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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.
I will unite around: Christ and Christian doctrines. Objective Truth. Truth that comes to us from natural reason and, also, from supernatural revelation. Beauty that elevates the soul. Goodness that brings lasting joy. Families. Repentance. Marriage between one woman and one man. Denouncing evil and its destructive forces. Love of America. Virtues--Courage, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, etc. True Freedom, which is the freedom to choose what is right and not just do whatever you want. Our unalienable rights--Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are the things I can unite around. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingThe other day, I was watching a video where a man was asking other men on the streets to prioritize their female relationships. He said, "Which relationship has the highest priority? Wife, mom, or daughter." Not a single guy said "wife" first. One even said something like, "Daughter, mom, and wife last because she's replaceable." The truth of the matter is that none of these people are replaceable. No one that you claim to love is replaceable and if you view your spouse as replaceable, well, then you never loved them in the first place. A man is to leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. It is his wife that he makes a covenant vow with and no other. Children are the product of that love. People leave their parents to go start their own family. Children grow up and move on and start their own families or enter religious orders. The spousal relationship is meant to endure until death do you part. There is a reason that you take a vow with your spouse--it's because you are not bound to them by blood, as you are a parent or a child. When you view a spouse as replaceable, as someone that could just be cast aside and discarded, you are not prioritizing your children. You are breaking their foundation apart. One of the reasons we are all mourning so much over Charlie Kirk is because we realize his irreplaceability for his wife, Erika, and, also, for his children. Someone can marry again after death, but the goal isn't or shouldn't be replacement, because spouses aren't replaceable. God, spouse, children, parents. If you love with your priorities right, it all works. You must love God first and that love allows you to be fruitful, faithful, and true to your spouse. Loving your spouse well means you are loving your children well, because if you don't put your marriage as a top priority, your children will have a broken, unhealthy home. Then, as a united family, you can enjoy, cherish, and love your parents/grandparents and honor the gift of life they gave you. So, love your spouse, build your family to serve and love God, and recognize that those you love are never replaceable. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingThe other day while teaching my son religion, we were reading where St. Paul said that Christ crucified was a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness for Greeks. I asked my son why he thought the Greeks thought the Cross was foolishness. "Well, probably because people died on it." "That's right. The cross was an instrument of death and torture, but for Christians its a symbol of our Salvation. We wear a symbol of death, we have crosses and crucifixes all over because the Cross is where Christ displayed the immensity of His love to us." Honestly, nothing has changed, Catholic Pilgrims. Many people still see the Cross as foolishness. They can't understand it because they don't truly understand what Love is. Love is never inward focused. It isn't just about feelings. Christ showed us that love requires sacrifice; there will be suffering accompanied with it. To a secular world that distorts love into nothing more than sensual good feelings, the Cross seems foolish. Christ on the Cross teaches us that we must lay down our lives not for ourselves, but for the good of others--to save others from death and destruction. From a purely natural perspective, this makes no sense. But, the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ is not natural, it's supernatural. If you only see with natural eyes, supernatural things will make no sense to you. Today, we celebrate The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. When we look to the Cross, may we always see Love, Victory, and Salvation. Have a blessed Sunday. *Statues found at Mission San Gabriel in LA
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