Disciples at the ready.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:19

My name is Thai and I’m a Catholic convert, whose faith has recently been reignited, if you will. I sponsored my nephew into the Catholic Church this Last Easter and from there I’ve had this unquenchable thirst for truth and knowledge.

I sought after like-minded people and being in an area where Catholics are few and far between, I did what any millennial would do… that’s right, I GOOGLED IT! I found great resources from YouTube, Facebook pages, and blogs (I love me a good blog, obviously!). Coincidentally, I was asked to lead a confirmation class for sophomores at All Saints Parish in Le Mars, Iowa and while prepping for a talk on social media and where to find more useful sites. I decided to jot down some sites they could go to. I pulled out a piece of paper and drew a line down the middle: one side for sites geared towards ladies and one side geared toward the gentlemen… One side had more than the other. Can you guess which one? That’s right, the ladies had us guys beat! At least for me, it seemed like a lot of the blogs were geared towards women.

I even went as far as reaching out to the popular bloggers just to ask them for help because no matter how great their blog post is about Catholic Femininity, it just doesn’t apply to me or my more masculine contemporaries. Don’t get me wrong, our sisters in Christ need to hear from strong Catholic women and learn how to live and dress modestly (and righteously) for Christ, but where do our brothers go to learn that?

As a disclaimer, I am no theologian. Frankly, I’m just a young lay Catholic trying to fill a need that I see in today’s chaotic culture. The culture that tells us the worldly things are good. The culture that tells us that religion is oppressive.

The culture that has desensitized us from things that should make us uncomfortable, from the things that displeases God. How do we find the great “I AM” in today’s loud, fast paced world? As scripture tells us, the Lord is not in the strong winds, or the earthquake, or in the fire but he was in the gentle breeze!

“And after the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the whisper of a gentle breeze.”1 Kings 19:12

So here I am starting a blog that I’m not sure will gain any real traction but you never know until you actually do it. I’m praying that the Holy Spirit can guide me in this. Because He>I. And with that knowledge and the willingness to let Him use me as an instrument, the battle will be won.

I challenge all Catholics, young and old, male and female to ‘Rediscover Catholicism’! (Click to get a free copy of this great book by Matthew Kelly) Humble yourself and re-learn the reasons we do what we do and not have them be vain repetition. Here are a few things to get good at answering:

1. Why do you do the sign of the cross?
2. Why do you genuflect?
3. Why do you pray to Mary and the saints?
4. Why is Jesus still on your cross?
5. Why do you confess your sins to a priest and not to Jesus?

Be honest, how many times have you answered,”Because that’s what I’ve always done!” Or “Because we just do!” Do you realize how inefficient of an answer that is? I just picture Jesus and the saints rolling their eyes every time someone says it. Guys! We have so much beauty and history in our faith! One just needs to be unafraid of looking silly and ask!

Let us band together as Catholic Christians and continue to fight the good spiritual fight against the devil and all his evil works. You may ask,”How do we do that?”… we first must be willing to be guided by the Holy Spirit and open to the graces that God wants to give us! We need to change the worlds mission statement of “MY will be done” back to “THY will be done”.

If there is anything you’d like to discuss or just want an easier way of explaining things, feel free to comment below or email me at the.thaihua@gmail.com.