Meditations – Page 2 – Perpetual Adoration

December 1, 2013

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MEDITATIONS FOR ADVENT

Advent is now upon us. What is Advent? It’s a time of waiting, a time of preparation — spiritual preparation for the anniversary of the coming of Jesus Christ. Instead of making spiritual preparations during Advent, many of us get caught up in the demands of everyday living. Any extra time that we have is spent on the material preparations that have become an annual tradition, such as buying gifts, decorating our homes and work areas, planning parties, and baking treats.

October 30, 2013

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Going Shopping At The Nut House

There’s a business on Main Street in downtown Peoria, across the street from the courthouse, called The Nut House. The inside of the business consists of a tiny storeroom that is lined with glass display cases along three sides. Inside the display cases are numerous trays and jars that contain different types of candy and nuts. On top of the display cases and on shelves attached to the walls are decorative jars that are also filled with candy and nuts. There are at least 200 different items on display that a customer can choose from.

October 10, 2013

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Advice From a Mother of Four Young Children

My oldest daughter, Anna (30 years old), has been married for nine years. She and her husband, Josh, have four children, all of whom are under the age of eight. Anna recently sent an email to everyone in our family with a suggestion:

September 26, 2013

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Weak: “having little physical power or ability”

For some unknown reason, during the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about the 10 principal virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As a reminder, the 10 principal virtues are (1) her profound humility, (2) her lively faith, (3) her blind obedience, (4) her continual mental prayer, (5) her mortification in all things, (6) her surpassing purity, (7) her ardent charity, (8) her heroic patience, (9) her angelic sweetness, and (10) her divine wisdom.

September 5, 2013

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Pruning

A couple of times a week, my wife (Georgette) sends an email to me and our children with an update on what’s been going on in her life and the lives of our children. Three of our seven children live out of town — one in California, one in Colorado, and one in Chicago.

August 8, 2013

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The Age of Mercy

You may have seen the media frenzy surrounding Pope Francis’s recent answer to a reporter’s question about homosexuality, when the pope said, “Who am I to judge?” While the worldwide media focused on this one particular response, they ignored the overall theme of the pope’s answers to questions that were thrown at him by reporters for over an hour.

July 26, 2013

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A Lesson In Humility

Last week I suffered through a humiliating experience that completely blindsided me. In hindsight, I probably should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. I ordinarily don’t have any problems sleeping, but this particular experience left me so shell-shocked that I had trouble sleeping for several nights after it occurred. All I could do was lie in bed, rosary beads in hand, and alternate between praying the mysteries of the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

July 18, 2013

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The Language of the Rosary

I periodically encounter a devout Catholic who is struggling with emotional issues that are causing him or her to experience significant suffering. After a short discussion about what’s troubling the person, I always ask the exact same question: Do you pray your rosary every day? The answer is always ‘no.’ Always.

June 27, 2013

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Did Jesus Experience Fear?

One of the most common emotions I see among clients is fear — fear concerning a job, a medical condition, a family member, a financial problem, a legal problem, the state of our economy, the state of our culture.