Embrace Life Now and For All Eternity

As the seat belt protects us in life, so the teachings of Christ and His Church protect us unto Life Eternal.

Make your Lent this year ... well worth it.

For yourself and for your family.

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It's Friday in Lent

This is our day of Penance which through our observance deepens our commitment to Christ during this Season of Lent.

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Warning: Don't believe everything you see !

I have my computer, my lap top, my blackberry … etc … I wouldn’t want to live without them. Technology today is incredible, mind-blowing and, yes, it even has a deceptive side to it.

When you watch tv or go to the movies … you’re not always seeing what you’re seeing. Take a look at this; sit back and enjoy the magic:

This First Week of Lent

As Jesus was lead into the desert by the Holy Spirit, we, too, are brought into the desert of Lent. This spiritual journey of 40 days is a good time for reflection as well as renewal. Along this journey, though, we will definitely be tempted by shortcuts and attractive alternatives.

Our participation in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist should not be taken easily and dismissively. This is our nourishment for the soul, the strength we need for this passage we have undertaken.

Since our passage is already in its sixth day, let us ask ourselves a few questions:
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What spiritual progress do I hope to make this season of Lent?

What steps am I willing to take toward that end?

What saving action am I grateful for in my own life?

Do I remember to offer God the first fruits of my own efforts?

Do I nurture the virtue of gratitude in my heart?

How am I doing in regard to temptations in my own life?


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The First Sunday of Lent and the Temptations of Jesus in the Desert

A most unusual but compelling interpretation of today's Gospel:

Does this look delicious or what ?????

But NO my brothers and sisters: today is Friday and it's Lent.

NO Meat today!!!!!

Oh, no: today is Ash Wednesday

Good Bye Wendy's

Good bye Number 2 Combo

Good bye Double cheese hamburger

Good bye dessert

See you all again on Easter Monday

Speaking of Nuns

Twelve years ago at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, a 17-year-old speedskating prodigy named Kirstin Holum was tapped for future greatness.

When Holum placed sixth in the 3,000 meters – one of the most grueling disciplines in the women’s program, a lung-scraping four-minute bust of lactic acid torture – speedskating insiders predicted a golden future and speculated she may not even reach her peak for another decade.

Like many of the longer distances, the 3,000 is regularly dominated by older athletes, as it can take years to build up the requisite reserves of aerobic capacity and deep-tissue resilience. At Nagano, 32-year-old Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann of Germany claimed the gold.
Holum was born into speedskating royalty. Her mother Dianne was a world-class speedskater who won Olympic gold in 1972 and reached even greater heights as a coach, mentoring the legendary Eric Heiden to his clean sweep at Lake Placid in 1980.
Despite an ongoing battle with exercise-induced asthma, Holum was a champion waiting to happen. Instead, Nagano would signal the final time she would pull on a pair of skates with competitive intent.

From that point on, her life began an entirely different journey.

“Speedskating was such a huge part of my life,” Holumn said in a telephone interview with Yahoo! Sports. “I still loved the sport, but I had this incredibly strong calling that it was time to move on and take a different path in life.”

There is no television and no internet at St. Joseph’s Convent in Leeds, England, meaning Holum won’t get to watch the Winter Olympics where she was supposed to become a star.
The peaceful surrounds of the convent is where Holum, now known as Sister Catherine, devotes her life to religious service as a Franciscan nun. That calling had begun on a trip to Our Lady of Fatima, a holy site in Portugal famed for a series of religious visions that appeared nearly a century ago. It was outside the Fatima basilica where Holum decided that a path of religious dedication, not frozen skating lanes, would be her destiny.

“It is funny now to think of how different my life is now,” she said. “I had the wonderful privilege of being able to compete as an Olympian, and now I am blessed to able to serve God and help those less fortunate.”
After completing an art degree, including a thesis on the Olympics at the Art Institute of Chicago, Holum joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, a faith whose mission is “work with the poor and homeless and evangelization.”
Based first in New York, Sister Catherine and her fellow nuns stepped onto the mean streets of the Bronx to work with some of the Big Apple’s most underprivileged children in areas steeped in gang culture. Such work and sacrifice in homeless shelters and soup kitchens gave her a deep-rooted sense of satisfaction that skating had never been able to provide.

She attacked each new project with the tenacity of an Olympian, and, according to Sister Lucille, who leads operations at the order’s Bronx chapter, the “compassion of an angel.”
“It is wonderful to see people’s faces light up when Sister Catherine shares her experiences of her time in speedskating,” Sister Lucille said. “She never boasts about it but she has come to realize that we are incredibly proud of her and are lucky to have her as part of our religious family. The sisters and the people we try to reach love hearing about what she accomplished.”
Last year, missionary work took Sister Catherine to England, where she has found her previous life as an athlete a useful tool in providing some “street cred” when dealing with skeptical youngsters.

“When I give my religious testimonies, it is fun to watch the reaction of the kids when I tell them I was in the Olympics,” she laughed. “Their eyes get really big and they start paying a lot more attention. It is a great thing to share with them and it gives me a lot of pleasure to think back and talk about it.
“It is not exactly something you would normally expect from a sister. But I think it is good for people to see that members of the religious order can come from any background and any walk of life. It is all about your commitment to the message.
“It brings back so many memories and it is such a long time ago it sometimes feels like it happened to someone else. Skating was part of who I was for such a long time but having something to look ahead to made things very clear.”
Despite her time away, the speedskating world has not forgotten Kirstin Holum. Shani Davis and Tucker Fredricks, both chasing gold for the United States in Vancouver, grew up skating with her in junior competitions and asked to be remembered to her.
“I wish them all the very best too and I will be thinking of them when they compete,” said Sister Catherine. “There is not really much opportunity for me to follow how things go but my thoughts and prayers are with them.

“It is strange for me to think that things could have been different for me and I could have been at the Olympics again, but it wasn’t the Lord’s path for me and I have no regrets.”

You Gotta See This

One week ago today, Oprah interviewed the Dominican Sisters of Mary who have their Motherhouse outside of Detroit. The interview is spectacular and gives excellent insight into this convent which is 13 years old and has 100 Sisters. IN this day and age, nothing short of a miracle. You gotta see this

Happy St. Valentine's Day: Everybody Wants To Be Loved ------ thanks for being in my life, Father Pat

Happy Valentine's Day ... 2010

Today is St. Valentine's Day

For those you love: wish them a blessed day (with you in it).

Who Dat?

Mardi Gras in Miami

The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus stands on the shore of the lake. He saw two boats there empty; the fishermen had left their boats. Jesus calls them to get back into their boats and try again. They obeyed. Then .....

They were astonished at the size of their catch.

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Do I get stuck in emptiness sometimes and abandon my boat?

Am I willing to hear God tell me to get back into my boat and set out for even deeper waters?

Have I ever witnessed in my life, like Peter and the others did, examples of great spiritual abundance?

Can I join the Prophet Isaiah (our 1st reading) and say: "here I am Lord, send me" ?


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