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One time in high school, my teacher had to put me out into the hallway to cool off after I'd gotten in a heated debate with a classmate over whether or not we should be allowed to burn the American flag. Her flippant attitude about the topic and her lack of gratitude seared me with righteous anger. Standing out in the hallway that day, I realized that passion for what is good will always be met with selfish, indifferent attitudes. Then in college, many times, I would be the only person standing in defense of Christian conservative beliefs. It never failed, though, that after class people would come up to me and tell me that they agreed with me. They just lacked the courage to speak up. I learned in college that courage is a virtue for a reason--it's hard to live out. Virtues require effort and sacrifice. Today, we mourn and honor those that lost their lives on 9-11 and we, also, mourn the loss of a courageous man, Charlie Kirk. For far too long, we've been told to tamp down our passion as patriots for our country. For far too long, we've been told to just be door-mat Christians. For far too long, we've allowed cowards to tell us that standing for what is right makes us _________________(enter a derogatory label). I'm just sick to death of it all and I'm angry. The tide must turn and we need courageous, passionate people to step up. I'm a proud American. I'm an unapologetic Christian. I'm a conservative who knows that there is right and there is wrong and it's not that hard to figure out which is which. In honor of those Americans that lost their lives for being American and for Charlie Kirk, who lost his life for being a Christian conservative, we need to step up our game. The angry and sadness you feel, channel that into being a great American citizen. Channel it into going to church and knowing and living out your Faith. Channel it into conserving your traditional family, your heritage, and the truth. We seriously owe it to those that we remember today, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingBefore I started reading St. Frances Cabrini's letters on Season Five of my "Journeying with the Saints" podcast, I reached out to the three St. Frances Cabrini shrines here in the States. There is one in NYC, one in Golden, Colorado, and one in Chicago. Wonderful places, all three of them, though I have yet to lay eyes on the Chicago one. Julia from the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine offered to talk to me on the phone about Mother Cabrini and so we connected up. Julia provided me with wonderful information and gave me helpful insight into Mother Cabrini's spiritual life. This past Friday, I got to meet Julia in person when my family visited the shrine in NYC. We talked like old friends, I shared what I learned through reading her letters on my podcast, and she gave my family more interesting facts about Mother Cabrini. All-in-all, it was such a wonderful visit. Julia said to us, "Mother Cabrini had fears. We all do. She shows us that if you focus on doing God's Will, you can overcome your fears. God is not going to call us to a life of comfort. We are meant to get out of our comfort zone. Jesus will never ask you to be comfortable. We are supposed to live boldly and that's what Mother Cabrini did, she lived boldly." That was so impactful to me, because my motto here is "live the faith boldly and travel well." Boldness, courage, and fortitude are all part of the Christian life. Yes, we all have our fears, but we must ask God for the grace to carry on anyway. When we do, Catholic Pilgrims, we will be equipped to do amazing things, just like Mother Cabrini. It won't be exactly in the same way as her, but it will be in our way with our God-given talents and gifts. It was such a pleasure to meet Julia and I had to smile at how St. Frances Cabrini brought us together. That's what the Saints do--they connect those with a love for Jesus in wonderful ways. So, be sure to visit the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in NYC if ever you are there. Julia and her staff do a great job of honoring the life of the first American citizen to be canonized. St. Frances Cabrini, pray for us!
Continue ReadingHappy Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother! On Saturday, a young man private messaged me to debate the Catholic practice of praying to the Saints. By his own admission, he'd never met a Catholic before, but he continually attempted to tell me what Catholics believe. His understanding of praying to the Saints was the typical, ignorant belief that we are practicing necromancy. Anyway, I asked him lots of questions, sent him an article that I wrote on the praying to the Saints, and debated with him in a civil way. Time and again, he would ask me a question that was addressed in my article and I would say, "Have you read the article yet?" His answer was always, "No, it's too long." I reminded him that he told me from the outset that he was interested in finding the truth and "if you are searching for truth, then read things people offer you. Finding truth takes patience and effort. Don't be lazy and just come at people and not be willing to listen." He ignored what I said and just started in with jumping around from issue to issue, not really considering what I was saying. Then, at one point, he got frustrated and went with this line of attack, "Mary was a mere human woman, yeah Jesus was her son but that makes her no different than any other person." Let's take that in one more time: "Jesus was her son but that makes her no different than any other person." This is the kind of ridiculous thing that gets said when you are intensely bent on being anti-Catholic. No other person on earth has ever been the Mother of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. That makes her different beyond all imagination and because of her singularly unique role, we should give her honor and our love. Happy Birthday to Our Blessed Mother Mary, Catholic Pilgrims. May we always give Our Lord's Mother right praise and honor.
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