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God has done a lot of things that are difficult for people to believe in because they defy the laws of the natural world. The laws He set up, mind you.
He created the universe and everything in it out of nothing.
He parted seas.
The Incarnation—God becoming man.
There’s all the miracles of Christ.
The Resurrection—a fundamental belief in Christianity.
And then, there’s the Immaculate Conception of Mary and, for a large swath of Christians, that’s a miracle just too much to believe in.
I used to not believe in for no other reason than just because.
But, why not? Who am I to stand around and say, “Oh, no, no, no, Mary doesn’t get a free ticket off the sinner train. Oh, no. She’s gotta ride along just like the rest of us”?
It’s a curious thing to think about, but why would God the Father NOT preserve the woman who would bear His incarnate son from sin?
I mean, when you really think about it, it makes complete sense. In the womb of a pure, sinless, immaculate woman was the perfect place for the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become man.
Why would we expect anything less? And why would anyone deny that’s it’s possible? Why isn’t it possible for God to have set it up this way?
It’s all so perfect to me: Mary, a poor, obscure, humble woman with a pure, clean soul seems to be the most perfect answer to the Incarnation. Perfect bringing perfect into the world.
Mary is not perfect by her own power, Catholic Pilgrims, but by the power of God. Why? Because nothing true, good, right and perfect is impossible for God, just as St. Gabriel said.
Have a very blessed Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception.
In January of 2019, the day before my 40th birthday, my husband came to me smiling and said, "Pack your bags! We are going to Cincinnati for a day!" I instantly felt dread. Not because I didn't want to go with him, but because it would mean leaving our kids home alone for one night. My oldest was a senior in high school and completely capable. My best friend lived not far away and we would only be a hour south. Still, I was nervous about leaving. My kids urged, "Mom, it's going to be just fine. Everything is fine." But, I couldn't shake my need to think that I was the only one who could take care of things properly. Reluctantly, I agreed to go, though I was struggling to trust. Off we went and, thankfully, I fixed my attitude and we had a wonderful time. When we got home the next afternoon, I spotted my best friend's van near our house. "Hmm...is this a surprise?" I wondered. Upon entering the house, it was completely quiet and I snuck into the kitchen and found my family, my best friend's family, and my dad, sister, and nephews all there to surprise me. "SURPRISE!" they all yelled. What I didn't know the day before was that my husband had to get me out of the house so that my family from Kansas could arrive to surprise me. They were there the whole night with my kids. We often don't trust God when He asks us to walk the Narrow Path. We don't trust Him with our happiness and have faith that a life walked in imitation of Christ will be worth it. What I would have missed out on if I had chosen to stay home and not trust my husband and kids. What we miss out on when we don't trust Christ with our lives. Trust in the Narrow Path, Catholic Pilgrims. It won't disappoint. Have a blessed Sunday.
Continue ReadingYesterday, I watched a video of Charlie Kirk debating a cocky Oxford student on the topic of religion. Charlie always impresses me with his ability to keep calm, especially when the other guy is agitated and loud. Anyway, I won't go into all the details, as the video was rather long, but the basic idea was that non-religious Oxford man was trying to say that orthodox Christians are wrong in how we interpret Scripture when it comes to the sinfulness of homo$exual acts. The guy was trying to say that it was "all a linguistic error," you see. Charlie did a very good job of explaining what the verses actual say, but the guy wasn't really listening. At one point, though, seeing that trying to explain Scripture wasn't working, Charlie appealed to Tradition. This shocked me, as Charlie Kirk is a pretty staunch Protestant. He even acknowledged, as much, in his argument when he said, 'Now, I'm a Protestant, but we have 2000 years of Tradition..." I was like, "Whoa," and kept eating my popcorn with wide-eyed amusement. However, Mr. Oxford Man brushed that off. And then, the debate turned into both men trying to prove whose interpretation was correct. Round and round it went until the moderator cut it off. Charlie is close. So close. What he's missing is that third pillar--the teaching authority of the Church--the Magisterium. Mr. Oxford Guy has no authority to tell anybody what Scripture means. Protestantism lacks the Magisterium, which is why you have hundreds of denominations all saying THEY know what Scripture says. Once you chuck the authority given to Christ's Church by Christ, well, this is the inevitable outcome. As a Catholic, I do not nor should I, appeal to my own authority on interpretation. I should appeal to the authority of the Church given to us by Christ. The Church that canonized the Scriptures, passed on the Traditions when the Scriptures weren't yet compiled, and has authority from Christ. Like I said, he's close. He's got two of the pillars. Let's pray that he, and others in the same boat, find that third pillar, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Thursday. *Pillars are from Laodicea in modern day Turkey
Continue ReadingLove, for it to be true, must be like a refiner’s fire. It must help burn off weakness and purge you of sin. If God is nothing more than a distant deity that asks nothing of us, we will never become who He created us to be. If your spouse never tries to raise the bar for you, never calls you out of sin, they do not really love you. Real love cannot stand to see you sink and be stagnant. If a parent refuses to discipline, guide, and lead their children, there is no real love. Parents are called to help “burn” off the selfish inclinations of children and teach them to be productive, caring, giving people. If a friend is fine with seeing you fall into sin, if they encourage sin, or join you in sinning, they do not love you. We have confused in our culture the idea of what love actually is and what it should do. For many, love is blind tolerance to any behavior or belief. However, Love is never indifferent to sin. Love always should call you higher. Love should make you want to be a better person. Love should burn off weaknesses within us. Will we always like to hear that we aren’t perfect people? No. More often than not, it will anger us and cause division. Jesus said as much. However, we cannot expect people who love us to stand by and watch us lose our souls to mortal sin. That would be the most unloving thing a person could do, but we see people do it all the time. True love will and should cause some friction within you, Catholic Pilgrims, as it calls you out of complacency and selfishness into a life of holiness. Have a blessed Sunday.
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