September 19 Making Progress

The construction crew is making progress with the Chapel. It is interesting how much work goes into the foundation. I suppose it is appropriate and really quite biblical. If the foundation isn't firm the building will collapse...........and we DEFINITELY don't want that. So many centuries have passed and new technologies have developed but the basic wisdom is still there........make sure the foundation is solid before you move ahead with the rest of the building. All that I have seen indicates that the foundation of the Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul will be FIRM!!!!!

I had a good run this aftenoon. It is amazingly hot and muggy for mid September but the weather people assure us that is about to change. I'm ready!!!

The Gospel for this Sunday reminds us that real wealth is the Life of God. Hopefully we were all reminded today that our life in Christ is the Pearl of Great price. I'm sure we've all known very poor people who were truly wealthy because of their faith and conversely we've known very wealthy people who were actually quite poor because they had no faith. Of course the Gospel calls us to give help and aid to those who are materially poor but we always have to remember that the ultimate purpose for assisting the poor is so that they can have the basic needs of life to flourish and seek the lasting wealth of the Kingdom of God. If people are hungry and truly in need it is very difficult for them to "seek the higher things" that God longs to share with us. All of God's people deserve their basic needs so that they can then have the strength and freedom to seek the Life God longs to share with us.

Have a Blessed week.

September 11 Reflections

I suppose that many of us are in a reflective mood as we mark the 9th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Hopefully the ultimate reminder for all people everywhere is that we need to pray and seek the wisdom of God in order to overcome the violence and hatred that so easily develops among us.

I have a prayer application on my iphone that allows you to see a globe spinning with points of light representing others who are using the application in prayer at that moment. As the globe spins it is a great reminder to me of Almighty God's perspective. A world filled with His precious children that he has given life. How it must grieve the Father, Son and Spirit to see how we use the free will God has given us to attack and destroy each other.

Certainly the headlines nine years after 911 indicate that we haven't really learned very much. How patient and merciful God is. Hopefully we can all strive to learn to live with each other seeking the guidance of that divine patience and mercy.

Let us pray for all who died on that sad day nine years ago, let us pray for their families who still grieve, let us pray especially for young people all over our world that anger and bitterness may never lead them to commit such devastating and destructive acts. That all of us given life by the One Loving God might hold that life for ourselves and others as a sacred gift.

On a lighter note I share a picture of the Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul....... as I told a friend we are just beginning to see "something verticle". It will be exciting to see the Chapel gradually grow out of the ground. Let us pray that it will truly be a place to worship God and deepen the desire and ability for all of us to respect life from conception to natural death.

September 10

Just realized I've let several days slip by again without a post to my blog.

Running has been good with cooler weather lately. Chapel construction continues with the work on the foundation. I'll try to post a picture soon when there is a bit more progress evident.

Let us all pray for our nation and for our world as we commemorate 9/11 tomorrow.

God bless America.

Running and Digging

I thought I'd share this photo of Chapel construction in progress. As you can see "lots of dirt". The photo is looking at the excavations for the Chapel foundation. I have a friend who talks about the "red dirt" in East Texas and you can certainly see red dirt in the photo.

Beyond what you can see in the photo there has been a lot of work done on the parking and some work done where the re-located ball fields will be. Thanks to cooperation between the school and construction crew things have gone pretty smoothly with the beginning of school on August 16. It has been hot and dry which seems to be the best weather for this part of the construction. We could use some rain but I'm sure the construction crews would prefer to keep moving dirt.

I have been able to keep up with my runs..........hot but good. I hope to schedule another "batch" of runs soon. I'll keep you posted.

Chapel funding is about $600,000 short of having the construction and initial furnishings fully pledged thanks to so many generous members of the Cathedral community. I recently visited a church under construction in another diocese and they were just about the reverse of our situation with about $500,000 in the bank and looking at debt around $5,000,000. Even though we continue to work to cover our entire cost of just under $5,000,000 we have to be very grateful to God and His generous people that we have only several hundred thousand still to cover.

August 12 Hot and Fast

A bit of an update on the progress with the Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul. The dirt is flying on site and with the start of school looming on the horizon the construction crews are working hard to have as much drive and parking area available as possible. They are working on the foundation of the Chapel also so as you can imagine the corner of Loop 323 and Easy Street is a busy place right now.

We have had some great meetings discussing the interior liturgical design of the Chapel. Another busy agenda there with stained glass, altar furnishings and pews to look at. The basic theme that is developing is a journey of the saints depicted in the stained glass windows along the Chapel walls and culminating in the main window over the altar with Christ in Glory surrounded by the 12 apostles. The initial drawings are very exciting and even though we have to keep costs down as much as possible we agree that the windows will be beautiful and inspiring.

I'll do my best to share some site photos once it is more than dirt moving and then also share sketches of the windows etc. as they develop.

Running has been good lately too heat advisories and all!!!!!!!!!!

I really have tried to be sensible about the heat and run in the late evenings as much as possible. It really has felt good. After school starts I'll have to put together another set of runs!!!!!!!

Scenes from a Groundbreaking

Finally have a chance to share some pictures from the official groundbreaking for the Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul by Bishop Alvaro Corrada on June 29,2010.

Hello Again............its August

Sorry for letting July slip by with no posts. It was a busy month with several trips out of town.

Great things are happening with the Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul. Crews are working hard to get things in shape for the beginning of school and other activities.

I have been running but haven't organized myself around another "set of runs". I'll try to remedy that soon. I have to admit I will probably wait until the temperatures are mostly below 100 degrees instead of trying to get in too many runs with 100 plus temperatures. I may be a crazy runner but I'm not that crazy!!!!!!!!!