PathToHoliness

This almost seems like a no brainer but how hard do you think this will be to accomplish? It is a national campaign to make Good Friday a national holiday. If you want to support it then sign the petition and/or plan to attend the rally in Washington, DC.

The Campaign to Commemorate Good Friday as a National Holiday will hold an official launch rally that is open to public on April 22nd, 2011 at 12:00 PM to 3:30 PM on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. located between 7thStreet and 14thStreet. Shown during the rally on the National Mall will be a screening of ‘Passion of the Christ’ beginning at 12:00 PM. The campaign seeks to generate nation-wide support and collect 1 million signatures which it will use to petition the U.S. Congress to officially commemorate Good Friday as a National Holiday in the United States.

For more information please visit, www.GoodFridayCampaign.com or contact Sharon Jones, Director, (212) 731 – 4080 phone.

I finally upgraded to the new iBreviary app on my new iPad. This great app just keeps getting better. It looks beautiful on the iPad screen and has even more to offer. See description below. This is one of the apps I use the most on either my iPhone or iPad. Get it in the iTunes store.

iBreviary “Pro Terra Sancta” is the application that brings the traditional Catholic prayer of the Breviary and all the texts of the Liturgy on your iPhone and iPad. iBreviary “Pro Terra Sancta” wants to contribute, through a partnership with Custody of the Holy Land, friendship and prayer for all Christians living Holy Places.

iBreviary is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and contains:
– Breviary, Missal and Lectionary complete in 7 languages and continuously updated
(Italian, French, Spanish, Romanian, English and Latin)
– The text of the Breviary and the Missal in the Vetus Ordo Ambrosian Rite and Latin
– All the main prayers of the Christian
– Rituals for the sacraments and celebrations
– The liturgical texts used in the Holy Land
Also iBreviary “Pro Terra Sancta” offers, than the first version of iBreviary:
– The new section, “Rites”, with all the rituals and texts for the various celebrations
Catholic (Adoration of the Eucharist, the Sacraments, Blessings, etc.).
– The brand new “Terra Sancta” the liturgical texts used in the Holy Land
– Keep in touch through the blog and the pages of the Franciscans
Holy Places.
– A rich section dedicated to Saints
– Store a day on any device
– Full management of saved days (selection and cancellation)
– Unlimited storage days (something very much in demand by those who want to download
a bit ‘of days for travel or long period without internet access from your iPhone /
iPad)
– Instantly download the entire week (continuing to quietly
use the application without having to wait for the download).
– Enlarge and diminish the character of the text, with the flick of the fingers
on the screen (Pinch-to-Zoom)
– The ability to adjust the color of the background for a better
reading of texts
– Application Languages: Italian, Inglese, Español, Deutsch, Française, Românã
– Content Languages: Italian, Inglese, Español, Français, Român?, Latinum
– Languages constantly updated content.
– A new graphical interface

From the press office of the Holy See a notice was just made about some great resources made public in advance of the beatification of John Paul II.

“In view of the beatification of John Paul II on 1 May 2011, Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) have organised a number of initiatives and made a wide range of documentary material available.

“A new page has also been activated on Facebook concerning John Paul II in view of his beatification. It may be consulted at this address: www.facebook.com/vatican.johnpaul2. All the video clips uploaded to the Youtube channel will be available at the same time on this page.

Here’s the video for the year 2001 which was when I and my family got to personally meet the Holy Father in Rome.

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!