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!
I've been slowing making my way through "The Diary of a Country Priest." If you remember, I encouraged you all to watch it a few weeks ago. I was having trouble understanding the book and I thought watching the movie would help me understand the characters better. Anyway, it is a rich, rich book and I have found that I need to read a little and then just sit with it for a while before moving on. The girl you see in this picture is Mademoiselle Chantal and she is a prideful, hate-filled brat. To be fair to her, her mother has been emotionally absent nearly her whole life and her father is having an affair with her governess. She hates everybody and she battles with the priest as if she is battling God. She hates her mother for being incapable of being a good mother because she is so wrapped up in the pain of losing a young son long ago. She hates her father for his betrayal and sin. She hates her governess. She even declares to the priest that she wants to kill them all. As the priest (we never know his name) and Mlle Chantal continue with this spiritual battle, the priest says to her, "You hate this woman and feel yourself so far removed from her, when your hate and her sin are as two branches of the same tree." Sometimes, people hurt us deeply. Mlle Chantal has every right to hate the sins that her parents and governess are engaged in--we should always hate evil actions. However, she has allowed her hatred of their sins to move into hatred of the people and that has wrapped a vice around her heart. Once that happens, her hatred and their sins mingle causing them to be linked together as a "communion of sinners," potentially "companions for all eternity." That eternity being in Hell. Once, long ago, I was deeply wounded and I allowed the sins others to take root as hatred of them in my soul. I felt justified in feeling that way. Yet, it was not helping me one bit, in fact, it made me a prideful, hate-filled brat in many ways. We cannot let another's sin lead us into sin, Catholic Pilgrims. We must fight to keep our souls free from darkness or we are no different than the ones that hurt us. Live the faith boldly and travel well.
Continue ReadingIt’s National Marriage Week, Catholic Pilgrims, so I thought I’d share a bit about mine. How many years married: 23 How we met: Air Force ROTC at Kansas State University. I was actually engaged to another guy when we met. 😳 How long after we met until we started dating: 6 months. Faith life when we married: I was the Catholic-hating Protestant, he was the cradle Catholic. Both of us were lukewarm. Degrees: He’s an engineer, I’m a criminologist. How many kids: 3 beautiful children here, 10 saints in Heaven. Where are we from: He’s a California boy, I’m a Kansas girl. How he won me over: The first day I saw him in ROTC, I knew he was the one. (Those uniforms will get ya!) But, we both had significant others. In the end, he won me over with relentless teasing.😅 He didn’t have to try that hard actually. Our strengths in our marriage: His—patience and leadership. Mine—spirit and loving support. The song we’ll always dance to: Harvest Moon by Neil Young. It’s my favorite love song. How our faith life is today: We went from being divided to united in Catholicism. We went from never going to church to never missing Mass. We went from leading very secular lives to seeing our home as our domestic church. The transformation in our marriage has been amazing all thanks to God. I’d love to hear about your marriages, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed day, and yes, he still goes after my neck after all these years to tease me.
Continue ReadingMy middle daughter recently was home for a visit and we were discussing how Christianity is often presented in a corny and unauthentic way. I started wondering, "How did we go from courageous disciples and intellectual heavyweights to happy-clappy Christianity?" Sure, there are courageous disciples out there, especially in places other than the West. And, yes, we have intellectual powerhouses out there doing good work. But, how did it happen that if you suggest any type of rigor, fortitude, discipline, depth, or seriousness to the faith, you will be shouted down by those that seek ease, timidity, comfort, surface-level approaches to the faith? Has this always been so? I think so. I think since the dawn of Christianity, there have been people that have sought to make Christianity more easy to accept. There's been the big heresies that have tried to mute aspects of Christ so that He's less than fully God and fully man. There's been splits because people can't handle authority and just want to be their own authority. There's been the hyper-focus on making sure nobody ever, for any reason, feels one bit of shame over any sin ever. "What if that makes people not feel welcome or included? We can't have that! Speakth no more of sin and repentance! Stop judging actions and accept everything and anything...uh...accept a Christianity that has principles and defined teachings." There is NOTHING inspiring about these attempts to make things easier. People may follow it for a bit because they lack discipline and strength of character. What will inevitably happen, though, is the faith will become like an old hobby that fades. Once that happens, they will get mad if anyone tries to call them to greatness in their faith. If anyone suggests a challenge or a figurative "call to arms," they will lash out and try to browbeat them into just being "nice, and tolerate, and nice." We must resist this at all costs. You will know it by its fruits. The modern, indifferent Christianity is on life-support because it's boring, bland, and wrong. The way of the Saints--the way of the Cross--changes the world. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
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