The 12th Day of Christmas

Well. Finally posting my 12th run.

We celebrate the baptism of the Lord this Sunday and officially end the Christmas season. I pray this Christmas has been a blessing for you and your loved ones. God Bless.

Days 10 & 11, January 4 and 5

Had a little get away for my day off but managed to get a couple of good Nordic Track workouts in. I guess I should have called this session "The Twelve Nordic Track workouts of Christmas" between the weather and the schedule I think I did more Nordic Track than actual runs for these 12 Days. Oh well the NT is a good workout and in some ways it requires more discipline..........at least mental discipline. When you're running you "gotta get back anyway" so you might as well keep on running. The NT tempts you to stop early so you have to "stay with it" and complete the time you've committed to.........in my case 31 minutes and 31 seconds!!!!!!

I think my next session will be something to honor St. Valentine's Day. We often hear that we need to put the Christ back in Christ-mas and I whole heartedly agree........maybe we can also tackle putting the "Saint" back in St. Valentine's day!!!!! I have to admit I'm biased (as the running PRIEST I guess I should be) but it really is amazing how many holidays, place names, and customs find their origin as part of faith. Faith is thankfully very much woven into the history of our nation and our cultures.......let's all work to keep it that way.

8th and 9th Days of Christmas- January 2 & 3

I had a couple of good Nordic Track workouts for the 8th and 9th Days of Christmas. The picture just reminds me of what the weather feels like around here these days........not really quite THAT cold but it has been pretty chilly for this East Texas kid.

Sunday January 3, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. It is always one of my favorite Feasts in the calendar of the Church. As you probably know Epiphany means "shining forth" and as we read of the Magi, the three wise men it always reminds us that Christ has come to all people for all time. It seems we need to remember that message more and more in today's world.

I don't want to get too preachy but I will share a couple of points that I made at the Epiphany masses that I celebrated. I tried to emphasize the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ God's only begotten Son and I encouraged the people to celebrate this Greatest Gift throughout the year by making sure they come to mass every Sunday and by taking the time during the week to reflect on the Word of God for the coming Sunday. These are pretty basic steps and I acknowledged at the masses that I was more or less "preaching to the choir" because the people at mass are pretty committed to being there. But I think it is still worth saying because even faithful Catholics can be tempted by the business and distractions of the world to skip a Sunday here and there. Of course Sunday mass is an obligation in the Catholic faith but hopefully on the feast of the Epiphany we can be reminded why the Church has raised this to the level of obligation in her law........BECAUSE IT IS SO IMPORTANT.

So much for not getting too preachy!!!!............well, anyway let's all treasure the opportunity to celebrate the Greatest Gift of All every Sunday at Holy Mass and take the time to reflect on the Word of God so that we can hear it more profoundly when it is proclaimed on Sunday.

I know some of you reading this may not be Catholic............I'd just encourage you to apply this to your own Sunday worship and recommit with us to honoring the Lord's Day every week.

Day 7, January 1

I had a good run on the first day of the year. Nice sunny day, cool but really perfect for running.

I'm sure we all saw fireworks televised or otherwise as we rang in 2010. Let us pray that the new year brings greater harmony among nations and all of God's people.

Only 5 runs to go for the 12 runs of Christmas.

GOT EXERCISE????