{"id":928,"date":"2011-01-17T10:05:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect\/"},"modified":"2017-01-24T18:29:28","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T23:29:28","slug":"because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html","title":{"rendered":"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n
<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

Notes from Communion and Liberation\u2019s New York Encounter 2011 <\/i><\/p>\n

Did. Not. Expect. This! <\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend, essentially a spiritual retreat, to treat us to a free rockin\u2019 concert in the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, where hours earlier hundreds of us\u00a0had celebrated Mass. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Did not expect to see young priests and religious college students breaking out into spontaneous line dances and grooving to bluegrass with Henrique Prince of the Ebony Hillbillies (below)<\/i> the blues, and jazz at a concert m\u2019ceed by Blue Lou, a former member of Blood Sweat and Tears.<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
And yet, Christ tells us our lives are full when we can detach ourselves from the immediate and attach ourselves to the Mystery of His presence among us. What makes us human? Speakers this weekend \u2013 a Nobel Prize winning scientist, the daughter of the man who discovered the gene for Down\u2019s Syndrome, an astrophysicist who became a priest, as well as a Franciscan Friar who now is the Cardinal of Boston answered that question in\u00a0varied ways: What makes us human is\u00a0our capacity for wisdom and our capacity for awe.\u00a0 <\/div>\n

Did you ever hear or read the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his inaugural address? He amplifies the words of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u201cAre we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? And once again the Pope (John Paul II) said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred-fold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ, and <\/i>you will find true life.<\/i><\/a> Amen.\u201d <\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Rock on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notes from Communion and Liberation\u2019s New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend, essentially a spiritual retreat, to treat us to a free rockin\u2019 concert in the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, where hours earlier hundreds of us\u00a0had celebrated Mass. Did not expect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBecause Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Notes from Communion and Liberation's New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Notes from Communion and Liberation's New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Why I Am Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-17T10:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-24T23:29:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/__dQCWErAY9c\/TTS4QZEJesI\/AAAAAAAAAj4\/a5dMnrrHQUc\/s200\/attach.msc.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allison Salerno\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allison Salerno\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html\",\"name\":\"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-17T10:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-24T23:29:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/d714d69c72f7264289740d23ff380313\"},\"description\":\"Notes from Communion and Liberation's New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Why I Am Catholic\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/d714d69c72f7264289740d23ff380313\",\"name\":\"Allison Salerno\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bd50841fd026aaf2a827cbaef3cd0e04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bd50841fd026aaf2a827cbaef3cd0e04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Allison Salerno\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/allisonsalerno\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect","description":"Notes from Communion and Liberation's New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect","og_description":"Notes from Communion and Liberation's New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html","og_site_name":"Why I Am Catholic","article_published_time":"2011-01-17T10:05:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-24T23:29:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/__dQCWErAY9c\/TTS4QZEJesI\/AAAAAAAAAj4\/a5dMnrrHQUc\/s200\/attach.msc.jpeg"}],"author":"Allison Salerno","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Allison Salerno","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html","name":"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-17T10:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-24T23:29:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/d714d69c72f7264289740d23ff380313"},"description":"Notes from Communion and Liberation's New York Encounter 2011 Did. Not. Expect. This! Did not expect the hosts of New York Encounter 2011 weekend,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2011\/01\/because-life-is-so-much-fuller-than-i-expect.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Because Life is So Much Fuller Than I Expect"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/","name":"Why I Am Catholic","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/d714d69c72f7264289740d23ff380313","name":"Allison Salerno","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bd50841fd026aaf2a827cbaef3cd0e04?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bd50841fd026aaf2a827cbaef3cd0e04?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Allison Salerno"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/allisonsalerno"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}