, we just implement them. And going further, we’re not in charge of all the background details, we just present the product…Christianity. God does the rest.
Indeed, we get into trouble when we start thinking “it all depends on us.” It doesn’t. We’re just the instruments. God is the one who moves hearts.
Of course, a good salesman totally believes in his or her product, and is therefore much more convincing. The more convinced we are of our “product” Christianity, the more effective we’ll be as “salesman for God”.
(By the way, I wasn’t Catholic 7 years ago---but that’s a story for another time J ).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question O' The Week:
“If God is all forgiving, why would He throw Adam & Eve into Hell for just eating an apple?”
-Well we don’t know if Adam & Eve are in hell. And God is all-forgiving. But you have to want that forgiveness. Remember, the people in hell don’t want anything to do with God, much less forgiveness from Him. The people in hell have rejected God completely.
-As far as “just for eating an apple.” You could say that about any sin. “It’s just a lie.” “It’s just sex outside of marriage.” “It’s just an abortion.” At the root of all sin is a choice to do the opposite of what God desires. The same evil intention is there whether the sin is “serious” or “small”. And of course, the “small” sins lead to bigger ones.
-Even though it was just a piece of fruit, it was done to challenge God so that, in the words of the serpent, “they could become like gods.”
*Note: Time for you guys to send in some more questions…I’m getting low J
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intentions:
-For our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
-For a family, formerly of Stevens Point, who just experienced a miscarriage.
-For Jan (my Mom) who is having surgery tomorrow.
-For peace in the world and an end to terrorism.
-For the continued recovery of Fr. Dennis Worzella
(He is hoping to come back to Stevens Point soon!)
-For all the other intentions you hold in your hearts, we pray to the Lord.
Lord, hear our prayer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Announcements:
The Youth Group, Generation JPII will be picking up full-steam ahead in September.
The next meeting is Sunday night, October 15th 6-8PM. We’ll be talking about Modesty & Chastity—anybody think those aren’t needed today?! Mark your calendars!
Look for meetings to be held the 1st & 3rd Sunday of each month
God bless you!
Phil Lawson
For more information on St. Peters check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com
Catholic Teens is a weekly email from Phil Lawson to Catholic Teenagers. To receive these weekly reflections, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com. On the other hand, if you’d like to be removed from this list, please send an email indicating that.
posted by Phil Lawson at 8:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home