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Yesterday, I finished reading Immaculée Ilibagiza’s book, “Left to Tell.”
Once I finish reading a book, I always add it into my Goodreads account. I like having a list of all the books I’ve read because it helps me remember titles and stories. Plus, I like reviewing the books for other readers.
Real quick, the book is on Immaculée’s survival of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. She hid in a tiny bathroom with seven other women for 91 days while people of her tribe were hunted. When she finally emerged, she found out her parents and two of her brothers had been murdered, her family home was burned to the ground, and many of her relatives were dead. She had to learn to pick up the pieces of her life and start anew.
With God’s help, she forgave the people that killed her family and she chose to bring light and love into the world instead of more hatred and revenge.
After I gave my review, I looked at the other reviews and what was shocking is that those who disliked the book, disliked it because Immaculée had chosen to forgive those that took her family.
There were a few people who were legitimately mad that she forgave. In their mind, forgiveness meant she condoned the atrocities, which they saw as a betrayal to her family. They read the whole book and saw how Immaculée’s decision to bring more love helped her to heal and find peace and, yet, they still wanted her to hate.
A striking thing was that those that said this either claimed to have no faith or a weak faith, but one lady did comment with: “Maybe I should take note on how she suffered and got through it without it consuming her.”
Forgiving those that hurt you does not mean you condone their wrong doing. It doesn’t even mean you don’t desire justice. However, we can never find peace or joy in our lives, Catholic Pilgrims, if we don’t forgive. In fact, a hard heart continues to allow the injustice to wound us and shrivel our capacity to be truly happy.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
When I say Alabama, you may say: Football (SEC 👎) Bible Belt Forrest Gump Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" (There you go, it's in your head now. You're welcome.) What you won't probably think about is Catholicism. I know I sure didn't think that when my family was stationed there for 10 months a few years back. But, if I learned anything living in Turkey, sometimes when you are outnumbered, your faith gets stronger. Catholics in Alabama are some devoted folks. Our small-town chapel this week is Sacred Heart Church in Clear Point, Alabama. It sits right on Mobile Bay and is a popular venue for weddings because of its charm and quaintness. It's, also, packed during the busy season, so get there early all you late-coming Catholics. Yes, I'm looking at all of you. It's not far from Mobile, which is a city my family thoroughly enjoyed visiting when we lived in Montgomery. Side note: You Gulf people have some strange food habits. This Kansanite (my word for a person from Kansas) wasn't too keen on ripping the heads off of the river bugs, sorry, crawfish. I know you love to suck the brains out after decapitation, but I'm gonna have to stick with the cows, chickens and pigs. lol. 😉 However, if you are ever sticking your feet in the Gulf Shores in Alabama, check out the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile. But, also, take some time to visit Sacred Heart Church and be thankful to the French that got our Catholic Faith kick-started off in Alabama all the way back in 1703. Merci! Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingEarly on in my marriage, when I still had major anger issues, my husband would kindly ask me to work on my anger. Of course, I would become super angry and get defensive and yell, "This is just who I am, okay!" It was so selfish of me to not want to work on myself. I wanted to believe that my faults and failings were just something that happened to me. I couldn't help it, you see? Sure, there were reasons that led to me having a deep-seated anger within me, but it was always my choice to allow it to take over or not. I just didn't want to admit that. Instead, I wanted to believe that God had just made me this way--angry, selfish, and impatient. In effect, I was telling my husband, "Welp, sorry pal, you get what you get." These are the lies we tell ourselves to protect our egos. We want to believe that everything is out of our control because then we don't have to take responsibility and ...AND...we don't have to put in effort to work on ourselves. God did not make us to be filled with vices, bad habits and sinful behaviors. The potential we have in God's plan for our soul is beyond our imagination. With His grace we can become who He created us to be. Lent is the perfect time to finally be honest with ourselves. We are angry, jealous, lazy, irritable, rude, ungrateful, prideful, impatient, distracted, etc, because we allow ourselves to be. Not because we were made that way and not because we have no control. At some point, for love of my husband, I realized that I was a horrible wife for telling him that I wasn't going to change for the better. I got honest with myself and asked for God's help. I'm not that same person anymore. Resorting to anger was a habit of mine, so I will tend towards it when upset, but I do realize now that I have the ability to control it with prayer and awareness. It is something that I will always have to work on, but it is easier now to work on it. Excuses never allow us to grow, Catholic Pilgrims. Be brave enough to face yourself. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
Continue ReadingWhat has Satan used to tempt you away from God? We know from today's reading from Matthew that Satan tries to use pleasures, presumption, and power to tempt Jesus away from the Father. The three P's, if you will. We all know that worldly pleasures definitely tempt people away, by making them think that they can find ultimate happiness in them. We know that people are tempted away from God by just presuming that God will save them in the end. This creates an apathy in their souls, because why do you need to try if no matter what you are saved? For sure we know that power tempts people away from God. Getting drunk on our own power and believing that we are gods is, well, something Satan knows well. I wasn't, though, tempted away by any of those things initially. I was tempted away by Satan telling me that God didn't really care about me. "If God really loved you, He'd never have let bad things happen to you." In an instant, I believed that lie, because, I thought, who needs God when He just leaves you to be hurt? With that poison in my heart, I walked away. In that walking away, I went to the three P's. I tried to find happiness in my life apart from God in pleasures. That didn't work. I wrongly presumed that just because I still believed in God, He'd eventually save me in the end. So, it didn't matter how I lived. Such ungrateful arrogance. And, I believed I had the power to heal myself and live my life my way. That didn't work either. Satan doesn't always tempt us by offering to add something to our lives. Sometimes, he makes us doubt that God even cares. That's what he did to me. Through all temptations, we must hold fast to our worship of the One True God and of Him alone. There is nothing that Satan could tempt you with that is better than staying close to God, Catholic Pilgrims--nothing at all. Have a blessed First Sunday of Lent.
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