The Beauty of New Year Resolutions

There's a story that told about John Paul I, who was only the Pope for about 30 days before John Paul II, but right after a Wednesday audience, he met a group of young people, and one of the women in the group confessed to having led a very dark moral life up until that point. John Paul I offered her great advice, which I think is extremely helpful as we approach the New Year. He could have offered her some pious reflection, but the first thing he said was, "how old are you", and she responded, "I am 35," and he said, "perfect, you might live to be 85, in which case, you have 50 years to get it right," or she might live 50 days more, in either case, the only thing to do is to begin again! Which as the story goes, she did, and became a great person.

There's no better time to start anew then at the begginning of a new year, here's a simple suggestion that I am going to try and keep in 2010, Less News, and Less Media. Think about the fear that the media creates in our culture, this is not how we are meant to live. Every time I bring up the distaster that is the media, most people agree, but we keep going back to it for more, its like how many stories of crime and sin can our humanity take? Its like drinking poison on a daily basis, and most of it is rootless. Chesterton has the great analogy, where the media reports on the man that fell off the scaffold, it was terrible and sad to be sure, but the media doesn't report on the 1 million men that worked in total peace on scaffolds throughout the world that day, they only report on the one man that fell off, and they report on it, as if men are falling off scaffolds across the world, and that we must do something to stop men falling off scaffolds. At some level the news only reports on what is not happening, so what's the use? I have decided to keep my news intake to a minimum this year, and without a doubt get rid of the 24 hour news, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc, if enough people cleaned their system of these channels, then first off they would go out of business, and more importantly we would have a much happier country; wouldn't that be nice!

Happy New Year.

Pope Benedict on Christmas- Please Read

This article is from Amy Welborn, who is a terrific writer and student of Pope Benedicts thought!

"The sentiment of the secular Christmas season might provoke a few mixed feelings. Although it seems ungrateful not to be, well... grateful that despite the unrelenting merchandising and secularisation, the basic points of love and giving seem to hold. On the other hand, Love who? Why? How? We know how even words about the highest truths can be drained of meaning and manipulated for base or even evil ends. So we do sense the truth and promise of Christmas. But mired in postmodern vacuity and scepticism, we wonder, indeed, what we really could possibly mean as we sing: "Holy Infant, so tender and mild..."And what does that long-ago event it have to do with my life, right now?Enter Pope Benedict and the Child.The Holy Father, we all know very well, is a brilliant theologian, but that is not as intimidating as it sounds. For with theologian Joseph Ratzinger, whose writing is consistently lucid, humble and even charming, the line between "theology" and "spiritual writing" frequently slips and even disappears. So in a meditation composed during his time as Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger, beginning as he often does from something quite concrete, reflected on the devotion to an image of the Christ Child still preserved in a tree in Christkindl, placed there in the 17th century by a man suffering from epilepsy or, as the chronicler terms it, "the sickness where one falls down". A church was eventually built around the tree, and devotion grew. Sweet, but is there anything more than sentimental piety here? Well, yes. Ratzinger, in just a few words, links this tree with the tree of paradise, with Mary, the life-giving tree who gives us the fruit, Jesus, with the circular shape of the church, recalling the womb and baptism, our call to be born again as children, which is possible because God became a child.For, as he writes, in a passage that never ceases to prompt me to pause in recognition, "we are all suffering from 'the sickness where one falls down' ". How true. How very true."Again and again, we find ourselves unable interiorly to walk upright and to stand. Again and again, we fall down; we are not masters of our own lives; we are alienated; we are not free." What is the answer? God's love - and there is nothing vague about this. God's love so very real and concrete that it is enfleshed and God himself comes to earth in the most startling of ways - as a baby. We need not look far for the "tree" holding the baby, Ratzinger says, the One who heals us from the sickness where we fall down: "Jesus, who is himself the fruit of the tree of life, and life itself, has becomes so small that our hands can enclose him", we can know him - and be redeemed.In another meditation, then-Archbishop Ratzinger highlights St Francis of Assisi's role in shaping Christmas devotion in his creation of the original crèche at Greccio. He points to the radical implications of the Word-Made-Flesh as a Child, that this is not about mere sentiment, but about how we must be: "his existence as a child shows us how we come to God and to deification ... One who has not grasped the mystery of Christmas has failed to grasp the decisive element in Christianity" - that to enter the Kingdom we must become like Him. Like a child. As we continue to read what the Holy Father writes about the Christ Child in his homilies as Pope, the same idea emerges again and again: if we want to know who God is, look at the Child. If we, in our emptiness, sin and hopelessness, want to know if our lives have meaning and if we are loved, look to the Child. If we want to know how to love, look to the Child. Most important of all, if we want to not just have the right ideas, but to actually live in love now and forever, know and love the Child. At Midnight Mass in 2006, the Holy Father's words bring the Good News about God, us and this broken world: "God's sign is simplicity. God's sign is the baby. God's sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendour. He comes as a baby - defenceless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with his strength. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts and his will - we learn to live with him and to practise with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. God made himself small so that we could understand him, welcome him, and love him."My own favourite object of Christmas meditation is a real, actual baby. Now that I have none of my own, I must seek one out - at a Catholic Mass that is not too hard - and consider the tiny thing, eyes wide open staring at me and the rest of the world, or closed in blissful sleep, nestled against its mother's neck. "God is so great that he can become small," Pope Benedict said at Midnight Mass in 2005. "God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenceless child, so that we can love him. God is so good that he can give up his divine splendour and come down to a stable, so that we might find him, so that his goodness might touch us, give itself to us and continue to work through us. This is Christmas: 'You are my son, this day I have begotten you'. God has become one of us, so that we can be with him and become like him. As a sign, he chose the Child lying in the manger: this is how God is. This is how we come to know him." Real. Concrete. Flesh and blood. In such loving helplessness, helping us walk, because we have, indeed, all fallen down.

The Joy of Creating

The kids and I spent the day building the Snow Nativity Scene that is in this picture to the left. There really was no other alternative if we were going to avoid going insane. There is only so much spilled hot chocolate, and spilled syrup one family can withstand. So we ventured out to Create, to build something. As we were working on this small little project, the thought came to me, that man needs to constantly create or he will be living against his very nature.

There's a line in the movie Wall Street where Martin Sheen says to his son, "son, learn to create, and not make money off the buying and selling of others". We are made in the Image and Likeness of God, and when we create, even small creations, we are living in line with our nature. Here's the major point as we approach Christmas, its very possible to live outside of our nature, and destroy. We destroy ever time we spread gossip, every time we spread scandals, every time we use the gift of language to tear others down, to spread anger, or jealously, or even our bad mood. This was not what we were made for. We were made to create. Creating can be a million small things- Cooking, building, creating ideas, works of art, creating joy within our families, and our places of work, smiling, rising above our moods and feelings. There's a great line in Dickens, "A Christmas Carol", where Scrooge is observing his old boss, Fizziwigs, and he is spreading joy at the Christmas party, and affirming everyone there, that the ghost of Christmas past says to Scrooge, "Its a small thing isn't to spread this joy," Fizziwigs was literally changing the course of the world with his small decision to rise above his feelings, maybe rising above his moods was easy for Fizziwigs, maybe it wasn't, the point is he made the decision to do it.

As Christmas approaches, there are many ways to create, and there are many ways to destroy, its much harder to create, but living in line with our nature is where we will find the greatest satisfactions in life;

The Tragedy and the Lessons of Tiger Woods

As Christians we should never judge people, but we can and should judge actions. I am almost willing to guarantee that Tiger Woods would agree with everything that I am about to write.

If you went to any 19 year old college male, and said by the time your 33 years old, you will be worth 1 billion dollars, and your wife will be a super model. 99.9% of college males would probably say "that would be enough for me", their response may be a little more enthusiastic, I'm just guessing. Well meet Tiger Woods, that was his life, and it wasn't enough. There's three important lessons here that I want to point out that are so important.

1.) The heart was made for God, that's a lot of love to fill. So in this world the truth is, there is an enormous void that yearns to be filled. We can try our whole life to fill this void with stuff- Work, sex, drugs, food, etc, etc. Sadly, it will only make the void grow, the distance grow. St. Augustine said it best in his book "Confessions", "my heart is restless O Lord, until it rests in you," Some people think that quote refereed to death, but I don't think that's true, I think our rest can happen now. "Come to me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest," Here's the good news, God can fill this void with Himself, we're made for this union. The Eucharist offers us so much here, because its God Himself that we receive, Who fills us. St. John Vianney said, "When we leave the holy banquet of Communion, we are as happy as the wise men would have been if they could have carried away the Infant Jesus." Lesson # 1, only God can fill our heart.

2.) Gratitude for what we have, This was the second powerful lesson for me, because you can't live your life in a constant state of wanting more, you have to learn to be thankful for what we have. This doesn't mean we stop seeking, but the gift of gratitude just gives us so much more vibrancy, its hard but its such an amazing habit to form. The Eucharist is again the answer, in fact the meaning of the word Eucharist is "Thanksgiving,"

3.) Finally Self control, Denis Prager has a great quote that I have cited here in the past, "without self control we can never be happy", but with it, we can be extremely happy. There's a quote from I believe the Church fathers, "1 Thousand temptations do not equal 1 sin," God gave us a great gift in self control, and its healthy to use it.

When you look at some of the more famous philanderers, John Kennedy, Tiger Woods, David Letterman, Mark Sanford. They are all high achievers, my point is that desire is not bad, its only bad when we channel it in the wrong ways, when we channel it in the right ways, it can give us the strength to be a great man. Below is an awesome quote from JRR Tolkien "Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament ... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth..." Notice the last sentence, the true ways of all your loves on earth, the Eucharist can help us direct our loves where they are supposed to go!

This is very good!

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter?".
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
34. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35.. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere..
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'dgrab ours back!
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

What's wrong with your knees

Anyone that reads this blog knows that I love the Comunita Cenacolo (http://www.hopereborn.org/), its a community for recovering persons, whether serious drugs, pornography addictions, eating disorders, depression,etc, etc. They cover all the serious problems that the world throws at us, and they do it in a simple fashion, with the Eucharist, Community, the Rosary, and work. Sister Lucia of Fatima has said that, "there is not a problem that can not be overcome with the rosary,". This should give us so much confidence, and Comunita Cenacolo proves this everyday. The Rosary that I pray with was made by a man in this community who is recovering from a heroin addiction, the Cross on the rosary is handmade by him, and every time I start my rosary I grab that cross and remember how powerful the rosary is.

The point I am making is that not everyone needs a School of Life like Community Cenacolo for heroin addictions, or eating disorders, but we all have our blindness, we all have our weakness, we all have our sins, and the 4 things I mentioned above can help us with these things. God is that powerful.

There's a great story about a drug addict, whose life was transformed in community, three years go by, and its discovered that he has advanced stage lung cancer. He gets brought into the hospital for a full body check, and as he is lieing in his bed in the hospital, the doctor comes in and says, "son, I know what's wrong with your lungs, but you have to tell me, what's wrong with your knee's," The man said, "thankfully for the first time in my life, I have learned to pray, and spent the last 3 years on my knee's,"

Advent is the perfect time to fall in love with the Rosary, because our Lady will lead us to meet Jesus.

The peace we need.

We had a busy weekend with Thanksgiving finishing up and there's a lot to do at work as the year is coming to a close. But I wanted to offer something that's been on my heart recently, and that's the great gift of the Rosary. It never ceases to amaze me, mediating on the rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament is the world's greatest stress reliever, and it offers lasting peace. I have never prayed a rosary where by the end of it, my peace wasn't fully recovered. This is such a consolation, because the world offers challenges everyday. But the Lord is close. Advent started on Sunday, there's no better time to focus on the rosary everyday, Our Lady will lead you straight to Jesus.

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving day approaching this week. I wanted my weekly post to be about the virtue of Thankfulness. Because I believe deeply that gratitude and thanksgiving are the pillars for joy. St. Paul in Col 3:17, says, "Dedicate yourself to thankfulness," If it was easy, he wouldn't use the word dedicate yourself. In sports or in business, when we really want to win, we dedicate ourselves to the things we are weakest at. In playing basketball, I had a horrible time dribbling and shooting with my left hand, I would get my shot blocked all the time, because I would try and drive from the left side, but shoot with my right hand. If I wanted to get better, I knew I would have to dedicate myself to getting a left hand. I actually started brushing my teeth with my left hand, eating cereal with my left hand, etc. Long story short, by the end of a summer, I could do anything in basketball with my left hand.
Becoming a thankful person is hard, but its so important, because it speaks to what we think about God. Do we believe He is an angry dictator, or an enforcer, or is He the Father of Love. If He's the enforcer, why be thankful. There's a great line, "people are entitled to their own opinion, their not entitled to their own facts," Here's the facts, would a God that is an angry dictator, that had no regard for our weakness, suffer and die on a cross? No way. We worship the God of Love, that is the truth, St. Peter says, "Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you," Thanksgiving is an act of Faith, every time we thank God for something, we are affirming the truth about who He is, that He is the God of Love, and that with Him we have nothing to fear.
This may take an entire attitude change, maybe we have lived our whole life angry at the hand we have been dealt, angry about our past, angry about our weakness. Thankfulness takes time, but we can't forget that it also takes work, we have to dedicate ourselves to it. But every time we thank God, it will bear so much fruit in how we view the world. There's no better time to start than the week of Thanksgiving.
Just a quick plug for the movie "The blindside," we saw it over the weekend, and really liked it, loved the line, when a rich friend of the couple that is adopting Michael Oher, says, "wow, you are really going to change this poor young man, to give him a bright future," and she corrects her with the words, "no, he is changing me". Pope Benedict in his book Jesus of Nazareth says the beauty of the Good Samaritan is that every time we try and be a neighbor to our brother, we are actually found by Him.

Great Story

My good friend Father Shaun Mahoney told Mary Kate and I a great story last week that I wanted to share for this weeks post. Father Shaun is the head of the Temple Newman Center, and really loves the school, so he has been enjoying Temple's resurgence this year in Football, as everyone in Philadelphia knows, Temple is having an unbelievable football season, they are 8-2 and it looks very likely that they will get a bowl birth. Temple has been the doormat of college football for years, so its exciting to watch. (I knew they were going to be successful the first time I heard their coach speak, his attitude and self confidence was great).

Well last week Temple is playing Miami of Ohio, who is the opposite, they are having a terrible year, and Father Shaun gets a phone call from the athletic director asking him if he would say a Mass for the team before the game, because many of the players are Catholic. Father Shaun was obviously conflicted, because he loves Temple Football. But they asked, so it was only right that he said mass for the players.

Father Shaun said he didn't know what came over him, but he decided to give the players a rousing homily that I thought was important for us as well. He said there's 2 ways of being lost, the first way is the man who is living a life of decadence far away from God, this is the image of the prodigal son, living in a far off land. The second way to be lost, is to be lost within the Church. This is the experience that we all go through, when we stop expecting God's power. We fall into an unhealthy routine, and we just believe that, "life is what it is," I can't change and life certainly isn't going to change. We forget that the God we worship at Mass, is the same God, who parted the Red Sea, who created Heaven and Earth. He can do all things. Its easy to stop believing this. But this is a form of being lost, because its not true, God can do all things, all we have to do is ask.

Well, the last place Miami of Ohio team, played inspired football, and led the entire game versus the 1st place Temple team, but to Father Shaun's great relief, Temple kicked a field goal to win the game in the closing minutes. They lost the game, but they received a winning message for their whole life, don't be afraid to expect God to act, because He can and He does!

Proud to be Catholic

Proud of Being Catholic... Excerpts of an article written by Sam Miller, prominent Cleveland Jewish businessman - NOT Catholic. Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?
Do you know - the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students everyday at the cost to that Church of 10 billion dollars, and a savings on the other hand to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars. The graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%.
The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students.The Catholic Church has a non-profit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people - not just Catholics - in the United States today.
But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage.
Let me give you some figures that Catholics should know and remember. For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8% of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have been sexually harassed. Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia. 10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia. This is not a Catholic Problem.
A study of American priests showed that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again in face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.
The Catholic Church is bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. The agony that Catholics have felt and suffered is not necessarily the fault of the Church. You have been hurt by a small number of wayward priests that have probably been totally weeded out by now.
Walk with your shoulders high and you head higher. Be a proud member of the most important non-governmental agency in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: 'Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls'. Be proud to speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religions. Be proud that you're a Catholic.

Contraception vs. Natural Family Planning

A couple weeks ago, I did a post on the unbelievable benefits of Natural Family Planning (I have since added a benefit), how important it is to have authentic spontaneity in marriage, its funny because this is usually the number 1 argument that people give me in favor of contraception, as a means to protect spontaneity. That's the great paradox though, when you don't have to live with any abstinence whatsoever, before long you don't appreciate the gift anymore. When I used to play basketball on Saturday mornings down the shore, there would always be a guy that would say, "one more game, I want to enjoy these beers tonight," Its funny because most people understand the need for abstinence and self discipline when it comes to enjoying food or beer, but they don't understand this when it comes to sex. Natural Family Planning is a very difficult, but sure way to appreciate the gift of sex.

But here's the point of the post, sex is an extremely important part of marriage, babies come from having sex, what if I can not have a baby. Many times when I discuss NFP with people, they will throw up their hands, and say, I agree, this sounds amazing, and I hate the pill! But I can not have another baby. These fears are real, and most times there born of love. These couples want to be a great parent to the kids they have, they want to provide for them, or there may be a health reason that a couple can no longer have children. These are all real concerns. We have a Good and Holy God, that does not play games with his children, He does not ask more from us than we can give. In fact, quite the opposite, He carries us. He has written into our bodies a way to enjoy the maritial embrace, and not have another child. Natural Family Planning really works. My wife and I made a decision almost 2 years ago, to wait on having another child. Trust me, if it works for us, it works! We get pregnant if we look at each other the wrong way. It works, but the couple (Together) has to make it work.

Usually the next question is, well if its so effective, then what's the difference? Both are striving for the same thing. This is true, they both work. One is 100% natural, one is the furthest thing from natural that a women can do to her body, its a scandal that more hasn't been made of the negative side effects of contraception. The example I always use is about dieting, there is a sure path to losing weight in a healthy way, its through exercise, and healthy eating, its not easy, but it works. To be honest, NFP is very difficult, but in the end, extremely rewarding. We need to trust God everyday to make it work, and there's a chance your spontaneity may get the best of you on a day you were supposed to abstain, and 8 years later your having a football catch with the fruit of that spontaneity in the backyard, lets be honest, for most people that's not that scary!

Healthcare Bill- 2 Quick Phone Calls

PA Sen. Specter 202-224-4254

PA Sen. Casey 202-224-6324

It's not too late to speak up for life and conscience protection in health care reformThe U.S. House of Representatives has delayed its rule vote on the health care reform bill. It could take place this weekend. This critical decision will determine whether there will be an open vote on the floor for an amendment to the health care reform bill offered by Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA) that would restrict abortion funding and preserve conscience rights. If a closed vote rule goes into effect, there will be no chance to amend the bill to assure that abortion restrictions apply to health care reform. It is not too late to call your Congressmen and women to urge them to first vote NO on the closed rule, then vote YES on the Pitts/Stupak amendment, or vote NO on a health care reform bill that does not include explicit restrictions on abortion funding and conscience protection.You can look up your elected official's contact information on the Pennsylvania Catholic Advocacy Network page at www.pacatholic.org.

The Dreams of St. John Bosco

St. John Bosco had some incredible prophetic dreams that can offer us amazing help in our spiritual lives, he is one of the most amazing saints in the history of the Church, so its well worth listening to his counsel.

The one that I find the most edifying is the one about the ship at sea during a major storm. The ship is being rocked by the storms of life. Its clearly a reference to the Church, however we are all rocked at times by the storms of life. The dream offers 2 large lighthouses to guide us through these storms, 2 large pillars to build our life upon. The one is the Blessed Sacrament, both frequent mass, and also time spent in front of the blessed sacrament. The second is devotion to the Blessed Mother.

I have experienced this so many times in my life, never have I spent time with our lord in the blessed sacrament or prayed the rosary that I wasn't totally built up and strengthened. This should give us so much consolation in the struggles of life, God is here for us, and He is very close.

Today starts the 54 day Rosary Novena that ends on Christmas day, its a perfect opportunity to give our heart over to our Lady, she will lead us closer to Jesus.

Our Lady of Fatima Novena

I have heard so many people tell me about the power of the 54 day Fatima novena, that I had to recommend it. Especially with the movie "the 13th day" coming out. The movie is about the story of Fatima. I have heard people find their spouse, have a child, find a job, receive an interior grace from God. All we have to do is ask. Our Lady's power before God is really easy to explain. Jesus was the perfect man, so he lived the 10 commandments perfectly, the 4th commandment is "Honor thy Father and thy Mother,". We can bring anything to Mary and she will bring it to Jesus, were His love for her, almost ties His hands, and He will give her anything she asks.

Next Monday is November 2nd. If you start the 54 day Novena next week, it will end on Christmas day. The novena is very simply, say 1 Rosary every day with your intention, here is a good link on printing how to say the Rosary http://www.ewtn.com/DEVOTIONALS/prayers/rosary/how_to.htm

The first 27 days are said in a spirit of reparation, the 2nd 27 days are said in a spirit of Thanksgiving. A friend told me, that when he made this 54 day novena, he realized immediately that he didn't care if he got the intention or not, because through the practise of reciting the Rosary, he was growing so much closer to God. The rosary is powerful on many levels, in fact, one of the most consoling promises of Fatima, is that Our Lady told the children, that no problem can not be overcome with the Rosary. The drug rehab that I mention a lot www.hopereborn.org is great proof of this. For major drugs like herion, the recovery rate after addiction is barely 2%, within this community its 90%. They pray the Rosary 3 times a day in this community. Last week the community was given full pontifical status by the Church, and one of the men, who was a former herion addict made the point, that as a Cardinal in the Church was saying mass for the community, he looked around and he saw over 400 ex drug addicts kneeling down receiving a blessing, and he couldn't help but remember Jesus words. "Tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners will fly into the Kingdom of Heaven," All we have to do is ask!

The Jewelers Shop

I have been reading a play that John Paul II wrote when he was in his 40's as a bishop in Poland. It's fabulous, because he takes all of his experience working with married couples, and he is able to work in pratical gems that help all marriages. There's 3 couples, a newly engaged couple, a happily married couple, and a couple that is about to break up. There is truly something for everyone. One line jumped off the page for me,

"He left me with a hidden wound, thinking, no doubt, she will get over it. Besides, he was confident of his rights, whereas I wanted him to win them continually, I did not want to feel like an object that could not be lost once it has been aquired."

Last week I quoted the story from the bible where the rich man has a huge harvest, and then stores everything for himself. There is so much joy on almost all wedding days, but we can't store it up and leave it on our wedding day. We have to work for the love of our beloved. This should inspire the natural strengths in a man, we all have a competitive streak, and we should try and win our wives everyday.

The Way In, and the Way Out of Socialism

I have a friend who is a missionary priest in South America, he said something to me about 5 years ago, that really stuck with me. It was in a country that was about to elect a radical socialist, broderline communist President of their country. The country was making great strides to advance freedom in the area, but it was looking like at the time that they were going to move to greater government control. This priest knew it was coming, so I asked him how he felt so sure. He said because he watched how the rich lived, it was incredibly insightful, because it was his belief that where the country was going was basically the decision of the rich. He said, you can not live in a bubble as if the poor do not exist and then expect to keep all your freedoms, eventually the poor will vote you out, because more people are poor than rich.

Its my strong opinion that the greed of the rich in our society has basically set into motion the strong movement towards socialism. When Jesus tells the story of the rich man that stores up his treasure for himself. He starts the parable like this, "Once there was a rich man that had a bountiful harvest." He doesn't say, "Once there was a bad rich man who had a bountiful harvest that was evil." No, in fact, the tone from the story is that the rich man's talent and his bountiful harvest was a gift from God, a blessing. The rich man was simply a steward, it was his choice. He chose to hoard it for himself, imagine if he chose to use this for the good of those around him. Its obvious what would have happened, the blessing would not have stopped, and the poor would feel no desire to rise up and defeat this good man.

As a culture, for a long time, our society lived like the rich man from the Gospel, and the fruit of this is a move toward socialism, which only infects society, because Government's make very cold mothers, try doing a business dealing with the government, and you will understand coldness. The question is do we want every form of society infected with this spirit. Or do we want to be the ones that spread the warmth of goodness, through our own choices, not through mandates.

Here's the good news, there's a way back. But its harder now, we actually had a lot of resources in which to give back then, it would have been easier to show that humans, not only have the ability to give, but have the desire, because its in his own best interest. Now the way back will be hard, but the fruit will even be better, we have to simplify our own lives, and look to give to the poor from our resources, to give from our wants. Even in our own small lives, our gifts will make a difference. Governments make cold mothers and fathers, but people make warm one's. That's our task to move towards more freedom.

John Wooden- Had to Share

On the 21st of the month, the best man I know will do what he always does on the 21st of the month. He'll sit down and pen a love letter to his best girl. He'll say how much he misses her and loves her and can't wait to see her again. Then he'll fold it once, slide it in a little envelope and walk into his bedroom. He'll go to the stack of love letters sitting there on her pillow, untie the yellow ribbon, place the new one on top and tie the ribbon again. The stack will be 180 letters high then, because the 21st will be 15 years to the day since Nellie, his beloved wife of 53 years, died. In her memory, he sleeps only on his half of the bed, only on his pillow, only on top of the sheets, never between, with just the old bedspread they shared to keep him warm. There's never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or a finer coach. He won 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA, the last in 1975. Nobody has ever come within six of him. He won 88 straight games between January 30, 1971, and January 17, 1974. Nobody has come within 42 since. So, sometimes, when the Basketball Madness gets to be too much -- too many players trying to make Sports Center, too few players trying to make assists, too few coaches willing to be mentors, too many freshmen with out-of-wedlock kids, too few freshmen who will stay in school long enough to become men -- I like to go see Coach Wooden. I visit him in his little condo in Encino, 20 minutes northwest of Los Angeles , and hear him say things like "Gracious sakes alive!" and tell stories about teaching "Lewis " the hook shot. Lewis Alcindor, that is...who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. There has never been another coach like Wooden, quiet as an April snow and square as a game of checkers; loyal to one woman, one school, one way; walking around campus in his sensible shoes and Jimmy Stewart morals. He'd spend a half hour the first day of practice teaching his men how to put on a sock. "Wrinkles can lead to blisters," he'd warn. These huge players would sneak looks at one another and roll their eyes. Eventuallee, they'd do it right. "Good," he'd say. "And now for the other foot." Of the 180 players who played for him, Wooden knows the whereabouts of 172. Of course, it's not hard when most of them call, checking on his health, secretly hoping to hear some of his simple life lessons so that they can write them on the lunch bags of their kids, who will roll their eyes. "Discipline yourself, and others won't need to," Coach would say. "Never lie, never cheat, never steal," and "Earn the right to be proud and confident." If you played for him, you played by his rules: Never score without acknowledging a teammate. One word of profanity, and you're done for the day. Treat your opponent with respect. He believed in hopelessly out-of-date stuff that never did anything but win championships. No dribbling behind the back or through the legs. "There's no need," he'd say. No UCLA basketball number was retired under his watch. "What about the fellows who wore that number before? Didn't they contribute to the team?" he'd say.
No long hair, no facial hair. "They take too long to dry, and you could catch cold leaving the gym," he'd say. That one drove his players bonkers. One day, All-America center Bill Walton showed up with a full beard. "It's my right," he insisted . Wooden asked if he believed that strongly. Walton said he did. "That's good, Bill," Coach said. "I admire people who have strong beliefs and stick by them, I really do. We're going to miss you." Walton shaved it right then and there. Now Walton calls once a week to tell Coach he loves him. It's always too soon when you have to leave the condo and go back out into the real world, where the rules are so much grayer and the teams so much worse. As Wooden shows you to the door, you take one last look around. The framed report cards of his great-grandkids, the boxes of jelly beans peeking out from under the favorite chair, the dozens of pictures of Nellie. He's past 90 now. You think a little more hunched over than last time. Steps a little smaller. You hope it's not the last time you see him. He smiles. "I'm not afraid to die," he says. "Death is my only chance to be with her again." Problem is, we still need him here!

The Beauty of the Seasons

At the website FirstThings.com, they made a point about the covenant that God makes with Noah, everyone already knows about God's promise never to send another flood to destroy the earth, but something that most people miss is the second part of that promise found at Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth endures,seedtime and harvest,cold and heat,summer and winter,day and night will never cease.”
In other words, as long as life endures we will live in a world governed by regularity and sameness.

That's why I love this quote, which I posted a couple weeks ago,

"A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough. . . It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

The Fall is a great time to delight in all the monotony of God's creation, the smells, the sights, the glory of creation.

What's the right question?

The thing I love most about these Monday morning blogs is that it reminds me of things I need to be focusing on. Last Tuesday, I read a quote from C.S. Lewis about the question people ask in order to have a happy marriage.

"Lewis said that you don’t get married to become happy, but rather to make the other person happy. Your own happiness is a by-product, a consequence, of maintaining the proper end. If, by contrast, you get married simply in order to make yourself happy, your true happiness is made that much more unlikely."

Let that sink in. That's the formula. If we are constantly thinking, I wish I was happier in my marriage, we are actually wasting precious time and energy keeping us from what will make us truly happy. The more we seek to make our life happier for our spouse, the happier we will become in the process. But its an act of surrender, we can't look to control how our spouse will receive our kindness. Just love and let God, who is mysteriously present within the Sacrament of marriage, do all the work. That is what is so interesting about the Sacrament of marriage, the Grace is life long, and the grace is always present. I believe it was GK Chesterton that joked, the reason that marriage is a sacrament, is because we need it to be, or else a man and a women could never co-exist for life! But with the Sacrament of marriage, not only can a man and a women co-exist, but we can thrive!

Had to Share this quote from GK Chesterton

It expresses the wonder we need to view life through! Powerful, my kids always, and I mean always say this, in fact, I think its the only thing my 20 month old knows how to say- Do it again!

"A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough. . . It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we." GK Chesterton

The Power of Choosing real Love

I have recently started reading Fyodor Dostoevsky famous novel The Brothers Karamazov. I was struck by the incredible cast of characters that considers this the greatest novel ever, (Nietzsche, Freud, Kurt Vonnegut, Albert Einstein, Peter Kreft, Father John Neuhaus, the priest who married my wife and I, Father Don Haggerty, Dorothy Day). I thought wait a minute, Nietzsche, Freud, Peter Kreft, Dorothy Day? What am I missing. The first two were atheists, and the argument can be made that no two people did more damage to the world of thought that Nietzsche or Freud. Shouldn't I stay away from a book that they both consider the best ever. The answer is no, because truth is beautiful. A very evil man can look at a sunset and love it, he could even love it so much that it changes him. There are two very famous quotes from the Brothers Karamazov, the first one is, "Beauty will save the world," Nothing convinces us of the truth more that beauty, the beauty in creation, the lived beauty of a holy life.

The second famous quote was found at the bedside of Dorothy Day upon her death. When I first read it, I thought it was too extreme, but as I thought about it, its beautiful. Dorothy Day thought that working with the poorest of the poor would just be all romance, and what she found was quite different. Love is hard, but even on True Love's worst day, its so much better than Love in Dreams. Its our choice, we can choose to do all the heavy lifting of real love, or we can accept a counterfeit our whole life. Here's the quote;

“I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labour and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science. But I predict that just when you see with horror that in spite of all your efforts you are getting farther from your goal instead of nearer to it- at that very moment I predict that you will reach it and behold clearly the miraculous power of the Lord who has been all the time loving and mysteriously guiding you.” Fyodor Dostoevsky,The Brothers Karamazov, chapter 4

Pure Gold

We are blessed right now with some amazing prophetic voices in the Catholic Church through out the world right now, here are a few below: With so much garbage out there to read, here are a few links that will edify you on a daily basis.





1.) Pope Benedict- Just for one week read his Wednesday Angelus, and his Sunday Homily, you can find that here. http://www.vatican.va/.





2.) Franciscan Friars of the Renewal- Their homebase is in the Bronx, N.Y. here is their weekly e-letter- http://www.franciscanfriars.com/fr_glenn_letters/frglenn1144.htm





3.) Community Cenacolo Website- This community proves that almost any hardship or addiction can be overcome with the Eucharist, and Family or Community Life. http://www.hopereborn.org/- They post every 2 weeks, and the Europe post is once a month.





4.) Michael O'Brien- I love his art and his novels, he has an internet newsletter every month- http://www.studiobrien.com/. This is always excellent.





5.) Mission Moment- My good freind Bill Donaghy has an excellent blog a couple times a week, check it out at http://www.missionmoment.blogspot.com/.





I promise that you will be edified from each of these sites. After 30 days, if your not 100% satisfied, you can have your problems back no questions asked

Ode to the Fall

I love doing this for every season, because its a way to remind myself to be on the look out for all the great lessons that nature has to offer. The Fall's easy, here our a few:

1.) The Smells of Fall- The smell of burning leaves, the smell of outdoor fires, the smell of nature dieing, its amazing how good the Fall smells.

2.) The Sites- The Falls greatest gift is how it shocks our system, its so beautiful that it makes us take notice, especially here in the Northeast, driving on the turn-pike and just watching the sheer amount of different colors in nature. This very well might be the biggest benefit of the Fall.

3.) October fest- I love October fest and Fall fests, starting this weekend, I will try to make all of them!

4.) Football- I love watching football, high school, college, pro, it doesn't matter. I was reflecting on why Americans love football so much, and I think its simple, its very easy to watch, the flow of the game lends itself to watching, with the fireplace on, my family around, and a football game on, does life get much better than that?

5.) Food- I love the food that gets kicked off around the Fall, in fact I love it so much that I let it continue all yearlong! Apple cider (I start drinking it in the Fall, and I don't stop) Ginger-snap cookies (Orange Box, Ridiculous) I eat those all year round as well. German Beer- you get the idea!

Those were only a couple things I could think off, I will add more as they come to me!

The Lord of the Rings, and falling deeper in Love with the world

I am just now finishing Tolkiens classic work, The Lord of the Rings, I started the book just to read it to my kids, and quickly became absorbed in it myself. There is great reason that every time a vote is taken by mass amounts of people about the greatest work of fiction ever written, the Lord of the Rings almost always wins. I am actually starting to believe that all of the books critics never read it, because its that powerful. Just for fun, read the reviews on amazon.com's website about the book for yourself, this book has rightfully had a powerful impact on people.

I wanted to make a larger point though that has been resonating with me ever since I read the book, that there is incredible beauty in this huge world. According to Peter Kreft in his book, The Philosophy of Tolkien, that was one of the main points that Tolkien wanted to express to the reader, how big the world is, that there's dragons, but fear not, because there's also hero's.

The point of this post, is how much Tolkiens art has helped me fall in love with the world even more. Every tree top, every sound of water, either the ocean or a river, every flower, and most importantly, every person, every smile. Tolkien describes these things in almost painstaking detail. In one point in the book, the fellowship is blindfolded, and Frodo remarks that the experience made him appreciate the incredible sounds that are all around us, that in our noise we take for granted. As I read those lines, I was struck by the beauty of the sounds all around me.

God went to even more painstaking detail in creating the world around us, it would seem to me a great act of pride, not to constantly, and I mean constantly take notice. Beauty- Its everywhere, and I am determined to fall in love with it a little more every day, just take a second to listen the next time you step outside, and allow God to invite you into His world of beauty!

Too Good not to share www.comunitacenacolo.it/viewprimopiano.asp?idlingua=2&keypagina=2407

Searching for the Garden of Eden

I went to one of my closest friends wedding's last night, and I heard something said in the homily that has been resonating in me ever since I heard it. "that the blessing of marriage was a gift of life that was present before the fall of man" Think about that for a second, because it dawned on me that we can learn so much about happiness now from what God originally intended for us in Eden. John Paul II would always speak about Jesus proclamation, "In the beginning it was not so," So what was in the beginning that is so important. What did God originally intend for us in Eden that is so important.

I want to offer two area's of life that were "in the beginning" that we need to learn from. Number One, "Marriage"- The love between man and women. "In the beginning" there was no disconnect between "Language" (What we say), and "action" (What we do). In marriage, we say "I will love you faithfully forever," so we have to live that in all our actions, to be a constant gift to the other person. This being a "gift" effects everyone, because living and thinking about others (selfless love) is the only path towards happiness. This "self-gift" is not only about sex, its about all the One thousand small ways that we can serve our spouse everyday, but also in sex, the message is clear, "In the beginning" words and actions were connected, Adam said to Eve "I will give you 100% of myself" with his words, and his actions bore witness to this proclamation. This is why birth control is so wrong, because its not true. The husband says to his wife, "I will give you 100%", but with contraception you are holding back the very essence of yourself, the ability to create and to give. (Not everyone can have and raise children people say, this is true, I will cover this next week.)

The second area that was "In the beginning" is "work". Before the Fall, Adam would have had to have worked to support and "be a gift" to his wife. So Work was something that was present in the life of man before the Fall, meaning "work" is a gift. Think about it, if a person had all the money in the world, and decided to stop working and just relax for his entire life, this would not be a recipe of happiness. In fact, it would probably be a recipe for disaster.

We can learn so much from God's original intention for us, marriage and work are just 2 of the gifts that were present before the Fall, and they speak about a theme that is a key for us. "Self Gift". The more our marriage and our work reflects an attitude of joyful service the more happy we will be. But we can't wait until everything is "perfect" to have this attitude. We have to start now, in almost any form of work, we can have an attitude of "Joyful service", and just for today, may we be a "cheerful giver" to our spouses.

Victor Frankl Quotes

I stumbled upon these quotes from Victor Frankl over the weekend, and they are extremely powerful. He said he received so much consolation as a prisoner to see other prisoners giving their last pieces of bread to other hungrier prisoners, that he concluded mans freedom and responsibility were the two gifts that no one could take a way from us under any circumstances, they were ours alone! I love his idea that we have a statue of liberty on the east coast and a statue of responsibility on the west coast.

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."

"Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibilities. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."

Governments make for Cold Mothers, and Cold Fathers

I don't like writing about politics on this blog, because we get too much of it everyday from the media, but I do like writing about culture, and the health care debate involves our culture, so I wanted to weigh in. When ever I speak with someone that supports President Obama's health care plan, the common answer that people give, is that Health care is a right. That no society can exist when people are denied the care needed to stay healthy and truly pursue happiness. As always I respond, I completely agree, 100%. The debate becomes, how do we achieve this. Its funny, I wonder sometimes if supporters of the current health care reform believe that people who oppose the current reform don't want that for all citizens?

Our basic physical needs to survive are food, clothing and shelter, its amazing how these are not considered even more of a "right" than health care. But imagine for a second that everyone of the above items was a "right" that the Government supplied. The answer is, we don't have to imagine it, it has already been tried. Visit Croatia sometime, and ask the people if they enjoyed "Government housing"? Visit Cuba or Russia and ask the people if they enjoyed, "food rationing" The obvious answer is they didn't, it was horrible. But that doesn't mean their original premise wasn't correct, "People need food, clothing and shelter, how do we best take care of our people,"

So what does work? The American experiment works, even with all its shortcomings and failings, it works. Because it harnesses the strength hidden within each of us. I would propose 3 reasons that it works much of the time, Competition, Families, and individual rights.

The title of this Post is that Government makes for cold mothers and cold fathers. But here's the good news, mothers make very warm mothers, and fathers make very warm fathers. The more we promote and strengthen families the less food, shelter, clothing, health care, and education will be an issue. But not everyone has a family? and even in strong, loving families, the basics are often not available? These are both true, and this is where individual rights and the human touch comes in. If we want a better society, we need better people, not more programs. Wouldn't it be great if we could make a tax deductible charitable gift to pay for a poor families health care. Then instead of a bureaucrat giving care, its a fellow citizen, who gives, and whose heart expands in that giving, making the world better just in the act of giving!

Lastly, Competition. this is not a dirty word. When a person makes an investment in their house, do they only get one quote? No, in order to drive the price down, you should get multiple quotes. The most basic reform needed is to open of the purchasing of health insurance across state lines, we should try and fill the market place with as much competition as possible and this will lower the price all the way around.

George Bush should have realized before going into Iraq that public opinion was waivering big time, and he should have listened to the American people. The prideful thing to belive and say is, "I know what's best". Clearly he didn't. America is saying the same thing to President Obama, I have a feeling he will take the same path as George Bush, "I know what's best". The same thing will happen, people will stop supporting him, because he doesn't listen. He will not be more popular if he wins this debate, but much less.

Excellent Article on Obama- Care

By JOHN MACKEY
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."
—Margaret Thatcher
With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people's money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. They are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation, or they will bankrupt us.
While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone:
View Full ImageChad Crowe

• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs). The combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs is one solution that could solve many of our health-care problems. For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness.
Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time. Our team members therefore spend their own health-care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in. This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. Our plan's costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of worker satisfaction.
• Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair.
• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.
• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.
• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.
• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?
• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.
• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?
Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America
Even in countries like Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care. Rather, citizens in these countries are told by government bureaucrats what health-care treatments they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them. All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce treatments.
Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment, according to a report last month in Investor's Business Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.
At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund. Our Canadian and British employees express their benefit preferences very clearly—they want supplemental health-care dollars that they can control and spend themselves without permission from their governments. Why would they want such additional health-care benefit dollars if they already have an "intrinsic right to health care"? The answer is clear—no such right truly exists in either Canada or the U.K.—or in any other country.
Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.
Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.
Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age.
Health-care reform is very important. Whatever reforms are enacted it is essential that they be financially responsible, and that we have the freedom to choose doctors and the health-care services that best suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices. We are all responsible for our own lives and our own health. We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health. Doing so will enrich our lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American society

Simplicity, the Eucharist, Family, and joy

I love reading this website every week www.hopereborn.org, its for Our Lady of Hope Community in Florida and around the world, and its a drug and all around school of life for those that struggle the most in society. I actually visited this community when my family and I were on vacation in Florida in March, it was funny because I expected it to be like a monastery with men in full robes, etc. I was in for a surprise when one of the guys cooking dinner had tattoo's up and down his neck. I loved it, these were the worst of the worst in society, and now they are on fire for their faith.

Something really struck me from their last post, and it was 4 words that summed up their community. (Simplicity, the Eucharist, Family, and Joy).

What an awesome road map for all of our smaller communities. If we feel that we are out of sorts, those 4 words are a great path back.

The World's View of Marriage, and God's View of Marriage

Below are some funny quotes from celebrity's on marriage, but it makes the point well, that in the world's eye's, marriage is all about my own personal feelings, the idea that love and marriage can be part of the will is laughable to the modern mind. But nothing will lead a person away from happiness more quickly than being ruled by our feelings. I loved watching Lance Armstrong do the mountain climbs in the tour De France, he was using every inch of his will, and what a great gift the will is, but the will is not only for sports and work, its also for love. When we direct our romance to ignite proper passions to the one we should be loving, we are using our will. Have a look at the striking contrast between the saints and the celebrities.

"In Hollywood a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk. "
Rita Rudner

"We were happily married for eight months. Unfortunately, we were married for four and a half years. "
Nick Faldo

"My toughest fight was with my first wife."
Muhammad Ali (1942 - )

"There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn what it is I'll get married again. "
Clint Eastwood (1930 - )

Da Saints:

"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live. " Pope John Paul II

"Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church." Pope John Paul II

"When the glamour wears off, or merely works a bit thin, they think they have made a mistake, and that the real soul-mate is still to find. The real soul-mate too often proves to be the next sexually attractive person that comes along."

"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to. " JR Tolkien

In Love with the Ocean

The ocean is such an unbelievable gift, on Saturday night I was tired and stressed out from a few different things, and my wife and I went for a walk by the ocean after the kids were asleep, and as I listened to all the sounds of the rush of the waves, my heart completely calmed down. Then first thing in the morning, I dove in the ocean to wake up, and believe me Star-Bucks hasn't made a coffee yet to compete with the oceans ability to wake and stir, and bring to life. Then on the beach, my kids literally swam in the surf for 4 straight hours, we kept on begging them to build a castle, or do something on the beach, but the appeal to just ride waves endlessly was too great. That night we had to carry them in from the car, because they feel asleep so quickly, and we weren't far behind, the ocean can wake you up in the morning, and it can knock you out for the greatest sleep of your life at night.

I have said this my whole life, its almost like God placed a healing tonic in the ocean. Here's what I think it is, its so important in life to notice how big the world is, that in life we can go from mystery to mystery, the layers get bigger and bigger if we notice, the mystery gets deeper and deeper. From a blade of grass, to a Rose, to the Ocean at night, and culminating with the beauty of human life. Some of the mystery's don't grab us, but the ocean forces us to take notice, it captures us, it expands our horizons, and makes us believe that anything is possible.

I am reading JRR Tolkiens "The Lord of the Rings", and something really jumped out at me, that when Gollum becomes possessed by the Ring, it says, he stopped noticing the Mountain tops, and the flowers, and his head was always downcast! When I read it, I said wow. Because the Ring symbolizes all wrongful attachment, drugs, money, pornography, power, everything. "He stopped noticing the mountaintops,"

May we never fail to notice the mystery, and may we let the mystery draw us out of ourselves, so we don't walk around like Gollum with our heads downcast.

The Victory of Love

Today was the funeral for Mary Coppa Coffey, and it was so sad to watch our friends suffer this loss. But there was a lot of graces, Caridinal Rigili was the main celebrant, and as he said its a guarantee that she is in Heaven with God, her suffering was so disproportionate that we can almost ask God for anything through her intercession, and in some ways God can't refuse her. Its like a loving father that sees his child suffer, and then the child ask the father to help someone else, if the human father could, he would do it. God can do it, and anything that little Mary brings him, its my opinion that He will do it.

So Jim and Felicia want people to ask for big favors from God through Mary's intercession. They prayed for a miracle that she might live, and they know that their prayers will be answered in the countless miracles that will pour down because of Mary. Jim just received a note from a man, that returned to prayer for the first time in 20 years when he received an e-mail to pray for little Mary, and he hasn't stop praying since. I have already brought a major intercession to Mary, I know she's working on it for me! She could not speak on earth, she can now, can you imagine God denying her anything?

Mary Coppa Coffey

Our great friends Jim and Felicia lost their beautiful and wonderful daughter this morning. We are so sad to lose this amazing treasure, but as Jim said to me this morning, they are at peace knowing that they have a Saint in heaven watching over them forever. they have all ready fullfilled their role as parents, they raised a Saint, they brought to the world a saint, and now she will be spending her time in heaven doing good on earth for her family and for others.
I wanted to relate a story about Mary, I went and saw her yesterday, and it was really a very meaningful experience for me. Here was a little child who just underwent heart-surgery, but she was performing heart surgery on me, literally, staring at her was ripping my heart open. In the 20 minutes I was with her, I was beginning to understand something of beauty, and how much the world needs Mary. I thought to myself many times, wow, she is so beautiful, it taught me an amazing lesson, to look past the surface and look right to the heart, look right to the soul. Her grandpop said something to me that also struck me, without souls like Mary, the world would fall apart," Its good for our human hearts to burst when we see such beauty.

Prayers for Mary Coffey

Please pray for a miracle for our good friend Jim and Felicia Coffey's daughter, her story is here. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marycoppacoffey

Lightheartedness and the Spiritual Life

Levity and Joy are so important to the spiritual life, because they are the antithesis of Discouragement and hopelessness. The reason its so important to fight against discouragement and hopelessness is because these are the times when we are most easily tempted. When we are thankful and full of joy, we are more likely to choose virtue and love. The saints knew this well, below are some examples.
St. Thomas More- thought that Levity was such an important part of the spiritual life that he actually bought a pet Monkey to run around his house, because he always wanted his home to be a place of jokes and laughter. In fact, basically the last thing Thomas More ever said was a joke. He told the person that was about to behead him that, he'd better sharpen the blade, because he was known to be "thick-necked". What Faith, he is about to get his head removed, and he is cracking jokes.
St. Phillip Neri- Was known as the Clown, he valued Joy and Laughter so much. Whenever a person came to confession taking themselves to seriously, he would give them a penance to lighten them up, for example he asked one man to shave 1/2 of his beard for a week. He begged God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and God gave it to him in abundance. It was discovered at his death that his heart was almost double the normal size, he was so kind to people in confession, that people reported feeling warm whenever they would leave confession with him. He was truly a Lion from the pulpit, but a lamb in the confessional.
John Paul II- It was found out after his death, that he would sneak out of the Vatican to make ski trips in the northern part of Italy. He thought exercise was so important, that he asked the Vatican when he became Pope to build a swimming pool, when they stated it would be too expensive to build one, he replied, can you imagine how expensive it would be to elect a new pope, and they built the pool. When a reporter spotted him skiing one time as Pope, he was amazed how talented he was, and asked, "isn't it a scandal that the Pope is such a good skier," to which JP II responded, "It would only be a scandal if the Pope weren't a great skier,"
St. Francis of Assisi- It was said that whenever a brother would come into the community looking downcast, he would tell them, "return to your cell for prayer, until you discover the Joy of your salvation,"
We are made for Joy, just look at children, its their natural response to life. Prayer and the Sacraments are the road to Joy, especially confession and the Eucharist. As St. Francis said, after spending time before the tabernacle its very hard not to find the Joy of our life. I love the below quote from Tolkien,
"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth . . . which every man's heart desires

On Vacation

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Open Up and Say "Awe"

The below post is from my friend Bill Donaghy at http://www.missionmoment.blogspot.com/; I loved this post so I wanted to share it here; Enjoy July 4th!

"Entrances to holiness are everywhere. The possibility of ascent is all the time. Even at unlikely times and through unlikely places."
- Bamidbar Rabba
Our little boy is captivated by absolutely everything. He is nine months old; his little eyes are brand new, his tiny ears are brand new, and his little soul is like a sponge absorbing EVERYTHING.
We watch in amazement as the little nuances of sunlight on a wall capture his attention, or the corners and colors of his toy blocks become like the facets of a diamond in his hands. The other day, he amused himself with a plastic cup for about 15 minutes, turning it over and over again in his fingers, crinkling it, bending it, chewing on it. It was hilarious too watch, and humbling at the same time. Humbling that something so ordinary could capture his attention for so long...
Our little boy is teaching us as parents, with our 30 something eyes and ears and hearts, to see everything as if fresh from the Hands of God. These are the days of living wonder for him... and for us.
THE BIG PICTURE
Catholics are back in "Ordinary Time," liturgically speaking, but beware... this is just when the most extraordinary things can happen. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, I think we're given the power to see things in their true light, finally.
Our boy is still dripping with the waters of Baptism; he can see. But with the gift of the Spirit, we too can "see." Finally, the veil of mediocrity, of ennui, of agenda, or mere utility (only seeing a thing as a thing for our use) is pulled away. The Spirit is our Divine Physician making a house call, inviting us to open up our mouths and say "awe." To be captivated again. Behold! The world is full of gratuitous beauty! Faces, places, colors, sounds take on all the freshness which they had for us when we were young and the world was new.
Further, we can with the gift of the Holy Spirit go into those places we once feared the most; the inner depths of our own hearts, those locked rooms, those shadowlands that we thought we're unapproachable by anyone, including ourselves, let alone God. Now, He whispers, let's "lower our nets for a catch." And He says, "Fear not," reminding us that we are truly called to be like little children, and that He Who Is Our Father will take us into those places by the Hand.

May God grant us "old heads" the grace to become little again. To rediscover everything, to see every object and every subject, every thing and every person as a gift from the Hands of the Father. From the ordinary and mundane to the extraordinary and sublime...
"To see the miraculous within the ordinary is the mark of highest wisdom."- Ralph Waldo Emerson