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After reading the letters of St. Frances Cabrini for Season Five of my "Journeying with the Saints" podcast, my admiration for the woman grew a hundredfold. When you dive in intimately to someone's thoughts, you start to understand who they were/are and get a sense for their personality. When we read the works of the Saints, they become more than just faces on prayer cards. They truly do become friends. The three biggest things I learned from her are: Obedience--If you aren't obedient to Christ and His Church, you are just playing around with the label Christian. Mother Cabrini wanted to go to the east to serve as a missionary, but Pope Leo XIII needed her in the west. She didn't throw a fit or ignore the pope. No, she went where she was most needed. And, she didn't go to the west and do a half-hearted job even though it wasn't her immediate desire. She went and gave her all. Perseverance--She never gave up. In fact, she didn't trust a mission calling if it wasn't "sealed with a cross." She knew if it was sealed with a cross then Jesus approved. This is so contrary to our thinking today where we will only engage in something if the road is smooth and clear. Mother Cabrini travelled over the ocean numerous times, climbed through the Andes, built hospitals, schools, and orphanages when it seemed impossible to do so, all while not feeling the best. Charity--She poured herself out so completely for others all for love of God. She didn't spend time sitting around thinking only of herself, but always looked for the next opportunity to give, which is why we know her. Inwardly focused people don't light the world on fire with love. She truly was a remarkable woman and I'm so thankful that I got to know her and come to love her. Today is her feast day and I will put the introductory episode for Season Five in the comments if you are interested. You can find my podcast pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts. Have a blessed day, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Frances Cabrini, pray for us!
On Tuesday, my family was at the bedside of a loved one on my husband's side as they left this world. It was the first time my husband or I ever had that experience and, boy, does it really get you to thinking. Such a strange thing: To one minute know that they are there and then, at their last breath, to know that they are gone. I think it speaks so much to the reality of the soul. When a person is asleep, they are still animated by the soul. You know that, while not responsive, they are still there. But in death, even though the loved one looks asleep, it is clear that what animated them--made them who they are--is no longer present. Even their body no longer gives us comfort--there it is, lying in front of you, it hasn't gone away, but the pain of the loss sets in, because they just aren't there anymore. Then, it's so strange that the pain of that loss comes out as tears. Isn't that weird to think about? We express sorrow through tears streaming down our face. That very real pain has to come out somehow--through cries, tears, groans. I read something at the beginning of the month, this month where we especially pray for our dearly departed, that I found really beautiful. "At the funeral Mass and the burial service, not once does the Church ask that the loved ones' pain be taken away. For the pain at the death of a loved one is a reflection of that very love. To deny the pain would be to deny the love. The Church asks that Jesus be with us in our pain." On my mantle during November, I place pictures of the loved ones in our family that have gone before us. I just added a new picture to the group on Tuesday. As I stood there looking at their faces, missing them, I felt the tears quietly slide down my face. The pain I feel is because of the love I have for them all. Love is such a mystery--all at the same time, it can bring us the greatest joy and the deepest heartache. May we continue to pray for the souls of our dearly departed, Catholic Pilgrims. How great a gift that we were able to love them and, hopefully, be reunited with them again. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
Happy Veterans Day! To all my Catholic Pilgrims that have served, this military family thanks you. It's a hard life in many ways from deployments, injuries, family far away, lost friends, left friends, moves with bad movers, upended roots, long days and long nights, and even loss of life. But, it's, also, a life filled with many blessings--community, lifelong friends, purpose, new destinations to explore, resilient hearts, and the ability to serve your countrymen. Thank you to those that have hung up your uniform after serving your country. This family will always be grateful for your sacrifice.
Over the years, I've asked people if they know what grace is. After thinking for a while, they usually say something like, "I don't really know how to define it." Some people have said to me that they don't really get what it is. I wasn't able to define it once upon a time, too. But, I've homeschooled my kids using the Baltimore Catechism and the answer to what grace is in that book makes everything clear. Grace is the Divine Life within you. How do we get grace within us? Well, the Catholic Church has seven beautiful Sacraments that give grace. "A Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Jesus Christ to give grace." Baltimore Catechism for the win! At Baptism, Original Sin is washed away and we are flooded with grace. At Confession, we rid ourselves of sin hogging up space in our souls and grace can come pouring back in. Receiving Holy Communion is literally receiving Christ's Body and Blood and with that comes the Source of grace. You can receive grace in others ways, too. For example, actual grace comes to us when we pray and ask for help in a certain situation. Once I understood what grace is and could define it, it made it so much easier to see myself as a "temple of God," as St. Paul tells us today in Corinthians. Crazy as it sounds, I think of grace like the game Zelda. In that game, Link starts out with a heart full of life. As he wanders around and gets hurt, the life in the heart starts to drain out. That's how I see grace, funny enough. Our souls get flooded with grace from some Sacrament, it is full of Divine Life. But, as we go about our lives, we sin and little-by-little grace drains out of our soul. To revive it, we need to go to a source of grace--Confession. Then our soul is filled up. It's why we feel so good after receiving a Sacrament. I want that Divine Life--God's grace--within me, Catholic Pilgrims. It's what makes us holy and Christ-like. So protect your temple, that is your soul. Seek to keep it full of grace. Have a beautiful Sunday.
A funny story for the month of November where we pray for the souls of our dearly departed. During my sophomore year of college, I cleaned people's houses to make enough money to get by. One house that I cleaned was the home of a very elderly couple, who really didn't dirty up the house that much. I was supposed to be there for three hours of cleaning, but after changing the bed sheets, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, and a few other minor things, there wasn't too much to do. So, one day, I decided to deep clean a bit more and clean areas that were neglected or hard to reach. Now, if you asked my husband what is one of the reasons he fell in love with me, he would jokingly tell you that it was because of my clumsiness. Grace is not my middle name and I'm known for my fantastic, clumsy incidents. Anyway, knowing my tendency to fall, I still grabbed an unsteady chair to climb on while I cleaned a very high mantle over the fireplace. I really had to stretch to grab things off so that I could dust the wooden ledge. One of the things was a squat vase with a lid and when I grabbed it, I was surprised at how heavy it was. But, as I was standing there on this rickety chair, with this vase over my head, the old gentleman of the house came into the kitchen and said, "You know what's in that jar?" "No," I replied back. "That's my sister!" Heh. Heh. My heart started beating fast as I could just picture myself toppling off the chair with 'ole sis in my hands. And as I fell to the earth, the urn would crash to the ground spilling ashes everywhere. So, instead, of continuing to take down the urn, I said, "You know what, I'll just put this back up," and I gently, uneventfully, put the urn back in place. Moral of the story: 1. Don't sneak up on people when they are handling urns with people's ashes in them and 2. Just put people in the ground when they die and save all housecleaners from a potential disaster. HA! Have a great weekend, Catholic Pilgrims.
I've posted this picture before, but I've been thinking about it--I think about it a lot actually--and so you all get to see it again today. Up near Calvary inside the Holy Sepulcher off to the left side, if facing the Calvary altar, there is a very dark area where you can light candles for prayers. When I went to place my lighted candle in the sand, I could sort of see the area beyond the candlelight. It is a dark, almost empty abyss which feels utterly mysterious. Since being there, my mind has drifted so many times to the moment I stood there with my lighted candle. There I was, with my light of faith, standing in darkness and unable to fully see the big picture. For many, many months now, I have been praying for certain things, certain outcomes and not a single one has been answered the way I have begged God to answer it. Each prayer hasn't been for me, but for others. Each prayer has been offered with the intention to align my will and my prayers with what I think God would want, but that doesn't seem to be the case. This has happened before and sometimes I have been able to clearly see the reason why God didn't answer as I requested. He gave me an even better answer. And sometimes, I see the outcome and it's not necessarily what I would consider a better answer back. It's okay, but there's still pain. It's not the utopia I had hoped for. Then, there are prayers where the outcome is completely confusing and heartbreaking and I don't understand. When this happens, I think of standing there with my little light, little Amy with my little light, near the place where Christ died on the Cross. There's darkness all around, I can barely see five feet in front of me and it all boils down to faith and trust. Christ at Calvary was the darkest of times and, yet, those that loved Christ didn't yet know of the glory that was soon to come. I must always remember that I only see what is right in front of me and even when times seem dark, I must trust that through it all, God has a plan. One that I may not fully understand even in this life. Have a blessed day, Catholic Pilgrims, and keep your little light shining.
My sophomore year or college, I was still doing the hypocrite thing where I called myself a Christian, but there was really not one thing in my life that would have pointed towards that. One of my roommates ended up having to leave our house because of some poor choices she made and the day she told me and our other roommates, I went absolutely nuclear on her. I screamed at her. Cussed at her. Called her names. Pointed out all her failings. All I wanted to do was make her feel small and terrible, because she was leaving us in a bind. So, "in the name of Jesus," I stood on my comically high soapbox and berated her for being a bad Christian. I just destroyed her. It is a high form of blasphemy to try to destroy people like that "in the name of Jesus." Truth be told, I was more angry with myself because the sins that led her to leave the house were sins that I was committing. However, I just needed to make myself feel better--to feel more righteous. It was not my shining moment. I have since apologized and asked forgiveness from her. But, I say all this because, here on the internet, I see that same behavior in many Catholic/Christian "influencers. If you follow someone who yells, cusses all the time, and who spends more time bashing others all in the "name of Jesus," you are following someone that has lost their way. Side note: Beware those that believe everything is a conspiracy, too. They may have kernels of truth in some things they say, but their hearts are not full of Christ. Instead they are filled with bitterness and I know because I used to be that way. I see my old self in them. It is important to speak truth, but it must be done well. It is important to spread the Gospel, but it must be done joyfully. It is important to call out evil, but we can't be evil ourselves when calling it out. Instead of these "influencers" and, heck, instead of me, read the Bible. Listen to podcasts where the Bible is read. Read the Saints. Or--shameless plug--listen to podcasts like mine where I read the Saints' works. Be influenced by those that were/are filled with joy, love, and hope and show us how to really do things in the name of Jesus and do it well. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday, Catholic Pilgrims.
I was sitting at Mass yesterday thinking about the Saints in Heaven and how important so many of them are to me now. When I need help with forgiveness, I ask my patron saint, St. Maria Goretti, for prayers. When I need help with pride and vanity, I ask for prayers from St. Teresa of Avila. Throughout the day, I think on Venerable Fulton Sheen, St. Faustina, St. Frances Cabrini, St. Francis de Sales. Now that I've read their works, I feel like they are dear friends. St. Joseph has been involved in my life so much lately and, of course, beloved Mary. As I was sitting in church, I thought, "How curious that all Christians understand that we, as sinful, limited humans, here on earth can reach across the veil from natural to supernatural to make contact with Heaven through our prayers, yet, many Christians think that the Saints in Heaven cannot reach across that that veil anymore to receive our requests for prayers. In Heaven, the Saints, who are purified, made perfect, and are no longer limited by space, time, or physical bodies, are seen as having less impact or abilities than those of us here on earth." Most understand that Angels can cross that veil. I least I hope they do, as we see it everywhere in Scripture. Saints, though, for many, are seen as just dead people that have zero influence anymore. People will often say that they can't hear our requests for intercessory prayers because they aren't God. That's right, they aren't God, but is God not capable of giving them that ability? It all comes down to this: It is a misunderstanding of how Catholics view things. I think for so many, they think we see the Saints and Angels as having powers that come from themselves. What so many don't understand is that Catholics are taught that any abilities or special gifts and graces given to Saints and Angels all come from the power of God. He is glorified in them. We are grateful to God for the gift of the Communion of Saints, because it is only by God's power that we have the ability to have the communion in the first place. Everything good points to God's blessings and grace, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
In 2015, my family went to the World Meeting of Families in Philly. (Gosh, it's hard to believe that was 10 years ago.) It was such a grace-filled week. I got to see some of my favorite speakers, venerated the relics of my patron saint, St. Maria Goretti, attended Mass every day, saw historic sights, waited for a long time with my best friend to see the pope, and at the end of the week, attended Mass outside with a million of my fellow Catholics. During the day, you could attend different talks. My husband and I always picked different ones from each other so that we could share something new when we meet up for lunch and dinner. One day, I attended a class that I was really looking forward to, though I don't remember the topic now. Ha! It was given by a professor and at one point in her talk, she said, "Don't evangelize Protestants! We all believe in Jesus so leave them alone!" Instantly, I was extremely angry. What a bunch of stupid advice. Here I was, a former Protestant, converted to the Catholic Faith by people who were willing to give me the truth. Yes, we both believe in Jesus, but, what the heck, do you not want to give them the truth of Jesus in the Eucharist???? Yesterday, I had a few people tell me to leave Protestants alone, don't debate with them. They just live in ignorance and believe in heresies, so don't worry about them or waste your time. I understand their intention was good. But, I will never not try to share the truth with Protestants or anybody, for that matter. If other Catholics had written me off and never tried to bring me to the fullness of the truth, I shudder to think about all I would have missed out on. At our baptism, we all are made priest, prophet, and king. As Bishop Barron says, "Priest to give right worship to God, prophet to go out and speak divine truths, and king to advance the kingdom of God." If I love people, it is my Catholic duty to evangelize, using my gifts and talents, to bring people to the fullness of truth found in the Catholic Church. I am called to do it in charity, prudence, and to not be annoying. We all must do that, Catholic Pilgrims, because our Catholic Faith was never meant to be kept to ourselves. Live the Faith boldly and travel well.
Within the past two weeks, I have received a lot of anti-Mary comments. Over and over again, people are coming at me with the argument that Mary is not the Mother of God. To which I say, "You better hope she is or what happened on the Cross did nothing." The ghost of Nestorian rises from the grave. I think all Christians can agree that Mary gave birth to Jesus. What some people have a problem with is what Mary gave birth to--they want to say just a man. Jesus the man, but not Jesus the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. When my mom gave birth to me, she gave birth to Amy (the person), a human (what I am, my nature.) That is why we can say that my mom is the mother of Amy. Nobody asks my mother, "So, you gave birth to Amy, what was her nature? Was she a plant? An animal? Angel?" No, they know that human mother's give birth to human babies. Jesus is different. Hence the whole reason we make a big deal out of Him. At the Incarnation, God--Jesus--became man. Jesus didn't lose His Divine nature at that moment. But, He did gain His human nature. This is why the Incarnation is so significant--Jesus (one Person) has two natures (Divine and human.) Jesus is one Person with two natures. He is not two persons each with His own nature. It's not as if Jesus the God person stayed in Heaven and Jesus the man was born. It's one Person--fully human and fully Divine. And you better hope that's Who Mary gave birth to, because without that reality, our sins were not atoned for on the Cross. If Mary gave birth to just Jesus the man, then it was just a man on the cross and his attempted atonement for man's sins didn't do much other than seem like a nice gesture. In order to atone for man's sins, you need a human, because humans are the ones that sinned against God, the Father. But...you also need Someone whose atonement has infinite value and can actually be a worthwhile sacrifice. You need an infinite Being--Jesus--the God man. So, because Mary gave birth to Jesus the God man, she is the Mother of God. It is a mystery and one we may not fully understand this side of Heaven, but without this reality, we would be in deep trouble. Mary, Mother of Our Lord and Savior, pray for us!
When I was baptized at around 11-years old, I didn't really get what the next step was supposed to be. I believed Jesus was "my Lord and Savior," but for me, that was a bit like a safety net and my nonrefundable ticket to Heaven. Of course, I was 11-years old and wasn't steeped in theology or fully understood the ins and outs of our Christian faith, so you can give me a bit of a pass for my naiveté. In a way, though, the journey stopped there for me, because what else was there? I believed in Jesus and that was good enough. See, though, once you are feel assured of something, you give it little thought. I felt assured of Heaven and assured of a basic level of ease through life now that I was a Christian. Bad things certainly wouldn't happen to me. For a lot of people, once they get their kids through Confirmation or even their first reception of Holy Eucharist, they check out. "We've done enough." "We checked the boxes, did the things we are supposed to do, and now we can cruise on autopilot." Many stop going to Mass, stop reading their Bible, stop doing anything to advance their relationship with God. What I've come to understand now, and age helps, though these things can be taught to younger people, is that we are on a pilgrimage towards Heaven. That pilgrimage gets kicked off at our baptism--the starting point. But, as St. Paul tells the Ephesians and us, we aren't just strangers and sojourners wandering around aimlessly, or at least we shouldn't be. We are "fellow citizens with the holy ones, members of the household of God." We have an earthly spiritual home--The Church, and an eternal spiritual home--Heaven. We must realize that our pilgrimage has purpose--we have a purpose--and we can only find that and realize that when we strive to have a relationship with God. Our pilgrimage will have real trials, we will be tested, we will suffer, we will be asked to sacrifice--it will not be a life of ease. Just as Christ did not call His Apostles into a life of ease and comfort, He does not call us to that either. You simply cannot be made holy that way, Catholic Pilgrims. So, live the faith boldly and travel well.
Yesterday in my OCIA class, we were talking about the four marks of the Church--One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. It's the holy mark that always gets criticized. "Look at all the bad people that have been in the Church. How could you possibly say it's holy." The Catholic Church is not holy because of anything man has done. The Catholic Church's holiness does not come from its members, it comes from the fact that it is the Church that Christ founded. It is holy because through the Church and the Sacraments established by Christ, through the preservation of the Church by the Holy Spirit, and through the infallible teachings of the Church we can be made holy. It is holy because it was not established by man. People always like to point out "bad Catholics." And I would agree that there are bad Catholics out there, just as there are bad people in any group, organization, or institution. For Catholics, the only reason that people can say that they are bad is because people hold them to the standard of holiness that they intuitively know is called for in the Church. If these bad-faith Catholics are bad, it's because they did not follow the teachings of the Church, because the Church teaches to eradicate sin. It teaches to strive for sainthood. It does not teach that any sin should be tolerated, celebrated, normalized, or embraced so that we "can get with the times." To be sure, there are churches out there that do this. Instead, though, we should look to the Saints, who did take Christ's Church seriously and her call to holiness. Because they received the Sacraments and the grace that comes with, because they were obedient to the teachings of Christ and His Church, and because they took advantage of the treasure trove of helps given to us to help us live more Christ-like, well, they were made holy. To say that the Catholic Church isn't holy because of sinners, is a bit like saying that Jesus wasn't holy because his Apostles were sinners. Yet, it was through Him that they were made holy, just like He continues to do for us through His Church. Have a blessed Monday.
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