What is the difference between a follower and a disciple of Christ?
-a follower is blind and produces no fruit of their own. Not a leader
-a disciple is learned, practiced, courageous, has a community, and is connected to the spirit within.
-We must be disciples.

Good news!
The great deeds of the Catholic church have all been done by just 7% of Catholics in the U.S.
The 93% disengaged Catholics are like a sleeping giant.
What if we increased the engaged percentage by just 1% each year?
If there's 1,000 adults in the parish that's like engaging just 10 of them.
We can do that.
What makes some engaged and some asleep?

First step is to study our faith
It's not hard but you also won't learn everything in one day, or one year, or one decade.
You can't learn over 2,000 of tradition in one life time. So it is safe to say that you cannot know better than 2,000 years of tradition either.
When you come across a teaching you don't like or have conflict with, look it up. Read up. Try to figure out where it came from. Then make a decision on where you stand.
As you grow in the flesh you must also grow in the spirit.
Can't be an Olympic Curler if you don't know how to play the game.
Orthodox
Adoration

Why do we practice?
-go to church
-adoration
-sacraments
"I have a personal relationship with God, I don't need to go to church to prove that"
You go to church for you. God does not need our worship. The act of worship was a gift from Him. The gift is our desire to worship Him. He gave us something substantial and real to worship and created the desire in us that cannot be filled by any other "deity" we create. You can tell the character of a man by what he worships (adoration=to the mouth).
-Right practice with your body affects your soul.
God is as close to us as he will ever be. He cannot love us more than he does right now. We practice so that we might get closer to God. When we have to sacrifice something for someone it makes us closer to them. God asks us to sacrifice for him. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son. What are you willing to sacrifice?

Romans 8:9-11
God lives inside of you.
The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are all of the same being. The same God. You are of that same being. The same God.
We are called to be holy. Called to be saints. A saint is simply someone in heaven with God. We call specific people on Earth saints because in their lifetime they proved through miracles or different accounts that they would be in Heaven. You will be a saint one day. Maybe after earth, maybe after purgatory, only God knows. But you were created so that you may be joined again with him. That will happen in Heaven when you become a saint.
Heirs of God, which means CO-HEIRS WITH Christ. To SHARE in the Glory of God. Why wait? Let your spirit of God fill you now!

Remember our chart? Remember the sleeping giant?
Let's wake that giant up.
The Catholic Church= Universal. Not just all places on Earth but also in the Heavens. Angels and Saints. All souls. because we believe one soul connects us all. God.
Catholic community in your parish.
Community outside of Catholicism.
"Happiness is only real when shared"-Into the Wild
Share your faith by your actions. It means more for a friend to witness you treating your body as a temple rather than always preaching about it. You can be holy with your body just as you can fall into temptations. We all have different temptations. Some of us have ALL the temptations. but by not giving in to what we know is using our bodies in the wrong way, we are making a loud statement that we are using our bodies in the right way. Because we care about our souls. Because we know there is divinity with in us. Where there is Division there is Sin. Let's be united with each other and with Christ.

"Do Not Be Afraid" is said most often in the Bible.
Great acts of courage can be found in little things
7 levels of Intimacy by Matthew Kelly- get past the cliches and facts when talking to someone. Stop and ask them how they are really doing. Notice the awkwardness? It's because vulnerability takes great courage. It only takes 1 real question to get to the heart of another person.
Courage to speak up! There is only one truth. Your spirit lives in the truth. Discover it and stand up for it. Not everyone's truths can be accepted. But all this must be done out of love. Because the ultimate truth is love. If we treat our bodies with love than our spirit will also be love. God is Love.

You are called to be a holy saint. You are human just as Jesus was human. You have a flesh body with human temptations. There is only one true desire; God. Learn and practice with great discipline and you will become the spirit with in. You will get closer to divinity. We cannot be Saints on Earth. Just as Jesus' human body and blood can not feed the world with salvation. it was not until the spirit rose him from the dead that his words gave meaning to our salvation. That same spirit lives inside of you and me and all humans. So if you still don't believe in yourself, that's fine. But don't you dare sell God short. Because he can change the world. We just have to let Him.