Praying and Running

We are coming to a close on the year of the catechism that I have posted about a few times. It has been very enlightening and coming on the heels of the year of the Bible I have learned more about our faith than I even dared to imagine and gained a ton of perspective through these exercises. One thing that I have found that is evident through reading the entire Bible and the Catechism (what amounts to the catholic guide to the faith) is that there is no foundation for some of the political stereotypes that have evolved in the church. To the contrary, the authentic teachings of the Church transcend the American political landscape. You know what I am talking about. We have Catholics that are conservative and we have Catholics that are liberal. There are others, I am sure but these are the ones I see the most and it seems that the people who fall into these stereotypes allow their American political views to shape their faith. It seems to ...

This Advent I have been thinking a lot about "the inn keeper". As we read in the Gospel of Luke and as most people are aware Jesus was born while Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem. At that time many people were traveling to the towns of their ancestors to comply with an order for a census. In other words, it was a very busy time. Because of this busyness of the situation and all of the extra people that had to be accommodated no one had room for the Holy Family. Instead, Jesus, our Lord and our God made in human flesh, was born in a stable amid animals and filth. I guess that people relegated Him to the stable because they could not recognize Him. I guess they could not recognize Him because they were not looking for Him but instead they were preoccupied with everything going on around them. I know that people are as familiar with that part of the story as I have always been. But I have never really considered the other peo...

Advent is a great time to refocus attention on the spiritual life and growing in the Christian faith. As a runner, I can see a similarity between running and the spiritual life. When I am running and preparing for a race, I get very focused and am methodical in my training plan. I have a goal and I work toward that goal with intensity. However, when there is no race on the schedule, my training can become lax and unfocused. That is kind of how I am seeing this advent as well, with the Christmas season being the finish line and advent the training season. It seems to me that like being well prepared for a race enables me to enjoy the race itself and reap the benefits of my training with the goal of the race being met by a new personal best time and finishing strong. In the same way, being well prepared for the Christmas season will allow me to experience more fully the joy of the season. This Advent I plan, God Willing, to focus and prepare with intensit...

I had a great 10 mile run this morning and even though it is the day after Thanksgiving I had an experience that I can truly be thankful for during that run. We are spending this Thanksgiving weekend with family in MI and even though many of us were participating in a Turkey Trot(5k race Thanksgiving morning) and even though I knew I would be running at least 1 or 2 other days while we were up here, I forgot to pack my polar running watch. The watch gives me all of my stats in both real time and stores the results for analysis later. So while I am running I can keep an eye on my pace, heart rate, elapsed time etc. I have noticed lately that while I used to use my runs as a time to spend in prayerful contemplation, as my seriousness about competitive running grows the watch and stats are getting more and more of my attention during the run. I have noticed that run is no longer about the prayer, not even about the run. Rather the run has become about the stats. The pace, the distance, ...

One great thing about being  Catholic is there are a whole lot of cool words that you get to use. One of my favorites is doxology. The word doxology alone just sounds really neat. But doxology is itself also something pretty awesome when you think about it. After all, doxology is a hymn of praise usually directed toward the Holy Trinity and usually affirming the infinite quality of God. Catholics will recognize a few standard doxologies like the "Glory be" and the "Through him, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever." that the priest prays before the Great Amen of the Eucharistic Prayer during Mass. But why do I think that doxologies are so great? As we learn from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 45, "Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness".  Heaven is where we will be in communion with God fully. Heaven then, is what man was ma...

A homily that I heard once and some wisdom from an old friend I think really put the Mass and our participation in the Mass into perspective. I remember the homily began by the priest telling us that our parish had lost a family to a non-denominational church down the road. He said that this family actually came to him and said they were leaving and going to this other church for two reasons. The first was that the music was better. The second reason was because they didn't feel like they got anything out of Mass. At this point I remembered something a friend once said that made a lasting impact on me. She said essentially, "I don't come to Mass for the music or for the homily or for anything other than Jesus. I come because Jesus is here in the Eucharist." I wish that those people had known my friend. Because there is no where that you can go to be so close to our Lord as you are when you receive Holy Communion at Mass. The priest reiterated this sentiment and th...

 Luke 23:33-34 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left.[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”] They divided his garments by casting lots. One thing I have learned about praying the Rosary regularly is that you always have the chance of stumbling onto something so profound that it makes you think "Man, I really have to reassess my life with this in mind." As I learned again the other night, sometimes this thing that you find that is so profound is something you have always heard, something you have know as long as you have known your own name. It is ingrained in you, you know that it is part of the faith. The problem is, it is so comfortable to you, it is so much a part of the landscape of your faith that you actually quit seeing it. You know it, but at the same time it is foreign and you never even think to apply it to your own life. I say the Rosary...

St. Joan of Arc in Kokomo, IN will be beginning another Catholic home coming program soon. Here is a link to info about the program including schedule, contact info etc. If you have been away for a while, the program will give you an opportunity to ask questions. You will get a refresher on the sacramental Catholic life. And you will get a walk through the Mass. You won't need to feel self conscience because you haven't been to Mass in so long and you won't have to wonder “should I go to communion”. In other words, you are not expected to just walk in and pick up where you left off 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Having been a “fallen away” Catholic myself, I think this is a great thing. I was away from the church for about 15 years. There was no formal program when I came home. But my children went to the local Catholic school and so I had somewhat of a connection. As students, they went to Mass twice a week and knew all of the “rules”. Even still, it was hard to go back. I...

About a year ago I made a commitment to receive the the sacrament of reconciliation on a monthly basis as a way to grow closer to God. I didn't make this commitment without some hesitation however. One thing in particular kept me from it for a while; it felt silly. What I mean by that is that I don't go around breaking commandments in big ways anymore. That being the case, I was afraid that I would sound like a second grader to the priest and instead of making a good confession and feeling the Mercy of God that I would merely be reciting a list of the various and unexciting ways that I had "sinned". There are a couple of things that have gotten me past this. First, I spoke to a priest and told the him that I wanted to receive reconciliation monthly but that I felt like I would sound like a child with "small and petty" sins. His response was two-fold. First, he said that if a person wishes to truly be close to God than no matter how "small" a sin ...

John 6:53-69 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever" These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he ...

At the beginning of this year the priests at our parish challenged us to "read the Catechism in a year." Much like their challenge that we "Read the Bible in a year" the previous year, I have found this practice to yield much fruit. Many times I have finished a paragraph or a section and thought to myself "where has this book been all my life?" Tonight as I was reading through part 4 "The Revelation of Prayer" Section 1 "Christian Prayer" and paragraph 2729 in particular struck me and provided a "where has this book been all of my life?" moment. "The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart: fo...

Christian High : Parishioner St Joan of Arc, Catholic Church, Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. this is just one of my many titles in life. We all have them, titles that signify our relationships and roles in life; husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, employee, boss, etc. Our titles and roles dictate how we live our lives. Our titles and roles provide us with motivation to get out of bed in the morning. Our titles and roles guide where we go and what we do with our days. Our titles and roles are always before us. Yet it dawned on me the other day that if someone were to ask me to list all of the titles and roles that apply to me I might not think to add parishioner to the list. I feel like I try pretty hard to keep faith at the forefront of my life. Even still, I didn't immediately recognize this title as applicable to me. But it is and thank GOD that it is. Because in this title is reflected my membership in the Church. Which is to say my membership in the Body of Chri...

I heard in a homily once something like this; “If you feel like you are disconnected from GOD don’t think that GOD has left you because he is always right there. Instead, look for and put in their proper place the things that you have replaced HIM with. Then you can feel HIS presence in your life again.” From my own experience these “things” don’t have to be big, bright or shiny. These “things” can just be “life” accompanied by a sort of spiritual sloth, neglecting to make time for the LORD. This advice came in handy for me lately and I thought I would share it in case it might come on handy for you someday as well.

Think about this. Man is by nature religious. You cannot find a people or culture anywhere under the sun that does not have religion. Man is religious because he is made to be by his Maker for his Maker and religion is man's expression of a desire to know his Maker. Now think about this. Christianity is spread across the globe. In every culture at every time and in every place where Christianity has been introduced it has taken root. Under every circumstance imaginable, it has thrived. It has thrived in times when it was illegal and punishable by cruel death. It has thrived when and where people had nothing and it has grown and thrived when and where people have wanted for nothing. Christianity seems to be the most indiscrimnate force on the face of the earth. Willing to allow us to avail ourselves of it's truths and beauties regardless of who we are or where we are. I have to think that this seemingly universal call of Christianity owes to the fact that it is the fullest ...

Luke 23 13-16 Pilate then summoned the chief priests, the rulers, and the people and said to them, "You brought this man to me and accused him of inciting the people to revolt. I have conducted my investigation in your presence and have not found this man guilty of the charges you have brought against him, nor did Herod, for he sent him back to us. So no capital crime has been committed by him. Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him." In the 2nd Sorrowful mystery we pray to bear our earthly pain and suffering with Christian fortitude. One the thing that struck me while contemplating this mystery is the question, how often to I act like Pilate. What I mean by that is that Pilate knew that our Lord was innocent. He knew that jealousy drove the chief priest and elders to bring Christ before him with the outrageous charges they were making. But, he feared their disapproval of him more than he feared accusing and punishing an innocent person. While co...

The Rosary is a powerful prayer which offers a great deal in the way of spiritual growth. However, as with anything that is worth doing, committing to pray the Rosary on a daily basis is not without its difficulties. The Rosary is a long prayer of contemplation. To pray a full Rosary takes about an hour. For this reason many of people pray just one chaplet a day.Still, this is a 15 to 20 minute commitment. Most of us are very busy with work and school to attend to and kids and houses to care for. Finding a solid hour for prayer is very difficult. Even finding 20 minutes may take some creativity and/or sacrifice. Whatever it takes, you will be rewarded with the spiritual growth and closeness to God that we all seek as is our nature. So, what are some ways that we can find the time we need to pray the Rosary on a daily basis? I am a morning person so the first thing that comes to mind for me is getting up 20 minutes early. I have been doing this for a while and it works very well f...

John 19:16-17 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. In the 4th Sorrowful Mystery we pray for the grace to bear our trials with patients. The 4th Sorrowful Mystery has, as I find many times, obliterated what I thought was just a cliche and through the contemplation of this mystery I have seen the truth in the old saying "everyone has their cross to bear". First of all I am brought back to Mark 8:34 where our LORD says "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." As a Christian my only goal in life should be to be a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. In order to do that I don't need a bunch of stuff. My goal shouldn't be a better job, a bigger house, a "picture perfect" family. If I somehow end up with these things, then so be it. But my purpose should be to be a di...

I would very much like to encourage Protestants to take up the practice of praying the Holy Rosary and also to strengthen Catholics in the prayer. The Rosary is a very rich prayer that can be prayed by the Christian who is very young in the faith as a way to growing in the prayer traditions of Orthodox Christianity. The Rosary can also be prayed by those who have already developed a deep prayer life as a way of nurturing the life of faith. I know, however, that there are some major obstacles for Protestants to begin this prayer. I believe that these obstacles are the result of a gross misrepresentation of the prayer and/or simple misunderstanding. First and foremost, I know that most Protestants have an aversion to the Hail Mary. I have covered that in a separate post . Following that, the three most common objections to the Rosary that I know of are that it is mistaken as a form of worship of Mary. Second is that it is a direct violation of our LORD'S command to not "babb...

Matthew 27:27-31 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him. The 3rd Sorrowful Mystery is the "Crowning with Thorns". This Mystery recalls the time after Christ was scourged at the pillar. The roman soldiers mock Jesus by calling Him "King of the Jews" and then treating Him badly. The soldiers give Him all of the symbols of a King in a way that hurts Him. In other words they are just making sport of Him. The soldiers call Christ King and then go on to ...

There are several obstacles that someone who has committed to pray the Rosary will face. Since the Rosary is a long prayer one of the biggest challenges I face is staying focused. If you have read my other posts or if you are just familiar with the prayer, you know that the mental contemplation of the Mysteries is the main focus of the prayer. So getting distracted really detracts from the prayer. Even if I am only praying 1 chaplet of the Rosary, it still takes about 20 minutes. In that amount of time your mind is bound to wander some. I have found several different things to help me when my mind begins to drift off to the worries of everyday life. The first is to understand that this is going to happen and be watching for it. If I am not vigilant I can get through a whole decade and realize I have not thought one single time about the Mystery that I should have been contemplating. So before I begin the prayer I make a conscious determination to be watchful of my wandering mind. O...

I want very badly for my protestant friends to take up the practice of the Rosary because when we pray the Rosary it is like we are at the wedding at Cana. We petition Mary and she points to her Son and says "Do whatever HE tells you". You don't have to be Catholic to pray the Rosary. But there are a few things that prevent protestants, by and large, from the practice of praying the Holy Rosary. Chief among them I would say is an aversion to the Hail Mary, the central prayer of the Rosary. Now, one thing most protestants have in common is a profound belief in the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. In other words, most protestants would argue that the Bible alone is the sole source of GOD's word. With that in mind, I will point out in this post where the Hail Mary comes from and why it is a treasured prayer of Catholics. We will go verse by verse and explore the biblical roots. Our prayer begins "Hail Mary full of Grace the LORD is with you". In Luke 1:28(NAB)...

Mathew 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?" Jesus said to him in reply, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." One lesson I have learned while meditating on the Baptism of the LORD is that sometimes we must accept a mission or job or task from GOD that we don't think we are up to or worthy to preform. You see how John says, "Oh no, I am not worthy to baptize you. If anything I need to be baptized by you." At this point our LORD wanted to do something. We all know that Ch...

Luke 2:22-40 The Presentation of Jesus When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took Him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, You may let your servant go in peace, according to Your word, for ...

Today's (1/10/2011 Mark 1:14-20) Gospel reading has really stuck with me and developed in my mind over the course of the day. I wanted to share what I have been contemplating about today as a result of the reading. Believe me, I understand that this sounds cliche. I love it when the readings force me to see the the truth and beauty of what all to often gets written off as cliche. The first thing that struck me was verse 1:15 “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  I love this. I think I am so attracted to this saying because it is the LORD Himself saying "Your time has not run out. You have another opportunity to come to me."  Think about it. This is Mercy. The day of the LORD has come. But you still have a chance to repent of the evil you have done and make amends with GOD. If this were not true I think Christ may have said something like "Too late, I am here and you are out of luck." Thank you, J...

When I first began praying the Rosary, I wasn't quite sure how it was done. Through the internet, I found instructions for praying the Rosary and a list of the Mysteries. I learned that to pray the full traditional Rosary you say 15 "decades". a decade is composed of an Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, and a Glory Be. So in the end you have prayed 150 Hail Marys. While you are reciting the prayers you concentrate your mind on the Mysteries. The Mysteries are an important part of praying the Rosary. In fact, they really are the prayer itself. In the Mysteries we contemplate specific parts of the life of Christ. The traditional mysteries are the Joyful, the Sorrowful and the Glorious Mysteries. Because the full Rosary takes so long to pray, I also found that many people say only 1 "chaplet" a day. A chaplet is 5 "decades" and focuses on 1 of the 3 Mysteries. In this case there is a traditional pattern. Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays are the Glorious Mys...

I began praying the Rosary about 3 years ago. At the time I was attending Mass on Sundays. My prayer life consisted of saying the Our Father and prayers of my own words. I wasn't spending much time at all in prayer. I didn't really know how. However, it felt like there should be more. I felt like I was cheating God, not giving Him anything more than the bare minimum. But, like I said, I didn't know how to pray more or pray better. I knew about the Rosary. Or at least I thought I did. The Rosary is a plastic strand of beads that all Catholics have lying in some drawer in their home, right? Wrong. That is a rosary. The Rosary is a prayer. I remember from my youth in Catholic school that in order to pray the Rosary a person said some Hail Marys, some Glory be(s) and some Our Fathers. That is it. That was about the extent of what I knew of the Rosary. Even though what I knew about this prayer was very limited; Even though what I did know about it made it seem very boring,...