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In preparation for Season Five of my podcast "Journeying with the Saints," I reached out to the different shrines in the US associated with St. Frances Cabrini. I got to chat on the phone with the executive director of the St. Francis Cabrini Shrine in NY. I loved hearing from Julia about Mother Cabrini. During our conversation, she said something that really struck me. "Mother Cabrini saw difficulty at the start of a mission as a good sign, because it meant the work had been sealed with the Cross." You wanna hear Saint talk? That's it for you, right there. That mentality of hers sliced through me like a knife. All around us--ALL AROUND US--we are told that if something is difficult or hard, if barriers are put up in your way, abandon ship because God obviously doesn't want you to do it. If He did, it would be an easy path. This is a lie. I've been whining about having to be stationed in the desert again and how hard that is and how it isn't super, big fun for me. Yet, Saints welcome challenges and sufferings. If you are experiencing hardship and difficulties in your mission or vocation, it's been sealed with the Cross. I mean, what kind of talk is that? It's utterly stunning to me and so very inspiring. We have this notion in our heads that Christianity is supposed to be this comfortable, easy path just because we believe in Christ. But, when at any point was Christ's life easy? It wasn't. It just wasn't. Yet, He carried on because the mission was too great to not see it through. The suffering was redemptive for us all and He loved us that much to not give up even though it was hard. We've been talking about living out virtue and how our culture has twisted virtue into self-serving, dressed-up vices. All of what is served up to us is meant to be easy, comfortable, and shallow. Yet, we have Saints that are saying, "Bring on the sacrifices and suffering because that means this mission has been sealed with the Cross of Christ." That is love, my fellow Pilgrims. That is an attitude I aspire to and hope to emulate, because anything else is just self-serving rubbish. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
Continue ReadingI was reading through a very old book that I was recently gifted that has just one or two sentences on a page. I read: "Nineteenth century man became all the more irrevocably the prisoner of his own life-sorrows through the beautiful false names with which he labeled them." I sat with this a very long time. Later that night, I asked my husband what he thought and could he think of any life-sorrows that have been given "beautiful names" in order to make them seem good. It became a bit of a thought experiment for us. I could think of one right off the top of my head: Selfishness has become self-care. Now, this isn't to say that taking care of yourself is wrong. We should take care of ourselves because our bodies are good and neglecting them can cause us to not be able to do God's will. However, our culture has taken vices that cause sorrow, dressed them up in a new name that is hard to argue with, and then encouraged people to engage in them. What happens then? You become a prisoner. My husband said, "Anytime you take something bad and try to make it sound virtuous, it always is a move towards self-centeredness. The focus becomes entirely on you and ultimately that makes us miserable. That's why you become a prisoner. Together, we thought of a few more things that have been dressed up with "beautiful names." Abortion--health care. Abortion already is a euphemism, but it is now being referred to as the double euphemism of "health care." Laziness--"protection from burnout" "work-life balance" Narcissism--self-love Isolation--"protecting my peace" Lies--"your truth, my truth" On the surface, all these phrases or "beautiful names" seem good. Initially, it's hard to argue with them. But, when you scratch just beneath the surface you'll see that they all come back to the self. There is something else that my husband and I discovered while thinking through the original quote. I'll talk about that tomorrow. Until then, live the faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingYesterday, my husband and I finished our 33-day reading of this book and prayed the consecration prayer at the end together. If you would have told me when Dustin and I were dating that one day we would consecrate ourselves to Jesus in the Eucharist in a small Blessed Sacrament Room on base, I would have looked at you with utter confusion. For one, I wasn't Catholic. For two, I had no idea what the Eucharist was so why would I be consecrating myself to it? For three, I didn't see the importance of faith in the married life at that time. I thought our romantic love for each other would be enough. I would have thought you were saying I'd turn into some hokey-pokey weirdo. However, God's ways are not our ways. Now, I have been Catholic for 13 years. Now, I know that the Eucharist is everything and that I will never exhaust my ability to be in awe and wonder at the miracle of Christ in the Eucharist. Now, I have seen Dustin and I realize that a marriage needs God at the center. The Eucharist is the food for our married life together. At the beginning of this book, Matthew Kelly says, "What is the difference between the people who have left the Catholic Church over the past thirty years and those who have stayed?" The answer: "Those who believe don't leave." Those who believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist don't leave. And I'd add, those outside the Church who come to believe, can't become Catholic quick enough. That was me. The second the Eucharist clicked in my brain, I needed to be Catholic that instant. It was a desire like I've never known. To loosely quote Flannery, O'Conner: To Hell with all this symbolic nonsense. No army of demons could keep me away from becoming Catholic, because it is in the fullness of the Catholic Church that I can receive the Eucharist and there is nothing more important that Jesus truly present on our altars and offered to us in Holy Communion. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Monday, Catholic Pilgrims.
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