The Road To Easter
Ash Wednesday and Lent.
Happens year after year around this time.
How many of us forgot?
How many of us didn’t forget, but were simply “going through the motions”?
Easter is the most important day in the life of a Christian.
Christmas is critical, but loses all meaning without Easter.
You have thought of that, right?
Pray, Pay, Obey
What does that mean exactly? Growing up Luthern, in a small Pennsylvania town, there weren’t many Catholics. In fact, I don’t recall knowing what a Catholic was until college.
Well, life comes full circle and here I am, a devoted Catholic for over a decade. There are something like 15,000 members of our Holy Family congregation. All walks of like.
One of them, I see occasionally at Gold’s Gym. We recently had a nice conversation with these highlights:
Draw nearer to God and God will draw nearer to you. James 4:8.
True love doesnt force anything.
Greed, sloth, doubt, hypocracy – the four points in the circle surrounding the four squares.
Pay, pray and obey Catholic. This is how my friend (60-something) described himself.
God does not want good men in heaven, he wants Saints.
Gotta go. Time to work on praying, obeying, paying and demonstrating.
From The Mouth Of Babes
“Do you have any questions?”, the Brevard Zoo staff member asked the boys.
One six-year old boy threw his arm up in the air, “Can scorpions fart?”
Brevard Zoo. Yesterday, January 24, 2010. Twenty Cub Scouts plus an equal number of Parents.
Our Church has a growing Cub Scout Pack. It shut it’s doors two years ago, due to low enrollment.
Last year, two Dads resurrected our Pack and Twelve boys with a few Tiger Cubs, a few Wolf Cubs, and even fewer Bear Cubs. It was intimate to say the least. And it was my first year having a Wolf Cub.
This year, we’ve tripled. Now our trips have more energy, more unpredictability. More involved Parents. More blessings.
More humor.
Thanks to a couple of dedicated Dads (Rob & Greg) (and also Mike) who led us last year. They could have given up and said it was too much work.
That would not have been very funny.
A Growing Community
Wanna Touch?
Talk Is Cheap
Father I have sinned. In my thoughts and in my words. In what I done and what I have failed to do.
Sound familiar?
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
Do you think about this casually? Relentlessly?
What if you did?
He Whispered In My Ear
Blogging, if you’ve ever thought about doing it, really challenges you to discover, deep down inside, what you believe in.
And when you post it on the Internet, the whole world sees it.
It really forces you to commit to your beliefs. And even better, it challenges you to rise to the behavior you preach about.
It’s transformed my life.
Now, God has whispered to me that others may also find this transformational tool helpful. You can do it. 
But do you want to?
Wide Open Spaces
What makes humans feel guilt?
What makes you feel guilty?
Know what makes me feel guilty?
This week, my son and I have taken several sunset walks. We end up in our back yard. A really big back yard. The sun has set, and now it’s twilight.
“Son, look around. Do you see how much space is here in this yard, from one side to the other?”
He says, “Yes.”
“I’m not saying that other sized yards are better or worse. I’m just saying that Mommy and Daddy worked really, really hard to make this yard possible.”
For something like seven years, Cheryl and I spent, what seemed like a majority of our weekends looking for a big yard near Walt Disney World.
The first 15 years in Central Florida, I worked every weekend, and had either a Saturday or a Sunday off, but never both.
And on that lone weekend day off, we combed the area north of Disney, south of Disney, east of Disney, west of Disney.
The result? Nothing. Year after year. Nothing.
Until one day….
Peace Be With You Kevin
Ever get ahead of schedule on a project? Hardly ever right? Well, I can’t remember the last time it’s happened to me, except for right now.
It’s December 24, 2009, Christmas Eve as I write this, and we are getting ready for 5:00PM Mass, the Children’s Mass.
A few hours ago, my son and I attended a funeral for a friend.
Kevin and I were colleagues 14 years ago. His Family and my Family attend the same Church. his son is even younger than mine.
Kevin fought brain cancer, and had won, for the past eight years or so, maybe longer.
My Family and I were in Church when we heard the sad news this past Sunday.
Kevin went to Heaven. His funeral was beautiful. His life was beautiful.
Ever know someone, not well enough to be close friends, but well enough to call friend?
Well Fed?
“Happy New Year” !
Have you ever worked on an important project and found yourself looking for creative ways to do things better and faster?
The Church looks for creative ways to do things better and faster. Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Are you feeding your spirit? Feeding the spirit of others?
All we can do as humans is to attempt to put others first, attempt to serve.
And constantly look for better and faster ways to do it.
You've Got Heart
Throw your heart into it, and the rest of you will follow.
Tomorrow, New Year’s Eve. The next day, 2010.
Are ya ready for it? Here’s my plan:
I’m throwing my heart into it, knowing full well that the rest of me will follow.
I think this is often referred to as Faith.
Got Faith?
Wednesday. Children’s Liturgy of the Word.
Our son (9) attends Catechism, and Miss Jenny (may or may not be her real name), leads this small (12) group of future spiritual leaders, fututre parents, and possibly, future Catechists.
And then there’s me, a struggling Catechist.
The past two years I’ve been invited to assist on Wednesday nights. This was a natural and desirable opportunity, since I drive our son to attend.
Otherwise, I’d just sit in the car, doing work on a laptop, which is what I did three years ago when this started.
But this year, something is different. Mostly my schedule. It’s the busiest I can ever remember being. Ever.
In fact, the first month, September, was the busiest travel month all year. I missed every single session. October was not much different.
I feel like dropping out. If I can’t give it my all, my full attention, I feel guilty.
What would you do?