From my earliest childhood, I have memories of my father rising early in the morning to "do his exercises". This included a regimen of calisthenics, including those old Royal Canadian Air Force exercises. There was a lot of huffing and puffing, and a lot of praying. My Daddy always complimented his workouts with prayer. He still recites the Rosary, many other formal and informal prayers, and a litany of souls who have died while he works out each morning. The "dead list" is so long, I don't know how he remembers it, but I'm confident that if I predecease him my poor soul in purgatory will be prayed for daily!
Exercise and prayer go hand in hand - both are gifts from God! There are many great resources out there to encourage both. I love my long walks for the opportunity they provide to worship, praise and thank God for the beauty of his creation. I'll admit to praying for my aging knees whenever I make an attempt at jogging, which inevitably prompts me to pray for all of those suffering from physical infirmities.
I have two great resources to share this morning, in the hopes that they will motivate you to play and pray today:
- Healthy Catholic - an incredible video podcast from Fr. Roderick and SQPN that focuses on fitness and faith topics. And don't worry, you don't need an iPod to watch - you can view these brief videos directly from the web site.
- Running the Rosary - Be sure to read Tom's article and then take a look at his blog post on the readers' responses . Both contain many gems!
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