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I heard a younger person once say that they didn’t want to be married because, “you’d get so bored of the same person for the rest of your life.”
It’s an immature statement that was made by someone who didn’t fully understand love and the beauty of marriage.
It’s, also, an interesting statement because it’s never made about friends. Usually, you want a friend for life, at least one—that “same old person.”
Anyway, the thing with true love is that the relationship can never be exhausted. Each human being is a unique soul, capable of growth and change. My husband has grown so much in the 24 years that I’ve known him. It’s never once been boring getting to know him more deeply and intimately.
The thing is, is that I know parts of my husband will always remain a bit of a mystery to me. Yet, I strive to know him as best as I can and because of our deep connection, I can safely say, I know him better than anyone else on earth. He knows me in the same way.
There is this mystery with The Holy Trinity—three Persons in One God. How can that be?
It’s a mystery, but one that I want to spend my whole life trying to understand if even just a smidge more. I know in this earthly life, I will never fully understand the Triune God, but I want to try.
An atheist once said to me, “If God is so real, why doesn’t He just come here, explain Himself, and make it easier for us to believe? Why all the mystery?”
I said, “Well, what kind of God would He be if we could figure Him out in a simple explanation? If He did that, people would complain that He’s too ordinary and simple and not amazing enough. And, also, Jesus did come.”
Our lives should be in pursuit of loving and serving God and, in doing so, we will come to understand Him more and more, which, in turn, makes us love Him even more and know Him more intimately.
You can never exhaust the things to know and learn about God, Catholic Pilgrims. Somethings will remain a mystery, but that’s because The Holy Trinity is God and we are not.
Have a blessed Holy Trinity Sunday.
*Cathedral of St. Paul in Birmingham, Alabama
I watched a video the other day of a young woman who had completely altered her appearance to such a degree that it was impossible to "see" her. As a former counselor, I'm always a little compelled to watch these videos, because I know that some deep hurt causes people to do this to themselves. It's a type of self-loathing. Anyway, she was so covered with piercings, weird makeup, oddly chopped hair, and attention-seeking clothing that you could barely see the woman underneath. In her words, she was "alt-goth." She was getting ready to do a transformation back to a more normal look for her dad. Her look was hard on him, and apparently, before his mind is gone, she wanted to gift him with looking more like how he remembered her. Which was very good of her. Her transformation actually helped you to see her and she was such a pretty young woman. Tragically, she didn't like the way she looked. One comment, though, deserved my response. A lady said, "As long as you are happy and not hurting anyone." I hate this way of thinking. Clearly, the father is hurting by seeing his daughter disfigure herself. And, it was very clear, that she wasn't happy. There was no joy to be found. It, also, is so damaging to say to people that it's okay if you hurt yourself, as long as you don't hurt anyone else. That's never true. Never, ever, ever. So, I commented. To which someone had to come and tell me that "I'm boring and mentally ill for believing in a magic god" and blah, blah. That's neither here nor there. That kind of weak attempt at trying to offend me doesn't at all. The only thing to say to this is that the least boring people are the Saints. What incredible lives they led and do lead for those that are among us. Exterior bodily modifications don't make a person less boring. In fact, all it does is hide and mask the real person that God created you to be. Holiness is not boring. Our pilgrimage to Heaven is a wonderful adventure if we cooperate with God's grace and strive to live out His will for our lives. I've never read a Saint's story and thought to myself, "Wow. They are super boring." Quite the opposite; I wonder if I have what it takes to be like them. Pray for those people, Catholic Pilgrims, who don't yet know that they were made in the image and likeness of God. Have a blessed Thursday.
Continue ReadingYesterday, a picture with snow; today, a picture of Spring. For the last couple of weeks, the comments have been lively. Very lively. Lots of our brothers and sisters in Christ of the Protestant Revolution came over to have a chat. Some were nice, some were not. It comes with the territory. There was lots of encouragement for us Catholics "to read our Bibles." Accusations were made that we don't and people making assumptions. Yesterday was my first day back at daily Mass on base since the start of Lent. Our priest is finally back from training. Usually, there is another lady in there with me and my son. She's a friend of mine and nearly every day she comes in carrying one of her religious books that she's reading. She has it tabbed and highlighted. All her books look so worn and loved. Hours of her life spent pouring over reading about Jesus, Mary, and the Saints. I saw her today clutching her book and my heart just swelled with love for her and for all of you who inspire me so much with your devotion to Our Lord. I have a friend who couldn't get into the Blessed Sacrament room here on base one day and so he sat outside the door just to be close to Our Lord. I have friends whose Bibles are marked up, highlighted, and look so very worn, but the time spent in reading through the pages is just immense. There are so many of you who travel to churches just to see the beauty and spend time with Jesus. I find that incredible and beautiful. Some of you pray the Rosary several times a day and that's just--wow--amazing. The point of all this is that so often we hear the negative about Catholics. "They aren't filling the pews." "They don't read their Bibles." "They just go through the motions." God love you all, though, because what I see on here is different. So very different. So many of you show up to read my thoughts and to talk about Jesus and His mother and our shared love of our Catholic Faith and it all helps us grow closer to God. Last week, when people were attacking and only choosing to see the negative, I was so grieved because they don't know all of you. Sure, we are imperfect people, but I see people that really and truly love Our Lord and I'm so inspired by you all and grateful that you give such good witness to the beauty of our Catholic Faith. So, anyway, I just want to say that and to say keep living the faith boldly and traveling well, my fellow Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingI'm sorry to show snow, but I figured I better get this picture in before Spring is full-blown everywhere. We are back to our small town church showcase and today's church is Our Lady of Good Counsel from Fonda, Iowa. When I was, I wanna say, 14-years old, my family took a vacation up to Wisconsin to the Dells and The House on the Rock. As we drove through Iowa, we stopped at the movie set for "Field of Dreams." That is one of my top five favorite movies. Oh! Just thinking about it right now gives me chills. The acting, the score, the message, the fact that it's centered on baseball makes it one of those magical 80s movies. You know, back when movies were good. Anyway, we went to the field, I thought it was awesome and I wanna go back. That is my one and only real experience of being in Iowa. I went to see if this church was close to the "Field of Dreams" movie set, but, alas, it is not. This church is more on the western side of the state and the cornfield is on the very eastern edge. One thing that I do know is that "if you build" pretty Catholic Churches "people will come." And when you go, you can ease Jesus' pain that He experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Most importantly, you can partake of the Eucharist, so that you can be filled with Divine Grace in order to "go the distance" for Christ. Seeing all the farmland, you may think to yourself, "Is this Heaven?" "No, it's Iowa," but God's creation can definitely give us a hint of what is to come. So, if ever in western Iowa, stop by Fonda, population 636, and see this lovely Catholic Church. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
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