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Yesterday, a picture with snow; today, a picture of Spring. For the last couple of weeks, the comments have been lively. Very lively. Lots of our brothers and sisters in Christ of the Protestant Revolution came over to have a chat. Some were nice, some were not. It comes with the territory. There was lots of encouragement for us Catholics "to read our Bibles." Accusations were made that we don't and people making assumptions. Yesterday was my first day back at daily Mass on base since the start of Lent. Our priest is finally back from training. Usually, there is another lady in there with me and my son. She's a friend of mine and nearly every day she comes in carrying one of her religious books that she's reading. She has it tabbed and highlighted. All her books look so worn and loved. Hours of her life spent pouring over reading about Jesus, Mary, and the Saints. I saw her today clutching her book and my heart just swelled with love for her and for all of you who inspire me so much with your devotion to Our Lord. I have a friend who couldn't get into the Blessed Sacrament room here on base one day and so he sat outside the door just to be close to Our Lord. I have friends whose Bibles are marked up, highlighted, and look so very worn, but the time spent in reading through the pages is just immense. There are so many of you who travel to churches just to see the beauty and spend time with Jesus. I find that incredible and beautiful. Some of you pray the Rosary several times a day and that's just--wow--amazing. The point of all this is that so often we hear the negative about Catholics. "They aren't filling the pews." "They don't read their Bibles." "They just go through the motions." God love you all, though, because what I see on here is different. So very different. So many of you show up to read my thoughts and to talk about Jesus and His mother and our shared love of our Catholic Faith and it all helps us grow closer to God. Last week, when people were attacking and only choosing to see the negative, I was so grieved because they don't know all of you. Sure, we are imperfect people, but I see people that really and truly love Our Lord and I'm so inspired by you all and grateful that you give such good witness to the beauty of our Catholic Faith. So, anyway, I just want to say that and to say keep living the faith boldly and traveling well, my fellow Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingI'm sorry to show snow, but I figured I better get this picture in before Spring is full-blown everywhere. We are back to our small town church showcase and today's church is Our Lady of Good Counsel from Fonda, Iowa. When I was, I wanna say, 14-years old, my family took a vacation up to Wisconsin to the Dells and The House on the Rock. As we drove through Iowa, we stopped at the movie set for "Field of Dreams." That is one of my top five favorite movies. Oh! Just thinking about it right now gives me chills. The acting, the score, the message, the fact that it's centered on baseball makes it one of those magical 80s movies. You know, back when movies were good. Anyway, we went to the field, I thought it was awesome and I wanna go back. That is my one and only real experience of being in Iowa. I went to see if this church was close to the "Field of Dreams" movie set, but, alas, it is not. This church is more on the western side of the state and the cornfield is on the very eastern edge. One thing that I do know is that "if you build" pretty Catholic Churches "people will come." And when you go, you can ease Jesus' pain that He experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Most importantly, you can partake of the Eucharist, so that you can be filled with Divine Grace in order to "go the distance" for Christ. Seeing all the farmland, you may think to yourself, "Is this Heaven?" "No, it's Iowa," but God's creation can definitely give us a hint of what is to come. So, if ever in western Iowa, stop by Fonda, population 636, and see this lovely Catholic Church. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingOne of my jobs in high school was a shift manager for Mr. Goodcents, a sandwich shop. As I was getting ready to start my freshman year at K-State, the owner of the Mr. Goodcents in Manhattan, reached out to my boss in my hometown, to see if he knew anyone that could be a manager for his store. His had just quit. My boss explained that he had this gal that was getting ready to go to K-State and that I was experienced as a shift manager. My boss asked me if I wanted the job and, in my naivety, I agreed to take it. That was a terrible decision. With a full course load and marching band obligations, I did not have the time or energy to run a store with a MUCH higher volume than my hometown store. One day, I was standing at the register and had been there for hours, just ringing people up that came through in the steady, continuous line. I was exhausted and stressed over when I was going to do my homework and memorize my band songs, so I had completely checked out. I rang up this one girl and her boyfriend and looked to move to the next person when the girl said, "Amy. Amy!" I looked at her and there in front of me was my friend who lived across the hall from me in the dorms. Through my stress and exhaustion, I had not see her standing right in front of me. It took her calling my name to wake me up. So, I get why Mary Magdalene didn't see Jesus standing in front of her. She was worn and weary from what had happened on Good Friday, her sorrow drowned her, now her Lord's body was missing. She's so wrapped up in her emotions and thoughts that she can't even see Jesus. It takes Him calling her name to pull her out of it. We all do this: We get so overwhelmed by anxiety, confusion, sadness, anger, and busyness that we collapse in on ourselves and think we are all alone. We must listen for Jesus speaking our name to pull us out of these downward spirals and remind us that we are loved, He is with us, and we don't have to do go it all alone. Have a very blessed Monday in the Octave of Easter, Catholic Pilgrims. P.S. I didn't stay at the sandwich shop much longer after that incident with my friend. I realized that I couldn't do it all.
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