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Yesterday, my family went to the movies to watch “You Gotta Believe.” It’s a baseball movie based off a true story.
One of the coaches of the team comes down with brain cancer and it’s serious. He has to step back from coaching while he does chemo.
At one point in the story, this coach’s son, devastated that his father isn’t getting better, runs out on the ballfield at night and yells out to the sky, “I hate you! I hate you!”
That was enough to make the tears flow hot on my face because I once did just about the same thing, except it was a football field and I was 17.
After my night on the football field, I went on to “wrestle with God,” much like Jacob in the Bible for years.
Yesterday, after I got home from the movie, I read a comment on my post from the other day that was wildly misunderstood. So many people missed the point of my post on burdensome rules.
Anyway, a woman, still missing the point, commented that respecting Christ in the Eucharist means that we dress up for church and women cover their heads. Boom. End of discussion.
Part of me wanted to defend my deep love of Christ, but the Holy Spirit kept saying, “Stay. Just stay. Don’t do it.”
While I was standing there at the stove with tears in my eyes, I asked, “Why not? Why not let me defend my love for You?”
What I heard was, “Because for some, it will never be enough what you do. Let me handle it. I know your heart.”
I realized how true that is. Because we humans are always trying to one up each other and prove we are better, sometimes, it will never be enough for many.
I have been to the depths with God and fought my way back to a relationship that I never thought possible after that night on the football field. Nobody but God truly understands my love and respect and nobody ever will.
There are a million and one ways, Catholic Pilgrims, that we can practice our Faith. And even if we did all those ways, there would still be someone who comes along and says, “Not enough.”
Of course with God, we can never give Him enough, but the only one we need to prove anything to is Him. He knows our hearts and His understanding of our hearts is all that really matters.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday.
*Picture is from the synagogue in Capernaum from our Gospel reading today.
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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