Meditations – Perpetual Adoration

December 10, 2014

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Turning Conflict Into Personal Growth

I want to share with you a very powerful technique for changing the way you respond to offensive or critical comments. This technique has the potential of turning what is usually a very painful and unpleasant experience into an opportunity for personal growth and wisdom.

September 17, 2014

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Harnessing the Power of Fear

There’s a prayer that we learned when we were in second grade that we recite every time we receive the sacrament of reconciliation. Despite our familiarity with the prayer, most of us aren’t aware of the hidden meaning of the prayer. I’m referring to the Act of Contrition which begins with the following sentence:

July 9, 2014

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A Lesson From Amazon.com

If you use the Internet to shop for items, there’s a good chance you’ve purchased products from Amazon.com. With 96 fulfillment centers located throughout the United States, Amazon is a financial threat to a number of local and national businesses. Products that are ordered from Amazon are routinely delivered to customers’ doorsteps within one to three days.

May 22, 2014

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Mealtime With Our Lord

In a recent Adoration Letter article titled “Too Tired To Care,” I wrote about the importance of making an effort to always keep your mind young, fresh, enthusiastic, and hopeful. In the article, I mentioned a reporter who had followed Mother Teresa around for several days and was completely exhausted by the end of each day. The reporter noticed that Mother Teresa, who was more than twice the age of the reporter, appeared to be as fresh and energetic as she was when she started each day.

April 21, 2014

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An (Almost) Irresistible Offer

The year was 1993. One of my cousins had recently gotten engaged and her dad told her and her fianc? that he had a proposal for them. He was willing to pay them $20,000 if they were willing to agree to have a small wedding that only included immediate family members. The offer came after the wedding invitation list had grown to more than 400 people. While the groom was interested in accepting the money, the bride put her foot down and insisted that they follow through with the traditional wedding they were planning.

March 13, 2014

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Controlling your Mind, Emotions, and Body

The spring semester of my junior year in college (1978) was the best semester I ever had as a college student. It was also the most challenging. I had a full load of 300-level classes in accounting and business and competition among the students was very tough.

February 20, 2014

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A Legacy Worth Talking About

Imagine you are driving on University Street in Peoria and in the distance you see a large crowd of people gathered in a parking lot. As you drive closer to the crowd, you see a man who you have met before tied to a telephone pole. To your horror, you see two young, well-built men taking turns at beating the man with leather whips that have sharp pieces of metal attached to the ends of each whip.

January 22, 2014

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The Queen of Titles

The dictionary defines the word “title” as “an appellation of dignity, honor, distinction, or preeminence attached to a person or family by virtue of rank, office, precedent, privilege, attainment, or lands.” It is said that the Blessed Virgin Mary has more than 1,000 titles, a handful of which are: Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Seat of Wisdom, Mirror of Justice, Vessel of Honor, Cause of Our Joy, Gate of Heaven, Morning Star, and Comforter of the Afflicted.

December 20, 2013

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A Super Ball and the Mother of God

Do you know when the Super Ball was invented? It was invented when I was 7 years old (1964), by chemist Norman Stingley. I first learned about it from seeing commercials on television, which showed the new magical ball soaring into the sky whenever someone threw it against the pavement. I later got to see it in action firsthand after several of my cousins convinced their mothers to buy them their own Super Balls.