Editing my next book and I just found this line about the book of Tobit:
How much energy do we waste mourning over suffering that will never come, simply because we've forgotten how to hope?
Gonna need to sit with that one.
Yesterday I raced across the country to make it to a friend's deathbed. She's been telling me for months that I need a sequined jumpsuit, so I pulled off at a rest stop to change into one.
The people at the rest stop looked at me like I was nuts, but Rachael was delighted by it.
My phone just autocorrected "heresy" to "Jesuit" and I just feel like that's a lot of shade to be throwing for a device that doesn't even know the word catechetical but whatever.
Seriously, I walked into the bathroom looking like a woman who hadn't changed her clothes in days. I walked out looking like one of the Supremes. It must have been a sight.
To the prodigal's older brother when he comes home for Christmas:
It is good that he is here.
It's good that he's in your parking spot, in your pew. If he's wearing a jersey, if she's wearing a crop top, it is good that they are here.
When I met my pastor he said, "If you need anything—if you're stranded & need money for a plane ticket—let us know. We'll get you home."
Today I drove past him changing some guy's tire in his cassock.
Praise God for priests who aren't just fathers to their people, they're dads.
Say a prayer for Mike who I just met in an empty church. He just got out of prison after 17 years and is hopefully making his first confession in decades right now!
A man near me in adoration was snacking and I was judging him hard until I realized I know him and he's diabetic and probably just trying to avoid a coma and just because I don't know people's circumstances doesn't mean I should judge.
Keep your eyes on your own paper, kids.
Father preached on abortion today. He prefaced it with, "If abortion has touched your life, please know you are so welcome here. You and I are all here because we need mercy. If I say anything to make you feel unloved, please come talk to me so I can make it right."
Beautiful.
I have a little autistic friend whose parents told their parish that the big first communion Mass wouldn't be a good environment for her.
So Father celebrated a Sunday Mass just for their family.
And kept thanking the family for letting him do it.
More of this, Church.
@CheriJacobus
Hi! You can't baptize a stillborn baby because it's dead. You can't baptize a dead 90-year-old, even though he took many breaths. You can, however, baptize someone who's holding her breath. And a baby who isn't dead but hasn't breathed yet. Turns out it has nothing to do w/breath
Ven. Patrick Peyton was a celebrity priest with millions of fans (and millions of dollars funding his ministry, including from the CIA). He struggled with obedience to his legitimate superiors, but when Rome told him to cut ties with the CIA, he did. He didn't go to the press. 1/
Deacon, during announcements: If you're between 15 and 25, please stand up.
(They do, confused)
Deacon: folks, everyone standing knows what a QR code is. If you need help donating to the bishop's appeal, please ask one of them.
😂😂😂
Friends, I have an exciting accomplishment to share:
Today I put together a bag of clothes to donate and stuck it in my car. And then on this VERY SAME DAY I took them to Goodwill and donated them! I did not drive them around for several months. I just did it!
Yesterday I got to witness the baptism, confirmation, and first communion of a teenage boy who said he just couldn't make it through Christmas without the Eucharist. His non-Catholic family came with him, dressed to the nines at noon on a Thursday to support him.
I needed that.
My friends just let me in to a locked church at 10pm and we found their priest sitting in the dim light before the Blessed Sacrament. He told us he's been going since 5:30 this morning but he won't go to bed without making a holy hour.
In case you needed some hope.
Wordle 230 1/6*
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
WHAAAAAT THE HECK??? I picked a super random word and that was it???
I have peaked for the day. There are 23½ hours left in the day and I've peaked.
Maybe for the month.
WOOOOOWWWWW!!!
Reasons I visit your church website:
1. To check the Mass times
2. To double check the bulletin in case your website lied about the Mass times
3. Because I forgot your Mass times and need to check them again
Maybe your web design should feature the Mass times? And the bulletin?
If you're not going to sing all five verses of We Three Kings, SKIP IT. I'm not usually team sing-them-all, but it doesn't make sense to sing about 2 gifts, or to do all 3 but leave baby Jesus in the tomb.
The magi walked from Persia, you can sing for 3 minutes.
Shia LaBeouf seems to have really met Jesus. I hope he's been radically transformed, that he's repented & made amends for the evil he's done, that he becomes a saint.
But I really need y'all to stop canonizing celebrity converts, ESPECIALLY ones with credible abuse allegations.
10 years ago I entered the convent. I quit my job, said goodbye to everyone I loved, and gave away everything I owned.
9 years and 9 months ago I left the convent.
Leaving was harder.
Met a bearded young widower at a Christmas book signing today and honestly I think it was rude of his precocious daughter not to invite me ice skating so I could discover the heart of gold beneath his gruff exterior and we could save Christmas while falling in love but whatever.
When Dorothy Day died, Card Cooke’s secretary asked for the Mass to be at 10am to fit his schedule. It had already been scheduled for the soup kitchen's break at 11.
The cardinal would be missed, they replied, but feeding the poor came first. The funeral was held without him.
Today I received communion for the first time in 2 months.
In the hand, as an act of charity. On my knees, as an act of reverence. And then I put my Guadalupe mask back on.
It was awkward and beautiful and strange. It was worth it to protect the vulnerable.
Why do so many churches schedule daily Mass at the same time as all their neighbors? And always at 8am?
Work out a schedule with other local parishes so that each day there's a 6:30am, 8am, noon, and 7pm. Make it possible for people with jobs and kids to get to Mass.
Hi! I've read the Bible in its entirety 21 times. I also attend Catholic Mass every day. My study of scripture has only ever made me more Catholic. Hope this helps ❤
Want to know the
#1
reason why people leave the Catholic church?
They start reading their Bibles.
They end up realizing that the main beliefs of Catholicism either contradict the Bible, or are found nowhere in the Bible.
If you're a survivor of abuse, please know this:
We love you.
We want to listen.
We will fight for you.
People are rejoicing at Pell's exoneration because they're certain there was no credible evidence against him, not because they refuse to believe allegations against clerics.
Once I commended a Dominican for having preached for 40 (!!!) minutes on the Trinity without a single heresy.
"Well, I should hope so!" he said, shocked.
Look, buddy. Today my priest was a modalist by the second sentence. The bar is very low.
Antisemitism is real, it is common, and it is vile.
You absolutely, unequivocally cannot be a Catholic in good standing if you despise any group of people.
But the group to which Jesus and Mary belong???
No. Absolutely not. Go to confession.
We need to develop the awareness that nowadays we are either all saved together or no one is saved.
#Poverty
, decadence and suffering in one part of the earth are a breeding ground for problems that will end up affecting the entire planet.
#FratelliTutti
#EndPoverty
Heard an antisemitic homily yesterday and did not convince myself it wasn't my business and bury my head in the sand so as to avoid conflict.
Please pray for the priest who was preaching and for his pastor, whom I contacted.
Pretty excited for the biographies decades from now that are going to say, "St. X was lukewarm in the practice of her faith until the Great Lent of 2020, when much of the world was deprived of the Sacraments for weeks on end.
40 years ago, a man moved to SW Virginia. His coworker said, "Is that a Polish name?"
"...yes."
"So you're Catholic?"
"Yes."
"Great, Mass is at 8:30 & my family goes to brunch afterwards. Join us!"
Decades later, generations of these families are still going to brunch together.
Every night. For years. All at the cost of his reputation and ultimately his life.
So here's to St. Vitalis. May he remind you what you're worth. May he inspire you to fight for the dignity of the used and abused, the sinner, the traumatized, the hardened and the fragile.
May he give you the courage to preach the Gospel, whatever the circumstances, whatever the cost. And may he teach you to love Jesus more than your reputation, more than your very life.
St. Vitalis of Gaza, pray for us!
Serv of God Stanisława Leszczyńska was a midwife in Auschwitz after she was arrested for providing Jews with false papers.
She delivered 3000 babies IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP with ZERO infant mortality and ZERO maternal mortality.
She was told to murder the babies. She refused.
Reasons to invite a banjo-playing priest to your birthday party:
1. He's a marvelous person.
2. It's good for priests to spend time with families.
3. It's good for kids to spend time with priests.
4. He'll sing happy birthday like this.
5. He'll be delighted to hear confessions.
St. Francis loved Jesus. He loved the Holy Spirit. He loved the Father. He loved the Mother of God. He loved Lady Poverty. He loved the Church. He loved lepers. He loved sinners. He loved the poor. He loved calling people to holiness.
He liked animals.
I never really knew what we meant by a happy death until I saw my friend spend her last days surrounded by everyone she loved, singing and praying and laughing and reading Scripture with her.
It is a devastating loss but a joyful end.
A little boy once asked me, very solemnly, if I had a Saint who never had a dad.
The thousands of hours of research I've done were all worth it to be able to say, "Sure do!" without having to hem & haw & make him feel like an outcast without even a Saint who understands him.
Then he would pray with & for her, offer to arrange a marriage or find a monastery for her.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because you're loved. You're worth more than what you've done or what's been done to you. Because Jesus died to save you and set you free from sin."
He can call you to med school knowing you won't graduate. He can call you to date someone you're never going to marry. Because our God is a God of journeys, not of destinations. He's the only destination he's concerned about, his Sacred Heart and his loving arms in eternity.
At a middle school sleepover, my friends decided to mess around with a Ouija board. "You guys can do what you want," I said. "I'll just sit over here and read my catechism." Which (naturally) I'd brought to the sleepover.
What I'm saying is, I'm a lot of fun at parties.
Yesterday I was feeling a lot of feelings & my friend's husband:
1. Noticed
2. Asked if I was okay
3. Offered to get me ice cream and/or booze
4. Told me he was happy to listen if I wanted to talk but wouldn't pry
5. Wasn't offended when I just wanted to talk to his wife
King.
You are not your sin.
You aren't your shame.
You aren't your addiction.
You aren't your abuse.
You aren't your abortion.
You aren't your resume.
You aren't your GPA.
You aren't your failures or successes.
Your'e a totally accepted, deeply loved child of God. That's who you are.
Wading through the misogyny and clericalism in my mentions today and hanging on to the memory of an Opus Dei priest who, when I thanked him for his priesthood, thanked me for my priesthood in return.
You don't have to be a modernist, a liberal, or a Protestant to value women.
A 12yo girl stopped me to tell me how pretty I am and I'm going to be riding high on that for a long time because tween girls don't just volunteer that kind of compliment unless they really mean it.
I am OBSESSED with
@JonathanRoumie
in this shirt. This is why we're here. Because the Eucharist is Jesus the Christ, the God of the universe made present for us.
#EucharisticRevival
Tonight I told an 8yo boy that it's okay that his feelings get hurt easily because it means he has a tender heart. "And when you have a tender heart, it can break open to let other people inside so you can love them well."
Oh, the look of wonder and delight on his little face!
One day Vitalis was killed in the street. At his funeral, dozens of reformed prostitutes wept. Each testified that she owed her soul to Vitalis, who had come to her room, handed her all the money he had, and said, "Here's your money. I want to buy you one night without sin."
Discernment isn't about figuring out the missing piece that turns your struggle into happily-ever-after. It's about following the Lord, even--especially--if you have no idea where he's leading you.
10 years later, I'm glad I entered. I'm glad I left. I'm glad I followed.
If someone does you the enormous honor of telling you about a great grief they're experiencing—one that you've never lived—please don't dismiss it by offering glib advice.
Suffering is sacred. We should approach it with reverence, especially when it's shared in vulnerability.
Honestly, friends, I could do this all day. Because holiness comes not in defiance but in obedience.
Now obviously there are also cases of Saints resisting when told to do *evil*. The precept of obedience to our lawful superiors doesn't override the law of God. 7/
Today's homily:
"Has the Christian life disappointed you? Has the Christian life disappointed you?"
*intense stare*
*goes back to his chair and sits in silence for a few minutes*
"Let us pray...."
Now THAT is a homily. And on Valentine's Day, no less.
King.
It was Teresa of Avila who convinced me holiness was possible for me.
Every other Saint I'd encountered seemed to be sweet & meek & placid. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't be anything but loud & fiery & intense.
But Teresa was salty AND holy so I figured I could be, too.
Big news: I'll be working in campus ministry at Notre Dame for the spring semester!
I'll be in South Bend through May. Or maybe forever!
Anyone got a house to sell me? Looking for a front porch & hardwood floors in a little old house with charming details & friendly neighbors
If you're preaching tomorrow, particularly to a conservative white congregation, I beg you not to reference "the events of this week" and then spend your homily warning people about coming religious persecution and detention camps.
I feel like I shouldn't have to say that.
One cool thing about coronavirus is that all the millennials who are social distancing aren't going out for lattes and avocado toast, so we should all be able to buy houses at the end of this, right?
*When they hear the words of God on our lips, unbelievers are amazed at their beauty and power, but when they see that those words have no effect in our lives, their admiration turns to scorn, and they dismiss such words as myths and fairy tales." -2nd century homily. Ouch.
My least favorite compliment is "You're such a great speaker! You're proof that women should be priests!" because then I have to thank them while (graciously&firmly) disagreeing & spend my whole break between talks trying to gently explain Church teaching to people twice my age.
St. Catherine of Bologna doubted the Real Presence for YEARS as a nun but continued to receive (though it felt forced and meaningless) because she *chose* to believe that when Jesus said "This is my body" he meant it.
Even when it felt ridiculous, she chose to believe.
I sat behind a woman at daily Mass today who was wearing a fancy purple dress, a purple Easter hat, a purple rhinestone-covered watch, a purple coat, and a ring with a giant purple gemstone, while carrying a purple purse.
Liturgical living fanatics, step up your game.
This week, Guido Schäffer (surfer, seminarian, doctor who served people with AIDS) was declared venerable!
Further proof that you don't need to be boring to be a Saint 😉
I met a man and we were talking about our favorite books of the Bible and then I mentioned my favorite Bible passage and this man not only recited it but referenced the previous chapter to explain why it was so good and if you need me I will be SWOONING for the foreseeable future
Once I started crying at the shrine of St. Joseph of Cupertino because he's humble & I'm not & the friar was so distressed that he offered me relics & books to calm me down and I'm not saying you should weaponize your tears to cheat friars out of relics but I am saying it works.
Leading 4yo and 6yo in a (gentle, age-appropriate) meditation on the Passion.
Me: Oh! Jesus fell down! What do you do?
6yo, so sweetly: I kiss him on his face.
4yo, so fiercely: I SCRATCH the soldiers!!
This morning I saw a man walking down the street with a dozen roses. He ducked into the church that I was walking into, laid them at the feet of the Blessed Mother, and knelt to pray. I may spend the rest of my life regretting the fact that I didn't propose right then and there.
As you pray for the victims and survivors of Uvalde, please pray also for Fr. Eduardo Morales, the pastor in Uvalde who will be burying many (if not most) of the deceased.
You can also send a donation to their school for tuition assistance for survivors who can't return to Robb.
He didn't declare war on Rome. He obeyed.
If he's canonized, that'll be why. Not because of his success in ministry but because when the chips were down, he wanted to be faithful more than he wanted to be right. 2/
Me: What would you like to ask God for?
2yo: Dear God, please help me be good at Mass.
Me: Oh, good one! Do you want to ask God to help you be good all the time?
2yo: NO!! ONLY AT MASS!!
So I'm asking the intercession of these Saints for Mr. Pavone & for all who prize their own sensibilities above their obligation to obey.
May we all submit in respectful obedience whenever possible & have the wisdom to know the very limited cases where we must humbly refuse. 9/
I closed on a house on Friday but didn't actually get to go over after closing for a couple of days because I immediately left the state to lead a retreat. I'd say that's a fitting end to all this nonsense 😂😂
I don't understand why designers aren't bending over backward to put pockets in skirts and dresses when it's the
#1
priority of every woman.
But can we at least make it standard to have "pockets" as a filter online? I don't care about color or silhouette, I care about pockets.
This Christmas, be the one who runs out to meet the prodigal. However he's dressed. Wherever she's sitting. Whatever their volume or posture. Welcome them home.
It is good--so good--that they are here.
Love,
A prodigal who came home
Fact: You literally can't go wrong by loving, respecting, and praying for the Pope.
On a related note, snarking about him on Twitter does not make you Saint Catherine of Siena.
But returning to serve in your diocese at the command of the bishop to whom you owe obedience? That isn't evil. Even if you think God has called you to a different ministry.
Obedience, friends. Obedience is what makes Saints. 8/
God bless the genius who added the Gmail feature that says "it looks like you forgot to attach a file" when you say you've attached something but you didn't. A true American hero, that one.
At the consecration.
Me (whispering): It's Jesus! Look! He's pretending to be a cracker but it's really him. Because he loves you so much!
3yo: *gasps* And I LOVE crackers!!
Really thought we were about to have a sweet little moment there.
I know the chatter in the church can be frustrating. I know it feels like your home has been invaded by interlopers who haven't put in the time or earned the right to be here.
Nobody has a right to be here. It's all gift. It's all grace.
A 7th-century hermit, Vitalis lived in the desert until he was 60, when he moved to Alexandria to work as a day laborer, earning only enough money to hire a different prostitute each night.
He didn't defiantly continue to celebrate Mass. He quietly served the Church as a teacher and a soldier for 16 years until he was restored to ministry.
Later he saved people from Nazis and bilocated, but it was his humble submission to his superiors that made him a Saint. 4/
Every person you meet is the eternally-beloved image-bearer of God.
Every person you meet is the delight of the Father's heart.
Every person you meet is an invitation to gaze in wonder at the beloved of God.
Every person you meet is the one for whom Jesus died.
I'm always baffled by "flip flops aren't appropriate in Mass." Y'all, 2001 Meg was so convinced that flip flops were the dress shoes you wear in the summer that I wore them to my own graduation. You don't know what people are trying to communicate by their clothes.
Signed a contract yesterday for a children's Saints book!
This book will have 100 Saints from over 60 countries (look at that MAP!) with different disabilities, strengths, and struggles.
Among Brandon Bernard's last words to his aunt:
"Auntie I asked God to use my life for His glory. When you do that you have to be ready for however he sees fit to use it."
Mercy, what a beautiful soul.
But he was no more deserving of life than the most unrepentant criminal.