Advent is a time of preparation and meditation. It is a little Lent that offers an opportunity to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. Let us make the most of this season, taking quiet moments for reflection and prayer.
Put The Holy Back In The Holidays
Today we are showcasing some of the secular favorites. If your favorite is not posted…we’re working on it!
There is a lot of talk Spirituality versus Religion. Many new age concepts incorporate older religious philosophies into present day sensibilities in order to treat the “whole person.”
I find there is no reason to search when the answer is present and accounted for…
Catholicism, the Universal Church, looks at the whole person–body, mind, and spirit–as it offers methods of worship. For example, there are those who want to get away from the world and enter into the Silence of the Eternal God. We call them contemplatives. There are those who want to shout from the rooftops the Great Glory of God. We call them charismatics. There are those who just want to get by, go to work, pay the mortgage, have dinner with the spouse and kids, no real bells and whistles. Let’s just keep it simple. We call them the laity.
A beloved priest decided to combine his two great loves: Mary, the Mother of God and daily exercise. He created a routine involving stretching, cardio, and strength-training while saying the rosary. Each prayer had an exercise or kept time to an exercise. If he was pressed for time, a decade would do. If he had a little time to spare, maybe he could toss in a sixth or seventh decade. In this way he continues to make his life a prayer, offering his love of exercise and his love of Mary to Jesus Christ.
Personally, I have fondness for pilates with small weights. Did you know that the Book of Christian Prayer is just right for that sort of routine? In holding the books–mine and Stephen’s–I am able to strength-train and know who it is I am conditioning for. I need my body strong to do God’s work. Vanity need not enter the room. Pilates are designed to make slow movements more effective. I listened to Stephen’s slower, more melodic music as I held the books. I considered the weight in my hands and the message seeping into my soul. “I am called… I have losses in my past … I long for happiness…God will always love me.”
What does this mean?
“God calls me to be His.”
“I feel broken.”
“I feel lost.”
“God loves me more than I will ever understand.”
If we meditate on God’s love, our own shortcomings, and God’s love again, we being to see that we are not alone. We are merely incomplete. God makes us complete. God gives us the silent reprieve we seek from the noise of the world. God is there always speaking to us, whispering encouragement. Are we listening?
A couple of months ago I put together a mix of Stephen’s music as a soundtrack to a friend’s life. The more I listen to this mix, the more I believe this could be the soundtrack to everyone’s life. There are good days, bad days, love found, and love lost, but in the end God has always been where we have stood.
This episode originally aired on the 4th Saturday of July.
Welcome to Pro Sanctity’s Holiness Helpers on Spirit 102.7. I’m Nancy Tefft, and this is July: A Deeper Look At Our Relationship With God, Family, And Community.
Today’s theme is “Friendship: The People Who Help Us Get To Heaven.”
There are people in our lives, whom we love as siblings but to whom we have no blood relation. These are the people God places in our lives in order to build a community destined for Heaven.
Sainthood happens in clusters.
We are a fallen people, and we are called to embrace others regardless of shortcomings (ours or theirs). There are those out there who long for the intimacy of a close friend, but they are too afraid of the hurt such a risk may bring. We are called to embrace these people as well. As they learn to trust, as we learn to trust, it is easier to give of ourselves to others.
Friends are the people who are with us in good times and in bad. They have the rope as we feel ourselves falling off the cliff. They help us, support us, and make the path just a little easier to walk. They help us remember we do not live for this world.
Some special people are taken from us too soon, but that does not mean they are lost to us. On the contrary, they live on in our hearts and they are with us as part of the Church Triumphant. Jesus destroyed death, so it is almost as if they have moved away, but we shall see them again someday.
This has been a Holy Heart Media Production in association with the Pro Sanctity Movement. Thank you for listening. God Bless!
Stephen has had the rare opportunity to offer an online audition for one of Omaha’s own nonprofit entertainment organizations. The Merrymakers hire performers to go out to senior centers (invited, of course) and spread good cheer to all.
Stephen has been singing oldies all of his life. As a child he used to sit by the fireplace and listen to his parents’ records with his sisters and sing along. There was even a “No singing at the dinner table” rule because otherwise no eating would get accomplished. He taught himself to play guitar using cords of John Denver songs, beginning with “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”
His love of music was inspired by his parents, and today he passes on this love to his children. Just last night, his eldest (3 years old) said John Denver was his favorite, too.
Without further ado…
July 17th
Welcome ot Pro Sanctity’s Holiness Heplers on Spirit 102.7. I’m Nancy Tefft, and this is July: A Deeper Look At Our Relationships With God, Family, And Community.
Today’s theme is “Children: God’s Gift of Love.” When a couple makes the decision to marry, life changes. Each has to sacrifice for the other and give up many of their old ways. Just as the couple settles into married life, God grants them a share in HIS creation, a child.
The news of this new life is the happiest and scariest moment in the couple’s lives. Suddenly, the couple must give up space for the nursery, spending money for baby needs, time for play, and sleep for their nocturnal darling.
Day by day the child grows and learns. Life becomes an adventure. Once he is relatively independent, he may fall into a routine, and parents can take their first breath in three or so years.
Although…just because he can play by himself does not necessarily mean he will play by himself. A child needs to be constantly reminded that Mommy and Daddy love him. He may ask to be played with everytime he sees his parents walk into the room.
Everytime that becomes a chore, remember that he is little for a short time, and someday, all too soon, he will be getting married and having children of his own.
In the end it is our parents who remind us of our past, our spouses who remind us of our present, and our children who give us hope for the future.
If you would like to hear more of the music in this program,
- Look for us on the web at www.corsanctum.com
- Find us on Facebook as Cor Sanctum and Holy Heart Media
- Follow us on Twitter as Holy Heart Media
This has been a Holy Heart Media Production in association with the Pro Sanctity Movement. Thank you for listening. God Bless!
July 10th
Welcome to Pro Sanctity’s Holiness Helpers on Spirit 102.7. I’m Nancy Tefft, and this is “July: A Deeper Look At Our Relationships With God, Family, and Community.” Today’s theme is Marriage: A Love Made In Heaven. After the Lord created Adam in the Garden, God saw that Adam was lonely. Even the animals could not fill the void. God created Eve. Adam loved Eve. He found that he was complete with her.
St. Paul discussed the sacred bonds of marriage in his letter to the Ephesians. He told them wives should be supportive of their husbands, and husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the Church, stretching out His arms on the Cross for her. The man is head of the family, and the wife is the heart.
Today love is a complicated thing. In days past, love was a commitment to another person, rejecting all others. Today love is seen as a feeling that comes and goes, and marriage is seen as a temporary agreement that lasts as long as both parties are having fun.
In the beginning it was not so.
God draws us to the spouse we are meant to have. If we are agreeable, we can build beautiful lives with these people, designed to be our other halves. However, in our fallen world there is often jealousy and resistance to change. Scripture covers this as well, “A man shall leave his mother and a woman her home.” We are called to leave everything for love of the other, regardless of the naysayers. If we place God at the center and the well-being of our spouse before ourselves, we can build a love made in Heaven.
[I Fall In Love Again]
If you would like to hear more of the music in this program,
- Look for us on the web at www.corsanctum.com
- Find us on Facebook as Cor Sanctum and Holy Heart Media
- Follow us on Twitter as Holy Heart Media
This has been a Holy Heart Media Production in association with the Pro Sanctity Movement. Thank you for listening. God Bless!
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