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When I was working at a juvenile detention center, I would often have to make house calls. Teens that were on probation had to be checked in on from time-to-time.
I never went into a house that was healthy. By that, I mean, it was always a home where one parent was missing, the house was a filthy disaster, and the teens were pretty much left to fend for themselves.
It was clear why the teens were in trouble all the time. Their lives were chaos.
I also worked sometimes with the teens that were housed in detention. Some days, we would take the ones in for lesser crimes out to a park for some sun and exercise. We would try to have a baseball game with the teens but it was obvious they had never grown up playing catch or having a parent teach them anything about sports.
All through my years of counseling, rarely did I have a person who came from just a solid, normal family. Nearly all came from broken homes, parents that were neglectful, or a life where family members were exceedingly selfish.
It was—is—incredibly sad. So many of the teens I just wanted to bring home to a safe, warm, loving house and fix them a healthy meal and be a comfort to them.
Families will always be under attack either by society trying to break them up or by sin. Since Christ was born into a loving family, you can be sure that Satan wants families broken, dysfunctional, or not even desired. At the core of it is all is selfishness.
Can families be healthy? Absolutely. The Holy Family, who we celebrate today, is our model. Will we be perfect as they were? No. Can we strive to live out their virtues? Absolutely.
The Holy Family reminds us that love, selflessness, respect, and trust is what makes a good family. Not money. Not a big house. Not fancy things.
Good healthy families don’t just happen, Catholic Pilgrims. They take work and a giving of oneself, but the joy they bring is immeasurable.
Have a blessed Feast of the Holy Family. May they be our guide.
Today is a day of prayer for the legal protection of unborn children. As many of you know, I got pregnant out of wedlock with my oldest in my senior year of college. When I went to confirm the pregnancy at the clinic on campus, the first and only piece of advice the nurse gave me was to get rid of my baby because she would ruin my chance at a career. No support, no compassion, nothing but the offer to kill my child. She's sitting right next to me on my right side in this picture. Our culture likes to pretend that women have this inherent right to choice. A choice to do what? End their child's life. People sometimes congratulate me for "choosing life" for my daughter. While I appreciate the intention behind the praise, it's a false assumption that I ever really had a choice to begin with. Nobody has a the right to choose to end an innocent life. Nobody has that right, especially not women whose bodies are specifically designed to grow new life in their wombs. Who does have a right, that too many neglect to see or acknowledge, are unborn children. They have a right to live and not be killed. They are dependent on their mother's body, but as any mother will tell you, even after a child is born, they are still utterly dependent on their mother's body to care for them. There has and never will be a right to choose death for unborn babies. It is a fever dream that anti-children people have cooked up in their minds and this make-believe right has resulted in over 50,000,000 babies having their lives snuffed out--and that's just in the US. So, today, we pray for the protection of these little ones who have no voice of their own. So, let us pray, Catholic Pilgrims, for an end to abortion in our country and in our world. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
Continue ReadingIn our second reading today, St. Paul is writing to the Christians in Corinth. He says, "To you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ." It was the "called to be holy" part that caught my eye. St. Paul doesn't say we can live however we want while calling ourselves a Christian. He, also, doesn't say that we are straight up holy once we become a Christian. He says we are called to be and, that means, there is some participation on our part where we must cooperate with the graces given to us by God and be obedient to Christ's teachings and the teachings of His Church. God calls us to holiness, but we do have to desire it. If we think that we are just "good to go" because we call ourselves a Christian, it will be difficult to desire holiness. I know that I once didn't even desire it because 1. nobody ever talked to me about it. and 2. I thought calling myself a Christian meant I had an assured ticket to Heaven. Consequently, I didn't try to live any differently. In fact, unless you asked me, you wouldn't have known I was a Christian based on how I lived. To be holy means that we want to live out the virtues--courage, prudence, justice, fortitude, piety, etc,-- for love of God and for love of others. We want to orient our lives to look more like Christ's and make choices that don't follow the easy way. We are called to holiness, Catholic Pilgrims. God will work with our desire to answer that call if we ask Him. Have a blessed Sunday. *Church is Mission San Juan Baptista in CA
Continue ReadingIn the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Today, in our reading from Matthew, the Trinity is revealed. At the Baptism of Our Lord, the Father speaks of His love for His Son, The Son gives us the Sacrament of Baptism, and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove letting us know that this action is sanctified. It is holy and pleasing to God. This is why we baptize in the Trinitarian formula and every single time we do the Sign of the Cross it is a beautiful reminder of our baptism and the saving grace we received from it. We must continue to cooperate with those graces throughout our life, but it/was our entrance into the family of God. So many things happen at baptism: You become a child of God and an heir to the Kingdom. Original sin is washed away and any actual sins if above the age of reason. Your soul is permanently marked as belonging to God. Your soul is filled with grace--the Divine life. You receive the three theological gifts of Faith, Hope, and Charity. You receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn't need to be baptized, but He was showing us what He wanted us to do--this was the new covenantal ritual, circumcision would not be needed anymore. Baptism is the start of our Christian life with God, Catholic Pilgrims. Through it, we are brought into the life of the Blessed Trinity. Have a beautiful Sunday.
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