+JMJ
Dear Parishioners,
Do you have faith builders spread throughout your life each day – things that help you turn your mind to the Lord? Here’s one of mine that I’ll share with you: Most weekdays I try to get some exercise time down in the rectory basement. You and I are body-soul composite, so if we have a job that focuses primarily on the mind and/or the spirit (i.e., more of a desk-job), we have to schedule the physical workouts, in order to take good care of the body. In front of my workout spot there hangs a picture that was given to me by a police woman as I was leaving one of my previous parishes. It’s a black-and-white ink drawing of Jesus, crowned with thorns. The picture is framed in red – which highlights the only red within the picture itself, i.e., the blood running out of Jesus’ wounds. The police woman who gave me the picture explained that it was actually created by a prisoner she had cared for earlier in her career. The picture’s source is a meditation in itself: the connection between suffering Jesus crowned with thorns and the prisoner artist. And, there’s also a connection between pummeling the body with exercise, and the suffering of Jesus. So while I’m working out and listening to a Catholic podcast or praying the Rosary, I am also looking at this picture of Jesus.
Have a blessed week!
In cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Father Poggemeyer
