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Encountering God's Transformative Love with Will Muraski
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What if encountering God's love could truly transform your life? Meet Will Muraski, a devoted Catholic, husband, and father, who joins us to share his journey of faith. Will recounts his adventurous childhood and how a seventh-grade retreat sparked a deep spiritual connection.
From public school beginnings to a pivotal decision to join NET Ministries instead of heading to college, Will's path is a testament to the power of ministry and the strength found in community. His year with NET Ministries was transformative, leading to spiritual discipline and a charismatic spirituality that continues to enrich his faith. As Will opens up about encountering a former retreat participant years later, he highlights the profound ripple effects of service and leadership, illustrating the ongoing impact of his mission work.
But what happens when balancing sin and sanctity becomes a daily struggle? Will's reflections on humility and the challenges of self-reliance resonate deeply, as he discusses his personal journey to embrace God's grace amidst imperfections. Through heartfelt stories and the inspiring mission of Annunciation Heights, a camp in the Colorado mountains, discover how faith and nature intertwine to offer transformational encounters with Jesus.
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Welcome to yes Catholic, where real people share their real stories and discover God's grace at work in their lives. I'm your host, David Patterson, and every week we bring you inspiring guests who share how they came to say yes to Jesus and His Church. Let's dive into their journeys of faith and see how grace is transforming lives in our world today.
Speaker 2I'm really excited tonight to welcome Will Murawski. Welcome, buddy. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I'm excited to talk, absolutely. So why don't you share a little bit about yourself before we dive into the rapid fire.
Speaker 3Yeah, my name is Will Murawski. I'm a dad to three, one in heaven named Joy, one on earth named judah and one in the womb tbd on the name happily married to my wife gracie three years of marriage this december, which is crazy. Come from a family of five boys, happy, catholic, striving pilgrim, excited about life all around, optimist, that's me love that.
Speaker 2Well, let's get to know you a little more with the rapid fire. I'm just going to rhyme off some questions, ready to tackle them. Yeah, let's do it All right, describe yourself as a kid in three words.
Speaker 3Adventurous outdoors sugar. I was the kid who was always trying to get into the cookie jar, into the sugar jar, into anything they could eat. There's a famous story of the white chocolate chip bandit. If you ever meet my family, you have to ask them.
Speaker 2Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Speaker 3Oh yeah, I'm a morning person, for sure.
Speaker 2Okay, if you could have any superpower, what would?
Speaker 3it be Probably flight, really convenient and epic Go-to order at a coffee shop. Basically, if it's a morning, I would get a light brew, like drip coffee, whatever, with a shot of espresso. If it's a morning, I would get a light brew like drip coffee, whatever, with a shot of espresso. If it's like the afternoon, then you're talking about medium and dark roast, maybe still with a shot of espresso, but I'm a black coffee drinker to the core go to short prayer.
Speaker 2You're going about your day. What's your?
Speaker 3go-to. Yeah, I really. It's just oh lord, help me. I don't know why, but it always comes to me, just the big oh, oh Lord, oh Jesus, help me, oh Jesus, this is all you. Other times it's like, oh Lord, help me. Yeah, sometimes it's great, it's just like, oh Lord, this happened. I don't know why the oh came to me, but it's very natural.
Speaker 2All right, if you could have coffee with, who would it be?
Speaker 3there's a lot of good ones, but there's a kind of. He's not that obscure, but I really like him for a lot of reasons. His name is saint john de brebeuf. He was one of the north american martyrs. He was a jesuit, but he was one of the first jesuits to discover the sport of lacrosse and he was also like six foot eight or something ridiculous, like an avid outdoorsman, incredible human being, and the native americans respected him so much that when he they killed him, they ate his heart, because they believe that when you eat the heart of something you kill, that you like take on their spirit and they like really look up to him okay, if you could ask god one question this is the last one what would it?
Speaker 3be currently it would be. Why do children, why do new teeth coming in when you're a child hurt so much? Like the kids can't like our judah is has his last couple teeth coming right now, but when he has first couple of teeth coming in he can't even like express anything other than crying. But there's like this natural growing process that's like literally ripping his skin and it hurts terribly. It's like why? That's like dad life right there as a question. Eh, that's literally. I was like I'm just gonna answer this right now in this state of my life all right man.
Speaker 2Well, you flew through the rapid fire. Let's begin with a prayer just asking our lady to intercede for us, and we'll have you share your story in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Amen, hail mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, jesus.
Speaker 3Holy.
Speaker 2Mary.
Speaker 3Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, in the hour of our death. Amen.
Speaker 2In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, all right Will. Let's dive right in. Where does your story begin?
Speaker 3Yeah, man, my story begins, yeah, in a great Catholic family. I think, really, where my story with Christ begins I could give you a cradle Catholic thing, but I think really where I want to start it is seventh grade. Between seventh and eighth grade. I grew up Catholic. Jesus was always in my family, but really where I first came into a relationship, into contact with him in a personal way that I chose to respond and engage with, was between 7th and 8th grade.
Speaker 3I was on this retreat that we were talking about the Mass and so every day we would talk about a different part of the Mass and then we would go to Mass. It was just really cool, like experiential learning, where you learned about something and then you experienced it, or some days we would experience it and then talk about it. It was really effective and I think it was the middle of their treat or I remember it being a wednesday. I think we had just talked about the eucharist and we went to mass during consecration when the priests held up the host. I remember looking at the host and knowing that it was jesus and like talking to myself basically like, oh my gosh, like that's God. And then like the, literally like the next second being like, if that's God, I need to do something about it, like I need to live in accordance with that.
Speaker 3And again, seventh, seventh grader mind wasn't using the word accordance, but that, my version of that and and really I think that's where my story begins, because that's when I think the Lord started to become a consistent person and presence in my life, a consistent relationship outside of like obligations and familial needs.
Speaker 3And yeah, I think that's just where I started to to come to know him and really from there again, my family being Catholic, I was always engaged in the activity of Catholicism, but that's where the relationship with Jesus started and I think that really is where the whole story began, because I always come back to that point, because he often presents me with things like that where the truth is so clear, the truth is so clear and it's just like right in front of me that I have to either respond accordingly or just deny it and leave and I can't do that. Um, I really I have not, I just can't, and so it's like constantly just bringing me back to that point of correction, that point of convicting. Truth, of encounter really is the prime word, if you will will.
Speaker 2So in seventh grade, when you kind of made that decision, like what did your day to day look like after that moment where you kind of said I have to do something about that?
Speaker 3Right. So, like I said, my family was always engaged in the activities of the church. Right, I was an altar server. We went to mass on Sundays, prayed a rosary every once in a while, prayed before meals.
Speaker 3Jesus was not an unfamiliar name to me, if you will, and the church was not an unfamiliar place, in fact I would even say it was a familiar place. It was a place that I found comfort in, that I found community in before that. At that time I was in public school and so that was where I started to try to figure out, okay, like if Jesus is Jesus, how does this part of my life fit into that? Because public school felt very divided, very separate from my faith, and so, like one of the things I did was I joined like Fellowship of Christian Athletes and tried to understand, like how does this work and really kind of seek guidance with some other Catholics in that group, and really what it started to turn into was like how can I return to this, to that place of encounter?
Speaker 3At that time there wasn't really any teaching or awareness of like a daily prayer life. There wasn't any necessarily anybody inviting me into that In fellowship with Christian athletes. You know, we got Bibles and we were taught how to use scripture to talk with God, but prayer in a daily form was not really introduced to me outside of again, like those morning prayers of family or prayer before meals and stuff like that. And so at that time it really more so changed in my actions and just like, ok, I want to be more involved, I want to be a involved, I want to be, you know, a small group leader for this, or I want to help with this retreat, or I want to go to youth group every week, or I want to go to mass, and so there's just this greater desire to go deeper and to discover, but still that the lacking of just a normal, understandable kind of lack of awareness and knowledge at that time.
Speaker 3I remember that's when I really started to wrestle with sports culture. Actually, I came from a family of five boys and we all played sports like all the time we were the people who was like mom would drop off one kid at a practice and have three others that are taking other practices, just like constant sports. And that's where I really started to be like there are a lot of guys on my team or there are a lot of things that are being taught that don't line up with what I'm also being told in church and also there's a lot of time that's being put into these things that doesn't line up with some of the things I like said in scripture and again, there wasn't a, there wasn't a ton of change at that time, but I would say like the big change, if you will, is like just an awareness level of like starting to actually wrestle with things, starting to build this desire to want to be involved, to return to that place of encounter, you know.
Speaker 2When did you get involved in ministry then?
Transformative Year of Ministry and Community
Speaker 3I've always been a very talkative person. When did you get involved in ministry then? I've always been a very talkative person, very optimistic and very outgoing. I don't know if I would say I'm unashamed, but I'm definitely not afraid to be in front of people. And so, like, even after that retreat, I started to like ask my youth minister what I could do. And so I would say, at that point I started to become more friends with my youth minister, with my priest, and start to see little glimpses inside ministry, if you will. And then, when I got into high school, I switched from a public grade school to a Catholic high school and all of a sudden, all these doors opened up to do ministry. I became an extraordinary Eucharistic minister and all these doors opened up to do ministry Became an extraordinary Eucharistic minister.
Speaker 3I joined a group called the Life Team where we would put on different retreats for different grades. We would be different prayer things you know we would do Respect Life Month Novenas. I would lead prayer in the morning at our school over the loudspeaker. Really, at that time I wouldn't have even called it like ministry. I thought of it and I approached it as service, which, again, isn't bad, it's just that's always been something that has been like, really, I think just like gifted on my heart of like service or just like wanting to do good things for the people, and yeah, so that's when I really started to get into it and that's when I I would say that I don't even know if gift for ministry, but that desire for ministry and service really kind of just started to blaze a little bit, because in high school I started to be more separated, because I was going to school with the same people that I was then like leading a retreat for, and then I was also going to football practice with, and so all of a sudden, my world, my scope of people, went from like this is public school, this is church, this is home and my neighborhood friends, like three different worlds, to like one basically. And so that's where I started to, because of my engagement with campus ministry, with life team, with helping out at mass, I started to be like separated, not in a negative sense, but in like a just like a natural divide, divided sense of like, oh, will's the guy who does the ministry? Like Will's the guy who does the service projects, or Will's the guy on the team that leads, will's the guy who, and so it started to kind of become a little bit of like part of my identity. Looking back, I still wrestle with like you know how positive or negative that is or how rightly ordered that is. You know how positive or negative that is or how rightly ordered that is. But really like it led me to a good place.
Speaker 3Because from college that's where my senior year I had just my brother above me, had just successfully gotten into West Point, was like on a full ride, scholarship, golden boy, just an amazing human being all deserving of it. And so my mom was ready to be like all right, he got a full ride, so you're just going to do the right thing and you'll get into somewhere perfect and it all flow great. And my senior year I sat down with my mom. I said, mom, I don't think I want to go to college. She said what? And I was like I think I want to do this thing called NET and she was like what is that? And so I explained to her that Net Ministries is like a year-long service mission year, if you will where you go and you just do retreats like literally all the time. And she took some warming up.
Speaker 3All good Catholic moms who want their boys to succeed in life. You know they're always excited for them and then sometimes the Lord throws curveballs and that was one of those curveballs, but they were incredibly supportive once they learned what it was. But that's where I would say like, that's where I really started into like the ministry field again, thinking of ministry as more of like a I don't know if institutional is the right word, but like a set thing, you know, whereas like just discipleship and loving, it's like that everyday stuff, kind kind of like separate.
Speaker 2And what was that year like for you being on NET?
Speaker 3NET was nothing short of transformative. Objectively, the person I was before NET and the person I was after NET were dramatically different, and I think a couple of those main reasons was one I learned that daily prayer is a necessity to life. We were asked to have 30 minutes of personal prayer every day. The days where I didn't do that were the worst hands down, hands down. And the days that I did, I was always taken care of. I was always provided for. I always had everything I needed of. I was always provided for. I always had everything I needed and, yeah, I just.
Speaker 3I was taught how to pray and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus and have a conversation with him every single day, and then I did it for a year and I really I think of it as like where Jesus tells the disciples to like, go out and he sends them two by two and tells them, like, take nothing. And they're kind of like what are you? This is crazy what you're talking about. But really, where I look back at that scripture verse after doing that and being like I would not have believed you if you had said that what happened that year was possible only through prayer and I had to actually like for my heart, I had to experience it to believe it. I had to experience it and live it in order to receive it and so like, really that was, I think, the biggest thing for me, life changing wise, was personal prayer. It was the concrete establishment and proof that personal prayer is necessary. And then the second thing it did is it introduced me really and personally to the Holy Spirit. You know, I got confirmed. I took all the classes, I could tell you the gifts of the Spirit, all that good stuff, but really until net, like I had a personal relationship with Jesus but I didn't have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and net has a charismatic spirituality that really lays bare the heart of the Holy Spirit in a beautiful way and then forms you and allows you to interact with that. And, yeah, it was like a whole new world, interiorly and spiritually, that was opened up to me. That was so powerful and so beautiful and really life giving, really enlivening and really life-giving like really enlivening the Holy Spirit is like really one of the powerhouses, the prime movers, if you will, of like my spiritual life and life in general right now. It has been because of that, you know, and that looked like a lot of different things from praise and worship and learning how to actually pray with a song, with the words of a song, and to use my body and my voice to praise the Lord, as it asks us to do in scripture. And also being introduced to charismatic prayer, praying over other people, praying for gifts and receiving gifts, receiving and seeing miracles and visions and words, and just being like whoa, this is real and he moves through it, and that was just really powerful.
Speaker 3And the third thing I would say that really kind of describes my net year was community, the experience again of the reality and the power of community. And, like I said, I grew up with five brothers, or four brothers. I was one of five boys, grew up with four brothers, went to a Catholic high school, played sports. I'd been a part of a lot of brotherhoods and teams, but this was the first community I lived in.
Speaker 3I had a team of men and women I lived with and prayed with and worked with and ministered with and ate with and drove with and everything and ministered with and ate with and drove with and everything pursuing the Lord and giving and pouring ourselves out, just totally centered on Him and totally seeking the good of the other and totally wanting the kingdom come and there really just is nothing like a community of people centered on Christ that are striving for Him, especially in that environment where you're all so like dependent on grace uh, in a way that is rare in the world, because, like we lived out of suitcase, we stayed at host families, we were running four to six retreats a week, like if we didn't depend on each other and if we didn't pray, like things got messy and we had to learn how to work through those and we learned how to take care of one another, we learned how to communicate with another and again, it really opened up my eyes to the experience and the reality.
Speaker 3that community is so powerful that the Lord wants to love us and to heal us and to work with us through people, through others in our life, and he gives us communities for certain times of our lives to do that. And that was, hands down, my net team.
Speaker 2Are there any glory stories that you could share from that year?
Speaker 3So I did net almost almost seven, eight years ago now, and I am notorious for a bad memory. So there are many glory stories, but do I remember any of them? I'm off the top of my head, no, but there was. The only thing that comes to mind really is and this is a weird story when I so I, when I did, when I did it, I did a year of net in California, was there for nine months and then went to Scotland for six weeks and did net out there we were kind of restarting the net Scotland program and super cool, like love the movie, brave ride. So I was like yeah, got super excited, and really the two stories I think one is a super simple as that like the Net Scotland team, like the Lord worked through us, and now Net Scotland is like really reignited and blowing up again. No, no, glory to us, because we just said yes and he worked through us, but like there are so many good things and so many conversions and so many reigniting of hearts that are happening in Scotland right now because of that.
Continued Faith Journey After NET
Speaker 3And the second one is like a funny Catholic world one. So after I did net, I went to Franciscan for my undergrad and, I think my junior year I was walking through like the student center and some guy walked up to me. He was like hey, is your name Will? I was like yeah. He's like did you do net three years ago? I was like no, I did two years ago.
Speaker 2He's like yeah, yeah yeah, in california, right?
Speaker 3so, yeah, he's like. Dude, I was on one of your retreats. I was like what he's like? Yeah, I was on one of your treats down in, uh, san diego. You came to my parish like it was crazy man, like that's why I'm here. I said, what do you mean? He's like, yeah, man, like I was there and I was like really, he's wrestling with like what to do with college. Like the lord, I felt like I was being called franciscan, but I really want to go to the state school to get this degree and you guys are just like such an impact. I just want, I wanted to like give it all for christ. So now I'm here. I was like that's crazy.
Speaker 3Like I didn't remember his name. I didn't, I couldn't, I couldn't tell him, apart from adam, you know. But he somehow remembered me and and the Lord worked through our retreat and then he was there. So it was like a weird. I like was praying with that encounter a couple of days after and I remember just being like is there something that I need to like unpack from that Lord that you're bringing back up? Like what's going on? It was so like out of the blue, providential, but like so, like yeah, just like a total consolation and a gift from God. There was no like asking for it or like I'm really struggling right now.
Speaker 1He was just like hey, here's a little gift for you today hey, friends, I want to pause for a moment to give a quick shout out to our friends at tabella. They're a sponsor managing the production of this podcast, so I can keep bringing these powerful stories to you week after week. Join ministry, ministry groups, stay connected to your parish and grow in your faith with the best Catholic content, all for free, on Tabela. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can download the Tabela app on the App Store or Google Play. You can use it to listen to all your favorite podcasts, like this one, father Mike Schmitz, abiding Together, and more, as well as other exclusive content. You can also use Tabela as a communication tool for your parish or group. If you're interested in activating Tabela in your diocese, parish or group, just head over to wwwtabelaapp to learn more. All right, let's get back to listening to God's grace at work in our world today.
Speaker 2These little glimpses just to see how that yes is impacting people. You just have no idea of how much your yes could be impacting those around you. Right? Just that ripple effect of the gospel I love it so much.
Speaker 3Exactly, we plant the seeds and we go. Who knows how big the vineyard will get.
Speaker 2Exactly. So what was it like after those years of being on net, kind of going back to the day to day?
Speaker 3It was really interesting. So, like I said, I did net in California for nine months that's kind of like school year and then I did Scotland for six weeks. So I came off of that, just went back home and started to work with a local handyman that I had worked with a little bit in high school the local handyman that I had worked with a little bit in high school. And so really when I got home, it was it was really good, it was really awesome. I just jumped back into life with my family over the summer. Again, I I'm really blessed to have an amazing family. My mom was really supportive and she had kind of gone through a little bit of a reversion, as well as my whole family during net, during my time with net, and so we would go like getting mass together and then I would go to work and we would pray together and just have like great conversations and it really felt like the summer coming off of it Wasn't like a retreat high coming off a mountain, it was really just felt like a continuation, like it really felt like this is what life is, this is amazing. And I was really blessed to have a couple of other other alumni in the area that we kept up in touch and we were able to do some prayer together a couple of times. That was just such a gift. And then when I went to college, there was a little bit of that continuation where there was a lot of alumni at that time who left after their year of net would go to Franciscan. Franciscan has a large group of very charismatic spirituality students, uh, and some friars there that, yeah, just have a beautiful time of prayer each week. That I was able to just kind of jump right into and feel very right at home spiritually and continue to grow on that.
Speaker 3I think, frankly, like the, the coming off the mountain for me personally from that was was not a oh shoot, life is really hard. It was actually more of like oh shoot, I'm not perfect. I thought I was like holy, hot stuff coming off of that. I was like I prayed, I spent a year of my life giving permission. You know I do retreats. I could give a talk like the back of my hand, you know. You know I do retreats. I could give a talk like the back of my hand. You know I know the Holy Spirit and, yeah, it just led to a lot of pride, frankly, a lot of.
Speaker 3I look back at a lot of my college years and it scares me how holy I thought I was I think that's the best way to say it. And halfway through my freshman year I got humbled really, really hard and I got brought to my knees in a lot of areas of my life pretty quickly and was kind of left with like nothing, if you will, interiorly, like my vision of myself, my image of myself that I had built on top of my relationship with God during that, where, like, god was really building this beautiful foundation. And then I was like, cool, I'll put some bricks too. And he was like no, no, no, no. And I was like, no, no, I'll put bricks, it's going to be great.
Speaker 3And then I remember I was reading Nehemiah or something freshman year. So there's a tiny book in the Old Testament and at one point the walls of jerusalem, I think, are like decimated, like totally torn down. I remember reading that this, this is where, like, my spiritual pride was at that time. I remember reading that like the middle of my freshman fall and saying, yeah, lord, like just tear me down, like just brick by brick, just tear me down. Like I just, brick by brick, just tear me down Like I'm open, whatever you want to do. Like a month later, just like everything, yeah, man, he was like okay, cool, and really what I was left with was I'm not done being formed and purified and I really need people to help me.
Speaker 3A lot of that freshman year was like I did net, so I know what to do on my own now.
Speaker 3And really in like the hardest moment of that year, an upperclassman who I'd done net previously his name is Joseph came and just sat with me up on like the soccer fields and just like let me talk and then cry for a long time and I'm like not a crier. So he was like well, this is serious. And then he took me to like an Eden park and we had like pancakes at like 2 AM and he was just there and and it reminded me again of like I had brought the prayer home, I brought the Holy spirit home, but I didn't bring the community, and that was when it all started to kind of not turn around for me. But that's when the Lord started to like hey, this is what I've been trying to do Like where I'm not done with you yet. Like net was just the start and, like your story is continuing, you're continually offering more and more good things, and that's where I got introduced basically to households.
Speaker 3So at Franciscan University they have a household system, which is, I guess, the simplest way to explain. It is like really good Catholic fraternities, so like there's not really partying. If it's partying, there's usually not any drinking. If there is, it's to the point of hilarity, which is great. But basically, instead of like getting together to like do weird things, things, we get together to pray. So there's this household called Disciples of the Word.
Speaker 3That was there and the guys really just pursued me well and saw what the Lord saw in me and what I at that time didn't see in myself. And just really what stuck out to me the most from them is they were so unafraid to call me higher, like they did. They were like great, you didn't, that's awesome. Like you still have growth, you're like oh, cool, you know, holy Spirit. Great. Like there's more to learn. Like, oh, you've been in a cool, a great community. Awesome, there's better. Like there's more.
Balancing Sin and Sanctity
Speaker 3The Lord really respected that so much and I really looked up to them and so I ended up joining and that, I think, was like kind of the turning point I was again I have I have friends from from net who had a harder off ramp than me. But like that was really kind of the the longest period where I was like dipping down, if you will, into a really tough space because of coming off of net. But really once, once those guys kind of picked me up and brought me into their, their household. I was surrounded with community again. I was surrounded with guys who, in the highs and lows, were going to be with me. I was surrounded with guys who were not afraid to knock me down and say dude, humble yourself, what are you doing. And that just really reignited again the light of christ in my heart and and started to burn away a lot of that pride and really refocus again like that first refocusing during net.
Speaker 3Yeah, just the life trying to serve christ you spoke a little bit about how, like after net, you kind of just felt like a little bit prideful, would you say that you almost fell into like self-dependency at that time, and community is kind of like what broke you out of that I think in some ways, because it's interesting, because I, at the time, I always said no, because I'm like, no, I pray every day, like I'm dependent on god, but what I really meant was I'm dependent on god in the way that I want to be dependent on god, so it's like he wants me to depend this way. No, no, god. Let me tell you how I should depend on. So it really was this like faux dependence, but really I think self-dependence is a great way to put it the reason that I pointed out is because I've been there.
Speaker 2It's almost like the image of the prodigal son and the older brother, right, but to almost like, place yourself in, like both people, and reflect on that. You know, like being in the place of the prodigal son, where it's like that shame and that unworthiness, but then being able to run to the father and allow him to embrace you, but then placing yourself as that older brother yeah, no, that's a great way, man.
Speaker 3There was really both, or it really almost was like that. I was like I was really in that place of the older brother coming off of net and the lord took me back to the place of the younger, of the, of the prodigal son who like was all of a sudden like laid bare, was like, oh my gosh, I have just like squandered this and totally missed it and then ran back. Thanks be to god to run back.
Speaker 2Yeah and so, when you struggle with feeling weak as a follower of Christ, what helps you to keep your eyes on him?
Speaker 3I mean the short answer is him. Obviously, in some ways right, he's the one that keeps me, but like practically I think especially recently I've been thinking about this a lot just in the craziness, in the midst of like fatherhood and being a good husband and working. Being a good husband and working is like not letting the reality that I am a sinner cloud the reality that I was made to be a saint and that those two not only coexist but are in some ways complementary, in as much as, like Jesus loves the sinner, like he came because I am sick. He came because I'm I sin, because I'm going to sin, but he came also so that I can become a saint.
Speaker 3I've been reading through Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe man's incredible and one of the things he talks about is that we, we are free to be sinners and we are also free to be saints, and those things are like go hand in hand, because if we were already saints and there was no sin, we wouldn't be free to be saints, we would just be locked into being a saint, right.
Speaker 3But if we were sinners and we could be nothing else, then we wouldn't be free to be sinners, we would just be sinners, but because of love, the love of God, and because of this choice, like we are free to be both.
Encountering God's Transformative Love
Speaker 3And really why I bring that up is like when I return to God, is like the moments where I'm slow to return to God or when I do not center my eyes back on Christ. It's because I'm stuck in the thought that I am only a sinner and I can only be a sinner, and the shame overwhelms me and it clouds me. But it's when I know that I'm a sinner and I accept that and I realize that God wants me to be a saint and he can provide all things to make me a saint, that I then have the grace and the ability to then actually look at him, because I'm not ignoring that I'm a sinner. I'm actually, I have to acknowledge that I'm a sinner, because he doesn't want me to ignore that. But he also is like yeah, but that's the means that I'm going to sanctify you with.
Speaker 2The image that's coming up for me right now is St Peter, where he's like get away from me, for I'm a sinful man, and Jesus doesn't run away in that moment.
Speaker 3Right, run away in that moment. Right, I almost want, like, I almost wonder if, like, the prayer in our hearts is like, lord, please look at me because I am a sinner. Like, come to me because I'm a sinner, cause that's that's why you came and you came for me. You know, like that's what my wife and I like to ponder upon the question of you know, in scripture Jesus always is with the tax collectors and sinners. And where would he be today? Like, who would he be today? Who would he be with If he came in our time? Right, who are the people that his heart would yearn for? You know, who are the sick, who are the broken, and it's weird, but, like, I want to be a part of that, because that means he wants me and he and he wants to be with me and he wants me to invite him into his, to my house, you know, and because of that, be changed and then become a saint, despite the fact that I'm going to sin again. You know.
Speaker 2It makes me think of the same Maximilian Kolbe where he talks about how you know the enemy when we fall will want to lead us to despair, but God will actually use even our falls to help us realize that we can't stand on our own right, that we have to be totally dependent, like children, on the Father and trust in His providence, and so if we can learn humility through that, that's a grace. And one of the most powerful things spoken to me in confession was it was the kind of confession where I just unloaded everything and the priest sent across from me just said my brother, as a little child is learning how to walk and falls down to the parents scold the child. He said no. He said it's okay, get back up, buddy, and keep walking. He said every single time that that child falls and rises, his little legs get stronger and stronger, that no longer he's wobbling about, then he's walking and then he's running.
Speaker 2He says the same with the spiritual life you are going to fall down. It's not a matter of if it's when you're broken. But he said the difference between the sinners and the saints is the saints keep getting back up and they keep walking. He says my brother, you rise, you try again and believe that Jesus is walking with you every step of the way. It's like man. Pretty sure I had tears flowing at that point. You know just that image of the child falling, but every time to get back up and keep walking.
Speaker 3That's why we can look at him again, you know, that's why we can hope again, that's why we can have hope.
Speaker 2You want to speak to Annunciation Heights camp?
Speaker 3Yeah, man, yeah.
Speaker 3So I'm really blessed right now to be working for an incredible ministry and actually where I started my family by the grace of God. So there's this little amazing Catholic camp called Annunciation Heights, nestled out in the mountains of Estes Park, colorado. It is the Catholic camp of the Archdiocese of Denver. It's in one of the most beautiful places in the world, right at the base of Long's Peak, which is a 14,000 foot mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park Breathtaking views, thousand foot mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park, breathtaking views. And Annunciation Heights exists to be a place of transformational encounter, so that all they serve may live life fully for the glory of the Father. That is what it's all about a transformational encounter. And really the key word in that first sentence that we talk about so much is it's a place, and my wife and I actually were called to that place right after college. We both graduated. We were engaged at the time. We came in as missionaries and they're incredibly friendly and open to discerning people pursuing their vocations in the midst of a mission year, which is just a blessing. And so we came in engaged, got married our first December of our first year, had our first kid, judah, in November of our second year and then I was blessed to take over the helm of our summer camp program. So we are a unique blend. We run youth camp and family camps in the summer, so we have fourth through 12th graders as well as families during the summer, and it's an absolute gift. Through 12th graders as well as families during the summer, and it's an absolute gift. We also do outdoor education during the school year through our GP to outdoor labs, which is just an absolute gift to learn about Christ through his creation. And then we have a 15 month missionary program and we're super blessed.
Speaker 3Our sister property, which is also Prado ours, so it's sister maybe it's the wrong term has one of the most photographed churches in America on it. It's called St Catherine's Chapel, colloquially termed the Chapel in the Rock. It's at Camp St Malo and it is 102 years old. It's this stone church that's built at the base of Mount Meeker and it is amazing. If you've never heard of it, if you've never seen it, look it up. Just look up Camp St Malo or Chapel in the Rock, nessus Park, colorado. It will blow you away.
Speaker 3Yeah, and so I'm really blessed to be working with him right now. We are earnestly seeking and desiring to bring people into a place of transformational encounter with Jesus Christ. He moves and speaks in the mountains in the Old Testament, the New Testament and still today, and so we live to serve him and to bring people up to the mountains so that they can know him, they can love him and then they can return home to serve him. So really blessed to be out there right now. Yeah, I've been working for them full-time for about a year and a half now and it's just a blast, it's so fun. Yeah, there's a few jobs where you work in the mountains, you play in the mountains, you get to bring people to the mountains, you get to pay people to come to the mountains and you're doing it within 200 feet of our Lord in the tabernacle. It's just an absolute gift, man. It's a beautiful place.
Speaker 2And so if people want to potentially, potentially check out annunciation heights, yeah, so you can go to our website at natationheightsorg.
Speaker 3You can check us out on social media. Got a lot of pictures of all the beautiful views out there. We have an instagram account this annunciation heights and a facebook as well, and if you're interested coming to summer camp, to family camp or to our outdoor lab programs, or even if you're feeling called to a missionary program in the mountains, check it out on our website. All that's on there. We always love having everyone there because we love to serve. So even if you're just passing through Estes Park and you want to stop at a church, stop by and say hello.
Speaker 2That's great. Well, I'm hoping I can visit one day because it sounds beautiful to check out. Heck, yeah, man, come on out. Yeah, make Sounds beautiful to check out. Heck, yeah, man, come on out. Yeah, make it happen. All right, I always ask this question to every guest that I have on is what is your hope for the future of our church?
Speaker 3My hope for the future of the church is just a church on fire for the Lord, a church that is sold out for the gospel, a church that is present to the needs of their fellow man, and a church that is more loving than it was yesterday, that is continuing to grow in love of neighbor and service of other. I hope is for a church that is has stronger parishes that are welcoming and you have a place that you know your home because it is all it's home to all. Yeah, and a church that brings hope, especially to the hearts of the hopeless.
Speaker 2On that note, Will I just want to thank you so much for your yes to Jesus and his church, and a blessing to hear you just share how God's moved in your life.
Speaker 3Yeah, thank you, man. It's a gift to share, david, you know it's our, it's, it's ours to share, right? How can we not? There's a verse in Acts 4, chapter 20 that talks about this, and I think it's aptly a good closing. Here. It's like the disciples are being brought in, they're being told to stop preaching, they're being told to stop doing miracles in the name of Jesus, and I think it's Peter. He stands up, he says how can we not speak about what we have seen and heard? When you have encountered Jesus, when you have heard his voice, when you have received his love, how can you not? How can you not just overflow with the joy and the love and the peace of God? So I'm just happy that there are places and people like you that are doing things like this and just sharing the goodness of the Lord, because that's what we want and that's what he wants. So I'm just really thankful. Thank you, david, for doing what you're doing here.
Speaker 2Oh, thank you so much, man, do you want to close us in prayer tonight?
Speaker 3Sounds great. That's true, holy Spirit. Amen, jesus, we praise you, we bless you, we thank you. You are good and you have made us good. Jesus, I praise you for this time, this time to share your glory, for you to be revealed to the hearts of your people, for me, for David, I ask for your grace upon us all, for everyone who has listened to this podcast, everyone who will listen, everyone who has listened, jesus, I ask for you to just speak into their hearts in the ways that they need to hear today, ask for peace, for rest and for refreshment that we might rise tomorrow excited to serve you, to seek you and to know you again. Thank you for your movements in my life. Thank you for the grace to say yes. Give us all the grace to say yes again. We love you, jesus. Help us to love you more.
Speaker 2Amen. Thanks again, brother.
Speaker 1Yeah thank you, david. Thank you for listening. If you enjoy this episode and want to support our ministry, please share it with others, post about it on social media and leave a rating and review. To stay updated with the latest stories, follow us on Instagram at yescatholic and visit our website at yescatholiccom. If yes, catholic has made a difference in your life, consider joining our Patreon community at patreoncom. Slash yescatholic A big shout out and thank you to our current patrons for all the prayers, support and contributions that help us reach thousands of souls around the world every week. Let's remember the words of St Peter Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you. You have a story. Don't be afraid to share the good news of how Jesus has moved in your life with a family member, friend or colleague. Give Jesus your yes every single day and witness the ripple effect of the gospel. Join us next week as we continue the journey right here at yes Catholic.