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Hello, fellow pilgrims! My name is Amy Thomas. In 2009, I converted to Catholicism and I started writing to share the Faith. I’m a military spouse and my lifestyle has afforded me the opportunity to travel all over, exploring Catholic places. I have since expanded my writing to include a podcast and videos. My goal is to travel with fellow pilgrims and help them to discover the richness of the Catholic Church and grow closer to Christ. If interested in having me speak at your event or ask me a question, please click below.
About six months ago, I had a longtime follower start harassing me. This person has followed me for years and the interaction had always been a pleasant one. They seemed solidly Catholic, reasonable, and engaging. Then, after the war started in Israel/Palestine, this follower started tagging me in political posts about the war, taunting me to speak up. They'd tag me on personal posts. Each time, I removed the tag and carried on with my day. When that didn't work, they DM'd me and lectured me about the war and how I wasn't doing enough. It was clear that they had bought into all the propaganda. My question was always the same, "What would you like me to do?" There was never any coherent answer. For a while, I just tried to ignore the tags, the callouts, the whatever, but, eventually, I had to block this person because it got so annoying. I get this from time-to-time: People trying to force me into being outraged about this political thing or that political thing. "You need to take a stand!" "Use your platform to call out injustice!" "Do you not care???????" Here's the deal: I talk about what moves me in prayer--not what moves me politically. Sometimes those two things coincide, most often they don't. I rarely, if ever, rush into joining the outrage mob and I certainly hate being forced into just being a clanging cymbal amongst the other clanging cymbals. Because the truth is, nobody's mind is changed and nobody is listening. Most importantly, though, is that I know that I can only truly affect change in my little sphere of influence. I could run around with my hair on fire fretting about every bad thing that happens on the globe, but that would leave me exhausted and ineffective AND I'd have nothing left for the people right in front of my face. All this to say, don't let people guilt you into trying to save the world, Catholic Pilgrims. Focus on your people, your community, and an area that you are super passionate about. Other than that, there is only so much the human heart and mind can deal with before it becomes overwhelmed. Life the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
Continue ReadingWhenever someone asks something of me that involves a commitment, I want to know all the details. How long? What does this exactly entail? What do you expect from me? What are the logistics? Will I like it? It’s hard for me to commit unless I know all that will go on. I struggle to trust and I struggle to relinquish control unless things are going to go my way. That’s why I need the plan—the play-by-play. That way, I can decide if I want to agree. This isn’t all bad. We shouldn’t just blindly do whatever and never ask questions. However, I contrast my response to situations with Mary’s response at the Annunciation. An angel of God is giving her the news that she is to be the mother of the Son of God and she only asks one question before agreeing. Just one. God has picked her for the one of the greatest commitments the world has ever known and she only asks one question. Her trust is amazing and admirable. May we be more like Mary at the Annunciation, Catholic Pilgrims, and trust God when He asks something of us. Have a blessed Feast of the Annunciation.
Continue ReadingI’ve never been super interested in reading self-help books. I know a lot of people like them and that’s fine. They aren’t inherently bad. One of the reasons I don’t like reading them is that I notice that they can become a bit of addiction for people. People devour one after the other looking for all the tips and tricks for getting their life in order. Another reason is that they contradict each other. One says to live a good life you must live like a minimalist. Then another says to fill your home with things that show your personality and are a comfort to you. Generally, we cycle through fads with these conflicting views. Granted, there can be self-help books that are fine and have worthwhile information, but on a whole, I find that, as humans, we go searching for all kinds of explanations for how to get our life in order, how to heal, how to make sense of our personality, how to “live our best life,” in complicated, secular books. Sometimes, the best answer is the simplest. Naaman, the leper, in our first reading today, didn’t want to hear that the simple cure for his leprosy was to clean in the Jordan River. It was too simple, but it was the answer. Confession Going to Mass Prayer Read Scripture If we simply did these things consistently, our lives would start to change for the better. These things are never a fad and stand the test of time. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
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