Month: October 2020

Today’s Gospel reading is one that I had to read a couple times in order to understand what was going on. Jesus sometimes throws these curved balls where it’s hard to understand exactly where he’s coming from.

The disciples are rejoicing because they’ve seen the power of Christ at work in casting out demons. He reminds them that we should rejoice not because of what we can see God doing or our own ability to share the Gospel, but because we are children of God and he desires us in heaven with him.

It reminds me of how we work so hard at our faith and we don’t always see results. It gets frustrating. How many times have we talked to someone about our faith and they shut us down or treat us like we are weak. Whether it’s praying for an end to abortion or for the conversion of a loved one, sometimes it seems like God doesn’t hear us.

It is easy to be a disciple when we see progress.

It’s easy to be a disciple when the culture is on our side and we have “Catholic Celebrities” encouraging us along the way. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with seeing progress or rejoicing when we have our prayers answered. However, Jesus himself reminds us that we shouldn’t rejoice at results but at the fact that “our names are written in heaven.”

In the first reading we hear of Job and how God blessed him with beautiful daughters. But we all know Job was also blessed with severe trials in order to prove his faithfulness. Trials that would leave most people cursing God. Can you imagine losing your children in a terrible accident? Losing all your animals and livelihood? The only thing left were three servants who were the sole survivors of the tragedies. I pray to God that I can still rejoice and praise him even when faced with hardship.

It’s much harder to wear your faith with pride when you realize being Catholic means that people might not invite you to the neighborhood barbecue. Or when we have to defend Mother Church amidst a period of horrible scandal.

Praising God is much harder when we don’t get the things we want. Catholicism might lose a bit of its appeal when things aren’t going great. But none of that matters. Christ is real and he’s in the Church. He’s present at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass all around the world. God the Father calls to us every day in the simple things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told lately that God talks to us in the silence.

Whether we’re in a period of consolation (where we see and feel God in our lives) or we’re feeling desolation (alone and abandoned) God is still with us. We are still called to be saints and there is a great plan for our lives that ends in our union with God in heaven.

Contact the author

Today is the feast of the Guardian Angels. The first thing that comes to mind for me, and probably for you, is the famous image of an angel protecting a child as he or she walks across a bridge. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of “each believer” having a guardian angel, a special guardian from the time of baptism to accompany us through life. Benedict XVI in an Angelus Address on October 2, 2011 called guardian angels “ministers of the divine care for every human being. From the beginning until the hour of death, human life is surrounded by their constant protection.”

Therefore, on this feast, we are celebrating our faith in God’s enduring love and his providential care extended to us each and every day until life’s end. Some of the saints had the blessing to actually see their guardian angel. Whether we can see our angel or not, belief in the guardian angel who accompanies us through life is an act of faith in the God who accompanies us on our way through life and into eternity. We can pray to them for assistance, or we can simply speak with our angel as with a friend.

In the Gospel, Jesus states: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”

Our guardian angels remind us that our eternal home, the destination to which we are journeying under their protection, is heaven. Saint Bernard said that we have only to follow our angels, to stay close to them, and then at our death we shall dwell with them in heaven.

I never fail to be moved to tears at the end of the Funeral liturgy when those of us who remain on earth gather around the body of our dear sister and sing this farewell hymn from the Rite for Christian Burial:

“May the angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs come to welcome you
and take you to the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem.”

Our guardian angel is a protector, a shepherd who leads us into life. In a way, when we are devoted to our guardian angel we are beginning on earth the life that will be ours in eternity when we will stand in the company of the angels singing with them to the glory to God.

Our veneration of the angels in heaven transforms our hearts in three ways:

• It leads us to honor and respect ourselves and others who are watched over through the goodness of God by an angel from heaven. We and others are never alone. We and others are never outside of the watchful eye of this angel who sees everything.
• It leads us to gratitude that God has given us a companion through life to enlighten us, defend us, guide us, and intercede for us, and ultimately to bring about our total dedication to God’s glory in our life.
• It leads us to hope. The fact that everyone has a guardian angel reminds us that the history of the world is in God’s hands and that the angels who watch over us are at work in each person’s heart to turn them to truth, goodness and beauty, that they might make decisions that will allow God’s loving plan for the world to unfold.

Our guardian angels are always before the face of the Father. We can turn to our own guardian angel in every need, and we can always pray to the guardian angels of others. When someone needs a reminder, comfort, conversion, or strength, turn to their guardian angel because this heavenly minister is right beside this person wherever they are and in whatever situation they find themselves. When you cannot be near someone in need, their angel is always right there with them.

Contact the author

“The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”

This is one of my favorite quotes from St. Therese. We celebrate her feast day today.

By all intents and purposes, Therese was not on the trajectory to be a Doctor of the Church. She was a spoiled, youngest child. She got what she wanted, when she wanted. She was raised by, and alongside, literal Saints who adored her and waited on her hand and foot. Yet, little Therese learned too soon what it meant to suffer: she lost her mother at a young age, fell deathly ill, and said goodbye to each of her sisters as they entered the convent. Therese grew up with a holy boldness that women everywhere could learn from: she believed in her vocation and she fought for it, all the way up to Rome.

Therese goes against everything our modern society equates with power, yet she is one of the most revered female Saints in the Catholic Church. She never traveled the world; she never found a cure for cancer or invented a new technological advancement. In her quiet cloister in the sleepy town of Lisieux, before she even reached the age of 25, Therese changed the face of morality. She was simply herself; she didn’t try to be anyone else. She modeled the great paradox: we can accomplish great deeds in our littleness. She paved a way for us to strive for holiness by doing everyday activities with love.

From the Little Flower of Lisieux, we learn the vital importance of rejecting the lie from Satan that we have to accomplish great things (in the eyes of the world) to achieve greatness. We learn to reject the lie that we have to attain a certain degree of social status or age in order to be a Saint. And we learn that, in the end, it matters little what we do, but that it was done in love.

Contact the author