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My oldest daughter, who is a Focus missionary, recently came back from SEEK 2025. She remarked, "In my opinion, the most beautiful part of SEEK is always the Mass, especially seeing the hundreds of priests there ministering to the thousands and thousands of students, missionaries, and families." Each time she's been to SEEK, she brims with joy when she talks about seeing the long, long line of priests process in for Mass. The other day, I was reading St. Frances Cabrini's words for my podcast. She was writing after many days on a ship heading from France to NY. At one point she says, "When we arrive on land, we shall look for a priest at once." The reason? She wanted Holy Communion. That got me thinking about one particular Mass in Ohio that moved me to the point of tears. There surrounding the altar were several priests, a deacon, and eight altar boys. It was such a stunningly powerful image. I cannot spiritual live without priests. The power invested in them by Almighty God to change mere bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord is supernatural. I need priests and you do, too. Why does my daughter get overwhelmed at the sight of hundreds of priests at Mass? Because she recognizes the immense sacrifices they endure for us so that we can have Christ in the Eucharist. Why did Mother Cabrini need to find a priest immediately upon landing? Because no one else could give her Christ in the Eucharist. Why did I get choked up seeing men and boys on their knees around the altar while the priest elevated the consecrated Host? Because the gravity of what God is doing through the priest is just incredible. Thank a priest when you get the chance, Catholic Pilgrims, and pray for them. If you are a priest reading this, thank you for feeding your sheep with the Bread of Life.
Continue ReadingMy husband talks pretty frequently about how authentic love must necessarily involve sacrifice. “If it doesn’t, it’s nothing more than self-serving emotions, which is why you see so many people abandon those they claim to love. Once it stops feeling good, people jump ship because they don’t want to sacrifice.” It’s no different with Christ. If we cannot sacrifice one single thing for Christ, our claims of love are empty and meaningless. If we can’t sacrifice one hour on Sunday… If we can’t sacrifice giving up bad entertainment that we like… If we can’t sacrifice rooting out our favorite sin… If we can’t sacrifice our time to do God’s Will… then we like the idea of being a Christian and that’s about all. True love for Christ should make us radically change our lives. It should make us desire holiness, Catholic Pilgrims, and that takes sacrifice. So, live the faith boldly and travel well this Monday. *Church is Our Lady of Sorrows in Santa Barbara, CA
Continue ReadingI was reading about the early Church martyrs the other day and each time I do, I am utterly inspired by their faith. While they didn't go purposefully seeking martyrdom, they, also, didn't hide their "lamp" under a bushel basket. As I sat thinking of those that lived out the faith so courageously, I thought about the current state of Christianity in the West. For decades now, Christians have been told to hide their faith and keep it in private. "We don't want to see it, so keep it to yourself." What saddens me is that we complied. We shuffled off to our hidey-holes and tried to sanitize our public lives to make sure nobody was offended or could catch a whiff of Christianity on us. Then, I realized that the goal became to look just like the secular crowd--blend in. Champion what the secular culture wants, twist the words in the Bible to make the Bible conform to what non-believers would have it say. Stop calling out sin because that's mean and judgy. In fact, the goal became to do everything the secular culture encouraged. Until, there came a day, when you couldn't tell a Christian from a non-Christian. That was me once. Sure, I called myself a Christian, but I couldn't be bothered with church and the Bible. I didn't want to clean up my language, my habits, my entertainment, or anything. Heaven forbid, I appear too Christian. Had the early Christians been like me, Christianity would have faded out like the Beatles on "Hey Jude." It would have been just a nice thought once upon an ancient time. All that they bled and died for, I was too embarrassed and cowardly to show and live. They fought to give me the faith and I sadly took it from their hands and slid it into the back closet where things go to collect dust and be forgotten. We either live the Faith boldly, Catholic Pilgrims, or not at all. We either shine our light or we become just a dim, dull shell of a Christian, unimpressive and uninspiring. So, live the Faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
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