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As I was preparing today’s podcast, I really had to pause and think about St. Teresa’s writings.
She was laying out how there are two types of dryness in the spiritual life—one is our fault, the other is a trial given by God. With regards to the latter, think of of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
The spiritual dryness that is our fault happens when we are too confident in just how “Christian” we are. We go to church, we pray, we read our Bible, we stay away from all the bad things.
We think, “Hey, I’m doing all the right things, I’m good to go.”
The dryness, however, happens because we never seek to go deeper. St. Teresa shares that we see this in the young man who approaches Jesus and asks what he needs to do to get to Heaven. He assures Jesus that he does all the things right.
And then, Jesus presses him to go deeper. He tells him to get rid of his riches and follow Him. We all know how it ends, the young man walks away sad and unwilling to go deeper with Christ.
At that point, I bet, his spiritual life dried up. He probably didn’t abandon his faith, but he was just asked to grow and he declined. That will cause dryness. Maintaining the status quo is not the goal of our faith life. Holiness is the goal and holiness is a process that is never complete in this life.
For love of God, Catholic Pilgrims, we should always want to learn more about God, grow more, and be willing to say “yes” when He asks us to take the next step.
Have a blessed Monday.
*Picture is of the church at Fatima.
ITALY PILGRIMAGE
‘Journey with the Saints’
OCTOBER 23-31, 2023
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The other day, I got an email from a guy who started off overly cheery. He stated that he was so glad he’d found my site, he loved learning the truth, and was encouraged by how much I loved Jesus. His tone then took a quick turn and he dove into a litany of reasons that the Catholic Church was diabolical. He told me that I was deceived and was going to go to Hell. I appreciated this guy’s concern, but I had to laugh a bit, because all his arguments were things I once believed about the Church. I once said the same things, just not quite so manically. I believed the Church was a small cult. I believed that Catholics thought the pope couldn’t sin. I believed the Catholic Church was a relatively new institution. I believed that Catholics thought Mary was a goddess. I had all these preconceived notions, but I never asked a Catholic about any of it, until I married my cradle Catholic husband. I had been deceived. Everything I had been told was wrong. That was really hard for me because I hate being wrong. Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading, “See that you not be deceived.” I am eternally grateful that God gave me the graces to not remain stubborn and cling to my preconceived notions. I am the type that can really dig in my heels. God knew that the person who would open my eyes would be a man I deeply respect and fully love…and who is as sharp as a tack. He gave me my husband to stand against my attacks and blows and calmly swat each one of them down. I didn’t respond to the guy who sent me the email. He was disingenuous in his approach to me and I could tell, having once been there myself, that he was not going to receive anything I had to counter with. How do we not be deceived, Catholic Pilgrims? We pray, we weigh, we ask questions, we seek out people who know more than us, we don’t make hasty decisions, and we don’t let emotions guide our judgment. It’s hard to do all these things, but it’s worth it. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday.
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Continue ReadingMany years ago now, when I was teaching government to my oldest, our curriculum had us read St. Thomas Aquinas’ thoughts on different types of government. To my surprise, he said kingship was the best. “From this it is clearly shown that the idea of king implies that he be one man who is chief and that he be a shepherd, seeking the common good of the multitude and not his own.” Now, before I get started, St. Thomas has a lot to say on this and if you’ve never read his thoughts on government, pause and go read it before you attack me. It’s important you understand what he says. Carrying on…. As an American, when I first read this, I scoffed a bit. In fact, I got a bit defensive, because *our* form of government is, in my mind, the absolute best. We fought against a king, for goodness sake. But, as I thought about it (and I’m not advocating for a kingship here in America), I realized that St. Thomas had to be right. He doesn’t say that other forms of government are all the worst, just that kingship is the best, and, of course, because Christ is King. He’s not King of a government, but He is King of the universe, of everything. He is the King par excellence, because He rules with perfect justice and perfect mercy. He is attentive to the welfare of our souls and desires our ultimate goodness. Because Christ is King, no type of rule could be better. No matter how we look at it and no matter what government system we fall under, Christ remains our King. He reigns supreme in the life of a Christian, or a least He should. This is one of my favorite celebrations, Catholic Pilgrims, because I love celebrating the King of my life, always and forever. Have a blessed Sunday. *St. Dominic’s in San Francisco
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