Allen R. Hunt's Blog, page 3

Love Attracts Love

Love attracts love. That is, when I see that God loves me supremely, I can't help loving Him in return. Seeing that I am created in God's image and likeness and created anew to grace by the blood of God's only-begotten Son makes me let go of my sensual love and conceive a true love. My eye has found the light, and the light itself has made me love the light.

- Catherine of   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Equal Animals

Chavez died worth $2BB. Proving Orwell correct: statism means all animals are equal. But some are more equal than   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

A Shoe Shining Tip

Albert Lexie gets off the bus in downtown Pittsburgh well before dawn each day. He sets up his shoe shine stand at Children's Hospital there just as he has done for 32 years.

Albert will shine your shoes for $5. And his customers are often generous with their tips. Most tip $1, a few $2, and occasionally, a grateful customer gives Albert a $10 or $20 bill with the words, "Keep the change."

But Albert has a funny way of making a living. He keeps the $5 shoe shine fee but gives all his tips to the Children's Hospital Free Care Fund. He's been doing that since 1981 when he began his work there. You read that right: a man who makes $5 for shining a pair of shoes gives 100% of his tip money to help parents of sick kids who can't afford to pay medical costs.

All in all, since 1981, Albert Lexie has donated more than $200,000 (several hundred dollars a week) to help children find healing and life.   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Chief Rabbi of France

Really well-written, thoughtful piece on the debate over creating a new institution called "gay marriage," and why France surprisingly is pushing back. Penned by the chief rabbi of France. Well   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Gratitude for the Good Life

I'm not sure you can call it the dolce vita, but I do have a good life. And for that, I'm grateful.

God has made it possible for me to pursue meaningful work. Lent is filled with speaking opportunities at men's conferences and Catholic parishes looking to go deeper during this special season. Plus, our team at the Dynamic Catholic Institute is launching a new event I will be leading called Passion and Purpose for Marriage. Sometimes, it is important for me just to pause and give thanks that God permits me to have so much fun and still fiind a way to support my family.

But the greatest blessing in my work is the people Anita and I get to meet. In our travels in the past month from California to New Jersey, and from Colorado to Mississippi, we have met some of the most extraordinary human beings. Fellow believers. Regular folks who quietly love God and seek to love people day in and day out where they live. They have   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Worst 5 Years

Great piece in Forbes demonstrating how we have just lived through the worst 5 years since the Great Depression. Best of all, the writer shows how poor public policy (Clinton, Bush, and Obama) caused and exacerbated the economic malaise.

Meddling, self-absorbed politicians make matters worse, not better, by injecting their own agendas into the free market. As a result, we have more poverty, less growth, dimmer prospects, and a declining world   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Hard to be Good

Blogger Heather King inspired me with her plans to give up criticizing people for Lent. Now, that is a challenge! She quickly discovered, however, just how hard that venture would be. "Within an hour I was mentally nitpicking, criticizing, and judging any number of people... And from there the whole enterprise rapidly went downhill."

Self-denial is hard. But it is also revealing. C. S. Lewis is right. “No man knows how bad he is til he has tried very hard to be good…Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.”

And when we discover just how impossible it is to be good people on our own power, then we can begin the project of cooperating with the grace of God. That is the power of Lent. Self-denial makes us open to change, and open to the presence of God, like nothing else can.

May your Lent be blessed in ways you would never   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Papal News

Like most Catholics, I have been in shock this week at the Pope's decision to resign. Just got this email from a friend who is in Rome leading a class for priests and bishops. What a time to be in Rome!

It’s crazy over here.  Our class was interrupted Monday by the news and there was just stunned silence for the 27 priests.  We then went to lunch with the seminarians at the NAC and Cardinal McCarrick shared what each Cardinal says as they cast their vote at the consistory.  As they place their piece of paper with their vote on the altar,  they say, "I call to witness the Lord Christ, who will be my judge, that I am electing the one whom, under God, I think ought to be elected." 

He said that the election is a true discernment and the reminder for him that he is voting in the presence of his judge, the Lord Christ, was particularly   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Ash Wednesday Wisdom

"Humility, humility, humility, humility." That's what St. Bernard of Clairvaux responded when asked what are the 4 keys to a healthy spiritual life.

But humility is slippery, isn't it? And the greatest challenge is when you think you are humble, you likely are not. 

Humility means to live as close to the truth as possible: the truth about ourselves, the truth about others, and the truth about the world we live in.

I encountered humility this week three times in unusual ways. I share them with you because they helped me enter Ash Wednesday and Lent with a clearer focus and purpose:

1) An engaged couple who asked wedding guests not to shower them with wedding gifts but instead to make gifts to a home for girls in India who have lost their mothers due to death or abandonment. Realization that children need life and love more than we need towels.

2) A surgeon who postponed a complex surgery   >>>>>   Read Entire Post

Equipping Teenagers

Every parent knows that teenagers can be tough. My friend, Wayne, has operated Chick-Fil-A restaurants for forty years, and he has gained a lot of wisdom. Especially when it comes to teenagers. He's coached, employed, and taught a lot of them.

I admire how Wayne knows how to build teams, and how he invests in the young people who work for him. He sincerely desires to help them become the best-version-of-themselves. And he does it well.

So he and I are going to have an open conversation about how to equip teenagers. Not a presentation. Just a conversation. And we'd love for you to be a part and throw in your wisdom as well.

He and I will be at the Rivermont Station Chick-Fil-A. Saturday, February 16. From 9:00-11:00 a.m. Just chattiing about this topic. You can come and join in for as long or as short as you desire. And   >>>>>   Read Entire Post