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Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Holy Women's History Month | Lenten Reflections | catholic mom | women's history month
One snowy New Year’s Eve, my Grandma Kathryn was on her way to Mass to celebrate the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. Having lived in rural Iowa her entire life, she was intimately familiar with icy road conditions, but she was still rather surprised when her copper Mercury Monterey slid right underneath a semi-trailer! Throwing herself sideways, she lay flat on the seat and emerged unscathed … but missed Mass. To make up for missing her obligation, she attended Mass twice the following Sunday. This kind of commitment to Mass attendance is unusual in today’s culture, but back then, Holy Days of Obligation were universal days off work, restaurants boasted fish specials on Fridays, and most businesses were closed on Sundays. My son’s seminary rector, Father Daniel Barnett, comments that today, we are living in a post-Christian society, observing that secular principles have trumped traditional Christian ideals. My friend, Margaret, lived in a similar time, albeit 500 years ago. Political and religious unrest made the time uncertain and even dangerous for Catholics. Sweeping pandemics and the loss of her husband to illness left her to fend for herself and her five young children alone. But her faith sustained her. Prefer to Listen—Audio version available!
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Holy Women's History Month | Lenten Reflections | catholic mom | women's history month
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux has become one of my favorite saints in recent years for a couple of reasons. First, I greatly admire her thoughts and writings about the Book of Nature. She consistently used the natural world as a way of growing in faith and deepening her relationship with God. She saw the love and tenderness with which God had created even the smallest daisy and recognized that he had created her with that same great affection. Just as He tended to and provided for even the humblest flower or the most ordinary brown bird, so, too, did the Lord care for and provide for her. For Thérèse, the Book of Nature really was like an ongoing love letter, written to her personally by the hand of Christ. But the second reason why I am fond of the Little Flower, as she is more frequently known, is more personal. I feel close to her because she was close to some of my family, even though I never met them. Prefer to Listen—Audio version available!
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
Throughout life we have seen people who on the outside appeared calm and settled, then out of the blue exploded into a fit of violent anger. Some even ended up doing stuff of a magnitude that was simply unimaginable. The question on every one’s lips was “Where did that come from? What triggered it?” The implicated person was of course arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced for their actions. However, the question “Where did that come from?” was never properly answered.
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Holy Women's History Month | Lenten Reflections | catholic mom | women's history month
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton revealed herself to me when I needed her the most. My son, John Paul Raphael Leon, was born with Trisomy 18 on January 4, 2018. He was not expected to live long, and our hearts were crushed when he took his last breath at 2:43 pm the next day. As the crushing weight of grief settled upon me, I grasped for meaning in the details of how the Lord allowed our son’s short life to unfold. Was there significance to the hour he died or the number of days he lived? Then, we looked to the liturgical calendar for hope, and there she was: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Feast day January 4th Patron Saint of Grief Oh, my heart. The mercies of our Lord are abundant. While He allowed my child to die, I knew it was no coincidence that my baby was born on the Feast Day of the Patroness of Grief. The Lord offered me the comfort and companionship of this mighty saint to help me learn to carry extraordinary suffering. I knew about Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. I had been to her shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland and had spent several years teaching in Catholic schools, the educational system she is known for founding. She is even the co-patroness of our diocese in Arlington, Virginia, but I didn’t really know her. She was merely an admirable archetype of holiness, hard work, and perseverance. Then I sought her heart. Prefer to Listen—Audio version available!
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Holy lives of inspiration | Why pray?
In 1943, German industrialist Oskar Schindler faced a moment that would etch his name into history. Initially motivated by profit, he employed Jewish workers in his factory to exploit cheap labor. But as the Holocaust’s horrors escalated, he began to see his workers not as pawns, but as people. Risking everything—his wealth, reputation, and life—he pivoted, spending his fortune bribing Nazi soldiers to save over 1,200 lives. When asked why, he confessed, “I could not just stand aside.”
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Holy Women's History Month | Lenten Reflections | catholic mom | women's history month
I first met Elisabeth Leseur on the pages of the Catholic monthly publication Magnificat, which published one of her writings as a daily meditation. When I learned about The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur, I knew I had to buy it. As a lifelong journal-keeper, I felt an immediate kinship with her. The more I learned about Elisabeth, the more humbled I was by her life. This upper-class Frenchwoman who died at 48 from cancer counted among her sufferings the atheism of her beloved husband, Felix. Although she grew in holiness and piety during their marriage, she maintained a gracious quiet about her convictions when interacting with her husband or his like-minded friends. She kept her own counsel and wrote in her private journal about her developing faith life — a life she could not share with the one she loved the most. Her spiritual isolation brought great suffering, which she offered for her husband. When Felix discovered the journals after her death, he was moved to revisit the Catholic faith he had abandoned so many years before. He returned to the Church and later became a priest. He also published her beautiful writings and reflections on faith. By 1930, the book had sold 100,000 copies and had been translated into every major European language. Prefer to Listen—Audio version available!
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