Hi All, I hope you are doing fine. Easter Sunday is coming to a close and myself, I’m refreshed and ready to start another week. Actually I’m starting another year. Two years ago this weekend I became Catholic. Some of you who know me are probably confused now, thinking; You’ve always been catholic, You were born catholic. True but I didn’t practice the faith. I can’t point to any life changing event or any one instance of sudden clarity that guided me back to the Catholic Faith but it happened. I can’t put it into words other than to say, I have been at peace with myself. Some may find religion to be a restriction, for me it’s just the opposite; I’ve never felt more free. I have been off work for the last 4 days; each day I set aside a couple of hours to attend mass at St Meinrad Catholic Church. During this time I reflected on the past year, my decisions, my actions and how I can improve how I handle each.
About a year ago I wrote a little reflection, mostly for my girls and their husbands, but I would like to share it with you now.
For the past year I have devoured books, ¾ of them have been on the subject of the Catholic faith (I’ve got a lot of catching up to do) the other ¼ have mostly been technical manuals of one sort or another. Actually I’ve read more books this past year than the previous 30 years combined. I have always read technical manuals (Need to know what your doing when your working on jet’s… No place to pullover and park if ya didn’t do it right). The other books I had read were usually the biographical stories of prisoners of war. One thing I found in the stories of the POW’s ordeals was although their bodies were broken they were able to survive by keeping their minds and spirits fed, exercised, and cared for. They kept faith in God, country, and their fellow prisoners. The part that was lost on me at the time was these warriors had a solid religious foundation prior to buckling themselves into their jets or stepping foot onto the battle field. It is said that everyone finds religion when they’re at the wrong end of a gun, well that may be but is it the type of religion that brings comfort in times of anguish? Will it bring the companionship that a long term relationship with God brings? The great thing is that if you want, God will give you the nourishment your mind and soul needs to stay healthy yet demands nothing in return. God has given us the commandments on how he would like us to live but the freewill to abide by them or not. When you exercise your mind and spirit by your thoughts, actions and faith you give a gift back to God. The nourishment provided by God combined with your exercising your mind and faith will provide the care your mind and soul needs giving you strength beyond your imagination.
Another man or acts of nature can take your belongings, possibly your freedom, or even your life. Time or illness can fade your memory, knowledge, strength and health. There are two things that can’t be taken away, your integrity and your faith. Man, nature and circumstances can test both but they can’t take either. The only way you loose integrity or faith is by choice, please never choose to giveaway what can not be taken…
Tiffany, Alex, (and The Boys) I leave you with this.
Keep your faith in God and his plan
Speak every word as if you were speaking to God (because you are)
Take every action as if you were in the presence of God (again, because you are)
Treat others with kindness and charity (in one way or another it will come back to you)
And finally whether I’m with you or not, I’ll always be watching over you……
The Dad
Thanks for stopping by.
Until next week
The TOMCAT
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