.png)
Most people want to go to Heaven. I was thinking today, though, at Mass, that while most people want to go to Heaven, they don't want to bring Heaven to earth quite yet. What do I mean by this? Well, early on in my Christian life, I wanted to go to Heaven. Mostly, it was because I just wanted to see departed loved ones again. And, it sounded nice, to be in a perfect place. I felt kind of like I was owed it simply by the sheer fact that I called myself a Christian. But, in the meantime, I didn't really want to live a holy and pleasing life here on earth. I wanted to indulge in a few choice sins, if you know what I mean. Heaven sounded good for after I'd had all the "fun." Though I felt I was owed it, I certainly didn't want to try to create Heaven here on earth through my own actions or cooperation with God. So, when suffering came my way, I was appalled that God would allow me to go through that. I felt I was owed a suffering-free life and Heaven. "Don't ask anything of me, yet give me all that I feel I deserve." This is what we call insufferable pride. I just didn't really understand anything about sacrifice or suffering as it should be understood to a Christian. When you are constantly told that Jesus did it all, there's nothing for you to do but sit back, call yourself a Christian, enjoy the ride because Jesus has got you, and live however you would like, because, again, you are covered by the Blood of Jesus, well, you will grow lukewarm real quick. Baptized believers are the Body of Christ, and that means, that we all make up Jesus' Body in a mystical, spiritual way. Christ suffered for us. As part of His Body, we can unite our suffering to His suffering and offer it to the Father. We are to participate with Him, not just hit cruise control. God has always wanted our participation and the craziest thing about Christ's suffering is that it was/is redemptive. Our suffering and sacrifices when united to His are redemptive, too. This is one of the ways we become more Christ-like. And so, this means, that we have to necessarily live differently. We can't "conform ourselves to this age" but instead "be transformed," as St. Paul tells us, Catholic Pilgrims. Our lives should look different. Have a blessed Sunday.
Continue ReadingWith each season of my podcast, Journeying with the Saints, I grow in love for the Saint whose work I'm reading. To be honest, I was scared to read St. Augustine's "Confessions." Mostly I was afraid because I thought I'd be too dumb to keep up with his mind, but I've found this book really approachable. There are some parts that stretch the mind--thinking here of his talk on time--but it's good to stretch the mind a bit. How else can we grow and learn new things? I very much relate to St. Augustine. I, too, dropped my Faith in my late teens, went off to live a very worldly life, found nothing was satisfying me, became desperate for the truth, took a long time to wrestle it out, and finally converted to Catholicism. All the while, I had a mother ferverently praying for me. Season Six isn't done yet, but already I've grown in my love and appreciation of this Doctor the Faith. He will forever be in my bevy of Saints that I call on frequently. Reading their works helps us to see that they were real people and they struggled and sinned and eventually opened themselves up to grace and then went on to do amazing things. They give us hope that we can all be Saints. Today is St. Augustine's feast day, Catholic Pilgrims. I'm so grateful that I've come to know him better. St. Augustine, pray for us!
Continue ReadingThis year as I've been reading through St. Augustine's "Confessions" on my podcast, Journeying with the Saints, I've finally gotten the story on St. Monica. It is through her son that we understand her. We all know that she prayed for his conversion, but through his writings, we get the intimate details. She absolutely prayed, yes, but there is so much more to the story. She wasn't afraid to tell her son that his lustful lifestyle wasn't okay. In our culture, too many people think that to love means to tolerate anything and everything. Monica straight up told Augustine that he was living in sin. She, also, went to a bishop and begged him to speak with St. Augustine and talk some sense into him. The bishop told her that he wasn't ready to receive the truth, but that, eventually, he would reason his way to it. That had to be so frustrating for her. At one point in time, because he refused to stop fornicating and keeping a mistress, she didn't allow him to eat at her table or stay in her home. But, she does meet up with him in Milan and lives with him, most likely helping to take care of her grandson. Through it all, she called Augustine to the Christian life while staying close to him. All her prays, all her maternal correction, all her perseverance paid off, but it took a long time. After she died, here is what St. Augustine wrote, "Then little by little, my old feelings about Your handmaid came back to me. I thought of her devoted love for You and the tenderness and patience she had shown to me, like the holy woman that she was. Of all this I found myself suddenly deprived, and it was a comfort to me to weep for her and for myself and to offer my tears to You for her sake and for mine. The tears which I had been holding back streamed down, and I let them flow as freely as they would, making of them a pillow for my heart...For this was the mother, now dead and hidden awhile from my sight, who had wept over me for many years so that I might live in Your sight." St. Monica knows the grief a parent carries when their children have fallen away from the Faith. Ask for her intercession for yourself and for your child. She is happy to pray for you, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Monica, pray for us!
Continue Reading.png)
.png)
.png)