Tag: Greatness

Categories
Weekly Blog

The Beauty of Life

Is there anything in your life that exudes pure beauty? No matter how many times you see it, it takes your breath away. It is so beautiful that you can’t look away, but instead are mesmerized by it. You are in awe of its creation, believing that something much greater than humanity has to be responsible. You are reminded of God’s great glory, given that it can only be He who can produce something so magnificent.

Most Beautiful Place on Earth

For my wife and me, one of those things, those places is Sedona, Arizona, home of the most beautiful landscape we’ve ever experienced. Known as Red Rock Country, it is the most majestic of places. No matter the direction you turn, there are enormous, gorgeous red rock formations that God gifted this part of the country with thousands of years ago.

In going to Sedona for the past 13 years, we are always captivated by what we see. We can be driving down the same road we’ve been on dozens of times and see a huge rock formation in a totally different way. It’s truly amazing. Add to that the many notables, including Coffee Pot Rock, Bell Rock, Chair Rock, Elephant Rock, Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Rock, and more.

From left to right: Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Rock, Elephant Rock, and Coffee Pot Rock.

Lastly, there’s the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which was built into the red rocks of Sedona in 1956. In March, 2018, a new Corpus was added. The Chapel is beautiful inside and out.

We Are Incredibly Unique Too

Another example of God’s grand work and imagination is humanity, you and me, all of us, each made so uniquely and special. Out of the 7 billion people on earth, no 2 of us are made the same. We all have very individual gifts and talents, put on this earth for a particular purpose.

You were made for Greatness…check Scripture (Jeremiah 1:5 or 29:11). Here’s the truth:

    • God conceived of us thousands of years ago
    • He made each of us in His image and likeness
    • As part of His grand plan, individually and as a part of all of humanity
    • Made each of us with special gifts, talents, desires
    • He made us for a specific purpose
    • God doesn’t make mistakes; He doesn’t make junk
    • On a scale of 1-10, we are all 10s
    • He loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done
    • God wants the very best for you
    • He wants you to be happy
    • God made you for Greatness

God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done. He loves you more than the Red Rocks. He loves you for your “who”, not your “do. God made you; He loves you and wants you to live a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment. What are you waiting for?

Please comment to me at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

Categories
Weekly Blog

What’s Next in Life? 

I’m now almost 60, entering what seems like a different season of life. Life you, I’ve experienced many seasons in the past, each with their joys and their challenges. Although not always the case, a different season sometimes means a different direction. And sometimes a tweak to a current direction. 

Attending Mass recently, I saw an old friend, a Deacon who is quite busy doing ministry having retired from his full-time professional life. When he asked me if I had considered the same, it got me thinking. I retired from the professional world 10 years ago, when I started work for Franciscan University of Steubenville. As Vice President of Outreach and Evangelization, I can’t imagine leaving for at least another 10 years. Not that there aren’t challenges…there are a lot, especially coming out of COVID. But I’m invested in the mission, love the University, and continue to be desirous of doing ministry. I feel that I’m where God wants me to be. 

Related to the above and on a personal basis as well, I continue to be passionate about sharing the love of Christ, that gift of encounter that changed my life forever. That’s why I continue to do these blogs and the occasional talk, sharing my story and the lessons I’ve learned…all real-life stuff to help people no longer be overwhelmed, instead leading lives of peace, joy, and fulfillment. 

© Steubenville Conferences, Franciscan University of Steubenville 2022

With the Steubenville Conference Office being part of my organization, my summers are very busy. Easily bored, I’d spend weekend time other times of the year on ministry stuff, some University related and other for my personal ministry. Still being passionate about it all, something is changing. Not my focus…I still want to work for the Church and do ministry, but the intensity. I don’t want to run as hard as I used to. I love my wife, who is my best friend…and I want to be spending more time with her, sometimes just hanging out, while at other times doing the things we enjoy doing. We kid around that we’re all we got…Thank God!!!

BTW, as I’ve indicated before….you don’t have to be in ministry to do ministry. In fact, I believe most often more can be accomplished outside the Church than from within. EVERYONE, whether they know it or not, deeply yearns for the love of Christ. You, me….we can do that everywhere.

So what’s the point to the above, other than being a stream of consciousness in my life. First, as I reflect, including on the more challenging parts of my life, I live in this place of gratitude for all the seasons of my life. I’ve been blessed abundantly in many ways. And even in the tough times, I firmly believe that all is per God’s grand plan for my life, helping me to be my very best. “No pain, no gain…no Cross, no crown”. As I’ve said before, I wouldn’t be who I am or doing what I do…without all those experiences. Praise God!!!

Second is “surrender”. For the longest time, I thought it was “Mark’s will be done”. I had it wrong. Today I endeavor to live “God’s Will be done”. I recently read an ebook by Bishop Barron on discernment. He points to several things, including prayer, reading Scripture, and participating in the Sacraments, all to help us understand God’s Will for our lives. He states that what God wants for you and me is the path of greatest love. Love as per the Catechism is willing the good of another. The Bishop poses some questions for each of us:

  • What makes love more prominent in your life? 
  • What makes it easier in your life to love? 
  • What path will open the greatest capacity for love? 
  • What’s the demand of love in the present moment? 
  • What is the path of greatest love?

Your answers to the above, according to the Bishop, are what God wants you to do. With this as guidance, how do I take my life and discern where specifically God wants me, what He wants me to do? For me, not necessarily changing the big things, but the holy moments in life. How about you? How can you apply this to your life?

Whether it’s a new season or mid-season, an attitude of gratitude is a great thing. And my lived experience is that following God’s Will is the only path to peace, joy, and fulfillment. 

As always, feel free to contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests. 

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph

Categories
Weekly Blog

Is Heaven For Real?

Last month marks the 3rd anniversary of my father’s passing. At his funeral, really a celebration of his life, I made the point as part of his eulogy that if we believe what we believe (and I do), that he is in a much better place. My dad didn’t fear death. Near the end, he repeatedly said to my brothers and me, “I’m tired, I want to go home to our Lord”. When I said to him, “Dad, that’s not easy to hear”, he responded with, “it’s very easy to say”. In a great place spiritually, he was looking forward to what he understood to be Heaven.

In our increasingly more secular world, it must be so sad for so many, who don’t believe in God and as such, can’t believe in Heaven. Without faith, there is such a finality to death. That’s it. The end. As Christians, we know there is so much more.

Heaven is referenced multiple times in Scripture and there are numerous books written on the subject. My wife couldn’t find enough of them to read after losing her father 5 years ago. A few of her favorites include:

  • Heaven is for Real, by Todd and Sonja Burpo
  • Proof of Heaven, by Dr. Eben Alexander
  • 90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper

Many Believe The Challenge To Be Too Great

For many, they don’t believe they can get to Heaven, given their understanding of what they need to do during their life in order to attain it. The perception is often…all the things that we need to give up, all the rules we need to follow, in order to get there. People come to believe that they can’t have fun, can’t do what they want, and can’t be who they are if they want to go to Heaven.

To compound things, many have an understanding of Heaven, given how it’s often described or given their own perceptions, that it is something far off, very theoretical, metaphorical, and not practical…that it is incredibly difficult to attain. So the thought becomes, “I need to sacrifice so much here to get to a place I don’t even understand”.

Living Heaven Here on Earth

Here’s the reality, not only is there Heaven as related to our eternity, but we can live Heaven here on earth.

The fact is that it’s impossible (yes, I said IMPOSSIBLE) to find Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment living the life that the world professes. I refer to them as the 4 Ps, prominence, possessions, people, and pleasure. Although all can bring short-term happiness, none can result in long-term joy.

The only way to experience that joy, true peace in your life, is to say “yes” to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Sometimes a decision, most often requiring conversion (topic of past blogs), there is nothing like it. In fact, you can’t find a person who has said “yes” to Jesus who would ever be willing to go back to their old life. No one.

It’s in truly knowing Jesus that you become passionate about sharing the good news of the Gospel. With the passion so deep, you will also endeavor to live the life of Jesus. A Scripture passage that comes to mind is…. Matthew 25:44, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?” Then He shall respond to them by saying: “Amen I say to you, whenever you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me”. We need to see Christ in all and be Christ to all.

Living our faith, these things become our strongest desires. Instead of the 4 Ps, they are what we want to do. Living as described above is not only a life of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment, but Heaven here on earth.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or challenges at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

Categories
Weekly Blog

Some Things Are Different Than They Appear

Things are often different than they appear. A friend (Jack) forwarded the following to me as a good example. I liked the point it made, believing it relates to our faith lives. As such, I wanted to pass it along to you. 

During World War II, fighter planes would come back from battle with bullet holes. The Allies found the areas that were most commonly hit by enemy fire. They sought to strengthen the most commonly damaged parts of the planes to reduce the number that were shot down. A mathematician, Abraham Wald, pointed out that there may be another way to look at the data. Perhaps the reason certain areas of the planes weren’t covered in bullet holes was that planes that were shot in those areas did not return. This insight led to the armor being re-enforced on the parts of the plane where there were no bullet holes. 

The author goes on to make the point on the above…the story behind the data is arguably more important than the data itself. Or more precisely, the reason behind why we are missing certain pieces of data may be more meaningful than the data we have.

Think about the above in relation to your life. If you’re like me, you’ve had things happen and not known why. Sometimes we don’t even know how. It’s difficult to connect the dots. What just happened? How? Why? The same can apply to what we’re seeing go on around us, in our country or world. 

A week ago Sunday, we observed the anniversary of 9/11, the day in 2001 that over 3,000 people were killed in the largest terrorist attack in US history on US soil. Given the obvious suffering and tragedy, the question is “why”. 

I have some ideas on why the “why”, given my life experiences, but my real message today is to cling to the Cross. As you’ve read in my blogs, God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done. You can add to that…no matter what has ever happened to you. My life is way better with Jesus in it than when not. 

“When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead they are more determined to struggle for a better future”. Queen Elizabeth II, who just passed away on September 8th, is quoted as saying that. My cousin (Teri) shared that quote with me, in addition to this from the Queen as well, “It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is more difficult.”

By NASA/Bill Ingalls 

Lots going on in our country and world. It’s difficult to understand or rationalize much of it. In addition, we have challenges in our personal lives. For me, central to life is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. As Jesus says in Matthew 19:26 (and several other places in Scripture), “with God all things are possible”. With God, we can survive anything. And we can “build and cherish”, as the Queen invites us to do. 

Growing closer to Jesus means growing in faith. There are some great upcoming local opportunities for men (happy to promote some things for the ladies…let me know) to do just that:

I’ve been to all and as such, would highly recommend each. The only thing better than the spiritual experience and great speakers is the fellowship…Men being with Men, all Brothers in Christ.

As always, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.  

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph