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.