PathToHoliness

I’m praying for what Jesus wants my wife Cindy and me to do as we have had a major decline in work for our little company. Why would this be you might wonder. But we’re not alone in this now.

Basically, times have changed and for the kind of work we do another technology has grown. But, besides AI technology, the agricultural community is having a lot of financial problems too. Causing this are also probably things like politics, tariffs, exports, the price of just about everything has gone up significantly and war.

We’re not only praying about this but also talking to clients and working harder to get work. We’ve been worried but don’t have any answers yet from the work standpoint. However, we’ve grown older, our family members are scattered around the country.

So, change is not foreign to us. We’ve been blessed for a number of times thinking what do we do in our jobs and in our companies when we’ve had to change. I believe our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit have provided.

In the picture is my wife Cindy and two of our pets, Croix and Chiara, after we took them to a long walk and stopped for some lunch. As we look toward full retirement we certainly have more time for other activities, like helping others in our faith.

This isn’t a post on all the elements that make up the discernment of spirits. However, I have spent time doing this from learning during Opus Dei retreats and with a spiritual director who started me on the Ignatian Spiritually. And now, my wife, Cindy and I are meeting regularly with a local priest who is helping us even further to learn and practice more. We started with the discernment of spirits and the differences between non-spiritual consolation and desolation and those things that are spiritual. It has taken a while to learn and spend time every day to look at our life and then just listen to God.

There is a lot to learn as we want to go as close to God as we can.

There are a lot of references if you are interesting and here are a couple:

The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living
The Jesuits website page: The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Last night my first spiritual director of many, many years passed away – Rev. William L. Korte. I call him Fr. Bill Korte. I can’t even explain how much he has meant to me and my spiritual life. He introduced me to Opus Dei and that’s when I started annual retreats led by the work.

Living in the Jefferson City, MO area I got to become friends with other men who also saw him for spiritual direction. We would travel to retreats by the Wespine Center in St. Louis. In this photo Fr. Korte is on the left and I’m on the right. We were in Rome for the Canonization of St. Josemaria Escriva in 2002.

After moving from Missouri to Florida I mainly kept in touch with him by phone. We would get to talk quite a bit when he had time. I sure wish I could have seen him in-person.

Update: Here is Fr. Korte’s Obituary with schedule for visitation and funeral Mass.

I should have remembered names for the photo above which includes Ed Galbraith, his some James and Fr. Bruce Fogle.

I don’t have much information yet but will add to this post when I can. Fr. Korte was pastor of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Dixon, MO. There is a FB group for it with a post with information too.

There are so many prayer books, books of spiritual direction and of course, the Bible, that it can be overwhelming. It can be difficult to decide what is best for you or for your current situation. I have experienced this over the years. So, I have several that are every day prayers and reading. These I believe are the most efficacious – the Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours (morning/evening), some spiritual reading and New Testament reading. But I add to this other prayers in the morning and before bed. These vary depending on who I’m praying for or for problems I’m having.

Just recently I started a daily spiritual direction book, “Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Every Day.” These are from letters that he wrote to his own spiritual directors or followers. There is a different one for each day of the year. So, whenever you start you just go to that day and move on from there. I definitely recommend it.

So, to end this, I have to include two other very important things to do in The Way to being with our Lord when we die. Daily Mass if possible and some quiet time to just clear your mind and let God talk to your soul. You may not “hear” Him but He is there and is listening.