Dan Burke’s Book

Over on LinkedIn this week, there were a couple of discussions in the Catholic Professionals group regarding a new book called Navigating the Interior Life by Dan Burke.

I received a copy of it and although I am not finished reading it, I am thoroughly excited about its existence and the good fortune poured upon me that landed a copy into my hands.

Since I converted to Catholicism 12 years ago, I have failed to even begin a search for a spiritual director.  My confessor (usually Fr. Marty) provides a lot of guidance in confession but 10 minutes a month is not enough.

Honestly, I do not think until I accepted the Holy Spirit into my heart, I would not have benefited from spiritual direction.  I would have been too willing to play the part of perfect student.  As I grow in experience raising my two children and leading my home in our faith, I recognize the significance of humility as a requirement for true learning.

One of the problems faced by the Church is that there are just not enough priests to provide spiritual direction to the hundreds of millions of Catholics.  I think this book can help all of us understand more about the importance of a director to grow our spiritual lives.

From the back cover of Navigating the Interior Life, Dan Burke states that Spiritual Direction is:

• Understanding the general direction or trajectory of one’s soul
• Working with a spiritual guide to help unite one’s soul to God and find peace and joy through the pursuit of His will and ways
• A process of growing in holiness

What resonates with this book for me as a convert is that I feel as Dan Burke describes his feelings after his conversion.

“My conversion provided the next significant leap in my life of faith as I quickly realized that I could not sit passively in the pew each Sunday and go about my life as if nothing had happened. Christ was calling me to something more.”

My dear Christian friend Charlie and I have become spiritual mentors of one another this year.  We have worked through a couple of different books, one during Lent and more recently the second year of That Man Is You!  We both believe that the Holy Spirit speaks through us, especially as we recall Matthew 18:20:

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

I have learned so much from my weekly conversations with Charlie that begin to see the value in a spiritual director.

Check out RCSpiritualDirection.com for more interesting work from a bunch of folks interested in spiritual direction.

Remember to pray for the priestly vocation.  If you are a young man, please visit Priest4Christ.com and learn more about this important endeavor.

There is I think great wisdom ahead as I read this book.

In the meantime, I’m wondering: does anyone have a spiritual director?

Deus tibi benedicas!

P.S.  Check out Patti Maguire Armstrong‘s article where she interviews three priests on Spiritual Direction.

Count my vote for @MittRomney and @PaulRyanVP http://t.co/QuD3yN25

The EWTN Interview with Mitt Romney. Worth the 15 minutes to watch.

This year’s conference will be focused on “Writing and the New Evangelization.” Our vocation calls us to write, but what do we do then? Our conference allows you to connect personally with Catholic publishers and retailers, to learn more about the art, show your work, learn the craft and network. 

This year we are hosting:
 • workshops on marketing and writing
 • presentations on marketing and selling your work
 • in-person pitch sessions
 • group critique sessions
 • national CWG Members meeting (guests welcome, of course)

Help spread the word on twitter.  Here’s a collection of tweets I wrote for the CWG:

Benefits

Connect personally with Catholic #publishers at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

Learn the art of #writing at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

Show your #writing, learn the craft and network at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference

#Authors: pitch your book at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference.  Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

Have your #writing critiqued at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

It’s not just #writing, it’s not just fellowship, it’s inspiration, too! Sign up now at http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

Join us for #marketing workshops at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

Attend #writing workshops at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

The secrets to sell your #writing at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

Engage in group critique sessions at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #cathmedia

Attend @CatholicWritersGuild members meeting at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference

Speakers

Guest speaker @TeresaTomeo at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #EWTN #trcot

Join Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #trcot

Listen to author @EllenGable at at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #trcot

Join author @PattiArmstrong at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #trcot

Watch @AnnMLewis at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #trcot

Meet blogger @peerybingle at the 2012 Catholic Writers Conference. Sign up now http://goo.gl/C7Q22 #CWGConference #trcot

• Mitt Romney is pro-life.
• Mitt believes that life begins at conception and wishes that the laws of our nation reflected that view.
• He believes that the right next step is for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
• Mitt supports the Hyde Amendment, which broadly bars the use of federal funds for abortions.
• As president, he will end federal funding for abortion advocates like Planned Parenthood.
• He will protect the right of health care workers to follow their conscience in their work.
• Americans have a moral duty to uphold the sanctity of life and protect the weakest, most vulnerable and most innocent among us.

It is interesting that the Romney website places in their issues area called values and the Obama site places it also in an ‘issues’ section but under women’s health, not values.

Certainly it is a historic combination of a Mormon and a Catholic.  It should be an interesting ride through November.

†

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome— for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us—this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Learn more at fortnight4freedom.org

Please reblog or retweet.
†

From Courageous Catholic Resources

Under construction

Thank you for stopping by.  I continue to pray each day for my blogosphere friends.  I am reading many of your posts through Google reader and this helps me stay on track with the amount of time I have to read posts.

I have had on-going frustration with wordpress.com such as the inability to plug-in useful java script from linkwithin or inlinks (just to name two).

I am aware that self-hosted wordpress is available.  Way back in the early 2000s, I used to run my blog on self-hosted blog platforms with different names and URLs. Unfortunately, I almost lost all of my posts because I picked one that was too cheap / low quality.  This lead me to choose wordpress.com.

Give my available time to write, I want to spend more time creating content and not fussing around with self-hosted wordpress; doing upgrades, tweaking bits of php code. I cannot afford the time.

I also have prayed for clarity on the things that God calls me to write about as his disciple.  I have used scripture readings as the basis of the last 250 posts (or so).  I have come to understand that my life must be based on the Word and I can write about my faith and my life in many and other interesting ways.

Finally, I felt like I my faithful readers and I were too much alike – we wrote posts about our faith and I love them and continue to find inspiration in them.

To me, it began to feel too much like I am preaching to the choir and I am moved by Matthew 28:19-20:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

All of this being written today and 655 posts on this site, I want to accept a journey where other, non-Christians can come and learn about Jesus Christ.  So I have decided to launch a new blog on blogger.  They have fixed most of the annoying limitations (like ability to change the page width) and allow a lot of interesting widgets not allowed on wordpress.com.  The interface is blessedly simple.

I need simple at this point in my life.

I am grateful to land an awesome URL and will be back soon to post it.  Unlike cinhosa.wordpress.com – that was cobbled together over time – I am in the midst of planning and executing activities for this more comprehensive look at my life.

I will keep my wordpress.com account and all of hundreds of hours of work in posts so I can continue to leave comments and interact with the WP community.  I’ll plug in some tools to make it easier for WP folks to keep track of my new blog if it is interest.

I want in particular to thank Mark Mathia (markmathia.com) who provided an example a few months ago as he re-branded his web site.  This week, he launched a podcast.  He continues to be one of the many inspirations in my writing life.   Thank you, Mark!

And God bless you!
†

P.S.  At mass tonight, I learned about the Foundation for Children in Need.  Please consider a donation to help folks in India who are much less fortunate than many of us who are able to blog because our basic needs are met.

Do you glorify God in your work?

I have been praying this at times when I am in need of help because my client has a significant number of decisions to make that it can lead to mental gridlock.  I try to rely on grace and whispers from the Holy Spirit to guide me, rather than pretending I can do everything myself.  It creates in my an emotional freedom that is a gift and a blessing.

My vocation as disciple, husband, and father means that I am called to work to provide for my family.  As I have written, work often became a means to feed my unchecked ego.  It was often about getting more (responsibility, budget, authority, people) to “prove” to others that I am important.  It was an unpleasant and unhealthy way to live and led to a lot of sorrow and regret.

In these times, I glorified myself.  I did not recognize that the love I receive from God will satisfy my spirit beyond anything generated by my ego.

In today’s scripture reading, we begin part one of The Prayer of Jesus.  It is a beautiful intercessory prayer by Jesus directly to God – as Jesus prepares to ascend to heaven and he said:

“I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.”

As I go through my day now as a consultant, I am keenly aware of the clock because I bill the client for each hour I work.  This shift from a salaried employee at my old company to an hourly one has been magnificent because the focus it creates in me is wonderful.

I end my day satisfied because I have glorified God by accomplishing the work he gave me to do today.  I can leave the client site and then turn my full attention to my family and enjoy their love and our precious time together.

The key for me is to keep it simple, focus on what is happening right now, and ask for God’s help often.

Today, as you go through the work God called you to do, think of the example from Jesus to glorify God.  Also, please remember to send me a prayer request from here or to my twitter account and I will pray for your intentions.

†

Enjoy these related articles:

• The Prayer of Jesus (tvaraj2inspirations.wordpress.com)
• “This is eternal life, that they know the Father the only true God” (worryisuseless.wordpress.com)
• Do We Glorify God? (lifereference.wordpress.com)
• Prayer at Work (maddmedic.wordpress.com)
• An Effective Quiet Time With God (organizationalchangesolutions.wordpress.com)

Listen to Fr. Robert Barron’s Sermon 593 : Seated at the Right Hand of the Father : The Ascension of the Lord.

†

This week’s summary:

The keys to handling the truth

POSTED BY CINHOSA ⋅ MAY 16, 2012 ⋅ 1 COMMENT

Bearing the truth of my sinfulness is a life-long endeavor.  Between my own ego-driven decisions and the risks of temptation, it can be easy for me to fall into the trap of self-deception.  I remind myself of my attempts at goodness and forget our Original Sin. In today’s Gospel reading:  Jesus said to his disciples: … Continue reading »

Multiplying Jesus

POSTED BY CINHOSA ⋅ MAY 15, 2012 ⋅ 6 COMMENTS

The past month has been an interesting challenge to my daily devotions.  A confluence of changes – the end of Lent and my scheduled weekly discussions with my brother-in-Christ Charlie, the end of a long tenure with my old employer, the beginning of a new and interesting role as a consultant, and the continued health … Continue reading »

What are your hardships as a Christian?

POSTED BY CINHOSA ⋅ MAY 8, 2012 ⋅ 1 COMMENT

As I read the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (14:19-29) this morning, I thought about Saint Paul: “In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered … Continue reading »

Here’s why we give the sign of peace

POSTED BY CINHOSA ⋅ MAY 7, 2012 ⋅ 2 COMMENTS

Prior to RCIA, I did not understand the Mass and considered it to be a “bunch of rituals.”  It requires effort to understand the 5 major sections of the Mass (Introductory Rites, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist, Communion Rite and Concluding Rite). After I actually  learned the details of the Mass and the meaning … Continue reading »