{"id":36800,"date":"2014-12-19T10:23:01","date_gmt":"2014-12-19T15:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=36800"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:13:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:13:37","slug":"want-to-keep-christ-in-christmas-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2014\/12\/want-to-keep-christ-in-christmas-heres-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to keep Christ in Christmas?  Try this."},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>A priest friend send me this image\u00a0this morning:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2014\/12\/speaker.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-36801\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2014\/12\/speaker-575x431.jpg\" alt=\"speaker\" width=\"575\" height=\"431\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I was curious to learn more about Steve Maraboli, and found this 2011 story about him from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newspaper.licatholic.org\/news\/motivational-speaker-returns-parish-encourage-success\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Long Island Catholic:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPretend God is deaf\u201d and more interested in actions than words, motivational speaker Steve Maraboli advised parishioners at St. Peter of Alcantara Church here last week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe language of God is action,\u201d said Maraboli, native of Port Washington and a graduate of the parish school here. He cited Jesus\u2019 words from the Gospel: \u201cSeek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Seek, knock.\u2019 Those are verbs, action words,\u2019\u201d said Maraboli, author of \u201cLife, The Truth, and Being Free,\u201d and \u201cThe Power of One,\u201d and host of \u201cEmpowered Living\u201d on Internet Radio. The actions that you take indicate your seriousness about what you want, a seriousness that words alone do not convey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t just pray for success,\u201d he told more than 150 people at St. Peter\u2019s Nov. 15. \u201cI have to be success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maraboli, who is also a counselor and business consultant, told his story about struggling with school as a boy but later learning the lessons of life that enabled him to become successful. He has spoken around the country to businesses, conferences, and churches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first time that I have spoken at a Catholic church,\u201d Maraboli told the audience, which included his father, Manny Maraboli, a parishioner at St. Peter\u2019s. \u201cI\u2019m honored to be here.\u201d Following his talk, Maraboli signed copies of his books. He noted that proceeds from book sales that night would benefit the parish.<\/p>\n<p>Dominican Sister Peggy Tully, pastoral associate at St. Peter\u2019s, introduced Maraboli.<\/p>\n<p>In his talk, Maraboli said that as a student he had trouble in school because he was disinterested. After high school he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. There, he learned from his drill sergeant the importance of being aware of what is going on around him.<\/p>\n<p>Another formative experience, Maraboli said, came when his mother was dying and he and his father spent much time at her hospital bedside. \u201cIf you want to learn about living, hang out with people who are dying. They\u2019ll tell you not to sit around but to get off your butt and live your life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cToday is the only day that you have any influence on. Yesterday is gone,\u201d Maraboli said. \u201cHave you ever unsaid anything? Have you ever undid anything?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newspaper.licatholic.org\/news\/motivational-speaker-returns-parish-encourage-success\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read the rest.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A priest friend send me this image\u00a0this morning: I was curious to learn more about Steve Maraboli, and found this 2011 story about him from Long Island Catholic: \u201cPretend God is deaf\u201d and more interested in actions than words, motivational speaker Steve Maraboli advised parishioners at St. Peter of Alcantara Church here last week. \u201cThe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Want to keep Christ in Christmas? 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