I believe that one of the hardest passages in the Catholic Bible to live by and teach to our children is verses 19-20 from chapter 6 of the Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

The passage is as follows:

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

In my opinion, this passage is one of the hardest to live by, for the old and young, for a few reasons:

• “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” – Do you feel like your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? I know that most of the time, I don’t. One of the reasons I think this can be hard to understand is because we simply do not interact with temples in the western world.  We must remember that in the Old Testament, the Jewish temple contained the holiest of holies. The temple was treated with utmost care, and not just anything or anyone could enter the temple. Do we use the same discretion with our bodies? Do we teach our children to use discretion as well?

•  “You are not your own” – In today’s crazy world I bet most of us think that the only thing we own and control is ourselves. But here St. Paul tells us, “Not so fast! You are not your own, you belong to God.” We belong to God! How great is that?!  It takes real humility to realize that we either belong to God or to evil.  It’s pretty black and white. I, for one, am glad that I belong to God . . . but what exactly does that mean? More on that later.

•  “You have been purchased for a price” - Again in today’s world the idea of being ‘purchased’ does not make you feel special. Being ‘purchased’ has a very negative connotation.  But in this case it is a great thing, right? Without getting involved in too much nitty-gritty theology talk, let’s just say that what St. Paul is trying to get at is that we basically sold ourselves to evil and sin through the Fall. We willingly gave ourselves over to evil, we put ourselves into slavery, by our own free will. Christ came and brought us out of that into the Light of God. He “paid the price” in a sense. That price being His sacrificial death on the cross.

•  “Glorify God in your body” – What does it mean to belong to God? It means that we are to glorify God in our bodies. How do we do that? Well, we simply have to praise God and make God’s glory clear through our actions. I am under the belief that anything not sinful can be made into an action in which we glorify God if we incorporate prayer into it. This can be as obvious as praying before a soccer game with your teammates for sportsmanship, safety, and victory!

You might be asking why I decided to share my reflections on this verse with you. Well, I decided to share because I think that it is one of the most important verses of the Bible that we can share with our children. Our children are bombarded with messages about their body and what they are meant for which simply do not match what St. Paul teaches us in First Corinthians.

How do you speak with your children about how they use their bodies? Do you speak with them at all on the topic? Have you ever reflected on this verse of the Bible?

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Happy Father’s Day!

I hope your day is blessed and absolutely fabulous day!

In honor of Father’s day, I was interviewed on Catholic Forum. Catholic Forum is a half-hour program produced by the Office of Communications of the Diocese of Wilmington and heard each Sunday morning at 10:05 on 1150 AM WDEL in Wilmington, Delaware and on www.wdel.com. It has been on WDEL since 1939, making Catholic Forum the longest-running Catholic radio program in the United States – maybe even the world. Catholic Forum is also heard every Sunday morning at 9:05 on 100.9FM WAAI in Hurlock/Cambridge, Maryland.

Just hit the play button below to hear the interview.

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Way back in September, before my son was even born, I did two posts on the sheer awesomeness of the parenting skills of two dads in the Bible- Joseph and Zechariah. I had originally intended to do a few more posts on the subject, but that never happened. Want to know why? Well, to be honest, it’s because most of the dads in the Bible would have their children taken from them by the state in roughly 2.65 milliseconds if they tried to pull some of their shenanigans in today’s society. No joke. I’d trust a caffeine filled hedgehog with my antique balloon collection before I would let one of these guys anywhere near my kid.

Who are these obscure and hidden father figures, you ask? Surely, I have never heard of them or these blundering escapades you speak of, you insist.

Nay I say. Nay! You have heard of them. They are our champions of the faith! I’m talking about cats like Abraham, Lot, Isaac, Hosea, and Noah.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I lose my cool, put the diaper on backwards, and drop my son on his head from time to time (kidding), but these guys make me look like father of the year. Let’s look at a just a few stories.

Hosea- I read an article some time ago about some of the baby names that the New Zealand Government has rejected over the last few years. Among them were some real humdingers like Lucifer, King, and Anal. I got to tell you though, this isn’t some new fad that has sprung up in the last few years. Way back in 761 BC (give or take a few years) Hosea named his little princess “Loruhamah.” Now, you might think that actually has a nice Old Testament ring to it. But dig a little deeper in that well and you’ll realize that the name Loruhamah means “unloved.” I suppose it was the next best thing to naming her after the mother, whose name was Gomer.

Lot- If I had a nickel for every time I had to appease an angry mob of townsfolk by offering them the virginity of my two daughters…well…I guess that has never happened to me, but it did happen to Lot once. The book of Genesis recounts how God sent two angels to destroy Sodom, and Lot, being the gracious host he was, welcomed them into his house for the night. When the locals got word that these visitors weren’t just in town to visit dear Aunt Edith, they decided to take matters into their own hands. Lot attempted to head them off at the pass and smooth things over by offering them his two daughters. Yeah. That happened.

Noah- Everyone remembers Noah and his Ark. But, not many of us can recall what happened once he and the family got back to business as usual when the flood waters receded. Once that rainbow went away, Noah did the most logical thing he could think of, he planted a vineyard. Later, the old guy has a few too many libations and decides to sleep it off in the buff. The bad news is that he forgot to lock the ole’ tent door and his son Ham stumbles in on him in his naked state. Outraged and a tid-bit embarrassed Noah decides to curse, not Ham, but his son Canaan. This guy becomes the father of Canaanites, the group that Israel is constantly slaughtering a bit later down the road.

Now for the good news. These guys, that seemingly made some of the biggest mistakes a guy could make, are all upheld as some of the most just and God centered men who have ever lived. Sure they made some mistakes. We all do. But, when all is said and done they did the best they could. Hosea is one of the greatest prophets Israel ever had, and, by the way,  God later changes the name of Loruhamahto Ruhamah, which means “beloved that was shown mercy”. Lot is so devoted to God that he and his family are the only ones spared when Sodom is destroyed. As far as Noah goes, we can’t be to hard on the guy, after all, he did save all the animals on the planet. I mean, without him, we wouldn’t have the star nosed mole. And for that, we are eternally grateful.

As dads we we are going to make some mistakes from time to time. We’re going to say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, and forget to bring that one thing we were told not to forget under any circumstances.  Perhaps, that is what really makes a good father in the end- the ability to embrace our failures and move forward in spite of them so that we can model for our sons and daughters that they are worth far more in our eyes than the mistakes they make. It is, after all, the message our heavenly Father gives to us through His Son.

Maybe there are some hurts and pains between you and your children, or maybe even you and your father, that need repaired. What better time than now to reach out to them?Forgiveness, of ourselves and of others, is the first step to mending those relationships. In the meantime, just try not to sell your daughters to the townspeople and we should make it out of this alright.

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Kids across the country are out of school, and now we’re at the beginning of hot days, summer vacations, and of course, the proverbial summer reading lists.

Because summertime is a great time for catching up on reading, I think it’s worthwhile to share what I think are the most important Catholic books out there for youths and young adults to dig in to.  From kids in their pre-teens up to late teens, these formative years are very important ones to encourage your kids to read books that will inspire them to the great things in life: truth, goodness, and beauty.

I admit that this list is completely biased by including only books that I have personally read and enjoyed.  I encourage you to comment and leave other books that you think every Catholic young adult would be better off reading. Here is my list of top Catholic books for young adults (in no particular order):

• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien –  The Lord of the Rings is one of the best stories of all-time and it has powerful christian themes and tones.  Depending on your children’s age they are likely familiar with the movies, but if they are old enough (high school more than likely) then you should certainly encourage them to the books.  And read it with them too!

• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis –  The Chronicles of Narnia is very similar to the Lord of the Rings in that it is a fiction/fantasy story with many christian themes and tones.  These books are a far easier read, but can still be enjoyed by a high schooler (I personally read the Chronicles in High School).

• Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly –  In my opinion this books is one of the best books to light a fire under a young Catholic for the faith.  I see Catholic teens everyday that are simply going through the motions of Catholicism (they probably learned it from their parents), this books has the power to change that.  This book inspired me to revert to the faith in my younger days and I would encourage anyone to read it, especially if they need a kick in the pants.

• Catholic Christianity by Peter Kreeft –  This book does a phenomenal job of taking the Catechism of the Catholic Church which can be hard to understand and breaking it down into much more easily understandable language.  If you want your child to read the Catechism, well good luck, if that doesn’t work, then I would urge them to try this book.  Peter Kreeft, if you didn’t already know, is one of the great Catholic writers of our time.

• Triumph – The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, a 2000 Year History by H. W. Crocker, III –  This book is one of the best Church History books I have read by far.  It is very engaging and easy to read, which makes it ideal for teenagers.  If your son or daughter does not know or love Church history, then this an ideal book for them. In my opinion this book is not dry, but riveting as history ought to be told.

This Catholic book list is just my simple, humble suggestion.  There may be lots of other great Catholic books that you would recommend for young people. Please comment below and share what books you think every Catholic youth ought to have read and be familiar with before they leave the nest.

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Father’s Day, June 16) is nearly here and Catholic Dads Online will be on the air this Father’s day. If you are in Deleware, Maryland, or on the internet, you can hear Catholic Dads Online founder, Rob Kaiser, in a Father’s Day interview with Bob Krebs on Catholic Forum.

Catholic Forum is a half-hour program produced by the Office of Communications of the Diocese of Wilmington and heard each Sunday morning at 10:05 on 1150 AM WDEL in Wilmington, Delaware and on www.wdel.com. It has been on WDEL since 1939, making Catholic Forum the longest-running Catholic radio program in the United States – maybe even the world. Catholic Forum is also heard every Sunday morning at 9:05 on 100.9FM WAAI in Hurlock/Cambridge, Maryland. Catholic Forum features a brief reflection on and introduction of the Sunday Gospel, a proclamation of the Gospel by one of our Diocesan Deacons, a selection or two of inspirational music and an interview segment.

After the broadcast, the interview portion will be available here at Catholic Dads Online.

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Randy Hain is an author (whose work has been reviewed at Catholic Dads here and here. Randy just published an article, “A Checklist for Catholic Dads” at the National Catholic Register. It would be well worth your time to read it.

As with Randy’s style, he looks within himself and gathers thoughts from others, and distills information into easy to understand chunks. Here he has a 7 item list for being a an integrated Catholic dad. I’ll give you the list, but you will have to read his article to get what he means.

• Surrender.
• Be a man of prayer.
• Understand your true vocation.
• Invest time.
• Be courageous.
• Practice detachment.

Read the whole article here.

We also have a similar list of five items published here at Catholic Dads Online that you may find worth reading.

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May 31 is the feast day of the second Joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary, the Visitation.  When I reflect on the Visitation, I cannot help but move immediately to the Magnificat of Mary, Mary’s first recorded words after Elizabeth’s greeting.

The Magnificat has become a treasured prayer of the Church, recited daily in the Liturgy of the Hours, and is one of the most ancient Christian hymns used by the Church.  The great song of Luke 1:45-56 bears repeating:

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Isn’t this prayer/hymn beautiful? Every time I read/sing this prayer something different sticks out to me. Recently, what has struck me the most is the way God works in the world… God afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted.

And of course this begs the question, “Are we comfortable?  Do we need to be afflicted by God?”

What I mean by this is, if you think about it, we are taught by the world that comfort is something we should constantly be striving for.  We should be comfortable with who we are, what we purchase, how we live our lives, and everything else. Is this a bad thing?

I think what we have to realize is that God does not call us to be comfortable.  Look at the saints, many of them did not live in ways that we would consider comfortable (especially the martyrs of the faith).  Jesus calls us not to comfort but to authentic greatness.  And authentic greatness is not a comfortable thing.  It’s hard, it’s a struggle, but it’s definitely worth it.  Jesus shows us that.

Today I challenge you to speak with your family about this call to authentic greatness and uncomfortability.  I challenge you to look at your life and ask yourself if you are striving after a level of comfort which is holding you back from greatness.  I ask that you challenge me as well.

What are your thoughts on this reflection on the Magnificat?  Do you think God afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted?  Have you witnessed this in your life?

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Inspired by Michael Hyatt’s (This is your life) podcast titled “The 3 Components of Job Satisfaction”.  He discusses strategies to make work more tolerable,  strategy 6: use your job to polish your character.  Hit home with me.

I am currently in the midst of finding work I will enjoy, that will align my strengths, passions and values.

Although successful in my current work I am no longer getting satisfaction from it.  I am creating an exit plan but in the process began to dwell in a negative mindset.  I slowly started to tell myself I was unhappy. I needed to get out fast.  Before long my performance started to fall.

I was listening to the podcast on my way to work and it hit me.  My stinking thinking was getting me down.  Look I knew this already but its worth saying again your work/job provides more than just a check.  If you will open yourself to it, your job can be a place to grow spiritually as well.

John Paul II in a letter to the Diocese of Rome say’s the following “Work is a way to self-fulfillment, through the growth and development of the potential and abilities which are aquired by training, experience and concrete activity.”

He goes on to say “From the Christian vision of work springs the constant commitment to give priority in every circumstance to the good of the person and to his full spiritual, cultural and social development.”

We as Christians are to be the salt of the world but many men leave their faith at the door, it seems.   The world needs to be able to tell as a part by our work ethic, character, how we treat others.  If your at a job you don’t like and you’ve tried everything but still hate your job or is not a right fit for you, create a plan and take action but don’t do anything without a plan.

First step is to start visualizing yourself making the right choices.

• Be kind to someone who may not deserve it.
• Smiling whether on the phone or in person.
• Focus on your work instead of checking all your updates on social media.
• Encourage a coworker

A story from my personal experience.  I had an upset customer yelling at me but I remained calmed and professional and pushed through the call til I was able to resolve his problem.  He was irate through most of the call.  At the end he did a total transformation.  He apologized and couldn’t believe how kind I remained despite his behavior.  I share this not to toot my own horn but to put this all together.

The day I put this strategy to work was one of the most productive days.  My motivation skyrocketed as well.  So if you currently DO NOT like your job.  Don’t just quit without a plan.  Do it the right way the ethical way the christian way.

What can you do to make your job more tolerable?

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I recently posted a blog called 30 Sayings for Fathers to Live By.  In that post I quoted John Wooden as saying:

“The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”

This quote is especially appropriate as we approach Mother’s Day, a day in which we go out of our way to honor, praise, and love the mothers in our lives in a special way.  I would like to share four ways to love the mother of your children everyday,  and show your children that love.

Don’t think that this list is meant only for those with children still living at home—grown and married children still benefit from seeing their parents keeping love strong as they age. It gives them hope and encouragement for the future of their own marriages.

1. Do your very best to schedule date-nights: I cannot overstate how important this is to a healthy marriage and virtually every professional agrees.  I would schedule at least one date night a month and be sure to NOT simply discuss bills, parenting, or something of the like (unless there is an important matter to discuss away from the kids).  But rather have fun, grow closer and enjoy your time together/away from the children.
2. Lighthearted Flirting: I think that one of the hardest things for some marriages to keep going is flirting.  Don’t be afraid to flirt innocently with your wife in front of your children, to let your children see the affection you have for each other.  A little harmless flirting can go a long way in showing your children what authentic romance looks like from a young age.  And flirting will likely also help keep that flame of love going strong.  Remember as your children grow up in the world they will be continually exposed to the often false image what the world portrays authentic romance to be.  It is your job as parents to show your children what real romantic love is and what it is not.
3. Constantly thank God for your wife:  I have realized that it becomes very easy to take the most important people for granted, such as your wife.  How often do you thank your wife for all that she does?  Do you thank her in front of your children, and encourage your children to appreciate her?  How often do you thank God for giving you the gift of your wife?
4. Pray Together: Women long for the emotional and spiritual sense of security that comes from a man who takes spiritual leadership. Be sure that you initiate spending time prayer with your wife, even if it’s just praying the rosary together, often.  Make sure your children are aware that mom and dad spend time together in prayer about the needs of the family.

What other tips would you add to this list?  How do you show your your children and their mother that you love her?

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