Let us once again learn more about God through learning about the person He chose to be the Mother of His Son.   St. John Vianney:  “It is impossible to meditate with devotion upon the Mysteries of the Rosary and live in a state of sin.”

Let us continue to develop our relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Let us continue our efforts to deepen our relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Let us continue to dive deeper into our faith by diving deeper into the Church’s teaching on Mary.

The Catholic Church invites us to grow in our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, during the month of October.  I recently discovered some beautiful quotes from St. John Vianney about the Blessed Virgin Mary and so I thought I would share a different one at the beginning of each Spiritual Ponderings.  In addition, I would like to continue to look at the role the Blessed Virgin Mary plays in the life of the universal Church by continuing to explore Ann Ball’s book: The Other Faces of Mary: Stories, Devotions, and Pictures, of the Holy Virgin around the world.  Finally I thought I would conclude each  Spiritual Ponderings with a different and unique prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

St. Monica prayed many years for the conversion of her son Augustine.  It is therefore important to remind yourself that God’s time is not our time. It is also important that we continue to grow stronger in our own faith life.  Here are the last two steps from Brandon Vogt’s article in bold and my commentary in normal font.  

  I have dedicated this month’s Spiritual Ponderings to reflect on ideas of how best to bring fallen away Catholics back to the Catholic Church.  I know that this is an important topic too many of us because I believe we all know at least one person who has fallen away from the daily living out of one’s faith. Brandon Vogt’s article: “Seven Steps to Bring Your Child Home To the Faith” is providing us with the structure we need for this important topic that always has the possibility of derailing into many different tracks of thought if we are not capable. Quotes from Brandon’s article will be in bold and my commentary will be in the normal font. 

I have dedicated this month’s Spiritual Ponderings to reflect on ideas of how best to bring fallen away Catholics back to the Catholic Church.  Brandon Vogt’s article: “Seven Steps to Bring Your Child Home To the Faith” is providing us with the structure we need for this important topic that always has the possibility of derailing into many different tracks of thought if we are not capable. Quotes from Brandon’s article will be in bold and my commentary will be in the normal font. 

I cannot think of anything more important for Catholics today than the issue of fallen away Catholics.  I believe all of us know at least one person who has drifted away from the Church during our lifetime.  Sadly the people we know are close family members.  Sadly many of these people leave the Church because they have had a negative experience with someone (or someones) or they never received the faith in its fullest form.  I know for a fact that if I had not gone onto the seminary, I would not be Catholic today because the information I received in religious education classes were simply inadequate.  (Nothing against my teachers for they were good people, who strived to do their best).  I would like therefore this month to devote my spiritual ponderings to reflecting on how to invite people to give the Catholic Church another chance to be their spiritual home.  In order to provide a structure for these reflections, I will be referring to a 2015 article from Our Sunday Visitor entitled “Seven Steps to Bring Your Child Home To the Faith” by Brandon Vogt.    Quotes from Brandon’s article will be in bold and my commentary will be in the normal font. 

I was recently talking with a friend about this month’s spiritual ponderings topic about Toxic behaviors.  He responded to me by quoting Martin Luther King Jr: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”  I immediately knew that my friend was on to something.  Love is wanting what is best for another person even if it requires a sacrifice on my part and Jesus commands us to love ourselves within the context of the Law of Love.  Improving our lives by making the sacrifices necessary to overcome these toxic behaviors should therefore be an important part of the life of every Christian.  Two more toxic behaviors to confront, remember the quotes from the handout are in bold and my commentary is in regular font.

I love the movie Star Wars: Empire Strikes Backs for many reasons.  The scenes in which Yoda teaches Luke about the ways of the Force, I find personally fool of wisdom.  For example at one point in the movie, Yoda places a huge task before Luke and even before Luke makes an effort he resigns himself to defeat to which Yoda quickly replies ““Do. Or do not. There is no try.”  Luke, convinced that the task before him is impossible makes a half-hearted attempt.  He is then amazed when Yoda is able to complete the task: This is Yoda being brutally honest with Luke, who breathlessly says, “I don’t believe it,” after his Master raises an X-wing from the Dagobah swamp. It’s a definitive statement that comes from Yoda’s years and years of experience as a Jedi and a teacher, and it cuts through both to Luke and the audience. This little scene from the movie demonstrates the power of negative thinking.  (Quotes from my counseling handout will be in bold and my commentary will be in regular font)  

Growing up, I was often bullied by others.  No one should ever be bullied, I look back upon that time and see that I often did not help the situation by the ways I acted either.  Sometimes, I made myself a target.  For example there was a period in my life in which I tried to get others to like me by exaggerating my accomplishments.  Sadly my efforts to impress my peers made me more of a target.  When I finally stopped this behavior of telling tall tales in order to impress people; I found that fewer people would pick on me and I was actually beginning to make more friends.   As we continue to explore the idea of toxic behaviors I remind you that quotes from the handout will be in bold and my commentary is in plain text. 

Most people that know me or who have heard me speak, know that throughout my life I have struggled with depression.  It is a part of my life that, thanks to some great counselors, I have learned to manage and control.  In many ways, I look back upon my battle with depression and time in counseling as a gift because the experiences have given me a greater self-awareness and this has allowed me to help others when they come to me with a variety of different issues that are bothering them. 

This past month we have explored five different stories from movies.  I hoped that reflecting with me on the positive and negative spiritual insights in these movies has helped you grow not only in your faith but also in your ability to pick up different philosophical, and theological ideas that may be hidden within the special effects and stories.

Jungle Book: A young human boy named Mowgli was rescued as a baby from death by a panther named Bagheera.  Bagheera entrusts Mowgli to a pack of wolves led by Akela.  Akela tries to raise Mowgli as a wolf and therefore looks down upon him when Mowgli uses his human reasoning to invent tools to make his life easier.  During a particular dry year, a truce is called in the jungle and everyone gathers around the river.  At the river Sheer Khan, a tiger, makes it known that he plans to kill Mowgli when the drought ends.  Bagheera decides that the best thing for Mowgli is that he be taken to the man village at the edge of the jungle.   

As we continue to look at some of the stories that were made movies this past year, let us remember to explore some of the spiritual insights the author may have planted in the movies (knowingly or unknowingly).

Let us spend sometime today reflecting on the movie: Rogue 1: A Star Wars Movie.   Rogue 1: A Star Wars Movie There were once two scientists who were best of friends.  The first was a man named Galen Erso and the second was a man named Orson Krennic.  At some point, Galen Erso discovers or reasons that the scientific breakthroughs that he and his partner are working on can be used for great evil and so he takes his family and goes into hiding.  Orson Krennic uses the research in order to advance in rank in the Empire.  Krennic eventually tracks down his old friend and forces him to help complete building the Death Star.  Erso helps build the weapon but includes a design flaw in it.  He hopes he can get word about the defect to his daughter Jyn so that she can help the Rebel Alliance destroy his evil invention. 

Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham in their book: The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning has the following to say about storytelling: “For once upon a time, people told stories.  In the midst of sorrow, and in the presence of joy, both mourners and celebrants told stories. But especially in times of trouble, when “a miracle” was needed and the limits of human ability were reached, people turned to storytelling as a way of exploring the fundamental mysteries:  Who are we? How are we to live?”  In keeping with my tradition and acknowledging the power of a story, I will share with you some spiritual reflection on different movies.

Here is another quote from St. Gregory about Sacred Scripture: The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind’s eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection.

St. Gregory the Great wrote the following about the Bible: “The Bible is a letter from Almighty God to His creatures.”