PathToHoliness

It is two weeks until Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season. Are you thinking ahead? I will be in California on a business trip so I will be checking the schedule for the local church where I’ll be.

During this morning’s Mass I once again enjoyed a homily by Fr. Eugene Pathe. I also love his accent. I did a Google search and found a series of Lenten Meditations he recorded in 2012. This one is on Ash Wednesday and provides a good basis for reflection as we prepare for the season.

This year has started off with a bang for us. First of all, our daughter Caitlin, pictured on left, got engaged to her boyfriend Clint. Clint is holding Cruz Alexander Underwood. Cruz is Caitlin’s baby who arrived in the world last week! So, Cindy and I are now grandparents.

We traveled to Missouri to see the family and went to Mass with them in Ozark, MO this weekend. It was the first one for baby Cruz. To our surprise Bishop James V. Johnston, Springfield/Cape Girardeau, celebrated and conferred Confirmation on 12 young folks. Afterward he said a blessing over Cruz. Now that was very special and very cool.

Here’s a Merry Christmas to you. My family, minus one daughter who is near term for her first baby, posed after Christmas Mass at St. Gregory Church in Plantation, FL. We had hope to get their beautiful nativity scene in the photo but that didn’t work.

Hopefully you are enjoying the end of the year with family and friends. It should be a great time to relax and thank God for our blessings as we get ready to embark on another year. Too many people get all uptight though.

Please remember that January 1 is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and a holy day of obligation.

Years ago I went on a business trip to South/Central America with the agreement that when we were in Mexico City I got time out to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On her feast day today I pulled out the photos from my trip there (pre-digital) to relive the great memories.

I had a very kind cab driver not only take me to the Basilica but he attended Mass with me, got me into the museum and up the hill to the old chapel. I’ll never forget it. She is the Patroness of the Americas and of my heart.

Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Mystical Rose,
make intercession for holy Church,
protect the sovereign Pontiff,
help all those who invoke you in their necessities,
and since you are the ever Virgin Mary
and Mother of the true God,
obtain for us from your most holy Son
the grace of keeping our faith,
of sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life
of burning charity, and the precious gift
of final perseverance.

Amen.

Thanks to Fr. Frank Pavone for this Thanksgiving Day prayer.

Father of mercies, God of all creation, Source of life and of every blessing, We thank you today, and every day of our lives, For all that you give us!

We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

On Sunday Pope Francis closed out the Year of Faith that had been proclaimed by Pope Benedict. It is my hope that many, many people viewed this past year as a journey to come in closer contact with God. Here’s an excerpt from his homily.

Today’s solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the crowning of the liturgical year, also marks the conclusion of the Year of Faith opened by Pope Benedict XVI, to whom our thoughts now turn with affection and gratitude for this gift which he has given us. By this providential initiative, he gave us an opportunity to rediscover the beauty of the journey of faith begun on the day of our Baptism, which made us children of God and brothers and sisters in the Church. A journey which has as its ultimate end our full encounter with God, and throughout which the Holy Spirit purifies us, lifts us up and sanctifies us, so that we may enter into the happiness for which our hearts long.

The organization Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) is changing its name officially in January, 2014. The new name is Unbound.

In our ongoing effort to help children, youth and aging people around the world break free from the bonds of poverty, we chose to bring forward a name that better represents the work we do.

Our calling, and yours, is unchanged. Our resolve to connect compassionate people around the world with the people who most need our help has never been stronger.

We’ve been child sponsors through CFCA for many years and will continue to be.

We’ve had our agent working on 2014 health insurance for a couple weeks now. He’s been having a hard time getting good information. I wonder why?

I don’t know about y’all but this ObamaCare thing is the biggest mess I’ve ever seen and I don’t know how they’re going to fix it. I got pretty fed up with it and posted a letter to President Obama on Facebook which I thought I’d share. Hopefully you’ve already let your senators and representatives know how you feel.

Dear Mr. President:

I’m writing to let you know that your ObamaCare isn’t working. Did you know that? Well, of course you did. I’ll bet from your perspective it’s working great. Exactly the way YOU want it to.

When you got into office promising hope & change even a conservative like me “hoped” for the best. Didn’t happen. Except for the change part. I thought our country was embarrassed by Bill Clinton as president but you are now number one in the embarrassment category as far as I’m concerned. I believe your legacy will be as a cheap, arrogant dictator wannabe with the most inept group of administrators ever appointed.

Getting back to ObamaCare. I always reserve full judgement until I have some facts and experience. I’ve got more than I want now. My health insurance company will let me renew my plan on Dec. 31 this year as long as I agree to a 24% increase in premium. This is after moving to Florida a little over a year ago and getting new health insurance then that was about 24% higher than what I had before. They pointed to your law as the reason for that increase. We’re talking thousands of extra dollars in expense in 2014 that will severely impact my company and income. No one subsidizes me and I don’t want someone else’s money http://www.wildstarplatinums.com.

Why should Americans care about this? To start with, it’s happening to millions of people. Many are people like me. I have a small business with my wife. We provide important income not only for our family but also for nine people we pay every month. Your law means we now have to make decisions that might mean not paying one of those people next year. Or paying them all less. Now that’s change! I really can’t believe people are willing to let your government order citizens to buy something they don’t want or need.

I don’t like ObamaCare. I’d like it to be repealed in full. Fat chance of that happening now that the idiots in Congress have allowed it to happen. You lied to the country you swore to serve. Your apology is not only tepid but I do not accept it. I envision you getting out of that studio and laughing at all the people who are willing to believe anything you say. I feel sorry for them. And I feel sorry for you too. You, your family and our country will continue to remain in my prayers though. One thing I never give up on is Hope.

Sincerely,

Chuck Zimmerman

Today at the conclusion of Mass we held a short Immaculate Conception prayer program. This is a program of the Knights of Columbus which includes this traveling icon. Several of us processed to the altar where we placed the icon and then said a prayer.

The Knights of Columbus Immaculate Conception Marian Prayer Program honors the central place the Blessed Virgin Mary holds in the life of our Order and the historic devotion that has been afforded to the Immaculate Conception by the Church in North America. The first cathedral in the New World north of Mexico was named for the Immaculate Conception, and the bishops of the United States named Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception as the patroness of the nation.

The image used for this prayer program is a reproduction of a painting of Mary as the Immaculate Conception that hangs above the main altar of the Basilica-Cathedral of Notre- Dame de Québec. It was painted in 1925 by Sister Mary of the Eucharist, a Sister of Charity of Québec, to replace the 18th-century painting destroyed during a fire at the cathedral in 1922.

At the bottom of the image it says, “His Holiness Pope Francis cordially imparts his Apostolic Blessing. From the Vatican June 29, 2013.”

This week after getting home from hunting camp I attended noon Mass at the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel here in Pensacola. I was pleasantly surprised to see our Bishop Gregory Parkes celebrating along with three priests and a deacon! That’s pretty cool.

After Mass they all came outside to shake hands and chat. The Bishop was glad I made it. He is a such an easy person to speak to and I think we’re very blessed to have him here in Florida!

That last post was from a while ago when we were on a work day at our new Georgia hunting lease. Now it’s the season and we’ve been out for a few days of hunting.

We’re the Crystal Pig Hunt Club (CPHC). L-R Gary, Eli, Paul, Joe, Luke, Me.

Our hunt theme this year is the Rustler Hunt. That’s because we got a New Holland Rustler to use and it is a highlight feature of our hunt. This bad boy has gone over creeks, logs, stumps. The Rustler is like Honey Badger. He don’t care!

Our first hunt days saw mixed results. We saw lots of does and two are in the cooler plus one buck. We’ll be back though.

I take a lot of photos when I’m out and about. You can find a set from this year’s hunting experience here: Crystal Pig Hunt Club Rustler Hunt Photo Album

It’s almost time for deer hunting season. I’ll be hunting on a new lease property this year. The Crystal Pig Hunt Club members have been on location several times already getting things prepared. I’ve been deer hunting for more than 21 years now and have unbelievable memories that come more from the time spent with family and friends than the deer we’ve killed!

One recent trip to the new property was pretty much a wash out due to heavy rain. Here are three of my hunt buddies, nephews Luke, Joe and Eli. I’m the little guy in the back in the middle.

I can’t tell you how blessed I am to have the opportunity to hunt with these boys. They have grown into great young men over the years. Joe, the youngest in the middle will be hunting with us for the first time. He is majorly excited.

Thank you Lord for this.

Welcome to the new iBreviary website. My favorite app now has a very robust set of website features that includes being able to put it on your website.

iBreviary for your website:

Do you want to put IBreviary on your website or blog? Do you want to give your visitors the chance to pray on your site? iBreviary can be inserted through a simple window (installation of additional software is not required) within your website.

In this way you offer your visitors the opportunity to pray online and spread the beauty of Catholic Prayer through your website / blog.
You can also use your site for your daily prayer online http://www.wildstarplatinums.com.

The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral is where Pope Francis served before becoming our new pope. Cindy and I got to visit and attend Mass during a business trip last week for a conference that was held nearby.

We learned that the patroness of Argentina is Our Lady of Luján and found a small statute that we brought back. The Cathedral also houses the remains of General José de San Martín, a famous revolutionary leader.

I am constantly amazed at the opportunities we’ve had to attend Mass all over the world. This is definitely a highlight because of the connection to Pope Francis.

Our journey is toward Heaven in this year of faith. But there are often obstacles. Sin.

Lord let me see myself as I really am.

This is a tough one for a lot of people I have talked with about personal decisions and their impact on other people. I have friends who can’t understand how what they decide to do or think has an impact on other people. Even people on the other side of the world from them. It’s easy to understand that if you steal from someone or damage their property that you’ve had an impact. Or that if you feed a hungry person some food you’ve had an impact. But what about the choices you make when you look at what we’ll just call inappropriate images on the internet? You might wonder how that can hurt someone. But have you thought about the exploitation of the person you might be looking at? If you didn’t look then perhaps there wouldn’t be that exploitation. And let’s face it, the pornography industry exploits people in terrible ways.

So I take from this meditation point from my retreat that I need to keep my thoughts pure as well as make sure I am not actually doing something sinful that others can see.