The month of February can be a very long month for many of us despite it being the shortest of months in terms of actual calendar days. All the festive holidays are over with and all we have to look forward to at this point is the beginning of Lent. I thought for this month’s Spiritual Ponderings I would focus on the Apostle Peter and in a special way his denial of Christ and his return to grace. I desire to do this for two reasons, the first is that on February 22nd we will celebrate the feast of the Chair of St. Peter and secondly I believe his story is an awesome story of conversion which can inspire us to make this upcoming Lent more meaningful.

To end this month of Spiritual Ponderings, I would like to share with you an examination of conscience that I developed at the request of a friend. This examination of conscience focuses on our use of social media. If you do not use social media, I am sure that there are still some good things to reflect on.

My Spiritual Ponderings this month will be another round of Spiritual Randomness which means I will have a different topic to ponder each week. Today, let us reflect on the idea of the illusion of immortality and how it affects our relationship with God. Fr. Henri Nouwen in his book: Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life tackles this very topic. Quotes from his book will be in bold.

My Spiritual Ponderings this month will be another round of Spiritual Randomness which means I will have a different topic to ponder each week. Today, I would like to reflect Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s advice on how to avoid temptation from his book: Stumbling Blocks And Stepping Stones: Spiritual Answers to Psychological Questions.