This is the movement of the Holy Family, leading people to Jesus through friendship, good conversation, and the Rosary.

So welcome to our Rosary Meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for, especially for my grandson Cormack.

That's actually not him in the background. That's Joseph. We pray for Cormac to be healed from any seizures. And we continue to pray for Cormack to be healed from any seizures.

And we continue to pray for little Olivia Caneli and Thomas Lauer recovering from stomach cancer.

And especially for a young man who is suffering from schizophrenia.

Our first mystery.

I don't want to give my money to the church because they waste the money or worse,

use it for evil purposes.

That statement may either resonate with you or scandalize you,

but it's a statement I hear from many people.

And it caused me to reflect on the real reason why we should pray fast and give alms in the first place.

Prayer fasting and almsgiving should not be done primarily for what we get out of it,

but rather what we give to God. Our time, our physical comfort, and our money are three things to which we attach great value.

We give to God our time and prayer.

We give to God a sacrifice of physical comfort through fasting, and we give to God our money,

because these represent the gift of ourselves to Him, a gift of what we value the most.

The primary reason we pray is not to have peace and happiness, even though I suggested that

yesterday. The primary reason we fast is not to lose weight or have good health.

The primary reason we give alms is not to bring about a better world or a better life or people.

No.

The primary reason we pray, fast, and give alms is for the love of Jesus, to give our very selves to him, in return for all he's given to us.

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