“JMJ” occasionally accompanies a signature sign-off on cards, letters or memos from my Catholic friends and family. It reminds me that we as Christians are all family and are spiritual descendants of the first Holy Family. We are to embrace a true devotion to Jesus, Mary and Joseph with the Holy Family as our model.
One of my favorite lines of Jesus in the popular series “The Chosen” is when he looks at his puzzled disciples and says, “Get used to different.” He has dinner with sinners; asks a tax collector to follow him; and speaks with foreigners disdained by his disciples due to ancestral feuds.
Upkeep seems endless sometimes with a home and a yard. Yet I’m grateful to be able to take care of them. This time of year, the rakes, blower, hedge-trimmer and pruning shears are active before the cold and snow really sets in.
With November’s arrival comes All Saints’ Day — a holy day of obligation — to celebrate the saints in heaven we want to be with, to eventually join those holy men and women who teach us by their example how to live and act according to God’s will.
The most holy rosary takes me on a journey through the Gospel story where the Blessed Mother’s example of holiness is always challenging me to step it up — bringing me closer to Jesus.
On any given day I am following or leading something. It probably goes that way for most people if they are active in the secular and/or religious realm. At work or at play — our daily routines on the job, large or small group gatherings, multi-media outlets, extracurricular activities and so forth all give us the opportunity to lead or follow either something or someone.
Being astute in Catholic leadership is vital for parents nowadays. The need also presents significant challenges when it comes to perusing, discerning and choosing what is intellectually healthy and of redeeming value for children.
Given the creation of parish-based Synod Evangelization Teams across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the related May 20 Activated Disciple Seminar that drew more than 1,500 people to Minneapolis, I’m running into a good number of the faithful who are seeking to better understand what’s going on.
