{"id":300,"date":"2016-03-23T20:21:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T20:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/?p=300"},"modified":"2016-03-23T20:21:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T20:21:33","slug":"school-of-leaders-march-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/?p=300","title":{"rendered":"School of Leaders – March 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finding Joy <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The experience of joy, a Metanoia if you will, on the recent Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Cursillo Weekends was somewhat diminished by our return to reality.\u00a0 Being \u201cOne in Christ\u201d is constantly challenged when the general attitude of people seems to be, \u201cwhat\u2019s in it for me, what is the very least I can do, and if it feels good do it\u201d?<\/p>\n

We are easily distracted.\u00a0 After all, God has made some really great stuff for our enjoyment.\u00a0 Even He found everything He made to be \u201cVery Good,\u201d back in the Book of Genesis 1:31.\u00a0 The problem is that all too often the pleasures of this world have our full attention.\u00a0 For most people, there\u2019s no room for anything else.\u00a0 The things of God are not anywhere near the top of most people\u2019s lists.\u00a0 It is easy to become blind to His presence as a result of worldly influences that cause us to become victims of our own devices.<\/p>\n

In Matthew Kelly\u2019s CD, \u201cBecoming The Best Version of Yourself,\u201d he tells the story of a teenage boy who wants a $94,000 sports car for his 18th<\/sup> birthday.\u00a0 When his father gives him a small rectangular package, he is sure he will find the keys to his new car.\u00a0 Instead, he discovers a book, the Bible!\u00a0 Disgusted, he goes to his room, throws it against the wall, slams his door in anger and goes to bed without talking to anyone.\u00a0 The next day his dad died of a massive heart attack and the boy is devastated.\u00a0 He again goes to his room, lays on his bed, and weeps nonstop.\u00a0 Then he sees the Bible, picks it up, and reads the following inscription inside the front cover, \u201cDear Michael, within these pages, you will find the answers to all life\u2019s questions and the secrets to all life\u2019s success.\u00a0 With love on your 18th<\/sup> birthday, Dad.\u201d\u00a0 He wept some more and flipped through the pages hoping to find some words of comfort.\u00a0 He then discovered that his father had placed a bookmark in the Bible.\u00a0 He removed it and found that it was a check for $94,000.\u00a0 In the story, the father was able to give his son everything from a material standpoint, but more importantly, he wanted his son to place the Word of God at the center of his life.<\/p>\n

How often are we like the son in the story?\u00a0 Disappointed instead of joyful for what we have been given?\u00a0 How much is the sheer business of our life and the ways of the world preventing us from living the life God is calling us to live?\u00a0 To experience the fullness of joy in His presence?<\/p>\n

We all want things to happen in our lives – we have desires, hopes and dreams.\u00a0 Many of us spend several years of our lives chasing those dreams, hoping they will come true.\u00a0 We hear it said many times that God wants our hopes and dreams to come true.\u00a0 And that He will give us the desires of our heart.\u00a0 But so often, years go by and we feel empty and unfulfilled because so much of our thought has been that things, people, accomplishments, or pleasures of this world will bring us the joy we desire.\u00a0 Instead, we are left wanting more.\u00a0 At some point, we finally realize that the joy we are seeking does not come from worldly things.\u00a0 Just as a person\u2019s hunger indicates the body\u2019s need for food, our longing for more points to the fact that there must be more than this unfulfilling life.<\/p>\n

The interesting thing is that God wants all of us to have complete joy.\u00a0 He created us for it.\u00a0 Jesus came so that we could be immersed in complete joy: \u201cI have said these things to you so that my joy might be in you and that your joy may be complete.\u201d John 15:11<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a secret to making sure God gives us the desires of our heart.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t some kind of magic prayer or a special type of fasting; it isn\u2019t about attending the right church or singing the right praise and worship songs; and it isn\u2019t about having the right amounts of money – it\u2019s all about our hearts.<\/p>\n

As we seek God and build a relationship with him, the desires of our hearts will begin to change.\u00a0 We will begin to long for the things that God wants in our lives, not just the worldly things that we used to chase.\u00a0 As this happens, we will begin to see things fall into place for us, and we will have the desires of our hearts.<\/p>\n

St. Augustine tells us, \u201cOur hearts were made for you, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key is to remember that God is not the means to an end.\u00a0 He is<\/u> the end.\u00a0 He is who we should be seeking after continually.\u00a0 \u201cBut seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.\u201d Mt 6:33<\/p>\n

As a Christian, we are invited to follow Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.\u00a0 As we study Christ, we are convinced that without His Way, there is no going; without His Truth, there is no knowing, and without His Life, there is no real living.<\/p>\n

As Bishop Robert Barron tells us in a recent Lenten Perspective, \u201cInstead of seeing money, success, fame, power, and pleasure as ultimate goods, see them as nothing compared to the grace of God. Instead of living as though worldly success were ultimate, live as though the things of this world don\u2019t matter at all.\u00a0 In a word, change your mind, and see things from the perspective of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experience joy in all you do by placing, J<\/u><\/strong>esus first, O<\/u><\/strong>thers second, Y<\/u><\/strong>ourself last.<\/p>\n

Some final thoughts<\/u><\/strong>:<\/u>\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t have to leave behind all the things of this world to put God first, but you must put God first in all the things of this world.\u201d Author Unknown<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t find joy in the path you are on and what you are working toward, how do you expect to find joy once you get there?\u201d\u00a0 Author Unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding Joy The experience of joy, a Metanoia if you will, on the recent Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Cursillo Weekends was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellevillecursillo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}