Patron Saint of Rediscovering the Journey

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

  With the passing two storms that hit NJ, I have decided that it was time to start Rediscovering the Journey Blog again with naming the Patron Saint of the blog. Also each week there will be either a Saint or Bible figure of the week instead of that nights blog. Below is a brief bio of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. 

  Until tomorrow, God Bless, and keep those devastated by Hurricane Sandy in your prayers. 

St. Maximilian was born Raymond Kolbe in Poland, January 8, 1894. In 1910, he entered the Conventual Franciscan Order. He was sent to study in Rome where he was ordained a priest in 1918.

Father Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919 and began spreading his Militia of the Immaculata movement of Marian consecration (whose members are also called MIs), which he founded on October 16, 1917. In 1927, he established an evangelization center near Warsaw called Niepokalanów, the "City of the Immaculate." By 1939, the City had expanded from eighteen friars to nearly 900, making it the largest Catholic religious house in the world.

To better "win the world for the Immaculata," the friars utilized the most modern printing and administrative techniques. This enabled them to publish countless catechetical and devotional tracts, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 230,000 and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Maximilian started a radio station and planned to build a motion picture studio--he was a true "apostle of the mass media." He established a City of the Immaculata in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1930, and envisioned missionary centers worldwide.

Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican Council and further developed the Church's understanding of Mary as "Mediatrix" of all the graces of the Trinity, and as "Advocate" for God's people.

In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. On August 14, 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "Martyr of Charity" and “Patron Saint of our difficult century” in 1982. St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron of journalists, families, prisoners, the pro-life movement and the chemically addicted.

Asking for Prayers

Asking for Prayers

Tonight I am just asking for people to continue to pray for those who have lost so much in the past week and to pray that the new storm ,that is due Wednesday, does not cause more devistaion to the area. 

I will start normal blogging again on Wednesday nitght.

Until tomorrow, God Bless,  and keep the prayers going. 

Gratitude

Gratitude

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” — Epictetus

 This is my first blog since Hurricane Sandy’s devastation on the east coast. I am very grateful that the only thing I lost was power, tv, phone and internet. Unfortunately a lot of others were not as blessed as I was. I am very grateful for all those around me and for what I have. Sometimes it takes such devastation around you to see what you have. 

    It is easy for our hearts to go out to the images we see on tv but it is another story when you see the images first hand and they are not images but part of your own life. It is easy to cry out to God and ask for an explanation for all that has happened. Also it is easy to be angry for all the things that happened to you or those around you. 

    It is the images of people helping each other that can show us Jesus at work. Those people who risk their lives for those who they do not know shows the unyielding love in the world. People offering what they have for those who have nothing to give in return but a Thank You. For every story of what people lost, you hear stories of what people have done to help others.  Those are the things that shed some light in a dark time in peoples lives. 

    I am grateful for many things in my life and these are he times that I really focus on those things. It is not just during tuff times that we need to focus on these things but during our everyday lives. At least some part of the day think of at least one thing you are grateful for. Even when you pray add that to it. Thank God for the things you have in your life. Sometimes it may be hard with all that is going on but try your best with it. 

     To everyone who have lost this past week my thoughts and prayers go out to them. There are just no words to express what each of us feel. It is a collective sadness that is shared through each one of us. 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and ask yourself what you are grateful for.

Follow the Leader

Follow the Leader

 As kids we all played follow the leader. I know I had fun playing it. Well, I think that is because I was always the leader to be honest.  As adults we play it also. We may not realize we are but we do. We follow many things and many people at times.  We become followers of this world and not a follower of Jesus. I am not saying that we do not follow Him from time to time but let’s be honest in what or who we truly follow. We may not follow anything or anyone but ourselves as well. We allow our wants and desires to lead us in our lives. 

    I admit that I follow myself more then Jesus in areas of my life. Part is that I am a control freak. Being a control freak helps with not following others down paths that I do not want to go down but, it also puts up blocks for areas where Jesus is trying to lead me. I need to let go and let Jesus lead. Easier said then done but it is a reality of the life I want to be a part of. 

     What or Who do you follow? Is it a celebrity? Money? Power? Job? Drugs? Alcohol? Pleasure? All of those things can be what leads us in our lives. We will do anything or go anywhere it is. We do not question what it or they say and we follow whatever path it takes us to. Some of these things are good for us but it is when we take away the leadership from Jesus and hand it over to this world. It can be from the simple things like wearing something only because you saw a celebrity wear it to doing anything to get to the top of your business so you can have money and power. 

      When we let Jesus lead us less and less we become more focused on ourselves and of this physical world. This pulls us away and our relationship with Jesus suffers and then our faith will start to suffer as well. When we allow Jesus to be our leader we follow Him into a deeper faith and relationship. The deeper we go with Jesus the stronger the focus on our spiritual life comes in focus. We start to do less for ourselves and more for Jesus. Jesus will not lead you into anything that is not good for you. He may lead you down some paths that you would never have thought of for yourself. 

     Once you identify who or what you lead everyday then you will be able to start to change that. You may find that where Jesus leads you, you are right where you wanted to be anyway. He is not a tyrant, that will dictate to you where to go but when you follow Him you will follow what is in the depths of your soul. Following Jesus will give you a drive and purpose that will last longer then just this life but for the everlasting life. 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and be a follower of Jesus. 

Knocking

Knocking

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” ~Revelation 3:20

 Today was the full day retreat and one thing that was said a lot today was that Jesus will not do anything unless you open yourself and that He will wait for us. I have seen this picture so many times and some people do not realize that there is no door nob on Jesus side of the door. He can not open it. Only the home owner can. 

      There is some comfort in that, Jesus will not act on His own and go against our Free Will. I have spoken about free will a bit in the blogs. I saw this image today and it has stayed with me all day. Before we open the door we can see who it is. Think about a time when you just opened the door and someone you rather not see is standing there. It is not the case with Jesus. We know that He is there waiting and knocking. He wants to come and dwell with us in our physical body, in our home and in our life. 

        In revelation He says to sit and dine. When we dine with someone it is a intimate thing. It is a personal time that is shared and as we learned in Matthew that it is the breaking of the bread Jesus is revealed. Jesus broke the bread in fellowship and when He asks to sit down and dine, He is calling us to be in a fellowship with Him and let Him dwell with us. 

        I know that I have not allowed Jesus full reign in me. I have some areas blocked and He has not been given the yes to enter. He will wait until He is asked. Everyone has areas where we do not let Jesus work. We invite Him in and then we restrict Him to work only where we gave Him “clearance”. 

       I am going to say that please focus on this image and see where you let Jesus enter and where you do not. What ares do you have that door locked up tight and no one can open? We all have them. Try and open one door at a time and allow Jesus to work in you and through you. 

Until tomorrow,  God Bless, and allow Jesus to walk into your soul and help you.

Memories

Memories

  Tonight started a two day retreat. It is in the style of The Life in the Spirit that I first attended about 8 to 9 years ago. I walked away from that retreat with a deeper faith, a closer relationship to God, stronger prayer life and much more. I even gave talks and ran that retreat in the years that followed. Now, I am back after that time away and oddly enough back at the same church that I went to for the first LIS.

     It is somewhat different and the talks are good but I have to say that what I got tonight is the memories of a life that was. A life that lived for all the things I got from that retreat. There were some down times but mostly they were very blessed years for me. It has me desiring it all again. The format and talks are the same for this retreat and I know what each person puts into these talks. You open up your life and your faith journey, with the hopes that Jesus ,through you, is reaching people. In some way those memories are being relived again. 

     There is a reason for me to be there this weekend. We never know what we may gain or learn in and from a retreat. So far it is that sensation of being back where I belong. A life that has waited for me to rejoin it. It is a simple confirmation that I was just walking on the shoulder waiting to get back to the main road. 

      I know I will be writing more about this but for tonight there was not an over whelming tone that was to be written about for the blog. Just that simple notion of “ Remember the memories and embrace them because they are still part of who you are”. I needed to feel this and share it. I might have left the life but the life never left me. It was waiting for me. 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and take time to smile at those faith memories. 

Adoration

Adoration

"The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven, and will help bring about everlasting peace on earth,"

- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta 

Adoration is one of the blessings of the Catholic Church. It gives us a chance to sit and spend time with Jesus as the bread of life. We are able to sit, pray and talk with Jesus outside of the confines of the mass. Some people are lucky to have a parish that has adoration 24/7 and others may only offer it for few hours a week. Either way I highly recommend it. 

      When we take that extra time to sit and pray with Jesus it never goes unheard. Some people have a set time that they volunteer to sit in adoration so that Jesus is never alone. During adoration people may pray, read the bible, pray the rosary, or just sit in the peace and quite. Many people find solace in this time. You are removing all those external stimuli and are able to focus on the spiritual life. Some people need to do this to feel that deeper connection and use that extra time to find that personal relationship to Jesus. 

       When you are looking for that deep personal relationship with anyone you spend time with them and the deeper the bond starts to form. It is the same with Jesus. When you take that extra time to spend with Him the deeper the connection will be. Adoration is a great way to get that deeper connection with Him. Read His words as you sit with Him and His words will sink into your mind, heart and soul. 

    Unless you are a regular volunteer you can spend as much or as little time as you wish. If you are new try it for 15 min and see how it goes. You can increase as you go or set a goal for yourself. You will find it is easier then you think to be in adoration. Time will go fast. Think of how fast time flies when you are with your friends. Have this be the same. Jesus is always free to spend the time with you, you just have to find the time and make the time to spend with Him.

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and spend the time with Jesus today.