St. Ignatius Thought For The Day

In today's meditiation from "Take 5: On-the Job Meditiations with St. Ignatius". Ignatius points to Proverbs 13:4 and I took a quick look online (www.usccb.org has the New American Bible online) at this chapter and found it extremely relative to how we attempt to live in AA and our faith. Specifically phrases like "hang
with the winners", "do good, get good, do bad, get bad", etc. I'll
include the short chapter here for you to ponder:


A wise son loves correction, but the senseless one heeds no rebuke.
From the fruit of his words a man eats good things, but the treacherous one craves violence.
He who guards his mouth protects his life; to open wide one's lips brings downfall.
The soul of the sluggard craves in vain, but the diligent soul is amply satisfied.
Anything deceitful the just man hates, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.
Virtue guards one who walks honestly, but the downfall of the wicked is sin.
One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
A man's riches serve as ransom for his life, but the poor man heeds no rebuke.
The light of the just shines gaily, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.
The stupid man sows discord by his insolence, but with those who take counsel is wisdom.
Wealth quickly gotten dwindles away, but amassed little by little, it grows.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a wish fulfilled is a tree of life.
He who despises the word must pay for it, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.
The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that a man may avoid the snares of death.
Good sense brings favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.
The shrewd man does everything with prudence, but the fool peddles folly.
A wicked messenger brings on disaster, but a trustworthy envoy is a healing remedy.
Poverty and shame befall the man who disregards correction, but he who heeds reproof is honored.
Lust indulged starves the soul, but fools hate to turn from evil.
Walk with wise men and you will become wise, but the companion of fools will fare badly.
Misfortune pursues sinners, but the just shall be recompensed with good.
The good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the just.
A lawsuit devours the tillage of the poor, but some men perish for lack of a law court.
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him takes care to chastise him.
When the just man eats, his hunger is appeased; but the belly of the wicked suffers want.


God Bless! Ken

St. Igantius Thought for the Day

Always looking for information about St. Ignatius, I came across a book published in 1887, "A Thought From Saint Ignatius For Each Day Of The Year". It has a sentence or two from one of St. Ignatius' many writings that can be used as a "daily reflection". The book is out of print* but there are online versions that I have located:
Copy of actual book PDF Version Word Version

The reason I mention it today is that today's quote really struck me. It is from the Spiritual Exercises and says "I will carefully consider how, on the day of judgement, I would wish to have discharged my office or my duty; and the way that I would wish to have done it then, I shall do now."

I can't help but think how much different our world would be if this was the primary thought everyone had upon waking each day. I know on most days that I set out along these lines but often fall short - sometimes early, sometimes later - but most days I do fall short of this ideal.

If you are online daily I highly recommend bookmarking one of the the links above and using it as part of your daily "spiritual exercise".

* There is a current (2006) version of the book available from Fordham University Press on Amazon . I purchased this version but find the 1887 version much more to my liking

Great Little Meditation Book - and Prayer

Before I went on vacation I got a recommendation somewhere (Amazon or another website) for a little meditation book titled "Take Five, On-The-Job Meditations With St. Ignatius". Looked and sounded good so I ordered it. Like most books, they end up on my nightstand for awhile before I get to them. This one, though, because of the "On-The-Job...." subtitle, I tossed it in my briefcase. I've been exceptionally busy at work since I got back from vacation but the other day I actually pulled it out and started using it. And am glad I did!

This little book incorporates St. Ignatius writings with the Gospel and short meditations including a a thought you can memorize and use throughout the day.

Quick warning: if you are the type of person that believes that perfection is not something to seek than it may not be for you. That doesn't mean I believe I will ever be perfect but I do believe that striving for perfection is still a worthy goal and one that Christ set for us. For example, in the second meditation they quote Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect". Does God expect me to be perfect? No. But that doesn't mean that there is no virtue in striving to be "perfect" in God's eyes.

The main reason I post tonight is the prayer found in the third meditation and it goes like this:

"Teach us, good Lord, to serve You as You deserve,
to give and not count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not seek for rest,
to labor and not ask for any reward
except that of knowing that we do Your will."

Does that impress upon you the consistency between St. Ignatius teaching and the 12 Steps or what?

For more information about this great little book you can click on the book at the lower left in "My Library".

Saint John Eudes?

I had never heard of St. John Eudes before today. I must have been out of it on August 19th the past few years as today is his feast day. You can click the link to read more about him or search on Google. One of his claims to fame is preaching more than 110 missions. And based on the reading in today's Office of Readings I can understand why. I think it is worth typing out the whole of today's passage here.

From a treatise on the admirable Heart of Jesus by Saint John Eudes, priest

I ask you to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ is your true head and that you are a member of his body. He belongs to you as the head belongs to the body. All that is his is yours: breath, heart, body, soul and all his faculties. All of these you must use as if they belonged to you, so that is serving him you may give him praise, love and glory. You belong to him as a member belongs to the head. This is why h earnestly desires you to serve and glorify the Father by using all your faculties as if they were his.

He belongs to you, but more than that, he longs to be in you, living and ruling in you, as the head lives and rules in the body. He desires that whatever is in him may live and rule in you: his breath in your breath, his heart in your heart, all the faculties of his soul in the faculties of your soul, so that these words may be fulfilled in you: Glorify God and bear him in your body, that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in you.

You belong to the Son of God, but more than that, you ought to be in him as the members are in the head. All that is in you must be incorporated into him. You must receive life from him and be ruled by him. There will be no true life for you except in him, for he is the one source of true life. Apart from him you will find only death and destruction. Let him be the only source of your moments, of the actions and the strength of your life. He must be both the source and the purpose of your life, so that you may fulfill these words: None of us lives as his own master and none of us dies as his own master. While we live, we are responsible to the Lord, and when we die, we die as his servants. Both in life and death we are the Lord's. That is why Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Romans 14:7-9)

Finally, you are one with Jesus as the body is one with the head. You must, then, have one breath with him, one soul, one will, one mind, one heart. And he must be your breath, heart, love, life, your all. These great gifts in the follower of Christ originate from baptism. They are increased and strengthened through confirmation and by making good use of other graces that are given by God. Through the holy eucharist they are brought to perfection.

I think reading this passage daily for a few days will not only the recovering Catholic but every Christian. Imagine a world, or a country, or a state or even a town where everyone thought like this. If you can do that you have just gotten a glimpse of heaven!

St. Ignatius and Bill Wilson

Today (well yesterday since I posted this after midnight!) the Church celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola .

Like most people, there have been many twists and turns my journey in recovery. Early on I had read some of the AA books like "Pass It On" and "AA Comes of Age" and learned of the initial meeting between Bill W. and Fr. Ed Dowling. It wasn't until years later that I would really learn the importance of that meeting.

It was Fr. Dowling who had read about AA and it's Twelve Steps and immediately saw the link between the steps and, being a Jesuit, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. There is a short document available on the Internet that describes this link

There is also a wonderful book that documents the relationship between Bill Wilson and Fr. Dowling, "The Soul of Sponsorship". The book contains excepts from the letters exchanged between these men over many years. Fr. Dowling became Bill Wilson's spiritual director and some believe that Bill might have converted to Catholicism if it would not have given the appearance that the AA program was ultimately a path to the Catholic Church.

I was fortunate enough to make a seven day silent retreat at a Jesuit retreat house last year. It was during that retreat that I became more familiar with the Spiritual Exercises. I have tried, inconsistently mind you, to use a great book by Fr. Jim Harbaugh called "A Twelve Step Approach to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius" . He also has a similar volume called "A Twelve Step Approach to the Sunday Readings" . I highly recommend both!

So on this feast of St. Ignatius I would encourage anyone looking to incorporate the Catholic faith into their twelve step program to investigate the Spiritual Exercises.

"The Fountain of all Holiness"

I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted.

The balance of the vacation was outstanding and now we're right back in the thick of things. Work, family, getting ready for retreat in a few weeks, getting our second child off to college, and the normal summer activities - friends, barbecues, swimming and baseball.

With my daily schedule I don't get to daily mass as often as I'd like. On some of those mornings I get to listen to Mass on The Catholic Channel on Sirius satellite radio (channel 159). They broadcast the daily 8:00 Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

Listening while driving can often be interrupted by, can you believe it, paying attention to the road, especially in the Pennsylvania Turnpike construction zones! Different parts of the Mass will have different effects on me on any given today. Today it was the Eucharistic Prayer. I've heard it hundreds of times but today one line really hit me. It begins "Lord, you are holy indeed; the fountain of all holiness" and BOOM! God makes me holy. I cannot make me holy! May seem obvious to some but not me.

Why was this impactful? I go through periods of my life "doing" instead of "praying". I substitute what I believe are good actions for good prayer time. For example, I am busy preparing for a number of upcoming events (retreat weekend 8/15, Calix convention 8/1, Calix meeting at my parish 7/26) plus my normal busy schedule and prayer time gets cut short.

All this to say that I think I realized today that these actions are not what makes me grow in holiness. Don't get me wrong, God needs us to act to fulfill his will. But we can only learn what that is when we "retreat" from this world to spend time with Him in prayer. It is through this prayer time that one can grow in holiness, can grow closer to God. After all He is the fountain of ALL holiness; not some holiness, not most holiness, but ALL holiness.

Thanks for reading and I promise to be be back in less than a week!

Compromises - Cypress Gardens

"My way or the highway". That was the motto for most of my life before I got sober. You could either come along for the ride or hop off anytime you wanted. But don't expect me to change my mind for you. There were a couple notable exceptions, especially if you had something I wanted. But other than that it was my way.

So if you've been reading here for the last week or so you read about my first Latin Mass last week and how I was studying for and looking forward to going again this week. Well I haven't mentioned here yet that I'm married and have four children. One child (daughter) is out of college and living in Cincinnati. The second child (son) just graduated from high school and starts college in the Fall. Children three (son) and four (daughter) are on vacation with us. The choice today was my way (Latin Mass) or their way, the "regular" 11:30 Mass as a family. As much as I wanted to make the Latin Mass, I wanted to go to Mass as a family and I'm glad I did. The youngest really participated and my son, the one I hope will be my priest, always seems to like Mass.

After Mass we ran out to Cypress Gardens to check out the swamp. They are having some financial problems out there which resulted in them losing their crocodile collection. The boat ride through the swamp was cool and Charlie, our guide, was informative. The one thing I didn't know about cypress swamps was that the oil they release below water level forms a "slick" of sorts on top that prevents mosquito larvae from hatching so there were zero mosquitoes. We took a short carriage ride (available on Sundays) that Mary Kate just loved as she has always seemed to like horses.

After Cypress Gardens we came home to eat, went for a walk down the beach and stopped to visit with my in-laws. Then back up the beach to come home, played some games as a family and put the kids to bed. It just doesn't get any better than that.

If I had pressed for the 6:00 Latin Mass tonight the whole day would have been different, starting with the "discussion" this morning about what Mass I was going to. So I'll just have to find a Latin Mass back in the Philly area. Small price to pay, huh!