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I've taken dozens of photos of me in front of church remains over the years. I didn't even know I was going to run into this old Spanish church on a hike in Pecos National Historic Park this past week. But, I was very excited when I saw it along the trail. What a find for a pilgrim! At one point, I'd see these old remains and feel deep grief over what has been lost. To be sure, I'd love it if all the Catholic Churches that now lay in ruins were still with us in good condition. This church would have been amazing. People get sad over this and understandably so. A once great church has gone out of use. It's not something to be thrilled about, that's for sure. But, it doesn't depress me like it once did and I'll tell you why. Catholics fret pretty consistently about the state of things in the Church. "Crisis is everywhere!" they yell. While we should always been working for reform and we shouldn't stick our heads in the sand, I have come to see that the Holy Spirit will not let Christ's Church fall. Since the beginning, the Church has had to deal with one crisis after another. Persecution--Heresies--Scandal--Corruption None of these things are good by any stretch of the imagination and, yet, here we are some two thousand years later. Buildings will come and go within the Church, that's just the way of things. Bad people will come and go, because you can't escape sinners in this life. But, good people and good works will always come in to build up where others have torn down. Saints will be born in each age and rise up to handle things with their gifts, in their way with the help of God's grace. I'm also reminded that material things in this life are temporary, they are not meant for forever. But, the Body of Christ--that invisible, supernatural reality--is forever. So, when I visit these churches that seem lost to time, I thank God for the Catholics that built them, sustained the faith, and passed it on so that I might have it, too. That was their time...and this is my time and your time. The material things we build will fall and crumble someday, but the Faith we pass on will keep the Church alive and that is what matters most. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
Continue ReadingWhen your ancestry proves you out to be a European mutt, I think there's generally one part of your ancestry that speaks to you more than the others. For me, it's my Irish blood. I'm at least a quarter Irish, so I guess maybe that counts for something. Or not. I can't hold an Irish accent for more than half a second. Lol. St. Patrick wasn't Irish by birth, he was British. I have that in me, too...obviously. When I got my DNA percentage breakout my sister said, "Girl, you're white." No, kidding. You think so? 😅 Anyway, back to St. Patrick. So, we all know his story: Kidnapped as a teenager, taken over to Ireland, forced into slave labor, finds God, escapes, goes back home, becomes a priest, and decides to go back to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. That takes guts and I admire Bishop Patrick for it. To go back to the people that enslaved you and will their good, well, that's real love. That's the type of love that can only come from Christianity because it was Jesus that taught the radical idea of loving your enemies. There is goodness to be sure in loving those that are entrusted to you care and are easy to love. It is quite another thing to love those who hate you. We all find this difficult to do and people are lying if they say it's easy. It's not. It can only happen by tapping into God's grace, because without that grace, our nature says, "Leave them and let them rot." To be sure, some enemies will reject any love you try to give them and so we must pray for them behind the scenes. We must, as St. Maria Goretti taught me, hope that they find their way to Heaven and that God finds a way to pierce their soul. We all want a better world, one filled with peace and love, yet all of us struggle with wanting to add more love into the equation, especially when it's hard. St. Patrick made Ireland better by giving Christ to the people; he loved them enough to give them the gift of Christ's love. He didn't have to, but he went back and made the place and many of the people better than how he found it. That's a good legacy to leave, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Patrick, pray for us!
Continue ReadingIt's poppy time here in California. "Poppies. Poppies!" (Said like the Wicked Witch of the West) Though, unlike my fellow Kansan, Dorothy, I did not fall asleep amongst the flowers. As you know, (gear up for shameless plug), I am reading St. Augustine's "Confessions" for Season Six of my podcast. The more I read this book, the more I relate to St. Augustine. For much of his early life, he was a Manichee. Manichaeism was started by a man named Mani and it was kind of hodgepodge of various other religions. For a long time, St. Augustine rejected Christianity because, for one, he couldn't conceive of a god that wasn't material in nature. Everything, for him, had to have substance to be real. Anyway, once he comes into contact with St. Ambrose in Milan, things start to change for him as he listens to Ambrose's preaching. He writes: "Nevertheless, I was glad that all this time I had been howling my complaints not against the Catholic Faith but against something quite imaginary which I had thought up in my own head. At the same time I was ashamed of myself, because I had certainly been both rash and impious in speaking out in condemnation of a matter on which I ought to have take pains to be better informed." This was me. Before becoming Catholic, I railed against what I thought Catholicism was and I had never taken the time to look into the matter for myself. I was a prideful, lazy, wanna-be intellectual. If you encounter someone like my former self or the pre-Catholic Augustine, always be sure to ask them what they think the Church teaches, because nine times out of ten, they will get it wrong, imagining only what misconceptions they have been fed. A priest once told me, "You must learn to humble yourself, because if you don't, either God will do it or someone else. It's much easier if you go ahead and do it yourself." No matter which way, thank God for being humbled, Catholic Pilgrims. It's the only way you can come to the truth. Have a blessed Monday.
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