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One of the worst parts about terrible sins is that even after they are confessed and forgiven, the residue of them in your mind can still be hard to handle sometimes. The devil loves to use even forgiven sins against you. Because, it's not like we forget our terrible sins once they are forgiven. We have no mind eraser. Another really bad thing is that those who know your worst sins, many times, won't ever see you as anything but those sins. I have such sins. They lie dormant in my mind and then, without any prompting, there they are in my mind and the thought of them can bring me so low. "Look who you used to be. That kind of ugliness is in you." These are the things that run through my mind. It's hard to shake. Today, in the Gospel, we read about the "sinful woman" who is anointing Jesus' feet. She's brought her confession to His feet and she's weeping over them and kissing them in repentance. The Lord sees her contrite heart and says to her, "Your faith has saved you, go in peace." The Pharisee who is hosting Jesus for dinner can't see this woman's repentant heart. To him, she will always be just the sinful woman and he will never let her forget it. That's how the devil operates, as well. When I have those moments, where the dark parts of my past creep up, there is a moment when the thoughts win, but by God's grace, I find a way to always turn back to Christ, Who loves me forever and ever. The door I always go back and open is the one that leads me back to the feet of Jesus and there I find reassurance and peace. "Never let your past sins be an obstacle between you and Jesus. It is a ruse of the devil to keep putting our sins before our eyes in order to make them like a screen between the Savior and us." --Father d'Elbée Instead, Catholic Pilgrims, know that "He has wiped them out; He has forgotten them. His blood has been shed; the flames of His mercy have done their work." Have a blessed Thursday.
I don't know when it occurred, and maybe it was a culmination of things, but somewhere along the way, enough people decided to turn Christianity into a low-bar social club. "You're alright, I'm alright," became the mantra. Like with anything that has a low bar, it might seem fun at first, but after a while you start to think, "What's the point?" Mass or going to Sunday service became optional. Being with Jesus in the trees is equivalent. Nobody is allowed to point out sin because that's mean. Just keep it calm, keep it nice, don't ask too much, just believe, it's fine, all's fine. With this, cheesy Christianity set in because everything was just about "go make a difference" with your tambourine. What we've seen with the low bar and the cheese factor and the calls to just be nice is that people drifted away, because what is the point? What is the point? Nothing is inspiring about anything that is casual--nothing. Casual has no fire, no bite, no fight, no answers. It's just--"Hey, meh." And I hate it. I despise the casual-fication of Christianity. Nobody is going to stick around for something that asks nothing of them. Why would they? This past Sunday in my OCIA class that I help teach, the main teacher said, "If you are looking at Christianity as just some feel-good thing, you might as well just turn around and leave. It's not that. When lived right, it will ask something of you." He's right. Christianity is about sacrifice, discipline, obedience, and spiritual warfare. "Pick up your cross and follow Me." Christianity sets a high-bar for us--Sainthood. There is no Saint that just casually staggered towards salvation. I need to be prepared for the spiritual battles and I simply cannot do that just hugging trees and singing "Table of Plenty" and only ever quoting "be nice" from the Bible, though that isn't in there. I just simply can't be equipped to battle a fallen world with a casual basket of wet, cheesy noodles to arm myself with. Accept the challenge of a life lived to the fullest in Christ, which asks us to surrender our lives not to our wills, but God's Will, Catholic Pilgrims. The true path to salvation will never be casual, nor should we want it to be.
I will unite around: Christ and Christian doctrines. Objective Truth. Truth that comes to us from natural reason and, also, from supernatural revelation. Beauty that elevates the soul. Goodness that brings lasting joy. Families. Repentance. Marriage between one woman and one man. Denouncing evil and its destructive forces. Love of America. Virtues--Courage, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, etc. True Freedom, which is the freedom to choose what is right and not just do whatever you want. Our unalienable rights--Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are the things I can unite around. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
The other day, I was watching a video where a man was asking other men on the streets to prioritize their female relationships. He said, "Which relationship has the highest priority? Wife, mom, or daughter." Not a single guy said "wife" first. One even said something like, "Daughter, mom, and wife last because she's replaceable." The truth of the matter is that none of these people are replaceable. No one that you claim to love is replaceable and if you view your spouse as replaceable, well, then you never loved them in the first place. A man is to leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. It is his wife that he makes a covenant vow with and no other. Children are the product of that love. People leave their parents to go start their own family. Children grow up and move on and start their own families or enter religious orders. The spousal relationship is meant to endure until death do you part. There is a reason that you take a vow with your spouse--it's because you are not bound to them by blood, as you are a parent or a child. When you view a spouse as replaceable, as someone that could just be cast aside and discarded, you are not prioritizing your children. You are breaking their foundation apart. One of the reasons we are all mourning so much over Charlie Kirk is because we realize his irreplaceability for his wife, Erika, and, also, for his children. Someone can marry again after death, but the goal isn't or shouldn't be replacement, because spouses aren't replaceable. God, spouse, children, parents. If you love with your priorities right, it all works. You must love God first and that love allows you to be fruitful, faithful, and true to your spouse. Loving your spouse well means you are loving your children well, because if you don't put your marriage as a top priority, your children will have a broken, unhealthy home. Then, as a united family, you can enjoy, cherish, and love your parents/grandparents and honor the gift of life they gave you. So, love your spouse, build your family to serve and love God, and recognize that those you love are never replaceable. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
The other day while teaching my son religion, we were reading where St. Paul said that Christ crucified was a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness for Greeks. I asked my son why he thought the Greeks thought the Cross was foolishness. "Well, probably because people died on it." "That's right. The cross was an instrument of death and torture, but for Christians its a symbol of our Salvation. We wear a symbol of death, we have crosses and crucifixes all over because the Cross is where Christ displayed the immensity of His love to us." Honestly, nothing has changed, Catholic Pilgrims. Many people still see the Cross as foolishness. They can't understand it because they don't truly understand what Love is. Love is never inward focused. It isn't just about feelings. Christ showed us that love requires sacrifice; there will be suffering accompanied with it. To a secular world that distorts love into nothing more than sensual good feelings, the Cross seems foolish. Christ on the Cross teaches us that we must lay down our lives not for ourselves, but for the good of others--to save others from death and destruction. From a purely natural perspective, this makes no sense. But, the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ is not natural, it's supernatural. If you only see with natural eyes, supernatural things will make no sense to you. Today, we celebrate The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. When we look to the Cross, may we always see Love, Victory, and Salvation. Have a blessed Sunday. *Statues found at Mission San Gabriel in LA
One time in high school, my teacher had to put me out into the hallway to cool off after I'd gotten in a heated debate with a classmate over whether or not we should be allowed to burn the American flag. Her flippant attitude about the topic and her lack of gratitude seared me with righteous anger. Standing out in the hallway that day, I realized that passion for what is good will always be met with selfish, indifferent attitudes. Then in college, many times, I would be the only person standing in defense of Christian conservative beliefs. It never failed, though, that after class people would come up to me and tell me that they agreed with me. They just lacked the courage to speak up. I learned in college that courage is a virtue for a reason--it's hard to live out. Virtues require effort and sacrifice. Today, we mourn and honor those that lost their lives on 9-11 and we, also, mourn the loss of a courageous man, Charlie Kirk. For far too long, we've been told to tamp down our passion as patriots for our country. For far too long, we've been told to just be door-mat Christians. For far too long, we've allowed cowards to tell us that standing for what is right makes us _________________(enter a derogatory label). I'm just sick to death of it all and I'm angry. The tide must turn and we need courageous, passionate people to step up. I'm a proud American. I'm an unapologetic Christian. I'm a conservative who knows that there is right and there is wrong and it's not that hard to figure out which is which. In honor of those Americans that lost their lives for being American and for Charlie Kirk, who lost his life for being a Christian conservative, we need to step up our game. The angry and sadness you feel, channel that into being a great American citizen. Channel it into going to church and knowing and living out your Faith. Channel it into conserving your traditional family, your heritage, and the truth. We seriously owe it to those that we remember today, Catholic Pilgrims.
After visiting St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in NYC, my husband, son, and I took a walk in the nearby park--Fort Tyron Park. We found a quaint cafe to have lunch in and afterwards went to explore the rest of the park. We came to an enchanting area with stone nooks to read in, yellow leaves were falling, and we could look out over the Hudson River. This four-seasons gal drank it in. Have I ever told you about how I'm not a desert dweller? Anyway... All my life, I've heard people talk about the Palisades, but I was too lazy to figure out what they were. However, I have finally learned. The Palisades are the shear bluffs that line the Hudson River on the New Jersey side. Rockefeller purchased this land long ago to keep it from being developed and eventually donated the land to the state of New Jersey. Today, it is a park with lots of hiking trails. So, as we were looking over at the Palisades (yes, there are some in California, too), we noticed a big building up on the top. You can see it in the picture--the orange-ish building. My husband and I were curious as to what it is, so we looked it up. Well, it's the Holy Name Medical Center and it has the Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing there. It's a very prestigious nursing school. The plot thickens, though. As you all may remember, I was born in a Catholic hospital--St. Joseph's in Wichita. It was founded by The Sisters of Saint Joseph. Recently, I found out my paternal grandfather was born in a hospital in his small southeastern Kansas town and, it too, was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Well, I'll give you one guess as to what order Sister Clair Tynan belonged to. That's right! She belonged to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Just another example of how St. Joseph has been ever present in my life lately. Even the building I'm staring at across the Hudson River has a connection. Hope you enjoyed that history lesson, Catholic Pilgrims. Our Catholic Faith is everywhere. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
Before I started reading St. Frances Cabrini's letters on Season Five of my "Journeying with the Saints" podcast, I reached out to the three St. Frances Cabrini shrines here in the States. There is one in NYC, one in Golden, Colorado, and one in Chicago. Wonderful places, all three of them, though I have yet to lay eyes on the Chicago one. Julia from the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine offered to talk to me on the phone about Mother Cabrini and so we connected up. Julia provided me with wonderful information and gave me helpful insight into Mother Cabrini's spiritual life. This past Friday, I got to meet Julia in person when my family visited the shrine in NYC. We talked like old friends, I shared what I learned through reading her letters on my podcast, and she gave my family more interesting facts about Mother Cabrini. All-in-all, it was such a wonderful visit. Julia said to us, "Mother Cabrini had fears. We all do. She shows us that if you focus on doing God's Will, you can overcome your fears. God is not going to call us to a life of comfort. We are meant to get out of our comfort zone. Jesus will never ask you to be comfortable. We are supposed to live boldly and that's what Mother Cabrini did, she lived boldly." That was so impactful to me, because my motto here is "live the faith boldly and travel well." Boldness, courage, and fortitude are all part of the Christian life. Yes, we all have our fears, but we must ask God for the grace to carry on anyway. When we do, Catholic Pilgrims, we will be equipped to do amazing things, just like Mother Cabrini. It won't be exactly in the same way as her, but it will be in our way with our God-given talents and gifts. It was such a pleasure to meet Julia and I had to smile at how St. Frances Cabrini brought us together. That's what the Saints do--they connect those with a love for Jesus in wonderful ways. So, be sure to visit the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in NYC if ever you are there. Julia and her staff do a great job of honoring the life of the first American citizen to be canonized. St. Frances Cabrini, pray for us!
Happy Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother! On Saturday, a young man private messaged me to debate the Catholic practice of praying to the Saints. By his own admission, he'd never met a Catholic before, but he continually attempted to tell me what Catholics believe. His understanding of praying to the Saints was the typical, ignorant belief that we are practicing necromancy. Anyway, I asked him lots of questions, sent him an article that I wrote on the praying to the Saints, and debated with him in a civil way. Time and again, he would ask me a question that was addressed in my article and I would say, "Have you read the article yet?" His answer was always, "No, it's too long." I reminded him that he told me from the outset that he was interested in finding the truth and "if you are searching for truth, then read things people offer you. Finding truth takes patience and effort. Don't be lazy and just come at people and not be willing to listen." He ignored what I said and just started in with jumping around from issue to issue, not really considering what I was saying. Then, at one point, he got frustrated and went with this line of attack, "Mary was a mere human woman, yeah Jesus was her son but that makes her no different than any other person." Let's take that in one more time: "Jesus was her son but that makes her no different than any other person." This is the kind of ridiculous thing that gets said when you are intensely bent on being anti-Catholic. No other person on earth has ever been the Mother of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. That makes her different beyond all imagination and because of her singularly unique role, we should give her honor and our love. Happy Birthday to Our Blessed Mother Mary, Catholic Pilgrims. May we always give Our Lord's Mother right praise and honor.
Yesterday at Daily Mass, our priest was talking about spiritual warfare. Referring to the Gospel reading, he asked, "What God to the demons always come after? In our world, when those that hate religion do evil acts, what God do they always attack?" I couldn't help vocally saying, "It's Jesus." The priest said, "That is right. It's always Jesus. The recent gunman who killed the two children in Minnesota and injured many, had a picture of Jesus that he used for target practice. They never use pictures of other religion's gods. Why is that? Because the demons don't waste their time on things that aren't real." After I said, "It's Jesus" out loud, I got choked up and tears welled in my eyes. All Jesus wants to give is love, mercy, and forgiveness and He is hated for it. To hate such Goodness and Love is truly the most tragic thing in the world. In a world full of people desperate for love, it is a most tragically curious thing that Love itself is reviled and attacked. The One True God is Who is always attacked and that should tell us something, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the Faith boldly and travel well. St. Gregory the Great, pray for us!
While college often gets a bad rap, there are degrees that are needed. However, no matter how much book learning you do, nothing compares to real life experiences in your field. When I was counseling, something I started to notice pretty quickly, was that most people do not want to let go of their hate. They say they do, but when it comes down to the work necessary to let go of it, they refuse. Hate creates a fire that feeds people. It gives them someone to blame for how their life has turned out. It allows focus to be on another's faults instead of looking at the faults of oneself. For many people, hate comes to wrap them in a suffocating blanket that, as weird as it sounds, comforts them in a distorted sort of way. This wasn't something I learned in school, but something that I just had to observe. And, I know it for myself. There were many years where my hatred for certain people consumed me and it seemed impossible and, if I'm being honest, unjust to let go of it. Hatred of evil is not bad; we should hate pornography, abuse, abortion, and other things that are inherently evil. Hatred for others or ourselves, though, is a problem. That will create a darkness within us that seems justified, but will only consume us until we are a bitter, cynical, ugly person. As St. Paul tells us, "For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness." If we have this kind of darkness in us, there is one Who can cast it out--Jesus. He shows us His authority over demons and darkness in our Gospel reading today. All we have to do is ask for His help, Catholic Pilgrims. Don't let hate for others fester. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday. *Picture is from the synagogue in Capernaum from our Gospel reading today.
Happy Labor Day, Catholic Pilgrims! Working is a gift, but a day to rest and honor the good work we do, is important, too. "Perform good works all the days of your life, and do not tread the paths of wrongdoing. For if you are steadfast in your service, your good works will bring success, not only to you, but also to all those who live uprightly." Tobit 4:5-6 Have a blessed day!
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