Shawn The Baptist

11/05/2025

“No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveler who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going.” - Pope St. Gregory the Great

09/04/2024

I knew someone would get a better picture than me, so I mainly just looked at the eclipse during totality. I looked all around to see the sunset/rise color 360 degrees on the horizon. I listened to a rooster crowing and birds singing. I felt the drop in temperature and the cool breeze. A feast for the senses. I was almost right in the middle of the path with 4 minutes of totality. It's not my picture, but this picture from someone else in Arkansas is exactly what it looked like from my own spot in northern Arkansas, including the little pink dot at 6:00... definitely visible to the naked eye. It was just 4 minutes in the shadow of a big rock moving in front of a big ball of gas in the sky, but it seems that God made humans with an ability to appreciate such an "event." It made me think of all the blessings in my life that brought me to be able to be in this one spot on this exact day... it made me thankful for my flight instructors who taught me to fly, for my incredible job at Garmin that connected me with this plane and the money to be able to afford to fly it, for the math and science that allows us to understand our universe. By seeking truth and meaning in the universe I pray that many people will find the ultimate source of that truth and meaning in the God who created and ordered everything in the beginning. Just four minutes in the shadow of the moon... but it was a day for counting blessings and one to be remembered for a lifetime.

29/03/2024

The Stations of the Cross find their origin in walking the very path in Jerusalem that Jesus walked on Good Friday – the Via Dolorosa or “Way of Suffering”. For this final Lenten lunch reflection, I walk through each of the stations as they exist in Jerusalem today and provide spiritual insights to aid in taking up our cross and following Jesus today.

The Stations of the Cross find their origin in walking the very path in Jerusalem that Jesus walked on Good Friday – the Via Dolorosa or “Way of Suffering”. ...

24/03/2024

In this week's Lenten lunch reflection, I use a model of the 1st century city of Jerusalem to walk through the geography of Holy Week. See the actual sites where the events of Holy Week took place 2000 years ago. Where did Jesus go and what spiritual lessons can we learn today?

See the actual sites very the events of Holy Week took place 2000 years ago. Where did Jesus go and what spiritual lessons can we learn today?

15/03/2024

For this week’s Lenten lunch reflection, I focussed on Mary, Martha, and Lazarus… these three friends of Jesus each have something important to teach us about priorities, pain, and purpose. What if you didn’t have to fear death? How would you live if you really believed this?

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus… these three friends of Jesus each have something important to teach us about priorities, pain, and purpose. What if you didn’t hav...

12/03/2024

This little bit from my morning meditation hit a spot. Oof. Good thing there’s a lot of Lent left. 🙏

08/03/2024

Today's Garmin Lenten Lunch Reflection focusses on St. Peter and Confession. Peter denied that he even knew Jesus 3 times in the courtyard of the high priest in Jerusalem. The lowest moment of his life. But just over a week later on the shore of the Sea of Galilee he got to tell Jesus, 3 times, that he loved him. And Jesus forgave him. The Catholic sacrament of penance/confession is meant to give each of us our moment on the seashore with Jesus.

Peter denied that he even knew Jesus 3 times in the courtyard of the high priest in Jerusalem. The lowest moment of his life. But just over a week later on t...

03/03/2024

This week's "Lenten Lunch Reflection" at Garmin was about mountains. Mainly the mountains in the Holy Land like the Mt. of the Transfiguration and Mt. Calvary... But also the mountains of Philmont Scout Ranch, the other "Holy Land." There are a lot of lessons to be learned from mountains.

From Mt. Tabor and the transfiguration to Mt. Calvary and the crucifixion. Being on top of a mountain gives you a great vantage point to see clearly all arou...

02/03/2024

We have a little men's group at Garmin that meets for prayer and sharing over lunch on Thursdays. For Lent, they asked if I'd give some reflections, so I'm doing a 6 part series on my various pilgrimages the Holy Land and the physical places that correspond to some of the events of Lent. Here was last week...

Today's talk journeys from the Mt. of Temptation to the site of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness bec...

09/04/2023

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light
Our God is not dead, He's alive, He's alive
- St. Paul with help from Matt Maher

Try Church Online at: http://live.life.churchPerformed on Church Online by Joel Limpic and Marcy Preist. Spoken and written by David Bowden for LifeChurch.tv...

03/04/2023

Last year I announced that I was taking a leave from active ministry as a priest to discern where God might be calling me in the future. I am grateful for the help of my counselor, spiritual director, and the support of so many friends and family during this time. After much prayer, the result of this time of discernment was the decision not to continue in ministry but to seek to serve God as a lay person again. I therefore submitted the paperwork to the Church to make my leave from ministry permanent and return to the lay state, a process sometimes called “laicization.”

Today I am excited to share the beginning of the next chapter as I am starting work at Garmin, a great company here in the Kansas City area with which many of you are no doubt familiar. Specifically, I will be getting to put my pilot skills together with my engineering background as an “Aviation Programs Engineer/Manager.” I feel very blessed to have been selected for this position and am excited for the future. God has been very good to me, as have so many of you. I am grateful… and ready for takeoff.

01/05/2022

Peter failed. We all fail. But when we meet the risen Lord, there’s really only one thing he is going to ask us.

Peter failed. We all fail. But when we meet the risen Lord, there's really only one thing he is going to ask us.