PathToHoliness

Yesterday 70,000 pilgrims celebrated the 150th anniversary of the visions and healings at Lourdes. My mother and I went to Lourdes in 2003 with the Knights of Malta and I gotta tell you, it wasn’t one of my favorite trips. Not only did I get sick and end up in a French hospital for five days, but it was cold and rainy there and I was stuck in this voiture, pictured here, during most of the time we spent away from the hotel. Lourdes is one of my favorite apparitions, but I’m not really into the whole Lourdes/cures thing nor have I ever been concerned with “being cured” myself. What fascinates me more is the entire story of Bernadette and the apparitions. How such an adolescent, illiterate on matters of faith and education, could retain such deep spiritual insights from Our Lady and have the courage to insist on the validity of her claims in the face of strict opposition from her superiors – pressure that didn’t cease behind the convent doors.

Interesting fact: Song of Bernadette was written by a Jewish author who escaped the Nazis by fleeing to Lourdes. There he was so impressed by the happenings there and thankful for his own escape from death, he promised God he would tell the world the story of Lourdes. I never knew that.

The Song of Bernadette
Song of Bernadette, book
Bernadette
The Passion of Bernadette
Bernadette Speaks

I was interviewed for my local paper recently and the story just ran today. Check it out! Here is the pic that ran with the story. This is a woman that I visit when I go to the nursing homes every Friday for communion services as part of my Legion of Mary work. Her name is Dorothy Holterman, she’s 92 and a RIOT! She’s better known as “Grandma” from Grandma’s Cool and Zesty Dressing, an excellent dressing for cole slaw! Read the story of how it started here. Be sure and check out their website and order some for yourself!

The author wrongly stated that I started Path to Holiness – she must have misunderstood. I am really just filling space on here while Dad (the real founder) is too busy to post on a regular (or even semi-regular) basis. He did post today though!

The same author also wrote a story on the wonderful group of kids we have at our local Catholic high school who are going on the March for Life: Crusaders for Life readying for pro-life rally in Washington. Please keep them in your prayers.

It’s still Christmas even though it seems like most people have forgotten about it and are moving on to how to celebrate New Year’s and the Super Bowl. The definition of Christmas Season seems to vary as you’ll find in this article on Wikipedia. You can find more Catholic information at American Catholic. Better yet, here’s a great article about the Christmas season from the Opus Dei website.

I added the wise men to our front yard manger yesterday. I know it’s not Epiphany yet but at least some of my neighbors understand.

I hope everyone who visits has had a nice Christmas. Our family has even if we’re starting to become more spread out as our daughters get older and have other interests and friends since they’ve been in college.

Here’s wishing you a very safe and happy New Year.

Yes, today is my birthday – number 25. It’s always pretty sobering when I think that when I was conceived, my mother had the legal choice to have me killed before I was born. Thanks, Mom, for choosing life!

I share this birthday with the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Mary shared in the sufferings of Christ (Lk. 2:35) and stood by Him on the cross (Jn. 19:25). Besides our Lord, Mary is the greatest example of perseverance in suffering and is a constant source of strength and inspiration for me in my own sufferings.

On this feast day it is appropriate to reflect on the seven sorrows of the Blessed Virgin:

* at the prophecy of Simeon;
* at the flight into Egypt;
* having lost the Holy Child at Jerusalem;
* meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary;
* standing at the foot of the Cross;
* Jesus being taken from the Cross;
* at the burial of Christ.

Please say a prayer for my parents who will be on their way to Japan tomorrow morning.

I promised you pictures, so here they are!

The pro-life table – Most of the visitors are attracted to the fetal development models and it is frequently pregnant women, people who know someone who is pregnant and parents showing their young children what they used to look like in the womb. Oh and the balloons and candy (we had lollipops and gum with precious feet on them) helped attract visitors also:

The Catholic table – these are the only good pictures we got of the Catholic side. Most of the devotional items we had were hand made locally. Both I and a woman from our parish made the 5 decade rosaries and the Carmelite nuns who live in a cloistered monastery next to our parish made some of the brown scapulars.

I just got back from another busy Fourth of July. Every year I help set up a pro-life table at our downtown 4th of July festivities with a woman from my parish and a number of the home schooled kids in my area. This year, as president of our Legion of Mary praesidia, I decided to do a Catholic information table with some help from the Knights of Columbus. Everything worked out well, as it always does. We gave out lots of good information to the people who needed to see it. I hope to get my pictures up tomorrow – I’m pooped right now! I’m actually in bed getting ready to call it a night. We were set up downtown from about 11am to 7pm and I was there for the whole thing. It was very warm and very tiring for me! I hope everyone had a very blessed holiday! Here’s a great poem that I posted on my blog earlier today:

I Am An American

I am endowed by my Creator
With the inalienable right to life
Just like you, and every other American.
You know who I am.
Now that you can see my face,
Will you use your voice?
Please tell America,
I am an American, too.

America, it’s time to protect your children again.

That is a poem I have on one of my pro-life t-shirts and it fits very nicely with the 4th of July. As we celebrate our freedom this Independence Day we would do well to remember the millions of Americans whose freedom has been taken away in this country and pray for its restoration.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Happy 4th of July!
God Bless you all!

I’ve been a little out of the pro-life loop lately it seems because I’ve been car shopping for probably the last month and a half. I finally narrowed all my options down and really picked a car a few weeks ago, but didn’t really suck it up and seriously go after the car I wanted until last week. My mother and I drove to St. Louis last Thursday to finally buy my car (I finally got my hand controls in it yesterday)! I have wanted a Solara since a good friend of mine, who is also in a wheelchair, got one a few years ago and I was able to find one, a 2006, within my budget! Here it is:

My spiritual director suggested that I pray to St. Raphael for guidance and intercession while I was looking for a car because he is the patron of travelers. This is due to his travels with Tobit in the Old Testament. So I did. I prayed very much because I did not want to make a bad decision. Buying a car is such a big deal! It’s a lot of money! I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t being too vain in my decision, especially since I was looking for what many consider a very nice car. So I prayed and prayed and was able to get the car I wanted at the price I wanted with relatively little hassle, well except for having to drive to St. Louis, for which I also owe my mother a very big thank you! God takes care of us when we do all things with prayer!

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.

The new year brings an opportunity to do a little extra self examination and see how you’re doing spiritually. As important as your spiritual life is we sure don’t see or hear much about it do we? Instead we seem to see and hear all about how important our material goods are and how important our retirement plan is. One of the things that attracted me most to Opus Dei is the spiritual formation it offers. Just reading the writings of St. Josemaria Escriva is an enormous help.

One of the things I’m focusing on right now is my plan of life. The founder describes it this way, “Try to commit yourself to a plan of life and to keep to it: a few minutes of mental prayer, Holy Mass — daily, if you can manage it — and frequent Communion; regular recourse to the Holy Sacrament of Forgiveness — even though your conscience does not accuse you of mortal sin; visiting Jesus in the Tabernacle; praying and contemplating the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and so many other marvellous devotions you know or can learn.

You should not let them become rigid rules, or water‑tight compartments. They should be flexible, to help you on your journey you who live in the middle of the world, with a life of hard professional work and social ties and obligations which you should not neglect, because in them your conversation with God still continues. Your plan of life ought to be like a rubber glove which fits the hand perfectly.” (The Way 77)

I have my own business and travel a lot. This often makes it difficult to fulfill my daily plan, especially attending daily Mass. However, with a concerted effort it can be done. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought I couldn’t make it to Mass in a town or country I’m visiting or how many times I couldn’t find the Church. Usually just when I’m ready to give up I turn a corner and there’s the Church right in front of me.

I really believe that if a day goes by without taking the time to spend in prayer and with our Lord, it’s a lost opportunity. So, that’s part of my new year’s resolution – to re-commit myself to my plan of life.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how wonderful my oldest daughter is. Chelsea was in an auto accident that left her paralyzed from the chest down.

Well she is a daily inspiration to her family and friends and now she’s got “Dad’s bug” and she’s blogging. So now she’s becoming an inspiration to a growing number of people around the country.

This past week marked the 7th anniversary of the day she had the accident and she wrote about it. I hope you will agree with me that she is something special and I’m so proud of her I just had to share this with you.

By the way, I have 2 other daughters and they are just as wonderful. Our family was really brought together in a positive way that is hard to describe by what happened to Chelsea.

The picture I’ve placed in the right sidebar is a framed print in our Blessed Sacrament chapel at the Cathedral here in Jefferson City. I’ve never seen the picture anywhere else and don’t know where to find it. I would love to have a copy.

If you know of this print or where it can be found please let me know.

I think it’s a beautiful representation of Our Lady and love seeing it during my weekly holy hour.

I was reminded how fragile life can be this morning when I learned that a good friend of mine passed away suddenly. I’m still waiting to find out more as the family takes time to deal with the shock.

In fact, shock is what I feel. He was a super champion for life and I know we’re all going to miss him. I’m sure there’s a reason for this and someday we might find out what that is.

In the meantime I pray for his soul and his family.

That’s my spiritual director, Fr. Bill Korte, with me in a quick picture I had taken when I saw him last week.

I try to see Fr. Korte once a month for spiritual direction. Work this summer has made that difficult but we found time finally. Having a spiritual director is highly recommended so that you’ve got someone who knows you and can make sure you’re staying on the path.

If you aren’t receiving spiritual direction you might ask your pastor who he would recommend. Maybe he would be available to see you periodically!

I think this is a very cool picture. It’s my family all showing their Miraculous Medal rings.

My wife, 3 daughters and myself all have the same rings to show our devotion to Mary, the Mother of God.

I’m proud of all of them for being open and public in their faith.

I had to make reservations here in Phoenix very late for this conference and had no idea where I’d wind up.

I was pretty happy to find out that I’d be in a historic old hotel named after my patron saint. It’s the Hotel San Carlos (St. Charles) on Central St.

Very interesting. They even have a picture of Pope John Paul II going by the hotel in his Popemobile in 1987. The caption they put on it is something like, “Pope says, same hotel, same room.”