Only One Superman,.. my Dad!!!

You know when you’re a kid, and everybody says ‘my dad can beat up your dad?’… Well, I’m here to say that my dad can still beat up your dad, and I learn so much from him everyday!  This game we call ‘life’ is a testament to those who went before us, who introduced us to Jesus and who continuously bust their ass making sure we do right by our baptismal promises!  A man is supposed to be noble, respectable, honorable and finally holy!,.. My father is truly the embodiment of all those realities!

My father recently went through knee replacement surgery.  He is also 77.  Nonetheless, he remains a warrior anchored in Christian virtue and as far as I can tell,. devoid of fear.  These men grew up in another generation.  A generation of no complainers,. ‘You kids cry at the least little f^&k up!,  You should know true persecution!’… These men grew up with manners,.. ‘Sir take your hat off in Church,.. – F-you,..it’s my hat!’.. Ans; - Well its gonna be your hat shoved up you’re a$$ if you don’t show any respect!’… These men also showed chivalry,.. ‘Hey idiot, give your chair to that woman!’ – But dad, I am tired and we’re the same age!’…- ‘You’ll be in the f’n street if you don’t listen to me!’  ,. True pastoral theology!!!,.. Those in charge of pastoral theology should take note!

You guessed it, I was raised a little ‘old school’ and you know what?,.. I would never trade that education for anything in the world!  My dad was there for me when I had ‘legal trouble,’ he was there for me when I had girl trouble(s), and he was there for me when seminary decided I wasn’t soft enoug,.. err,.. pastoral enough!  (What,.. do they want a creampuff?).. Point being, is my dad remains in my opinion, the epidemy of paternal role models,.. He will push you, encourage you, pray with you, and always uplift you!  He will also kick your ass!  My dad knelt in prayer before the Blassed Sacrament and prayed in the chapel of our home Parish.  Just this afternoon, he went for a walk, cane in hand!,.. He walked the whole distance!

Why am I saying this?,.. Well, tomorrow my dad becomes a 1^st degree Knight of Columbus.  I already being one, cannot wait!  As much as I am a Jiu Jitsu guy, with experience in boxing, kung fu, etc,.. My dad will always kick my ass and yes he may raze and bug me!  However, as a Christian man, I know he will always have my back!  

God bless!

Post Legs Day Adoration,..

A little levity and a ton of humility.  The levity is with regards to the sometimes aggressive tone of my blog posts, while the humility lies in the little winks that God gives us to remind us,..well...not to be stupid!  Case in point, I will always actively train, that is part and parcel of who I am,..still, I think its time that I learn how to better balance my workouts so they don't fall near specific liturgical settings whereby I'm required to kneel,....not so cool..  Case in point training legs the day before Adoration, thereby letting delayed onset muscle soreness completely set in,...Yup!  Not my greatest moment!  The Hypostatic Union is the formula put forth by the Church to articulate Jesus's human and Divine Natures.  He is 100% of both.  To truly appreciate this blog post, I can almost picture Jesus in His full humanity probably wearing the same look on His face when He saw Zaccheus up the tree,.....'Dude,. Really?  Reaaally?' (Then laughing Himself!)

So let us set the scene, early September and the entire seminary is here, before some guys leave for there pastoral assignments.  Our gym is in the basement, and our activities for the day are over.  It was a Wednesday night, and since it was 'leg day,' I made my way downstairs to 'hit the irons!'  Already there were two members of the 'Marie Jeunesse'( here ) doing their respective workouts.  I looked at them and gone was the Faith dimension, in its place was 'I'm gonna show these 'punys' how its done!'  So I decided to go completely 'Old School.'  Squats, (supersets), Hamstring Curls (supersets) Leg extensions (supersets),..Then Bulgarian Split Squats with dumbells, calf machine, abductors, adductors and finally walking lunges. (With dumbells).  Keep in mind, though our gym is modest it does its job, and there is a beautiful Crucifix reminding all of us of our mission,..Our Call to Holiness!  (Unfortunately, the way I was stacking the plates and screaming out the last rep,..in my case, it should have been more the call to stupidity..)  The Marie Jeunesse guys probably thought I was long overdue for either an exorcism or at the very least, a good session of human development/psychology.  They went to bed,..and I finished my workout,..(thinking I was Ronnie Coleman) headed upstairs to my room to pray Complines and go to bed.

The next day, my legs were starting to stiffen, but that's normal,.. That evening however, wasn't.  As DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) set in,.. and it came time for Adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament!  On our knees we all went, (in my case slowwwly, using a chair...)...'O Salutaris Hostia,...'  Yup,.. then into our chairs for an hour of Adoration.  While at prayer, Jesus reminded me that my ego is my worst enemy, the sin of 'pride.'  On my heart it was a gentle reminder but a reminder nonetheless.  The hour was up, and then it was time for Benediction,..(On our knees) Soooo,..Divine praises, then 'Tantum Ergo,..'  When it was over tears were running down my face.  (I have already experienced certain bliss and ecstasy at Mass...) but this time, the tears were PAAAIN!  Some of the directors thought I was in another ecstasy,..alas not the case,!

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, sometimes has a way of reminding His followers not to be prideful.  He couldn't have thought of a better way.  I mean who was I trying to impress?  The Marie Jeunesse seminarians seemed to care so little about how many 'plates' I could squat,.. Nonetheless, pride, the ultimate tool of the enemy is sometimes the sin with which we struggle the most!  The moral of this post is about pride, the secondary issue is don't train legs when you have Adoration the next night!  Thank you Jesus!  For by your Death and Ressurection, You have set us free, You are the Saviour of the world!

Sacred Heart of Jesus

'Douchebags' and the Blessed Mother

This post is long overdue!  Maybe it will be a little offensive but I could care less.  I am speaking about how you guys wear the Rosary around your neck as a fashion statement. Disclaimer:  I am not speaking about people who wear their Rosary beads as sacramentals and pray using them.  I am speaking about the growing phenomenon of 'douchebag-itis..' that is sweeping Montreal and probably the rest of the western world.

So let's describe this type of person, clearly not an individual because they usually travel in groups of three, and all look like they came out of a photocopier machine.  Mid twenties and tattooed from head to toe.  I'm not speaking of one or two tattoos on your body, but the full out 'tribal' images running right up the neck.  This look is accentuated with 'Affliction' t-shirt, baseball hat, (where the bill is completely straight), jean shorts, or 'jorts' and finally the piece de resistance,..the Rosary hanging aroung their neck.  As for body type, they come in two forms, no muscle tone and full out steroid.  Usually the breed of human is found in or around  a gym, will attempt a 20min workout, buy a protein shake with everything in it.  The two body forms cycle themselves, as  two guys (out of three) will be jacked to the gills with a water retention weight of a pregnant woman while the small guy will have that 'after the cycle' look whereby everything is soft and saggy...(As he awaits his turn on the sauce...)  They are usually rabid MMA fans despite the fact that none of them are really trained and usually end up getting their a#$es handed to them when they try a sparring session.  Weekly at Gracie Barra, this type of person shows up and gets strangled, however if he hangs around more than a week, he begins to alter his image and starts cleaning up his act. 

To conclude, I guess I'm getting old, as the previous generation probably complained about the hip hop style, pants down around the knees,.etc...To be clear, the style would not offend me if not for the Rosary.  Prayer is such a beautiful powerful weapon.  It is where we praise God and thank Him for being Alive!  In contemplating the mysteries of the Rosary we are fully living the Gospel meditating upon Christ's life with the Blessed Mother. Please guys,..you don't see GSP wearing a Rosary around his neck, and if he did, I KNOW he uses it. 

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati,..............ora pro nobis.

Gracie Diet and Theology

We have all heard it said that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  The question remains why don't we treat them as such?  Now in the past I've hit hard on the dangers of pornography, masturbation, and how it could ultimately turn you into a zombie, that is mindless, withdrawn and ultimately ineffective.  Yet, we don't often concentrate on food!  What we put in our very bodies! We treat our cars better! My mother and I recently had this conversation and she expressed reservations about me 'offending' overweight people with this post,.well here goes, I'M GONNA OFFEND!!

Going to school at the Grand Seminaire de Montreal offers me a great chance to walk downtown.  What do I see,.an increasing number of overweight people gorging themselves!   Burger King, McDonalds, LaFleur, La Belle Province, whatever...Bottom line is that university students, (you know the ones now making the American news with their protests and riots...) do not find the time to either eat properly or seek out fresh indredients.  What is the result?  Well last year, I met over thirty people with diabetes, all under 25 years of age.  We should be ashamed as members of western society that this is happening.  Parents are not monitoring their children's food intake, while the kids are less interested in sports and instead play Nintendo.  Overweight children, means a shorter lifespan period!  Where are all the social justice blowhards on that one?  (As I write this, I'm in a food court, 'Greenpeace' members are ordering their trios at the McDonalds' stand...save whales and environment, yes, all the while treating your digestive system to an all out assault by putting pigeon McNuggets into your body.  hmmm..)  The biggest workout our body does everyday is the very action of digestion. 

As a trainer, I would recommend people eat balanced meals 5-6 times a day.  Obviously portion control becomes a factor, using the inside of your hand as a guide.  A healthy balance of proteins, essential fats, Carbs (not man made sugars!!!!) and greens.  Try to eat 5-6 servings of vegetables a day, raw or steamed.  Eat them first so they enter your digestive system first and use their own enzymes as a breakdown.  If you don't have time to eat 5-6 times a day, then I would recommend something called the Gracie diet.  (Which is what I do!!!  Yaaay!!!)  The Gracie diet, founded by Master Carlos Gracie, which I'm sure you can find online, consists of eating 3 meals a day but knowing what foods combine and don't combine.  An example would be, Acidic fruits are to be eaten alone, so you would have an entire meal of oranges, (Rorion Gracie eats 15 of them!) and also early in the morning, so it will aid the digestion of last night's food.  Group A foods (meat, vegetables and fats) combine with each other plus one from Group B (Starches, Rice, Pasta...).  Group B foods do NOT combine with each other.(there goes the pasta with bread!)  Usually if this is my cooked meal, I will eat it around 4:30 in the afternoon.  Group C foods also combine with each other, plus 1 from Group B.  So a Group C meal would be bananas, honey and bread (brown..)  If you are interested, email me.  (By the way Rener Gracie's Renergy sandwich tastes awesome!!! )  My mother used to make fun of me eating spinach in the morning inside a sandwich and now is about to join me in accepting the Gracie diet.  You basically eat whatever you want, as much as you need, but in the right combinations!

Food is our bodies gasoline.  It, like sex is a 'good.'  The primary reason for food is to sustain us in being, to keep us alive!  That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it, but it has to be looked at from its raison etre.  We are to control food, not it control us, or else like sex, pornography and masturbation, it becomes an addiction.  I am writing this post, because too many people suffer this addiction.  Bored? Eat!  Sad?  Eat!.  Angry?  Eat!  How do we break the cycle?  The same way we break the masturbation/pornography habit!  Be accountable, with a friend, try to place your trust in them to guide you.  Tell them when you fall, and then lift yourself up, dust yourself off and begin again.  As well, don't forget to give yourself a free day!  It will help you psychologically by giving yourself something to look forward to!  For me its Sunday.  I start my day off with the ultimate superfood, the living manna from Heaven that is Eucharist, then pasta, sausige, meatball, brasciole, cookies, cake, maybe even a poutine,..but on Monday, its right back to discipline!

For more info,.or if you need a diet, simply message me, but kindly allow three weeks for me to respond to you.

St Sebastian,...............ora pro nobis!