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I was making my latest podcast yesterday and St. Francis de Sales was taking about inspirations from God.
He said something about sin and virtue that I had never quite heard before. He was talking about how with sin and virtue there are three steps taken.
With sin, there is the initial temptation.
With virtue, there is the initial inspiration.
Then, with sin, we take delight it the temptation.
With virtue, we take pleasure in thinking of living it out.
Lastly, with both, there is the consent to do it.
He says, “With sin there are three steps taken backwards, with virtue there are three steps taken upwards.”
So often, we think sin just kind of happens out of our control. We just stumble into it—oops! That’s not true. We are tempted, the temptation delights us in a not good way, and then we consent.
With virtue, it’s not just something that happens to us. We have to consent to live it out. Many times, we pray asking God to just make us patient or courageous. He will never just—poof!—make us something. He will inspire us to live it out, we must take pleasure in the idea of living it out, and then consent to do it.
With both sin and virtue, the will is involved, Catholic Pilgrims. May we always use our will rightly.
Have a blessed day.
*Ceiling is found in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, SC.
One of my jobs in high school was a shift manager for Mr. Goodcents, a sandwich shop. As I was getting ready to start my freshman year at K-State, the owner of the Mr. Goodcents in Manhattan, reached out to my boss in my hometown, to see if he knew anyone that could be a manager for his store. His had just quit. My boss explained that he had this gal that was getting ready to go to K-State and that I was experienced as a shift manager. My boss asked me if I wanted the job and, in my naivety, I agreed to take it. That was a terrible decision. With a full course load and marching band obligations, I did not have the time or energy to run a store with a MUCH higher volume than my hometown store. One day, I was standing at the register and had been there for hours, just ringing people up that came through in the steady, continuous line. I was exhausted and stressed over when I was going to do my homework and memorize my band songs, so I had completely checked out. I rang up this one girl and her boyfriend and looked to move to the next person when the girl said, "Amy. Amy!" I looked at her and there in front of me was my friend who lived across the hall from me in the dorms. Through my stress and exhaustion, I had not see her standing right in front of me. It took her calling my name to wake me up. So, I get why Mary Magdalene didn't see Jesus standing in front of her. She was worn and weary from what had happened on Good Friday, her sorrow drowned her, now her Lord's body was missing. She's so wrapped up in her emotions and thoughts that she can't even see Jesus. It takes Him calling her name to pull her out of it. We all do this: We get so overwhelmed by anxiety, confusion, sadness, anger, and busyness that we collapse in on ourselves and think we are all alone. We must listen for Jesus speaking our name to pull us out of these downward spirals and remind us that we are loved, He is with us, and we don't have to do go it all alone. Have a very blessed Monday in the Octave of Easter, Catholic Pilgrims. P.S. I didn't stay at the sandwich shop much longer after that incident with my friend. I realized that I couldn't do it all.
Continue ReadingLast year, I read the book "The Archangel of Westminster" by Michael Shaughnessy. It's a story about an American visiting Westminster Cathedral and, while in there, he encounters Michael the Archangel. The American "interviews Michael and receives a first hand account of the great spiritual battle between Jesus and Satan: the fall from heaven, the temptation in the wilderness, the death and resurrection of the Messiah." One of the most powerful parts of the book is where Michael is describing the crucifixion of Jesus. Michael shares that on Calvary, there were legions of angels with him, ready to battle all the demons who were gleefully encircling Our Lord, basically licking their chops at His imminent death. The army of good angels were taut with a desire to go and do battle, but they were told to stay. Hold. Michael describes how difficult it was to do that, because even the good angels didn't fully understand what was happening. I just found this to be one of the most tragically beautiful images to meditate on. Legions upon legions of angels surrounding Jesus, ready to do battle on His behalf, watching Him being tortured, and being told by God to hold. Because this needed to happen for us, for our salvation. Satan and the demons thought that they were winning, but they lacked the game plan. They didn't know that Christ would be victorious over death and open the gates for us. They didn't know that they were going to lose. There is no greater Love, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a very blessed and holy Good Friday.
Continue ReadingHoly Thursday. The day that Christ instituted the Eucharist. I've had a lot of back and forth conversations this week. It's definitely made for lively discussions. A lady on Instagram was trying to tell me that, as Catholics, we are wrong in thinking that the Eucharist is really Jesus. What was interesting to me is her reasonings. First, she thought that we believe it's the power of the priest that changes the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. "No," I told her, "It's the power of the Holy Spirit working through the priest." Then, she said, "You believe Jesus dwells in the bread and wine." "No, He doesn't dwell there. The bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Eucharist is Him." One of her last attempts at refuting the Eucharist was a new one for me. She didn't think it was possible for Jesus to be in Heaven, yet pieces of His Body be here on our altars. So interesting. It's like she thinks that Jesus places a little bit of His shoulder matter on one altar and then a little bit of His forearm matter on another altar. Do this enough times for a few millennia and how could you not run out of His Body? For her, it's subtraction--Jesus is going to run out. For Catholics, it's more like multiplication. Like the loaves and fishes. God has the ability to multiply and whatever He multiplies, He never runs out of. The Consecration is a miracle, meaning, we won't fully understand it in this life. But, when I was Protestant, what finally clicked with me, was when I realized that nothing that Jesus did could be less than or equal to anything in the Old Testament. It had to be better. The Passover was wonderful and miraculous; Christ took it to the next level. Nothing about what Christ did on Holy Thursday could be symbolic because that would be less than or equal to the Passover meal. He elevated it to a degree that is infinitely staggering. Once, I realized this, I knew that I had to become Catholic. Jesus said, "This is My Body and this is My Blood," and I was done arguing with the Son of God over what He said. Thank God, our souls are nourished by the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed Holy Thursday.
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