In the media center at the Indianapolis 500 Speedway we have 2 Sunday Masses! I got my picture taken with the priest who said Mass but neglected to get his name.
This is part of the IRL Ministry and I’m really glad we have the opportunity.
We pray for the safety of the drivers, teams and fans here today.
With all the hype over the Da Vinci Code movie I don’t think I need to say anything other than that it’s a good time to learn more about the founder, St. Josemaria Escriva.
I have links in the right sidebar to websites where you can find a lot of truthful information.
Or you can visit these: St. Josemaria Institute, Scepter Publishers
I’m in Indianapolis this week for the Indy 500. Near to my hotel is St. Luke’s.
I attended Mass yesterday morning. It was a school Mass and filled with kids in uniform.
Tomorrow I’ll attend Mass in the Indy track chapel. They have IRL Ministry formed to have interfaith services as well as Catholic Masses.
I just wanted to say a Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers. Most especially to our Lady!
The priest at the Mass I attended today gave a tremendous blessing to all mothers there.
He lamented the ones who have been placed in nursing homes with no one to visit them, especially on their day. In his native country they keep their elders in their homes and feel honored to be able to take care of the person who brought them into the world and took care of them.
I’ve been wondering when someone would do this. If you pray morning and evening prayer, you can now subscribe to it with Praystation Portable. A priest reads the prayer and it’s fed out the day before so you can download it to your computer and/or iPod ahead of when you need it.
To subscribe in iTunes or whatever podcatching software you use here’s the url you’ll need: http://feeds.feedburner.com/praystationportable
I had to make reservations here in Phoenix very late for this conference and had no idea where I’d wind up.
I was pretty happy to find out that I’d be in a historic old hotel named after my patron saint. It’s the Hotel San Carlos (St. Charles) on Central St.
Very interesting. They even have a picture of Pope John Paul II going by the hotel in his Popemobile in 1987. The caption they put on it is something like, “Pope says, same hotel, same room.”
On another trip. This time to Phoenix, AZ. This is the beautiful church I get to go to while here. It’s right across the street from the convention center where I’m covering the Clean Cities Congress.
They only have a noon weekday Mass but I think I can make that!
There’s a big Cinco de Mayo festival going on downtown here this weekend too. I walked through it last night after attending the Phoenix Diamondacks game. Besides all the festivity and fanfare I came back with one main impression. There were so many young people out who all seemed to be having a good time. However the clothes and some of the actions they were exhibiting on the street were scandalous. I know it is hot out right now but let’s just say that one of the biggest challenges anyone has today is holding on to purity.
I pray for those who were dressed so inappropriately, the people who designed and sold that stuff and the people who find it a real temptation to at least impure thoughts.
During my morning reflection time I was thinking about role models. Especially as it relates to our priests. I know the media would like us to believe that they supply the models for us but that’s not really true and I think there’s even been research to prove it.
Our priests can have such a tremendous influence on their flock. Look at some of the example from history. During this century with Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Fulton Sheen and of course, St. Josemaria Escriva. Individuals who lived a holy life and have helped shape millions of people. That’s why our priests need to realize how important their role is and we need to support them doing it.
I know many priests and many of them have problems just like we do. They’re men. Like all of us they need support and they aren’t perfect. We need to encourage them and offer to help them in any way we can. One way we can start is with our prayer. Then we need to make sure we don’t publicly criticize them, even if we don’t like every word they say. I like to call them “Father lastname” and not by their first name as I hear a lot of people do. If you see them with their collar on, compliment them. We need to see more collars.
That’s all. I support our Pope, Bishop and priests. I hope you will too.