God Loves You

10-30-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

Barry had a life sentence in prison for doing unthinkable crimes. He would often remark to the chaplain that he was an atheist and could not bring himself to believe in any “god.” When the chaplain asked why, Barry quickly retorted that the book of Genesis speaks of God creating everything and feeling very good about it. God’s creation of people and things is beautiful. Barry continued, “If there is a God who creates something and likes what He makes and that God is good, then how could He have created someone as evil as me?” The chaplain fell silent as tears welled up in his eyes. “God loves you too, Barry. The stuff that you did is another matter. God puts His image and likeness in each one of us, in our souls. How can God not love himself?” God cannot despise or hate anything or anyone. He made you. Life hurt you. He is always about unconditional love and mercy. Barry found a glimmer of hope that day and was touched by love.

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God Knows No Favorites

10-23-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

There is a thing called “false piety.” It is when we wear a religious disguise of devotion, attend to our obligations, and outwardly abide by rules while being inwardly unkind, uncharitable, and exclusive. Wearing the right clothes, saying the proper prayers, being in sacred places, and reading devotional books, those exhibiting false piety craftily try to control others using the pretense of love.

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Pray Unceasingly for God's Love

10-16-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

Brendan wouldn’t stop. He continued nagging his mom to let him have a little more time with his phone. He knew the rules but wanted to finish a game and text a few more friends. He begged, had a temper tantrum, pleaded, screamed, pouted, and used every means he could think of to get Mom to change her mind. Mom had a busy day and was tired. At first, she held her ground. Then, her son’s persistence got the best of her, and she caved. “Brendan, you can have 30 more minutes and no more!” she retorted. Brendan’s determination paid off. He won.

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Give Thanks & Praise in Prayer

10-09-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

Ten lepers were cured. Only one returned to give thanks. When we fall victim to entitlement, we diminish our capacity to love. Never satisfied, we walk around with outstretched arms, eagerly searching for the next thing we want so that we can acquire it ourselves. Very rarely do entitled hands hold anything to freely give away to others. Entitled hands also find it challenging to reach toward heaven in a gesture of gratitude and praise. We are often more obsessed with celebrating our victories, securing our assets, safeguarding our futures, and stacking the deck of life in our favor rather than relishing and absorbing the gift of the moment and blessings received.

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Find Freedom in Obedience

10-02-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

As adults, unless we are dealing with children, “obedience” is not a word we typically like to hear. It often brings connotations of military protocols, deference to superiors at work, or conforming to laws and practices. In a culture that has learned to challenge authority, being obedient is understood more as something I “have” to do, not “want” to do. Do you ever see merit in wanting to be obedient? Encouraged to develop independent, self-sufficient egos and personas, we learn to focus on our own wills and merits as we strive for success and achieve a sense of well-being. Giving ourselves over to the will of another, especially when done blindly, can sometimes carry more risk than we are willing to take. Also, blindly following orders without any deference to ethics or morality can lead to atrocious crimes and violence against humanity.

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What do you love?

09-25-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

“If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” Regardless of how the message of faith is received, a total conversion of mind and heart is needed for it to take root and have meaning. It is easy to become complacent and comfortable with all that life can afford us. Life can become “all about me,” preserving my livelihood and protecting my securities. Often, this drive can become so strong that we eagerly strive to protect our self-interests at the expense of others. Other people are necessary only to the extent that they are “useful” to us and profitable.

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What do you serve?

09-18-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

“You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Merriam-Webster defines mammon as material wealth or possessions, especially having a debasing influence. While God does not take issue with our need to use money for the business of our lives, there can be a problem with the attitudes we bring to it. We can easily become so preoccupied and obsessed with money that it becomes the real “god” we worship. Do we serve mammon instead of God? In their book, Wealth, Riches and Money, Craig Hill and Earl Pitts outline symptoms of mammon’s influence in our lives. Some of these are worry and anxiety over money, money mismanagement, fear over “never having enough,” an “I can’t afford it” mentality, impulse buying, stinginess, greed, debt, and discontent.

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God Waits for Us

09-11-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

Since God created human beings, we have struggled to keep our focus on God. We wrestle with the question of “who is God” and foolishly believe some of God’s job description can be better completed by us. We wander in different directions, lose our way, think that happiness can be found elsewhere and even construct golden calves to worship. Are we simply too independent or just blatantly stubborn? It’s a good question to ask. Even with all of our silliness and distractions, God compassionately and patiently waits. He lets us assert our wills and knows that perhaps one day we will actually wake up and realize how lost we are.

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Seek God's Love

09-04-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

What virtue is the cornerstone of discipleship? Love. Jesus preached about it, lived it, and summarized his greatest commandment featuring it. Love is in our DNA. To follow Jesus, then, is to follow the path of love. While this may appear to be an attractive and easy option, it most assuredly is not. Authentic love always comes with sacrifice. It is the complete giving of oneself to another. The sacrificial character of love always requires that we leave something aside and pursue something else. This is at the heart of self-denial. Love asks us to make choices that are often difficult.

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FORE the Children, thank you!

08-28-2022Weekly ReflectionFather Emmanuel and Susan Cook

At St. John Paul the Great Academy, we are succeeding in ways we could not imagine four years ago. TGBTG! THANK YOU to all who believed and still believe in us!

Gratitude to all the organizers, sponsors, 120 golfers, volunteers, and TCC for supporting the 2022 Annual St. John Paul the Great Academy GOLF TOURNAMENT.

THANK YOU to everyone! Parents! Faculty! Community volunteers, Academy Board members, the ALUMNI from St. Mary’s School, Sacred Heart School, St. Peter School, St. Francis School, St. Peter / St. Francis School and Ava representing today’s students of St. John Paul the Great Academy!!! Thank you to Chris Smedick, James Ryan, John Svetz, Paul Foeller and Leo Nardi … We dreamt of a full field and sponsors… and YOU brought it!!!

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Discipline is about Radical Trust

08-21-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

The serious disciple knows the necessity and value of discipline. Thinking of discipline as something punitive in nature, we underscore its place in our spiritual lives. Discipline is really about a radical trust in God and his guidance. “When you are conducted by a guide who takes you through an unknown country at night across fields where there are no tracks, by his own skill, asking no advice from anyone, giving no inkling of his plans, what choice do you have but to give yourself completely to his guidance? If you are convinced that he is a good guide, you must have faith in him and abandon yourself to his care (Jean-Pierre de Caussade).”

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Live Radically

08-14-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

An inward transformation occurs in a person who decides to follow Jesus Christ. Things change. They see the world differently, understand their journey more deeply and profoundly, have their sights fixed on eternity and union with God and hold themselves to higher standards and virtues. It requires a conscious choice to be a Christian, and this choice must be renewed at least daily. While the basic premise of Jesus’ message may appear heartwarming and straightforward: love of God, neighbor, and self, the implications of doing so are challenging. The true disciple is called to live radically, and often finds themselves at odds with the world or even with those in their own homes.

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Joyful Witness

08-07-2022Weekly Reflection© LPi

St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that, “Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe, to know what he ought to desire, and to know what he ought to do.” Everyone is called to work toward their

Whenever we really want something, we put our entire selves into achieving it. Being fully invested in our labor, we willingly work extra hours, devote an abundance of energy and effort, and remain vigilant for beneficial opportunities that may come our way. We certainly do not passively sit by doing nothing! Such an attitude leads to laziness and the accomplishment of little. Worse yet, some look to others to do the work for them, hoping to reap the benefits of another’s efforts. Conscientiousness and diligence are the only means to success.

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