PathToHoliness

I just returned from a business trip to Hamar, Norway. While there we got to visit the remains of the Cathedral that was destroyed during the reformation.

I recorded the whole presentation which includes the telling of the story of the Cathedral and some folk music. It’s over a half hour long but fascinating.

Listen to the story of the Hamar Cathedral here: Story of Hamar Cathedral (35 min MP3)

I’ve been on a posting drought here over the last month or so. My blogging travel schedule has been unbelievable. But I have been keeping up with Mass as often as possible like the Little Flower Church in Reno, NV.

I’m back on the road this week and hoping to find time to post here. There’s a lot I’d like to post but only so much time in a day. I’m not giving up on it.

Sunday Mass today was in St. George Church in Tinley Park, IL.

We’ll be here for one more night before moving on in the morning.

I have no idea where I’ll be for Mass next.

Travelling eastward I got to attend a weekday Mass at St. Lawrence O’Toole in Laramie, WY.

Not being able to make a daily Mass has made me realize how blessed we are when we do have the opportunity to make it to Mass each day.

I haven’t experienced so many days without Mass in many years and I miss it a lot.

Right after going to Nashville I took off for a cross country trip to celebrate the interstate highway system’s 50 year anniversary. I’m in a convoy and we’re making daily treks with multiple stops and press conferences. It’s made it difficult to make it to a daily Mass.

However, I have made it to Mass a few times. Here’s the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, UT.

It’s a very traditional design and a historic landmark.

Another town, another church. This time it’s Nashville, TN. I’m here for the CMA Music Festival and attending Mass at Holy Rosary Catholic Church.

It’s right near the hotel I’m staying in. They even had a Saturday morning Mass! You’ve got to love that.

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.

There’s an interesting story on Opus Dei done by Voice of America. It’s video with several streaming or download options. You can find it on this page.

It’s 4 minutes long and is just one of many, many stories being done in advance of the movie release of The DaVinci Code. I haven’t read the book and have no desire to see the movie. But you can’t seem to escape media coverage of both. If you believe the news reports, people are taking a fictional book and believing what’s written in it as fact. That’s hard to believe.

That would be like watching a tv sitcom and believing that the characters are “real life.” Do people actually buy into that? I don’t and frankly don’t waste too much time anymore with tv or novels. I have read a lot of fiction in my day and have never believed the stories portrayed reality. I’m much more apt to believe that the reporters doing all this coverage just want to do a story that casts doubt on Christianity, especially the Catholic Church. I think that the rise in forms of personal social communication like blogging is, in part, because people are fed up with reporters deciding what the news is and using their medium to push their personal viewpoints.

So let’s see what happens when the movie comes out.