Mardi Gras, Lent, The Haven, & a Hike

Hi all!

I know, I know-- it says to come by every Tuesday night and see what we discussed, and there was no blog post on Tuesday night! But WOW, it was a busy, busy week, so I figured I'd just write this up on Saturday (today).

Tuesday was our Mardi Gras party, so we kept it casual. There were several different conversations happening at different times with topics ranging from Lent, Catholic Answers Live, potty training, and the single life (for the two of us singles who were there). Gladys also shared with us that a recent episode of Oprah's Super Soul Sunday featuring Fr. Richard Rohr! (Fr. Richard Rohr is a Catholic, Franciscan priest and plentiful author. Check out some of his work!).
I also took a new group picture. :)

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday-- I attended the 6pm Liturgy of the Word, and MAN was that PACKED! It always amazes me how many people show up for Ash Wednesday. Can you imagine what Mass and the Church would be like if that many people attended Mass EVERY Sunday??

Thursday was the first night of the Lenten Soup Dinner series! Every Thursday, it's a FREE dinner (donations accepted) along with a talk/ discussion related to Sunday's Gospel. The last ASYA meeting when we read/ discussed the Sunday's readings was a HUGE success and was well received by all. Though the soup dinners are not conducted in the same style as our previous meeting (Lectio Divina), it's still an excellent opportunity to be prepared for Mass and to spend time thinking about what God wants to say to us during this Lenten season.

Friday was the inaugural night of an exciting new branch of the ASYA: The Haven. Coordinated by Amanda Vernon, it was a prayerful, musical, thought-provoking evening, followed by a an after-party with wine and cheese. Because I have a commitment on Friday evenings, I was unable to make it to the music/ speaker portion of the night, but I was told that the message from the speaker was essentially this: spend Lent discerning your gifts and letting go of attachments so that in Easter you can fully utilize them.

And finally, today was our first ever fellowship hike up Mission Peak! What a great way to start off Lent. :) Judging by the pictures I've seen, it wasn't very "desert like" (it was very green, lol!), but it was an uphill climb, and how representative is that of our own lives and part of what Lent is about? :) Love it! I wasn't able to attend, but it seemed like everyone had a great time! Thanks Monica and John for coordinating this! Hopefully we'll have more hikes in the near future!

...phew! As I said, long week. :)

Anyway, may you have a blessed and fruitful Lent!
Hope to see you on Tuesday for our Lenten series!

New Structure, Setting Boundaries, Upcoming Events!

Hi all!

So, tonight we changed things up a bit, and did a form of Lectio Divina! Lectio Divina is a form of meditating with Scripture. You read the Scripture passage at least 3 times. The first time you just read it to get yourself familiar with the passage and what is says. Then you read it again and pay attention to what stands out to you. Then you read it a THIRD time to reflect on how whatever passage, phrase, or image connects with your life. Leaving out the personal stories, here's several of our insights from the night!

+ It's important to set boundaries, have time for yourself.
+ Pray for wisdom.
+ When it starts compromising your spirituality, it's a sign that you're doing too much!
+ Everyone who approached Jesus, got healed/ what they wanted.
+ Humility: seeing yourself the way God sees you

And a final insight from David:
+"You have to be careful to not highlight everything cause then you've highlighted nothing!"

It was a GREAT night of faith sharing. I was slightly nervous about it, but everyone really enjoyed it, so after the Lent and Easter series, you can expect to have more Lectio Divina nights!!

Speaking of Lent and Easter, our meetings during these times will definitely be more structured. We will start around 7:15-7:20. After that there will be [something! surprise!], followed by small group discussions. We've decided that we really need to set an alarm for like, 8:50 so people are aware of what time it is, and that before the first person who has to leave goes, we'd make sure to say a closing prayer. If we were deep in discussion, we could definitely keep that going, but if not we'd all head on home!

Also, we talked a little about the Easter series coming up (I know, Easter... it's not even Lent yet!). I got excited with an idea and tossed it out there and already planned most of the sessions in partnership with Jean. We'll be sponsoring the series, which really just means that we'll show up, maybe have a bit of info about the group, I'll introduce the speakers/ help keep time during the evenings, and things like that. Most of the legwork is on me, lol. The only thing I'd ask of the group is to help set up/ clean up and things that like that which can be taken care of in the evening. Those of you who play music might be asked to help lead play a few songs/ lead the parishioners in a 2-3 worship songs, but there's also several others at the parish who play, so we wouldn't be playing every single night. ;) I'll hopefully have all the details fleshed out and will be reaching out to several of you soon! In the meantime, can you think of any praise and worship songs related to discernment and hearing God's call? I have a list ("Here I Am, Lord", "Follow Me" by Leeland, etc), but I need a few more songs! If you think of any, pls email me or leave a comment below......

Anyway, I thought tonight was GREAT and am looking forward to the next few weeks!

Thanks, as always, for being leaders and attending the group! See ya next week for the Mardi Gras Party!!!

As ya were
As ya are
As ya be
You are welcome.
~ASYA

:)

Terrorists, Media, Social Networks, Genuine Human Connections, and Kids?

We had a great turn-out tonight!!! We got to see a lot of old faces and several new! Thank you all for coming! We hope to see you again! 

Our weekly recaps are back! We started off with introductions, and afterwards, we ended up first talking about the Jordanian pilot who was burned alive and media:

+ How do we stop the perpetuation of fear?

+ America is motivated by what sells. 

+ Where you get your news from makes a difference. 

+ The media gets to pick what they want us to know. 

+ Journalist's #1 question: Is it interesting?

+ JPII: There's a responsibility of the artist and a responsibility of the viewer. 

+ Media creates division. 

+ It's been said that the Church is the social conscience. 

We then went on to talk about Lent-- what are you giving up/ taking on?

Taking on: Daily Mass

Taking on: The Walk (Stations of the Cross) at Stanford (through "The Dish")

Giving up: Alcohol

Giving up: Facebook on your phone

What are ways you've found to be effective to say no to sin?

+ Prayer, intense prayer

+ Avoiding the occasion of sin: If you're avoiding donuts, don't walk into a donut shop!

+ Pick a prayer word: when you're experiencing temptation, start repeating your word, praying with your word

You should discern what type of loop you should be in.

Filter what you see on Facebook, etc. 

Older generation on FB: FB is a connection to distant friends and family

Our generation on FB: It's "just a scroll"

Is all of our technology really helping society?

What did people do before Facebook, social media to promote social justice, music, etc?

Make the connection, then share it. 

Technology and our kids/ the younger generation.

We keep giving our kids phones, iPads, etc to get them to stop complaining, etc. What did we do before? We used to hug/ interact with our kids. 

Media is instant gratification for the parents AND the child.

What effects are will all this have for kids when they grow up?

Condense. What do you need? What's essential?

Half of the picts we take are just there, we don't do much with them. 

The experience itself should be enough of a picture for you.

The discipline of kids with technology is different from those who are disciplined without. Their behaviors and actions are different too. 

We didn't technology as kids, and we turned out fine! 

What are you willing to expose your kids to?

Balance. 

Takeaway of the night: Genuine human connections- how are you making them?

LAUNCH!

We've just started our ASYA blog! This is exciting. Stay tuned for tonight's discussion notes!