Our Lady of Sorrows your heart pierced seven times yet never flinching in your hope, faith and love for God the Father, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit which rested on you bringing Jesus into the world. Pray for us, and intercede for our needs today when your greatest pains only further united you with God. Teach us how to use our suffering to do the same on this Good Friday.
-ehw
Oh Dear Lord thank you for the blessings of this life. Today I know I sit on a hilltop, and want to thank you for this moment where I can say thank you easily. I ask as the inevitable decent into a new challenge comes I find the strength in you to be like Job and the saints. In my thoughts, prayers, words and deeds may I continue to praise you through anything which falls on me.
Your Divine Mercy flows from the wounds you received on the very same cross I must help you carry. I know those wounds you bore came from my evil acts. I beg of you to forgive me, and wash me in the blood and water from your side. I yearn to learn great humility on this journey to our heavenly home, so my pride does not block me from passing through the camel’s eye.
May I always remember suffering has a purpose to help me, and this world, conform to your divine plan of salvation for those who seek it. Give me the wisdom to continually seek and act on true wisdom which only can come from you to advance your will on earth. Finally, please let me have a gift of cheerfulness. I must learn to carry your cross with a calm like your saints.
Jesus thank you for dying on the cross for my salvation. Thank you for offering salvation to my family and the whole world. I pray through the rest of my time here on this earth, I work towards contrition and mending the wounds I inflect on you and your body. At the end of my life…I beg you to grant your Divine Mercy on me so I can make the final step to be with you in heaven.
Jesus I trust in you!
Amen
-ehw
PS We spent the Divine Mercy hour at Adoration today in our parish. Great way to end a Novena.
Holy Saturday is always a quiet day for us. After two days in church and building up to a crescendo, we fall into a silence and quiet work of preparation for our Lord’s next great move. In some ways I really dwell on the fact that if he did not arise, all I believe is false. My faith would be a flat out lie. I could have no hope, and life would have no meaning. It would pail in comparison to what the Apostles and disciples were thinking, and worried about in that rented out upper room.
Luckily I know what I believe is true. I know it is true by faith, but even science and recovered history is confirming the many strands of the story as being consistent since the beginning of recorded time.
I wish I could hear the church bells tonight at Easter Vigil mass! What a glorious mass it will be.
St Brigid Church and St John Paul the Great
St John Paul the Great says: "No one apart from God can give you true happiness." He calls us to follow the example of Mary, in complete unconditional "yes" with no compromise or laziness. "Humanity is in urgent need of the witness of free courageous people who dare go against the tide and proclaim with vigor and enthusiasm their personal faith in God, Lord and Savior." This mission is never easy...and is impossible if we rely on the power of man alone. He quotes Luke to remind us "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
I am starting to get "it" in the long line of repentant sinners knowing I just need to do what we should. Tonight I'll pray we can all embrace the power of the supernatural God to be what we are truly called to be in our eternal home.
(Quotes and Lesson courtesy of Lent and Easter, Wisdom from Pope John Paul II, Compiled by John V. Kruse and published by Liguori Publications page 54)
In the darkest of times...where people keep faith in God they will find hope he placed in our hearts by the same God to do the works of charitas needed to build a foothold of his kingdom on earth, and earn entrance to his kingdom in eternal life.
If we loose the faith...the darkest of times becomes a very dark eternity without hope, and a complete isolation of self from others and our creator.
-ehw
The last two weeks were crazy: Long work days, family fighting off various rounds of the December virus, robotics competition, about two cords or more of fallen tree branches in the yard, family challenges that come with six kiddos, we lost a great American soldier I once was proud to call my own, trying to discern God's will for my family, and a dozen other crazy moments and challenges.
All this made me have a hard time focusing today. Very hard! All that stuff was running around in my head. Luckily I was able get a good rosary in at church, and then work on that yard doing physical labor for a few hours. In the rhythm of prayer and breaking down branches I centered myself for a while. So when Kalen and I came in from the rain, I was able to appreciate this one moment of two boys of mine playing.
In that moment of personal peace I was able to catch a photo of two boys secure in a warm house, loving each other, two boys who know they are loved by their parents, and safe from so much evil in the world...for just a moment. Now at the end of my day a friend lost his son-in-law in an accident, and I know I need to pray for him and his family. The sorrows and confusion of the world is back on. They, and so many others, need a moment of peace to begin to work towards healing.
I'll pray for all those who need their moment, because in my moment of peace I realized again how blessed I am. Blessings however cannot stay still, they must move on to help others. So I will do what I can in prayer tonight. I'll also pray someone who reads this, may just be inspired to join me in looking for moments of peace to share with the world.
-ehw
This weekend the 9AM needed a volunteer family to take home an older chalice, called the Elijah Cup, and put it in a prominent place in the home. Every time we see it, we should be praying for an increase in responses to vocation calls from Christ.
Well the kids asked and jumped into the isle...as another family further up and on the side also went up. To make it even more interesting a family up front, good friends of ours, also started to leap up and then stopped. We did not see the Deacon motion to the family to our right so we kept charging down the isle...so the six of us kept walking to the delight and laughter of the parish on collision course with the other family!
As we saw the other family come into view ahead of us, we sheepishly turned about. We were headed back to our pew for the dismissal rite when we heard a booming voice...."Wait we have another one!" from Father John Bosco Tri. So we went on up and accepted the cup he held!
I don't think Father Tri was going to let us go. See Father Tri and my John Paul already had a little talk. Father Tri offered John Paul use of his vestments two weeks ago....he seems pretty sure my JP will join him soon. (JP is only 22 months old right now so they are a little big on him.)
The serious side of all this is however, we need everyone to respond deeply to their vocation call. God does not stop issuing vocation calls. The problem is we just don't respond as we should primarily due to fear. Fear of giving ourselves away totally to God's design, fear of the reaction to our family, fear of the ridicule the world will put on us for being "old fashioned", or even fear of not knowing a safe place to begin the journey.
The result is a horrible vacuum. One priest for thousands of families, and the loss of nuns to build social networks of schools and services all mean the Body of Christ does not get the care it needs. A loss of religious vocations means families suffer as well, because trained religious are not there to nourish with sacraments, knowledge of sacramentals, and caring hands. The carnage does not end there though with the failure to heed our vocations.
How many fathers are afraid to lead their domestic church towards God? How many mothers are not bringing the heart of Christ into the daily routines of family life with courage? Without true fatherhood and maternal care, the fires of vocation will merely smolder in our souls. Never will the vocation fire burn bright for either task God could give us. All this leads to greater pain for the body of Christ as marriages suffer, sacraments go under offered and utilized, and churches close.
Recently I read how Mother Teresa understood her spiritual darkness to be her participation in the pain Christ has when we reject his cry of thirst to add our soul to his. Imagine how we could soothe Jesus suffering if we all began to encourage children to become religious if they receive the call? On their journey to discernment, we parents would need to grow in our faith as well since we are their first teachers. A testament to this growth of faith, would be the rejection of the contraceptive movement, and the growth of larger families once again in Catholic households. From larger families historically come greater the number of vocations. This occurs since boys and girls do not feel the subconscious need to ensure there is an heir for the family name, or someone to care for parents in old age.
So pray for a great response to the vocations God sends us at any time in our lives!
Here is a short prayer for vocations I found:
O Holy Spirit, Spirit of wisdom and divine love, impart Your knowledge, understanding, and counsel to youth that they may know the vocation wherein they can best serve God. Give them courage and strength to follow God's holy will. Guide their uncertain steps, strengthen their resolutions, shield their chastity, fashion their minds, conquer their hearts, and lead them to the vineyards where they will labor in God's holy service.
Amen.
From EWTN: Click here to see the original
It is the time of year for getting ready to do our lent traditions to clear our hearts and souls for the coming of our savoir Jesus Christ. This is great! Being the 100th anniversary of Fatima also lends some urgency down the hearts of many faithful, as one of the primary calls Mary made was to repent and do penance for our sins and those of the whole world.
In a series of happy God driven coincidences, I opened a book my dear wife provided me for the first time (I just finished two others...she wants me to get spiritually smarter) The SPIRITUAL COMBAT and A TREATISE ON PEACE OF SOUL by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli. This book is a guidebook for many a religious soul, and a few saints like St. Francis de Sales. In just a few pages it roped me in, and started answering a few questions I've had.
Recently several experiences begged me to look for answers to the the proper understanding of a rule based and spirit based path to heaven. As a law and order type guy my whole life, simply following the rules is a very simple path for my little brain to follow. Do X and receive Y. The problem us law and order people have is this still leaves us short, because to obtain heaven we need nothing less than perfection in our souls as well as our actions!
Rule based paths to heaven are also dangerous to many of us. When we observe and judge people poorly because they are not as "observant," or will not practice the same extreme forms of asceticism we personally choose to do. When we do this, we easily fall into sin because we are comparing and showing off our "holiness." We become modern day Pharisees.
Instead we must carefully chose the form of self denials and rigor of our prayer life to draw us closer to the mysteries of Christ. This type of introspection, combined with strengthening spiritual exercises makes us primed like an soldier for the great battle working in unison with God's commands . We need all the strength possible for our daily battles with the prince of evil who seeks to turn us from the path of God to his by hook or crook.
Our example in all of this can be our dear mother Mary. In the Bible she says but a few words, but attends every major event with our Lord. She faces every temptation and torture a mother can endure, but never gives in to sin Mary also was compliant with the old Law she was born under, and the example of the new law of her son. She silently witnesses and participates in the unfolding of salvation, but never brings the focus to herself. Everything she does assists the Lord as he completes his mission for the world and all people in every age. Her Immaculate Heart always complements, and never overshadows the Sacred Heart of her son and our Lord.
As we go forward into Lent, Mary's Immaculate Heart example should guide us towards heaven. Accept the hardships of the fallen world, but never waver from following the law of God. We also will remember to seek greater understanding of God in all things we observe and do, and to bring God's graces to all those we meet.
-ehw
We Catholics witness today a sad turning point in out church history. We are looking at a demographic cliff of dying churches, and a youth which overwhelmingly not staying home in the church. The ability I had to swing into a local church for a Rosary, in a town not my own, in the presence of the Lord in Adoration may not be available to my children. I saw today a glimpse of hope I the church I visited today...one sixty plus parishioner, one 50 something, a 19-20 year old young man, and me Mr. Middle Aged man all sat together in the chapel. This was an encouraging mix to be part of for a Rosary.
On this trip I did find hope, as I met men living lives full of charitable work (done in God's name not theirs) all searching for better understanding of God's law. It reminded me, even though in the course of human events matters may appear bleak...if we pray for and believe in the supernatural power of God we may yet be surprised in how the world can turn to hear his word again. I know this does not avail me of my duties to evangelize, but it gives me faith to redouble my devotion and duty to live the word I deed.
-ehw
Over the last few years I found myself learning more and more of my faith...yet with each lesson I realized my understanding of faith is barely out of its infancy. I can grasp a concept, but to know the precise details will escape me for many years to come. I am not worried though, it just means each day I can explore a little more. I also take heed of St Thomas Aquinas vision...what we understand and can percieve here can do no justice to what the reality of what the Divine Law really is.
So if we can only see a glimpse of heaven in anything we think or create, I think religious art should reflect that. Eastern Rite Catholic churches have incredible icons which follow this very basic premise. What we see is not to be hyper realistic, but rather a starting point to enter the mystery presented. From this entry point in meditation, you can explore the rest of the story and its application in your life and its journey towards heaven.
Take this photo for example. A hyper realistic photo here would draw no interest. It was washed out, a simple statue in front of a church. There was however much more to its story if you cared to look for it. In the editing I found the amazing light and shadow contrast. I vignetted the photo to draw the eyes into my message, I knew the subject matter was an angel or a messenger of God and it just fit. I removed some color to make it timeless, since angels are timeless creatures. The contrast of the man made wall and green plants made me think of the leading Rosary mystery of that Friday...Mary why do you look here in a tomb for the living?
The scene before me became the pathway to a deeper meditation on something far bigger than I will ever be able to comprehend on earth through the creation of and review of Catholic religious art. One added bonus in all of this was I needed to quiet my mind to the world's distractions to see this. In the silence, is where God can speak to our souls, and where we need to spend some of our time each day. So I got my silence, my thought and my created art.
This is what making and viewing Catholic religious art should do for you...at least from my little spot on this earth.
-ehw
Oldest and youngest (for now) reading this past Christmas
Our current Western society praises itself on being rooted in control over nature through application of science and reason. Nowhere is this more evident than through control and size of the family. Embracing a large family is in fact the anti-thesis of control of nature. Therefore any counter-cultural move away from strict family control sets off a firestorm of emotion, debate, and shunning to bring people back into the fold.
The argument for a controlled size family is a logical outgrowth of the Enlightenment. The penny sized description of this philosophy is: If I can reason something out (logically order it through science) and I want to will it into being, the result I want to make can and should be as I want it to regardless of any historical or scientific obstacles. While the goal of Enlightenment thinkers is good, to make the world a better place, it fails because it assumes all things are ordered according to a single person's will.
In a precisely ordered world replacement level children would not be bad...it would simply ensure a stable society with Mom and Dad being replaced by their little children. It assumes there is no war, famine, enjoyment of bountiful years, divorce, recurrence of the Spanish Flu, accidents, control of passion by all people, natural spoiling of children, or change of political order. When in history has this ever happened? If I apply a scientific method to the review of history against any one of these factors, much less a combination of two, I can say never with confidence.
A view of family across all traditional cultures shows having a large nuclear family is a reward and sign of prosperity. Large families can take a loss, as tragic as it might be, and still survive to another generation. Families with large families embrace passion and reap the rewards with a 99% stability rate (i.e. no divorce) when using Natural Family Planning. In large families where parents have all the children help each other natural selflessness arises. Even economic science shows growing populations increase GDP, while stable and declining populations result in a loss of economic power despite automation.
Yet just saying have a large family is also a poor scientific argument as well. Many large families fail because they may be open to life, but fail in another basic component of success. One has to look into the why behind successful families everywhere, and its origins. These reasons come from observations in natural law, not man's law.
In Genesis we see man was not complete until he had a wife. Together they were to be fruitful and multiply. Proverbs tells us a man will have no fear to argue in the city gates when surrounded by his children. Jesus tells men they must serve their families to the point of complete self sacrifice, and women must listen to their self sacrificing men. (This addresses our greatest vices as men and women of power going to our heads, and sets the example for their children's future relationships) Time and time again we also read throughout the Bible we all must look for the Lord's direction, and build our world towards it. Embracing these lessons points us towards successful family models.
St John Paul II, in his masterful Theology of the Body, also reminds us men and women complete the other sex in marriage. In the marital act we participate in renewing creation with God. Acceptance and loving our resulting children then completes the family. When viewed in its totality, this sets up an environment where family life can mimic the Biblical revelations of Natural Law. This type of environment fosters good and minimize bad family effects we can see in the physical world around us, while moving from generation to generation.
In the a few short words above I hope this lets you understand where I started on my journey towards embracing the title of this post: Be Not Afraid (of a Plus Sized Family) in today's world. This decision does not come without challenges, doubts and trials. It is emblematic of real life, needing a constant renewal. Nothing worth doing ever came without cost...and never will. So be not afraid to look at the reality of the world, and use its very nature to form a better future according to the will of God revealed through nature. I promise the experience will really ENLIGHTEN you!
-ehw
P.S. Besides where would I get my cute photos of family life from without this many kids?
Holy Spirit Catholic Church Doraville, GA
Prayer is good. The saints say we are made to pray. Heaven is all prayer all the time. Thank God we still have places we can go and be in his presence for just 15 minutes!
Last year I embarked on a year with a prayer intention book. I am so happy for the many good returns, the strength delivered for continued toil, and friendships made stronger by unity in prayer. It is now a habit, and I will begin it again. It was fitting to start my second year on my knees before the Blessed Sacrament with a rosary on St. Dominic's feast day.
Prayer is made to bring us to God. To help us atone, nourish, and increase in our spiritual lives. There are tough patches, great patches and smooth sailing patches. Each has a purpose and they are worthy experiences for all to encounter.
-ehw
The magic of bubble or two in the life of a child is indescribable. A bubble is a one of a kind creation with a fleeting lease on life which can captivate a child's imagination. One set of magic bubbles like this will propel a child to make many more bubbles to see it if the magic will come again. I guess it would not hurt us adults to have our own fleet feet bubbles to call our own!
-ehw
Windmill on the property of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Hanceville, Alabama
When I saw this windmill I could see the outline, but not the details. The vast contrast between the bright rising sun and the shadow side of the windmill also deprived my eyes of fine color detail. My brain knew what was before me, but my senses could not grasp all the details as the wind gently started moving the blades and changing the scene.
I looked into the scene and then began to think of our spiritual lives. We first know the world as it exists around us with natural light and law. When God's light falls on the land the contrast between the right and wrong becomes distinct. What we thought before of our environment will radically change if we embrace God's law as our spiritual dawn arises.
This is the key moment in the transition between dawn to day in our spiritual lives. If we accept God's law over us, the light will continue to grow into full day. If we decide to follow man's law alone, we'll need to wait for the street lamps to come on to make sense of the world. Street lamps are no substitute for God's light.
Even with embracing God's Law bringing on our spiritual day, our earthly minds will never see the world as clearly as God sees it. We will, however, be gifted with the knowledge and graces needed to avoid pitfalls if we ask for them with heart, mind and soul. If we grasp the offered graces, sacraments, and penance we have a better chance to stay on the path to heaven.
If we obtain the prize of heaven through the gift of God's mercy, we will one day see as God sees. The outlines will suddenly become full of detail, the high contrast will yield brilliant color, and the slightest breeze will be noticed and appreciated.
Sounds good to me...
-ehw
Contrary to most descriptions, a Roman scourging was a vicious affair. It usually killed a person at forty lashes or greater because of blood loss from exposed internal organs. The entire purpose of a public lashing is to scare away people from either supporting the victim's cause or preventing certain crimes. It should come as no surprise there were very few of Jesus public supporters and apostles at the foot of his cross when he died. That was the entire idea behind a cruxifixction.
So approaching the Shrine, on the southern portico we have this cross at the end. With a single kneeler just begging you to come and pray with and for our Lord in his suffering. A suffering which continues today in this world. Jesus' persecution continues today with attacks on the people of his church around the world. Jesus' church on this earth needs our prayers as much now as ever!
So the lonely kneeler begs the question from Jesus: Will you pray for me?
-ehw
I started the day with prayer at this statue showing us how much God loved us...through the sacrifice of his only son on a cross. Below the statue were the graves of two aborted and five miscarried babies. As a father of four miscarried babies, my first thought was of mercy God provides these innocents by bringing them immediately into heaven. My second thought came back to praying the men and women who facilitated the abortions come home into God's graces.
I am a blessed man to have a father (and father-in-law) who taught me the meaning of devotion to family over self, to wife over self, to accept responsibility for my actions, and to honor God's commandments as a way of life. I know he picked me up, and kicked me along through hundreds of mistakes during my life. I also know he rejoiced in my successes when lessons applied finally yielded results.
As I labored for a living and travelled the world the last 27 years away from home, I came to realize this is not an experience all children receive. In fact report after report shows the lack of principled fatherhood is the primary factor for increased crime rates, lack of transmitted faith in God, disrespecting women in a hook up culture, and disengagement of boys with constructive endeavors and careers.
The only way to correct this problem in the future, is for a slow and steady conversion of hearts towards Christ. Christ provides the example of selfless love absent in much of our culture today. Christ provides the example of the stern, forgiving, task mastering, self sacrificing man needed to be a good father to children. Christ also demonstrates a humble reliance on God the Father, and subordination of his will to the master designer of all time and space needed to be a good husband to a wife.
If we look to Christ for answers, there would be no more abortions. We would never allow evil to come to our children if we were truly disciples of the word made flesh. From that simple beginning, so much more good would flow. Once we accept our fatherly call to teach, sacrifice and lead our families to heaven we never stop seeking a truth greater than we ourselves can understand alone.
So on this Father's Day I will pray graces flow, and men accept the call to be father's in the model of Jesus. It would simply make the world a much better place for the born and unborn alike.
-ehw
Loving our Desert Rose
The epitome of virtuous love is selfless giving of one's whole self. I cannot imagine any greater gift than selfless gifting love with a cross of pain on your back. Christ did this for all of us to open the gates of heaven. I am proud to say I know quite a few women (three very close to me) who fight through their own crosses and chronic pain and illness to be living pillars of virtuous love as mothers.
Building a home in Indiana
I've watched many go home exhausted from work with nerve pain causing a raging fire across the body with no know cure, asthma induced weariness, digestive problems, hormone imbalances, diabetes, excruciating pregnancy illnesses, and emotional turmoil when children reject good moral choices of living. When I ask why they do it, the same women tell me, "If I do not push through this pain my children do not get the home life they need in the world to be ready for it when I am gone." It is a common theme in each of these women. This mission is indeed grafted on their souls for life.
Wearing a new airport shirt since Kevin shared his breakfast.
I can imagine the temptation these women face when they see other moms bounce through life with the greatest of health and outgoing personalities. Those people get held up as the great ones in our world. To know these chronic sufferers will never be able take an "easy" walk with their children, awake without chronic pain, and will be looked down on by many because they supposedly just don't have the "mental fortitude" to be "more" than they are. These situations must produce feelings of envy, hopelessness and induce despair. Yet these chronic suffers, who hold a deep sense of faith in God, turn these vice filled thoughts around and defeat those harmful thoughts time and time again.
Making joy for Kellie Marie
These women are my inspiration. They create homes with hearts of joy, and communities of charity through their hidden pains. They take up the Cross of Christ, whether they acknowledge it or not, everyday. They suffer the pain of pierced hearts like Mary in silence, and turn the pain into graceful living. These two examples turn other hearts towards God by creating homes and families which match their hearts of sacrifice.
Holding the miracle baby John Paul
For these women I pray for God's mercy to shower on them forever. Today I hope you too join me in this noble cause.
Today our youngest, John Paul, got serious about crawling. A few little steps and lunges at a time, but it is the beginning of his journey towards independence. The troubles and joys this will bring will arise in the minds of each and every parent who survived it at least once.
One of the interesting things about our John Paul, compared to his four siblings, is his very delayed desire to crawl. The fact is the boy loves his standing bouncy toy. He bounces in that thing for hours each day. He also realizes if you walk, your hands can play with toys when you go places. So the reality is, crawling is not a very efficient or fun use of time. So after some coaching, the boy finally realized all the pieces for walking are not in place yet...so crawling is not such a step down.
Today I decided to join the nine day consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary being directed by Father Heilman of the website The Roman Catholic Man (Nine Day Consecration) using the writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe. I'm already glad I did the reading and lesson...because like John Paul I found myself wanting to walk faster in faith, but I found myself without all the necessary tools.
The one lesson I gained the most from today is the need for mercy in the grand plan for creation. I recently came to understand grace as the extension of kindness to the unworthy, and mercy as the withholding of a justified punishment. This made sense, but how does that relate to our salvation.
St. Maximillian Kolbe explains the role of mercy in salvation history in the form of a math problem we all once faced in middle school. Remember the problem where the teacher says:"To win this game you must obtain 100 apples. I will start you with 33. How long will it take you to obtain 100 apples if I give you 1/3 of difference you are missing each day?" At first you say two days! 1/3 each day! Then reality sets in.
You realize each day you would get only 1/3 of the way to the objective each day no matter how hard you try. Even when you are down to one apple, the teacher will only give you a third of the remaining apple needed to reach victory. Therefore you will NEVER reach 100 apples because I will keep giving you smaller and smaller slices for ever!
Having the sun shine on us as we collect those apple parts would be a whole lot of grace. But to reach 100 apples you need a game changer. That game changer would be mercy from someone who will bridge the gap by giving you some of his apples, I will not provide, to reach 100.
This is the mercy we need from God everyday. We are imperfect creatures, and no matter how hard we try will always be imperfect. God took care of this imperfection problem by providing a game changing assist. God the creator of our souls, worked through the Holy Spirit to place Jesus in our physical world as the son of Mary.
God became one of us, spoke to us, broke open the gates of hell, and offered each of us a spot in his family through his offer of adoption. These acts provide us the missing "apples" to put 100 in in our basket if we but stay on track to be in his family. This offer of mercy still must be earned, but it sits on the table for all to take advantage of if we are smart enough to grasp it.
Quite a lesson, and there was so much more...what a wonderful journey to start crawling on.
-ehw
On a short visit to Dallas, Texas and it is already a good adventure!
On the trip to the hotel I learned it was near no traveller destinations, unless you consider the red light theater and Bombshells Restaurant (with a less than stellar Google rating). Then to make things more exciting the taxi blew a tire on the highway! Luckily we were able to cruise to a stop at the exit where the hotel was located. Just under a half a mile walk with roller bags through tall grass on an access road and I was there! I must say my driver was very courteous and concerned, although I was more concerned about him! I even walked back to check on him after I dropped off my bags.
Walking around town was interesting. I saw seven different patrol units from various local law enforcement agencies. I think the razor wire around a hotel, fenced in compounds near the hotel, and cars coming together for short visits with people popping in and out of windows was what detectives call a "clue" the red light theater was not the only thing exciting around here for them.
It was a mile walk to IHOP, and I was a little sad when I got there since of course my world favorite pancakes were not on my available eating list. It was very crowded, and the crew was working their tails off. Service came with a smile. On the way home, belly full I got a little creative with my photos. When I arrived home I realized most of them were going to end up black and white since I had a high and bright sun. I'll share some tonight.
The purpose of this is to say I had some real thankfulness when I said my Divine Mercy Chaplet and Rosary last night. I was thinking this type of day was why our forefathers would build devotional sites halfway between towns in old Europe. Evil and nastiness is a part or our world. Recognizing the good people we meet on our travels inside these crazy evil clouds, lets us remember our job is to Capture His Glory in our hearts through them each and every moment of the day. For this I was thankful, and we all should be when we see people living virtue powered by God's grace.
-ehw
Kalen holds the Cross during the Blue Knight led Stations of the Cross
On Good Friday I put together a quest for our Blue Knights group. We visited three churches from noon to two and found short lessons at each church related to the passion of our Lord. We completed our Quest with a boy led Stations of the Cross in our home chapel of St Micheal the Archangel at Regina Caeli Academy. You can view a complete report on our Blue Knight website.
The regular group of seven had six potential recruits and our teen mentor join us for a day. During our travels we also met with three other families and five more children. All total it was a joy to see nine families and nineteen children participate during the day. It was also wonderful to hear the boys sing, respond to complicated questions, and enjoy being with their fathers. Our mother daughter team was precious as well, teaching us a lesson from the women of Jerusalem.
The funniest moments were at St Benedict at both the beginning and end of Stations. When the thirteen boys marched in with capes and uniform colored shirts followed by Dads, people stopped and wondered who we were. You could actually hear the whispers and see the heads turn. I must admit it was a quiet but very visual spectacle. At the end of stations I could see the pastor observing the long row of boys...I know he did not know who we were and was wondering where we came from. I think I'll drop him a note and thank him.
It was awesome to have fathers on board taking time with their sons to learn lessons, and mothers who spend great amounts of time building classically formed children inside their homes. I could see how each family was not using a cookie cutter approach to evangelization. It was easy to see families identifying what each child in their family needed, and searching out different methods of teaching each child. It was inspiring, and motivated me to continue doing the same with my sons.
The most reflective moment was after the boys completed their stations. Two boys quickly noted as we reflected on the death of Christ, the clock struck three. The timing was not choreographed, but perfectly summed up our day traveling with Christ to and through the cross.
Thank you Jesus for letting us participate with your in your passion on this Good Friday.
-ehw