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My husband and I were talking to our daughter on the phone the other day and as we were talking, my husband told her about all the different Masses we had been to in one week. We went to our first Latin Mass the Sunday after Christmas. Then, we went to a funeral Mass in San Jose. The day after that, we went to a bilingual Mass at Mission San Juan Baptista--my 12th California Mission. And this past Sunday, we were back at our base chapel with all the familiar faces of our friends that we live with on base. It never ceases to amaze me how good it feels to just walk into a Catholic Church and know that I belong. I don't even have to know anybody. It's always nice when I do know people, but, even when I don't, I feel a great sense of belonging. As the Catholic Pilgrim, I've visited literally hundreds of Catholic Churches in the 16 years since I converted. I've been to Masses where the people spoke French, Turkish, Portuguese, Polish, and Spanish. Latin can now be added to the list. I've been to Mass in enormous cathedrals and in small caves. I've attended Mass outside with over a million Catholics and I attend daily Mass on base where sometimes it's just my son and me. In all of these different circumstances, I sense the universality of the Catholic Church. Even when I'm surrounded by people that don't look like me, I feel such a connection because of our Faith and our one shared Feast at the altar--the Eucharist, which is Jesus Christ. What a blessing to be part of this one, big, universal family, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
Continue ReadingWe all remember how, after Charlie Kirk's death, attendance at church dramatically increased. People who had been away from church for years went back. Folks that had never been decided to walk through church doors and hopefully find answers. I saw many videos of people documenting their "return to church" experiences. It was good to see. Running to Christ is always the right answer, tragedy or not. But, then right after Christmas, I started seeing videos of Protestant pastors talking about how they were giving their congregation "time off to rest" for the Sunday after Christmas. It just kills me how low of a bar we set for Christians sometimes. Not even three months out from a huge tragedy in our country which spurred Christian revival are pastors giving their congregations time off to rest. Because, we can't be asked to go to church too much, I guess? It also kills me that we literally just celebrated the birth of the greatest gift God ever gave us and four days later people need rest from church. To be fair, many were not pleased with this "get out of church for free" pass. In today's reading from Mark, though, we see a crowd hungry for Jesus. They follow Him around to hear His teachings, they don't even leave when it's time to eat, they are willing to go without food just to be near Him. They realize that this time with Jesus is THE most important thing. This should always be our attitude, Catholic Pilgrims. Going to Mass is such a blessing and an honor. True rest comes from being with God, not staying away from Him. Because as St. Augustine famously said, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday. *picture is of Mission San Juan Baptista in CA
Continue ReadingRight around Christmas, I made a post about how moved I was seeing everyone get to their knees right before the Consecration. I wrote about how beautiful it is that we kneel to worship Our Lord. Some snark shark showed up with an attempted put down telling me that he thought my worship would actually lead to me saying that I was going out to serve in a soup kitchen. To which I responded back, "I was at Mass worshipping God. Here in this post, I was focused on our worship of God. For me, it's a both/and. I can worship God and serve people." He said, "God doesn't need worship, why do you think he came as bread?" I commented, "God may not need our worship, but we need to worship Him. Are you seriously arguing that we shouldn't worship Our Lord? Your argument doesn't make any sense anyway. He didn't come as bread, He came as a baby--fully human, fully Divine." It is true that God doesn't need our worship, but we were created to worship Him. Not because He is some overbearing, narcissistic tyrant that needs to be adored, but because without right worship of God, we will worship something else--usually ourselves. Never has this played out well for anybody. I read today, "The Magi reveal that our search for truth leads to worship." When we find God and recognize Him as the reason for everything, as the source of all truth, there is only one response--worship. May our search for God lead us to worship Him, as is just. And may that worship lead us to be changed and never go back to our old ways. Have a blessed Epiphany, Catholic Pilgrims. *Painting is Adoration of the Magi by Rubens. 1609-1629
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