CUA on Tap with Joshua Rosa

Image Courtesy of Isabel Fay

By Zachary Lichter

Joshua Rosa, a Catholic speaker, spoke to the Catholic University America’s (CUA) community on April 3 at this month’s CUA on Tap. The event began with Father Ceslaus Kowalkowski, the Chaplain for Undergraduate Formation, leading everyone in prayer. Then, sophomore politics major Trey Murnane introduced Rosa.

Rosa is an author and traveler from Englewood, New Jersey. He is one of the founders of Agnus Dei Ministries, a ministry that builds a community under God’s leadership, follows Jesus’s example, and is guided by the Holy Spirit. Rosa travels around the U.S. speaking about his passion and love for Christ and has worked with many notable Catholic organizations like the National Eucharistic Congress.

Rosa came up on stage and asked everyone, “If I say God is good?” Everyone should say, “All the time.” Before beginning his talk, he had everyone stand for some prayerful worship. He introduced his assistant, Fernando Torres, a worship leader who travels with him whenever he gives his talks.

Torres led everyone in worship by playing his guitar. He reminded people that when people sing in worship, they pray twice. He led everyone in singing “Open The Eyes Of My Heart” by Michael Douglas Smith. 

Rosa told a story of how he realized that he needed to shift his focus towards God after he ran into a woman that he didn’t recognize. He later realized that she used to be his babysitter. In prayer, he heard God speak to him, saying that He knows him and has been trying to get his attention, but Rosa was so focused on whatever he was trying to do that day that it became his God. For many people, that is their anger, fear, or doubt, or job because people make idols from them.

Rosa then asked, “What happens when your heart does what it’s supposed to do?” He said that if people don’t know that their heart is meant to live, then they don’t know if they were made for heaven. Rosa asked people to tap the person next to them saying “You are made for heaven.”

God spoke to Rosa that day telling him that’s what He created because even when someone says that they are ugly, God says “I made you in my image. And I desire for you to know me so personally, but the problem is that we tend to let the world influence our hearts.” Rosa added people are influenced by what the world tells them, including what worship, love, and things that were made to be. 

Rosa said God put His name into people’s hearts. When He desires for people, it’s not just worship that people give Him because people want something from God. Worship from God is not about what people get from God because that’s manipulation. Worship is a disposition of a person’s heart. 

Rosa shifted gears by having people focus on worship in the corporate sense, which is worshiping as a community. The Mass is the highest form of worship, but it’s the most beautiful thing because Jesus desires people to come together as a community, which is why people come together during Communion.

The Mass is the ultimate sacrifice because they are offering something up to God. The body is designed for worship because when people go to Mass they sit, stand, and kneel. Their posture is rigorous because they are kneeling in front of Jesus. 

Rosa said people live in a culture where people idolize themselves. People are more concerned about themselves than with God. God desires so much more with people. What people believe becomes everything else, and that is not their God.

Rosa concluded his talk with a prayer. Murnane then held a Q&A for anyone who had questions for Rosa. Finally, Rosa had people stand up as a form of worship by having people put their hands up, close their eyes as Torres led everyone singing “The Way” by Pat Barrett. Father Maximo Stock, the Chaplain for Undergraduate Formation and Athletics, then closed the evening in prayer.

Caitlin Farley, a freshman politics major, commented on singing as a form of worship.

“I think it’s an incredible form of worship because even if you don’t have the best voice, using the voice that God gave us to just proclaim our joy that we have in Him,” Farley said. “It is such an incredible form of worship.

Jakob Ottoway-Velder, a senior global politics and German major, commented on his thoughts about the different forms of worship.

“I think what really spoke to me was that it was okay to have different styles of worship and people being able to experiment,” Ottoway-Velder said. “He talked about how it’s important to discern and be prayerful and to try out different things. I think very few people only work one style of praise, and it’s good that there is a sense of diversity.”