Walking the Path

A belated happy new year to all. I’m not a fan of new year’s resolutions but here is my mission statement for 2012 courtesy of Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid:

MISSION STATEMENT:
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE UNASHAMED
(Author unknown)
I AM A PART of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.
The die has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is in God’s hands. I am finished and done
with low living, small planning, the bare minimum, smooth knees, mundane talking, frivolous living,
selfish giving, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, applause, or popularity. I don’t have
to be right, first, the best, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith. I lean on Christ’s presence. I love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with the power of God’s grace.
My face is set. My gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions
are few, my Guide is reliable, and my mission is clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not
flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up or slow up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and
spoken up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of Jesus. I am a Catholic. I must go until He comes, give until I drop, speak out until all know, and work until He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no difficulty recognizing me. My banner is clear: I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

Adapted from the original (author unknown) by Patrick Madrid

Waiting. What to do when we’re waiting? That’s something I’m thinking about this morning for a couple of reasons:

1) I’ve got a new job – which I’m really happy with – and it doesn’t start until February so I have two months to rest. What will I do with the time? Right now am thinking about catching up with friends and on my reading.

2) More importantly it’s Advent, the season when we await the coming of God the Son in the human form of Jesus Christ. How do we properly observe this time?

I’ve been praying a lot and trying to do works of charity as much as possible. The other thing is to really meditate on the daily mass readings. The readings this week are focusing on John the Baptist as he is the one who announces Jesus’ public ministry.

By meditating on these readings and listening to my pastor’s homilies at Sunday mass the last couple of weeks I think I’ve realized the best way to welcome Advent: by being John the Baptist.

As I said above John announced Jesus’ public ministry and we need to do the same by living out the Gospel in our daily lives. I’m trying to do a work of corporal or spiritual mercy every day. Most often that means praying a decade of the rosary for someone or an organization.

It’s a small work of mercy, but it is helping me to live out the Gospel. I’m focusing on God and making Him the centre of my life. At the same time I’m loving someone else as I love myself and by doing so repeatedly I’m finding myself slowly but surely becoming less selfish, more giving and more patient with others.

And isn’t that what Advent and Christmas are all about? Waiting for and sharing the joy of the wonderful birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

God Bless and Have a Wonderful Christmas.
J.

The last month has been a bit tough for me. I found out at the end of October that I will be laid off at the start of December. Right after the announcement I was crushed and then I turned to God in pray.

Through that prayer I found the comfort to pick myself and look for another job. I asked God to guide me and help me find a job where I can serve Him. There have been up and downs throughout the month and now I realize that those problems where coming because I didn’t let God work through me. When I did that things improved.

How have I let God work through me? By praying everyday. Doing the daily mass readings, praying the rosary, doing spiritual reading and praying the Divine Mercy chaplet every day.

All of those prayers and a helpful and understanding family as well as lots of prayers from my parish community and my friends have helped bring me to a state of peace. I’m now willing to take my time with things and God’s work can be seen. I have three second round interviews this week. Those aren’t offers yet but there will be one at some time in the future I just have to let God keep working through me.

Wish me luck.

God Bless and Have a Good Week.
J.

I’ve been really busy recently. But I’ve also found soliace in that work. While things have been quite busy I’ve been helped to get through this tough time by the work of one of my favourite saints St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei.

St. Josemaria emphasizes that everyone can be saints and we’re called to sanctify the world through our daily work by doing that work well, doing it in a state of grace and dedicating that work to God. That work includes our jobs but it also means our role as people. For me that means being a husband and a friend.

Since I want to dedicate the work of my life to God and do it well and in a state of grace. That means I have to take things slowly to make sure I do it with God in mind and behave that way. So I can’t rush things, otherwise I’ll get stressed and I might overreact and then maybe I could behave improperly towards someone (which could take me out of a state of grace) or I’m might not do the work well.

For some people that might lead them to have scruples. For me, it means I have to break each task down into bit sized pieces that I can handle and I tend to break that up with prayer.

That pray includes:

• Opus Dei’s heroic minute
• The Angelus
• The St. Michael’s chaplet
• The Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours
• Daily Mass Readings (I’m trying to get to Daily Mass whenever I can)
• The Rosary
• Spiritual reading (Right now I’m reading (St. Josemaria’s The Way)
• The Divine Mercy chaplet
• Frequent mental prayer