PathToHoliness

Last week I worked at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, IL. I flew from home to St. Louis and rented a car to travel to my hotel in Springfield and back and forth from Decatur. I got done early so on Thursday I went to the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France for midday Mass and confession. Then I dropped off my rental and flew back home.

It has been quite a while since I was able to go to Mass at what most people know as the “Old Cathedral of St. Louis.” It’s right next to the St. Louis Arch.

The work I was doing (taking photos, conducting audio interviews) was my next to last time my wife and I are going to travel for work. We announced that in April this year. We can still do some work for our company in our home offices and as of now, that’s the plan. I pray every day that we are making good decisions and what Jesus wants.

I have been dealing with anxiety of the move toward retirement but sitting in the church I found peace. I definitely recommend spending this time to anyone who is suffering in any way.

Just recently I had to work on a conference in Rogers, Arkansas. Since I had to arrive late Saturday I found Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in just a few minutes by Uber to attend morning Mass. The church has all Latin Masses. I attended the early one – Low Mass. It has been some time since I’ve been able to attend a Latin Mass. I have done so when the opportunity arrives. I was just impressed as how full the church was.

BTW. I will not have to work on a Sunday anymore. I’ve not liked it but after the end of this year I won’t be traveling for work at all!

Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church is served by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) with the approval and blessing of the Most Reverend Anthony Basil Taylor, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter serves in apostolates around the world. The faithful celebration of the traditional Mass and Sacraments are at the center of their charism.

This past Sunday I helped Fr. Bill Martin who is one of the priests for Unbound. It was started as the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging. Fr. Martin travels around the country telling people about Unbound and he brings packets for potential sponsors to support children and aging. He came to Pensacola at St. Anne’s Catholic Church and I was contacted to assist him at the 8am Mass. My wife and I have sponsored Unbound children for 25 years. There was a lot of interest and we had quite a few people choosing the child or aging they could see since it includes their pictures and age. The boy we currently sponsor is in the Philippines and has learned how to read and write and is now looking at a vocational school. He wouldn’t have been able to do this without help. We can exchange letters and pictures through the Unbound website.

Here is the mission of Unbound:

Our vision is to build a world free from poverty where all people have access to resources, community support and the ability to make decisions that improve their lives and uphold human dignity.

Unbound offers a practical way for sponsors, donors and volunteers to make a personal and direct impact as partners in our global community. Through walking with a child and family, youth, elder or community on their path out of poverty, our supporters have an opportunity to expand their worldviews and be part of creative solutions to poverty.

So, if you would like to be a sponsor through Unbound I highly recommend it.

This past weekend I attended my retreat at the Roseaire Center in Delray Beach, FL. As I have said before, it’s a beautiful center and throughout the year has lots of activities. We had a large group of men with some participating on their first retreat.

It is long days of prayer and meditation and that’s what it should be. Our focus is on God and talking to Him and working on our spiritual life. I take lots of notes and leave with a couple of resolutions for the year. I highly recommend this for men and women.

I will share some of my notes on my X.com account for PathToHoliness.

I’m getting ready to go to my annual retreat and really looking forward to it. I have a list of things I’d like to accomplish and, of course, mostly for my personal talk with Jesus. But I also want to pray for my family and others who are suffering, have left the church or have never learned about our Catholic faith.

While doing this I have another list of saints that I’m praying to for help. How about you? Do you have one or more saints that you prayer to? Here are my main ones.

St. Charles Borromeo, St. Albert the Great, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Josemaria Escriva, St. Pope John Paul II, St. Louis de Montfort, St. Faustina, St. Mother Theresa, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Padre Pio, St. Dymphna, St. Anthony, St. Blaise, Blessed Carlo Acutis, Venerable Fulton Sheen, Blessed Michael McGivney. There are so many counting just the Apostles for example.

If you want or need prayers for any of these saints or would like to know more about them, it’s easy just to search in your browser.

Father Grant Sennott was ordained priest with three other men on Saturday. Then yesterday Father Sennott celebrated his first Mass at the Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church. It was a packed church and there were six other priests with him on the altar.

I believe Father Sennott will be a great priest. He did get a little choked up during one prayer and I understand and felt the same for him.

In addition to Father Sennot here are the names of the other newly ordained priests for our diocese: William Gibson, Christopher Holcomb and Peter Jutras. You can watch the ordination Mass here.

The local KofC brought a big smile to Eli’s face at the end of Mass yesterday. Eli, has been an Altar Server for three years and might be longer now that he’s graduated high school and will attend local college. He is very serious about his ministry job and has always been there when needed.

Presenting Eli with a gift from the Knights of Columbus Council #8589 at the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel is Mark Fanfalone and Father Joseph Fowler. Eli received a framed montage of his work on the altar and a check of $500 to help his college.

It’s getting close to time for my annual retreat. Once again this year I will be at the Roseaire Conference Center, located in Delray Beach, FL, for a retreat organized by the Tekesta Study Center. I can’t wait to charge my spiritual batteries!

Retreats at Roseaire are traditional, silent retreats, preached by priests of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church.

For those who wish to attend, the retreat includes Holy Mass, meditations given by a priest, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and oration of the rosary. The priests are available to hear individual confessions as well as for personal spiritual guidance.

I have attended retreats for many years. After moving to Florida from Missouri I have made retreats in different locations so I thought I’d add a list of the ones I have attended (for men).

• Featherock Conference Center – Westcott Study Center
• Villa Maria Conference Center – Wespine Study Center
• Carmel Retreat Center – Magnalia Foundation

I am very happy that we have a new Pope so quickly and with the Holy Spirit guiding the Cardinals I know he will be just what the church needs. One of our local churches ends Mass with a Holy Mary prayer for our new Pope. Something that I think we should all do. He needs our prayers

“Peace be with all of you!” – the first words of Pope Leo XIV. The Conclave has elected Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost as the 267th Bishop of Rome. The new pope was announced to the waiting crowds by Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti.

You can find a biography of Pope Leo XIV on the Vatican News website.

The Inauguration Mass will be May 18 in St. Peters Square.

I was planning to do a post about Easter but this happened just this morning. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, passed away. It is a time for prayer for his soul and for those who will be having to go through the process for a new pope. Here is some info from the Vatican News.

At 9:45 AM on Easter Monday, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, spoke these words at the Casa Santa Marta:
“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”

Vatican News also has an overview of the highlights of Pope Francis’ pontificate, his journeys, reforms, writings, work for peace and human fraternity, and outreach to the poor and migrants.

On another note, the Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis will be postponed. I’m sure we’ll find out more about this very soon.

The first in a series of four talks during the year focuses on the topic of “Christ Alive in Us” by Dr. Dave Snyder, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Pensacola. His talk was after our Holy Hour and midday Mass. These talks are organized by the Veronica Guild Honoring Life in the Basilic of St. Michael the Archangel. Our mission is Promoting the dignity of all human life, especially through our “Fridays for Life.”

Dr. Snyder prefaced his talk on a passage from Galatians, 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. The life that I am now living, subject to the limitation of human nature, I am living in faith, faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” One of his questions was “What does it mean to have new life in Christ?” Another was “What am I doing with the life God has given me?” These are great to meditate on, perhaps in a daily time you take to pray and spend time with Jesus. He will always listen.

We will have three more talks throughout the year and you can find the schedule on the Basilica website.

Some years ago I posted about my morning prayer buddy. We’ve never stopped.

Now as you can see, there are two Maltese boys sitting in my chair with me as I do spiritual reading and morning prayer. It’s one of my favorite times a day when we’re not traveling.

Just recently Cindy and I adopted two Maltese dogs, a boy and a girl. Whereas our two dogs are 2 and 6 years old, these are more than 15 years old. To shorten the story, we have a couple just a couple homes from us who are having to move to an assisted living home and they could not take these dogs. And, as you might guess, it’s hard to find someone to take dogs this old. So, we offered and they live with us now. They are great dogs that I think are pretty used to the new home. They get along well with ours too. I had no idea what this was going to be like but it is extra work.

So, back to my prayer buddy. He’s Croix and just turned 6. Next to me is Caesar. He has started following us early in the morning and I help him up and he’s very comfortable and happy. I thank God for this and am glad that Cindy found out about this and we made this decision.

Each day I read from “Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Everyday.” It is a treasure of excerpts from letters he wrote and it’s amazing how often something applies to me and my circumstances. Yesterday his meditation started with “Consider Jesus’ fiat in the garden [“Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42)]. Why does this have so much meaning to me? Well, I can create a list with things like the changes in the industry I work in, considering retirement and when/how, physical changes as I get older (more spinal deterioration (pain), two months with a persistent sinus infection, significant travel using a camera and other gear, the hassles of travel that I’m so tired of. In all cases I have had it hard to make good decisions, along with my wife and business partner. We have prayed about this for quite a while and now it’s time to make decisions and move on to this next part of our lives.

This is where the quote from Luke’s Gospel comes in. I just put pain, worry, fear, indecision, anxiety in the hands of Jesus. As my wife, Cindy, puts it, “God will tell us.” We do trust in Jesus and I find myself saying frequently now “Not my will, but yours be done.” Simple, eh?

The Serenity Prayer is one I need to say more too.

“God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
the courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time.
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as he did, the sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.
Trusting that he will make all things right
if I surrender to His will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
and supremely happy with Him forever.

—Reinhold Niebuhr, 1892-1971

Last night my first spiritual director of many, many years passed away – Rev. William L. Korte. I call him Fr. Bill Korte. I can’t even explain how much he has meant to me and my spiritual life. He introduced me to Opus Dei and that’s when I started annual retreats led by the work.

Living in the Jefferson City, MO area I got to become friends with other men who also saw him for spiritual direction. We would travel to retreats by the Wespine Center in St. Louis. In this photo Fr. Korte is on the left and I’m on the right. We were in Rome for the Canonization of St. Josemaria Escriva in 2002.

After moving from Missouri to Florida I mainly kept in touch with him by phone. We would get to talk quite a bit when he had time. I sure wish I could have seen him in-person.

Update: Here is Fr. Korte’s Obituary with schedule for visitation and funeral Mass.

I should have remembered names for the photo above which includes Ed Galbraith, his some James and Fr. Bruce Fogle.

I don’t have much information yet but will add to this post when I can. Fr. Korte was pastor of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Dixon, MO. There is a FB group for it with a post with information too.

I ended my annual Total Consecration to Jesus Christ Through Mary on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As you might guess from the condition of my book, it has seen many years. I see it as a great addition to my annual retreat, which I do earlier in the year.

When I used to deer hunt in Missouri during November I would sit in my stand and do the daily meditation and prayers. I kept it in my fanny pack which probably wasn’t the best place to put it. But sitting in the woods was a very quiet and great place for it. I never saw a deer until either before or after I did my daily prayers.

I’ve recommended this prayer and here is an excerpt of the description of the book which you can find on Amazon.

O Virgin most faithful!
Make me in all things so perfect
a disciple, imitator and slave of
incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, your Son,
that I may come, through your intercession and your example,
to the fullness of his age on earth
and of his glory in heaven.
Amen.

These words from St. Louis de Montfort’s Act of Total Consecration give beautiful expression to the fundamental thrust of his spirituality: Christianity that is fully alive is nothing less than a radical act of total self-surrender and self-gift to the Lord Jesus Christ who, in his redemptive Incarnation, has first given himself totally over to us, and for us.