Where?

This afternoon, right after I came home from work I heard my Mom calling me from upstairs. She said I needed to go with my Dad to the local auto body shop to pick up my younger sister's car.

My father wanted me to drive his blue 15-passenger Ford E-350 van back home, and so I agreed. I hopped into the front seat, changed the station and easily drove back home.

Once I gave the keys to my Mom she was surprised that I drove his car home. I replied that I could do a lot of things lately, and she affirmed that saying "the sky is the limit for you".

I didn't really pay attention to her words when she first said it, but then as I made it to Mass tonight the words really sunk in.

Somewhere in between childhood and adolescence, I bought the lie that I couldn't do a whole lot. That lie was reaffirmed by some tough hurdles in my mid-twenties.

It's only now that I see myself jumping those hurdles, more and more, day by day. The things I once thought were out of reach are now within my grasp.

The only thing that has changed the most between my mid-twenties and where I stand now is a deep relationship with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

They each offer me something different every time I pray to them in a dimly-lit Church on a Tuesday evening.

I'm sure many of the local neighbors who light the votive candles behind where I kneel are wondering why this guy in his late twenties is talking silently to St. Joseph, while using his hands to gesture his point (typical of an Italian-American).

I do the same thing with our Blessed Mother. I start out with one thing and then she brings out the beautiful moments I have with the current girl I am dating and how this is a part of a plan for the man she is forming me to be for Holy Matrimony.

Now, Jesus Christ is something completely different.

Today I looked up at his face above the tabernacle where he hung on the cross, and it was tough to see him with the giant nails in his body, one in each hand and one on each foot.

But as I looked at his face in the silence, I suddenly remembered a moment that happened earlier today when I was helping a student with his Algebra 2 homework. This student had been giving me a tough time for the past month, always talking and interrupting me whenever I taught.

Today was the first day that he called me over to help him with his homework, offered me two pieces of Trident Spearmint gum and I was able to diagram the Algebra homework. I haven't worked that hard on an Algebra problem since my days at Fordham Preparatory School.

Anyway, we worked through it together by the time the last bell rang.

And tonight in Mass,I realized that I get my drive from the Sacraments, the Saints, and the Rosary.

Yeah, I know it sounds strange but I've tried living 26 years without them, and it just didn't do me any good. In fact, it did me a world full of harm to be without them.

Sure, I'd go to Mass on Sunday every week, but I wouldn't do much more than that.

Now attending Mass during the week, praying the Rosary (and Divine Mercy chaplet) and praying to numerous saints (like 8-10) are finally giving me drive, purpose, and the willingness to go above and beyond in almost everything I do.

Just when I think I'm done at around 5:00pm on a Tuesday night, the Lord gives me a natural boost to finish the day strong, to squeeze almost every drop out of every day.

The thing I don't understand is that this boost is natural, because I had to stop caffeine altogether in September. I thought it was gonna kill me, but it seems like it's actually given me more life and longevity.

I was Dunkin' Donuts' biggest customer, ordering a 24oz of iced coffee every morning to start my day.

Now instead of driving to D&D, I just drive and enjoy the beautiful sunrise God gives me every morning and the way the clouds look like heaven on my drive home.

This way of life is giving me so much more drive and I recommend it for you. It's tough at first, but ultimately the benefits are out of this world.

Literally.

Take care friends.