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Recently, my husband and our oldest have had good theological discussions with people—people who are searching.
My daughter, the Focus missionary, was telling me about a recent tabling experience on campus. (Tabling is where the missionaries just set up a table and engage the college students.)
Anyway, a guy with genuine curiosity come up and said, “Prove to me that there is a God. I want to believe in Him, but I just don’t.”
My daughter said to me on the phone, “I was so thankful for Seton (our homeschool curriculum) because it prepared me so well.
I then told her about her dad’s late night talk with a guy on a business trip. I said to her, “I so wish I could have these kinds of discussions. You guys always get to have them.”
She replied back time, “Momma, don’t you know it’s because of you that we can have these conversations? All the studying you’ve done and teaching us, allows us to have these conversations.”
Boy, was the Holy Spirit speaking through her. I’ve thought about this so much since she said it.
See, I’m a highly prideful person. I know myself and deep down a big reason that I want to have these kinds of conversations is to show people I’m right. My daughter and my husband are way better suited to these types of conversations because they have patience and easy-going personalities. They don’t get heated like me.
God knows that it would all go to my head. You can even tell it would because I’m envious of their ability to have these engagements.
My daughter reminded me that I have my place, too, and God has wisely put me in the background where I have equipped them.
You may say, “Well, Amy, you are on here everyday.” That’s true, but all I could see was what I was missing out on, instead of the gifts God has given me to help the Body of Christ.
I had never thought of myself as the equipper, but I’m glad my daughter showed me and humbled me.
We all have our place in God’s work in the world, Catholic Pilgrims. All of it, no matter if front and center or behind the scenes, is important and all of it should be done for God’s glory, not our own.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
In the Gospel reading from Mark today, Jesus lists off a bunch of actions which defile: unchastity, theft, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, etc. He is basically covering the Ten Commandments. At one time or another, I have broken all Ten Commandments in one way or another. I haven't murdered anyone, but I have raged so hard against a person that I'm afraid I aided in their leaving Christianity behind. I haven't committed adultery, but before marriage, I wasn't chaste. Sadly, though, I have blasphemed God, used His name in vain, neglected church, dishonored my parents, cut people to the quick, been unchaste, lied, stole, been greedy and envious. I am not usual, humans tend to struggle to follow the Ten Commandments. One reason that we struggle is because we all like to think we are a "good" person. How we decide this is we take the Ten Commandments and follow them out to the worst possible outcome. We will say to ourselves: "Well, I've never denied God." "I've never murdered anyone." "I've never cheated on my spouse." "I've never robbed a bank." "I've never lied under oath." We take everything to the extreme, conclude that we've never been "that bad" and therefore, we are a "good" person. "Sheesh, better than that guy over there." With the declaration that we are a "good" person, we slowly stop looking at our behaviors and keeping tabs on them to check ourselves. We feel we don't need Confession because that's for the big sinners. Sure, we'll acknowledge that we are a sinner just like the next person, but that's just something you're supposed to say. And yet, all the while, those small sins that we pay no attention to or brush aside, start to pile up and weaken our souls. They defile us and cloud our judgment and before we know it, we've slipped into mortal sin. I don't write this to be a downer. All that I've written here is what I know to be true in my own life and, for love of God, I don't want to be that way. So, stay close to Christ, recognize your need for Him and His grace, frequent the Sacraments, and be honest with yourself, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday. *Santa Rosa Catholic Church, Lone Pine, CA
Continue ReadingLet's continue looking at the Sierra Nevadas today, shall we? This past weekend, my oldest daughter and husband got into a theological discussion that I thought was very interesting. My daughter was wondering that since we will get our bodies back after the Second Coming, and since time and matter are connected, will that mean there will be time in Heaven? We know from Einstein that time, space, and matter go hand-in-hand. So, my husband said: "Well, matter is something that changes and because it changes, time is part of the equation. God gave us free will. A lot of people don't see this as loving, but it is loving because it means that we aren't programmed robots built to "love." But, because we have free will, that means that we will make imperfect choices and do imperfect things, yet, God gives us time to change. Time is actually such a blessing because without the opportunity to change for the better and become more perfected and more Christ-like, we'd be doomed. Angels didn't get time, their decision to be with God or not was a one "time" decision. So, the greatest gift God gave us was existence itself and with that comes His love. Then, He gave us free will. And, He gave humans the gift of time, to learn to change and come to love Him, our Creator. What can be tempting then, and many of the great philosophers of the world have believed this, is to think that we can perfect ourselves. But nothing imperfect can perfect itself. This means, we need a Savior, and we need grace which is the Divine Life given to us. We can only get so far on our own. In Heaven, we will be perfected. Once we get our bodies back, they will be perfected and there will be no change. They won't decay, get old, need food, need sleep to recharge. They don't need time to change. So, while we don't know for sure what will happen in Heaven and how it will be, change will not be part of the equation and if there is not change, there is no time. Thought you might like to read this these thoughts from my husband, Catholic Pilgrims. And, I thought you might want to thank God that He gives us time. Have a good Tuesday.
Continue ReadingThis past weekend, I finally got to see the tallest point here in the Lower 48--Mt. Whitney. I didn't want to climb it, just see it. It stands at 14,495 ft. What's cool is that an hour east is the lowest place in the Lower 48--Death Valley. The peak you see here is Lone Pine Peak, which I thought was Mt. Whitney, but one of you kindly corrected me in a DM. So, Mt. Whitney is behind the Mobius Arch and you can't see it, but it's there! Lol. Read your map carefully, kids. Do you think I can find some connection with Mt. Whitney to our Catholic Faith? Why sure I can. Have I ever let you down? 😉 On September 12, 1934, Father John Crowley, the Padre of the Desert, was the first priest to celebrate Mass on the summit of Mt. Whitney. Up on the summit is a hut, or at least there used to be, called the Smithsonian hut, which was a place for scientific study. Fr. Crowley set up an altar out beside the hut and said Mass with the help of a deacon, Harry Clinch. Father Crowley worked in the Death Valley area and the eastern side of the Sierras and he was home-based out of Lone Pine, CA. Lone Pine is where you go to hike up to Whitney or around it. We spent the day hiking in the Alabama Hills which is in the Owen Valley and is where TONS of scenes from movies have been shot to include--Ironman, Man of Steel, Gladiator, Tremors, and oodles and oodles of Westerns. It's a beautiful place to visit. So, if you ever pass by Mt. Whitney, Catholic Pilgrims, you can smile, knowing that a Catholic priest hiked up there on a donkey to say Mass. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
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