‘I want it all’

Several years ago when I was teaching, a girl came to my class before the Christmas break wearing a sweatshirt. On it was printed the words, "Dear Santa: I want it all!" And just recently I attended a conference during which one of the speakers spoke about a bumper sticker he had seen. It said, "It’s all about me." I am a little curious as to what your first thoughts are as you hear these two things.

This session was actually a pre-conference before the main conference. It was a retreat on discernment. It was very good, but I must admit that the presenter left me questioning some things. He spoke a lot about discerning what we truly want and desire. I had trouble with this simply because we live in a society that thrives on consumerism.

Simply put, how often do we hear someone say, "I really want this"? So I was concerned when the speaker talked so much about our wants and desires. I always thought that we should focus on what we truly need and what God’s will is for us, over our own wants and desires. I know that as we minister to our young people, this is the message that we share. We try and let them know that what they want may be completely different from what they need and what God wants for their lives.

Trust me, when it comes to wanting things, I am the guilty party. And yes, there are times that this can become very frustrating. But as frustrating as it is, the awesome thing is that God continues to provide me with the things that I really need.

As much as I disagree with the speaker on the discerning of wants and desires over our needs, I agree with him when he said that we live in a culture of consumerism. We live in a culture that makes less of our humanity. But the wonderful thing through all of this, is that our Catholic Faith motivates us to move beyond this. It is our faith that leads us to think more of the world around us than ourselves. And this belief and witness is very true for many of our young people. We continue to see an increase in the number of parishes and young people involving themselves in mission trips and justice and peace immersion experiences. They are finding an experience that gives them a deeper meaning of life and Gods presence in their daily lives.

So, as we celebrate this short Christmas season focusing on Christ’s humanity, can we take this time to help our young people better center their lives on what they need and what God desires for them, over what they want? In this time of gift giving, can we help them better realize that all we have and all we are given comes from God? Can the one message stemming from this column be something that we have all heard before? Can we take it more deeply into our lives and the lives of our young people? "Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is Mystery, Today is a gift, that is why we call it the present."

The holidays are over, and it is time to move from our short breaks and get back into the swing of daily life. As we enter the new year, I am sure that many people have made some type of New Year’s resolution. I hope that what we can focus on this New Year is just that, to stay focused on the essential things in life. Let’s not get wrapped up in what we think is important and miss the essential things.

I liked what Father Trong Tran, parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe said in his homily on New Year’s day. He spoke about New Year’s resolutions, but instead of focusing on the normal ones like quitting smoking, losing weight, etc., he said that we should focus and make our resolutions toward greater commitments to our spouses, our kids, our jobs, etc. Thus, I invite you to make a New Year’s resolution to our young people. How can we make a more conscious effort to become more committed to ministry to and with our young people?

During this holiday season we have all had our share of enjoyable meals with family and friends. I am curious as to how many times over the past several weeks have we said to ourselves, I have eaten too much today. I need to cut back tomorrow. But oh, how those leftovers and snacks continued to call us. With this, I invite you to take a minute or two and focus on the headline for this column.

When we marinate meat, we place it in a sauce, which not only adds flavor to the meat, but it also brings the flavor out.

So, can we look at this New Year and our commitment to our young people in this way? God has created each of them in His divine image. God has given them their true flavor. This is who they are and what they are to become. Can we work with them, and through our efforts, can we add a little more to there lives? And more importantly, can we help them discover their true flavor, their true person — letting it come out, so together we can continue to build God’s Kingdom here on earth?

May God continue to guide and bless you in all you do during this New Year.