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Finished another book in my list of recommendations from you all. I finished “The Last of the Mohicans” last night. It's not my favorite book by any stretch of the imagination, but I am glad that I read it. The story opens with two sisters trying to get to their father, a colonel in the British Army. He is at Fort William Henry in the northeast. They are being led by Major Heyward and their Indian guide ends up deserting them. Enter Hawkeye, a white man that lives in the wilderness, and his two Indian companions, Uncas and Chingachgook. Uncas is the last of the Mohicans. The story follows the journey of the men trying to get the sisters to their dad and the violent encounters they have with an enemy tribe, the Hurons. For a modern reader, there’s the potential for lots of gripes and complaints about the constant description of the landscape and the different objects in nature. In our 21st century minds, we have little patience for all that. It is a problem with our modern minds that we only want the constant movement towards the climax and never the moments where the author tries to draw us into the setting. I'll admit, it's hard to get used to, but I think there is something to be appreciated there.The many names for the same tribe can be difficult to get used to, as well, and I found myself a bit confused at times. Overall, though, it does show the dynamics of the frontier before the United States was formed. Tribes warred with each other, they allied with Europeans, and some of them hated the "pale-faced" ones and some didn't. I think Cooper does a good job of not completely idealizing the Europeans and not completely demonizing the Natives. He shows a good balance, in my opinion.
This book isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I would recommend it, as I think it tells a good story.
We all remember how, after Charlie Kirk's death, attendance at church dramatically increased. People who had been away from church for years went back. Folks that had never been decided to walk through church doors and hopefully find answers. I saw many videos of people documenting their "return to church" experiences. It was good to see. Running to Christ is always the right answer, tragedy or not. But, then right after Christmas, I started seeing videos of Protestant pastors talking about how they were giving their congregation "time off to rest" for the Sunday after Christmas. It just kills me how low of a bar we set for Christians sometimes. Not even three months out from a huge tragedy in our country which spurred Christian revival are pastors giving their congregations time off to rest. Because, we can't be asked to go to church too much, I guess? It also kills me that we literally just celebrated the birth of the greatest gift God ever gave us and four days later people need rest from church. To be fair, many were not pleased with this "get out of church for free" pass. In today's reading from Mark, though, we see a crowd hungry for Jesus. They follow Him around to hear His teachings, they don't even leave when it's time to eat, they are willing to go without food just to be near Him. They realize that this time with Jesus is THE most important thing. This should always be our attitude, Catholic Pilgrims. Going to Mass is such a blessing and an honor. True rest comes from being with God, not staying away from Him. Because as St. Augustine famously said, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday. *picture is of Mission San Juan Baptista in CA
Continue ReadingBecause I've prepared numerous episodes for my podcast ahead of time, I've already read through Book Two of St. Augustine's "Confessions." This is where we get the famous pear-stealing story. In his thoughts about it, St. Augustine shares that he didn't steal because he really wanted the pears. The pears were inconsequential. He then wonders if he liked the actual crime of stealing OR did he like going along with his accomplices and being part of the gang? I was telling my husband about this at dinner and said, "There are three things to think about with any sin. 1. Do you like the actual tangible thing? Like, are you stealing because you want, say, a gold watch? 2. Do you like the act of the sin itself? Like watching pornography. 3. Do you sin because of the social acceptance it gives you? You go along just because you lack courage to say no?" Now, it could be just one of these things that leads us to sin or it could be a combo. My husband thought for a minute and said, "And with those three things, you are seeking one of the four reasons St. Thomas Aquinas' says we go after happiness--wealth, power, pleasure, honor. If you never think about why you are doing something sinful--to gain wealth, power, pleasure, or honor--and you never look at the three aspects of the sin--the thing you want, the sin itself, or the social acceptance--you will find it very hard to stop committing that sin. What I fiind most interesting about St. Augustine's pear story is that he didn't care about the pears, he didn't really revel in stealing, but mostly just wanted to fit in with the crowd. I was watching a video yesterday from Bishop Barron and he said, "With hot button topics--abortion, euthanasia, etc--Catholics track pretty much in line with the secular culture." Meaning, we don't look any different. We just blend right in, striking no real difference in how we live or believe. I believe this is because too many desire honor. We want to be accepted and liked and, so, lack the courage to swim against the stream. That is why I'm always saying that we must live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed Monday.
Continue ReadingRight around Christmas, I made a post about how moved I was seeing everyone get to their knees right before the Consecration. I wrote about how beautiful it is that we kneel to worship Our Lord. Some snark shark showed up with an attempted put down telling me that he thought my worship would actually lead to me saying that I was going out to serve in a soup kitchen. To which I responded back, "I was at Mass worshipping God. Here in this post, I was focused on our worship of God. For me, it's a both/and. I can worship God and serve people." He said, "God doesn't need worship, why do you think he came as bread?" I commented, "God may not need our worship, but we need to worship Him. Are you seriously arguing that we shouldn't worship Our Lord? Your argument doesn't make any sense anyway. He didn't come as bread, He came as a baby--fully human, fully Divine." It is true that God doesn't need our worship, but we were created to worship Him. Not because He is some overbearing, narcissistic tyrant that needs to be adored, but because without right worship of God, we will worship something else--usually ourselves. Never has this played out well for anybody. I read today, "The Magi reveal that our search for truth leads to worship." When we find God and recognize Him as the reason for everything, as the source of all truth, there is only one response--worship. May our search for God lead us to worship Him, as is just. And may that worship lead us to be changed and never go back to our old ways. Have a blessed Epiphany, Catholic Pilgrims. *Painting is Adoration of the Magi by Rubens. 1609-1629
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