I asked readers and some of my friends and family to submit questions for this Q&A post. Thank you to all who helped out with this!! 😊 If anyone has anymore questions feel free to comment or send me an email. Enjoy!
Q. What inspired you to have a blog for Catholic Teens?
A. You. You inspired me to start this blog. You are a beloved Child of God and He loves you so much and has a plan for you. That's why I'm doing this- so you know you're not alone in this. Being a Catholic teen is definitely not easy in our world today, but if we stick together we'll find that there are so many of us all going through similar things.
And.... also because I love Jesus and like to write about Him ðŸ¤
Q. How can I focus on prayer and not let any distractions get to me during prayer?
A. This is a hard one! I struggle with this all the time. I think the best thing to do is just to keep trying. When you find your mind wandering, just go back to God. Ask Him to help you overcome the distraction. All God asks is that you try. Distractions are not sins; they're an opportunity to grow in patience with yourself and in fortitude. Don't give up! Pray for and about whatever's on your mind. Use the distraction for good. If you're getting distracted by outside things it can be helpful to put your phone on silent during your prayer time and to dedicate a specific spot in your house to prayer. This can help you to focus and eliminate distractions from your environment. Read about how to do that here!
Q. Why do Catholics believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist?
A. We believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist, because, well, He said that He is! At the Last Supper, Christ instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, giving His apostles bread and wine and telling them that it was His Body and Blood. We believe that Jesus meant what He said- that the consecrated bread and wine truly become His body and blood and not mere symbols. (Read more about this here.) After the consecration during Mass, only the form of the bread and wine remain (how they look, taste, feel, etc.) but their true matter is that of the Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. (Think of it this way: If I have a statue of Abraham Lincoln, the form of the statue might be stone, but the matter of the statue, that which makes it a statue rather than a hunk of rock, is Abraham Lincoln.) The USCCB explains it clearly on this page. The Catechism of the Catholic Church's section on the Eucharistic beliefs of the Church can be found here.
Yes, the Eucharist is a difficult teaching to accept, but if one reads the biblical and historical evidence and simply has faith that Christ's words are true, they will come to believe. 😊
Q. One of my friends is Catholic. Why do I see her "cross herself"?
A. Great question! What you are referring to is called the sign of the cross. Each of us is marked with the sign of the cross at our Baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When someone blesses themselves in this way (typically before or after praying) they are reminding themselves that they belong to God and of the nature of the Trinity. This is why they say "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." These words also dedicate the prayer to God. There are numerous graces associated with making the sign of the cross, but these are the two main ones. This is a simple article that goes into some more detail.
Q. What Catholic Apps do you like using and recommend?
A. My personal favorite is Catholify! Along with providing the daily readings, the Bible, Catechism, Virtual Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet, numerous prayers, live adoration, Mass times, Pope Tweets, confession guides, and much more, they also have prayer groups with people from all around the world. It is amazing to be able to connect and pray with other Catholics from all over the country and world. I also really like Augustine Institute's Amen app. It's just like another popular Catholic app that does audio meditations (which I will not name here...) but is completely free! I have an entire post covering this topic. You can read it here: Catholic Apps
Q. Why do Catholics fast during Lent?
A. Catholics view Lent as a penitential season, meaning that it is a time of penance and sacrifice. We use the forty days before Easter to pray and fast, preparing our hearts and minds for Easter and contemplating Christ's sacrifice for us. We abstain from eating eat on Fridays, and fast (eating two small meals that, when combined, do not equal the third large meal) on Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday. Fasting is a historical practice that reaches all the way back to the Biblical Jews. Lessening the amount of food that you eat for spiritual purposes is a mild but effective form of mortification and a small way to participate in Christ's passion by offering up your own sacrifices for souls.
Q. What are some Catholic books that you'd recommend?
A. Read my posts on this topic for some awesome book recommendations:
One of my favorite novels is In the Palace of the Great King: a Catholic Novel. by Julie Ash. You can read my review for it here.
Q. How does one start a Catholic blog?
A. I Love this question!! I use Wix to update my website and write my post. It's taken a while to get used to but overall the free version is very easy to use... No coding involved!! (It can be used for any sort of website, not just one that's Catholic 😉) You'll also need to figure out which topic you're going to blog about. My blog began as one for resources such as apps and book recommendations, but I've grown to enjoy writing scripture reflections and providing practical ways to live out our faith as Catholic teenagers, so that's what I write about! Find what you like and use it for God's glory.
Q. How do we know that the Catholic Church is the one to go to?
A. You can know that the Catholic Church is THE ONE because it's the one that Christ Himself established. Why would anyone need or want to go anywhere else? The Church can trace Her roots all the way back to when Christ said "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,* and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18) The Church has existed since the moment that Christ established it, and because of Christ's promise in this verse, we know that it will endure until the end of time. Jesus also prayed, "And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one" (John 17:22). He wished that His Church, His community of believers, would be unified in all things, including theological beliefs, and He has preserved this unity in His Church. I strongly encourage you to read more about this topic in a post I wrote here
Q. Are you saved?
A. Well, yes and no. As Catholics, we believe that we are saved through Christ's death and resurrection; we believe that we are being saved by our cooperation with grace as we journey through this life on the way to Heaven; we believe that we will be saved when Christ takes us to Heaven after our particular judgment. So yes, we believe and hope that we will be going to Heaven, but we do not believe that you have to pray a certain prayer one time in your life, and then you will be saved forever. That view, though accepted by many Christian protestant denominations, is not biblically accurate.
Q. Are Catholics cannibals?
A. Great question!! Short answer: NOPE. Long answer, you can read here because Catholic Answers can say it better than I ever could 😂
Q. Why do we kneel so much in church?
A. Kneeling is an act of reverence and humility before God. We kneel before the Blessed Sacrament because God is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. When we are at Mass we kneel at the most sacred moments in the liturgy, physically demonstrating reverence towards God.
Q. Do priests have to go to confession?
A. Yes!! All priests, just like any other Catholic, are required to go to confession at least one time per year. All priests have a confessor: another priest who regularly hears their confession.
Q . How old do you have to be to become a priest?
A. It varies from diocese to diocese, but typically you must be at least 17 years old and a high school graduate to apply for candidacy in your diocese. After this, you would have at least 6-9 years of preparation and discernment before you're ordained. The youngest ordained priests (currently) are probably ordained at around age 25.
Q. What is a Vocation and how do you know which Vocation God has picked for you?
A. You can read all about this in my Vocations posts!
Q. Why do Catholics have a Pope?
A. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church. He has spiritual authority over all of the faithful and leads and guides the Church. The first pope was St. Peter. Jesus names Peter as the head over all the apostles when he renames him from "Simon" to "Cephas" which translates to Peter and means "rock". He also gives him the "keys to the kingdom" which gives him the authority to "bind and loose" (this is explained here.). He also has primacy over the other apostles.
When Peter died, the Church did not just fizzle out and die too! A successor was elected, and to this day, each Pope (and consequently bishop and priest) has direct apostolic succession all the way back to Christ.
Q. Can Catholics believe in ghosts?
A. The word "ghost" literally means spirit. So yes, we believe in spirits. God can allow any spirit to appear to anyone at any time, whether the soul is in Heaven (as in an apparition of a saint), hell, or Purgatory. So yes, ghosts could be real if God permitted them to be, but it doesn't seem likely that a random one would come and "haunt" an abandoned house.... Jimmy Akin explains it well in this article.
Thanks for a great post. Just downloaded the Amen app! Check out the Relevant Radio app, too!