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Our Redemption and Memory

By Gabe Garnica

 

As we proceed through Lent, the recurring themes of redemption and forgiveness bubble to the surface of our thoughts. We understand redemption as literally being saved from our own sinfulness through the blood of Christ.  Left to ourselves, we would surely fall under the repeated weight of our imperfection and weakness.  Through God Almighty’s love and mercy embodied in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, however, we aspire to a salvation we would not otherwise be capable of attaining.

A critical, core component of this second chance for salvation is the willingness of both sides to forget a sinful past.  By this I mean that our redemption is possible only if both God Almighty and each of us as sinners are willing to forget our past sins.

God Almighty’s memory of our sins

God’s willingness is especially supported by a trio of scriptural references. In The Book of Hebrews (8:12) God tells us

For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more.

In The Book of Psalms (103:12) we find David’s wonderful expression that

     As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.

Finally, in Isaiah (43:25) we find God’s powerful assurance that

It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.

People often have difficulty with the notion of a perfect and omniscient God forgetting anything. Scholars debate whether this simply means that He chooses not to act on our past sins or that He, as all-powerful, chooses to forget. Here we must insert one of my favorite saints, St. Therese The Little Flower, who reminds us to trust God with child-like innocence immersed in love.

Our memory of our sins

Having confirmed God’s part in this dual forgetting, we must turn to ourselves. It is ironic that the same imperfection which leads us to sin likewise prevents us from forgiving ourselves for the very sins that God is willing to forgive us for!  How many people avoid confession altogether out of fear or shame?  How many others turn their very confessions into further sin by concealing sin? Finally, how many of us leave the confessional doubting God’s mercy?

Recall the lesson of Judas and Peter. Judas let his pride and doubt lead to hopelessness, despair, and ultimate, final surrender to the Devil after his sin. In contrast, Peter’s love of Christ overwhelmed his pride leading to humble contrition and surrender to Christ’s love and mercy.  Both men’s ultimate destiny was not shaped by their respective sins but, rather, by their response to their own sin. What better example of such mercy can we find than Our Lord’s promise of paradise to the contrite thief in Calvary?

Conclusion

Scripture confirms God’s promise to forget our sinful past. The harder question as we move through Lent is how willing we are to forget that past ourselves as we reach out to a lovingly forgiving, and forgetting, God.

2018  Gabriel Garnica

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Catholic Spirituality, Featured, Scripture, Spiritual Warfare, Theology Tagged With: Gabriel Garnica, Hebrews 8:12, Isaiah 43:25, Parable of the Prodigal Son, Psalms 103:12, Redemption, St. Therese of Lisieux

Forgiveness Beyond the Grave

By Amanda Woodiel

My father died last week.  It was unexpected.  He had had health issues the last couple of years and had never seemed particularly robust, but he was never near death, either.

My mom passed away eight years prior.  Here I am, in my 30s (barely!) with five small children and no parents.  It’s not a common status among my circle of friends, but it could be far worse.

I mention this simply to show that I have a frame of reference when I talk about grieving deceased parents.  This isn’t my first rodeo.  What is different this time, however, is that my father was, well, a different man than what he seemed to be.  Over the last few years we had uncovered surprising details about his life–details that I will spare you, dear reader.

So the grief I feel is an alloyed grief.  There is sadness that the opportunity has passed for our relationship to transform coupled with confusion over details that keep popping up (such as the bewildering claim he apparently made that he had been sent on a secret mission for the Department of Defense) commingled with utter dismay that his last note to us–intentionally placed in a spot where we would find it–was as efficient as a corporate memo and as warm as a ransom note.

The question I am left with–aside from the question of what is true regarding his life–is the question of forgiveness.  How do you forgive someone who lies in his grave and whose lies extend beyond the grave?  (The last sentence of his last note to us was, in fact, untrue.)  How do you forgive someone who betrayed his family but who genuinely believed he could fool everyone–and who maybe, in the end, fooled himself?

As I have pondered these questions, a specific path to forgiveness and healing keeps coming to mind.  Think back to Cana, the site of Jesus’ first public miracle.  The hosts had run out of wine, and Mary, with the compassion of a mother’s heart, knew the embarrassment they would face.  Her son is at the same wedding feast, so she hurries to him and tells him the problem.  At first, Jesus seems to resist her urging.  But she–great Jewish mama that she is–brushes aside his response and turns to the servants. “Do whatever he tells you,” she says with complete confidence in him.  Jesus is moved by his mother’s urging and by her faith.  Jesus acts, in this instance, because of his mother’s intercession.

This intercessor was given to us from the cross when Jesus gave her to John.  John stands there in history as the faithful disciple but also stands in for us when Jesus gives Mary to his care: “behold your mother.”  She is our mother as well, our dear compassionate mother, who is also, in evangelical parlance, a “prayer warrior.”  Mary, just as she was at Cana, is a compassionate intercessor for those of us who face complicated situations.

Mary is known by many names.  One such name comes from a meditation by St Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in the last quarter of the second century and a Church Father.  Drawing out a comparison between Eve and Mary, he noted:

“And thus also it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary” (Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 22).

Man’s fall from grace due to original sin–what knot could be more complicated than that?  Original sin, endured since our first parents, was loosed by the obedience of Mary to the will of God when she gave her fiat to become the mother of the Holy God.  And so she is known as “Mary, Undoer of Knots.”  Mary, undoer of the knot of original sin.  Mary, undoer of whatever knot is in your life and the big knot that is in mine.

I once had a lovely little card that had printed on it “The best way out is always through.”  The best way out of the pain is to walk through it.  And so I have been given the answer to my question of how do I forgive: pray a daily Rosary alongside Mary, Undoer of Knots, for my father’s departed soul and for my wounded one.

What does this prayer do?  Two things.  When we pray in good faith for someone who has hurt us we cannot help but love that person more.  It is hard for us to love the person whom we do not know.  I have only done this prayer for the last week, and already I am looking at my father through more compassionate eyes than ever before; somehow, it is giving me more knowledge of him.

Secondly, praying the Rosary has a way of showing us who we are.  Contemplating the mysteries of the God-Man being scourged or crowned with thorns gives me pause to think about the ways in which I have unleashed my own contempt for my Savior.  The prayer becomes, then, less about offender (dad) and victim (me) and instead becomes two sinners contemplating God’s passion and his love and mercy.

And then, of course, the prayer is the outpouring of hope that God will and does redeem all things.  Everything else in my life–my mother’s terminal brain disease, for example–has shown itself to be a gift.  Perhaps the gift is a severe mercy, but there is always mercy.  There is always the great Divine Act of turning evil on its head to bless–witness the crucifixion itself.

Praying a daily Rosary for those who have wounded us alongside our great mother and intercessor is ultimately an act of hope, an act of humility, and an act of love.  By focusing daily and for a sustained time on the life of Jesus in the company of Mary, Undoer of Knots, I have confidence that I will find healing and peace.

(This post first appeared at www.inaplaceofgrace.com.  Text by Amanda Woodiel [2018].  All rights reserved.  Photo by Petra [2015] via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain.)

Read all posts by Amanda Woodiel Filed Under: Catholic Spirituality, Family Life, Featured, Grief Resources, Mary, Prayer, Scripture, Theology Tagged With: Cana, family, Forgiveness, grief, Mary, pain, rosary, Undoer of Knots

Playing the Ordered Toward Game

By Amanda Woodiel

God bless the woman from our parish who comes to my house weekly to help out with the children.  Not only does she give me a half day out of the house, but she, who also happens to be incredibly well-read and steeped in the Catholic faith, enriches my home with a wisdom culled from years of mothering and reading Catholic philosophy.

So when my six year old son asked her if he could stack a doll stroller on top of a mini folding chair on top of a dining room chair and so on to see if he could eventually get his Tower of Babel to touch the ceiling, she was armed with a much better answer than I would have given when he asked, “Why not?”

“Because,” said the sage.  “That is not what those things are ordered toward.”

When I came home, she told me the anecdote, laughing that she had given my budding six-year-old philosopher something to chew on.

But she gave me something to chew on as well.  While I outwardly nodded and smiled, my inward self was as happy as a child treated to a new flavor of candy.  I quickly saw how brilliant this tack is, calculating how very often I can use this line of reasoning to forestall disaster and reasonably answer questions.

Why can’t I swing this metal pole around like a baseball bat?  Because that’s not what it is ordered toward.

Why can’t I climb the door frame like an American ninja warrior?  Because, my dear, that’s not what the door frame is ordered toward.

Why can’t I step on the baby’s sippy cup?  Because. That. Is. Not. What. It. Is. Ordered. Toward.

****

I’ve been reading the book The Benedict Option, in which the author traces the historical shift in the metaphysical understanding of matter from something that possesses inherent meaning and structure to something that has no meaning at all until a person assigns meaning to it.  We see this shift dramatically demonstrated in our current culture’s (dis)regard of the sex of a human body.

Before recent times, a person’s body informed the person’s identity.  The body itself had inherent meaning and structure. My body has female parts; therefore, I am a woman.  Compare this with the present-day “understanding” of the body as something that has no inherent meaning whatsoever.  The fact that I have female sexual organs, runs this way of thinking, in no way determines my sex.  Instead, I assign meaning to my body based upon whatever I want for that day.

How extraordinarily confusing is this way of thinking!  To live in a world in which everything has no inherent structure, no inherent meaning, no inherent order is to be lost at sea in a cosmological ocean–and lost at sea alone.  For if nothing has inherent meaning, then what common ground is there for two people to stand on?

So as a way to bulwark against the prevailing cultural view, we play the Ordered Toward game at my house.  It is a simple game, born of that day when my wise friend introduced the concept to us.

Everyone from the 8 year old to the 2 year old loves this game.  We simply name things around us and talk about what they are ordered toward.  Sometimes I name the object (what is a car ordered toward? To get us from one place to another), sometimes I play the game silly (is spaghetti ordered toward decorating your head? Noooo!), and sometimes I name the purpose and the children name the object (This is ordered toward giving us shade and oxygen.  A tree!).

It’s a fun game to play in the car or in a waiting room to pass the time.  The children giggle because children instinctively know that objects do have inherent meaning.

Start this little exercise at your house and you will be amazed by how useful it is. When someone throws a toy: “that toy was made to spin; it’s not ordered toward throwing.”  When someone sticks his feet in another child’s face: “is that what your feet are ordered toward?”  When a child tries to put his sister’s underwear on his head: “that’s not what it is ordered toward!” [Are you getting a picture of life at our house?]

At the same time, I’m laying groundwork for Theology of the Body before I get anywhere close to teaching about the mechanics of sex.  The point is that our bodies are ordered toward something.  We already talk about what our stomachs are ordered toward (to digest food) and what our eyes are ordered toward (to see), so when we get to the point of talking about our reproductive organs, for example, we will have a solid foundation upon which to lay the Catholic theology of the body, which is to say, that the reproductive organs are ordered toward creating and nourishing life.

Of course, as the children grow older and enter into the rhetoric stage of life, I’m sure we will have conversations about secondary uses and innovative uses of existing things, at which point we will discuss ethics and morality.  The first place to start when one encounters something, though, is in discovering what its primary purpose is–and this is a fun way to begin.

(This post was first published at www.inaplaceofgrace.com by Amanda Woodiel. All rights reserved.  Photo by Chris Crowder (2016) via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain.)

Read all posts by Amanda Woodiel Filed Under: Catechetics, Catholic Spirituality, Culture, Elementary School, Family Life, Featured, Games, Homeschooling, Theology Tagged With: ordered toward, philosophy, Theology of the Body

Turn Your Crosses into Ladders

By Gabe Garnica

 

If Christ came to earth to teach us the way to Heaven, then we may rightly accept that his words and actions are sanctified lessons in that path.  His examples of love, service, sacrifice, mercy, compassion, dedication, and obedience to the Will of God are found throughout his life and ministry. Beyond the more obvious lessons, however, lie transcendent yet pervasive examples of how to fall. Typically, we see falls as dreaded, embarrassing stumbles to be avoided at all costs. Many times, we see them as windows to our weakness we would much rather stuff under the bed and forget or deny. Such terror in the face of falls dissolves in the face of trusting God. In that context, let me offer the following gentle suggestions.

God Fell for Us

We know that God is perfect and cannot fall but, in a sense, He fell for us from the moment He created us. We know that God loved us before He created us ( Jer 31:3) and that this love has been present in everything He has done for us ( Ps 139: 13-16).  We also know that Christ fell for us because he became one of us, while still divine as well, to defeat sin and permit our salvation.

Fall for God

There are mainly two reasons why we may fall.  We may fall due to our human weakness and sin. While we should certainly do our best to avoid such falls, the fact is that we will fall despite those struggles because we are human. The devil wants us to give up when we fall due to sin, to feel hopeless and helpless. Reconciliation offers us the way back from such falls precisely because God’s love always defeats the devil’s lies.

The second reason we may fall will be due to things beyond our control. These innocent falls are part of life. Since he was perfect and sinless, Christ never fell to sin, but he certainly fell into struggles and frustrations because he was human. St Alphonsus Liguori often tells us to offer our falls to the goodness of God’s Will regardless of our distaste for them.  People often allow injustice or misfortune to sow bitterness and resentment.  Again, that is precisely what the devil wants, so we must look beyond our human agenda and have enough trust and love of God to embrace such falls as His Will. Since God is all good, then it follows that his Will is all good. If we offer our falls as products of God’s Will, then we will come to accept them as serving some good purpose despite our distaste for them.

The Pauses That are Not

It is easy to see falls as mistakes to be avoided and embarrassing signs of our weakness. However, such feelings stem from worrying too much about what this world thinks of us or thinking too much about our ego.  Others see falls as breaks in the actions, pauses in the proceedings, intermissions or bathroom or food breaks during the play or big game. Such views help us to ignore or brush falls aside and fail to learn and grow from them.

The truth is, falls are a part of the big game and the play of life.  They are very much part of the action and players in our plot if we allow them to contribute to who we are and become. Imagine that every play or movie was all success and smiles. Such efforts would teach very little and pretend a lot. They would not be real.

The more we come to see our falls as active parts of our lives and not aberrations, the more we will learn from and, yes, even embrace them as lessons and opportunities to grow toward God.  Falls are not silent pauses; rather, they can speak volumes if we are willing to listen and act on them.

Let Your Crosses Become Ladders

St. Rose of Lima is quoted as saying that “Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.”  If we truly fancy ourselves followers of Christ, we must start seeing our crosses as ladders rather than burdens.  The key to that view is trying to see falls as opportunities to learn how to grow toward God instead of feverishly trying to avoid them like misfortunes, mistakes, or failures. By doing this, we too may sanctify the falls in our lives rather than spend our efforts cursing them.

2018 Gabriel Garnica

 

 

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Catholic Spirituality, Culture, Evangelization, Featured, Sacraments, Scripture, Spiritual Warfare, Theology Tagged With: Book of Jeremiah, Book of Psalms, reconciliation, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Rose of Lima

The Miracle of the Sun and Fatima’s Message for Today

By Lisa Mladinich

Happy 100th Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun!

Enjoy this beautiful talk by Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR, which urgently and lovingly places the message and meaning of the apparitions at Fatima into the context of our lives, today.

Please begin by saying a brief prayer for this holy priest’s health.

 

Read all posts by Lisa Mladinich Filed Under: Evangelization, Featured, Lisa's Updates, Mary, Prayer, Spiritual Warfare, Theology, Video Tagged With: 100th Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, Blessed Virgin Mary, CFR, Fr. Andrew Apostoli, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Our Lady of Fatima, penance, reparation, saving souls, The Holy Rosary

EWTN to Broadcast Superb 8-Part Queen of Heaven Study

By Lisa Mladinich

SET YOUR DVRs!!!

I led this program in my parish, and it was STELLAR.

Do not miss this chance to see it free on EWTN, and consider bringing it to your parish! We prayed the Rosary before each episode, and hearts were changed, love for Our Lady increased, and many committed to praying the daily Rosary for the first time.

Here are the particulars:

Queen of Heaven series airs on EWTN

Beginning Friday, Oct. 6 through Friday, Oct. 13 at 6:30 PM Eastern, QUEEN OF HEAVEN will air on EWTN (check your local listings for the channel) or via Live Streaming on the EWTN website.

Queen of Heaven is an approximately 4 hour documentary-style program on Mary hosted by acclaimed Catholic actor Leonardo Defilippis and filmed in multiple locations and Marian shrines including the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the World Apostolate of Fatima Shrine, and the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.

It includes contributions from 15 theological experts including Tim Staples, Fr. Dominic Legge, Dr. Carrie Gress, Dr. Paul Thigpen, Fr. Chris Alar, Fr. Jeffrey Kirby and more.

In Queen of Heaven, viewers will accompany Mary from her Immaculate Conception through her Assumption and beyond. They’ll join her as she defends Christendom at Lepanto, frees a captive people at Guadalupe and heals a broken nation at Lourdes. Listen to her at Fatima as she predicts the rise of Communism—and watch as she defeats it through her beloved Pope.

Above all, viewers will discover why, though the battle continues, victory is assured to all who turn to the Queen of Heaven.

 

SCHEDULE:

The Battle Begins: The Woman and the Serpent

Airs on EWTN: Oct. 6 at 6:30 PM

 

The Annunciation: The Day Creation Held Its Breath

Airs on EWTN: Oct. 7 at 6:30 PM

 

Mother of the Church: All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Airs on EWTN: Oct. 9 at 6:30 PM Eastern

 

Guadalupe: Mother of the Americas

Airs on EWTN: Oct. 10 at 6:30 PM Eastern

 

Lourdes: I Am the Immaculate Conception

Airs on EWTN: Oct. 11 at 6:30 PM Eastern

 

10/12 – Fatima: The Lady of the Rosary

Airs on EWTN: Oct. 12 at 6:30 PM Eastern

 

The Consecration: My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph

Airs on EWTN: Oct. 13 at 6:30 PM Eastern

Read all posts by Lisa Mladinich Filed Under: #giveaway, Featured, Mary, Resources, Scripture, Spiritual Warfare, Theology, Video Tagged With: Dr. Jem Sullivan, Dr. Paul Thigpen, EWTN, free resources, Queen of Heaven Study, Saint Benedict Press/ TAN Books, Tim STaples

It’s My Faith, And I Can Leave If I Want To?

By Gabe Garnica

 

 

Sermon on the Mount -Carl Bloch 1890

I recently read a piece by Bishop Robert Barron https://churchpop.com/2015/06/13/two-deadly-errors-of-liberal-catholicism/which is over two years old, yet strikes a chord as loudly as ever.  The more I thought about this piece, the more I came to realize that the errors it describes  are consistent with an increasingly prevalent weakness in our current grasp of this wonderful treasure entrusted to us by Christ.

Bishop Barron’s Insight

In the piece noted above, Bishop Barron describes two fundamental errors in modern liberal Catholicism as embodied in a book entitled Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning by Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, a 2008 effort which made it to the bestseller list. Bishop Barron observes that consistent themes in the book were first, pitting personal faith or “spirituality” against the institutional church and secondly, the reduction of the Catholic faith to simply works of social justice. He notes how destructive and distorted these two perspectives can be to the Catholic faith.

Catholicism is not Our Personal Party 

In 1963, American singer Lesly Gore recorded a number one song entitled “It’s My Party,” describing a teenage girl’s dismay at losing her boyfriend during her birthday party.  The song’s lyrics typified the stereotypical teenage obsession with self and embodied the “take my toys and go home” immaturity of those who simply leave when things do not go their way. Kennedy proudly recalls how her mom would lead her children out of church if she did not like the tone or direction of a given homily.  Many of the celebrities interviewed for the book likewise describe their disillusion and departure from a faith whose direction they did not agree with.

The history of the Catholicism is littered with those who left, taking their toys with them, or saw our faith as some adjustable personal buffet, but as Bishop Barron reminds us, that is not what Catholicism is all about.  Rather, our faith is very much about respecting the hierarchy and teaching of the church as wholly interwoven. Barron describes Catholicism, not as a philosophical or political debate party but, rather, as a mystical body whose truth emanates from a very human, imperfect, yet validly ordained clergy.  He thankfully reminds us that the inherent truth and integrity of our faith is not dependent upon having a perfect clergy but, rather, upon Christ who works through them. Ultimately, those who see our majestic faith as some toy designed to suit one’s personal taste miss a great part of what makes Catholicism so transcendent to our human distortions.

Bread Lines over Lines in the Sand

The second theme of Kennedy’s book which Bishop Barron took issue with is the notion that  Catholicism is, at its core, all about having a passion for helping the poor and marginalized. While these virtues should not be ignored, Barron reminds us that the Church’s social teaching is rooted in and subordinate to the Church’s doctrinal convictions.  We do not feed the poor simply to help out but, rather, because we are connected as Children of God. Bishop Barron notes that something is wrong when anyone who claims to have ever been Catholic describes social service in a way which cannot be distinguished from secular humanism–or simply being a nice person.  Ultimately, I see that Bishop Barron’s two insights regarding Kennedy’s book can be coalesced into one central theme, as described below.

Me, Me, Me, and Me Again

At the end of the day, the Catholicism espoused by many of the contributors to Kennedy’s book is one centered on self:  I have a right to expect my Catholicism to serve my needs and views of what is and is not important. I deserve a faith that caters to my notions of what is right and wrong. I can pretend to defend the marginalized, as long as those marginalized are wanted and convenient. It does not matter why I feed the hungry or clothe the naked, as long as it makes me feel good about myself to do it. My faith is my personal radio allowing me to switch stations when I do not like the music or, better yet, shut off when nothing suits my taste. My devotion is my business and I am certainly not going to listen to some imperfect priest bore me with things I am not in the mood to hear.

How convenient and  self-obsessed is such a distorted view of the majestic and beautiful treasure that is our Faith.

Conclusion

The other day, I was trying to get my Echo device to play a favorite song, and things were not going well.  For some reason, the device kept playing songs with similar titles but not the song I wanted to hear, so I just told it to shut up. I began to ponder both the convenience and the ironic drawbacks of modern technology and thinking. We are becoming increasingly accustomed to custom-made living, where we can adjust everything to precisely suit our personal tastes. I know many people who play board games by their own rules, leading to many arguments and lots of solitaire. Christ came to show us that it is not about us, but about God and others. Our Faith is rooted in putting God first, others second, and myself third. Ultimately, Christians do not go home when things do not go their way because they know that the only way that matters is the way to God.

2017 Gabriel Garnica

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Culture, Evangelization, Featured, Theology Tagged With: Bishop Robert Barron, relativism, Roman Catholicism

Embrace Your Inner Veronica

By Gabe Garnica

 

 

We all know of Veronica as the brave woman who wiped Christ’s face on his way to Calvary.  Tradition holds that she was merely a pious woman of Jerusalem. gh Tradition also holds that her veil has gone through a long journey.   There is some debate whether or not the veil held in the Vatican as authentic is truly the original.  All of that, however, does not matter in the face ( pardon the pun) of what Veronica should represent for each of us.

Charity

First, Veronica’s action was based on a powerful desire of charity toward a suffering Christ. In that moment, her only concern was helping someone in need. If we want to follow Christ, we must likewise offer instinctual comfort to those in need, be it actual or in prayer.  Such instances will be welcome and necessary breaks in the self-celebration many of us call our lives.

Courage

There is no doubt that Veronica had to be very brave to do what she did.  She could have been struck, killed, or jailed for rendering aid to Christ, but she did not worry about that.  Following Christ today requires courage as well.  We must focus on Christ and block out the distractions of this world.

Clarity

It is clear that Veronica had no doubts or confusion about the importance of what she was doing.  She clearly knew what she was doing and why she wanted to do it.

Character

The final impression we receive of Veronica is that she was a person of high character.  She was clearly humble despite her bravery, faith, charity, and clarity. There is little mention of her anywhere except in the stations and such writings as those of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.  She did not act as she did for appearance, or for personal agendas.  When one acts out of charity, faith, trust, and total abandonment to God, there is no room for personal agendas, and one will act as a true, pure instrument of Our Lord.

Conclusion

St. Veronica is the patron saint of laundry workers and photographers and, given her story, this makes perfect sense.  She reminds us that Christ will leave his impression on our souls if we only offer ourselves in his service.  If we clean our spiritual laundry and offer God as clean a surface as we can on which to do His Will, He will surely render us living representations of His teaching, and what better role can one have than that?

Gabriel Garnica 2017

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Evangelization, Featured, Spiritual Warfare, Theology Tagged With: St. Veronica

The Saint in the Mirror is Waiting for Your Acceptance

By Gabe Garnica

 

 

hand of Christ

 

The Feasts of All Saints and All Souls defy our mistaken belief that sanctity is beyond us.  St. Therese of Lisieux reminds us that sanctity is beyond us only if we allow it to be.  Most people think of saints as holy super heroes with powers beyond those of mere mortals.  Under this view, thinking that one can become a saint is about as naïvely foolish as pretending that one can become a grand pianist while poking at two keys in our first lesson at age eighty.

Why do we so often sell ourselves short when it comes to striving for sanctity?

For one thing, many define a saint as someone who performs extraordinary things in incredible ways, such as working miracles or practicing extreme penances and sacrifices.  Certainly, there are saints who have done this, but they are the more famous saints and not representative of the vast majority.

St. Therese of Lisieux reminds us that becoming a saint is no more than seeking to please God by doing the ordinary extraordinarily well. Fame and public relations have nothing to do with sanctity.   St. Therese is famous now, but she was a virtually unknown, cloistered Carmelite during her life.  One must only seek to please God over seeking fame, fortune, or self-benefit.

The saint is one wrapped in God, in love, and in service.  If we always put God first, others second, and ourselves last, we will be on the way to sanctity.

We grow in sanctity by merely striving for sanctity, and we must never feel that we are holy enough for God.  The saint is not complacent because there is always more to do for God.

Another reason that many ignore or surrender their calling to be saints is that it is much easier to pretend that sanctity is impossible than to admit that it is very possible.  There is no criticism of the grade school student who fails a bar exam because nobody expects such a student to pass it.  Likewise, the  very young and inexperienced skater who fails to medal in a competition is not rebuked because nobody expects her to be ready to medal anyway.

Still others argue that they are not called to be saints because of this or that reason.  Such people forget that saints come in all shapes, colors, backgrounds, talents, and types.  In fact, we need diverse saints because people and the Church have diverse needs.

I once read that inventions are merely creative ways to solve problems  and answer needs.  We are each a unique, beautiful invention of God.  Each of us is blessed with special gifts and talents waiting to be used in His service.  God invites each of us to fulfill that purpose and that potential to be saints.  Our mistaken notion that saints are superheroes beyond our abilities  prevents us from daring to believe that we too can become saints.

Armed with God’s love and mercy and dressed in our faith, each of us is a saint waiting to happen.   The question is not if we can become saints. Rather, the issue is will we accept Our Lord’s standing, loving invitation to serve Him and love others with the very tools He has provided.

Gabriel Garnica,   2016

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Culture, Evangelization, Spiritual Warfare, Theology, Vocations Tagged With: sainthood, St. Therese of Lisieux

The Home Recipe for Sanctity: Blessed Anna Maria Taigi

By Gabe Garnica

 

V0017201 St Elizabeth visiting a hospital.

 

 

We recently celebrated the feast day of Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, an ordinary housewife and mother to seven children ( June 9) and, as often happens with saints’ feasts, the timing could not have been better!

Bl. Anna Maria Taigi was an ordinary person with earthly responsibilities, a spouse, and children. She was vain and superficial in her youth despite not ever being wealthy, just as each of us can be from time to time. This wonderful woman came to sanctity and service of God from the same difficulties and concerns that each of us faces on a daily basis.  Her self-reflection and interior illumination allowed her to see the poor state of her soul, and she undertook a life of obedience, humility, patience, and selfless service as the remedy.

Her strong interior illumination showed the state of her soul with the effects of sin and its misery before God.  With that, she embarked on a life of obedience, mortifications, submission, patience, humility and self-renunciation. She developed in this effort, finding ways to fulfill her duties while practicing total submission to the Will of God.  It became her mission to comfort others in as many ways as possible.  Anna Maria balanced her efforts between the practical necessities of her earthly responsibilities and the spiritual necessities of her family, such as teaching her children how to pray properly. In addition, she devoted herself to the Church, and especially to the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, attending daily Mass.  She also had a special devotion to Our Lady and to the Holy Trinity.

Anna Maria is yet another example, like St. Therese The Little Flower, that sanctity comes not so much from what we do but, more importantly, how we do what we do.  She became a renown healer and a great mystic, conversed with Jesus and Mary, and displayed various supernatural gifts from God, including the ability to see all things hidden in the present and the future.

Too many people disqualify themselves from sanctity by embracing the myth that saints are born saints, and that sanctity depends upon the age in which one lives.  In truth, saints are made via love and service to God and others, and sanctity can arise in any age.  Blessed Anna Maria Taigi reminds us that no matter what our state in life or vocation, we are called to replace self-love and self-will with the will of God.  By kissing and embracing whatever crosses Our Lord may send us out of love, we will turn any cross into a ladder to Heaven. This holy woman turned the ordinary into the extraordinary simply through love of God and others. In this so-called modern world which increasingly has no time for God, Anna Maria Taigi comes as a reminder that any time without God is simply wasted time indeed.

 

2016, Gabriel Garnica

 

 

 

Read all posts by Gabe Garnica Filed Under: Lay Apostolates, Spiritual Warfare, Theology, Vocations Tagged With: Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, humility, sacrifice, service, the Will of God, Vocation

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