Praying and Running

St Jerome said "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." I can identify with St Jerome on a few different points, today this one is really jumping out at me. One of the best things I have done to make God more a part of my daily life is reading the Bible. Frankly, most times as I sit there reading, I don't feel any different than when I am reading a training manual, technical document, or anything else. I am just reading. But I was reminded today that God is still working and still present in that time. This morning, Last night I learned that someone I care deeply about is in a funk. She has worked hard toward a couple of goals and made significant progress but she is just having a hard time right now. I didn't really know what to say to her. This morning, on waking I had a verse from the Gospel of John running through my head. I didn't immediately make the connection but as I was out running this morning it dawned on me. She is in a funk and thinks she...

Today in the "O" antiphon we pray to be taught the virtue of prudence. The antiphon for today is today in the traditional Latin is "O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodidisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviter disponensque omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae. "* One English translation of that is "O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come, and teach us the way of prudence."* So today in our preparations for Christmas we pray to develop the virtue of prudence. But what exactly is prudence, what does the Church mean by this prayer. Prudence is defined in paragraph 1806 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as "Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going." "Keep sane an...

 Sometimes it is good to sit back and evaluate your life, where you are and where you want to be and when you get there will it really be all that you thought it would be?. We seem to spend an awful lot of time chasing happiness. What makes you happy? What is it that will finally satisfy you? Do you know? I can remember just out of high school thinking if I could just find a job where I made $300.00 a week I wouldn't ever need any more than that. I got that job and I remember thinking if I could just get that full time job that paid $12.00 an hour and offered health insurance I would be set. I got that job and began searching for a way to just make $40,000 a year. The pattern continues through out my life. I reach what I thought was the goal and a new goal appears. I could recite a similar pattern with things. If I only had this car or that phone or this television life would be grand! It feels like it is never-ending because it is never-ending. Money and things never bring conte...

It's sad to think that people put God aside and miss out on a life of faith because ultimately they feel they are unworthy. None of us can ever be worthy! And thank God we don't have to be. Psalm 6 and a very good reflection . Enjoy.

Advent starts tomorrow December 2, 2012. This year I hope that I can refrain from getting so caught up in the secular aspects of the "holiday" season that I miss the opportunity to truly prepare for Christ mas and the coming of our Lord. I have been wanting to do a blog post on the season and what it means. I couldn't quite get it formed in my mind though. Thank God for Cardinal Dolan. Below is an excerpt from an article by him on Advent and below that is a link to the full article. It is not long but very good and well worth the few minutes it will take to read it. ...Jesus waits for us to open up to His grace and mercy; ...Jesus waits for us to admit that, as a matter of fact, we do need a Savior! ...Jesus waits for us to admit that He is the answer to the questions our lives of searching pose. ...Jesus waits for our ultimate return to Him, for He “has gone to prepare a place for us.” Read the whole post here . It's not long but I believe well worth it!

This prayer came to me a few weeks ago, has been running around in my head quite a bit and I find it helpful when I realize that I am practicing religious habits out of habit rather than out of love, devotion, and adoration of God. Lord, I don't want to be a whitewashed tomb. (Matthew 23:27) Breath life into these dry bones (Ezekiel 37:5) that may worship you in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Amen Posted with Blogsy

Last week before Mass I  was once again surprised by what had sadly become cliche to me. On the 1 hand it saddens me that I have fallen into the trap of letting it become cliche and meaningless but on the other hand I am so happy for the times when I discover the beauty, truth, and goodness of our faith that gets buried in these cliches. The discovery was simply this, I am created by a God who loves me and truly want to be reunited with me. He doesn't just say this, He showed me by taking on humanity, walking along side of humanity and subjecting Himself to the worst humanity had to offer, hanging Him on a cross to die an excruciating death and forgiving humanity, and me, despite it. I don't think this is a free pass and don't want to imply that it is. I still have to respond but God wants me to be with Him and all I have to do is respond. When I really think about it this is cause for great joy. What should cause this joy to ever fade; what could?

I have never been a person to pray for specific favors. It never felt right to me. My prayers generally are for strength, guidance, an acceptance of what comes my way. That is always how I "felt" right praying. To pray for a specific favor like a good grade, to do well in some competition and things like that just always felt a little wrong and to pray for physical healing was something I never would have considered. I am not saying this was any kind of selflessness. I am not sure exactly what it was. A fear of seeming childish or perhaps it was out of fear that my faith would be shaken if the prayer wasn't answered. Regardless, this is how I generally pray. And that is not to say that I don't or didn't think that God doesn't concretely answer prayers. I believe that He does. For instance I have always prayed when overwhelmed something like "God, I cannot do this all alone, please help me" and I will somehow, someway find my way through whatever it...

Although I don’t remember the exact words or even where I found it, the sentiment of something I read last year has really stuck with me. The author pointed out that on the first Good Friday there were 3 kinds of people present. Those who hated, mocked, beat, tormented, and ultimately crucified our Lord; those who loved Him and watched in horror as He was treated in such a way; and those who were indifferent to Him and what was happening. Surely the people who treated Jesus in such a despicable way sadden Him, how could it not.  However, the author pointed out how those that were indifferent to Him must have really saddened Him. Here is Our Lord being beaten, mocked, tortured and executed in a most horrific and excruciating fashion. He didn’t have to endure this treatment but he did for our sake. Yet people were indifferent to Him. We all know how it feels to make a sacrifice for someone else and not be appreciated. What sacrifice has anyone of us made that can even begin to com...

I have been praying the Rosary for several years now and I notice from time to time that things get just a little too routine. When this happens I feel like I miss the point of the prayer. On my run this morning I finished the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and realized I hadn't been paying much attention to it. In fact, I finished it and it seemed as though I hadn't actually prayed. This is Lent and it is no time for zombie prayer! What to do? Pray it again and try harder to stay focused? Move on and try to get into some contemplative prayer? Just count it as a Rosary prayed and try again tomorrow? Then I thought of a new strategy. I would spend time summarizing, paraphrasing,  and analyzing each mystery before praying the prayers and then try to keep the fruit of that exercise in mind as I prayed the mystery. I have no doubt that this technique is not unique to me. If the truth were known, I probably read or heard about it somewhere but I can't really say wh...

In today's(1/15/2012) Gospel reading for Mass , our Lord asks "What are you looking for?" of 2 men who follow after Him. I am sure there are many ways to contemplate this reading but one particular angle that presented itself to me was "How would it change my day to day plans when I answer this question to the Lord?" As a Christian, I profess to live a life of following Jesus. Therefore, I could expect at any moment for our Lord to turn to me and ask "What are you looking for?" If I recall this question as I go about my daily life, put myself in the place of the disciples and know that it is God that I am answering, how does that affect my answer and thus my actions throughout the day? It seems that using this question to make my day to day plans and decisions would be a great start in the struggle of trying live the Christian life. I know that answering the question is just the beginning but I think answering it in this light would help in moving ...

Count your blessings. We have all heard it and probably said it. It helps us get through tough times and put our trials in perspective. There is certainly nothing wrong with counting your blessings. But how often do we contemplate our blessings and what happens when we do. A while back I spoke to a priest because I felt like my relationship with God had kind of stagnated. The priest introduced me to the daily examen prayer . In the daily examen prayer you look at your day with gratitude and spend time reflecting on the blessing that you received that day. And even though there are other parts to the prayer, it was through it that I discovered the difference between counting blessings and contemplating blessings. I have become very interested in this prayer because through it I can really see how God is in my life. It allows me to understand how strong that relationship is. Before I found this prayer I might go all day without thinking about God much at all except...

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...

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...

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.