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In the early years of our marriage, whenever Dustin and I would get into an argument over Catholicism, I was always the angrier one. Even though I was wildly ignorant about Catholicism, I thought I knew it all. I’d yell at Dustin and always try to raise my voice to drown out his words. I’d cut him off as he was trying to explain why my arguments against Catholicism were wrong. I was trying to not let his words fall on my ears. The crowd stoning Stephen in our reading today from Acts 7, behaved just like me. As Stephen was trying to teach them about Jesus, they “cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him.” It’s the covering of the ears part that is so telling. It’s an attempt to protect your pride by not allowing the truth to penetrate you. It was hard for me to hear my husband prove me wrong. Everybody wants to believe that they are always right and it kills us to hear someone correct or admonish us. Most often, those that scream, yell, cover their ears, and seek to silence others realize they don’t really have the truth or moral upper hand on their side. However, they can’t stand the thought of examining themselves and considering a change of thought. When you won’t do this, bad things always happen, like Stephen getting stoned. Thankfully, my husband got through to me and once I actually listened, he gave me the keys to unlock the beauty of Catholicism and eventually come home. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday, Catholic Pilgrims. *Painting is of St. Stephen. It’s in a Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Istanbul.
Continue ReadingI was telling someone the other day that I come from a generation where I can distinctly remember life before the internet and social media. They asked me, "Do you like now or then better?" "Then, for sure. Life was much simpler and not as distracting. Everywhere you turn now, someone's trying to make you mad or trying to cause fear." The Conclave to elect our new pope starts tomorrow. Since Pope Francis died, all forms of media have been in full-up distraction mode. Each day, there is something put out there to get us anxious, mad, or fearful. I'm not here to talk about all the tackiness and the sensationalism of it all. Quite frankly, I find it boring and just exhausting. It's all just so mind-numbingly ridiculous and it won't matter one bit six months from now. I'm not interested in wasting energy on any of it. Let's just have peace, Catholic Pilgrims. Peace of spirit. Peace of mind. Peace in our prayers. The devil wants us, as Catholics, to lose our peace over all this and it's just not worth it. Let's trust in the Holy Spirit to guide the cardinals and tune out the side-show circus all around us. What is needed right now is a laser-focus on lifting the cardinals up in prayer as we trust in God's Divine Providence. Have a blessed and peaceful Monday, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingWhen I was at the Franciscan Retreat Center in Colorado Springs for my talks this past weekend, I got to meet some wonderful ladies. In some way or another, the ladies were connected to the military--either they were active duty, active duty dependents, those who've retired from military life, and even a few moms whose daughters were connected. I'm telling you, if you wanted a cool story there, you needed to talk to the older ladies. Over lunch and dinner, I got to hear tales of adventure and courage that were amazing. One women's husband was active duty, but she was also a contractor for the government. She traveled all over the globe, usually into dangerous places. She did whatever it took to find Mass no matter what country she was in. She told us this one story, of how she discretely asked around in the markets for the location of Mass and one person told her, "Once the sun goes down, go out into this field, walk past the old gate, beyond that you will see a tree, head that direction and you will find the Mass." She did it, all by herself, and participated in a secret Mass in some obscure field. Story after story, several ladies wowed me with their bravery and spunk. I found that through giving them space and time to tell their stories, they blossomed. There's a song called, "Where Rainbows Never Die" and part of the lyrics say: "I'm an old man now, I can't do nothing Young folks don't pay me no mind But in my day, I sure was something Before I felt the heavy hand of time" My dad says this is so true. As you age, people stop seeing you and wanting to hear your stories and wisdom and, boy, does my dad have some amazing stories. In a culture that idolizes youth, we neglect the people that can give us the most insight. We don't even consider that older people have some pretty amazing stories to share that can teach us a lot or even inspire us. One of the ladies said to me, "God gives you a certain amount of time here on Earth and there is so much to soak up and see, to experience. My guardian angel has worked over time, but I can't just sit around and not see what the world has to offer!" Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims. *Picture is of the mule deer at the retreat center.
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