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I got my favorite rendering of Christ on the Cross in the mail yesterday. I wanted it for Lent and to be able to meditate on it especially during Holy Week. If an artist does a good job, you will never tire of looking at their work. Yesterday, I talked about old wounds and how they can still throb every now and then. As I was thinking about Christ’s wounds, I realized that our wounds, too, are caused by the sins of others. That seems a bit duh, but it was a really profound moment for me. Even worse, our sins against others are their wounds that they must bear. Each time we sin against others, there are two nails pounded in: One into the person we are hurting and one into Christ. Our wounds inflicted by others can be united to Christ’s suffering and that is the only way to heal from them. We must forgive as Christ did on the Cross. This is how we imitate Him. Our ultimate goal, however, should be to stop driving nails into our fellow man and into Christ. We do this by living out the two greatest commandments: Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Have a blessed Fourth Friday in Lent, Catholic Pilgrims. *Painting is Christ Crucified by Diego Velázquez, 1632
Continue ReadingThe other night, I watched a video of a famous soccer player and his girlfriend that opened an old wound in me. Apparently, the guy is one of the best in the world and he’s handsome, and rich, and famous, and all the things. His gorgeous girlfriend is the mother of his two children and she would like to be married. Mr. Player…excuse me, Mr. Soccerman has been holding out to feel a “click” to tell him it’s time to marry her—the magical click moment, which he is 1000% sure is going to happen at some point. Somewhere down the road. Sometime… My heart went out to the woman because she’s hanging on to this promise of the “click” happening. To be sure, she’s not 100% innocent, but I feel for her because I know she doesn’t feel like enough. She’s not enough for him to commit to and that’s painful. I know that feeling. Two of my boyfriends treated me as if I wasn’t enough. There was always a prettier girl to comment on, a “cooler” chick for me to attempt to live up to. I ran in circles trying to please these guys and I tried to survive on to the crumbs they threw out on the floor. After watching this video, I started ranting outloud as I washed the dishes. And at one point my husband came over and hugged me and said, “Shhhhh…you are enough. You are beautiful and you’re more than enough.” I was stiff in his arms because of the anger in me, so he kissed my head and repeated what he said. Then I relaxed and calmed down. We often identify ourselves by old wounds: I’m just the girl who was never enough. Instead, though, we should identify ourselves by those who truly love us and know our worth, that includes good hubbies. Instead of looking to old wounds to identify yourself with, look to your identity as a child of God, Catholic Pilgrims. That is what actually matters. Have a blessed Thursday.
Continue ReadingAbout six months ago, I had a longtime follower start harassing me. This person has followed me for years and the interaction had always been a pleasant one. They seemed solidly Catholic, reasonable, and engaging. Then, after the war started in Israel/Palestine, this follower started tagging me in political posts about the war, taunting me to speak up. They'd tag me on personal posts. Each time, I removed the tag and carried on with my day. When that didn't work, they DM'd me and lectured me about the war and how I wasn't doing enough. It was clear that they had bought into all the propaganda. My question was always the same, "What would you like me to do?" There was never any coherent answer. For a while, I just tried to ignore the tags, the callouts, the whatever, but, eventually, I had to block this person because it got so annoying. I get this from time-to-time: People trying to force me into being outraged about this political thing or that political thing. "You need to take a stand!" "Use your platform to call out injustice!" "Do you not care???????" Here's the deal: I talk about what moves me in prayer--not what moves me politically. Sometimes those two things coincide, most often they don't. I rarely, if ever, rush into joining the outrage mob and I certainly hate being forced into just being a clanging cymbal amongst the other clanging cymbals. Because the truth is, nobody's mind is changed and nobody is listening. Most importantly, though, is that I know that I can only truly affect change in my little sphere of influence. I could run around with my hair on fire fretting about every bad thing that happens on the globe, but that would leave me exhausted and ineffective AND I'd have nothing left for the people right in front of my face. All this to say, don't let people guilt you into trying to save the world, Catholic Pilgrims. Focus on your people, your community, and an area that you are super passionate about. Other than that, there is only so much the human heart and mind can deal with before it becomes overwhelmed. Life the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
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