PathToHoliness

I had coffee this afternoon with a good friend from St. Louis who was in town. John lives at the Wespine Study Center. I’d point you to their website but they really don’t have one, just a domain with their address on it. Hey guys, I’ll help you set one up.

He said he’d be sending me some ideas for content here. We’ll see what happens. I’ll be going on retreat at the end of March and John will be the “leader.”

On another note, as I was Googling for Opus Dei I noticed a number of stories about the personal prelature and the upcoming release of the movie version of the “Da Vinci Code.” Like this one in the Delaware News Journal. Here’s an excerpt:

But now the low-profile spiritual community is starting a drive to improve its image ahead of a major film based on the book — and that campaign begins at the group’s front door, where a sign invites fans of the Dan Brown novel to learn about “the real Opus Dei.”

“The unfortunate thing is there are going to be tens of millions of people who will read the novel and see the movie and have that be their only exposure to Opus Dei,” said Brian Finnerty, a spokesman for the group. “Because the book is marketed as being in some ways factual, it’s difficult for people to tell where the lines between fact and fiction are.”

I haven’t read the book. Don’t have any interest in doing so. And I certainly don’t want to see the movie. Sorry Tom (Hanks).

Really behind on posting again.

I’m going to figure out a way to change this since I’ve been trying to blog here like I do on my professional sites. So here’s the new idea. I’ll post daily and they’ll be short, but still include links to timely items of interest (hopefully).

For example, I’ve been wanting to write about the current situation with our MO Senator, Jim Talent. He’s always been so very outspoken about his prolife beliefs and until just recently has exhibited that in his offices. However, he just removed his name as a co-sponsor of a Senate bill to ban cloning. His reasons are not good and I don’t see how he can spin his way out of this one. I believe he even mentioned the need to “compromise.” There’s never a need to compromise about life in my opinion. I’m highly disappointed in him and the next thing I’m going to do when I finish here is write him a letter to let him know how I feel. I hope you will too.

You can do so here.

I have a daughter attending Ave Maria University. It’s one school that I feel very comfortable with having my children attend and for a lot of reasons. She’s loving it. We hope to move there someday.

The town of Ave Maria, FL is being built as we speak and you can get on a list to keep updated on their progress. A new campus will be built along with a town. It looks like progress is being made so that homes can be built within the next couple years.

It’s a very prolife kind of weekend, especially in Washington, DC. My 23 year old daughter is there for the first time. She’s wanted to go for a long time. A group of her college friends from Ave Maria University made the trip from Naples yesterday morning. If you see a group on tv in red sweatshirts it might be them.

There will be a vigil Mass again this year at the Basilica of of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This picture is from last year’s Mass and can be found on the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website. The Mass will be this evening at 8pm est. with Cardinal William Keeler celebrating and giving the homily. You can see a pdf file of some of the activies taking place this weekend here.

EWTN will be featuring live coverage beginning tomorrow.

Here’s the prayer for the helpless unborn from EWTN:

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Echevarria, wrote a lengthy message to all involved in the work at the beginning of the year. You can find the text of it on the Opus Dei website. I’m focused a lot on my family lately. Probably because of these 17, 19 and 23 year old daughters of mine. That’s why I like the mention on family in his message.

In his last public statement on this subject, near the end of his life, the Holy Father John Paul II recalled that “by contemplating the mystery of God who becomes man and is welcomed into a human family, we can fully understand the value and beauty of the family.” And the Pope continued: “not only is the family at the heart of Christian life; it is also the foundation of social and civic life, and thus constitutes a central chapter in Christian social teaching” (John Paul II, Address to participants in the Assembly of the Forum of Family Associations, December 18, 2004).

I think one of the reasons the Catholic Church and Opus Dei are so persecuted today is because so many reject their faith and in that rejection (and the feelings it generates within them) they have no choice but to lash out against anyone who continues to practice theirs. I keep seeing statements online about the work of Opus Dei that portray it in a negative light. This has been practiced since St. Josemaria started the work so it’s certainly nothing new. The work only encourages us to live out our faith in our ordinary everyday lives as the Prelate says in this passage from his message.

St. Josemaría stressed that “our faith does not ignore anything on this earth that is beautiful, noble and authentically human. It simply teaches us that the rule of our life should not be the selfish pursuit of pleasure, because only sacrifice and self-denial lead to true love. God truly loves us; and now he invites us to love him and others with the truthfulness and authenticity with which he loves” (St. Josemaría, Christ Is Passing By, no. 24). Only with this conviction, brought day after day to one’s personal conduct, to one’s own home, to one’s workplace, etc., can we effectively refute, with the help of grace, erroneous ideas and help those who hold them to return to God.

I sometimes wonder if I’m doing enough or even anything at all in leading others back to God. It’s seems hard enough to live my own life properly in today’s world much less work on helping others. I think the work teaches us that just our “good” example is a way we can accomplish this though.

Here’s to another week coming up when we can try to live that good example.

I’m not posting often here but I will continue to do so. It’s a challenge when I’ve got so many other blogs to maintain, a business to run and a family of almost adult girls. Almost adult means they depend on us financially still even though 2 are in college and 1 is a junior in high school.

Here in Jefferson City, MO our retired Bishop Michael McAuliffe passed away this week and the services are taking place this weekend. My Knights of Columbus council which was recently formed at the Cathedral of St. Joseph has now changed its name to the Bishop McAuliffe Council. You can read a story about our former Bishop on St. Louis Today.com.

There’s a new book out on Opus Dei called “Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church”.

You can read what Marc Carroggio, who oversees Opus Dei’s relationship with international journalists in Rome, says about the book on the Opus Dei website.

May you have a very blessed and merry Christmas season. One of my gifts is a video iPod. Of course I’m in the blog and podcast business so it’s a business tool right?

I got to spend a little time this evening searching iTunes and the web for good Catholic podcasts. They do exist. For example, EWTN is now podcasting some of their programming. What I love about this is that you can download and then listen to the programs whenever and wherever you want. They have a nice selection of programs.

Vatican Radio is also podcasting. You can listen to their One-O-Five Live program and subscribe.

I still haven’t found my “voice” for this website yet but it’ll come in time.

Today the mid-Missouri Cooperator’s Circle met at my house. It’s always great to not only have a spiritual talk but get together with guys you don’t see very often otherwise.

I found out that the Wespine Study Center Retreats for Men are scheduled for 2006. The dates are:

March 3 – 5
March 31 – April 2
April 21 – 23

You can find out more details by calling the center in Kirkwood, MO at 314-821-1608. I highly recommend an annual retreat like these as part of your plan of life.

The title is a quote from Pope Benedict at his Sunday blessing. The story is in USA Today. He also “suggested that assembling the Nativity scene in the home is an effective way of teaching the faith to children.”

I really couldn’t agree more. It seems like we get all stressed out by having to purchase things for a whole list of people and in the process we forget to spend time meditating on what this season is all about. Of course we could pray as we stand in line at the store or wander through the mall but even if we wanted to it’s almost impossible with all the noise and sights that you have to contend with.

I was really appalled this afternoon while working out at the YMCA to see a tv ad for a video game called “Gun.” As I recall it posted words with flashing images like sin, lust, etc. and then said that there was nothing wrong with them. Of course it had a mature rating. As if that prevents it from being seen or played by kids. Even adults shouldn’t be messing with this stuff. And this was an ad on tv at about 3pm on a Sunday.

Yes, consumerism has polluted the true meaning of Advent and Christmas.

It’s amazing how time gets away from you when you operate multiple blogs and run your own business.

Since we’re coming up on the feast day (December 12) for Our Lady of Guadalupe and today’s the feast day of St. Juan Diego it’s only appropriate that we honor her with a post and her picture.

I do find it interesting that the website for the Basilica in Guadalupe is only in spanish though. I wish it was in english!

I’ve long been a comic book fan. I know I have one about John Paul II. I’ve sold off most of them but still have a few boxes of them.

Now there’s a comic book about St. Josemaria Escriva. It’s 1928. On the outskirts of Madrid a group of children are engaged in an lively exchange with a young St. Josemaría as he teaches Catechism. From there a flashback takes the reader to the saint’s childhood. Thus opens “Through the Mountains,” the new biography of St. Josemaría Escrivá, the first one to appear in comic book format.

This biography was printed in Belgium, a country known for a long tradition of high quality comic books. The text was written by Paule Fostroy, with artwork by J. Gillissen and E. Gabriel. The drawings combine simplicity of lines with vivid colors to a quasi photographic effect. The various scenes in Spanish cities and in Rome are recreated with meticulous care.

You can find it at Scepter Publishers.

It’s been an interesting last couple weeks. After travelling for over a week and then dealing with a bad flu bug I’m kind of behind again on some website work like this one. To top it off, today as I was going to sit down and write the server for PathToHoliness wasn’t working. But it’s back up now.

I’d call it a nice little challenge and mortification from God. It’s getting easier to thank Him for these opportunities. It takes a while to understand that when things aren’t going well we’re actually receiving more blessings than ever!

Today we had our mid-Missouri Circle meeting of Opus Dei Cooperators. I needed it. It’s nice to spend an hour in meditation on a spiritual talk and with a group of guys who are so dedicated to their faith. I pray for the Work everyday because we need to be leaven in our society.

I’ll try to post more but I just wanted to get these thoughts down now.

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been this long since I wrote. The last couple weeks have been very busy as I’ve had to develop new business opportunities and travel for most of the last 2 weeks. They’ve been days filled with activity. A lot of that activity includes writing for several other blog sites that I own and operate professionally. I don’t know why I don’t seem to have much creativity left when it comes to Path To Holiness.

For one thing I have to continue to make sure that I make it to daily Mass and say my daily devotional prayers, including finding time to meditate on my life and what God’s will is for me. That is more important than writing here. Hopefully over time this site will develop and become whatever God wants it to be.

When I last wrote I was feeling a little down and anxious about how things are going with my business. Since then several new opportunities have presented themself and we’ve made it through a tough spot. Amazing how things work out. It’s so hard to be patient.

I don’t intend for this site to be an ongoing sermon so I don’t want to get all preachy. That’s enough for now.

This past week has been a challenging one professionally as I’ve had to make some important business decisions. A small home-based business is never without challenges! There’s been the temptation to grow too quickly and thereby take on too much at once. There’s been at least some efforts by outside forces to negatively impact the business.

As a result of the first I found myself putting in too many hours in a day. Cash flow became tight due to my not spending enough time on sales. This made it easy to start despairing and worrying.

Fortunately, my spiritual reading includes volume 3 on the life of the founder of Opus Dei. In this volume we read about the challenges St. Josemaria had in growing the Work, especially building the college in Rome. He faced serious financial difficulties, exterior persecution and health problems that were complicated by working without a break. What inspired me was his persistence, constant prayer and what can only be described as supernatural happiness.

By reading and meditating on his life in that time I have been able to put my own circumstances in perspective. I met with my spiritual director this past week who also made me look at what I’m worrying about by describing the worries of this life as “it’s all nothing.” It really is. I’ve always liked to quote this when asked about what I would do if my business fails, “The worst thing that can happen is I’ll have to get a job.”

This doesn’t mean that we don’t have trials and troubles. It does mean that no matter what they are, as long as we sanctify our work we don’t have to worry about the future. It’s hard to accept this without faith, making faith so important to our lives. I firmly believe that even if my business isn’t deemed successful by my peers I will not have ever failed because it’s dedicated to God, for His honor and glory. He gave me talents and I need to use them in His service.