PathToHoliness

The last few weeks have been a blur of activity that has included an 11 day road trip. Of course I did get some tweets posted but a lot of the time I wasn’t even in good internet access (during annual deer hunt).

I’ve got to say that a week in the woods provides some excellent time for personal reflection. I didn’t read a paper, listen to or watch the news and wasn’t even online much. It was a refreshing break from all the insanity and negativity we see around us every day now.

I believe we’re in for a bad time here in America. In the last few decades there has been a general moral decline in our country which has led to all manner of activity that once was considered illegal and immoral. But even with all the bad things we have going on, there is still truth and it can still be found by following Jesus Christ.

Let’s use the current health care reform bills as an example of evil happening right now. I haven’t read the bills. Who actually can or has? But some people have taken it upon themselves and all I’ve read and heard, by both sides of the political spectrum, is bad. This legislation will put a nail in the coffin of quality health care in America and it probably will happen. We have way too many people in Congress who have sold their souls for power and greed. They don’t care that this legislation will hurt small businesses and add to a budget deficit that will never be overcome in our lifetime or probably that of our children. I fear for the world that my kids will have to live in after I’m gone. In fact, I’m not too crazy about what it will be like before I’m gone!

I don’t believe we’ve seen the full effects of the economic problems yet. Governments at all levels are nearly bankrupt as they continue to grow and none of them are practicing fiscal responsibility. We’re going to see the effect of this big time in the coming years. There is not enough money in the world for what government is trying to do. And basically, I think government is trying to take away all our freedom so we can feel good about no longer having personal responsibility for anything. That’s what happens when true religion disappears.

If you’ve received conflicting information about just what Opus Dei is then it’s good to go to the source. On the Opus Dei website you’ll find the facts, including this mission statement of the Catholic Church’s Personal Prelature.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei in 1928 to help people live by the Gospel in their daily activities and make Christ present in every endeavor. Opus Dei focuses on work and daily life as an occasion for spiritual growth and an opportunity to contribute to a better world. Opus Dei also emphasizes divine filiation, unity of life, prayer and sacrifice, charity, apostolate and fidelity to the Pope.

There is a movie being made that will focus on the life of St. Josemaria Escriva called “There Be Dragons.” Not sure when/if it will actually be released. This is a press photo (by Michel Lichtenstein) they’ve released from the shooting of the movie which was done in Argentina and Spain.

Here’s a synopsis of the movie:

A young journalist long ago rejected by his now aged and dying father finds himself investigating one of his father’s former friends, a candidate for canonization. Uncovering the two men’s complicated relationship from childhood through the horrors of the Spanish Civil War unveils a compelling drama filled with passion, betrayal, love and religion. An action packed story set during a murderous time in history that ultimately serves the present by revealing the importance and timeless power of forgiveness.

In the production notes it says that the movie is, ” woven around the figure of St Josemaría Escrivá in his childhood and his early priestly works during the Republic and the Spanish Civil War.” Charlie Cox plays Josemaria.

We’ll need to keep our eye out for the release. You can also read about the movie on IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.

Last week I got to attend Mass at St. Augustine Church in Covington, GA. It’s right near my parent’s house.

I used my business trip to Moultrie, GA as an excuse to spend a couple days with family east of Atlanta. Path To Holiness contributor, Chelsea, my daughter came along. She stayed with family while I went south to the Sunbelt Ag Expo.

It was great to see my brother and his family including my Godson. But I have to say, it’s nice to be home with my wife!

Monsignor Thomas G. Bohlin, U.S. vicar of Opus Dei, is a guest panelist writer for the Washington Post blog called “On Faith.” Unfortunately you can’t subscribe to just his contributions. However, you can bookmark the link and check it regularly.

Some of his recent contributions include:

Catholic Church says, ‘Welcome home’
Jesus said, “Leave everything and follow me”
You Cannot Force People to Believe
Pope Benedict and the Pursuit of Truth

The website that focuses exclusively on St. Josemaria Escriva has been updated.

The new website on Opus Dei’s founder—available in eight languages—makes it possible to gain more ample knowledge of his life and his message about seeking Christ in one’s daily activities.

The contents of http://www.josemariaescriva.info/ are organized under six major headings: the life and teachings of St. Josemaría, personal testimonies, educational and social initiatives inspired by his preaching, documents, multimedia, and current news.

In the heart of Las Vegas you will find the Guardian Angel Cathedral. This is where I’ve been attending Mass this week and will do so again this afternoon since we’ve got an early flight out tomorrow.

I know I don’t need to describe the awful things that take place here in this town. I really don’t think it’s called Sin City for nothing. But attendance at daily Mass has been impressive. It’s a great place to find shelter from the activity here and pray for those who are abandoning what they know is right.

I really don’t like coming here because of the activity that goes on. But business often requires it and you just have to be extra careful during your stay.

All you holy Guardian Angels please watch over us and pray for us.

It’s so important to be faithful in daily prayer but it’s sure not easy to do in a busy world and work day is it? However, we have the tools starting with our own memory. I’ve tried a lot of different tactics to make sure I remember the prayers that I choose to make as regular devotions. For example, I’ve made a laminated card to remind me to dedicate each hour of the work day to somebody or something. I’ve set a daily noon alarm on my phone to remind me to say the Angelus.

Speaking of the phone, I’m using mine more and more for this purpose. For example, on my iPhone I have the iBreviary app which is great for Morning and Evening Prayer and the daily Mass Readings. Besides those prayers I also have in my Liturgy of the Hours book a number of prayer cards that I say. Today I found them all online and pasted them into a pdf that I emailed to myself so that I can save them on my phone. This will save me traveling with a large, heavy book now!

In case you’re interested in what my daily prayer are besides Morning/Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours you can download the pdf file here: My Daily Prayers

This week I was in Lexington, KY and attended morning Mass at St. Peter Church.

To my surprise the 7am Mass is in traditional Latin. Here’s an iPhone photo image from Monday.

Latin Mass Ministry

Individuals of the Diocese of Lexington served through this ministry are expected to be members of a parish of the diocese, and may request the celebration of other sacraments with the permission of their local pastor.

We had a choir chanting responses and songs. You can hear what they sounded like here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Fortunately for me they had paperback booklets with the Mass in Latin and English so I could follow along.

It is Respect Life Sunday and our Associate Pastor at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Fr. Ben Nwosu, preached a powerful sermon on the subject. He was well prepared with scriptural quotes and references to the subject.

I liked him quoting Mother Teresa of Calcutta as saying that when a couple adopts a child they are welcoming Jesus into their home but when they abort a baby they are shutting Jesus out. I don’t have the exact quote but that’s close enough.

You can see a photo of Fr. Ben after today’s Mass from my Twitter account.

Here’s part of the statement on Respect Life Sunday (pdf) by Cardinal Justin Rigali:

Respect Life Sunday, this year celebrated on October 4th is a day set aside for Catholics in the United States to reflect with gratitude on God’s priceless gift of human life. It is also an occasion to examine how well we, as a nation and individually, are living up to our obligation to protect the rights of those who, due to age, dependency, poverty or other circumstances, are at risk of their very lives.

Unborn children remain the persons whose lives are most at risk in America: Over one million children each year die in abortion facilities. The Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 rendered states powerless to halt this killing. Thankfully Congress and most states acted to prevent public funding of abortions (with narrowly defined exceptions). Yet despite the opposition of 67% of Americans to taxpayer-funded abortion, all current health care proposals being considered by Congress would allow or mandate abortion funding, either through premiums paid into government programs or out of federal revenues.

Twitter creator and co-founder Jack Dorsey is from St. Louis where he graduated from Bishop DuBourg High School according to an article in the St. Louis Review magazine.

Proud parents Tim and Marcia Dorsey, members of the Cathedral Parish in St. Louis, said they never expected their son would go on to create something as big as Twitter — which unconfirmed news reports currently value at about $1 billion. The Dorseys also have two other sons, Dan and Andrew.

Asked if they credited Jack’s Catholic education (he also attended St. Dominic Savio Grade School in Affton for a short time) to his success, Marcia Dorsey said, “sure, in a lot of ways … he was always involved in speech meets, those type of things were always his cup of tea. And Catholic schools were very good at offering that.”

You can follow the Archdiocese of St. Louis on Twitter here.

Today would normally be the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, my confirmation saint.

But it’s a Sunday, the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time to be precise.

This is my statue of St. Francis that watches over my house and yard. So today I ask him to pray for me and my family and everyone.

You probably know that he’s the patron saint of, animals, Catholic Action, environment, merchants, Meycauayan, Italy, Brgy. San Francisco, San Pablo City, Philippines and stowaways.

That’s according to Wikipedia. You can also read more about him here.

Support for abortion in America is slipping according to new information out from the PEW Research Center. Well, it’s about time. When will Americans wake up to the reality of this terrible evil and do what they know is right and that’s protect all life, including the unborn?

Polls conducted in 2009 have found fewer Americans expressing support for abortion than in previous years. In Pew Research Center polls in 2007 and 2008, supporters for legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents; now Americans are evenly divided on the question, and there have been modest increases in the numbers who favor reducing abortions or making them harder to obtain. Less support for abortion is evident among most demographic and political groups.

Here’s an unbelievable finding in their research though. How can this be?

The poll finds that four-in-ten Americans are unaware of Obama’s position on the abortion issue.

Speaking about priests, the New York Archdiocese has a vocation campaign that features a great video which is incredibly well done and inspiring.

In this Year for Priests a good book for spiritual reading is “The Cure D’Ars : St. Jean-Marie-Baptiste Vianney” by Abbe Francois Trochu. Here’s a description of the book.

The definitive life, based on the official “Process of Beatification and Canonization,” and thus totally factual and documented. Of humble education and assigned to a forgotten farmers’ village, he attracted the whole world to Ars and was proclaimed “Patron Saint of Parish Priests” in 1929. Ate one meal a day, slept only a few hours a night, heard confessions up to 17 hours a day, converted thousands. His body remains incorrupt. A grace-filled story of total love of God!

He is the patron saint of priests and the book is a very good look at his life like the description says. I’m only part way through it now but it is great reading and I highly recommend it.