PathToHoliness

I was working all last week at a convention in Orlando, FL and only got bits and pieces of information on the devastation from the earthquake in Haiti. The more I learn the more my heart goes out to the people there and those who want to help. A lot of groups are asking for money right now but I would be very careful who you give money to. I feel most confident giving it to the Catholic Church relief services and this weekend the Bishops are asking for donations to the effort. Here’s a video clip from New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan about the situation and a copy of the letter sent to all Bishops from the USCCB. You can make a donation to Catholic Relief Services here.

Your Eminence/Excellency:

Our Church mourns the terrible suffering of our brothers and sisters in Haiti. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that ravaged Haiti on January 12, 2010 has already claimed thousands of lives including the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince. It has destroyed countless homes, churches, seminaries, schools, and other buildings and has left millions without the most basic necessities of life. Our faith compels us to pray for and reach out to our brothers and sisters in their time of suffering.

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If you have not taken action to contact your elected leaders in the House and Senate about proposed health care reform then please do so immediately. There are a lot of back door deals being made but the Senate version with its provisions for abortion funding are the most heinous aspect of this terrible piece of legislation.

If you’re not sure how to go about contacting your legislators the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops makes it easy with an online form that takes the work out of it. I used it this morning to notify me leaders of my opposition to what they’re doing and I urge you to do the same.

Opus Dei has a new video out which features young people from various countries speaking about how they have found happiness in living their Christian faith.

If you’re working on developing your interior life then a good book to consider adding to your spiritual reading list is Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe.

I’m working my way through the book now and can tell you that he has really put together some very comforting and sensible thoughts on this topic. We all experience trials and so many times we let it disturb our inner peace. By meditating on sections of this book you will find ways to be more happy in your faith. He lets us discover that there is a place of freedom within us that no one or no circumstances can take away since its source is God.

I hate to even bring this subject up but the hysteria over the myth called global warming really reached a fever pitch with the complete waste of time/money in Copenhagen recently foisted by the United Nations. The problem with this issue is that even though anyone with a brain and common sense who looks into it finds that it’s a myth, we’re still being bombarded by advertising and constant media pressure to “do something.” Hence, the U.S. House climate change bill for example. Fortunately our Senate has put it on a back burner and maybe will just let it die. The legislation is called Cap and Trade and would be a horrendous disaster for our country (like the pending health care legislation that no one wants).

Man made global warming does not exist as far as I can tell. There is huge disagreement in the scientific community on the whole subject of climate change. But we’re still being fed a very inconvenient lie. Why?

Well, I think it’s because global warming is a religion to many activists. This means they are forming their belief via faith and in the process turning a blind eye to fact. But they are really a minority. The masses that show up in polls as supporting the religion of global warming are for the most part very clueless. They hear a few emotional messages and think, “we’ve got to save the planet.” That seems to me to be the height of arrogance. Our time here on Earth has been a little blip on its history. It has managed quite well without us and will continue to regardless of what we do. Many of these activists have a vested interest in creating a public that fear’s for its future. Take Al Gore as probably the biggest example. The reality is that many of these folks are just plain evil and have evil plans. One of the biggest is a guy named Paul Ehrlich. These folks just want to get rid of people and don’t care if it’s done by abortions, forced sterilization or starving people on purpose.

Maybe you’re one of the people who has been mislead by global warming hysteria. Here’s a resource you can check to find out some scientific information on the myths of global warming. Another great source is the Hudson Institute and Dennis Avery. Read his latest column here.

Happy New Year and welcome to a new decade.

It’s that time when a lot of people make resolutions. Resolutions are a very good thing and I highly recommend that you always have some kind of active resolution. It’s also a good thing to review how you’re doing with your resolution. This is very similar to doing a daily examination of conscience. We should all resolve to do our best to live as Christ would like us but no matter how hard we try we aren’t perfect. So taking a short look at how we’re doing helps us keep our goal on the top of our mind and it’s during that examination that we can formulate resolutions to make changes in our behavior or activities if needed.

So, have you made any resoulutions? You don’t need to make many and making just one and working on it might be best. I’m finalizing mine and will write them down and make sure I have a convenient place to review them periodically.

As a University of Florida graduate I was as shocked as anyone to hear about head football coach, Urban Meyer, announcing his resignation yesterday. Now it sounds like he may just be taking a leave of absence. In any case, it sounds like he’s doing it for the right reasons and I’m hoping his players and fans will learn from it. He’s at the top of the game but decided his health and faith were more important than the job. Stress apparently plays a key role in the decision.

I know it’s easy to say that your health and faith are more important than your job but it isn’t easy to actually do something about it. I respect his decision and hope more people will make one like it.

We’re living in a society that seems to place constant pressure on people: to make money, to succeed, to buy things, to look a certain way and on and on and on. The reality is that none of that is as important as your faith and I think taking care of your health goes right along with it. God gives us our life and our health. I look at it as something to take care of as a way to honor Him. I’m also as guilty as anyone for not taking good care of my health and I’ve suffered from stress so I know what this is like.

My wife and I have our own business. We’ve had some good success with it and we’re very grateful for that. This year has been stressful. As we’ve become more successful with the business it has impacted our time and schedules. This summer I had to deal with a major health problem. So, we’ve been talking about it and making decisions based on it. Basically, we started the company to get away from the stress of corporate life. We don’t want to create our own. So, it’s time to look carefully at what we’re doing, how and why.

The new year promises to be a good one and my prayer is that we make good decisions and I pray the same for you and Coach Meyer.

Although a blizzard was forecast, it didn’t happen here and we made it to midnight Mass at the Cathedral. It was a beautiful Mass and best way to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ that I know of.

Of course family is also a very important part of Christmas and our daughters were home to go to Mass with us. After Mass we went up in front of the tabernacle for photos.

Then it was home for unwrapping presents and a very early breakfast before taking a long nap. I’m pretty sure I’ll be taking another one today too.

We all went on a great vacation this past week to Panama City Beach and on the way back visited my brother, Mark’s family. He and his wife have a beautiful baby boy we got to see for the first time. Of course we shot video and pictures like this clip of him with Carly’s iPhone.

So, it’s a beautiful day in mid Missouri. The snow finally got here so we’ve got a white Christmas. Merry Christmas to you and your families.

Hello from Panama City Beach, FL. It’s family vacation time and this morning we attended Mass at St. Bernadette Church. This is a view of the Altar before Mass.

After Mass the day care kids all got up in front of us and said a prayer and sang a song and presented the priest with a nice Christmas present. They were very cute.

I pray that you will all have a wonderful Advent week leading up to the birthday of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I just got home yesterday after a 12 day trip to Morocco, Egypt and Jordan. Let’s just say that going to Mass presented a big challenge. I was in Cairo over last weekend and had been assured that there was a Catholic church next to the hotel. It proved to be an Episcopal Cathedral after a couple of the guys in my group and I went there on Sunday for a 6pm Mass in English. There was actually supposed to be a Catholic church nearby. We walked for almost an hour trying to find it until we became uncomfortable with the neighborhood we were walking in at that point.

So, I didn’t make it to Mass and was highly disappointed. The closest I came to a church that I could identify as Catholic for the rest of the trip was the one pictured here that we passed on a highway in Cairo.

I am seriously looking forward to attending Mass today!

I’m currently on a trip with the U.S. Grains Council in Morocco with stops still to come in Egypt and Jordan.

Today I talked my group into stopping by a Catholic Church. This is Notre Dame de Lourdes de Casablanca. Unfortunately my schedule didn’t allow me to attend Mass.

Morocco is a mostly Muslim country but there are quite a few Catholics that are helping spread the faith.

One of my goals in traveling internationally has been to come home with an image of Mary from each country I visit. I was really thinking that wouldn’t happen in Morocco. However, in the back of the church there was a very nice plaster image of Mary holding Jesus. I bought it and made and hope I can get it home safely! That’s my miracle of the day.

Today starts the Advent season. “The word Advent derives from the Latin word meaning coming. The Lord is coming.” That’s what the days leading up to Christmas are all about. We’re looking forward to the coming of Christ. Christmas is His birthday.

I sure wish that’s what people would keep in mind. It never ceases to amaze me to read the stories about Black Friday. Even here in central Missouri we had reports of people fighting as the doors were opened at retail stores. Talk about a society that is overly concerned with “things.” We’ve got one.

Our local paper, small as it is, has had some good stories about helping the poor though. Why don’t we focus more on that? We’ve got plenty of people right here at home who need help. Instead of battling to get the best price on a new toy or appliance why not donate to a family in need, or participate in your church holiday assistance program? You would be storing up a treasure in Heaven that has infinitely more value than any treasure you can store up here on Earth. This doesn’t mean that having things is bad. It isn’t. But the stories and appearances are that people are putting way too much value on what we have here.

I am just finishing my latest spiritual reading on the the Cure D’Ars, by Abbe Francois Trochu. This saint was one of the most detached people from things of this world that I’ve ever read about other than perhaps St. Francis of Assisi. He had a supernatural ability to care nothing for things. I don’t know how it would be possible to live like he did but at least he showed us an example of how living detached and only for God can lead to holiness and sanctity.

I have been very blessed to enjoy good health (although I did have a serious issue this summer), a good job and now my own company (along with my wife) and many nice things. Increasingly I feel like getting rid of a lot of “stuff” though. I’m having difficulty finding the time to do it. But it is a goal of mine. I’m also working on worrying less about what I have as I get older. This includes my “retirement plan.” We’re reading more and more stories of people who don’t have enough money put away for their retirement. But what is their definition? Enough money to live high on the hog like they did throughout their career? Let’s all worry more about today and what we can do for others and less about what the future holds. Advent is a great time of the year to contemplate this and do something about it.

This cute little guy is our latest sponsored child through the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA). His name is Mark and he lives in the Philippines. We’re looking forward to many years of assisting Mark and his family so that he receives a good education.

While we’re thrilled to have this opportunity we are also saddened because we can no longer continue sponsoring our original child after CFCA closed its mission in Madagascar. For years we had been sponsoring Marie Joseph and corresponding with him and his family. We will miss him and keep him and his family in our prayers.

If you’d like to make a difference in a child’s life then consider becoming a sponsor yourself. It’s simple and I believe CFCA does a good job of putting your donation to good use.

It is a a great day to give thanks for so many things I wouldn’t even know where to start. Although having my daughters at home to help cook a traditional meal is on the list. This is my daughter Carly getting started.

So after a nice morning Mass at the Cathedral we’re all cooking and talking. I’ve got a turkey breast on the smoker and wishing it wasn’t so windy out.

We’ve got one daughter whose boyfriend will be here for dinner and then she has to go to his house for the same. I would definitely need a break.

So, I’m very thankful for my family and my life and my faith.

I thought I had done a post about my annual “Preparation For Total Consecration According To St. Louis Marie De Montfort.” This is an annual devotion that I would recommend to anyone who wants to make a special effort to develop their interior spiritual life and do it with the help of our Blessed Lady. There are several times during the year when you can start the devotion. Mine is in November.

From the introduction:

It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign in the world.

You can find a copy of the book I use on Amazon.