PathToHoliness

As our business has grown I’ve found it more difficult to take time for daily devotions such as morning and evening prayer and spiritual reading. However, I believe that they’re even more important in my life than ever before. It’s nice to be making a good living but you have to question why you’re doing it. Why do I work so hard? Hopefully it’s to fulfill God’s will.

Since I became a Cooperator of Opus Dei I have learned how we can turn the most ordinary things we do into part of our daily prayer. For example, one of the first things I try to do each morning is offer all my “prayers, works, joys and sorrows” of the day to God. Then I’ve got kind of a head start on my goal of praying constantly.

St. Josemaria Escriva has helped so many people change their lives by finding meaning in everything we do.

There’s a great video produced by the St. Josemaria Institute which you can order that helps show how you can achieve this kind of fulfillment in your daily prayer life by using examples of how other ordinary people have done so.

That video is now available to watch online too. (Quicktime Movie)

This is the side altar at the St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati, OH. It was a short walk from my hotel while I was in town.

I got to attend daily Mass there for a couple days recently. You can go on a virtual tour of the Cathedral here.

I get to be home for a whole week this week and attending my own parish church which will be nice. This Labor Day weekend is providing an opportunity to get caught up on some things and spend some time with family.

Traveling a lot is certainly not as glamorous as some people would like to believe. For one thing, it makes it more difficult to go to daily Mass although I do fairly well. When you’re attending an event, especially a convention and trade show I find that most people are focused on business and daily devotions aren’t given much thought. That’s why I think it’s especially important to make sure to attend to them. Missing part of a breakfast or seminar is a small price to pay to spend some time with our Lord in church.

I sure seem to be getting to go to Mass at a lot of Cathedrals lately. Today it was at home at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City, MO.

Last week it was here at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, MN. I wound up at a hotel right across the highway from it. This picture was on my way to 7:30am Mass one day last week. It’s a beautiful church and reminds me of many I’ve visited in Rome.

I’ll be on the road again this week and featuring a church or two I’m sure. The challenge is finding the time to post but I’ll get more done I promise.

While I was in Louisville, KY last week I got to attend Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption.

This is a beautiful Church although they only had chairs inside and a whole section didn’t have kneelers.

Maybe they’re getting new pews?

This road tripping sure allows me an opportunity to see some great churches.

This one is on the national register of historic places.

They have a wonderful organ and I guess a good choir too.

You can listen to the “Cantate Domino” by the Cathedral Choir using this link.

Here’s where I got to attend daily Mass this week while I was in Denver attending the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. It’s Holy Ghost Church and is being run by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary.

It’s in the shadow of a big office building off 19th street and about a 10 minute walk from the hotel I was staying in. After Mass they have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with the rosary led by the priest who is on his knees in front of the Altar. Very nice. I wish more churches would do this. It’s only about 20 minutes but time well spent.

I use Mass Times frequently when I’m traveling. It’s always been a great tool. I can’t imagine how they keep it up to date. Just this morning I was using it and notice this letter seeking financial support. I recommend helping them out.

May the Dear Lord bless all of you for your support. Mass Times Trust has switched from a seasonal campaign to a two days a week campaign. First of all please keep us in your prayers.

Please join us and help us so that we can work together and pray together and entrust this new evangelization to the Virgin Mary that as Pope Benedict says, “… She may teach us to love Jesus ever more, in constant meditation of His Word and adoration of His Eucharistic presence, and help us …discover the ‘precious pearl’ of the Eucharist, which gives true and full meaning to life.”

God Bless!
MassTimes.org
Director of Development

This week I got to attend Mass at St. Agnes in Springfield, IL.

Unfortunately this Springfield town wasn’t chosen to have the first public viewing of the Simpsons movie. I’m not really sure most people cared though. But the media sure fixated on it.

We had a very nice Mass yesterday on the feast day of St. Benedict and the priest was kind enough to take time to hear confession for me too.

Although I can’t say that traveling a lot is the most glamorous thing to do I really appreciate the opportunities to visit so many different churches. I can’t tell you how many times I’m sure my guardian angel has helped me find them even when I’ve given up.

I know Chelsea is posting each day about the Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

This is the statue of her in the Carmelite chapel where the novena is held each evening during Mass.

I’ve only been able to attend one evening so far due to travel.

As Chelsea said in an earlier post, the nuns like to decorate with flowers and you can see some of them below the statue here.

The Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarría, has written a letter to the faithful which you can find online. In it he urges the faithful to consider the ordinary but exemplary life of the first Christians.

To explain Opus Dei’s mission, St. Josemaría often turned to those first sisters and brothers of ours in the faith. If you want a point of comparison, he would say, the easiest way to understand Opus Dei is to consider the life of the early Christians. They lived their Christian vocation seriously, seeking earnestly the holiness to which they had been called by their Baptism. Externally they did nothing to distinguish themselves from their fellow citizens. Similarly, he added, the faithful of Opus Dei are ordinary people. They work like everyone else and live in the midst of the world just as they did before they joined. There is nothing false or artificial about their behavior. They live like any other Christian citizen who wants to respond fully to the demands of his faith, because that is what they are.

Last week I stayed in Oklahoma City for a few days and had the pleasure of attending week day Mass at St. Francis of Assisi.

It’s a beautiful church and situated with the Rosary Catholic School.

Inside the church and building next door where they have the chapel for weekday Mass you’ll find some beautiful stained glass windows.

They’ve got pictures of them on their website as well as a virtual tour.

The PEW Research Center has new survey results out that show that most Americans have moved children to number 8 on the list (was #3 in 1990) of things people associate with a “successful marriage.” This is seriously sad and I’m sure a result of a society that has so devalued faith and life. So what are the top things on the list? “sharing household chores,” “good housing,” “adequate income,” “happy sexual relationship,” and “faithfulness.” The new Pew survey also finds that, by a margin of nearly three-to-one, Americans say that the main purpose of marriage is the “mutual happiness and fulfillment” of adults rather than the “bearing and raising of children.”

What’s interesting to note though is how important children still are in a marriage when a different question is asked.

Asked to weigh how important various aspects of their lives are to their personal happiness and fulfillment, parents in this survey place their relationships with their children on a pedestal rivaled only by their relationships with their spouses – and far above their relationships with their parents, friends, or their jobs or career. This is true both for married and unmarried parents. In fact, relatively speaking, children are most pre-eminent in the lives of unwed parents.

I think it’s also interesting to note that they only bring religion into the survey by asking the participants what church they belong to and calling that “religiosity.” No where do they get into matters of faith and belief and relate that to these questions.

We didn’t have a special feast day Mass here locally on June 26 but they sure did in Sacré Coeur of Bucharest on June 9, 2007. D. Alberto Steinvorth and a Catholic priest from Buzau, P. Pavel con-celebrated.

The St. Josemaria Institute is collecting pictures from various celebrations and says they’ll be posting them on their website soon.

This is my third year covering the Indianapolis 500 and Fr. Phil DeRea here is still saying Mass as I’m sure he’s done long before I started coming.

Here at the media center he says two Masses on Sunday morning for media and staff.

I understand that he also celebrates Mass at a private hospitality suite as well for one of the League’s main sponsors/teams.

It’s refreshing to see people who have to work on Sunday take time out to make sure they make it to Mass and I appreciate the fact that they allow it to take place.

You can find out more about the IRL Ministry on their website.

Today was the feast of the Ascension of our Blessed Lord Jesus into Heaven (yes, our diocese changed it from Thursday to Sunday). This wonderfully blessed event took place in order that our Lord might send us His most Holy Spirit to be our advocate before Him. We will celebrate Pentecost next Sunday, so this whole week is a great time to really meditate with Our Lady on the Glorious Mysteries, our need for the Holy Spirit and our hope for the coming of the Lord.

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going 4 to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
~Acts 1:6-11

Also, if you’re following, today was the third day of the Holy Spirit Novena.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle them with the fire of your Divine Love, send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and Thou shall renew the face of the earth!

I know I’ve introduced you to my daughter Chelsea in the past.

She has her own blog, Reflections of a Parayltic, which I highly recommend you check out.

I’ve set her up as a contributor to Path To Holiness since she has more time to post than I do lately. I think you’ll really like her writing and style.

You won’t find a more active and committed supporter of life.