.png)
This is Laodicea, the last church community written to in the Book of Revelation. It is perhaps my favorite. Look at how the clouds made the perfect backdrop for a reflective mood. Part of the Silk Road runs through this ancient town. In its day it would have been teeming with people, horses, and carts. Alongside the main road through town there are stone tables where backgammon was played. You can just imagine two old men playing as they grumbled about politics or aches in their bodies. Now, it’s just an ancient ghost town. "To the angel of the Church in Laodicea, write this: ‘I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything, and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.’” To interesting things to point out: 1. Laodicea was known for optometry. They actually had eye doctors there and that’s why the references to blindness and eye ointment. 2. In the mountains in the picture, there is a place called Pamukkale. It has hot springs and the minerals in the water make it look like there are permanent fluffy clouds up there. Pamukkale means “cotton castle.” As that hot water flows down the mountain, it becomes lukewarm. Hence the reference to being lukewarm. It’s something the people would understand. It is easy to slip into a lukewarm faith, Catholic Pilgrims. Especially with all the comfort and ease many of us experience on a day-to-day basis. A lukewarm faith is no faith at all, So… Live the Faith boldly and travel well.
This is Sardis. It’s the fourth church community written to in the Book of Revelation. Sardis is out in the middle of nowhere in Turkey. All that’s left are these gigantic ruins. The countryside has filled the in the gaps and what was once a training center for warriors, is now a quiet monument to ancient days. Once I learned what Sardis was all about, the letter to the Christians there starts to make more sense. On one side, Sardis is surrounded by very high hills. At one time, like I said, this was a training ground. The building behind me was a gymnasium. Over the hills were enemies and the men had to be watchful otherwise they would be attacked. Now listen to what the letter says: To the angel of the church in Sardis write: I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive l, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you.” Basically, Jesus is telling the people here that their spiritual life is dead. They need to wake up and get with it, or like the enemies in the hills, death will come like a thief and attack. Perhaps the Christians living here were living more like the Roman pagans and giving in to the cultural pressures to live worldly lives. Jesus is reminding them to stay true to what they heard about the Good News and came to believe in. A timeless message for all of us, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday.
This is the Church of Mary at Ephesus. “To the angel of the Church in Ephesus, write this: I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked; you have tested those who call themselves Apostles but are not, and discovered that they are impostors. Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first.” Here at the end of the liturgical year, we get a lot of readings from the Book of Revelation. Living in Turkey afforded me the opportunity to visit all seven churches that were written to in the Book of Revelation and I hope to share them over the next several days, as the letters written to those church communities contain valuable information. Ephesus would have been incredibly impressive in its day. It’s still impressive though it is in ruins. So many saints moved through this area: St. Paul, St. John, St. Polycarp, St. Justin Martyr and more. Our Mother Mary lived not far away from Ephesus. If you read the letter to the Church in Ephesus, you see that they are doing many things right. The Christians there are praised for their endurance, hard work, and discernment. But…they’ve lost the love. This is something we Catholics need to careful of, myself included. If we simply strive to be a bulwark against the ways of the world without doing it for love of God and neighbor, we will become bitter, negative people. If we seek to tough it out in this life without asking for grace, we will become joyless. Where there is no joy, there is no love. We must suffer well, endure hardships well, be on our guard, and be prudent, Catholic Pilgrims. But, to try and white-knuckle it, means love will be lacking and nobody will hear the Good News of Christ. Love makes the Christian life very attractive. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
Over the years, I’ve had a few people on here that like to play the part of the extremely objective and indifferent wise sage. Basically, all religions are the same for these people and they’ll dabble a little here and dabble a little there. What I always find interesting is that in their quest to appear balanced, they always over-praise religions that aren’t Christianity and nitpick to death Christianity. Always with these kinds of people, the aim, whether intentional or not, is to show that Christianity isn’t that big of a deal. “It’s just like all the rest you see? See all the similarities? Nothing special here.” While it is true that in all religions there is at least a kernel of truth just in the fact that they are man’s search for God, but it doesn’t follow that they are all equal or basically the same. I know, I know, in our modern world of moral relativism and denial of absolute truths, we don’t like to say anything is better than something else. However, nobody lives their lives believing that is actually true. With Christianity there is one huge, immense, incredible difference and that is love. God is love and He wants a relationship with us. Christ—God—died for us, unworthy as we are because of love. Not only does God love each one of us and desires our goodness, He gives us numerous helps to assist on our path to Heaven. He is not a God that is distance and ambiguous. He’s not just the universe. He’s not elements of the world incapable of relationship. He’s not lording up in the clouds sneering down at humans. He’s not cold and indifferent to us seeing us as slaves. No, God is love and His love for us is eternal and limitless. This is unlike anything else and doesn’t even compare. Because if God came and died for us to save us so that one day we might be with Him, well, that right there is the most true, good, and beautiful spiritual reality out there. Those that call themselves Christians but play the indifferent game, have sadly not fallen in love with God yet and have not allowed themselves to be loved by Him. Because once you do, nothing can compare, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed Friday.
I often wonder how frequently the Saints were rejected by people in the age they lived in. We know that many were beloved by people in their communities, thinking here of Blessed Giorgio Frassati. Yet, we also know that numerous ones were rejected and even killed for their faith. But, just like in the day-to-day of life, how frequently were they rejected? Christ was rejected pretty often as He traveled around. He says to the Pharisees today in Luke, “But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.” Luke 17:25 As I sat thinking this morning, this is the destiny of faithful Christians, as well. I don’t think you can escape rejection as a Christian. It will come in different forms and different degrees for each of us, but it will come. Seems a bit lonely when you think about it. The only way to combat this is through prayer. That’s how Jesus always gained strength—He went off and prayed to the Father. The Saints always have deep prayer lives, because they need that connection with the One who understands. They also need the support of the Saints who have gone before them and understand. So, find comfort in prayer, Catholic Pilgrims. Pour out your heart to Christ, seek Mary’s intercession, and ask the Saints to lift you up with their prayers. We have more friends than we know, it’s just we can’t always see them. Have a blessed Thursday.
Today is the Feast Day of St. Frances Cabrini, so there couldn’t be a better day to announce who I’m reading for Season 5 of my “Journeying with the Saints” podcast. Around February last year, the movie about Mother Cabrini came out and as my daughter put it, “It’s pretty good, but it’s too girl boss and doesn’t show her joy and dependence on God.” Not long after that, a man named Michael messaged me and asked if I’d seen the movie. I hadn’t. He went on to explain that he had found the online publication of Mother Cabrini’s letters, but the book had gone out of print. He set about the task of basically recreating the former book so that it could be reprinted again. Through this labor of love, he discovered Mother Cabrini’s wonderful personality. “I don’t think the movie accurately captures her joy and love of God,” he told me. He offered to send me the book and upon receiving it, I knew immediately that I wanted to read her words for Season 5. It’s different than anything else I’ve read, so far. This book is a collection of her letters sent to her daughters throughout her numerous travels. It’s such a unique glimpse into the day-to-day activities and thoughts of a saint. This isn’t a book about high theology or conversations with God, but instead, a more personal look at the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. Season 5 will be a bit different and I’ll explain more as we get closer to starting. We won’t be starting until February 1st, 2025 as I want to have a short break between Season 4 and 5. You are really going to enjoy this book. I hope you join me, Catholic Pilgrims. St. Frances Cabrini, pray for us!
I had a full house this weekend. It was wonderful. Both my daughters were home. My husband was doing a special project with a company and so we had a bunch of young guys here—smart entrepreneurial types. At one point, my daughter started having a conversation with a moral relativist and one of the things he said was that he didn’t believe that you could fully say if something was right or wrong. This is cowardice and as someone who has worked with kids that were sexual abused it enrages me. He seriously can’t condemn sexual abuse, racism, murder, arson, and many other evils? Of course he would because any decent human being who isn’t a psychopath would say that those actions are morally reprehensible. So, why claim that you are a moral relativist? It all comes down to one thing: There is some vice/sin that they want to continue engaging in or supporting and because they don’t want to be called out, they feign a moral relativistic worldview. Connected to this would, also, be someone who has done something wrong and they don’t believe in Jesus’ love and mercy. Since they have done something wrong and don’t want to feel super bad about it, they don’t want to say that others do anything bad. You may not know what it is that they want to engage in or what they have engaged in, but it’s there. The truth is, is that nobody really lives as if they believe everyone should just go around doing whatever they feel is right. Nobody lives as if there should be no standard of right and wrong. Nobody. Yet, many adopt this attitude because of what they want to do that they know, deep down, is wrong. It’s a self-preservation tactic. There are morally right things and morally wrong. For the most part, it’s not too hard to figure out, except when our souls are heavy with sin. No matter what we’ve done, we can always turn to Christ and repent, Catholic Pilgrims, and that will always make us feel better. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday.
My undergrad is in criminology which falls under the sociology department. I had several female professors who were dyed-in-the wool feminists, but one in particular basically wanted the women in the class to hate men. Her and I went round and round. My Masters is in Applied Behavioral Science, which is just a fancy way of saying that I study criminal behavior. I specialized in sexual violence crimes. The professor that oversaw my thesis was a hard-core feminist. She was constantly giving me articles to read for my research from many man-hating feminists. I read so many and it became nauseating. Everything about men was evil according to these papers. Many of them even said that s€x between spouses could never possibly be good because the man always held the physical advantage. Best to be sexless, they claimed. Over and over, I read and was lectured on how men are bad. Men are awful. Men just want to hurt women. Even I, who had been hurt by two abusive boyfriends could see through all of this propaganda. There was no discernment of character. For these feminists, that are teaching young minds I might add, having XY chromosomes made you bad. All these professors, every one of them, was purposefully single, purposefully childless and not for some noble cause. They were also very bitter. I knew I never wanted to be like them. All over social media since Trump got elected, hundreds and hundreds of young feminists are in videos vowing to practice the b4 movement. This is a radical feminist movement that came out of South Korea where women refused to date men, have sexual relationships with men, enter heterosexual marriages, or have children. This is all in an effort to punish men. These videos are highly disturbing. This is what happens when you pit the sexes against each other. What a sad world it creates. Are there bad men out there? Yep. Are there bad women? Yep. But, it is not your sex that makes you bad. It’s your character. God created us male and female, Catholic Pilgrims. Therefore, neither sex can be intrinsically evil. Better to hold each other to high standards so as to build good character. And better to appreciate the good things each sex brings to the table than to refuse to acknowledge anything positive. Have a blessed Friday.
There was a time in my life where I was "lost" from God. I wasn't really lost, God knew where I was, but I wasn't among the fold. I sat this morning and thought about why I was lost for all those years. My conclusion, it was all my own doing. I was mad at God for not protecting me from an abusive boyfriend and his friends. The only logical thing to do, in my mind, was to sever ties. Crazy thing was, God let me go. Not because He wanted me to leave, but I think He knew that I needed to go be lost for awhile. I needed to see the consequences of removing myself Him. The ramifications of the decisions we make are sometimes the best teachers. So, I started out on my own, sure I could fix myself and all my pain without God. I didn't have a solid plan to fix the pain, but I was smart enough to figure it out for myself, I thought. For years, I just wandered around lost. Wounds in my soul festered and cut open pretty continually. I tried taping them shut with pleasures of the world and that held for a time. Kinda of like how a bandaid holds for half a day until it gets wet and then it's worthless. Anger, hatred, and self-loathing were the central emotions of my life. They were such a heavy burden. Until finally, nearly 14 years after my decision to make myself lost, Jesus finally broke through and said, "Are you ready to be done with this?" And I was ready. More than ready. Desperate actually. I had finally realized that being lost from God was not the answer. The crazy thing was, was that all I had to do was just turn around and there was Christ, waiting for me. There He was all along and I just had to say, "Okay, I'm tired of being lost." I will never ever forget my first confession. The heaving sobs and the flood of tears was the physical response of being found, or allowing myself to be found by Jesus. Relief has a funny way of showing itself sometimes. I was a hard-headed piece of work for most of my life. In many ways, I still am. That is probably why God knew I needed to be lost for a time so that I could see that my way was not the way. From all that, I learned with utter certainty, that I never want to be lost again, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank God, though, if for some reason I do, I just have to turn around and Christ is right there. Not only will He always come for us in this life, He will never leave us. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Thursday.
I love my country. I love my family. I adore and worship God and love Him. Last night was a good night. Remember, we are still called to be Saints, Catholic Pilgrims. Trump needs our help to restore excellence, sanity, security, and integrity to our great country. So, go out and live the Faith boldly and travel well.
On Saturday, my family visited St. Dominic’s in San Francisco. Sometimes we don’t even realize how thirsty we are for such beauty until we see it and it’s like our deprived soul comes back to life. It’s a foretaste of Heaven. “I have let my peace be disturbed by outside influences…too many things still upset this more exterior part of my soul and make it suffer. Worries, sad memories, an atmosphere of unbelief, indifference, or scorn…all this has battered me and knocked me to the ground, bruised like the gentle Savior.” —Servant of God Elisabeth Lesuer I don’t know what is going to happen today. I hate election season because it is a heavy weight that bears down nearly suffocating us. The hardest weight to bear is the loss of control we feel over it all. At Mass on Saturday, the priest said that he used to ask his students in high school if they wanted to be saints. And they all said no. They thought that being a saint would stifle who they really were and keep them from being their true selves. What a lie. This is the one thing we can control—whether we strive to be saints or not. Because to strive for sainthood doesn’t require perfect external conditions. Many saints worked and moved in terrible times. They didn’t need everything to feel good or be comfortable for them to bring the light of Christ into a dark world. In fact, many of them sought out the darkness in order to bring the light of Christ. Did they make a dent? To those they served, I think they did. We often wait with bated breath for someone else to fix all the problems, when really we just need to open ourselves up to allow God to work through us. No matter who gets elected today, the world will still need us to strive to be saints. It is our duty, Catholic Pilgrims, no matter who is in office, to bring truth, goodness, and beauty to a fallen world. Even if many in the world don’t realize how desperate they are for those things. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday. St. Michael, pray for us!
Yesterday, my oldest and my husband ran the Golden Gate Bridge Half Marathon in San Francisco. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day. As I was standing at the start line, watching the waves of runners go, a much older man came up to me and said, “I have a odd favor to ask of you.” I smiled hesitantly and said, “Okay.” “I didn’t realize that they would have us start in waves. Would you call my wife and let her know so that she doesn’t worry? She’s getting ready to come over soon. If I start fifteen minutes later than she thought I would, she will worry that I’m injured and I don’t want her to worry.” “Yes, I can call her and let her know,” I smiled back. So, he gave me her name and number and off he went. I called his wife and explained everything. She thanked me for letting her know. Later, as his wave of runners went by, he spotted me and yelled with a thumbs up, “Did you get her?!” I yelled back with a thumbs up, “Yes, she knows! It’s all good!” And off he went. It was a small interaction but as I thought about it and this husband’s request, he was essentially asking me to help him love his wife well. What an honor to be brought in, even if briefly, to that moment. St Paul says the Philippians, “Humbly regard others as more important than yourselves.” Here was this husband getting ready to run a hard race and, yet, his main concern was for his wife. He didn’t want her to worry. That’s how I knew he loved her very much and all it took was a one minute conversation. Have a beautiful and blessed day, Catholic Pilgrims.
.png)
.png)
.png)