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One early morning in Izmir, Turkey, I walked through a street that looks very much like this. I was on my way to turn in my residency paperwork, so that I could stay legally in the country while my husband was stationed there for a year. I remember thinking, "This is so crazy. I am walking on this street, in a foreign city, on old roads, far from my country and nobody really knows where I am. I would never in a million years ever thought I would be here." I thought something similar when I laid my head down on the stone in Jesus' tomb. I thought, "How did I come to be here?" Then, I closed my eyes and just let my face rest for one blessed minute on the spot where my Lord had lain . When I was younger, the path for my life did not include these experiences. I thought I'd marry a good Kansas guy and settle there for the rest of my life. But, instead, I married a military man and eventually wound up living in Turkey for a bit. When I was younger, I thought I'd always be Protestant, but I became Catholic and started this page, which led to me being asked to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which led me to going inside the tomb where Jesus rose from the dead. People worry all the time about finding that one perfect path that God has planned for them. Many fear that there is only one door to walk through and if they miss that door...too bad. This is not true. We don't need to fear that God has lined up a large line of doors and we just have to make the right choice or we've missed the boat. We just need to start walking. We need to have a plan and goals in mind, but as we walk, if doors close or don't open, we pivot and move towards what is working. Then, we pivot again or we keep trying or we change our focus. Through all this, God can work with us. He is not constrained to only being able to bless our lives if we walk through this imagined perfect door. It's not as if He says, "Man! She missed that door! Well, it's all over now, I can't help her anymore." That's why it's so important to live the faith boldly and travel well on our pilgrimage through life, trusting that God didn't pigeon-hole us into only what our limited human minds can dream up. Have a blessed Thursday, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingHello to Wednesday and welcome to this week's small-town church-- St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church. This quaint little church is located on the peninsula that houses Fort Monroe in Virginia. My family has been stationed twice in Virginia--once in Charlottesville, once in the DC area. I've loved both times, though, Charlottesville is about as good as it gets for mid-sized towns for me. It was crazy hard to move from there. During our time in Charlottesville, my husband had to take a 2-month long class at the Naval Station in Norfolk. The Naval Station is directly south across the James River from this church. Some weekends, my kids and I would go over to visit my husband. I can't believe we never hit up this church. An interesting fact about this church is that it is "the only diocesan church in the nation located on a military installation." This must be why it's pretty and doesn't look like a military building like all the ones I'm used to. Lol. From the church's website: "Rev. John McGill, Third Bishop of Richmond, and Col. Rene E. De Russy, representing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, signed an agreement, dated June 6, 1860, that, with permission granted by President Abraham Lincoln, authorized the construction of a Catholic church on Fort Monroe. The government would retain ownership of the land, but the Diocese would own the church and rectory buildings. After spending a lot of time in the Norfolk, Williamsburg, Newport News, and Virginia Beach when my daughters were in gymnastics, I can tell you that there is a heap-ton of things to see and do in this area. I'm not kidding or exaggerating even in the slightest when I say that the Norfolk Botanical Gardens are THE best I've ever been to anywhere in the world. And...they aren't far from this church. So, Catholic Pilgrims, if ever you find yourself touring the battlefield of Yorktown, climbing to the top of the many lighthouses in the area (I climbed Fort Henry lighthouse while very pregnant with my son) or dining on the waterfront district in Hampton, think about going to Mass at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church. Live the Faith boldly and travel well.
Continue ReadingThere's a note, just one note, in an Allison Krauss song that is proof to me that Heaven is real. I know that sounds crazy, but when it hits, I can't describe the feeling it gives me. All I know is that I wish it lasted forever and because one note makes me desire its sound for eternity, to me, that means my soul was made for eternal goodness. The song is "If I Didn't Know Any Better," for those wanting to know. When I look at the masterpiece painting "Ecce Homo" (Behold, the Man) by Antonio Ciseri, I literally have to be pried away. My soul is so moved by it that it's almost painful because I don't know how to express how it makes me feel. One time, my dad and I went to a John Hiatt concert together in a very cool theater in KC. At one point, we got to get close to the stage and John Haitt started playing the song, "Cry Love." I was so entranced, I couldn't move. I remember so vividly how captured I was in that moment. I went home that night and probably listened to it on my dad's cd player 20 times before my soul felt satisfied. It's one of my top three favorite songs of all time. In the "Brothers Karamazov," Father Zosima says, "Much is hidden from us on earth but, as a compensation, we have been given a mysterious, sacred sense of a living bond with another world, with a lofty and superior world." "And if the awareness of (the soul's) ties to that world weakens or dies in you, then all that has grown within you will also die. And you will become indifferent to life, will even come to hate it." I have my ties to Heaven: Music, paintings, churches, the Eucharist, my children's faces, my husband's love. All these things let me know without a doubt that Heaven is real and that I'm made for it. So many people have lost that tie or have never felt it and we see the consequence of that loss all around us, which is tragic. That is why it is so imperative that we promote the good, the true, and the beautiful, Catholic Pilgrims, so that we can help remind people. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday.
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