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The other day, I was watching a video where a man was asking other men on the streets to prioritize their female relationships. He said, "Which relationship has the highest priority? Wife, mom, or daughter." Not a single guy said "wife" first. One even said something like, "Daughter, mom, and wife last because she's replaceable." The truth of the matter is that none of these people are replaceable. No one that you claim to love is replaceable and if you view your spouse as replaceable, well, then you never loved them in the first place. A man is to leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. It is his wife that he makes a covenant vow with and no other. Children are the product of that love. People leave their parents to go start their own family. Children grow up and move on and start their own families or enter religious orders. The spousal relationship is meant to endure until death do you part. There is a reason that you take a vow with your spouse--it's because you are not bound to them by blood, as you are a parent or a child. When you view a spouse as replaceable, as someone that could just be cast aside and discarded, you are not prioritizing your children. You are breaking their foundation apart. One of the reasons we are all mourning so much over Charlie Kirk is because we realize his irreplaceability for his wife, Erika, and, also, for his children. Someone can marry again after death, but the goal isn't or shouldn't be replacement, because spouses aren't replaceable. God, spouse, children, parents. If you love with your priorities right, it all works. You must love God first and that love allows you to be fruitful, faithful, and true to your spouse. Loving your spouse well means you are loving your children well, because if you don't put your marriage as a top priority, your children will have a broken, unhealthy home. Then, as a united family, you can enjoy, cherish, and love your parents/grandparents and honor the gift of life they gave you. So, love your spouse, build your family to serve and love God, and recognize that those you love are never replaceable. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingThe other day while teaching my son religion, we were reading where St. Paul said that Christ crucified was a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness for Greeks. I asked my son why he thought the Greeks thought the Cross was foolishness. "Well, probably because people died on it." "That's right. The cross was an instrument of death and torture, but for Christians its a symbol of our Salvation. We wear a symbol of death, we have crosses and crucifixes all over because the Cross is where Christ displayed the immensity of His love to us." Honestly, nothing has changed, Catholic Pilgrims. Many people still see the Cross as foolishness. They can't understand it because they don't truly understand what Love is. Love is never inward focused. It isn't just about feelings. Christ showed us that love requires sacrifice; there will be suffering accompanied with it. To a secular world that distorts love into nothing more than sensual good feelings, the Cross seems foolish. Christ on the Cross teaches us that we must lay down our lives not for ourselves, but for the good of others--to save others from death and destruction. From a purely natural perspective, this makes no sense. But, the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ is not natural, it's supernatural. If you only see with natural eyes, supernatural things will make no sense to you. Today, we celebrate The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. When we look to the Cross, may we always see Love, Victory, and Salvation. Have a blessed Sunday. *Statues found at Mission San Gabriel in LA
Continue ReadingOne time in high school, my teacher had to put me out into the hallway to cool off after I'd gotten in a heated debate with a classmate over whether or not we should be allowed to burn the American flag. Her flippant attitude about the topic and her lack of gratitude seared me with righteous anger. Standing out in the hallway that day, I realized that passion for what is good will always be met with selfish, indifferent attitudes. Then in college, many times, I would be the only person standing in defense of Christian conservative beliefs. It never failed, though, that after class people would come up to me and tell me that they agreed with me. They just lacked the courage to speak up. I learned in college that courage is a virtue for a reason--it's hard to live out. Virtues require effort and sacrifice. Today, we mourn and honor those that lost their lives on 9-11 and we, also, mourn the loss of a courageous man, Charlie Kirk. For far too long, we've been told to tamp down our passion as patriots for our country. For far too long, we've been told to just be door-mat Christians. For far too long, we've allowed cowards to tell us that standing for what is right makes us _________________(enter a derogatory label). I'm just sick to death of it all and I'm angry. The tide must turn and we need courageous, passionate people to step up. I'm a proud American. I'm an unapologetic Christian. I'm a conservative who knows that there is right and there is wrong and it's not that hard to figure out which is which. In honor of those Americans that lost their lives for being American and for Charlie Kirk, who lost his life for being a Christian conservative, we need to step up our game. The angry and sadness you feel, channel that into being a great American citizen. Channel it into going to church and knowing and living out your Faith. Channel it into conserving your traditional family, your heritage, and the truth. We seriously owe it to those that we remember today, Catholic Pilgrims.
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