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Back when I was in my late teens or early twenties, my family went on a trip to San Diego.
At one point, my dad and I were standing on the beach watching the waves and he said, “Isn’t it hard to imagine that there’s more stars in the sky than there is sand? How can that be?”
I said something like, “Or that we can never even really count all the stars? And some are so far away their light left them thousands upon thousands of years ago and it’s just now reaching us?”
On a roll now, my dad continued, “Or that God has always been and always will be. How is that possible? It just doesn’t make sense to my mind. There are some things that if we think about them too much they become difficult to wrap your mind around.”
When I was younger, I used to wonder about what God did with His time before the universe was made. I didn’t understand that time wasn’t actually a thing for God. I’d always somewhat childishly thought that God was up somewhere just hanging out all alone twiddling His thumbs while saying, “Doot do do,” he then got bored and decided to make the universe.
Again, wildly off target and immature, but that’s what I thought.
Our deacon said something at Mass this weekend that made a few things click in my head. He said, “God, the Triune God, shows us the importance of relationships. Forever, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have been in the most perfect and intimate relationship with each other, so much so that they are One.”
See, for some reason, even though I knew about the Trinity, I still pictured God all alone. But He has never been that way, The Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity have always be together.
And since we are all made in the image and likeness of God, we, too, were created for relationships—with God, with our families, with the Communion of Saints, and with others.
Something clicked just a little bit more in my head this weekend, which just goes to show, God is always revealing something new about Himself if we only take the time to think about Him.
Thank God that He gave us the ability to wonder about such things, Catholic Pilgrims.
Have a beautiful Tuesday.
Day Thirteen of US landmarks and Catholic connections in our lead up to America's 250th Birthday. Today's landmark: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK Growing up in Kansas and reading from geography books at school gave me the impression that Yellowstone was small and basically centered around Old Faithful. I had no clue it was as big as it is. So, in 2017, when my husband's cousin asked us to go on a family vacation there with her family for a week, I thought, "How much is there to see? We're gonna spend a week looking at a geyser?" lol. Well, I got properly schooled and learned why you need a week. I absolutely loved our time in the park and, I will say, Old Faithful isn't even the coolest thing to see. The Catholic Connection is slim, but I'm doing my best. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Belgian Jesuit missionary, traveled all through the Northwest area working with the native tribes. He traveled in the area where the park is. He was called, "Black Robe" by the natives and had a pretty good relationship with them. There is a small Catholic Church at the north entrance called St. William's Catholic Church and Our Lady of the Pines to the west of the park. If you have any other Catholic connections to Yellowstone National Park, do share! Have a great Friday, Catholic Pilgrims and live the faith boldly and travel well.
Continue ReadingDay Twelve of US landmarks and Catholic connections in our lead up to America's 250th Birthday. We have an interesting landmark today that spans many States: THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER This river was explored and documented by French Catholics, most notably Fr. Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet. Fr. Marquette has a statue in Statuary Hall in the Capitol representing Wisconsin. Father Marquette named the river: La Rivière de l'Immaculée Conception after the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Algonquin tribe had named the river Messipi, which means "Father of Waters" and that name was eventually adopted into Mississippi. Cities along the river that have a strong Catholic heritage are: St. Paul, MN Dubuque, IA Davenport, IA St. Louis, MO Memphis< TN New Orleans, LA There is actually so many Catholic connections to this river that I could cover, but for brevity's sake, I can't go on and on. This picture was taken in 2023 while I was out on a river cruise in Memphis. I've crossed the Mississippi so many times I've lost count. Driving from the east to Kansas City on I-70, I've driven across it many, many times. Thankfully, I don't have to do it in a covered wagon anymore. When I was looking up information on the river, there's even a pilgrimage that you can take starting at the headwaters in Minnesota and finishing up in New Orleans. I don't know about you, but this pilgrim is highly interested in that. Have a great day, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the Faith boldly and travel well!
Continue ReadingOver a month ago I made a short 9-second video on why Catholics have crucifixes. It literally took me all of two minutes to make it. For the video, I wrote, "Why do Catholics have crucifixes instead of bare crosses? Because we need to be reminded of what nailed Our Lord to the cross." It has been one of the most controversial videos I have ever made with thousands of views, shares, and hundreds of comments. Loads of comments were the typical nonsense, straw-man arguments. "Stop worshipping statues." "Jesus isn't on the cross anymore. He hasn't been on the cross for 2000 years." The most snarky of comments was this: "So, basically Catholics aren't as impacted as the rest of the world and for some reason they need to be reminded constantly because they have poor memory." Poor St. Paul, I guess he wasn't as impacted as modern day Christians seeing as he wrote that "we preach Christ crucified." First, we don't worship statues. Just because we have a depiction of someone doesn't mean we worship the representation. We don't think the statues are literally that person. Second, no Catholic believes that Jesus is still on the cross. Not a single one. We are an Easter people, as St. John Paul II proclaimed. But, you cannot talk about Easter without understanding the impact of Good Friday. To the snarky man, I wrote back, "Well, seeing as we humans continue to sin, even though we, as Christians, know what Our Lord did, yeah, I'd say we all have poor memories and need to be reminded. Unless, of course, you somehow are the one person here on earth that doesn't sin anymore because you have been so impacted. If so, congratulations." St. Paul says in our second reading today from Romans, "But God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." It is gazing upon a crucifix that I see the totality of Jesus' love for me. The cross is where He atoned for the sins that I could never atone for, it is where He saved me. I have a few empty crosses in my house, but they don't impact me the way a crucifix does. Yes, my Lord is risen, indeed, but I will always need to remember why He had to rise in the first place. Have a blessed Sunday, Catholic Pilgrims.
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