PathToHoliness

A week ago this morning I got notice that a good friend of mine, Derry Brownfield, had passed away. It was a shock to say the least. My life has been made better by knowing him. Here’s a link to my work blog post that I did when the call came in. I worked with Derry and traveled a lot of miles with him during that time. We spent a lot of time together on those trips, at his cabin, riding fence and checking cows.

This week Cindy and I attended his funeral and then went to the Bury Derry Day Party with his family and friends. He always talked about that day with that name btw. We laughed, cried and drank too much scotch. And I’m glad for that opportunity. He has a great family too. And speaking of family, I felt like part of his family. I heard a number of people who thought of him as a mentor or even father figure. I am in that group. He had a BIG family!

At this funeral, Bob Priddy, Missourinet, did the eulogy which is a wonderful recollection of his life and I’m sharing it here since it was recorded.

So, I’ll say goodbye now to you Derry. You’re always going to be in my prayers. I hope to see you on a happy trail someday.

I have done some serious road time the last two months. I think I just figured out that it has been 28 out of the last 41 days!

But as usual that means the opportunity to visit new churches. In Tampa, FL my wife Cindy and I were able to attend Mass at Sacred Heart in the downtown area. The parish was originally called St. Louis and is now being taken care of by the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province.

After leaving Tampa Cindy traveled to Reno, NV while I went to Austin, TX. While I was there I went to Ash Wednesday morning Mass at St. Peter the Apostle church.

The church was founded in 1962 and it sounds like it has grown significantly since then.

I’ll be on the road to Washington, DC this week for National Agriculture Day activities and hope to attend Mass there on Tuesday morning.

Don’t you wish Archbishop Fulton Sheen was still being broadcast? I do. However, you can watch lots of videos of him speaking on YouTube. You can also download or listen to lots of audio files too. Here’s a good one I just watched.

It has been a rough last two weeks. I came down with the worst flu bug I can remember and then we had a blizzard with 20 inches of snow in mid Missouri. Cindy and I had to fly to Denver for a convention and then I had to fly to another one in Phoenix. Let’s just say that flying, below zero to 70 degree temps and dry hotel and convention centers are not good for your sinuses! But I survived!

The photo is the altar in St. Mary’s Basilica in Phoenix. It’s conveniently located right across the street from the convention center and has a noon weekday Mass.

Last week I attended Mass one day at the Cathedral of Christ The King in northern Atlanta. I thought I had been to this church before but am pretty sure this was my first visit. Normally, I attend Mass at the Sacred Heart Basilica in downtown Atlanta. You can find the history of the Cathedral on their website.

While there the priest was willing to hear confession! With all this traveling, it makes it difficult to keep up with my devotions but there are some things that just have to be adhered to and frequent confession is one of them.

The 2011 March For Life will be taking place tomorrow in Washington, DC, as have others around the country this weekend including here in Jefferson City, MO. This is to mark the anniversary of the legalization of abortion in America. Since then the estimate is at about 52 million abortions performed. It will drive you crazy if you think about it. 52 million people killed in our country outside of any other type of death (accident, defense of country in military, etc.). It’s too big a number for me to wrap my mind around. And most of those performed just to keep from having the “inconvenience” of a child. It’s the most severe form of birth control.

The recent horror story in Philadelphia with the abortion doctor who is now being charged with multiple accounts of murder contains all the elements of what make abortion so incredibly horrible. You can read the details for yourself. Just do a Google search for it. This story should be the top one in the news but guess what? It’s not. Our news folks are more interested in what President O is going to say about the economy. Yeah. That’s more important than human life.

What it means is that we need to continue to pray and especially for our lawmakers, women facing tough choices and those who have had an abortion. I would like to think this will change in our country some day. I keep praying that it will.

I just noticed on the St. Josemaria Escriva YouTube channel a great video explaining who he was.

Cindy took a picture of our St. Francis statue after last week’s snow storm. That’s the image I use for my Twitter account.

We did have a snowy week and were supposed to get more last night and today. We even went to Saturday evening Mass last night thinking we may not have been able to go this morning. However, Msgr. Higley, prayed that the snow would miss us and he was answered. At least we haven’t received what we expected. Just a light dusting so far.

In case you haven’t hear yet, May 1 is the date for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II. I already ran the idea of going past Cindy and she can’t even stand the idea of dealing with the crowds. I could deal with it but the cost is also a factor. I did a quick look at flights and didn’t see anything less than about $980!

It would be awesome to attend this ceremony for the Pope I’ve personally met and who was such an inspiration in life and continues to be so in death. He met all of my family on a visit to the Vatican years ago and I know has touched all our lives for the better.

Reports are saying they expect about 2 million for the ceremony which is a million less than his funeral. They know how to deal with big crowds there and do a good job. I had the fortune to attend the Canonization of St. Josemaria Escriva and it was packed too.

Pope John Paul II has also been named the patron of the upcoming World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, which will be celebrated August 16-21.

If you’re interested in seeing “There Be Dragons” which is scheduled for a May release then enter a sweepstakes contest for tickets and other prizes. You can find the entry on Facebook.

Grand Prize Winner will receive:

Prize Eligibility
Only persons who are at least 18 years of age can enter.
Sweepstakes Starts
December 20, 2010 @ 12:01 pm (PST)
Sweepstakes Ends
January 31, 2011 @ 12:01 pm (PST)

Today is the feast of Mary, Mother of God. Our Holy Father prayed for peace in his homily according to Vatican Radio

“On this day, too, we pray especially for peace throughout the world, and I invite all of you to join in heartfelt prayer to Christ the Prince of Peace for an end to violence and conflict wherever they are found.”

You can listen to a full report from Vatican Radio here: Vatican Radio Report

The day after Christmas, Cindy and I took part in the baptism of our niece Abi and nephew Charlie. They are the children of Cindy’s brother Jeff and wife Rosa. Cindy and I are Godparents for Charlie and our daughter Chelsea and I are for Abi. Here’s all of us with after the ceremony which was held at St. Agatha’s Church in Miami, FL.

Becoming a Godparent (or sponsor) is a real responsibility. Here’s what the Code of Canon Law #872 says about it: Insofar as possible, a person to be baptized is to be given a sponsor who assists an adult in Christian initiation or together with the parents presents an infant for baptism. A sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it.

We’ll do our best to be good ones for Abi and Charlie!

Merry Christmas to everyone. Here’s the whole family after midnight Mass. We may have looked bright eyed in the photo but we were asleep pretty soon after we got back to the house.

I don’t know when we started going to midnight Mass for Christmas but it has been a while. It was standing room only at St. Gregory’s. I’m looking forward to a nice quiet day of relaxation and celebrating the birth of Jesus. I will confess to going to Starbucks for a venti Christmas blend though. But that’s the extent of my adventuring out to the retail world. We might take a drive to the beach today though since it’s supposed to be warm one more day before cooling down.

You can’t have enough Nativity scenes this time of year. Our family has escaped the cold and wintery white stuff for the sunshine and relative warmth of south Florida.

I attended early Mass at St. Gregory the Great Church in Plantation, FL. I’m not sure if we’re going to go to Midnight Mass tonight or Mass in the morning. We’ve been going at midnight for years. I personally prefer in the morning. I always fall asleep before midnight and then have trouble getting back to sleep after Mass. Whichever one you pick though, they’re all beautiful!

This is the manger at the Cathedral of St. Joseph. As you can see it’s waiting for baby Jesus. Almost Christmas. Come Lord Jesus.

Our family is headed toward south Florida for the holiday weekend. On Sunday Cindy and I become God parents again to our nephew, Charlie. He and his sister will be getting baptized!

Here’s wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas and safe travels.