Second Chances

In the spirit of second chances, 2012- 2013 has been a good one for me. 

I attended my first silent retreat, in fact, my first Christian retreat ever, a Catholic retreat, an Opus Dei sponsored retreat spanning three nights and approximately three days. 

Opus Dei is a personal prelature of the Catholic Church and for me, has provided a way to live life in order to have a winning chance of beating the world's allurements and "pull" towards the kinds of addictions that plagued me in the past.  A way to live 'in the world' yet in a way that can't easily be put into words, a way to live that's 'out of this world.'  

In a nutshell, one lives daily norms conceived by the founder, Josemaria Escriva, now a canonized Saint of the Catholic Church.  These daily norms, more than anything else, ground me in a way of life that includes prayer, reflection, and aligning oneself with the truth.  The daily norms perpetuate and reinforce the second chance, the conversion I have been given in life and keep me from sliding back, loosing my hold, surrendering the ability to persevere against all odds.

"The work," as it is appropriately called, consists of programs or apostolates run by men and women who have dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ and to bettering the world through programs of education, mentoring and character development. 

One such work that I recently learned of focuses on those in high school, a program for young men, between 9th through 11th grade.  It's called "The Grade Seminars: A Leadership Program for College-Bound Young Men Grades 9-11." 

Here, during a series of monthly Saturday meetings, the young men are introduced to positive male role models from the local community; recognized leaders in the fields of medicine, education, engineering, psychology, dentistry, etc.

The young men are taught through a series of talks under the general heading of "The Big Picture:" (for Freshmen)

• Making the Most of High School

• Character and Maturity,

• Culture: The World of Books, Music and Art,

• True Manliness: Father and Family Man,

• What makes You Happy?

• And other topics

Later, for Sophomores and Juniors, the young men are offered "The Professional Seminar" including presentations such as:

• IT Services: Data, Clouds and Websites

• Engineering/Academia/Social Sciences/Medicine/Dentistry career talks

• Becoming a Lifelong Reader

• Planning for a Productive Summer

• Citizenship and the Common Good

• And other professional development talks 

In addition to the seminars and talks, each student is assigned a mentor who will meet individually with him between the monthly sessions.  The mentor will guide the student in setting important and practical goals and help him apply the information learned.

Despite the many negatives in the world, other like minded people ARE engaging others to make the world a better place.  A new high-gloss, high-fashion magazine called Verily publishes it's first magazine in June; a magazine that "promotes true femininity" without the half-naked, sexualized headlines that many women find offensive and assaulting. 

And there are others;

many others.

In my own, "second chance" effort, I have organized an ecumenical, faith at work Intranet community, utilizing the United States Department of Agriculture's IBM Connect Intranet platform.  The community called "Faith at Work," is available to some 100,00 plus USDA employees, is the only faith based community of its kind, will celebrate its one year anniversary June 26, the feast day of St Josemaria Escriva, and as of a few days ago, welcomed its 127th member (310 as of December, 2016)!  Our members come from all over the USA, attend religious services under many diverse denominations, and are united through common devotion to Jesus Christ and the compelling desire and need to bring faith based principles into the workplace.

Long ago, aging men were actually sought out and respected for their wisdom and counsel.  Given my second chance, I too should strive to be this; to be it now, in the modern day.  "This generation of older men did not become elders, they just became elderly.  This has to stop.  You have a God-given responsibility to mentor younger men." - Jonathon E. Doyle

There's a calling for this today, men and women alike, especially to those like minded in Jesus Christ, those striving to live Christ-like lives; continuing to challenge oneself, becoming worthy mentors to our youth, to our coworkers, becoming leaders, encouraging and optimistic, faith-filled, a beacon to positive and lasting cultural transformation.

In the world of second chances, my efforts have only just begun.