6 Comments
Feb 23·edited Feb 23Liked by Daniel Joseph Petty

It sounds counter intuitive but the more your will aligns to God's will the freer we'll feel. I heard somewhere that the only thing that's really ours is free will, hence giving it back to God is a true gift. Good stuff, as usual.

Expand full comment
Feb 23Liked by Daniel Joseph Petty

It's only weird because the Enemy makes it sound weird. In the beginning, not so!

Expand full comment
Feb 23Liked by Daniel Joseph Petty

I really enjoyed this reflection, Daniel. I love your modeling the digital detox for your family, and for all of us. I smile that you're coming home to the Church our Lord founded. I (cradle Catholic) have Protestant friends and drifted in that direction for years until my reversion. Now I see much more clearly the depth of the riches and truth Christ's Church offers us.

I loved the song link you included too. I never heard her or that song before - what a voice and what a message. Bonus: YouTube then took me to something I hadn't heard in ages, the segment of "Come and Go With Me to That Land" that you hear in my favorite X-Files episode, "The Unnatural":

https://youtu.be/-hek4d0P9_4?si=4TliplIyz0hYMu84

If you haven't seen that episode, do look it up! A retired investigator tells Mulder how he formed a friendship with an alien who was hiding as a baseball player in the Negro Leagues. Terrific writing, great characters. Or are you too young to remember The X-Files? 😉

Thank you for sharing your meditations, and God bless you!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you for reading, Lori! Thank you for the warm welcome! I’m so happy to be on my way home! So glad you enjoyed the song! I just discovered it this week! I’ll follow your link and check it that song!

I am old enough to remember that The X-Files was a popular show that I’ve heard about but never watched. I don't really watch a lot of TV. That’s not really because of trying to be a digital minimalist, I've just never really been the type to sit down and watch a whole series. But I never say never. If I come across a way to watch The X-Files on our streaming services and enjoy it, i’ll remember to come back and thank you!

Expand full comment

😄 I wouldn't recommend starting the whole series if you're not a big TV watcher - there are 200+ episodes and they can be pretty uneven, though I do love the characters. "The Unnatural" is a great standalone episode that I highly recommend, especially if you're at all sentimental about baseball, like me. It's on Hulu and Freevee, season 6 episode 19. All best wishes, Daniel!

Expand full comment

...although hmm, there's one scene with a scantily clad woman (briefly) and some pretty mild language- just so you know 😉 sorry to go on and on about this, but I used to be a librarian and one of my favorite things was to try to convince people to read books I loved... I just can't help it 😄

Expand full comment