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When my grandfathers finally started opening up about what they experienced in WW2, I was all ears. There was always such pain and sorrow in what they told, with one of my grandfathers often shedding tears while he talked.
My grandfathers survived the war, but I know they carried with them the memories of their lost buddies and comrades. I’m sure they asked themselves many times, “Why did I get to live and not them?”
I’m older now and can see that the loss of those they served with was a heavy cross for them to bear and I’ve always known that the least I could do for my grandfathers was to always be grateful for what they did and for what their fallen comrades did to preserve our freedom.
The news often shows groups of spoiled, ungrateful, egotistical people screaming about how horrible America is and there can be a tendency to see these very purposefully selected groups as representing most Americans.
I know better, though. Most Americans do value our country and are deeply grateful and indebted to our fallen service members and are moved by their sacrifice.
May we remember our fallen heroes today, Catholic Pilgrims—true heroes that only get one day of honor and not a month of hedonistic self-serving adulation.
I pray that we are always humbled and grateful for those that are willing to lay down their lives for something bigger than themselves.
May God give them rest and peace.
Have a blessed Memorial Day.
Yesterday, our base chapel after Mass had a St. Martin of Tours procession, as his feast day was last week. So, we walked around the block praying a litany of different prayers. My favorite was the litany to the different titles of Mary from each State as we asked for her intercession. At one point along our walk, a guy on a motorcycle was coming towards us. As he approached, he slowed down, stopped, cut the engine, got off his bike, took off his helmet, crossed himself as my son passed with the Crucifix, and then reverently stood as we continued on. It deeply touched all of us that saw it. It was such a great reminder to bring Christ to the world. He is not to be hidden behind closed doors kept only as a private relationship. He never commanded us to keep the faith to ourselves. "Go out into the world..." Bring Christ to the world wherever you go this week, Catholic Pilgrims. More than ever the world needs to see Him in your actions. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
Continue ReadingMy maternal grandfather was the first of my grandparents to pass. He made it into his 90s. One day near the end of his life, my grandma brought him up to my mom’s so that she could go recharge for a few hours. She and my mom went to do something fun and my mom asked if I would watch my grandpa. I said, “Sure.” So, after they left, I asked my grandpa if he wanted to take a drive. He was happy to and we cruised the back country roads for a bit. Because of his Alzheimer’s, he started telling me stories about different things he saw that I knew couldn’t be true. He told me that he used “to work in that field,” as he’d point to one. He’d tell me that he built “that house over there.” I just listened and agreed, because there was no point in correcting him. He was such a wonderful grandfather all my life. He taught me hard work is important, to enjoy the simple things, and gardens are grand. And…always have a joke up your sleeve. He’d always laugh so hard at his own jokes with his eyes crinkled up. I miss that so much. He lived a very simple life in southeast Kansas, but what impresses me the most, is that even though he was virtually unknown in the world, he left such an impression on all his grandkids. The lessons he was teaching us have stuck with us and are even more meaningful today. So many people chase money, clout, titles, and awards, but if you just lead a good, purposeful life, you will make a positive difference. His lessons were taught to me and they’ve trickled down to my kids. That’s a legacy that matters. This month, as we remember and pray for our departed loved ones, let us honor them by recognizing what they added to our lives and trying to take what was best about them and incorporating those attributes into our lives. Have a blessed day, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingAs we are nearing the end of St. Augustine's "Confessions" on my podcast, we got a short writing about what we are allowed to judge and what we aren't. We can judge actions, because, duh, we absolutely must and our judgment of actions needs to be in keeping with what the Church teaches. We don't get to judge Scripture. What he means by that is that if something is hard to understand or we don't necessarily like what it says, we don't get to judge that God is wrong. We must submit to hard teachings and we must realize that sometimes we may not fully understand right away, but we don't get to make up our own interpretation. St. Augustine says that we were given dominion of the earth and the creatures, but we were not given dominion over heaven. We don't get to decide who is there and who isn't. This makes sense because we are not the judges of people's souls at the end of their lives--God is. Yet, for all the talk about not judging, people are quick as a flash to judge where someone's soul is. If they like the person, no matter how they lived their life, they are "an angel now in Heaven." If they don't like the person, no matter how they lived their life, they declare them in Hell. But, we don't get to judge where a person spends eternity, because we have no clue on earth what God is going to say to them. So, the best we can do is hope that they found their way to purgatory (not a permanent place) where they can be purged of any venial sins that they clung to in this life. Once that purging has happened, they can enter Heaven, because remember, nothing imperfect can enter Heaven. So, most of us are going to need to be purged. This is God's mercy, not a denial of Christ's Sacrifice. It's because of Christ's Sacrifice that we can even be made pure before our entrance to Heaven. For our loved ones that have passed on, the best thing we can do is pray for them as they suffer through that purging. It will be like a refiner's fire. They need our prayers. The month of November is specifically set aside to pray for our dearly departed. I have set up the pictures of my loved ones on my piano so that I can be constantly reminded to offer my prayers for them. May you have a blessed All Souls’ Day, Catholic Pilgrims.
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