I am a computer scientist and entrepreneur. I go to Mass each weekend and on holy days. I am a cradle Catholic and was raised by two devout parents and grandparents. I made the faith my own early in my 20s and began teaching catechism (Confirmation program grade 8 and 9) at 22 and continued to do so through 2021. My wife Michele and I spent 12 years doing youth ministry at our parish and then we had our own kids. We did our best to bring them up in the faith and I am happy to say they are active in practicing their Catholicism. I take no credit for that as I know many who have done the same things we did and their kids are not practicing. It is truly the grace of God. Over the years I have done a lot of spiritual reading. I have a thirst to strengthen my relationship with God and it has been hard to quench. So I continue to read spiritual books as much as I can. One author stands out as my favorite and that is the Franciscan Father Richard Rohr. Some of you conservative Catholics may have just stopped reading and shut the book which would be unfortunate. I read many of Father Rohr's books and took an online class with him on "The Alternative Franciscan Theology" I was able to join him on a retreat weekend in New Mexico. It was such a great prayerful weekend. After failing at contemplative prayer for many years, on that weekend I was given some tools and have had some success with it. Contemplative prayer is such a game changer. If you haven't spent time I would encourage you to do your best to figure it out. In fact, you can probably stop reading now as that is the biggest piece of advice I have for you. Go into the classroom of silence, listen and come to know God's love for you. It is simply awesome! I would also list the following authors as having helped shape my thinking. In no particular order: Pope St. John Paull II, Pope Francis, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Julian of Norwich, Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan, James Martin, SJ, Walter Ciszek, SJ, Bishop Robert Barron, Matthew Kelly, William Paul Young. Each one has moved me further on the journey and encouraged me to seek Him further still. I thank them for their witness and only hope that perhaps in some small way I might be able to do the same for you here. As each of us is called by our Baptism to evangelize the world and bring others to know God, I believe we must focus on God's abundant love and mercy that he has for us. We spend too much time in "Sin Management" as Rohr calls it and not enough time telling people that God loves them just as He created them. He wants a relationship with each one of us. I believe if more people come to know this then they will bring that love they receive from the Father into the world through love of neighbor. That will multiply upon itself and only then will we truly know peace in this world.