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It’s a gruesome painting, isn’t it?
I first saw this hanging in Thomas Jefferson’s house and I thought it such a strange painting to have in your home.
The painting symbolizes two things to me.
1. Destruction is what happens when people live for themselves and cannot stand to hear any kind of reprimand.
The thing that pricks the conscience must be exterminated for people who want to remain in their sin.
Herodias could not stand to have John the Baptist tell her that her marriage to Herod was sinful. Because she wanted to live how she wanted to live, she obsessed over ruining his life. The first chance she got, she took it and it was to silence him forever.
Innocence will always be attacked by those that are self-serving and steeped in sin. Why? Because innocence shines a light on their darkness and they don’t want to let it go.
2. This is the reality of a life lived for Christ. Faithful Christians may not suffer the extreme of John the Baptist, but the light of Christ within us will be a problem for those who worship themselves and love their sin.
It’s one thing to sin and hate it, it’s another to sin and love it. When you love it, you seek to destroy anything that tries to remind you of your enslavement to it.
While this isn’t the most uplifting reality about Christianity, it does create a line in the sand. We either live for Christ or we live for the world.
If the world is patting you on the back and leaves you alone, you can be sure that you look more like the world than you do Christ.
So, we must have courage to live like John the Baptist, Catholic Pilgrims.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
St. John the Baptist, pray for us!
It took me years into my conversion to Catholicism to invite Mary into my faith life. After converting, it wasn’t that I was against her, it’s just that having a relationship with the Saints felt foreign. Growing up Protestant, I was never taught to have relationships with the Saints. Mary is really only mentioned at Christmas. You are taught that you don’t “talk” to people in Heaven because that’s “talking to the dead.” Well, except your grandparent who is now “an angel” and who you ask to watch over you. That’s fine. So, I just didn’t know how to invite Mary into my life. My early attempted conversations with her went something like this: “Hey, Mary. How are you? Good? Cool. So…thanks for being Jesus mom. K-bye.” Through the years, I’ve learned to naturally bring Mary and other Saints into my faith life. As baptized believers, we make up the Body of Christ. A body’s parts are connected. To cut off body parts from other body parts means to sever a once working relationship. Then, the body doesn’t work properly anymore. The Saints are still a part of the Body of Christ and they are the healthiest parts of the Body. It makes no sense that God would cut us off from each other. My conversations with Mary go more like this, these days: “Mary, I’m struggling right now. I feel impatient and grumpy. Would you please pray for me?” Today, we honor Our Lady of Fatima, Catholic Pilgrims. Here is the beautiful church at Fatima. Like a good mother, Mary often comes to warn us and encourage us to draw closer to her Son. That’s what she wants more than anything—a world united in love for Jesus. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday.
Continue ReadingThe priest at Mission San Diego said something interesting yesterday in his homily. “The early church had to work out fully who Jesus was. How crazy was it that God would become one of us? Or vice verse, it’s crazy that a human was also God. Many couldn’t get this and so Jesus was merely an amazing man. But, if you only ever know Jesus as a great guy, nothing much will change in your life. However, if you fully embrace Jesus as the God-man, everything changes in your life.” He concluded that people still try to do this with Jesus today: “He was a wise sage.” “He was a social justice champion.” “Jesus didn’t resurrect actually.” “Much of what Jesus did was symbolic.” “Yes, He resurrected, but He definitely didn’t come up with the Eucharist. That’s a bit much.” In all these ways, people are trying to make Jesus simply human, because Jesus being human is easier to get our minds around. We try to limit God. The more people try to do that, the less and less Jesus transforms their lives, until, He fades and nothing changes. Jesus is fully God, fully man. When you trust in that and fully embrace ALL His Divine teachings and ALL His miracles, well, everything changes for the better. Life the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims. *Mission San Diego
Continue ReadingI was watching a video yesterday where a Christian conservative was debating a college student who was an atheist. They were supposed to be debating whether college was scam these days or not. The atheist couldn’t stay on topic and kept throwing out non sequiturs. His reasoning was that college wasn’t a scam because Jesus was a scam. One doesn’t have anything to do with the other. He kept asking the Christian questions about Christianity and whenever the Christian would try to answer, he’d get out maybe three words before being interrupted. The college guy sat there smirking, shaking, and interrupting. The whole conversation was utterly fruitless. Today, in our first reading from Acts 8, we hear about the eunuch who was reading Isaiah. Philip comes up to him and asks him if he understands it and the eunuch responds with, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” What a truly humble response. I’ve always been so impressed with the humility of the Ethiopian eunuch in realizing he doesn’t know everything. It’s refreshing because we see so little of it these days. Everyone thinks they are an expert in everything. Few people listen to understand. And when it comes to Scripture, far too many think they are Biblical scholars and have all the answers. The atheist in the video kept throwing out questions about Christianity but he wasn’t willing to listen to the answers from a Christian. His snobbish pride left him looking like a fool. Back when I was arguing with my husband about Catholicism, I’d frequently throw out challenges to him. As he’d begin to answer, I’d cut him off and tell him what Catholics believed. He finally got fed up and calmly said, “Amy, don’t ask me a question and then cut me off. You aren’t Catholic, so don’t tell me what we believe. Either listen to me or don’t ask your questions.” I felt like such a fool and I shut my mouth. The eunuch’s approach is one of humility and it is a good lesson for us all, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed Thursday.
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