Hi, friends.

Two things to share this week - one about offering, one about clarity

Sunday was the Feast of the Presentation - Candlemas - and I published a reflection on what it means to carry people through the Joyful Mysteries while running.

I run with a finger rosary. Over thirteen miles, I cycle through the mysteries multiple times, and I carry names with me. Friends facing diagnoses. Marriages hanging by threads. A couple praying desperately for a child. The miles become the offering. The sweat becomes the incense.

We call them the Joyful Mysteries, but sorrow is woven through every one. They're not joy instead of sorrow - they're joy that knows sorrow is coming and says yes anyway.

Read: Offering the Miles

For months, I've been praying for clarity and courage. Bishop Paprocki told me: keep clarity first. Courage without clarity is just recklessness.

Last week I went to Disneyland by myself. Not for the rides. I needed space to think. To let something settle.

It settled.

I've been building pieces that felt scattered - Emmaus Disciples, Deacon Life, Lead & Keep, this newsletter. Each one felt right alone, but together they seemed like too many things pointing in too many directions.

Then I thought about Walt Disney's flywheel - movies feeding merchandise feeding theme parks feeding television feeding movies again. It only looked scattered if you couldn't see the hub at the center.

Walking through Disneyland, I finally saw my hub: a formation house serving the domestic church across generations.

Youth being formed in faith. Families praying together. Elders deepening in the evening of life. Deacons supported. Parishes equipped. All connected. All feeding each other.

Now I have clarity. Now I need courage.

Please pray for me - especially for courage - as I build this. I'm asking for the intercession of Saints Carlo Acutis, John Henry Newman, Francis de Sales, and Louis and Zélie Martin. If any of them are friends of yours too, I'd be grateful for their prayers alongside your own.

Read: What Disneyland Gave Me for the Second Half

The things you've heard me talking about a lot - Emmaus Disciples, Deacon Life - are pausing for a week or two while the unifying platform takes shape. Not abandoned. Integrated.

I'll share more soon. Thank you for being on this journey with me.

The Disney Flywheel - Since I mentioned Walt Disney's flywheel in this week's post, here's the classic Kottke article featuring the original 1957 synergy map that Disney sketched to explain his business vision. Todd Zenger of Harvard Business Review calls it "a corporate theory of sustained growth." The boxes have changed, but the logic hasn't. Walt Disney's Corporate Strategy Chart

Consolation and Desolation - If you're navigating a season of transition (or just trying to understand why prayer feels different at different times), this piece from Ignatian Spirituality is a helpful primer on recognizing the movements of the Spirit. Consolation and Desolation

Why 2026 Will Be the Year of Leo - The National Catholic Register on Pope Leo XIV's first full calendar year as pontiff, plus the U.S. bishops' plan to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus ahead of the 250th anniversary of the American founding. Why 2026 Will Be the Year of Leo

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Readings

As always, just hit reply - I read every response.

-Deacon Michael