Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

The Lesson of a Pet Contest

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CassieContest2

 

Unexpected Lesson

I once read that the most profound lessons often cross our paths at the most unexpected times. A few weeks ago I experienced this truth in the form of a pet contest.  I did not expect a simple pet contest to become a deep lesson but that is exactly what I received.

We have a beautiful beagle mix rescue dog named Cassie who has brought nothing but love, joy, and peace to our home.   We found her through a series of events best left for another day. Suffice it to say that those events were surely heaven-sent. We all know how much St. Francis loved animals, but other saints such as Basil the Great, Cuthbert, Philip Neri, Melangell, Hubert, Columba, Roche, Cirian the Younger, Chrysostom, and Jerome were all known for loving and appreciating animals as beautiful gifts from God.  This lesson, and this contest, all came about as we were about to go on vacation.

God, however, is never on holiday. He does not take vacations from teaching us loving lessons, often when we least expect them.

Like many pet owners, we allowed our love and pride in our pet to cloud what is truly important.  At some point in this process, it became more about showing off our dog than appreciating her.  This beautiful dog had taught us so much and we were responding with petty superficiality and selfishness.

Through this process we began to realize how much we really cared about and loved our pet.  We realized that we did not need a contest to confirm or validate how special and unique this innocent gift from God truly was.

When Losing is Winning

When the contest people informed us that Cassie had been disqualified over a voting irregularity, we became upset, resentful, and even bitter.  All that time and effort, and all of that pestering those we knew to vote, had seemingly gone to waste. It did not help that the disqualification claim itself seemed suspicious, nor that the contest seemed rigged in favor of the second place dog.

We lose touch with the genuine truth, the priorities, and the things that really matter in our lives when we fall into this world’s petty validations.  These earthly, external validations are not necessary when we have the internal validation of God’s blessings.  He touches our lives with a genuine beauty and love that do not need trophies, awards, front covers, or contests. Loving and serving God is a daily blessing that no earthly contest can touch. We need to be reminded of the many daily blessings of God, and how we each take those blessings for granted.

In case we have not noticed, there is injustice, selfishness, superficiality, corruption, and deception in this world.  Christ certainly faced these things, and we cannot follow Him without facing them as well.  However, we cannot allow injustice to define who we are.   Resentment and bitterness only arise to the degree that we validate and play the petty games of this earth.

Our Lord faced and transcended what is wrong about this world with His message of what is right about God.  As His followers, we cannot expect to do anything less.

Long before this foolish contest, we had come to see Cassie as a gift from God.  One look at her big brown eyes reminded us that we were winners the day God sent her our way, and we did not need any twisted contest to remind us of that fact.

2016, Gabriel Garnica

Review: To the Heights, by Brian Kennelly

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ToTheHeightsCoverREVIEW by JT Therrian

I’ve often wondered what my life would’ve been like by now had I followed the call of God’s voice as a young boy. Erroneously believing that a life of pain and hardship lay in that direction, I hardened my heart and adopted a more “realistic” attitude toward my future.

To the Heights, Mr. Brian Kennelly’s novelization of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s life (1901-1925), showed me what such a life devoted to caring and loving, begun at a very early age, might have looked like. Pier Giorgio simply and humbly believed that no one is ever too young to love and to care for others, especially for the marginalized, the poor, and the disenfranchised.

I found the life of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti incredibly inspiring. I admit that before reading To the Heights I had not heard of this popular third order Franciscan. Mr. Kennelly does a great job fleshing out Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s love for his family along with his passion for the Catholic Church; his pious devotions to praying the Rosary; attending daily Mass; and spending time in adoration of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

It is important to show young Catholics the rewards of a strongly-lived faith. This book does just that. To the question: given the current state of the world, how can I believe in a God? Mr. Kennelly replies, through Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s humble actions and words: take account of all the graces in your life. How can you not believe in God?

As a Vincentian, I was heartened to read of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s work in the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The spirit of caring and charity rings true on every page. In a moving passage, Pier Giorgio explains to someone seemingly indifferent to serving the poor, “There is a special light behind the poor and unfortunate, one we do not have, one that has nothing to do with riches and health. I urge you to see that light tonight, not with your eyes, but with your heart.”

There are many echoes of past saints and sanctifying grace in the young man’s life: his fondness for hiking reminded me of Pope St. John Paul II’s passion for the outdoors; Pier Giorgio’s love of the poor and the sick, and the selfless acts of kindness with which he filled his days, brought to mind St. Vincent de Paul and St. Thérèse of Lisieux (especially in his love of flowers); and his limitless charity towards the poor is exemplary of St. Francis’ concerns.

But Mr. Kennelly also shows us that the tenderhearted and pious young man was no stranger to physical confrontations. Pier Giorgio lived through WWI and the chaotic political aftermath in Italy which gave rise to Mussolini’s infamous fascist (and anti-Catholic) Black Shirts. Pier Giorgio did not back down from unjust confrontations, although he would only fight when all peaceful avenues had been exhausted. In reaction to the Black Shirts, he remarked, “It’s a sad day when Catholics cower to evil and treat the teachings of their Church as if they are merely suggestions, abandoning them without the slightest sign of a troubled conscience.” How prophetic and timely this warning, as our Church continues to face relentless assaults from the secular world.

I truly enjoyed To the Heights and I will be recommending it to everyone for years to come. Mr. Kennelly not only understood what was in Bl. Pier Giorgio Frasseti’s mind, he showed us the care, love and charity alive in the blessed’s heart. We are grateful to such a talented author for revealing these graces. I also enjoyed the book’s short chapters, and I liked that Mr. Kennelly includes some actual prayers in the text, introducing some of the Church’s treasures, such as the Tedeum, to readers.

If you know someone, especially a young person concerned about the plight of the poor or injustice in the world, you must inspire them to action with a copy of To the Heights.

 

 

 

JT writer picJT Therrien is a Catholic Canadian fiction writer working in a variety of genres: literary;  commercial; children’s and young adult; inspirational (mostly based on the Theology of the Body and traditional Catholic doctrine); art-themed; paranormal; romance and love stories. He plies his craft in short story, novella and novel-length works. Readers who enjoy Brian Kennelly’s To the Heights might also like JT’s art-themed, Theology of the Body, young adult, dystopian novella Sprainter, available at all online e-book retailers. Readers can also follow JT online: https://twitter.com/jttherrien – Twitter, http://jttherrien.blogspot.ca – blog, https://sites.google.com/site/jttherrienauthor – website, https://www.amazon.com/author/jttherrien – Amazon author’s page, and at many other social networking sites.