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A couple of days ago, I told you that my husband had a late night talk with a younger guy while on a business trip.
They got on the subject of religion and it was clear to my husband that the younger guy is very much searching. There’s a question my husband always asks other men and so he asked this guy.
“What is the purpose of your life? What’s your life’s mission?”
The other guy said, “Well, I wanna make people’s lives as easy as possible. Like I wanna eliminate any amount of suffering. I think that’s why so many people are depressed.”
My husband responded, “That’s a noble goal and it’s good to want to help people, but, is all suffering bad?”
The guy thought for a long moment and said, “Well, I guess not, ‘cause when you are in the gym and you’re working hard to make your body better, it hurts, but it’s good for you.”
My husband said, “That’s right. We know that working out can hurt, but it’s good for us. It helps us to grow, strengthens us. So, since we know that, is all suffering bad?”
“Well, I guess not.” Then he thought for a long time and my husband said it was like a lightbulb went off. “With most suffering, it’s up to me how I respond. I can either use it for my benefit or the benefit of others!”
He then jumped up and gave my husband a big bear hug.
“This is amazing! Thank you! I wanna learn more!”
My husband said, “You’re welcome. Now, go find the people who have taken their suffering and turned it into good. Who are those people that know how to suffer the best? Go research and find them.”
Smiling while telling me this over dinner, my husband said, “He’ll be led right to Christ and the Saints.”
It is through Christ’s Passion, Catholic Pilgrims, that we learn that suffering and sacrifice can have meaning and purpose. The Saints understood this and worked to turn their sufferings and sacrifices into something for the good of themselves, for the good of others, and for God.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
You've all heard me talk about my friend from college who became an atheist. After becoming an atheist, she told me stories about what it was like growing up in a Pentecostal church. It did not sound good. She told me that growing up, she and her siblings were not allowed to have toys, because toys were from the devil. "How could simple toys be from the devil?" she asked me. "Well, they aren't. That's just superstitious nonsense." This belief was one of the reasons that she abandoned Christianity. To her, it was fear-mongering, controlling nonsense that had no basis in reality. I can't say that I blame her for feeling that way. It wasn't logical for her to then conclude that God doesn't exist, but when your whole foundation of Christianity is built on weirdness, superstition, and, sometimes, abusive practices, you can see why people give up on it. Lately, I've been seeing more and more people--including many Catholics-declaring that certain toys are diabolical or portals for the demons. Honestly, this has been going on for a long time. Care Bears are evil. He-man is evil. Unicorns are evil. Each decade has "evil" toys. This is superstition and we are forbidden to be superstitious. Inanimate objects do not have power in and of themselves. You may counter with, "Well, what about an Ouija Board?" Yes, an Ouija Board is bad because of the action that is intended to be done with it. The board itself has zero power. Sitting there using it to conjure spirits to gain information is opening yourself up to bad things. That is dangerous. New Agey people assign power to objects--this is superstition. We cannot be like this. Toys are toys. They hold no power in and of themselves. The Church does not condemn toys--except very specific ones like Ouija Boards. If we are unreasonable and nonsensical about this stuff, children will eventually figure out that it's just a bunch of superstitious nonsense and, consequently, this will cause them to question actual truths about the faith. Now, yes, can people become obsessed with toys and idolize collecting them. This is wrong and generally comes from a place of trying to fill your life with stuff in order to satisfy your heart's desires rather than seeking God. Do not be led astray by people, even within the Church, who are setting up their own rules for you to follow. Trust in Christ, trust in your baptismal mark, trust in what the Church teaches. Have a blessed day, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingWhen I was growing up, and for nearly most of my life, the only conspiracy that was ever really talked about surrounded the assassination of JFK. That was it. Today, everything is a conspiracy. There isn't one event in life that has been twisted into a conspiracy. People believe the earth is flat and that American astronauts didn't really walk on the moon. Around every corner is a dastardly conspiracy popping up. Watch out for the boogie-man! As my husband says with a sigh, "The amount of people that would have to be involved in all these supposed conspiracy theories would be so great that the secret could never be contained. Humans are terrible at keeping secrets." For most of my life, one conspiracy swirled around, which seems a believable number. But, now, when I go online, influencers and popular media personalities are all giving "proof" of conspiracies. Basically, the idea is that nothing can be trusted anymore at all and so even intelligent people are questioning the most basic of facts. And I get why people don't trust our institutions, but the reality is, is that not everything is a conspiracy. It just isn't. What concerns me is the amount of time people waste on fighting about and reading about all these conspiracy theories. It's become an obsession with a lot of people and it's unhealthy. Social media has allowed for people to become "online famous." The way you stay relevant is by stoking fear and claiming to have secrets or "the answer." Humans are curious by nature and if you bait us with a secret or warnings of disaster, many will bite. If you follow someone--especially a Catholic who spends more time showing you all the conspiracies of the world than talking about Jesus--consider how healthy this is for your mind. Jesus is Truth and you will find His truth in Scripture, in the realities of nature, and in Occam's razor--the simplest explanation is usually the best. Now is the time to practice prudence, wisdom, and temperance, Catholic Pilgrims. All this fracturing is not healthy for our minds and souls. Live the faith boldly and travel well.
Continue ReadingConverts to Catholicism often get praised for being more on fire than most cradle Catholics and maybe that's true in some ways. But, it's cradle Catholics that have held the line and kept the Faith enduring throughout the millennia and for that, I am grateful. Because my husband's grandmother was such a strong cradle Catholic, she passed knowledge on to my husband that he didn't even fully comprehend when he was young. As he grew older, he understood more and the witness of his grandparent's faith held him to Catholicism. During college, he became lukewarm and barely practiced his faith. But, once we got married, he was firm in his resolve to remain Catholic even when I came at him with all my Protestant arguments and snippy questions and accusations. While my attack may have awoken him from his stupor, it was his insistence that Catholicism was true and his sound arguments that led me to start researching the history of the Church. It was the sound writings of many cradle Catholics throughout the history of the Church that helped usher me across the Tiber. So, yes, oftentimes, converts to Catholicism are on fire, but it's only because we know the difference of going without. But, even cradle Catholics have to have a conversion where they fully accept the Faith that was given to them by their parents. In the end, we help each other, but I'm extremely grateful for the long line of cradle Catholics that came before my husband that passed on the Faith to his grandmother and she to her daughter and then to Dustin. May none of us--converts or cradles--ever take what we have in the treasury of the Catholic Church given to us by Jesus Christ for granted. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
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