Queen of Life Catholic Church

What a Blessed lunch I had today! I needed to get some labels at Office Depot and Office Depot is on the way to Taco Bell. So I threw a leg over the scoot and headed out. Riding down Jamboree I noticed a road named Dupont and I remembered David talking about a Chapel nearby and I wondered if I could find it. Clearly the Holy Spirit was calling me.
I found the Chapel, Queen of Life Catholic Church, and decided that I needed to spend some time in prayer (Forgive me Lord, I am a sinner.) so I stopped and went in. Oops, I walked in to Mass during the Consecration. Well, the door is open and some people have already seen me so I might as well head on in and pray. (Forgive me Lord, for I am a miserable sinner. And by that, I mean that I'm really good at sinning, in fact, too good for my own good.)
What a cool Church. Daily Mass starts at 11:50 AM so I'll get there early tomorrow.
After Mass I met Fr. Charbel, Rock, and Danny in the parking lot. After a brief conversation where I heard about St. Charbel among other things I excused myself as I still had to get to Office Depot and Taco Bell. I started the bike, pulled on the helmet, and put on the gloves. Just as I was doing that Fr. Charbel came over with a bottle of Holy Water in his hand and asked me if my bike had ever been Blessed. I replied no but that I would welcome a Blessing. As he started praying over me and my bike I killed the motor, folded my hands, and bowed my head. After a brief Blessing the bike and where sprinkled with Holy Water and with a pat on my shoulder Fr. Charbel left. I fired it back up and went on my way - somehow feeling safer as if God himself were driving.
Lunch was uneventful after that and Taco Bell is still the cheapest lunch eats around if you don't mind the potential side effects - a larger waist and flatulence.
I've put Daily Mass on my calendar for 11:50 AM every weekday. Feel free to join me if you like.

Back from the High School

Back from the High School Class of 2013 Freshman / Parent Orientation. High school class of 2013? Nooo, I'm not ready!

What are you doing for Lent?

Lent is a time of doing Pennance and sacrificing to move towards the Spiritual realm away from the worldly realm.  What are you doing for Pennance and sacrifice?  Things that I am considering:

• Give up fast food
• Give up snacking between meals
• Give up dessert
• Give up candy
• Give up social networking web sites
• Partaking of the Sacrament of Recocilliation more often

I have less than 36 hours to decide...

Lunch tomorrow is at an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet.

Mike

What are you doing for Mardis Gras?

Mardis Gras is french for "Fat Tuesday" meaning the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday and is the start of Lent.  On Ash Wednesday we are reminded of the mortality of our earthly bodies - our bodies will eventually return to the earth from whence they came.  Our Souls are another matter.  At the end of our earthly existence we are moving to a new home for eternity, Heaven (possibly by way of Purgatory) or Hell.  And so Ash Wednesday begins a season of preparation for celebrating Easter - the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  We spend this time of Lent doing Pennance for our sins.  Most of us execute that Pennance by fasting from a worldly pleasure.  As a kid it was always candy.  As an adult it has been coffee, snacks, dessert, candy, fast food, beer, and other things.  I think that it is human nature that if we know that we are going to fast from something for 7 1/2 weeks we want to indulge in it one last time.  That indulgence is the celbration of Mardis Gras.

Mardis Gras is not a time to commit sins of the flesh.  It is a time to partake and enjoy one last time (and for most of us it seems, to excess) our pleasure that we will be fasting and abstaining from for the next 7 1/2 weeks.

So, what are your plans for Mardis Gras?

FOCA Novena

I received this e-mail and wanted to pass it along to all of you.  I am participating in this Novena.

If you are opposed to abortion then there is bad news on the horizon.  For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009.  FOCA would essentially remove all restrictions on abortion, including moral objections by health care providers.

The Plan:

To say a novena, 9 days of prayer, along with fasting starting on January 11th. For Catholics, the prayer of choice will be the Rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA.  For non Catholics I encourage you to pray your strongest prayers with the same intentions, also for nine consecutive days.  The hope is that this will branch and blossom as to become a global effort with maximum impact.  We have very little time so we all must act fast.  Just do three things:

1. Pass this letter to 5 or more people
   
2. Do it in three days or less
   
3. Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine consecutive days.
   

(please also fast for at least two days during the novena)

Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable.  The time is now to do something to save the unborn!

May God bless you all!!

"We cannot fight credibly against other social and moral evils, including poverty and violence, while we tolerate mass killings by abortion."

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Getting Older

I discovered another sure sign that I'm getting older.  I still remember the first time I realized that I was getting older.  I was chaperoning a church youth group dance and the DJ put on a "golden oldie".  I was expecting something from the 50s or maybe the 60s.  Instead, much to my surprise, what he played was one of my favorite songs:  Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin.  I knew then that I was moving in to the "old" category.

The sure sign that I learned today was that a trip to the doctor's office is no longer a trip to the doctor's office.  It's now a trip to the doctor's office and another trip to the doctor's office for a followup.  :-(  I went to the doctor today to get the results from my blood work last month.  The numbers are better (in general) but now I'm scheduling more blood work in another three months.