Don't get me wrong, it was a fine read. And when I got to the chapter on Spiritual Reading, where it explicitly said sometimes you need to read things that don't always capture your utmost attention, I had to smile. I'm sure the book was good for me. However, if you've read other Hahn books, you may be a little disappointed.

One call to action I took from the book was to purchase a copy of Shorter Christian Prayer, an abridged version of the Liturgy of the Hours. I'd love to say I've started practicing the Liturgy of the Hours, but I haven't. I find it very hard to develop new habits, and I'm not sure where to begin. Now that I'm done with Signs of Life, I'll move Shorter Christian Prayer to the bedside and see if that gets me enough motivation to at least read the first 15 pages which outline the cycle and provide an introduction.

The workshop was about 45 minutes long, and covered basics like, "What's a sacrament?" and "Why do we do baptism?" For most of the workshop I was surprised with the simplicity of the content.

I guess I recognize why the church does this - not everyone will know the answers to these things off the top of their head, but I kinda wanted the option to "test out" of the workshop. It was enjoyable to see a room full of infants, but I didn't really learn anything new.

I will say some of the logistics information was helpful. Things like, "This is how you can request /this/ specific priest." and "Here are your options for Mass times or for baptism after Mass." That information was helpful. But I think all of that information could have been covered in about ten minutes.

Oh well... I now get to ask my sister to become a Godparent. I'm looking forward to that. :)

"Christ, your presence humbles me and calls to mind my inadequacy. I feel the stress and burden of my sin. Forgive me of my shortcomings, and fill me with the peace of your grace. Strengthen in me a sense of obligation and brotherhood with those in your family. Guide me to do your will. Inspire me to bring others to your mercy."

When I got the book, a friend told me he uses the book to help lead discussion when he gets together with some friends. They take turns picking a chapter, they all read it, then they discuss it for a few minutes before they move onto whatever other topics they want to cover. I think that's a fantastic idea. I did a similar exercise with a friend a few years ago using The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis.

The Imitation of Christ also reminds me a bit of the writings of Thomas Aquinas. It's more due to the tone than the content. The Imitations of Christ is much more accessible than Aquinas - both in terms of subject matter and writing style. But the tone is both formal and informal at the same time - like Aquinas. The author almost engages you in a conversation and brings you along with him.

St Thomas of Villanova Parish

Last month my wife and I were on vacation in Italy, and we had the rare pleasure of celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin with Pope Benedict XVI. We traveled from Rome to his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, and we were able to attend mass at St Thomas of Villanova Parish. I don't speak Italian, so at the time I couldn't understand the homily. However it's available online in English.

Pope Benedict exiting St Thomas

A bit after mass (and a light lunch at a fantastic sidewalk cafe) we also attended the Angelus in the courtyard of the Papal Summer Residence. I was also able to get some video of the address (it's not great). Thankfully, the message of the Angelus is also available online in English.

Pope Benedict giving Angelus

If you're interested in watching the videos, you can find them here:
- Prayer during the Angelus
- Post Angelus greeting in English

Interestingly enough, I read this at a time I have a bookshelf full of unread books on various religious topics from Amazon.com. I have reminders in my calendar to go to confession and daily mass (which I still don't attend, even with the reminders). And despite my best intentions, I have absolutely no ability to pray. For whatever reason I can't remember to do it, and when I am in a position to remember to do it, I do it poorly. Perhaps awkward is a better description than poor, but either way it doesn't feel right.

I like the idea of a spiritual director. I use to have one of those. I was very close to a priest. We were friends first, which made it easy to take advice when it was given. It also gave the relationship a deeper level of sincerity when he counseled me on questions of faith. I have a couple of people in my life currently who I would possibly view as "spiritual directors." But it's nothing formal, and I'm likely not brave enough to ask for that kind of help.

I have been trying to take some time to recharge. I've let my commitments tail off, so I now have more free time than I've had since high-school. But I don't feel recharged by it. I just feel... I don't know, lazy or unfocused. I suspect I'm not doing it right. I know what recharges me, and I'm doing a lot of that (reading, writing, working out again, etc...), but it doesn't work like it use to.

We'll... perhaps I'll work up the courage to ask for a director. It can't hurt, and it's good advice. If I take that step, perhaps the other steps will be easier.

But through this admittedly limited prism, we found some fascinating correlations.

Several of them stand out: Married people are happier than unmarrieds. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. Republicans are happier than Democrats. Rich people are happier than poor people. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

We also found some interesting non-correlations. People who have children are no happier than those who don't, after controlling for marital status. Retirees are no happier than workers. Pet owners are no happier than those without pets.

[...]

There is virtually no difference in happiness by gender and only a bit of variance in happiness by age. [...] It turns out that the young are less happy than the middle-aged or old. [...] [H]ealthier people tend to be happier, and so do better-educated people. [...] Recent immigrants are about as happy as those who have been here for generations. People who often feel rushed are less happy than those who don't. Suburbanites are a bit happier than city folks [...]

All things being equal:

• I'm married: +1
• I'm not poor: +1
• I'm white: +1

So that puts me three "points" above average right?

Well, I'm also:

• Not a frequent worshiper: -1
• Not republican (or democrat): -1
• Not living in the sunbelt: -1

So now I'm back to zero - unhappy.

Am I really unhappy? Probably not. I'm mostly happy. I'm likely in the 50% of the survey that said they were "pretty happy." So why am I not "very happy?" It's an interesting question.

I think infrequent worship is a big part of it. I'm not at piece, and I know that. I'm just not sure how to fix it. When I go to Mass, I don't feel right. I feel disconnected. When I pray, it feels fake. I'd like to figure out how to re-engage with my faith, but I don't know how.

I don't think I'm alone. I suspect this is a fairly common thing.

I've tried reading source documents in the past, and I might go back to that. They present thier own challenges. But I didn't get distracted while reading them (just had a hard time staying away sometimes). I've also purchased some books that might help. I'm not sure what I need to get me back into the groove of things. I still find it hard to pray, hard to go to church, and hard to talk openly about my faith.

Prayer in America

I don't pray every day. I'd like to, but I don't think I know how. Either I don't think about it, or if I do I'm not sure what to say. I don't have a habit of prayer, and I'm not sure how to start one. So I guess that fits me nicely into the statistics - looking at those percentages for my sex, age, and income  I wouldn't guess I'd pray daily.