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Back in 2005, our middle daughter decided to come early. My water broke while I was cooking lunch and I thought to myself, "Oh, no. It's too soon." Upon arrival at the hospital, the doctor calmly came in to check me and within seconds she was yelling for surgery. I was flown down the hall on my bed, nurses came out of nowhere, I was crying and shaking, my husband was fighting off nurses to get to me. Thanks to amazing doctors and nurses, she was out within 10 minutes. I had been put under and didn't wake up until later only to look desperately into my husband's eyes to read whether she was okay or not. He smiled. I knew she was okay. Because she was born early, she had to stay at the hospital in this little plastic box, hooked up to wires. Once I was released from the hospital, I cried the whole way home. It was so hard to leave without my child. But, my husband was an absolute superhuman man those days in the hospital. He took care of me, took care of our oldest. At night, he would go to the hospital to hold our daughter so she wouldn't be alone. I would pump milk for him to take and he would rock her and feed her. He didn't sleep for nine days. During those days in the hospital, our daughter was doing okay, but she was losing weight and not really getting any better. My husband decided it was time for her to come home. We had a meeting with the doctors and they were adamant that she stay. We understood their caution, but my husband ultimately said, "I'm her father. I know that she needs to be home with us and I'm taking her home." The second we walked in the house, my daughter fell asleep on my chest and my husband, exhausted, collapsed into sleep. Immediately, my daughter began to gain weight and improve. People have asked me, "Why Christianity?" In the way my husband cared for our daughter and our family lies the answer. Relationship. God loves us so incredibly that we can't even fathom. He goes to the extreme--death on a Cross--to save us. He is always trying to find ways to draw us to Him and to love us. He will go the distance to be in a relationship with us. My husband mirrored the love of God in the way he strove to love our daughter. She didn't even have any idea the lengths he was going through, but that didn't matter to him. He gave completely of himself, barely eating and sleeping all to show that there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her. Christianity is about relationship, communion, and love, Catholic Pilgrims. God wants a relationship with His children and that is amazing. When someone asks, "Why Christianity?" this is one of the main reasons why. Have a blessed Thursday.
Continue ReadingOne of the great tragedies of Protestantism is the removal of nearly all the helps God gives us. Growing up, I could never lean on the saints and angels because…well…they weren’t even talked about. I didn’t even know it was a possibility. Sure, I heard people say that a loved one who had died was now an “angel in Heaven” and they might “watch over you.” But, that’s the extent to what was said. Upon becoming Catholic, I came to see the importance of angels. I learned, that humans, upon death, do not become angels. Angels are entirely different creatures and a human soul does not change into an angelic soul in Heaven. If you are a human in Heaven, you are a human saint. I also recognized that God sends angels to help, guide, protect, and to deliver messages numerous times in Scripture. Upon the closing of the Canon, God didn’t say, “Okay, Angels, no more from you all. You can’t help these humans anymore.” Why would He do that? Our guardian angels are meant to be a help to us and we should rely on them. God gives us many helps to strengthen us on our pilgrimage through life and angels are one of those helps. The power of the angels and saints doesn’t come from themselves but from God. Including them in our lives does not diminish God’s power, it shows just how powerful He is. That He would allow for us humans here on earth to have such access to the supernatural is amazing. Today, we celebrate the Feast Day of the Holy Guardian Angels, Catholic Pilgrims. May we ask them daily “to light, to guard, to rule, and guide” us. Have a blessed Wednesday.
Continue ReadingWhen I was working, my boss asked me to go out and collect donations for an upcoming fundraiser. I would rather clean toilets than ask for donations. I would literally rather cut the lawn with scissors than ask for donations. But...I went. I would walk into a store, slink around to try and get a feel for the person I would have to confront, hide behind some column or product display and talk myself up to emerge from hiding to go ask. Once in front of the person, I'd awkwardly explain my cause, who I was, and ask for a donation. I'd always try to give them an out. Midwesterners do not like to obligate anyone to anything. Basically, it went something like this, "We'd appreciate it if you'd be willing to donate to our fundraiser, but if you don't want to, I understand. If you do, that would be great, but I feel like I'm annoying you, so I'll just leave, bye." I went back to work completely defeated. Some people gave me like a pack of gum and some just flat out rejected me and that's what I had feared all along. I hate rejection. Back at work, I went into my breakroom with a deflated self-worth and one of my co-workers asked how it went. Sliding out of my chair like a pile of goop, I explained that I had basically gotten nothing. She laughed and was like, "Did you act like this? Come with me, I'm going to show you how to do this." So, we went back and I followed her into the stores, hiding behind her shoulder like a small child. I watched her walk in confident, smiling, sure of her cause that she was asking for donations for, and engaging. In nearly every store, we got something. Some rejected us and when they did, she just smiled and said, "That's alright. You have a blessed day." I was in awe. I asked her how she handled the rejection. She said, "Girl, it's not personal. You take it too personal." Jesus experiences rejection in our Gospel reading today and while He doesn't take it personal, his Apostles do. Rejection is hard and it can crush our self-worth IF we allow it to. We all will experience rejection in this life, but we have to learn to "shake the dust off our feet," Catholic Pilgrims. While we will experience rejection from others, we will never experience it from God. That's the important thing to hold on to. Have a blessed Tuesday.
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