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Recently, my husband had to go on a work trip to Los Angeles. When he got back, he told me about how near Santa Monica, there’s this plane that social media influencers can rent out to make videos, pretending like they are traveling to some exotic place.
They get in it, video a fake scenario and tell everyone, “Heading to Bali!” or somewhere else. They never actually go, yet they create this illusion that they have this crazy, adventurous life.
People watch these and sit around wondering why their life is so boring and they grow bitter over the “normal” life they lead.
Since I’ve just finished reading, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” I’ve been thinking about it a lot. One of the characters—Lord Henry—believes that the purpose of life is to move from one sensation to the next. Never commit to anything because that’s boring. Never learn to be satisfied with routine, stability, or normalcy. Life is only exciting and worthwhile if you move from one pleasurable experience to another.
What’s funny is, he is the most boring guy ever and he can’t see it. He lounges around all day, doing nothing productive, smokes incessantly, gossips, and is just a lazy loser.
There is nothing wrong with leading a normal, simple life. As much as I love to travel and explore, you don’t need to do that in order to make your life seem valuable.
Most of us get up, eat, work, do mundane errands and chores, take care of things, and go to sleep. Most of us have simple routines that keep life humming and not only is that fine, it’s good.
There are plenty of people out there trying to create the illusion that they have a “bigger-than-life” lifestyle. After hearing what my husband told me about the rent-o-plane and with AI everywhere, well, a lot of it is fake. Even if it wasn’t, that doesn’t mean your life is less than because you don’t live a life like that.
Be content in the life you lead. Millions of people have lived, do live, and will live lives that don’t make the history books and that’s okay.
Live your vocation to the best of your ability, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank God for the blessings He has given you and enjoy each day as it comes—you’ll never get it again.
Be blessed this Friday.
Today is a day of prayer for the legal protection of unborn children. As many of you know, I got pregnant out of wedlock with my oldest in my senior year of college. When I went to confirm the pregnancy at the clinic on campus, the first and only piece of advice the nurse gave me was to get rid of my baby because she would ruin my chance at a career. No support, no compassion, nothing but the offer to kill my child. She's sitting right next to me on my right side in this picture. Our culture likes to pretend that women have this inherent right to choice. A choice to do what? End their child's life. People sometimes congratulate me for "choosing life" for my daughter. While I appreciate the intention behind the praise, it's a false assumption that I ever really had a choice to begin with. Nobody has a the right to choose to end an innocent life. Nobody has that right, especially not women whose bodies are specifically designed to grow new life in their wombs. Who does have a right, that too many neglect to see or acknowledge, are unborn children. They have a right to live and not be killed. They are dependent on their mother's body, but as any mother will tell you, even after a child is born, they are still utterly dependent on their mother's body to care for them. There has and never will be a right to choose death for unborn babies. It is a fever dream that anti-children people have cooked up in their minds and this make-believe right has resulted in over 50,000,000 babies having their lives snuffed out--and that's just in the US. So, today, we pray for the protection of these little ones who have no voice of their own. So, let us pray, Catholic Pilgrims, for an end to abortion in our country and in our world. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
Continue ReadingIn our second reading today, St. Paul is writing to the Christians in Corinth. He says, "To you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ." It was the "called to be holy" part that caught my eye. St. Paul doesn't say we can live however we want while calling ourselves a Christian. He, also, doesn't say that we are straight up holy once we become a Christian. He says we are called to be and, that means, there is some participation on our part where we must cooperate with the graces given to us by God and be obedient to Christ's teachings and the teachings of His Church. God calls us to holiness, but we do have to desire it. If we think that we are just "good to go" because we call ourselves a Christian, it will be difficult to desire holiness. I know that I once didn't even desire it because 1. nobody ever talked to me about it. and 2. I thought calling myself a Christian meant I had an assured ticket to Heaven. Consequently, I didn't try to live any differently. In fact, unless you asked me, you wouldn't have known I was a Christian based on how I lived. To be holy means that we want to live out the virtues--courage, prudence, justice, fortitude, piety, etc,-- for love of God and for love of others. We want to orient our lives to look more like Christ's and make choices that don't follow the easy way. We are called to holiness, Catholic Pilgrims. God will work with our desire to answer that call if we ask Him. Have a blessed Sunday. *Church is Mission San Juan Baptista in CA
Continue ReadingIn the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Today, in our reading from Matthew, the Trinity is revealed. At the Baptism of Our Lord, the Father speaks of His love for His Son, The Son gives us the Sacrament of Baptism, and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove letting us know that this action is sanctified. It is holy and pleasing to God. This is why we baptize in the Trinitarian formula and every single time we do the Sign of the Cross it is a beautiful reminder of our baptism and the saving grace we received from it. We must continue to cooperate with those graces throughout our life, but it/was our entrance into the family of God. So many things happen at baptism: You become a child of God and an heir to the Kingdom. Original sin is washed away and any actual sins if above the age of reason. Your soul is permanently marked as belonging to God. Your soul is filled with grace--the Divine life. You receive the three theological gifts of Faith, Hope, and Charity. You receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn't need to be baptized, but He was showing us what He wanted us to do--this was the new covenantal ritual, circumcision would not be needed anymore. Baptism is the start of our Christian life with God, Catholic Pilgrims. Through it, we are brought into the life of the Blessed Trinity. Have a beautiful Sunday.
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