Imagine a son, brother, husband, or father sitting alone in the quiet of night, illuminated only by a screen. His heart feels empty, yet his body is drawn into patterns of desire that leave him unsatisfied. In the aftermath comes a heavy wave of shame, self-disgust, and a deep sense that he is unworthy — of love, of God’s mercy, of authentic relationship with others.
This suffering rarely remains isolated. A wife senses his emotional distance, his children feels the subtle fracture in family life, and friends notice a growing withdrawal. And if he’s honest, he knows the isolation is killing him. Pornography and unchaste behaviors do not confine their harm to one soul; they erode trust in marriages, distort perceptions of the opposite sex, and leave children in homes shadowed by unspoken pain and secrecy.
Many who struggle carry invisible burdens — guilt, shame, and inner voices insisting they are beyond repair or unlovable. They long for freedom, yet repeated efforts and failures deepen despair. Dear brother deacons, you have likely encountered this pain: in spiritual direction and in the quiet struggles of parishioners, family members, or friends. Perhaps you have seen joy fade from someone’s eyes when conversations grow guarded. This issue is real and the wounds are legion.
Why This Pain Persists: A Violation of God-Given Dignity
Attachment to pornography and the unchaste behaviors that flow from these behaviors arise from a fundamental distortion of our creation as male and female. We are made in God’s image to love as He loves through self-gift. Our sexuality is integral to this call: not merely an act, but who we are as embodied persons oriented toward communion.
As the Catechism teaches: “Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others” (CCC 2332).
When pornography redirects sexuality toward selfish gratification rather than self-donation, it brings not peace or joy, but guilt, shame, and alienation from self and others. Life is relational; anything that hinders authentic communion wounds the person at the core and the damage is inflicted in a myriad of ways.
The Broader Stakes: Protecting the Domestic Church
The family, rooted in sacramental marriage, is society’s fundamental cell — a visible icon of the Holy Trinity’s love. Through our bodies and vocations, we are called to reflect Trinitarian communion. The evil one, hating all that images God, attacks this foundation relentlessly. Pornography serves as a potent weapon, preventing marriages from forming, eroding existing ones, and distorting the next generation’s understanding of love.
Recent data from the Barna Group (2024) indicates that approximately 75% of Christian men and nearly 30% of Christian women report some level of pornography consumption. In a gathering of ten men, roughly seven or eight may carry this struggle; among ten women, three may as well. These numbers reveal a widespread challenge with serious consequences.
For men, pornography often fosters inward self-focus rather than self-giving protection and love. For women, it can falsely teach that their value lies solely in providing pleasure. When men and women fail to see and love each other in truth, marriages suffer, families weaken, and society bears a heavy cost. A 2003 survey of divorce attorneys found pornography a contributing factor in over half of cases, often due to unrealistic expectations that undermine marital intimacy and foster comparisons incompatible with sacrificial love. And with cell phones found in countless bedrooms, the gulch is widening between spouses who are both seeking genuine intimacy.
The lie persists that private behavior remains private. Yet what we consume shapes how we see and treat others — as objects rather than persons made in God’s image. This especially harms children: recent studies place the average age of first exposure around 8-11 years of age, and today’s content is often aggressive and enslaving. Pornography has become the primary “sexual education” for far too many young people, with lasting effects on formation, behavior, and future leadership.
Human trafficking, a related scourge fueled in part by this distorted view of the human person, generates enormous illicit profits (estimated in the hundreds of billions annually). No one begins life desiring such evil; it is learned, often through the normalization of objectification. This distorted “education” about sexuality and the body comes directly from the pornified culture, and the innocent are directly in danger of being harmed by such programmed behaviors.
The Pastoral Urgency for Deacons and the Church
Pornography ranks among the most frequently confessed sins, yet it is infrequently addressed from the pulpit. Many priests acknowledge the issue in the confessional but hesitate to preach on it — perhaps because estimates suggest a significant portion of clergy struggle as well. This is heartbreaking, as those called to lead must themselves seek healing in order to shepherd with integrity.
In 2019, a pew research survey found that only about 3% of self-reporting U.S. Catholics who attend Sunday Mass regularly affirmed the Church’s teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is a significant problem, yet it makes sense: for how can we recognize Christ truly present in the Eucharist if we are conditioned not to see the dignity of the human body and soul in those around us? The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Faith; yet without clear vision of persons as beloved children of God, we cannot perceive the God-man veiled in this Sacrament.
Hope and Healing: Freedom Coaching as a Catholic Response
We believe the Gospel is for all of us, and calls us to receive the gift of redemption. I speak from personal experience: after more than a decade of bondage to pornography, God’s grace brought freedom I never imagined possible (see my book Redeemed Vision: Setting the Blind Free from the Pornified Culture for my full testimony, along with tremendous pastoral guidance on this issue). What started as personal healing has become a full-blown mission to liberate others.
In 2011, Freedom Coaching was founded as an authentically Catholic apostolate and nonprofit. We accompany men and women toward permanent freedom from pornography and unchaste behaviors through transformation of mind, heart, and vision. Unlike approaches focused solely on coping mechanisms, we address root wounds, inviting clients to encounter Jesus Christ the Healer, and then provide them the human and spiritual formation to abide in lifelong freedom.
Our process unfolds in four stages:
Reintegration — Processing emotions tied to past brokenness, we introduce clients to Jesus as the Divine psychologist, often with profound graces and messages being imparted.
Neuroscience — Understanding the brain science of attachment, showing why mere willpower is insufficient, and why a different path for lasting healing is necessary.
Identity Formation — Through the lens of Theology of the Body, clients rediscover their identity as a beloved son or daughter, and then empowered to foster authentic intimacy with God, self, and others.
Vision Coaching — Learning to see others through the education in art and beauty; scales fall from client’s eyes and lust gives way to genuine love.
This work bears fruit beyond stopping sin: clients begin truly seeing the homeless, the barista at their local coffeeshop, their spouse, and their children with reverence. It is this redeemed vision that transforms culture and is what helps make Christ’s reign visible.
Testimonies abound. Here are a few:
Jim (2014): “Freedom Coaching has completely freed me from a desire to lust. I can now be honest with myself and others.”
Fr. Jim (2020): “The process was very supportive in growing in holiness.The power of the evil one was broken. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”
John (2021): “Freedom Coaching very well may have saved my soul. It has changed my relationship with my wife and given me a newly found respect for all females.”
Freedom Coaching enjoys endorsements from Catholic leaders, including Christopher West of the Theology of the Body Institute, various bishops, and recognition as an official apostolate of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. (I encourage you to visit freedom-coaching.net for more testimonies.)
A call to Deacons: become allies in this battle
The call to live an integrated sexuality is the battle of our time, for it is the primary wound undergirding many societal wounds and profoundly decimates one’s capacity to receive and give love. The need is urgent: souls seek help, priests desire resources, youth need protection. But there is hope: At Freedom Coaching, we have witnessed shame transform into dignity, marriages strengthen, and priests renewed.
We invite you, dear deacons, to join us as allies:
Pray for our coaches, clients, donors, and all involved.
Share our resources — ministry cards are available to you, and your priests for the confessional, at no cost.
Support financially if God prompts — scholarships ensure no one seeking help is turned away. Your generosity helps save marriages, restore fathers, protect children, and renew vocations (including creating more deacons!).
I started this article with a description of man trapped in shame. Now picture that same man standing in light, hand-in-hand with his child, meeting his wife’s eyes with honesty, & entering his parish with hope. This transformation is possible through Jesus Christ and the work we do at Freedom Coaching.
The hour is late, yet as long as we trust in Jesus and respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, healing awaits. Let us work together to unveil the reality of mercy, truth, hope, and a redeemed vision of the human person.
Steve Pokorny is the Founder of Freedom Coaching, a one-to-one mentoring system designed to break the power of pornified images in both men and women. His book, Redeemed Vision: Setting the Blind Free from the Pornified Culture, is available from Amazon.
The leaders of our local Patchogue Prayer Meeting produce a PODCAST each week. I would like to recommend it to you. They talk about real life issues of living out our Catholic faith by sharing stories and experiences as well as teaching moments. To me, the thing that makes them stand out is the range in ages from teenage to Grown Adults. I asked them to write a short description and to give links to their podcast. Please find that here:
The Open Doors Podcast is a local Long Island–based, Catholic faith-centered podcast rooted in Christian testimony, reflection, and honest conversation. Through real-life stories of trials and triumphs, the podcast creates space for listeners to encounter God’s presence in everyday moments—especially when faith feels messy, uncertain, or difficult to articulate. Its mission is to encourage deeper trust in Christ and remind listeners that they are not alone on their spiritual journey.
The podcast is hosted by four voices from different seasons of life: Marissa (36), Janine (49), her son James (15), and Ivette (25), from Spain. Together, they offer an intergenerational perspective on faith, family, doubt, perseverance, and grace. Their conversations are intentionally relatable and welcoming, with a special heart for those who may feel disconnected, overlooked, or unsure if they truly belong within the Church.
At its core, The Open Doors Podcast exists to support evangelization by welcoming all—especially those searching for meaning, healing, and belonging. Select episodes are also available in Spanish, helping to reach listeners who feel more comfortable engaging in their native language. Wherever someone finds themselves on their faith journey, the podcast seeks to remind them that God meets them exactly where they are—and that the door is always open.
Most of us desire true happiness and true peace and true joy in our lives. It is only right to desire it.. I also think that God desires the same for us; afterall, we are His children. But truthfully, often life is filled with a great deal of suffering. Also, some people have more suffering than others and we can’t help but to wonder why. The Church tells us that suffering is a consequence of Original Sin. I think that the Catholic Church is one of the few, if not only, religious body to have significant answers as to why we suffer, and more importantly, how we deal with suffering.
The Catholic Faith teaches us that there are two main attitudes towards suffering. First of all it says that we must do all that we can to try to prevent and alleviate the suffering of others. We are called by Jesus to reach out to those who suffer by feeding the poor, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger (or those who feel alone), clothing the poor, caring for the sick and visiting those in prison (Matthew 25: 31-46). He also tells us to bring the Good News to those who haven’t heard it. The scriptures are filled with examples of Jesus taking away the suffering of others.
The second attitude toward suffering relates to our own suffering and how we are called to handle it. As much as the scriptures are filled with how Jesus alleviates the suffering of others, it is also filled with how He Himself has suffered. Jesus was often mistreated, humiliated, and given terrible physical suffering. If Jesus endured suffering, why should we think that we won’t? This article is based upon dealing with the sufferings that may befall us.
All of the suffering that we endure must also consider the suffering that Jesus endured. It is in His suffering, that we can make sense of our own suffering. As a matter of fact, the Church invites us to unite our suffering to the suffering of Jesus, and in doing so see how we participate in making a change to this world and to ourselves. The suffering of Jesus on the cross, can show us how to endure our own suffering and turn it towards the redemption of the world. Jesus was the redeemer and source of all redemption, but we can join our suffering to His to continue His redemption for all peoples. St. Paul even goes so far as to say that, “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the Church”. (Corinthians 1:24) It should be noted that St. Paul suffered greatly, He was beaten, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked and came close to dying several times. He also had is own “thorn in the flesh”. We do not know what that was, but we do know that he cried out to God several times to remove it due to the pain it caused him.
St. Paul tells us that God allows us to endure suffering and causes us to benefit from that suffering. He says in Romans 5: 3-1 that suffering produces endurance which builds character which leads us in to HOPE. This combination of enduring suffering while embracing hope helps us realize that our source of strength is God Himself. It helps us to acknowledge our total dependance upon God. Paul goes on to tell us that his suffering has him “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses” and to see that in his own weaknesses, the strength of God shines forth. In Galations St. Paul says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… Let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus”. The “marks of Jesus” were probably scars from all his own beatings but some wonder if St. Paul was the first to receive the stigmata.
St. Paul wasn’t the only one who talked about suffering. St. James tells us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1: 2-4). St, Peter says, “However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear this name”.(1Peter 4:16). He again adds, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will and continue to do good, entrust their souls to a faithful Creator” (1Peter 4:19). St. Peter also tells us, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, and strengthen you” (1 Peter 5:10). St. Timothy says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). St. John, in his Gospel has Jesus saying, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”. There is no doubt that suffering is a part of the Christian life in this world.
Many of the early Christians suffered greatly, some to the point of dying for the faith.. Those that did die for the faith, the martys, have always been seen by the Church to be special people to God. Many of the Saints suffered and I thought that it would be good to include some quotes from them.
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity says, “For my heart is always with Him, day and night it thinks unceasingly of its heavenly and divine Friend, to whom it wants to prove its affection. Also within it arises this desire: not to die, but to suffer long, to suffer for God, to give Him its life while praying for poor sinners.”
St, Ignatius of Loyola adds, “If God sends you many sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for you and certainly wants to make you a saint.”
St. John of the Cross tells us, “The road is narrow. He who wishes to travel it more easily must cast off all things and use the cross as his cane. In other words, he must be truly resolved to suffer willingly for the love of God in all things.”
St. Faustina, who gave us the devotion to the Divine Mercy says, “In order to purify a soul, Jesus uses whatever instruments he likes. My soul underwent a complete abandonment on the part of creatures; often my best intentions were misinterpreted by the sisters, a type of suffering which is most painful; but God allows it, and we must accept it because in this way we become more like Jesus.”
St. Madeline (Sophie Barat) says, “As iron is fashioned by fire and on the anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive that form which our Lord desires them to have.”
St. Ignatius of Loyola again adds, “ If God gives you an abundant harvest of trials, it is a sign of great holiness which He desires you to attain. Do you want to become a great saint? Ask God to send you many sufferings. The flame of Divine Love never rises higher than when fed with the wood of the Cross, which the infinite charity of the Savior used to finish His sacrifice. All the pleasures of the world are nothing compared with the sweetness found in the gall and vinegar offered to Jesus Christ. That is, hard and painful things endured for Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ.”
St, Theresa of Avila tells us, “Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.”
St. Faustina again says, “Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Saviour; in suffering love becomes crystallised; the greater the suffering, the purer the love.”
St. Therese of Lisieux told her novices, “I always want to see you behaving like a brave soldier who does not complain about his own suffering but takes his comrades’ wounds seriously and treats his own as nothing but scratches.”
St. Francis de Sales tells us, “All the science of the Saints is included in these two things: To do, and to suffer. And whoever had done these two things best, has made himself most saintly.”
Even Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, suffered. The prophet Simeon foretold Mary’s Suffering when he said to her, “a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Luke 2:35).
The list of quotes could go on and on.
It is so important for us to see that suffering, as much as we don’t necessarily desire it, can cause many good things to happen.
1 – It joins us to the redemptive suffering of Jesus when offered up to Him.
2 – It is a means for us to grow spiritually.
3 – It can allow us to bring about a greater good.
4 – It can reveal God’s presence to us.
5 – It can help us gain courage and endurance.
6 – It helps us appreciate the suffering that Jesus did for us.
7 – It can help us to have greater love and compassion for others.
Our Catholic faith tells us that Suffering is a Consequence of Original Sin. It isn’t something that God gives us. HOWEVER, God can use it to better us and to bring us closer to Him. All that we have to do is let Him.
First of all, this is not a political article, it is simply about the death of a great American Christian evangelist and his impact on so many. His assassination on September 10, 2025 brought widespread sadness to so many people. I watched his memorial service on September 21 and was shocked at two things. First of all, it was a huge service with over 100,000 people attending, including the President and most of his Cabinet. Secondly, it seemed more like an Evangelical praise and worship meeting, than a funeral service. Also, I have never seen so many government officials give testimony to their faith in Jesus. I think that the reason for this was that even though Charlie Kirk was known as a Conservative political activist, I believe that his deepest convictions lay in his Christian faith and his desire to spread the Good News. He himself, when asked what he would like to be remembered for, or what his legacy was, said, “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith That would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith”. When asked of his goal of teaching conservatism to people, he said, “You have to try to point them toward ultimate purposes and toward getting back to the church, getting back to faith, getting married, having children. That is the type of conservatism that I represent, and I’m trying to paint a picture of virtue, of lifting people up, not just staying angry.” That is the role of a Christian Evangelist.
The slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was “a modern-day St. Paul,” New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said in a Sept. 19 appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “He was a missionary, he’s an evangelist, he’s a hero,” he said. “He’s one, I think, who knew what Jesus meant when he said, ‘The truth will set you free.’”
The Cardinal was not familiar with Kirk before his shooting, but when he heard about it, and the tremendous outpouring of grief about it he said, “I thought, ‘I’ve got to learn about this guy,’ and the more I learned about him, I thought, ‘this guy’s a modern-day St. Paul,’” “Now I understand he was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct. He didn’t try to avoid any controversy, he didn’t even try to avoid confrontation,” he said. “The difference is the way, the mode, the style that he did it — always with respect (for his opponents) and not only was that a gracious, kind of virtuous thing to do, it’s effective. … I thought this guy can teach us something.” I agree so much with the good Cardinal. The Cardinal went on saying Kirk “wasn’t afraid to talk about the Lord. He wasn’t even afraid to say the name of Jesus,” Cardinal Dolan said, adding, “I heard Billy Graham once say, ‘I will never publicly speak without saying the name of Jesus because that name has power and it echoes through the universe.’ And apparently, that’s what Charlie did.” Dolan said he had spent the previous evening with about 200 students at the New York University Catholic Center and “this is what they talked about.” He said he is seeing a return to religion among young people, who, he thinks, are feeling there’s “something missing … a void,” despite their jobs and success. There’s a “kind of a revival” of “a sense of value and truth and conviction” among young people, he said, “almost an elevation of the role of faith back into the public square where our founders intended it to be from the beginning.” “This overwhelming sense of appreciation for Charlie and the great solidarity that we’re sensing is itself an answer to prayers and is itself a sign of the Resurrection,” he said. “I would reckon,” the cardinal added, “that some people are saying, ‘Well, you’re saying too many nice things about him (Kirk).’ I don’t know him that well, but I am sure if he was a convinced disciple of Jesus Christ, he knew his sins. Jesus knew them.” He praised Kirk’s debate style — respecting those who disagreed with him and those he disagreed with. The focus of healthy debate, the cardinal said, must be “issues not individuals, principles not just politics, principles not people. The weakest of all arguments, you know, is ad hominem, when you begin to attack the person.”
I agree with our good Cardinal. Whether you agreed with Charlie Kirk on his political beliefs, or not, there is no doubt that he led many young people to Jesus and back to their church. I have now watched several of his video appearances and have been amazed at how much he talked about Jesus and his faith. He has done several interviews and has impressed so many people, both religious and not, with his faith.
R.C. Bishop Robert Barron said, “I first met Charlie Kirk about four years ago when I was in Phoenix for a speaking engagement. He reached out and invited me to breakfast. I was deeply impressed by him that day. He was a man of great intelligence, considerable charm, and real goodness of heart I reconnected with him just last year, after I saw him debate twenty-five young people who were, to put it mildly, hostile to his views. I texted him that I was so struck by how he kept his cool and his charitable attitude in the face of some pretty obnoxious opposition. I then asked him to appear as a guest on my interview program, “Bishop Barron Presents,” and he eagerly accepted my invitation. He was scheduled to come to Rochester, Minnesota in about ten days. The last contact we had was two nights ago. After I appeared on one of the evening news shows to talk about the Religious Liberty Commission, he texted me and told me how much he appreciated what I said and then added, “I’m excited to join you on your show soon. God bless you.” That last sentence shows what was most important to Charlie. He was indeed a great debater and also one of the best advocates in our country for civil discourse, but he was, first and last, a passionate Christian. In fact, when we had that breakfast in Phoenix, we didn’t talk much about politics. We talked about theology, in which he had a deep interest, and about Christ. I know I’m joining millions of people around the world in praying that he rests now in the peace of the Lord. The assassination of Charlie Kirk kept him from going on Bishop Barron’s show. I would have loved to see that.
Another Catholic, Alex Jones who is the co-founder of the Prayer app, HALLOW, said that Kirk had contacted him recently and told him that he used HALLOW as a prayer app. Jones said that Kirk “was so kind to me; a brother in Christ.” Jones said that in the week following Charlie Kirk’s death, the HALLOW app saw a 95 percent increase in new users.
Charlie Kirk worked with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Author and speaker, who said, “I am devastated by the tragic murder of my friend Charlie Kirk. Charlie was not only a fearless voice for America but also a tireless advocate for Israel’s safety and security. We worked together, shoulder to shoulder, as activists committed to strengthening the bond between these two great allies. I’ve been looking back through our many text messages, especially from the days of the first Trump administration, when I strongly encouraged him to ensure that Turning Point USA and young American conservatives fully grasped the threats against Israel. Charlie responded as a devout Christian with passion and conviction, emerging as one of Israel’s leading defenders in the United States. His courage, friendship, and unwavering voice will be deeply missed. America is becoming a sewer of anti-American hatred and anti-Israel violence. Those fomenting that hatred against Jews and their steadfast allies like Charlie Kirk have blood on their hands tonight. May his memory be a blessing.
When Charlie Kirk met with Bill Maher, who was raised in a Catholic/Jewish household and has declared himself an atheist or at least a skeptic, Kirk told Maher, “”The greatest minds of history have been mesmerized by the Scriptures — Isaac Newton, Thomas Aquinas. Isaac Newton wrote more about biblical prophecy than even physics. And so there’s something about the Scriptures that are intellectual, that does push your limits. And that’s what I think is so beautiful about our faith is it can be accessible to everyone, but also infinitely nourishing in exploration.” He went on to say, “In China and, of course, in the Soviet Union, there was an anti-Christian movement. Very hardcore. …What book do you think is best for humanity to live by? I say the Bible. … The entire arc of the Bible is a story of love and a need for humanity’s redemption. …The Bible has wisdom in ways you might not ever imagine. …Humanity will seek to find a book, they’ll seek to find a code to live by.” After Charlie Kirk’s death, Bill Mayer said, “Charlie Kirk and I certainly didn’t agree on much politically, but he sat here, he’s a human being, he’s not a monster,” Maher said. “And I liked him.”
There is no doubt that Charlie, and his evangelical love of God and preaching touched many people. He definitely is responsible for drawing many young people back to Jesus and back to Church. Charlie himself, knew what growth in faith was all about. He was initially brought up by his parents in the Presbyterian Church. They later became Evangelicals and Charlie was definitely an Evangelical Christian. He did, however marry a woman, Erika, who was brought up by Roman Catholic parents and who attended Catholic school. It would appear that she and Charlie shared a deep faith commitment to each other and that a little of each other’s faith rubbed out on each. There are some insiders who say that Erika attends Catholic mass often and there are pictures of Charlie and her and the family at mass. There are pictures of them at mass at St. Bernadette parish in Scottsdale, AZ and at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Charlie told others that the pastor at St. Bernadette’s was a good friend of his.
Edgar Lujano, of Catholic Answers, tells us that a little more than a week before his murder, Kirk attended a pro-life prayer breakfast in Visalia, California, which is in the Diocese of Fresno. The local bishop was among those in attendance and had a brief, private moment with Kirk. It was there that Kirk told the bishop about his Catholic wife and children and how he attended Mass with them. He punctuated this conversation with “I love my Catholic pastor.” As they were parting to attend the more public portion of the prayer breakfast, Kirk mentioned speculation regarding his contemplating entering the Catholic Church, saying: “I’m this close.”
There are some friends who say that Charlie would even pray the rosary on occasion. In one of his video shows he said, “But let me first say, I think we as Protestants and Evangelicals under-venerate Mary. She was very important. She was a vessel for our Lord and Savior.” “I think that we, as Evangelicals and Protestants, we’ve overcorrected. We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough. Mary was clearly important to early Christians. There’s something there. In fact, I believe one of the ways that we fix toxic feminism in America is that Mary is the solution.” “Have more young ladies be pious, be reverent, be full of faith, slow to anger, slow to words at times. Mary is a phenomenal example, and I think a counter to so much of the toxicity of feminism in the modern era.”
In an interview with Russell Brand in 2024, Charlie said, “I mean, I’m nothing without Jesus. I’m a sinner. I fall incredibly short of the glory of God. We all do. I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade, and it’s the most important decision I’ve ever made, and everything I do incorporates Jesus Christ.” On September 6, 2025, four days before his murder, Charlie said, “Jesus defeated death so you can live.”
Pastor Rob McCoy, Co-chair of Turning Point Faith said, “Charlie did not die. Instead, he has begun to truly live. His life was secured eternally by His Savior Jesus Christ. This truth allowed Charlie to face every threat with courage because he didn’t fear death.” I do believe that Charlie is in a better place now. But what about those he left behind. He has a beautiful wife, Erika and two children. Erika is a strong woman, and strong in her faith, and has taken up the role of CEO of Turning Point, Charlie’s organization. She brought me to tears when at Charlie’s memorial service she publically said, “My husband Charlie, he wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life.” She then mentioned how Jesus, while on the cross, forgave those who were killing him and said that they don’t know what they do. She then said, “That young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and it is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from the Gospel is LOVE, and always love, love for our enemies, and those who persecute us.”. It seems that Erika is certainly a great choice to continue what Charlie had started. She has shown the world what true forgiveness as a Christian is all about. It is also interesting to know that membership in Turning Point, as well as attendance at the events they have held since the death of Charlie has grown tremendously.
Thank you Charlie for your faith and the way you shared it, especially with young people. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen”, “May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen”.
The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: THE CRUCIFIXION AND DEATH OF JESUS – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
All four Gospels tell us about the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus. Matthew and Mark have very similar accounts and Luke adds “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” as well as the story of the repentant thief to whom Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” John adds the story of Jesus giving His mother to John (and all of us) and her being given John (and us) as her children. John also adds the lines, “I thirst” and “It is finished”. These two remarks indicated that the Passover observance (The Last Supper) is finally done. When Jesus is given the sour wine, it marks the fourth cup of the Passover, the final cup. I would highly recommend reading Dr. Scott Hahn’s book, THE FOURTH CUP – Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross.
Jesus’ death on the cross is at the very heart of our Christian beliefs. We Catholics remember it every time we celebrate mass. St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” Quite simply, Jesus’ death on the cross was a sacrificial offering, which fulfilled scriptural prophecies and was done in atonement for our sins. The Fifth Mystery is truly one that we should meditate on frequently and celebrate often. Remembering the death of Jesus, on the cross is central to our Catholic belief and something that we should often ponder, especially by attending mass.
I once saw a medical presentation of what the human body has to go through when it is being crucified. Suffice it to say that Jesus suffered so much for us. He persevered through it all even offering forgiveness to those who were persecuting Him. He also thought enough to make sure that His mother, Mary was taken care of and that she would be linked to us as our mother too. Jesus was driven by His mission to set all of us free. He knew that His death (and Resurrection) was needed to allow all of us, as God’s children, to be given the gift of immortal life with Him and the Father.
As I once said before, a protestant friend of mine told me that he did not like to see the corpus of Jesus on a cross, because Jesus had resurrected from the dead. I reminded him that the very ACT of Jesus dying on the cross is what gave us our salvation. He suffered and died for us. We can never forget what He did for us. St. Paul tells us that he preaches Christ crucified. We as Catholics, fully knowing that Jesus rose from the dead, also preach the crucifixion of Jesus. We must never forget that Jesus suffered terribly on a cross, for our salvation.
Questions to Ponder:
1 – How often do I think about the suffering of Jesus on the Cross?
2 – Do I have some form of penance that I do on Friday to remember that Jesus died for me?
3 – Have I learned to persevere in those things that I know I should do?
4 – Am I good at forgiving people who hurt me?
5 – Do I see the Blessed Virgin Mary as my mother?
6 – Do I try to strenthen my relationship with Mary and Jesus and the Church?
7 – Do I truly believe that Jesus offers us the gift of eternal life with Him?
8 – Do I proudly display the Crucifix on my person and in my home?
9 – Do I tell others that Jesus died for all of us and offers us eternal life?
10 – Do I attend mass at least every Sunday (or Saturday evening)?
All four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell us about Jesus carrying the cross. The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us that Simon of Cyrene was chosen to help Jesus carry the cross. John does not mention Simon. Mark alone tells us that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. This detail would make us think that the early Church knew who Alexander and Rufus were, and indeed later scripture does mention Rufus. Simon was from northern Africa in what is today Libya. You can’t help but to consider that his being selected, out of the blue, made a total change in his life. This experience must have made him become a follower of Jesus. Undoubtedly he brought his children in to the WAY too.
John, in his Gospel, tells us that Jesus carried His own cross, but the witness of the Synoptic writers can’t help us but to consider that Jesus had reached the point of pure exhaustion when carrying His cross and could not do it by himself. The Roman soldiers wanted to do what they were ordered to do; to Crucify Jesus. They knew that He needed help to get to Golgotha and thus they ordered Simon of Cyrene to help Him. One can only imagine what Jesus suffered in this ordeal. Remember that he had been beaten and whipped and thus in great pain. Now He had to carry a heavy large beam that was to be His cross, His instrument of torture. Along with the physical pain, He had to endure the mockery of the crowds. He had to also see His Mother Mary, and his disciples and friends, watching Him suffer so much. It must have been such a long and hard road for Him to travel to Golgotha.
I can’t help but to wonder if His friends and disciples remembered how Jesus had earlier told them how they had to pick up their own cross to follow Him. All of them would be used to seeing the crucifixions that were too often used by the Romans to show their power. They knew that a crucifixion was a very painful sacrifice that led to death. Now they had to watch their own leader, their Jesus, walk to His own crucifixion. Did they think that the same thing might happen to them? Did they know that following Jesus would mean that they had to endure hardship, suffering and perhaps even death? Did they have any idea that this terrible sacrifice and suffering would lead to eternal life?
Jesus himself, in His humanity, must have wondered this too. Did the human side of Jesus know that someday His followers would see the cross as the instrument of their salvation? Did he, and His followers know that they would sign themselves with the cross? Did they know that they would have the cross mounted on their walls of their homes and made in to jewelry to wear around their necks? Soon St. Paul would, be saying, “I PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, a stumbling block to many but THE POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD”. To this day, on Good Friday, when we recognize the day when Jesus was crucified, we kiss the cross and say, Behold the Wood of the Cross, on Which was Hung Our Salvation. Truly, this instrument of torture has become the instrument of our salvation.
Questions to Ponder:
1 – Have I really considered how much Jesus suffered for me?
2 – Have I thanked Him for all that He has done for me?
3 – Do I have my own personal cross in my life?
4 – Have I been able to unite my own suffering with the suffering of Jesus?
5 – Do I truly believe that my own cross will lead me to something quite beneficial?
6 – Have I ever been like Simon of Cyrene and helped someone carry their own cross?
7 – Have I ever suffered because of my love of Jesus or for preaching His Good News?
8 – Do I have the cross placed in several prominent places in my home?
9 – Am I ever ashamed to wear a cross?
10 – Do I honor the cross not only on Good Friday, but on every Friday?
Matthew, Mark and John all tell us of the Crowning of Thorns. They describe how Jesus was put in to a purple cloak (symbolizing Kingship) and had a crown of thorns placed upon His head. They also placed a staff (or reed) in His right hand and knelt before Him saying, “All Hail, King of the Jews” To continue their mockery, the spat upon Him and hit Him upon the head with the staff. They then took off His purple cloak.
None of us want to be mocked, and if we have, we know how difficult it is on us.. Here is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, being mocked by the soldiers. How emotionally difficult that must have been for Jesus. People can be so cruel and the Roman soldiers were known for their cruelty. The mocking must have been so intense. There was also serious physical pain. The pain from the Crown of Thorns pushing in to Jesus, as well as the pain from being hit by the staff must have been terrible.
When I went on a pilgrimage tour of Israel, I vividly remember how our bus driver stopped the bus and the tour guide ran out to bring back a branch of thorn bush that grows there. He said this is what was woven in to a crown and placed upon Jesus head. He passed it around the bus and I was shocked to see how long, hard and sharp the thorns were. He also said that the Roman soldiers did much more than just “place” the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, the forced it down in to the skin to cause a great deal of pain. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for Jesus. The absolute pain that He endured for us!
It is so very important that we take time, as often as we can, to remember all that Jesus suffered for us. Many of our hymns reflect this. One of my favorites is “See the Destined Day Arise “ originally written by Venantius Fortunatus in 569. Here is one verse:
Who but Christ had dared to drain, steeped in gall, the cup of pain, And with tender body bear thorns, and nails, and piercing spear? Slain for us, the water flowed, mingled from your side with blood; Sign to all attesting eyes of the finished sacrifice.
The sacrifice of Jesus on Good Friday was indeed a sacrifice of great physical and emotional pain. He did it all for us!
Questions to Ponder:
1 – Do I try to always make Jesus my King, and follow Him?
2 – Do I meditate on, and appreciate all the He did for me?
3 – How did I feel when I was mocked?
4 – When I was mocked, was I able to peaceably receive it without lashing out?
5 – Have I made sacrifices to help others?
6 – When I have been in pain, either physically or emotionally, have I joined it to Jesus’ pain?
7 – When I have been in pain, either physically or emotionally, have I offered it for others?
8 – Have I confessed for any times that I mocked others and caused them pain?
9 – In my own sufferings, do I see God at work in and through me?
10 – Take a moment to meditate on the words of St. Maximillian Kolbe: “For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more”.
All three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) as well as John’s gospel tell of how Jesus was tortured in one way or another before being crucified, Matthew and Mark and John mention that Jesus was scourged, or flogged. Luke says that He was punished. The mention of the pillar is not in scripture, however, it was common Roman practice to strip a man before crucifixion and to tie him to a pillar and then to whip him. Also, Church tradition not only tells us that he was tied to a pillar, but the Church is in possession of the pillar that Jesus was whipped on. The Roman’s were very good at inflicting pain, and there is no doubt that Jesus suffered greatly here, even to pealing off of his back skin. The scourging was done with a flagrum, which is a leather whip with three or more leather tails that had plumbatae (small metal balls or sheep bones) attached to the end of each tail. These not only inflicted great pain, but also would rip open the skin. Jesus suffered greatly from this scourging.
When the Romans tortured Jesus, they did so in front of the public on the very streets that Jesus walked, teached and healed people. Mel Gibson, in his movie about the PASSION of Jesus, delivers the scourging scene that makes even the most hardened of hearts, cringe from the pain that Jesus suffered. There is no doubt that the pain that Jesus felt during this scourging was immense. On top of that immense physical pain, I can just imagine the emotional pain that Jesus felt. Here were the people that Jesus was dying for, now mocking him. Here were His children, whom He loved so much, giving Him terrible pain. He must have seen his own mother, Mary as well as His disciples gathered around watching Him be scourged. How difficult, emotionally, that must have been on Jesus.
Jesus knew that He was on the way to be crucified and how painful that was going to be. Now He had to suffer the agonizing pain of being scourged. We cannot forget that as painful as the actual crucifixion was, there was so much pain leading up to it. When we think about how Jesus was BOTH, human and divine, we have to realize that THE WORD, the second person of the Holy Trinity bore suffering for us. He suffered so that we could be saved and to show us the oceans of Mercy that He has for us. The Church is so right in asking us to do something special, every Friday (the day of the week that Jesus died) to help us remember His great love for us and the suffering that He endured for us. Before Vatican II we were asked to give up meat on Fridays, every Friday all year long. Vatican II took that obligation away, except for during Lent, BUT asked us to do something on our own to remember Friday as the day that Jesus suffered and died.
Questions to Ponder:
1 – Do I really appreciate all that Jesus did for me to give me His Salvation?
2 – When I have suffered either physically or emotionally, have I asked to unite it to Jesus’ suffering?
3 – Have I attended Stations of the Cross, during Lent?
4 – Do I thank God for all that He has done for me?
5 – Do I do something special every Friday to remember that Jesus suffered and died for me?
6 – Have I thought about the humanity of Jesus, as well as His Divinity?
7 – Do I do anything to help those who suffer throughout the world?
8 – Is there anything that I do that causes people to suffer?
9 – Do I attend mass regularly so as to be able to re-live what Jesus has done for me?
10 – Do I make use of the many resources the Church has, so as to learn more about Jesus?
The agony in the garden is found in all three synoptic gospels (Matt 26: 36-46, Mark 14: 32-42 and Luke 22: 39-46 as well as John 18: 1-12). The gospels tell us that Jesus, and His disciples, went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus asked his disciples to sit while He took Peter and James and John with Him to go pray. The gospels also tell us that as He prayed, he became quite distressed and told Peter and James and John to wait and watch as He got up to move and go pray by Himself for a while. We are then told that Jesus fell to the ground and asked the Lord to take this cup away from Him, if possible, but also said that God’s will was to be done. After some prayer, He went back to His disciples, Peter and James and John and found them to be asleep.
Jesus seems to be quite disappointed in their falling asleep and asked Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch, and pray that you may not enter in to temptation; the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, Jesus went off to pray by himself. He came back to find the three sleeping again and He said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come; The Son of man is betrayed in to the hands of sinners. Rise and let us be going, see, my betrayer is at hand.” At that time Judas came, and sealed his deal with a kiss.
How difficult it must have been for Jesus to know what would be happening to Him the next day. He knew of the horrors of crucifixion and knew that He would have to endure those horrors. Also, how difficult it must have been for Him to see that His closest disciples could not even stay awake to watch with Him and to offer Him comfort. He also had to experience one of His own twelve, Judas, betray Him with a kiss. It was such a difficult night for Jesus. It was pure agony for Him.
When we hear Jesus’ words to Peter, (The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak), we can’t help to think of the many times in our lives that we experienced the same thing. How often were we weak and committed sin? To know that Jesus endured the agony that He did, for our own sins, weighs hard upon us. Jesus, who was so filled with LOVE, had to endure so much SUFFERING and BETRAYAL because of US. Also, to know that He asked the Father to remove this cup from Him, if possible, but desiring to do God’s will, gives us a great example of our prayer for facing hard times. There is nothing wrong with asking to avoid a difficulty, but also to trust that God’s plan is so much better than ours. The agony that Jesus suffered in Gethsemane was so intense, that the scriptures tell us that He actually sweat out drops of blood. Jesus endured all this pain and suffering and agony for us.
Questions to ponder:
1 – Do I truly understand how much Jesus suffered for all of us?
2 – Am I sincerely sorrowful for my sins?
3 – Do I attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) regularly?
4 – Am I truly sorry for the ways that I personally have made Jesus disappointed in me?
5 – Do I truly pray for God’s will to be done, no matter what?
6 – Do I do everything I can to make the spirit stronger to deal with my weak flesh?
7 – When I do endure suffering and agony, do I unite it to Jesus’s suffering and agony?
8 – Am I thankful to God for sending me the friends who do “watch” with me?
9 – Am I a good friend who spends time with my friends in their hours of need?
10 – Do I do whatever I can to overcome my “weak flesh” and sin no more?
Both Matthew and Mark tell us of the first words of Jesus in His public ministry. They each differ slightly, but since bible scholars tell us that St. Mark wrote His Gospel before St. Matthew, I will start with his. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus starts His ministry by saying, “The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News!” St. Matthew shortens is by saying, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Both indicate the proclamation of the Kingdom. Throughout His ministry, Jesus often proclaims the Kingdom of God and as a matter of fact mentions it about 126 times within the Gospels. Matthew, being a good Jew and writing for Jewish readers uses Kingdom of Heaven instead of the Kingdom of God (Jews did not like to write the word, GOD). The Kingdom is most definitely a central theme of the Gospel message. Jesus lets us know about the riches of the Kingdom but also calls us to repent (conversion), so we can obtain it. This represents a significant shift from the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures), the emphasis is on the covenant that God made with the Jewish people and their call to follow it. In the Gospels, and the rest of the New Testament, the Kingdom now includes ALL peoples, not just the Jews. Jesus did place an emphasis on preaching to the Jews, but also indicated that ALL people would be included within the Kingdom. When the Apostles and followers of Jesus went out to proclaim the Kingdom, they were sent by Jesus to ALL the world. Before His Ascension in to Heaven, Jesus said in Matthew 28: 19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” This is known as the great commission from Jesus. Each and every one of us is called to proclaim the Good News.
The interesting thing about what Jesus proclaims to us about the Kingdom is that it is something for us to wait anxiously for, YET, it is here already. The fullness of the Kingdom has yet to come, however, we are receiving many of the fruits of the Kingdom right now. I personally see that in the presence of the Church. The Church is here for us now giving us abundant graces, yet it has not reached it fullness. Another example could be seen in how the night can be so dark, and then when at dawn the sun starts to come up, light is seen. Later on, when the full sun is seen, we have the fullness of light. We are now in the dawn of the Kingdom anxiously awaiting its fullness. Let us know reflect on this:
1 – Do I see myself as part of the Kingdom of God?
2 – Do I see the Church as the current representation of the Kingdom?
3 – Am I anxiously praying for the fullness of the Kingdom?
4 – Do I share with others the way God works in my life so as to proclaim the Kingdom?
5 – How am I doing in repenting of my sins?
6 – Do I regularly go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
7 – Have I consistantly supported those who are looking to have their children baptized?
8 – Have I encouraged non baptized and non confirmed adults to seek out their parish OCIA program?
9 – Do I regularly receive the graces given me by the Church (especially the Eucharist)?
10 – Do I try to preach the Good News to those people around me?
Many people ask, “Why did Jesus undergo Baptism by John?” It is obvious that the Baptism performed by John was one of repentance for SIN. Since Jesus did not sin, why would He consent to this baptism? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. His baptism even is a connection to his saving death and resurrection and unites us to that. Saint Paul tells us, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his [Rom. 6:3-5]. Jesus is the normative man; that is, we should do as Jesus does. The Catechism goes on to say, “Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and “walk in newness of life”
Just as the Baptism of Jesus was the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, our Baptism is the beginning of our walk with Him. The baptism that we follow in the Catholic Church is at the command of Jesus. Just before ascending in to heaven, Jesus told His disciples, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19). The Catholic Church follows this command, strictly. Let us take a moment to reflect on how this affects us.
1 – Have I been baptized in the Trinitarian formula (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)? If you were baptized in the Catholic Church, you were. If you were baptized in another faith, you many not have been. Check to see and if you were not, sign up for the Adult Christian Initiation classes in your church and be baptized as Jesus tells us to.
2 – Do I understand that my baptism marks me for all eternity as a follower of Jesus?
3 – Do I understand that my baptism means that I have been given a job to do, namely being like Jesus and telling others about HIM.
4 – Do I understand that when I was baptized, I received new birth and received the Holy Spirit (to be later given in fullness at Confirmation).
5 – Do I understand that my baptism has made me a child of God?
6 – Do I fully appreciate the humility that Jesus showed in being baptized?
7 – Do I treat the baptism of friends and relatives with the respect that it deserves?
8 – Do I understand that God has sanctified water and continually uses it to bring about His graces.
9 – Do I see other baptized people as my brother and sisters?
10 – Have I encouraged my friends and relatives to honor baptism,
The Church’s Liturgy of the Hours contains an Ancient Homily from an unknown writer. All clergy and religious read this every year. I personally think that it is so beautiful that everyone should have a chance to read it. For that reason, I am including it here:
The Lord’s descent into Hell
Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell.
Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.
On January 25th I wrote about the conversion of St. Paul and how he went from being a good Jew who persecuted Christians to being a Christian himself. This was a major change and a significant conversion experience. For most of us, our conversion is not as dramatic as St. Paul’s. However, I do believe that we are all in need of continual conversion and Lent is the perfect time to do this. By continual conversion (or ongoing conversion) I mean that we recognize that conversion is an ongoing process where we hear the call of Jesus to be more like him. We don’t do this all at once, it takes time and effort to even try to be more like him. As Christians, we have the responsibility to follow our Lord Jesus and to try, to the best we can, to be Christ-like. I cannot think of any better time than Lent to try to accomplish this.
The last three weeks we have looked at the three pillars (or disciplines) of Lent; Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Keeping in mind that these are essential to our growing close to the Lord, and thus being more like Him, we must keep these as our base. There are many other things that we can do to become more like Jesus. I would suggest that we take a look at these and try to put them in to practice also. Lent is definitely a time for us to turn away from sin and to be faithful to the Gospel message of Jesus. The Lenten season is filled with many graces, or gifts from God, to help us accomplish our goal. Here is a partial list of ways to obtain these gifts, or graces, from God. By doing these, we can’t help but to draw closer to God and to become more like Jesus.
1 – Read the scriptures: I would suggest using the Church’s readings of the day. This is easy to do, especially if you have access to a computer or smart phone. There are many smart phone apps to bring you the daily readings, and some that offer a commentary. Even an easy Google search for readings of the day can be done. Try to start with ones from Catholic sources like the USCCB (US Conference of Catholic Bishops); EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) founded by Mother Angelica; Vatican News; Catholic Online and others. Reading the scriptures and reading their Catholic commentaries will give you a familiarity with Jesus, so you can get to know Him and follow Him.
2 – Attend Mass as often as you can. The mass has two parts: The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Word we concentrate on the scriptures and in the Liturgy of the Eucharist we concentrate on the Pascal sacrifice and actually receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. We partake of His very presence and He leads and guides us to grow closer to Him. There was a famous nutritional quote from a nineteenth century Frenchman made popular in the US by author Adele Davis, “You are what you eat”. I personally think that this fits so well to the Eucharist. It helps us to become Jesus present to others.
3 – Attend a retreat. I you have the time and money to go to a retreat house for a week or more, that would be tremendous. However, if you do not, most parishes offer some kind of local 2 or 4 day retreat. If your parish doesn’t, don’t be afraid to attend a nearby parish that does. A retreat gives us the time to get away from distractions and to concentrate on Jesus and what He is asking of us.
4 – Spiritual reading. There are so many good Catholic books out there that can help you to grow more in your faith and to grow closer to Jesus.
5 – Do something Christ-like. Great examples of this are to help out in a Parish Outreach or some other organization that helps the poor. You can also visit people who are in nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, or shut ins within their own home. If you are an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, bring hosts with you to give to them (Catholics).
6 – Spend time alone in prayer. Jesus tells us to go to a place of quiet and to pray. The more we do that, the closer we get to him. Prayer can be anything from complete silent meditation to praying the rosary or chaplet of diving mercy.
7 – Spend time with other people who you know are living out the faith. The role of community, where like minded people of faith gather, is of extreme importance. This could be anything form having coffee with a friend, to attending a large prayer group.
8 – Be fillled with gratitude for all that God has given you. So ofter Jesus started His prayers by thanking the Father. The more we are filled with a sense of Gratitude, the more we will be like Jesus.
9 – Repent. Take a good look at your life and see the things that are not of God and determine to turn away from these things. Jesus started His ministry with the word Repent. The Sacrament of Reconciliation can be a big help with this, especially when there is serious sin in your life.
10 – Follow God. Make it a point to try to do what God wants you to do. Hopefully the more you are in prayer and follow the above steps, you will see what God wants from you. When you do find out, do it.
11 – Practice Humility. Jesus makes it pretty clear that He does not like people who think of themselves too highly. He loves people who are humble. His very life is all about humility. Think about how the Almighty, Powerful God humbled himself to become a man. We need to embrace this humility.
12 – Play religious, worship music. Music lifts the soul to new heights. When we play religious music, it lifts us up and helps us to embrace all that God has for us. Try it, you will like it.
Certainly there are many other ways to grow closer to God and to be more Christ-like, but since the scriptures love the number 12, I will stop there. Remember that God wants us to be His presence to others. Our call is to be more like Him. Our conversion needs to be ongoing.
Fifteen years ago, Today, the Love of my Life died of cancer.
On the evening of Sharon’s death, I was all alone except a friend who came over, probably for suicide watch. We were in my shop when I had my first experience of the odor of Sanctity. The shop completely and instantly filled up with the scent of the most beautiful, Heavenly perfume I’ve ever smelled. I kept asking my friend if he could smell it but he couldn’t. I even went outside and walked all around the shop to see if I could discover it’s source. It was several months later I gave my Life to the Lord and He delivered me from an 18 year meth addiction. I had not yet even heard of the phenomenon of the Odor of Sanctity but I had a conviction I had a Heavenly visitor that night.
About six months later I wept all over a mountain side that was covered with wildflowers. It was like a botanical garden. I was picking wildflowers with the intention of covering Sharon’s grave with them when I came out of the mountains the following day. As I was picking them I kept saying ”These are for You Baby.” I would instantly collapse into a weeping sobbing heap remembering all the lies I told her about my drug use and whereabouts. I was begging Sharon and begging God to forgive me for who and what I had become. I would recover and resume picking flowers again only to say “These are for you Baby” and Thud… I would collapse into a weeping, sobbing mess again… and again… and again. I finally had a feeling come over me that I was supposed to write something to or for Sharon so I gathered up my wildflowers and returned to my camp and started writing this letter to her. When I wrote the first line I looked up and saw what I call an angel. Honestly, I don’t know what it… He… She was but it was glowing and it looked like it had arms outstretched toward me. It just drifted away until it was out of sight. What I do know is that something Supernatural happened to me that day.
On the anniversary of Sharon’s Death I published what I started writing that day as a Tribute to her in local Obituaries.
“Baby, As long as I live, I will never forget your innocence of a child’s glee smile. It was Christmas time, several years ago and you were watching the Santa Clause you had just bought. I was setting behind you watching this five foot Santa articulating and singing thinking to myself: “I wonder how much this stupid contraption cost?” When you suddenly turned around and looked at me with that smile. That smile of enraptured delight just emanating from your expression. In my lifetime I have never seen such innocence and transparent childlike glee before. Not even close! It was like someone had opened up the window of your soul and right then and right there I saw your heart. That your heart was a true heart. A pure and simple and innocent heart and of more value than anything in this world.
I’m sorry I was a fool. I am so very sorry Baby. Seldom. Very seldom does a day go by that I dont break down and cry when I think of you. The way you were/are. I will never forgive myself for the things I did that hurt such a gentle soul. You were always so kind and generous and loving. It was something that just came so natural to you, like water flowing, like the sun shining, like clouds drifting. Even now I feel your love affecting and influencing my life, my health, my everything. I ALWAYS feel your gentle nudge in my heart. I will NEVER forget your kindness to me. Like the way you took your “storage” room and made it into a “Kevin” room. You made every little detail to the way you thought it would bring a “feel at home” and “make Kevin feel welcome here” essence about it and it did. I want you to know this. Like every endeavor you started you finished with a loving and caring touch. Like Jake’s “dog cabin” you built. With a front porch, breezeway, insulated with an electric heater and two double pane windows so Jake could look out. It was complete with a cedar shake roof and a weather vane on top. Not that Jake ever even once slept in it because you would say: “Tobyyyy Kitty, Jakeyyy, time go bed.” And Jake would instantly climb off the couch and head for the waterbed. I will NEVER forget all the love you showered on me, Jake and Kitty Toby. On EVERYONE Who’s life you touched you imparted a gracious essence of “you”. Like all the help you gave your Mom and Dad, Windy, Barb, Izzy, Jean and everyone else. Like the way you had Christmas and Birthday presents bought and made two and three years ahead of time for many of us. If a person or any creature was Sharon McCarthy Sterling’s Friend, they truly had a friend. A friend in deed. A friend in truth. I love you Baby. I know that God took you because one such as you has an intrinsic value and you will apply yourself to good works in God’s Kingdom, for His Eternal Purpose and for His Glory. I Miss you Baby. I will never forget you Sharon and I will never stop loving you. I long for the day I see you again, and I know I will, and when I do, if you don’t have a hammer or a saw or a paintbrush or a gardening trowel in your hand, I KNOW you will have that same smile of innocent childlike delight glowing on your face.
Luv, Me
“Jesus said unto her “I Am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and he who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25 -26
There is a lot more to this that words just get in the way of expressing. How in living and in dying, Sharon has helped turn and continues to turn my life around. “Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone. But if it falls into the ground and dies it brings forth much fruit. It’s a debt I cannot repay. It’s about how “the blinding light of God’s Grace can come breaking through with a sweetness that’s only tasted by the forgiven and redeemed.” If you or someone you love is traveling along that same dark and desperate path of drug addiction and sin that I once travelled, perhaps I can point you to Someone Who can and will help you. Someone doesn’t have to die to deliver you from Satan’s hand. Someone already has. I would feel and truly be blessed if I could humbly point you to that Someone. His Name is Jesus.”
On Memorial Day, two years ago I stood by Sharon’s grave and I asked God if it was wrong of me to have my conviction that she gave up her life for mine. Several minutes later a friend in Mississippi texted me a Bible verse “No greater love has anyone than this, to give up their life for their friend.”
On August 2018 While on a Pilgrimage to the Sharon Camp where I encountered God in 2006 I recorded this event:
“At sunset yesterday I picked a bunch of wildflowers and took them to the Sharon tree. I spent some time there praying and talking to Sharon and God.
Earlier, I asked God something I don’t recall ever asking Him before. If I could have some sort of a special visit with Sharon. I wondered if such a request was proper or even admissible, or perhaps what it even meant and why I was asking it? I didn’t know it would play out quite like this.
I told Sharon that largely because of her story I’ve pleaded for the lives of thousands of children. That every time I plead for a child not to be aborted, her child that was aborted did not die in vain. That every time I point post abortive women to God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing that it honors her and that her broken heart was not in vain. I didn’t understand why, but I found myself asking her if she greets these aborted children in heaven and if they are now her friends there? I then had the clearest visual of Sharon, surrounded by beautiful children, full of joy, walking through a beautiful meadow, she was beaming, looking down at them and they were all skipping and dancing looking up at her.
A few minutes later I remembered something that happened a couple years back. It was first thing in the morning and I picked up my Bible to start reading it. Normally I do my prayer time first so I laid my Bible aside. As I did I sensed the Holy Spirit say very clearly. “When you get done with your prayers I have a special Word from the Scriptures for you.” When I finished my prayer time and picked up my Bible the first Verse I laid eyes on was Isaiah 65:10 “Sharon shall be a fold of flocks”
I will never forget the way Sharon was sobbing the day she told me about her abortion. She was crying uncontrollably when she told me that she had always just wanted to be a mother.
I feel that we are somehow “In this Together!”
“Sharon shall be a fold of flocks.” Isaiah 65:10
We have a Strange and Merciful and Magnificent and Beautiful God!!!!
Since the first century, the Church has always remembered Friday as the day the Lord died and has always practiced Penance on that day. The forms of penance have varied over the ages but always included prayer, works of piety, almsgiving and denying oneself. This day of Penance has helped the faithful devote themselves to living the Christian message and remembering what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross. Many of us living today remember that every Friday we abstained from eating meat. Presently this requirement is only for the Fridays of Lent. HOWEVER, we are all still under the obligation of making Friday a day of Penance and remembrance of Jesus dying on the cross for us.
We are all under obligation to make Friday a day different from all the others. For my wife and I we abstain from meat on Friday, every Friday. We find this a great way to live out the love of Jesus and remembering what He did for us on Friday. We also try to remember the hour that He died. It is said that Jesus died at 3:00pm on a Friday. My wife and I stop what we are doing every day (when possible) and pray together the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. But, many would ask, why do all this and why remember every Friday and also the 3:00pm hour? I would like to take a look at this by examining Psalm 51. To me, this says it all. The Church puts this Psalm in to every Friday morning prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours.
Psalm 51 is also sometimes known as the Misere. It is a Psalm written by King David in response to his calling to mind his sins. Truthfully the prophet Nathan helped him to think about the wrong things he had done (read 2 Samuel 12: 1-13). When David was king he sinned greatly. First of all he was a “peeping Tom” watching Bathsheba take a bath and lusted over her. Secondly he had Bathsheba brought to him and formed an adulterous relationship with her. Thirdly, when Bathsheba became pregnant with David’s child he had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah (one of David’s loyal soldiers) killed. He then took Bathsheba as his wife. To think that God’s beloved David would do all this is hard to believe. God had given him everything, including being a forefather of the Messiah, Jesus. He sinned greatly. The reason that God reinstated David to his position in salvation history is that David deeply repented of his sins. David’s Psalm 51 tells us of God’s love and Mercy and our need to seek forgiveness. Take a look at this Psalm. This is the translation taken right out of the Liturgy of the Hours.
Psalm 51 – The Miserere
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. * In your compassion blot out my offense. O wash me more and more from my guilt * and cleanse me from my sin.
My offenses truly I know them; * my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; * what is evil in your sight I have done.
That you may be justified when you give sentence * and be without reproach when you judge. O see, in guilt I was born, * a sinner was I conceived.
Indeed you love truth in the heart; * then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom. O purify me, then I shall be clean; * O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear rejoicing and gladness, * that the bones you have crushed may revive. From my sins turn away your face * and blot out all my guilt.
A pure heart create for me, O God, * put a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, * nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
Give me again the joy of your help; * with a spirit of fervor sustain me, that I may teach transgressors your ways * and sinners may return to you.
O rescue me, God, my helper, * and my tongue shall ring out your goodness. O Lord, open my lips * and my mouth shall declare your praise.
For in sacrifice you take no delight, * burnt offering from me you would refuse, my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. * A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
In your goodness, show favor to Zion: * rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice, * holocausts offered on your altar.
There are many important things to see in this Psalm. First of all, we all sin and God abhors sin. Secondly, God is merciful and when we come to Him with sorrow for our sins, He forgives us. David acknowledged his sin and God forgave him. Thirdly, God sees all things and knows of our sins. We cannot hide them from Him. We may be able to hide them from others, but not from God. Fourthly, we need to have a change of heart. God is able to change our hearts to make them avoid sin. And lastly, even though our sins bring consequences to us and those around us, God does not hold a forgiven sin against us. He allows us to be who He has called us to be.
All of this is because of God’s love and mercy. It is because God loved us so much that He sent His only son Jesus in to the world and allowed Jesus to die for all of our sins. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we too, once we ask forgiveness can rise up from our sins. It is certainly right to remember every Friday as a special day when Jesus died for our sins. It is certainly right to remember the 3:00pm hour as the hour that Jesus died for us so that we might have life.
I would urge you to make Friday a special day, a day of remembrance, a day of Penance. Take some extra time to pray. Take some extra time to help others. Try giving up something, denying yourself to help join Jesus in His gift of giving up Himself. Earlier I mentioned the Chaplet of Divine Mercy that my wife and I pray every day at 3:00pm. If you are not familiar with the devotions of Divine Mercy, I suggest that you make yourself familiar to them and use them. Here is a link on how to pray the Chaplet and has more information about the Divine Mercy: https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet
Our God is a merciful and loving and forgiving God. We, as His children are far from perfect. Our sins pull us away from God, but He never gives up on His call to bring us back to him. All we have to do is acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness. The Church has given us a real healing Sacrament in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, commonly known as confession. Make use of it. God wants you, His child, to be near to Him. He does not want sin to separate us from Him. Remembering every Friday helps us to acknowledge our sin and see what God has done so we can be free.
The Second Sunday of Easter is DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY and normally thousands of people flock to the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge Massachusetts. Unfortunately, this year that will not happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since we cannot go there physically, I thought that I would share some pictures of the Shrine that I took a couple of years ago.
In the year 2000, Pope John Paul IIl canonized Sr. Faustina Kowalska who originally received the Divine Mercy image of Jesus and promulgated Jesus’ message of Divine Mercy. During her canonization he said, “It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called “Divine Mercy Sunday”.
Sister Faustina had written in her diary the words of Jesus that came to her, “My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My mercy.
I have written three previous articles on the Divine Mercy that you might want to check. Here is a link to each of them:
Welcome to Eden Hill, the home of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts run by the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Enjoy the pictures and hopefully you can visit it someday. It is a HOLY place.
The Outdoor mass area.The church used for indoor massThe Church and attached buildingsInside the churchClose up of the altarStatue of John Paul IIIndoor statue of Pope Saint John Paul II From Pope John Paul IISt. Faustina with Our Lady of Guadalupe looking onStatue of St. Faustina right outside the church
The Shrine has beautiful, large and realistic Stations of the Cross. Here are a few examples of them:
The Shrine also has beautiful walking paths and shrines along the way
When you go there, take time for Mass and for praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet
The grounds of the National Shrine consist of 375 acres of land nestled in the beautiful Berkshire hills in western Massachusetts. The name of the property is called “Eden Hill” because of its natural beauty. The Shrine church is normally open 365 days a year, including all holidays and holy days. Go and visit. You will love it. The town that it is in is a beautiful old historical town with great restaurants and inns. The Shrine itself has a fantastic book and gift store. Remember God’s Mercy.
I enjoy writing book
reviews of books that I have read and then posting them on my website. However, I didn’t feel comfortable writing a
book review for this book since I am one of the contributors to it. I did read the book and really enjoyed it and
would recommend it to my readers. For
the review, I turned to my friend, Steven R. McEvoy and obtained his permission
to post the review that he had written and originally appeared on his
website: www.bookreviewsandmore.ca . Steven
does a great job of reviewing books and you should check out his website. Here is his review of Epic Saints.
Epic Saints Wild, Wonderful, and Weird Stories of God’s Heroes
I love books like this one. I love reading about saints and
am currently reading books from 4 different series about saints. But what a
book like this does is introduce me to a few new saints, it gives me some more
information and examples from saints that I am more familiar with. This was an
EPIC READ that I could hardly put down. It is mostly eBook about specific
saints and But there is also a lot of great information about the process of
saint making, and the canon and calendar of saints. But the volume is not just
the work of Shaun McAfee there are several contributors. Those contributors
are:
Alex R. Hey
Sarah Spittler
Jessica Mcafee
Theresa Zoe Williams
Brooke Gregory
Deacon Marty Mcindoe
Shaun Mcafee
Laura Hensley
Mike Panlilio
Maggie Van Sciver
The essays interspersed through the biographies are:
Have Saints Always Been Canonized The Same Way?
What Is The General Roman Calendar?
Can These Stories Be Allegorical?
Are We Really Expected To Believe These Stories?
Why Are Some Saints Not On The Calendar?
What Is The Process For Canonization?
What Should We Do With Saint Narratives That Contain Errors Or Inconsistencies?
Why Are Some Canonized Quickly While Others Have Been In The Process For
Centuries?
Can I Become A Saint?
And on top of that are profiles of 74 saints. Shaun and the other contributors
do an amazing job or highlighting so many saints in such a short space. There
are almost a dozen saints I need to go find further readings on. And my son is
already looking forward to my rereading this book with him.
In this volume there are a few tales about dragons. Saints pulling practical
jokes and pranks. A bilocating death and many, many more stories of saints, of
Martyrs and holy men and women.
Though I will be honest with you, the pieces in this volume are so well written
you might have a hard time picking a favorite. And you will
definitely want to read more on at least some of the saints. An excellent read
that I highly recommend.
Love Is All About Giving – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
During this time around Valentine’s Day most of us are
concentrating on finding just the right gift for the one that we love. I certainly realize that giving to the one we
love is something that should be done constantly in our relationship with
them. But Valentine’s Day sets aside a
special day for us to do that. If we truly love someone, we want to give to
them at Valentine’s Day and throughout the year. It seems naturally built in to us as humans to
want to give. I think that is because we
are made in the image of God, who is the great giver.
We all know John 3:16 which says “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” This is the gift above all gifts. It is also the gift that keeps on giving, as the commercials say. I would like to take a look at this precious gift. To begin with, our very life is a gift given to us by God. It is a precious gift that should be held sacred. Secondly, the scriptures tell us that God formed us in His own image. This too is a precious gift. We, like God, are made to live throughout all eternity. We, like God, are also given the gift of free will. This is also a very precious gift, but one that has gotten us in to trouble. Unlike God we sometimes choose to be selfish and not loving and not giving. In order to remedy this, God decided that He would come to us and bring us the gift of salvation. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He did this for a specific purpose, for our salvation and for our formation.
I have always been interested in Social Anthropology, where
we study the behavior of cultures, both ancient and sometimes
contemporary. I have found it extremely
interesting that almost every culture recognizes that there is a God (or
several gods) and finds it necessary to offer sacrifices to this God. This too seems to be built in to our human
DNA. We have a need to worship God and to
offer sacrifice to God. Jesus came to
the Jewish people who were accustomed to sacrifices and offerings to their
God. Jesus became for us the fullest
sacrifice for our sins. Jesus died a
horrific death so that our sins could be expiated and we could obtain eternal
life. His was the perfect sacrificial
offering. However, that is not the only
reason he came. If it was, he could have
been slaughtered by Herod as an infant, or one of the many times in the Gospels
where the people tried to kill him. Each
time He escaped because His time had not yet come. He had more to do.
I believe that one of the primary things that He wanted to
do was to start His Church. He wanted to
find and train the right men to do the job.
When He chose the twelve apostles He was making new the Jewish Kingdom
of the twelve tribes and starting the new Kingdom, the Church. He chose Peter as the “Rock” upon which He
would build this Church. All twelve
disciples were important, even the one who betrayed Him, but Peter was to be
the Head of them all and the Head of the Church. The scriptures are very clear about
that. Jesus spent three years in
ministry with them to train them and show them what would be called the seven
sacraments. When the time of their
training was completed, Jesus turned towards the means of His death. He wanted His death to be a renewal of the
Jewish Passover so He went to Jerusalem at the time of Passover. He walked right in to the hands of those who wanted
to kill him. He would become the new
Passover.
The death of Jesus on the cross is so much a part of the
Jewish Passover Feast that we cannot separate the two. Dr. Scott Hahn’s book, The Fourth Cup is one
of the best references for us to study this.
In this book he shows us how our redemption followed a plan established
by God from the very beginning of time.
When Jesus celebrated the final Passover (which we call the last supper)
with His disciples it really wasn’t completed until His death on the cross. During that Last Supper Jesus gave us an
extraordinary gift, the gift of His own Body and Blood and Jesus instructed the
disciples to continue to give this gift.
The Church that Jesus formed was to continue to celebrate His sacrifice
and continue to give out His body and His blood to His people. It has been doing that for 2,000 years.
After Jesus died and ascended back to heaven, He gave another
gift to us all. He gave us the gift of
the Holy Spirit. This gift of the Holy
Spirit was given to strengthen us and to continue to help us in all that God
calls us to do. The gift of the Spirit
has been lavished upon us. Though the
Sacrament of Baptism, the gift of the Spirit is placed within us. In the Sacrament of Confirmation the fullness
of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are made manifest. Through the gift of the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist we are given the very body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. We are empowered by Him and called to be
formed in His image. In the gift of the
Sacrament of Marriage and the Sacrament of Holy Orders we are again empowered
in to the Vocation that God calls us to.
When we are sick, the gift of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
brings us healing. And when we turn away
from God and turn to sin, the Sacrament of Reconciliation forgives us and brings
us back to Him
All of the gifts that God gives us continue through the
precious gift of the Church. The Church
gave us the gift of the Bible and helps us to understand it. The Church gives us the gift of Tradition which
was (and still is) so venerated in Jewish life.
Tradition helps fill in what the Bible hasn’t given us. It helps us to understand where we have come
from and helps us to see that we are still the same Church founded by the
Apostles with Peter as the head. The
Church gives us the gift of its hierarchy, which continues (literally) what
Jesus has taught us. The present day
Pope is the 266th man who has sat on the chair of St. Peter. All of our bishops are spiritual descendents of
the twelve disciples. We can trace the
lineage of ordination right back to the early Church. As.000
great as the Church is, we are all still human
with human weaknesses. We have had some “bad”
Popes and Bishops, yet the Church continues on.
No other institution on earth has remained for 2000 years. Jesus was right when He said that the gates
of hell will not prevail against it.
In summary, God is the great giver of gifts that keep on giving. Our salvation is a precious gift that we celebrate every time we celebrate mass. Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity is always present to us in the Eucharist. The Church is always present to us as Jesus’ own body here on earth. The Church is always giving us the gifts of the Sacraments and of God’s grace. The Church is always proclaiming the scriptures and teaching us how to live them out. There is no doubt that God has given us every good gift, and they keep on giving.
I’M CATHOLIC. NOW
WHAT? By Shaun McAfee – a book review
by Deacon Marty McIndoe
Shaun McAfee, founder of EpicPew.com, blogger at National
Catholic Register, contributor to Catholic Answers Magazine and many other
Catholic resources has written a new book published by Our Sunday Visitor. Personally I think that this is the best book
he has written; and I really enjoyed his other books. When I first saw the pre-publication
announcement for this book, I immediately put in an order for it. The title and description led me to believe
that this book would be a great resource for my parish RCIA program. I have been involved in the RCIA (Rite of
Christian Initiation of Adults) program for many years and know that those who
have gone through it need a really good resource book to continue their journey
after the time in the program has finished.
After reading this book I not only realized that the book is perfect for
that, but that the book is perfect for all Catholics on their journey of living
out the beauty of the Catholic faith.
The author of this book is a convert and has gone through
the RCIA process to become a Catholic.
How I wish that all of the people who go through RCIA become as good a
Catholic as Shaun and his wife have become.
Shaun’s overall knowledge of the Catholic faith and Catholic Theology (he
has a graduate degree from Holy Apostles College) is amazing. The way he lives out that faith with his wife
and family is even more amazing. Faith
is made to be put in to action and Shaun certainly does that. I have followed Shaun and his family on
Facebook for almost six years and although I have never met him in person, I
see the faith filled life that he leads.
That faith filled life pours over in to this book. Shaun tells us all the things we need to know
to be a good Catholic and he gives us personal examples of how to be a good
Catholic.
This 335 page book consists of 100 chapters that give us a
lot of information on the Catholic Church and why we do the things that we
do. I find it very refreshing that he
takes the times to not only tell us the things that we should be doing to be a
good Catholic, but also tells us why we do those things. He often refers to the Holy Scriptures as
well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He also uses stories from the early church Fathers and the Saints to
explain. Besides that, he gives us plenty of personal examples
from his own life. He covers just about
everything that you can think of that speaks of Catholicism. He not only covers different topics but also
gives us things to do. For example, not
only do we learn about Baptism, but he also gives us ideas on how to celebrate
our Baptism day. He talks to us about
the priesthood and then encourages us to invite a priest over for dinner.
Shaun’s section on BEING A MODERN CATHOLIC has so much
richness to it when discussing evil, relativism (a must read), marriage,
sexuality, abortion, euthanasia, immigration, gossiping, giving, and
consumerism. His discussion of the
current sex abuse scandal and cover up is enlightening. He deals with all of the current issues in
the Church today. His way of facing
these issues clearly shows the HOPE that we as Catholics are called to
have. Shaun ends his book with a section
on EVANGELIZATION: IT’S FOR EVERYONE. The
chapters in this section remind us of our calling as Catholics to share the
Good News that we have received. He
explains the “New Evangelization” and encourages us to reach out to those
around us, especially to our children.
I highly recommend that ALL Catholics read this book. The book covers serious subjects but is very
easy to read. It is informative as well
as interesting. It is a wealth of
information on the Catholic faith. This
book is not only for those who have just recently come in to the Church,
although it is great for them, but it is for all of us on our journey towards
Jesus in His Church. We can all benefit
from the explanations and the suggestions that Shaun makes in this book. As I write this, we are approaching the
LENTEN season. I highly suggest that
every Catholic get this book and read it and study it and live it out for
Lent. It might be the best thing that
you ever did for Lent.
WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
In Part 1 of this three part series, we dealt with some of
the women of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and how God used them in
building up His Kingdom. In Part 2 we
looked at some of the women of the New Testament. This third part will look at some of our
women Saints and how God used their strength and courage to continue to build
up His Kingdom. As was the case in both
Parts 1 and 2, this is by no means a complete list, but includes some that I
personally feel should be mentioned.
Part 3 – Powerful Women Saints:
1. St. Helena: Saint Helena was born in to a poor and simple
Roman family in Asia Minor in the mid 200’s.
Somehow she married in to a higher class Roman family when she married
Constantius Chlorus. In 274 she gave
birth to Constantine and in 292 her husband, Constantius became co-regent of
the West. Shortly after that, her
husband divorced her to marry the Emperor’s step daughter. When her husband died in 308, her son
Constantine became Emperor and moved her in to a place of prominence in the
Roman government. She became an Empress.
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity greatly influenced
his mother and she became a good Christian.
Constantine asked his mother to find Christian relics and so in 328 she
traveled to the Holy Lands. Through
contact with the local bishops there she was able to locate many Christian
relics and Holy Places. When she located
the Holy places, she had large Churches built over them. She often replaced earlier Christian
structures. In the year 130 the current
Roman Emperor built a Temple to Venus over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion in
order to keep Christians from worshiping there.
Helena tore down that temple and did excavations to find the original
location. In doing so she uncovered the
three crosses that the early Christians venerated. Not knowing which cross was the one Jesus
died on, she had a woman who was near death brought to all three. When she touched the first cross, nothing happened. The same occurred on the second cross. When she touched the third cross the woman
was miraculously and immediately healed.
She found the true cross of Jesus.
Helena had a large Church, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built
over that place. She had large columns
brought in from Rome that can still be seen to this day. Helena also had churches built over the other
Holy places including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of
the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.
Many of the Holy Places we visit today had churches built there by St.
Helena. She brought back to Rome many
relics, including the True Cross. Not
only did she do this, but she is noted for helping the poor and the
destitute. She was a devout servant of
God and true Christian who helped spread the Good News throughout the world. She was a woman born in to a poor family who
rose to be Empress of the Roman Empire.
She also, through a lot of hard work, re-discovered the Holy places of
the Holy Lands. Because she built large
Churches over these, we can still visit these Holy places today.
2. St. Monica: Saint Monica is known most for her
persevering in prayer. For thirty years
she prayed for her wayward son, Augustine to leave his wicked lifestyle and to
become a Christian. Not only did he
become a Christian, he became one of the greatest Saints ever known. Monica was born in 331 in Tagaste (modern
day Algeria). When she was young she was
married off to a Roman pagan, Patricius.
Her husband had a violent temper.
To make things even worse, his mother lived with them and she too had a
violent temper. This caused a great deal
of stress to Monica. Monica was a good
Christian but her husband would not allow their three children to be
baptized. For years she prayed for her
husband and her mother in law to become Christian. Finally about one year before her husband’s
death, both became Christian. Two of
Monica’s children, Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious life, but
Augustine preferred a life of drinking and laziness. Monica sent Augustine off to school in
Carthage. There he became a Manichaean,
a non-Christian religion that saw things as light or darkness. When Augustine shared this with Monica she
became so upset at him that she kicked him out of the house. Sometime later, Monica had a vision that led
her to reconcile with Augustine. She
continued to pray for his conversion but Augustine seemed to enjoy the drinking
and loose life more. Monica did not give
up praying for him or trying to convince him.
She followed him to Rome and then Milan where she found the Bishop
Ambrose. St. Ambrose helped her in
convincing Augustine of the trueness of Christianity. Finally, after many years of prayers,
Augustine became a Christian. He was
baptized in the Church of St. John the Baptist in Milan. After his baptism he and Monica planned to
travel together to Africa to draw more people to Christ. She died before that could be realized. St. Augustine shares that when Monica was
close to death she told him, “Son, nothing in this world now affords me
delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still
here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.” Her perseverance had won for the Church one
of the greatest and brightest Saints it has ever known.
3. St. Adelaide of
Burgundy: St. Adelaide was born a
princess in 931 in Burgundy in Italy. Even
though she was a princess, she had a difficult life. Her father died when she was only six. When she was only 15 or 16 she was married to
Lothair, the King of Italy. Her life as
a queen was difficult too. She became a
widow at the age of 18 and her Kingdom was taken over by Berengar of Ivrea and
she was thrown in to prison. Berengar
wanted to have her marry his son, but Adelaide wanted nothing to do with
that. She suffered greatly in prison but
knew that she had to escape. Somehow she
found the strength to escape and when heading north to Germany she found the
Emperor Otho I who the Pope had sent to rescue her. He soon became her second husband and
together they were able to recapture the Kingdom of Italy that she had
lost. Pope John XII crowned them both rulers
of the Holy Roman Empire in 952. In 973
she became widowed again and her son Otto II became regent. At this point in her life Adelaide spent most
of her time in building many monasteries and churches and helping the
poor. This kind heartened and brave
woman is the patron of people with second marriages and widows.
4. St. Clare of
Assisi and 5. St. Agnes of Assisi: St. Clare was born in 1194 to a very wealthy
Italian Count. She was known as a very
beautiful girl. As a young girl Clare
dedicated herself to prayer. When she
was 18 years old she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach and went up to him
asking that he help her to grow closer to God and to become more Christ
like. On Palm Sunday in 1212 she left
her family and went to the chapel of Porziuncula to meet St. Francis. At that chapel her hair was cut off and she
was given a plain robe and veil and sent to the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo
for formation as a nun. Her father was
furious and tried to get her to return home but she refused. She told him that she would have no other
husband than Jesus Christ. She desired
solitude to be with Jesus. In order to
give her even more solitude, Francis moved her to the Benedictine nuns of San
Paulo monastery.
St. Clare had a sister named Catarina. Catarina also wanted a life with Christ and
solitude that she could not find at home.
She joined St. Clare at this new monastery. The two sisters remained there until a home
could be built for them next to the church at San Damiano near Assisi. This made their father even angrier and he
sent a contingent to bring her back home by force. Because of the prayers of St. Clare, miracles
occurred that made it impossible to do that.
When a sword was drawn to strike Catarina, miraculously the man’s arm
went limp and he couldn’t wield the sword.
Then they tried to pick up Catarina (now called Agnes because Francis
named her that due to her being gentle as a lamb) she miraculously became too
heavy for the men to pick up. They then
gave up and left. Francis immediately
welcomed her in and she too was put in to formation.
When the home at San Damiano was completed, both St. Clare
and St. Agnes went there. There they
lived a simple life eating no meat, wearing no shoes and lived in a poor
house. They maintained silence most of
the time. Their lives consisted of
prayer and manual labor. Soon other
women from Assisi joined them there and they lived according to rules of St.
Francis forming the Second Order and were known as Poor Clares but officially
were the “Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano.” St. Francis initially was their director. In 1216 he made St. Clare the abbess. Later, in 1219 St. Francis made St. Agnes an
abbess and sent her to Monticello near Florence.
We have some of the letters that the two sisters sent to
each other. They reflect their love for
each other, for Jesus, for the Poor Clares and St. Francis. It should be noted that Clare and Agnes had
to stand up to the current Church leaders who wanted to impose upon them the
rule of St. Benedict. They stood their
ground and followed St. Francis’ rule.
They also had to stand up against Muslim invaders. In 1240 Muslims were invading the whole area
around Assisi. St. Clare, although quite
sick, prayed hard to repel them and took the Eucharist and with the sisters
behind her commanded them to go away.
Miraculously they obeyed. St.
Clare knew that the power of prayer and the Eucharist could stand up to these
invaders.
Clare had drawn up a rule for her sisters and in 1253 Pope
Innocent IV declared Clare’s rule would serve as the governing rule for Clare’s
Order of Poor Ladies. Two days later
Clare died, with Agnes at her side. She
was declared a Saint two years later.
St. Agnes died three months after St. Clare. These two women went from riches to rags,
but helped to change the face of the Church.
6. St. Joan of
Arc: Joan of Arc was born in 1412 to a
poor farming family. From her earliest
childhood she loved God and was often seen in prayer. She also loved the poor. Around the age of 13 she started hearing
voices accompanied by flashes of light.
Gradually she recognized figures who she described as Michael the
Archangel, St. Margaret, St. Catherine and other Saints and angels. These voices seemed to be leading her to go
to the aid of the King, At first she
doubted these voices, but in May 1428, when she was 16 years old, she knew that
they were real and that she had to do what they said. They directed her to King Charles’ military
commander Robert Baudricourt. He was
quite rude to her and said to the cousin who accompanied her: “Take her
home to her father and give her a good whipping.” The war continued on and King Charles and his
supporters thought that defeat was imminent.
The voices continued to persuade Joan to go but she resisted saying, “I
am a poor girl; I do not know how to ride or fight.” The voices only
reiterated: “It is God who commands it.” At that, she decided that she must go. She went back to Baudricourt who remained
skeptical. However, her perseverance and
her descriptions of battles that were later confirmed caused him to send her to
the King. Joan went to see the king
dressed in male clothes. This was
probably to protect her from the soldiers along the way.
When Joan came in to the King’s presence, something
interesting happened. The King was
wearing a disguise to test her and was among many other men. Immediately, without ever having met the King
before, she went to him and saluted him. The King’s inner court thought Joan was crazy
and advised the King to have nothing to do with her. However, the voices revealed to Joan a secret
that only the King knew about (probably concerning his birth) and when she told
him he started to believe in her mission.
However, to be sure, he had her undergo a trial headed by bishops,
doctors and theologians. Joan’s faith, simplicity and honesty convinced the
trial committee that she was indeed of sound mind and faith and recommended
that she be allowed to continue with further examination of her actions. She returned to King Charles who gave her a
sword as she prepared a campaign for fighting.
However the voices told her to have the King get a sword that was buried
behind the altar in a nearby Church.
That sword was found exactly where the voices said. She also had the King make up a shield with
the name of Jesus and Mary on it as well as a picture of the Father and angels. Interestingly the King received a report,
before the battle saying “that she would save Orléans and would compel the
English to raise the siege, that she herself in a battle before Orléans would
be wounded by a shaft but would not die of it, and that the King, in the course
of the coming summer, would be crowned at Reims, together with other things
which the King keeps secret.”
Before leading the battle, Joan told the King of England to
give up. Of course, he didn’t and battle
ensued. Joan led the battle and even
though many of her commanders scoffed at her and didn’t always do what she
said, the battle was won. Joan was
wounded by an arrow in the battles just as the letter said that was written 8
days prior to the campaign. King Charles
was also crowned at Reims and the English left, as the letter said. In a battle about a year later, Joan was
captured by a follower of John of Luxemburg.
He then sold her to the English for a large amount of money. They couldn’t kill her for winning against
them, so they decided to try her as a witch.
The Bishop of Beauvais was an unscrupulous and ambitious man who was a
tool of the English. The examination
trial seemed quite unfair but Joan continued to show her love of God. She was finally found to be a witch and
heretic and was burned. Her ashes were
thrown in to the Seine River. Twenty
four years later a revision of the trial was made. The appellate court and the Pope found that
injustice was made by the first examination and that it was declared
illegal. Her beatification cause was
begun in 1869 and she was declared a Saint in 1920. This very young holy woman listened to God no
matter what it cost her. She fought
harder that most men could and never gave up, no matter how badly she was
treated.
7. St. Elizabeth Ann
Seaton: Elizabeth Ann Seton was the
first native born American to become a Saint.
She was born just two years before the American Revolution to a wealthy
New York City family. The family was
Episcopalian. Elizabeth was a bright
girl and prolific reader. She especially
found comfort in the reading the bible.
In 1794 she married a wealthy businessman, William Seton. The first couple of years of their marriage
were wonderful but when William’s father
died the couple had to take in William’s seven younger half brothers and
sisters. They also had to take over
running the father’s import business.
William’s health started to fail as did his business. He had to declare bankruptcy. His health was deteriorating so bad that they
felt that a move to Italy would help.
William had business friends there that they stayed with.
Unfortunately William died of tuberculosis while in
Italy. Elizabeth was very moved by the
Catholic faith of the family that she lived with in Italy. She found that their love of the Eucharist
helped her to better understand the true presence of Jesus. Also, since Elizabeth’s mother had died when
she was young, their devotion to Mary helped satisfy her need for a mother. Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and headed
back to the United States. Since she was
a widow with many children to feed, she opened a school to help support
them. The first school was all
Protestants and when the parents had heard that Elizabeth had converted to
Catholicism, they withdrew their children from school. Fortunately, Elizabeth met a priest who
encouraged her to open up a school for Catholic children in Emmetsburg,
Maryland. This is seen as the beginning
of Catholic education in the United States.
Shortly after opening the school, Elizabeth founded an order of Catholic
women to help in educating poor children.
This was the first congregation of religious sisters to be formed in the
United States. They are known as the
Sisters of Charity and have grown tremendously throughout the United States,
Canada and the Philippines.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a hard working woman who
suffered from the deaths of many loved ones.
Her faith continued to allow her to make a tremendous change to the
Catholic faith in the United States. Pope
Paul VI canonized Mother Seton on September 14, 1975, in a ceremony in St.
Peter’s Square. In his words,
“Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American.
All of us say this with special joy, and with the intention of honoring the
land and the nation from which she sprang forth as the first flower in the
calendar of the saints. Elizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American! Rejoice for
your glorious daughter. Be proud of her. And know how to preserve her fruitful
heritage.” NOTE: if you would like to hear about how Elizabeth
Ann Seton personally changed my family go to:
http://deaconmarty.com/saint-elizabeth-ann-seton-and-how-she-personally-brought-a-miracle-to-my-family-by-deacon-marty-mcindoe/
8. St. Marianne
Cope: St. Marianne was born in Germany
in 1838 but spent most of her life in Hawaii ministering to lepers. She is often known as Saint Marianne of
Moloka’i. One year after she was born
her family moved to the United States.
She attended a Catholic parish school until the eighth grade when her
father became an invalid and she had to leave school to go to work and help support
her family. When her father died, and
her siblings became mature she quit her factory job and became a novitiate of
the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis based in Syracuse, New
York. She became a teacher and later
principal of a school that helped immigrant children. She also helped in setting up the first two
Catholic hospitals in central New York.
In 1883 she became the Superior General of her Congregation. Shortly after, she received a letter from King
Kalakaua of Hawaii asking for aid in treating leper patients who were isolated
on the island of Moloka’i. The King had
already been declined by more than 50 other religious institutes. St. Marianne went with six sisters arriving on
November 8,1883. She originally managed
a hospital on the island of O’ahu, where victims of leprosy were sent for
triage. The next year, Mother Marianne
helped establish the Malulani hospital on the island of Maui. The government had appointed an administrator
for the hospital on O’ahu when Mother Marianne left. However, she heard news of his abuse and
returned to O’ahu and demanded that the government fire him. They did and put her in charge. Mother Marianne continued to help the leper
patients, including clergy who had contracted the disease. She continued working, even when she was in a
wheel chair. Miraculously, the disease
never came to her.
9. St, Katherine
Drexel: St. Katherine is the second
native born American to become a Saint.
She was born in 1858 to a wealthy banker. Her mother died shortly after her birth but
her father remarried and Katherine grew up in a home that was both financially
and spiritually endowed. She received a
private education and travelled throughout the United States and Europe. The family was very devout in their faith and
an excellent example to Katherine. Her
father prayed 30 minutes each evening and on weekends they opened their home to
help care for the poor. After seeing her
step-mother suffer with cancer for three years, Katherine’s life took a
significant turn. She developed a
passionate love for God and for neighbor.
She especially felt called to help black and native Americans.
Katherine’s father passed away about a year after his wife’s
death. He had a substantial estate of
over 15 million dollars and he gave a
considerable amount to charities and left the rest to his three daughters. The daughters worked together to try to help
Indian missions. In 1887 they had an
audience with Pope Leo XIII and asked that missionaries be sent to the
Indians. Pope Leo XIII looked directly
at Katherine and asked her to be a missionary.
When she arrived home she met with her spiritual advisor and decided to
give her life, and her money, to God as a nun and missionary. She started a religious order called “Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians
and Colored” and spent the rest of her life serving blacks and native
Americans. She worked hard to found
schools throughout the west to educate Native Americans. She even founded Xavier University in New
Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for
African-Americans. She spent her fortune
on the blacks and Native Americans. She
also gave fully of herself in helping them until she finally had a serious
heart attack at the age of 77. She lived
until the age of 96 praying for her missions and writing. By the time of her death, she had more than
500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established
50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states. This one woman changed the face of America
for the better.
10. Servant of God
Dorothy Day: Although she isn’t a Saint
yet, she is on her way. Dorothy Day is a
great example of a woman who was a sinner, but turned toward being a
Saint. Her love of the poor, and her
love of God make her an outstanding woman of God’s power. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan calls her “a Saint
for our times”. Dorothy Day started out
being someone quite outside the Catholic faith.
She described herself as having an attraction to the radical life
among anarchists, socialists and
communists. She was arrested on many
occasions and spent time in jail. She
drank heavily and had an abortion and had an illegitimate child. This isn’t what usually makes up a Saints
life. However, all of these ups and
downs helped her to think seriously about where she was headed. The heartache that her abortion caused her
helped her to become staunchly pro-life.
She was very moved by Francis Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven” and its
description of the relentless pursuit of God towards man. One day she found herself in the back of
Saint Joseph’s Church on Sixth Avenue in New York City and found solace in
watching the mass.
Dorothy had a daughter with a man that she lived with. She said that the birth of her daughter
connected her to the beauty of the Divine in a deeply personal way. She wrote, “The final object of this love and
gratitude is God” She was moved to
worship with others and even though the man she loved rejected religion she had
her daughter baptized Catholic. About
six months later she too was baptized. This
ended her common law marriage. About
five years later, Peter Maurin, a French immigrant taught her about Catholic
radicalism. Together they founded the
Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 and began publishing the Catholic Worker to
promote their radical Catholic vision to oppose Communism. They also opened a “House of Hospitality” to
welcome everyone, especially the poor.
They focused on helping the poor.
Dorothy Day said, “The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them
you do for Him. It is the only way of
knowing and believing in our love”.
Dorothy Day was noted for seeing the beauty of God in everything and
every person. She truly was a Saint for our times.
11. St. Faustina
Kowalska: St. Faustina was born in 1905
to a very poor but quite religious family.
She was the third of ten children.
When she was seven years old she attended an Eucharistic Adoration and
immediately felt the call to become a nun.
When she finished her schooling at the age of 16 she wanted to enter a
convent, but her parents wouldn’t allow her to.
Instead she cleaned houses to help support the family. In 1924 she saw her first vision of Jesus who
told her to go to Warsaw and join a convent.
She immediately packed her bags and left. When in Warsaw she tried to enter several
convents but was rejected because of her looks and her poverty. Finally the Mother Superior of the Congregation
of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy told her she could enter if she could pay
for her own habit. St. Faustina worked
cleaning houses and finally had enough to pay for the habit. She entered the convent in 1926 at 20 years
old. She worked primarily as a cook and
traveled to several of the convents. In
1931 she was visited by Jesus who told her that He was the “King of Divine
Mercy”. He asked her to become an
apostle and secretary of God’s Mercy.
She said that she would. Jesus
also instructed her to have painted an image of her vision of him. Since she didn’t paint she had to have a
painter paint it based upon her description.
She was never fully happy with the way the painting came out.
Sister Faustina told her fellow sisters about her visions
but they weren’t initially receptive to her.
She took some harassment because of them. Sister Faustina told the priest spiritual
advisor of her visions and calling. He
had her evaluated by a psychiatrist who found her in perfect mental health. Eventually this priest saw the truth of her
visions and the Divine Mercy apostolate and he was the first to preach about it
at mass. Fortunately Sister Faustina
kept a diary that is still in existence today and makes for a great read. Even though her health kept failing, she
continued to do all that she could to spread the devotion to the Divine
Mercy. Unfortunately, due to several
mistakes in translations and printings, some of her writings were seemed
objectionable to the Church and the Divine Mercy apostolate was quieted for
many years. In 1965, Archbishop of
Krakow, Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II) took an interest in the Divine
Mercy and opened up an investigation into Sister Faustina and her writings and
apostolate. The Church formally
approved the apostolate and began procedures for her canonization. The apostolate of Divine Mercy spread and Sr.
Faustina was made a Saint in 2000 and a Feast day for the Divine Mercy became
part of the Church calendar. This poor
and sick little woman was chosen by God to become an Apostle of the Divine
Mercy.
12. Sr. Gianna
Beretta Molla: St. Gianna was born in
Italy in 1922. She was the tenth of
thirteen children in her family. As a
young child Gianna loved her faith and loved learning about it. She saw the need for prayer and she enjoyed
life for all that it was. In 1942 Gianna
began studying to be a medical doctor. She
was a great student and a great practitioner of her faith. In college she
joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and worked with the elderly and the
needy. In 1949 she received her medical
and surgical degree and within two years specialized in pediatrics at Milan
Hospital. She felt a very strong calling
to mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor.
She became involved with Catholic Action and considered her practice of
medicine a mission. She wanted to join
her brother, who was a priest, in Brazil by tending to the health of the poor
women there. Unfortunately, her health
prevented her from doing so. IN 1954,
Gianna met Pietro Molla, an engineer who worked in her office. They were married the following year. Gianna considered marriage a precious gift
and vocation. She considered her
marriage a gift from God and planned dedicated herself to “forming a truly
Christian family.” Gianna wrote to
Pietro, “Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into
the soul of men and women.”
She gave birth to her first child, Pierluigi in 1956. Her second child, Maria was born in
1957. She had the third baby, Laura in
1959. She loved being a mother and wife
and worked hard to keep her family going along with her practice. In 1961 Gianna became pregnant again with her
fourth child. Unfortunately near the end
of her second month she had intense pain in her abdomen and they discovered
that she had a tumor as well as the baby in her uterus. The doctors recommended that she choose from
three possibilities; One, an abortion
that would save her life and allow subsequent pregnancies, but take the life of
the baby. The second was a hysterectomy
which would save her life but take the life of her baby and not allow any
further pregnancies. The third option was
to take out the tumor which would save the life of her baby but might result in
further complications for her. She chose
the third option which saved the baby’s life but put hers in danger. She told the surgeons that her baby’s life
must be saved at all costs, even if it cost her own life. She said that her comfort was in having the
baby and in her prayers and in putting her faith in to action. They did what she asked. She had the operation which removed the tumor
but allowed the baby to continue to grow.
Gianna continued her pregnancy but with many complications. Her faith gave her the strength to continue
on as a mother and as a doctor. Gianna
told the doctors that they must save the life of her baby even if it meant she
died. She kept insisting, “save the baby”. On April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela Molla was successfully
delivered by Caesarean section. One week
later Gianna, the mother, died from septic peritonitis.
Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994,
and officially canonized as a saint on May 16, 2004. Her husband and their
children, including Gianna Emanuela, attended her canonization ceremony, making
this the first time a husband witnessed his wife’s canonization. Pope John Paul II said that Gianna was “a
simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine love.” The first pro-life Catholic health center in
New York, the Gianna Center, was named after her. In today’s world where abortion is rampant
and often mothers have abortions because the timing is inconvenient, the story
of Gianna and her love for life and for her children stands out as a beacon of
light.
CONCLUSION: God gave
mankind a precious gift when he created us male and female, in His image. Each sex brings its own flavor towards
helping God in the building up of the Kingdom.
Too often the male has been seen as the strong sex, but looking back at
how God has used women in the Scriptures and as Saints, we can’t help but to
see how strong women are. We are all
called by God to help build up his Kingdom.
Let us answer that call with a resounding, “be it done to me according
to thy will”. Men and women work
together in building God’s Kingdom.
After all, we are His children and brother and sister to each
other. There is so much work to do. We must do it together and celebrate what God
can accomplish through our strengths and our weaknesses. With God all things are possible.
