Mark Aylward
Episode 270
1 APR 2024
He has played sports his whole life. He was captain, All-Star, and MVP of his high school baseball team and a starter on their varsity basketball team. Collegiately he attended Notre Dame and played in the Bookstore Basketball Tournament all four years that he was in college. After high school he had continued to play in a variety of sports into his middle age, including softball, tennis, golf, and basketball, across multiple leagues. Present day, he continues his exercise in the form of walking, yoga, stretching, and calisthenics. He also has been an avid sports fan his whole life. And, he has created a free, downloadable publication called, “Find Your True Purpose: A Simple Workbook to Help You Connect Your Gift to Your Work.”
Notable guest quotes:
“Two of my uncles were priests, and one of my aunts was a nun, who eventually left the church; not left Catholicism, she left the church with a priest in her parish, and they got married and spent the rest of their lives together as practicing Catholics.”
“We were in Catholic school the next year. It was a good move, because we did, we got a lot of discipline, and I can only imagine how challenging school would have been for me if we never made that transition.”
“My brother played, we played on the same teams growing up. We were undefeated for three years in a row in Little League when my father was a coach.”
“(At Notre Dame) it was a wonderful experience. I certainly got the whole Catholic environment culture vibe. You know, professors talked about it openly. There were events, Catholic events all the time everywhere.”
“The nature of my fatherhood was so intense. I took them everywhere. I went to all their games. I met with all their teachers. I worked from gymnasiums and dance recital studios.”
“So, I did some self-reflection and I thought, you know, this can go two ways. This can go bad and sinful, or this could be a really good opportunity to reconnect with God.”
“One of my favorite things that I’ve ever heard one of the priests say is, you know the one thing that we all have in common here is we’re all sinners.”
“Everything I do is spiritually influenced and, you know, I’m very thankful to God as often as I can be.”
“It’s become much like my faith, you know, practicing, my exercise and my breathing and my visualization and meditation and prayer, and then walking, getting out in the sun and exercising my lungs, when I miss a day or two, I can feel it. It’s no different than when I miss a day of reading that prayer in the morning, which I almost never do.”
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