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Several weeks back, I found out that my middle daughter was going to be visiting our oldest daughter at Berkeley over the Easter weekend. Our oldest is a Focus Missionary there. Anyway, since they both were going to be somewhat close, I knew we needed to make the drive to them. I told my daughter to invite a few of the students over who were staying in town and we could have a small-ish Easter meal. Thinking it was going to be around 12 of us, I started planning for a small crowd. Well, that crowd began to swell and swell. Soon, we had around 25 people wanting to come. My husband and I decided that we wanted to dote on the students a bit, so we planned a modified egg hunt. My daughter was worried we were going to make them all run around with baskets and hunt eggs like kids, but I told her to have faith. We bought about 25 eggs of various sizes and filled them with gifts: Some had money, some candy, some religious items. Then we came up with a game called the Great Egg Search/Swap. As we were driving up there, I was worried that if extra people showed up, they wouldn't have an egg. But, I concluded, if they didn't sign up, they got left out. As the game started, I counted the students and we had just enough eggs. But then...more students kept coming. They were all smiling and everyone was so eager to play, I couldn't tell them to just sit it out. So, I ran in my daughter's house and desperately looked for something to put in the extra eggs we had on hand. I prayed that I could come up with something--anything--to include everyone. Amazingly, I started finding things in my purse to give away, including a $50 Old Navy gift card. I ran out to hide them and then went back out front. Then more students showed up and I ran back into the house. Again, I found things to give away out of the supplies I had brought. In the end, every single person had a gift.. It was one of those situations where the Lord provided. It was also incredible how I was so eager to give away things that I probably wouldn't normally have parted with. I just wanted to share and God blessed that. Never doubt what good can come from wanting to bless others, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingI was watching a video the other day on the Passion of Jesus by Edward Siri. At one point, he is standing inside the Holy Sepulcher up on Golgotha. (Yes, it's all inside this massive church.) It brought back a lot of amazing memories of being up there. That's me under the altar there in the picture. See the rocks under the glass cases? Anyway, watching Edward Siri talk, I realized something very profound. Up on Golgotha, there is the space where Christ died. The altar is over the hole in the rock where His cross was stuck in the ground. Facing the altar, over on the right side is a place for Mass. It is beautiful and lighted. Over on the left side, it is dark. Very dark. What's so interesting is that it's dark and huge and it seems to drop off into an abyss. What I realized is that on either side of Jesus hung two thieves. Their responses to Jesus truly reflect the aesthetics up on Golgotha. The "good thief" had the first confession up there on his cross and he repents, asking Christ to remember him. Jesus tells him he will be with him in Paradise. The side with the place for Mass reflects the good thief's decision to come to Christ.--light and beauty. The other thief mocks Jesus and never repents. The side of darkness up on Golgotha reflects his decision to harden his heart and continue to deny Christ up until his last breath. This is the choice laid before all of us: Do we choose to turn to Christ and repent desiring to be with Him in Paradise? Or do we choose to turn away from Christ and be suffocated by our sins to only one day fall off into darkness and the abyss? This Good Friday, as we meditate on Our Savior's Passion, let us do whatever it takes in our lives to always turn towards Christ. May you have a blessed Good Friday, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingOn October 20th, 2020, when my family was living in Izmir, Turkey, we experienced a 7.0 earthquake. My kids and I were on the 15th floor of our apartment building and the building swayed and bucked in the most terrifying and unnatural of ways. For 45 seconds, which seems like an eternity in an earthquake. Certain that the building was coming down on me and my kids, I did all I could think to do and we stood in a door frame praying the Our Father. After it was over, I told my kids to just run. Run out. They ran out with no shoes on and I quickly followed. To make a long story short, the higher ups in the military were worried about a tsunami and so they told my husband to get all military members to higher ground. We ended up in a very poor neighborhood surrounded by Syrian refugees. The contrast in groups could not have been more striking. At one point, a Syrian mother came over to me and started pointing at my feet. I couldn't understand her but it was clear she was asking where my shoes were and the shoes of my children. Through lots of hand gestures, I tried to explain that we just ran out of a tall building. She seemed to ponder this and then walked away. Soon, she came back with shoes for my kids. I was baffled. Here was this poor woman giving to me from the little she had. She saw a mother and her kids in need and she wanted to help. At first, I denied them. I felt horrible taking from her. But, she quickly made it clear that I was not to deny her. I realized that I needed to gratefully accept her gift because she was trying to serve us in some capacity. She was trying to help. She was trying to love. It was one of the greatest acts of charity I have ever received. Peter initially tells Christ not to wash his feet. He doesn't want to be served, he should serve. But, Christ gently rebukes him for this. We find meaning and purpose when we serve others. Sometimes our service to others helps to humble us; sometimes receiving service helps to humble us. It is a great reminder that one of the best ways to love each other is to serve each other, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed Holy Thursday. *These are the shoes given to us.
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