I Am Better

mark my words on this on yall, for real for real.

I Am Better

What once was,
Is now something it thought it was not.
And what is,Is far from what was,
But has become something is not.
A truth that is legitI am disgusted to admit,
A realization I do not want to realize.
My real eyes, realize, real lies.
Part of me has become that real lie.
No longer completely that real guy,
But that bow down and kneel guy.
For real guys,It’s crazy.
I’ve gotten lazy with my practice,
Been inactive.
So out of shape,
With every step I take,
My breath,I cannot catch it.
I must learn to move passed this.
Expect the unexpected.
You can bet it.
If you don’t get it, you need to get it.
Respect the unexpected.
Don’t forget it.
It’s one thing to expect,
It’s another to respect,
And I did not do the other.
Now I must do over.
Take time to rewind so that I can move better forward.
Toward the Lord.I’ve learned to shield myself from trouble.
It’s time I took up my sword,
And strike back.
Yeah, just like that.
I’ve got my sight back,
And now I’m headed right back on the right track on which I was on before.
I will spread my spirit’s wings wide and soar.
No longer again will I sell out to what’s in store.
When opportunities aren’t opening up,
Best believe I will kick down doors.
Because I make things happen.
I can’t always wait for things to happen to make me.
I will never forsake me.
I will not let anything else break me.
Jesus broke bread with the Apostles to keep us from falling apart.
It’s only fair,
It’s only right,
That I take good care of His home,
My heart.
For the up and coming,
I must be up and cunning.
For the Devil is a crafty one and a nasty one.
I must stay grounded, well rounded,
And together.
I must be better.
I’ve been my best,
That left me limited.
I must be better and become infinite.
My strength, perseverance, determination,
Jesus would never limit this,
So I choose to be limitless.
I choose to be better.
Work harder, be smarter,
Better.
I will no longer try my best,
I will try better.
I will no longer do my best,
I will do better.
I will no longer be my best,
I will be better.
More than ever,
I am better
And I Don’t care who you are or what you say.
I am better.
So go ahead,
Tell me your name
Look me in the eyes and tell me your best,
I’ll look at you right back in the eyes and boldly reply,
I am ROBert Lucero,
And I Am BETTER!!!
I have no limits,
Sky is the minimum for this individual,
i was born a blessing,
I will die a miracle.

beautiful as a bride

Moved.

I wore a veil for the first time in front of the Blessed Sacrament last night. I facilitated with Jen Sarmiento this past weekend on the Confirmation II Retreat. I noticed that she wore a delicate, white veil over her head in the chapel, and I became so curious about why she wore it.

“It’s a sign of reverence. I wear it to show respect whenever I’m in the presence of the Eucharist… I feel naked without it.”

She brought a booklet about Catholic veils, and while I glanced through it, I could not help but be absolutely intrigued as it how Adoration, Mass, or Chapel time could be different when wearing a veil.

Last night, I asked Jen if I could wear one of her veils to Adoration and her eyes almost lit up with my request. She told me about how veils were a lost tradition of the Church— a fiery rebellion among women during the feminist movement, since veils are a symbol of obedience and humility. Jen is the only young woman I know who rocks a veil during Mass, and I admire her for her commitment and evident devotion to Christ. The stigma about veils is that only elderly Filipino ladies wear them, but there’s something beautiful about the youth wearing them.

Jen handed me the soft, white fabric. As I unfolded it and draped the veil over my head, I couldn’t help but feel like I was securing on my helmet for combat— spiritual warfare between God and my burdens.

Walking into the Main Room for Adoration, I could feel the warmth of candlelight and the people in there. Saturday night on retreat is always trying, emotional, and cathartic.

I knelt down as the King was carried into the room and the glimmer of the golden Monstrance reflected all around the room— however, I knew the glow on each person’s face came from the presence of the Holy Eucharist. As I bowed to the Blessed Sacrament and looked down, I saw white lace— a symbol of my humility. Despite its weightlessness, I became very aware of the veil on my head and with folded hands, I stared heavily upon the Blessed Sacrament.

In that instant, I felt beautiful.

I lowered myself and cried. I thought of all the anxiety, pain, and burdens that weighed down on my shoulders, and I could feel myself shaking. Warmth veiled over me and I stopped. I prayed for God to lift the weight off me. I prayed for the humility to lay it down— lay it down and let God help me.

With dewy eyes and the release of purging emotion, I, like the veil on my head, became weightless.

- trina tan
www.flickr.com/trinatan

Free Because

Free Because…
By Marian Flores

One day, you came across a store. Nothing particularly fancy, just a regular store that happened to catch your attention. The host of the store is a cloaked figure and standing next to him is one other man. As you walk up to the store, the cloaked figure tells you that everything in the store is free. Your taken back and wondered if the guy was serious or not. You look at the other man; He nodded and said “for you they are”. So you went ahead and started with the simplest things; like white lies and blasphemy. These free things didn’t seem so bad, and after a while you decide to go back to the store. The cloaked figure seems glad that you’ve come back and says that there are more free things in store for you. You look back at the other man in the store, He seems tired and weary but again He states “for you they are”. You soon moved on to other things concerning deceit, cheating, and stealing.

For a while, it seems like you just can’t get enough. It wasn’t long till your back at the store smiling at the cloaked figure, but when you look at the other man; He’s been lashed from the front and back. You question why this had happened, and the cloaked figure simply answers that the man owes him something in return. The cloaked figure then asks if you had wanted anything else. You ask again if these things really are free, and the other man slowly repeats “for you they are”. So pushing His image out of your head, you go for the drugs, drinking, and fighting never knowing how deep you’ve gotten yourself into. It comes to the point where it has become an uncontrollable habit.

The last things on display in the store were adultery and death, but before you talked to the cloaked figure, you take another look at the other man…He’s been crowned with thorns and is carrying a cross. The cloaked figure reveals himself as the devil and tells you to go on and take the last freebies… you suddenly feel this pain n your heart, and you cant seem to stop the tears from running down your face… as if moving automatically, you take adultery and the man, Jesus, is slowly being nailed to the cross…For some reason, you feel ashamed and shocked… you drop all the free things you received, knowing that they were free for you because Jesus had paid the price…You want to give it all back, but the devil says no returns, you can’t undo what’s done…He urges you to go ahead and take the last one… death… and you scream at him for making you play this immoral game. He smiles and shakes his head, he then points at Jesus and said that it was your sins that had caused the downfall of this man…Anger, sadness, hate, shame, and all these other emotions just rush at you. You feel like talking back to him but no words came out… you falter and chose to hold your tongue…How else were you supposed to answer when you know everything he just said was right?You ask out loud if there was another way…The devil says the only other thing for free in this store is Him… (Jesus). You look up at Jesus and said… “I’ll take him…”

The devil closes the store to moves to some other place where more people would want free things and your left with Jesus on the cross. You kneel before Him and hugged the cross and you can’t help but cry, apologizing and wishing you could turn back time… Jesus slowly gets off the cross and holds you in His arms... He cries along with you, says that He loves you and that you are forgiven...

See how much He loves you for He paid the price of your sins?
In the end, you’ll see the only real thing left that’s real was His love…THE END!!! =D

All Things New

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
(Revelations 21:5)

It is a new retreat season, with a new team and even a new Coordinator. With all of these changes abound, we are reminded that it is only through Christ that anything is made new. Thus, the renewal of this ministry is yet another witness to Jesus' life-giving love. As young eager Catholics preparing to serve the Lord, we ask that you join us in prayer and communion with the Eucharist so that we, as one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, may succeed in accomplishing God's will on Earth.

We've got a lot of new faces in the ministry, as well as familiar returning ones. The Crosstraining Ministry is humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve God in this unique and special way. Right now, we are forming ourselves of ministers of the Roman Catholic Church and will be joining St. Paul's Youth Ministry in adoration tonight at 6:30pm in the Teen Center. What a better way to respond to God's call by coming to Christ Himself present in the Eucharist. We hold much love and respect for CrossTrainers past that have helped establish a great tradition in this ministry. And we especially hold those CrossTrainers that are answering the call to religious life in our prayers, including our previous Confirmation & Retreat Coordinator: Richelle Chuatuan.

We've got a lot of events planned for the upcoming season. So, please feel free to join us in prayer, or even as a CrossTrainer yourself, as we set of on our journey towards the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thank you all for you love and support. God bless and Glory be!

Your humble servant,
Dennis Pangindian

Lack of updates = we've been B-U-S-Y!!!

It's been a while since our last update in here... which means that we've been crazy busy these past few weeks!

Our last Confirmation 2 retreat in January was our BIGGEST one yet! Thank you to everyone for praying with us all weekend and for supporting our youth.

Last night marked our last UNITY NIGHT of the year. We celebrated Shrove Tuesday with traditional pancake races. Big thanks to the Knights of Columbus for helping us cook pancakes and feeding 600 teens. It was a little nutty at times but we all pulled it off... thanks for the amazing teamwork!

As we begin the season of Lent today, the Cross+Trainers will each be spiritually adopting and praying for a priest in our diocese. Our diocese has more parishes and more people than there are priests to serve and minister to them... so the priests we do have in our diocese are working extra hard to serve all of us. They need our prayers!

Our challenge for Lent is not just to give up something, but to do something extra... what will you be doing for Lent?

Happy New Year!

We hope you've all had a wonderful Advent and Christmas season! January is a busy month at our parish, kicking off with our last Confirmation 2 retreat coming up this weekend, January 9-11. Please keep our retreat staff and our teens in your prayers... many of us feel unprepared, as if this retreat just crept up on us... but this is the best time to place all our trust in the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to really carry us this weekend!

Our team will be rotating hours in Adoration, so please join us in prayer. See you in the Eucharist :)