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My husband and I argued a lot-A LOT-in our first years of marriage about the Catholic Church.
During our dating time, we were both lukewarm about our faith and didn’t really give it much thought. My husband literally lived a walk across the parking lot from the Catholic Church on campus and went maybe two times.
I was a fiery pitbull when it came to denouncing the Catholic Church. I thought I hated it and I thought it was a smallish cult that worshipped the pope.
Much like St. Paul, I was all zeal for fighting my husband, the cradle Catholic, on this point.
But, we are each other’s match and my zeal woke up my husband’s lukewarm heart and he started to defend the Church and, boy, was I humbled. I was surprised to learn:
1. The Bible didn’t fall out of the sky. It was given to us by the Catholic Church and nearly one thousand years later, one guy decided by his own authority that certain books needed to be removed. This led to the establishment of the Protestant Bible with only 66 books.
2. Catholics don’t believe the pope is perfect. I was shocked to learn that popes go to confession, too.
3. The Catholic Church is the largest and longest standing institution in the world. I had no clue there were billions of Catholics from every corner of the world. So much for my smallish cult.
4. Catholics don’t believe Mary is a goddess. They honor the Mother of Our Lord in a special way, because why wouldn’t you?
5. I had no clue that Catholicism could trace its lineage all the way back to the Apostles. Apostolic succession blew my mind.
6. Most important of all, I learned about the Eucharist and why I couldn’t receive it as a Protestant. The Eucharist was what drew my heart, the other facts drew my mind.
After years and years of arguing and being proven wrong by my husband, I knew there was no place for me to be other than the Catholic Church.
I completely relate to St. Paul’s conversion, which we celebrate today. I needed to be humbled and once humbled, I fell in love with Christ’s Church, which only made me love Him more.
I pray, Catholic Pilgrims, we all have zeal, like St. Paul, to spread the message of the Gospel and defend the bride of Christ—His Catholic Church.
Live the faith boldly and travel well.
St. Paul, pray for us!
When people find out I'm from Kansas, one of two things happens. Sometimes both things happen. 1. They ask if I've been in a tornado. 2. They make some reference to "The Wizard of Oz." As to question number one, my answer is, "Well, sort of." I had to sped away from a tornado once. I was at a lake fishing with my then boyfriend and a sheriff's deputy came pulling up hot to us, jumped out of his car, and said, "Hey, get out of here! There's a tornado right over those trees!" We looked, saw it, dashed to the truck, and sped off Dukes of Hazard like. So, that's my tornado story. As to making "Wizard of Oz" references to me, I charge $1.00 per reference. 😉😎 Today's small-town church showcase is St. John's located in Spearville, Kansas. Spearville is on the side of the state that I didn't spend a whole lot of time in. Most of my time and life was spent on the east side, Spearville is more southwest-ish. This picture is beautiful, btw. Kansas has the best sunsets and I'll die on that hill. Per the church website, in 1903, this town was growing, but it lacked a church. Catholics had to make a long journey over to Dodge City for services and so, one day, members of the town got together and decided they needed to build their own church. That original structure soon became too small and the church you see here was built and dedicated in 1918. It seems that even today, the church in this little town is doing well. So, if you ever find yourself out in western Kansas and need some time with Jesus, maybe stop in to St. John's in little 'ole Spearville. I'm sure the good Kansas locals will be happy to welcome you. Oh, and catch a sunset, too. Have a great day, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingHave you ever wondered what the rich young man in Matthew 19 thought Jesus would say to him? He goes up to Jesus, asks him what good he must do to gain eternal life, and after hearing Jesus' answer, he goes away sad. I'm curious what he expected Jesus to say. He tells Jesus that he follows all the commandments and he obviously feels like there is something more that he should be doing. I just wonder what it is that he was expecting. Or, maybe he didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't "go sell your stuff and come follow me." The other thing that strikes me about the young man is that even though he decides not to follow Jesus, he goes away sad. He doesn't go away confident that he's on the right path. He doesn't think Jesus is crazy and dismisses Him. He doesn't laugh at Jesus and try to convince Him that he really doesn't need to do that. No, he goes away sad. We all need to remember that Jesus will always call us to more, so we should expect that. Whatever He calls us to is going to involve a bit of pain in someway because He is most certainly going to call us away from our own will. That is always painful, because, deep down, we trust ourselves more to give us happiness than we just God. If we ask God what more we can do, and we can definitely tell which direction He's leading us, but we choose to ignore it, it will always make us sad. Why? Because God just showed us the potential He sees in us and we declined. That will never make us feel good. Jesus knows what will bring us true happiness, Catholic Pilgrims. We must trust that it's better than what we see for ourselves. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
Continue ReadingI made a short reel the other day that was supposed to be kind of funny. In Ireland, I saw tons of electric mowers just chugging along doing the work of making lawns look beautiful. (Everyone's yard in Ireland is pristine, btw. Very impressive.) Anyway, I likened the mowers to the Saints. They just get the good work done that needs to be done in order to make things better. Everyone else stands around gripping and despairing, but the Saints "just keep going, just keep going." To prove my point, Mr. Grumpypants had to show up and grump about how people who think they are Saints are all "naval gazers that think they are better than everyone else." Maybe he thought I was calling myself a Saint and he felt the need to set me straight. I wasn't calling myself that, but I do desire to be one. He said something, though, that I want to focus on. The Saints aren't people that call themselves Saints. They didn't think they were better than everyone else. In fact, they thought they could only do more and more for love of God. Mostly, they were focused on how they could be better and how they could live a mission here on earth to bring Christ to people. The Saints never settled and never do settle. And some people see this as burdensome and too pious. They look at themselves and think, "Hey, I'm a decent person. There's not much more for me to do. I don't want to go overboard with anything. Now, to be sure, loads of other people need to change, but me, I good right where I am." This is difference. True Saints never think of themselves as Saints and if they ever did, they would be full of pride and still have a lot of work to do. True Saints desire to be more Christ-like every day. They ask for grace, depend on that grace to help them restore, heal, and propagate God's kingdom here on earth. Holiness is the goal, Catholic Pilgrims, for love of God. Everyday we will have to ask for the grace to help us reach that goal. Live the Faith boldly and travel well. *St. Mary's located on the Ring of Kerry in Ireland.
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