PathToHoliness

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.

I think I’ve tried to approach this website like I do my professional news blogs and it just doesn’t work. I think this needs to be more about personal reflections along the path to holiness. So that’s what I’m going to try next. It takes a while to find your voice.

Today I was reflecting on how much people, our culture and the media seem determined to find someone to blame for everything. It’s always got to be someone else’s fault that something happened that they don’t like. It doesn’t even have to be a disaster.

As a media professional I’m completely ashamed of the way the industry has evolved. It doesn’t matter to me if we’re talking about CNN, Fox News or the local newspaper or radio station. I’ve even watched CNN and Fox side by side while working out in the gym. More than once they’ve had the exact same stories on at the same time. Maybe the slant is a little different but not really that much.

It really doesn’t matter what topic you pick though. They’re all playing the blame game. Politicians are the worst too. How sick are you of one investigation after another? Who even cares anymore? One of my favorite sayings of Josemaria Escriva is that, “At best, it’s a waste of time.” In other words, it’s probably worse than that.

Part of our call to holiness involves doing “our” work the best we can. Not wasting time wondering if someone else is doing their’s the best they can. I sure hope more people do this. Instead of focusing on who did what and to whom, let’s pray for that person or entity that we don’t like or who we think did something wrong. Let’s make the first thing we do when we see something we don’t like a positive prayer. Then secondly we can realize our own failures and shortcomings before we start to cast blame.

Today I was reminded how fleeting life can be. Indy race car driver Paul Dana died from injuries he received in a pre-race warmup before the Toyota Indy 300 in Homestead, FL. He died before the race and they still ran the race. I find that pretty insensitive to say the least.

This hits home because I had just interviewed Paul by phone yesterday afternoon for my company’s website, Domestic Fuel. As it turns out that was Paul’s last media interview. I can’t express my sadness that a young life had to end this way but as I’ve learned in so many ways, there is a reason and we may not ever know it.

I pray for Paul, his family, friends and teammates. He will be missed. The picture is me interviewing Paul at last year’s Indy 500 race when he was recovering from injuries earlier in the season.

This past week has been a challenging one professionally as I’ve had to make some important business decisions. A small home-based business is never without challenges! There’s been the temptation to grow too quickly and thereby take on too much at once. There’s been at least some efforts by outside forces to negatively impact the business.

As a result of the first I found myself putting in too many hours in a day. Cash flow became tight due to my not spending enough time on sales. This made it easy to start despairing and worrying.

Fortunately, my spiritual reading includes volume 3 on the life of the founder of Opus Dei. In this volume we read about the challenges St. Josemaria had in growing the Work, especially building the college in Rome. He faced serious financial difficulties, exterior persecution and health problems that were complicated by working without a break. What inspired me was his persistence, constant prayer and what can only be described as supernatural happiness.

By reading and meditating on his life in that time I have been able to put my own circumstances in perspective. I met with my spiritual director this past week who also made me look at what I’m worrying about by describing the worries of this life as “it’s all nothing.” It really is. I’ve always liked to quote this when asked about what I would do if my business fails, “The worst thing that can happen is I’ll have to get a job.”

This doesn’t mean that we don’t have trials and troubles. It does mean that no matter what they are, as long as we sanctify our work we don’t have to worry about the future. It’s hard to accept this without faith, making faith so important to our lives. I firmly believe that even if my business isn’t deemed successful by my peers I will not have ever failed because it’s dedicated to God, for His honor and glory. He gave me talents and I need to use them in His service.