Staying Close to God

I've taken vacation over the Christmas holidays. With the kids being off of school too, my daily schedule has been different. I haven't spent as much time praying as I normally do.

Last night and earlier this morning I was feeling very anxious and edgy. This morning I spent some time in prayer, and I feel much better. The experience underscores the idea that we must stay close to God through prayer.

As human beings, it is easy to get discouraged in our prayer. We may not see the immediate effects that prayer has. Yet, it is critical that we continue to pray so that we stay close to God. Through prayer we receive the consolation that St. Paul talks about. Prayer is the link that God uses to communicate with us.

Keep praying. It keeps us going.

Angering Article About Charitable Giving

I read an article yesterday that really made me mad! The article was about how religious people donate more to charity than non-religious people. The author used the article as a call-to-arms for atheists to "catch up" in their charitable giving.

(NOTE: I generally like the Get Rich Slowly blog. I was hesitant to publish my post because I think the blog is generally helpful. However, the post in question really pissed me off, and I needed to rant to get it out of my system.)

The author of the article has missed the true crux of the matter: religious people donate more because they are focused on something other than themselves! I know this is a tough message, but it's the truth. I donate money, clothing, time, etc. because I genuinely want to help people because I believe that my God is calling me to do that.

I want to call non-religious people to search their hearts for the reason that as a group their charitable giving is lower. If they honestly look for a truthful answer, they will find God waiting for them.

Litany of St. Joseph

I saw this link posted on Twitter. http://happycatholic.blogspot.com/2009/11/friday-litany-litany-of-st-joseph.html

Suffering Servant and Our Call to Service

I work as the manager of a small software development team. Lately, my team has been under a lot of pressure with a large workload, and I've been working quite a bit. This weekend has been especially stressful and busy.

Last night at mass, the first reading was from the book of Isaiah. It was one of the suffering servant songs that appears in the book of Isaiah. (Is 53:10-11) My pastor's homily talked a little about the suffering servant songs, and it got me curious. This morning I read all four of the suffering servant songs in Isaiah. (Is 42:1-4, Is 49:1-7, Is 50:4-11, Is 52:13-53:12) Reading these poems gave me a much better perspective on my current workload.

It is really easy to get down on oneself during times of exhaustion and great stress. If we look on these times with the eyes of the suffering servant, we realize that we are specifically called by God to be his instrument. (Is 49:1-2) We also realize that being God's servant entails a lot of work without reward, and possibly suffering (Is 49:4). The end of Is 49:4 gives us insight into our reward:

Yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God.

These passages from Isaiah give me hope during this stressful time. The servant songs remind me that I was specifically created by God for a special purpose. Even though I may not see the fruits of my labor, my reward will be with God. I just have to trust Him.

Novenas

I was on a search for novenas and found the following ones. I didn't want to lose them, so I'm posting them here.

Novena to St. Nicholas I

Novena to St. Nicholas II

Novena to the Holy Family

Novena to Our Lady of Hope

Novena for the Conversion of Sinners

Interesting Background on Liturgy of the Hours

Here is an article about the origins of the Liturgy of the Hours that I thought was interesting.

The Power of the Liturgy of the Hours

I just read this blog post giving a brief history of the structure of the Liturgy of the Hours.

The article got me thinking about the power of the Liturgy of the Hours. The repetition of the prayer is its power. Someone praying the hours regularly immerses himself in the Psalms, encompassing prayers of petition, prayers of thanksgiving, and prayers of praise. These prayers open the pray-er to God's grace on a daily basis.

Over time, the repetitive act of opening oneself to God allows God to fill the person with the Holy Spirit. This prayer, this communion with God, becomes an anchor in the person's life. God becomes the focus of the person's life. By getting one's focus properly fixed on God, the trials that we face in everyday life become much easier to handle.

The repetition of the Liturgy of the Hours is brilliant. It is a powerful tool that enables limited human beings to be able to open themselves up to God and the workings of his spirit.

Inability to Communicate

I'm having a little trouble this morning. I've got an idea about how to do something at work, but I don't know how to communicate it. It's really frustrating for me because I would love to implement this idea, but I can't think of a way to express it to my boss so that he wants to implement it too.

I bet this happens with my kids all the time. How often are they unable to communicate a want or need to me in a way that I understand? Quite often. I think I see this when they are acting out. It's probably the only way for them to communicate something to me.

Holy Spirit, give me the wisdom to approach my children with understanding, so that their inability to communicate with me won't make me angry or frustrated.

Mix of Technology and Religion

I read a blog post today about a group of people that set up a computer lab for a learning center in Austin, TX. The East Austin Computer Learning Center was set up to help expose children to computers and technology. The part that struck me was that the learning center is housed in the Cristo Rey Catholic Church.

I've normally thought about centers like this as being the sole domain of government institutions. Setting up a center like this in a Catholic church is a wonderful idea. It would be a way to reach out to the community to interact with children, teach and counsel the unemployed, and could help provide the local Catholic grade school with resources for their technology courses.

As the church moves to embrace new technology for evangelization, having centers for teaching people how to use that technology could be beneficial.

Fear and Trust

Recently I learned that I'm going to be my youngest son's soccer coach, and that got me thinking. At first I worried about having time for practices, then I moved to worrying about being able to teach soccer. If you haven't been able to tell, I'm a worrier.

I've been thinking about and worrying about being a soccer coach for about two weeks now. Just this morning on my way into work, I realized part of why I worry about being a coach: fear. I'm afraid of doing it wrong. I'm afraid of what the parents might think. I'm afraid of ruining the next international soccer star because I don't know soccer as well as someone else might. I'm afraid.

Naturally I have to ask why I'm afraid. I've played soccer. There are many web sites with tips and drills for kids. I know a few people that coach. I have experience leading a group of kids. So why am I afraid?

The "Aha" moment this morning was a revelation to me that I don't trust God like I should. God doesn't give us a challenge without also giving us the grace to handle it. I should be comfortable and excited to be answering God's call. But I'm afraid. This fear can either be debilitating or a growth experience.

If I use this fear as an opportunity to work with Jesus, I'll be better for it. This is a golden opportunity for me to tell Jesus how I feel. Easy. The part that takes a little work is that I need to listen to Him. I think if I take the time to listen, my relationship with Jesus will grow, and I'll trust Him more with the next challenge.

Welcome Archbishop Carlson

Today Archbishop Carlson was installed as the Archbishop of St. Louis. Welcome to St. Louis!

The Cost of Discipleship

Bishop Hermann of the Archdiocese of St. Louis had an article in the St. Louis Review about Pentecost. The gist of the article is that Pentecost is about the apostles being filled with the Holy Spirit, after they had been completely broken down so that they are no longer interested in their own personal goals. Pentecost is the culmination of Jesus purging the apostles of their selfishness.

This presentation of Pentecost troubles me. It directly challenges us to give ourselves completely over to Christ. This is tough! Our culture builds up images and concepts that are deceptively self-serving. Breaking through these misconceptions is difficult.

Bishop Herman challenged his readers to say the following prayer everyday:

Lord, I don't like myself as I am. I want to give my life over to You. I want You to be the Lord of my life. I want to surrender my life totally to You so that You can do with me as You will. Lord, as I had over my life into Your hands, I ask that You forgive me all of my sins and fill me with the fullness of the Holy Spirit!

I think I'm going to say the prayer daily. I'm scared about giving over complete control, but that's why I'm here!

How Do I Help?

Yesterday we learned that the P.E. teacher at my son's school passed away. He was fighting a brain tumor and lung cancer. I thought about this quite a bit yesterday.

A little more background may be in order. This teacher was my P.E. teacher when I was in grade school. His wife was my eighth grade algebra teacher and their daughter was in my grade all through grade school.

Hearing of his passing felt like a call to action for me. But there wasn't anything I could do. I'm not close to the family, so there wasn't anything I could do for them. The feeling of not being able to do something bugged me.

Slowly throughout the day yesterday I came to realize that I could do something, and that something is very powerful. I could pray.

Too many people overlook the power of prayer. If St. Monica's prayers for her wayward son could create a wonderful saint, our prayers can do marvelous things too. Even if we don't see the effects of our prayer, we need to realize that prayer is a powerful tool always at our disposal.

I'm praying for the Teter family.

Thinking About Mother's Day Got Me Worked Up

As I was writing the last post about Mother's Day, I was getting somewhat agitated. I think part of the problem with fathers not being real dads is that most men, and certainly society in general, don't give women the respect they deserve.

Women, especially mothers, are the source of love in this world. This has been made abundantly clear by the church's teaching on Mary and the prominence she has in the church. Most people, looking back on their childhoods, would say that mothers were always the loving, affectionate parents. It's not hard to see that mothers are the source of love.

Unfortunately, society is destroying motherhood and the love that flows from it. Throughout the media, women are depicted as objects, either for sexual conquest or simply for fleeting entertainment. Many mothers are forced to fill all parenting rolls in some families because the fathers have left or are too macho to be true dads.

As Catholic husbands, we must be guiding examples in these areas. Our children are learning from us, and their understanding of what a husband is will be determined in large part from the example we set. We must love and respect our wives; we must be involved with our children; we must be involved in our parishes; we must be dedicated to our work. These things, along with prayer, will help guide our children to be the people God calls them to be.

Now that I've gotten the rant out, here's the real message: Catholic husbands and dads are called by God to be living examples of the love God the Father has for all of us.

A Dad's Reflection on Mother's Day

Driving back from celebrating Mother's Day at my in-law's house today, I was thinking about how we approach Mother's Day.

Society puts a lot of emphasis on Mother's Day. Most of this emphasis is for the shameless sale of flowers, cards, and candy. For one day, everyone loves their mothers. One day a year, father's cook, clean, and help with the kids. By the end of the day, most mothers are doing their "jobs" again.

As a dad, I've tried to help out as much as possible. I do the dishes, take care of the yard, and try to fix things around the house. I've always been involved with my boys, including diaper changes, bath time, illnesses, etc. For the longest time I thought this was just something I did to be a dad.

I believe that God calls all fathers to this type of involvement. Fathers are called to be more than just half of the chromosomal pairing of children; they are called to be dads. Dads are close to their children. Dads lovingly correct their children. Dads talk to, read to, and play with their children. Dads support and bolster their wives. Catholic dads are called to be fathers just like God the Father was "abba" for Jesus the Son.

Jesus showed us the perfect example of fatherhood by giving us glimpses into his relationship with his Father. His relationship was close and affectionate. The Father was firm, but loving. This is the fatherly relationship we are called to have with our children.

Mother's Day should be about honoring our mothers and the mothers of our children. It should also be a day for reflection, ensuring that we are being the dads we are on Mother's Day, all year long.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Social Media and Evangelization

I just joined a community called TweetCatholic.  This site is aggregating Twitter users and publishing tweets as @TweetCatholic.  I found this community from a couple of tweets by the Archdiocese of St. Louis (@archstl).  The first one was about the USCCB making a statement about using Twitter as a way to evangelize.  The other one was about the USCCB starting a blog.

It's heartening to see the church hierarchy leveraging new technology to evangelize.  For quite a while now, I've followed numerous blogs as a way of keeping up with professional advances.  I started this blog partially because I felt like there weren't enough Catholic voices on the internet.  TweetCatholic and the USCCB blog are great ways to keep the faith alive and growing for a lot of professionals these days.  If nothing else, they provide better, more wholesome tidbits as opposed to a lot of the junk that is prevalent on the internet today.

The Call of the Twelve

One of the scripture passages that I've read associated with the third Luminous Mystery (proclamation of the kingdom) is Luke 9:1-6:

He summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal [the sick]. He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them." Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

I struggle with this mystery and this scripture passage. I don't know how to apply the call to proclaim God's kingdom, taking nothing with me. As a father with a career, I have to balance providing for my family and advancing my career. It's difficult to know how to heed God's call and not get caught up in material pursuits.

It's hard not to get caught up in the material world. We as workers need things to maintain houses, get back and forth to work, communicate with others, keep track of to-do lists, etc. It is very easy to think that we need more of these things, that we need bigger things, nicer things, other things. How do we distinguish between being a steward of God's resources and being greedy? As careers develop and pay grows, it gets even harder.

I think as a father, I am responsible for balancing all of this. It is my duty to give my family the necessary example of how to heed God's call and not get caught up in the material world. I hope I'm living up to God's expectations.

Fatherly Tip #1

This is actually something my wife does, but I thought it was pretty good. My wife keeps an extra pair of underwear and pants in the car for each kid. She's been doing this since they were potty-trained. Last night, it came in real handy. So, if you've got young not far from potty-training, it might be a great idea.

Prayer to St. Joseph the Worker

My cousin sent this prayer out today.

Prayer for Fidelity to Work

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations; to work with gratitude and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop, by means of labor, the gifts received from God, disregarding difficulties and weariness; to work, above all, with purity of intention and with detachment from self, having always before my eyes death, and the account which I must render of time lost, of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all after your example, patriarch Joseph. This will be my watchword in life and in death. Amen.

My Prayer Life

One of the things I've been reading about and researching quite a bit is prayer.  Since my first son was born, I've realized that the prayer life I had and was comfortable with was not enough.  I struggle with knowing God's will for me and trusting things to God's care.  The only way I'm going to get better with either of those things is through a deeper prayer life.

The evolution of my prayer life may be an interesting post.  It will have to wait for another time. 

As I've researched Catholic prayer, I've always wanted to know and am drawn to stories about how "normal people" pray.  In that vain, I thought people would find it interesting to know a little about how I pray.

I've got two favorite devotions right now.  The first one is the rosary.  Since I read the apostolic letter Rosarium Viriginis Mariae, my appreciation of the rosary has grown.  It has become my default prayer.  When I need to reset my prayer life, reconnect with God, or I truly need prayerful help, I turn to the rosary.

The other devotion that I've been working with for a while now is the Liturgy of the Hours.  This is known as the prayer of the church.  As I was researching Catholic prayer, I was drawn to the Liturgy of the Hours.  This is a very structured prayer.  It is prayed by religious and lay people all over the world and at every hour of the day.  I was drawn to the structure and the rigor that is associated with the Liturgy of the Hours (LotH).

When I started with LotH, I was tied up with the form and structure of the prayer itself.  I wanted to make sure that I prayed the words correctly.  I wanted to be "perfect" with my recitation of the prayer.  Even though I now view this early attempt as a somewhat shallow prayer effort, I also realize that the dedication I put in helped to build the devotion to the LotH into a habit.

Nine to twelve months into praying the LotH regularly, I started to feel like it was failing me.  I turned more to the rosary, asking for help.  I also stumbled upon an article in the Ligourian about praying the LotH.  The message conveyed to me from the article is that the LotH is a mechanism for putting oneself into prayer.  It is a way to focus our minds and thoughts on God so that he can draw us into himself.  Once I understood this, I didn't worry about how I prayed the prayers, if I happend to miss a prayer time, or if reading the words didn't seem very fulfulling.  I realized that if I put in my time for God, he would take the time to guide me.

Right now, I rely on the rosary and the Liturgy of the Hours for my prayer life.  These prayers help me put time in for God, and help me build my relationship with my Lord.

Introduction

I thought I should introduce myself and this blog.  My name is Darren Hale.  I'm Catholic.  The other critical component is that I'm a husband and father; at least, that's my vocation.  This combination doesn't sound very interesting at first glance, but this combination seems to occupy an awful lot of my brain power.

As I've progressed through life, I've noticed a lot about my faith and prayer life.  It occurred to me that sharing my thoughts may be helpful to others.  If nothing else, it will be a good way for me to "discuss" my thoughts without always bugging my wife.

There are a number of topics that I have roaming around in my head right now.  I'm hoping to get them on paper, if you will, over the next several weeks.  I hope you enjoy.