“Jesus had just finished speaking when a Pharisee invited him to dine at his house. He went in and sat down at the table. The Pharisee saw this and was surprised that he had not first washed before the meal. But the Lord said to him, ‘Oh, you Pharisees! You clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness. Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too? Instead, give alms from what you have and then indeed everything will be clean for you.’”
Luke 11:42-46
Today’s Scripture meditation: I believe this Scripture or a similar one has come up before, but when trying to find an appropriate Scripture for today, this Gospel from yesterday’s Mass seemed the most appropriate. For me personally, it relates to where I’m at now, in that I have focused on the outside (the body) with physical exercises, but now I also must focus on the inside (my soul) with spiritual exercises a la the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola that I have decided to undertake daily until May. May I be granted the grace for this week to have “a deep awareness of how God has to free me in order that I may respond to the calls in my life.”
Yesterday’s run/ST: Yesterday after so many days — nay, weeks off — after my first Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect, I finally put myself “back on the beaten path,” so to speak. I had planned to go to the gym at the local high school, but after getting there and realizing how nice a day it was, I opted to go out on the track there. I did four loops on the quarter-mile track and felt pretty good.
I then went to the “weight room building” instead of the gym with all the fancy machines. I saw a neighbor heading there and realized I should go there too. I had been there over the summer when I had been doing the plyometrics classes and had heard from the coaches there that the freeweights there provided a better balance than the machines. Plus the free weights unlike the gym are truly free, with no membership required. The only thing you have to work around are the athletic teams’ schedules.
I talked briefly to the athletic trainer there, coach Dee, as he is known by the students. He said he couldn’t stand the machines up at the high school, and that he thought it was true that you’d get a better workout with the free weights. So I think from now on, except for maybe an occasional trip for the elliptical or the “dreadmill,” I will be going down there to work out.
Oh, and yes, I did work out — briefly — there yesterday. Since I have been off strength training for about a month, I decided I just wanted to get acclimated to the weights there so that’s what I did. Now that I’m acclimated, it’s time to get started for real on Thursday. Time to bring out the little notebook I have to record my strength training and get to work. In a way, I can’t wait. My abs are in desperate need of a good workout, and anything I can do to increase the strength in my legs is all for the better.
I’ll report in as things progress on this front. Now tonight: a short walk over the hill to church for a couple of things I have to do there, and then back afterwards. Hopefully, the rain will hold off. My fingers are crossed…
