“Go where you can love God best.” My spiritual director shared this advice at a Holy Hour for discerning women. The thought rankled me. Shouldn’t I go where I could serve God best? Shouldn’t I go where I could pray best? “Love and do what you will.” Again, this sage command from Saint Augustine rankled me. The spiritual life is a lot more complicated than that, Saint Augustine. What about being a missionary? Should I go to Latin Mass or should I go to a charismatic Mass? Should I have a Franciscan or Dominican spirituality? “Enjoy yourself as much as you like, if only you keep from sin.” Umm, seems a little dangerous here, Saint John Bosco. What about custody of the senses, modesty? What about fasting? Shouldn’t I always pursue the hardest route; won’t that win more graces? What stirred in my heart when I came across these statements throughout the years was that they did not measure up to my personal definition of holiness. My definition of holiness included specific prayers and novenas, devotions and acts of service. Holiness looked a specific way: both exteriorly and interiorly. Yet these were very holy people placed in my life, and our definitions of holiness were not congruent. And since I don’t have the "Saint" in front of my name, the one in need of correction must be me. What Must I Do? Good teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life? // Matthew 19:16 At some point in our coming closer to the Lord, we have asked this same question. Some of us are rule followers, some are rule benders, but we all face the same struggle. We can get caught in the mire of all-the-things when, ultimately, all-the-things are there solely to bring us into a relationship with Christ. What does the Church have to say about this? In addition to the Ten Commandments, she gives us something that “guarantees to the faithful the very necessary minimum” (CCC 2141) for growth in holiness: the precepts of the Church. It seems strange to talk about the bare minimum in the context of holiness, but the Church, in her wisdom, shows us that what is below this baseline is sin. There is no limit to what is above the baseline, as there is no limit to holiness. This is an important consideration, especially for those who struggle with scruples. Am I living the precepts of the Church and following the Ten Commandments? Then, I am in grace. What are the Precepts of the Church? So what are the precepts of the Church? And what do the Saints—the holy men and women who have gone before us—say about them? "You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor." Once, Saint Teresa was overwhelmed with God’s goodness and asked Our Lord, “How can I thank you?” Our Lord replied, “Attend one Mass.” “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer.” // Pope Paul VI “Martyrdom is nothing in comparison with the Mass, because martyrdom is the sacrifice of man to God, whereas the Mass is the Sacrifice of God for man!” // Saint John Vianney "You shall confess your sins at least once a year." "In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You." // Saint Augustine "My daughter, just as you prepare in My presence, so also you make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light. // Saint Faustina "Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls." // Saint Faustina “Our soul is like a hot air balloon. If by chance there is a mortal sin, the soul falls to the ground. Confession is like the fire underneath the balloon enabling the soul to rise again. . . It is important to go to confession often.” // Blessed Carlo Acutis "You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season." "There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us." // Saint Jean Vianney "When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries." // Saint Josemaria Escriva "If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." // Saint Maximilian Kolbe “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.” // Blessed Carlo Acutis "You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church." “Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, kindles the true light of chastity." // Saint Augustine “Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache.” // Venerable Fulton Sheen "One of the meanings of penitential fasting is to help us recover an interior life. Moderation, recollection, and prayer go hand in hand.” // Pope Saint John Paul II "You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church." "We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” // Saint Teresa of Calcutta “Love God, serve God; everything is in that.” // Saint Clare of Assisi “The future is in your hearts and in your hands. God is entrusting to you the task, at once difficult and uplifting, of working with Him in the building of the civilization of love.” // Pope Saint John Paul II "The precepts of the Church and the Ten Commandments are ordered to love. They are given to us a means to draw closer to the Lord, as a roadmap to His Heart. “Today Christ is asking each of you the same question: do you love Me? He is not asking you whether you know how to speak to crowds, whether you can direct an organization or manage an estate. He is asking you to love Him. All the rest will ensue.” // Pope Saint John Paul II May we not get caught up in the shoulds and coulds, the do-it-yourself holiness kits. The Church shows us the way. Let’s be His.   [bctt tweet="The (Actual) Essentials of Holiness #BISblog //" via="no"]

I had the privilege and gift to co-lead a pilgrimage to Lourdes and Fatima a few years ago in honor of the 100th anniversary of the apparitions in Fatima. In planning the pilgrimage to Fatima, we also decided to add on Our Lady of Pilar and Lourdes, since, geographically, they are not that far away. It would be a truly Marian pilgrimage. Lourdes was the first part of our pilgrimage, and I had been there once before when I was in college. Frankly, I was holding out for Fatima. I was content to revel in the enthusiasm of the other pilgrims. Watching their joy and excitement was enough for me. Not that I didn’t think Mary would or could give me grace... I just wasn’t convinced she should. I had been there before. I wasn’t suffering like so many who were making their way to Lourdes. I was leading the group, so I thought I should already have it together or that I was somehow exempt from the healing graces that flow through Lourdes. I was happy to be there, but I thought if Our Lady was going to give special graces, she should give them to the ones I was with: the ones who had never been there or seemingly needed grace more than me, as if there was not enough to go around. Mary Shows Herself as Mother On our first night, a small group of us decided to go to the grotto where Our Lady had appeared to Bernadette. Spirits were high, the lights over the Gave River were beautiful, and the city was relatively quiet compared to the Catholic Disneyland-feel of the town during daytime hours. Peace settled over us as we walked through the square while small groups of pilgrims wandered about at the late hour. We stopped for a picture in front of a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, a picture that would later be the image of our trip. The statue itself is completely white. But in this particular picture Our Lady was wearing her blue belt and gold roses on her shoes. A small crowd gathered in attempts to replicate the picture on their own cameras, but to no avail. To our particular group it was as if Our Lady was saying, “I am here.” Spiritual Reunion Spirits even higher, we walked from there to the grotto itself. This is where Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette and asked her to pray the Rosary. This is where I promptly burst into tears. Tears I was not prepared for, had not anticipated, and definitely did not want to be crying in front of the tour company leader, our pastor, and friends. These were ugly-cry tears, seemingly out of nowhere. However, they were tears of peace, tears of healing. As I stood there beneath the little outcropping where Our Lady had appeared, she gently reminded me of how much she had done in my life since I had stood there as a 20-year-old college student. It was as if she was saying to me, “I am here, I am close.” Pilgrims United The next day, we had Mass in a small chapel adjacent to the main Church. It is so tiny you would miss it walking by, but it is the oldest chapel at the shrine. Saint Bernadette’s father even helped build it. I was particularly excited about it because I had just finished a book about Leonie, one of Saint Therese of Liseux’s older sisters. She had come to Lourdes with the two eldest Martin sisters and her mother, Saint Zelie, to pray that Saint Zelie would be healed of breast cancer. While that particular prayer for Zelie was not answered in the way her daughters’ desired, Saint Zelie’s prayer was. She poured Lourdes water on Leonie and prayed that she might become a saint. Leonie had many mental health struggles throughout her life, but her mother’s prayer at Lourdes was answered, and Leonie's cause for canonization is open. As I prepared for Mass, I imagined Saint Zelie, Leonie, Marie, and Pauline having Mass in this same chapel. That is what I pondered throughout that Mass. Always Answered Prayers The walls of the chapel were covered, floor to ceiling, with ex voto plaques: thank you’s for prayers answered. Many of the plaques in this particular chapel date to just after the apparitions, when Saint Bernadette would have still been alive. Countless prayers answered for countless pilgrims in the almost 170 years since the apparitions. Our Lady was showing me her care for each one of her children and her continual prayer for us. Mostly, she was showing me her tender, motherly heart that is only expansive, never limiting. She spoke to my heart, “I am here, I am close, I am yours.” I had placed limits on our Mother’s love and care. I had limited Our Lady to only giving me a gift at one place, and I figured it would be Fatima. I didn’t think I had anything worth healing at Lourdes (not that I didn’t need healing, but that those things weren’t worth Our Lady’s time or attention). I had anticipated the countless petitions she was hearing there would mean mine would go uncounted. Instead, Our Lady decided to heal my heart in a way I didn’t even recognize needed healing. That little chapel, with countless prayers answered. The lines for the baths, with hundreds of pilgrims. The countless candles marking prayer requests. Instead of feeling small or unseen, I visited a tender Mother who cares about every detail of our hearts. She healed the deepest desires that I didn’t ask for, but she knew I wanted. She saw me. Have you ever been to Lourdes? What was your experience like?   [bctt tweet="Visiting Our Lady in Lourdes #BISblog //" via="no"]

Saint Francis de Sales' book The Introduction to the Devout Life made its way into my life early in my walk with the Lord. I found it on my brother’s book shelf when I was looking for something to read and hungering to grow in my faith. With the word "introduction" in the title, I figured it must be meant for me. For Those in the World, But Not Of It Saint Francis and his guidance became a guide for me in my initial days of navigating the Faith. During my college years, I read it over and over again with my household sisters, and we strived to live his wisdom. Many years later, we still send each other messages on his feast day. In many ways, Saint Francis de Sales was a spiritual director for me at a time when I thought spiritual direction was a thing of history long past that no one did anymore. Introduction to the Devout Life is far more than just an introduction. It is unique in that it is one of the earliest books written for those living in the world, but striving to not be part of it. Most of the works written before this had been for those in the cloister or priesthood. But in 1619, Saint Francis de Sales recognized the universal call to holiness and in his book he shares how to get there. The title is somewhat misleading, as it guides you along the way wherever you are in the devout life. Divided by topic into short reflections, the reader can read straight through or by topic. Favorite Quotes from The Introduction to the Devout Life Saint Francis de Sales addresses the words of his book to "Philothea"- which translates to “one who loves God” or “soul in love with God.” That’s you, dear reader. Saint Francis is tender and patient in his guidance, knowing that the reader is already trying to live a devout life. Saint Francis honors this effort with reverence. Often his writing is encouraging the reader to be gentle with oneself and to be at peace. Here are a few of my favorite quotes. Life of Union with the Lord // “Devotion, the spiritual life, must be exercised in different ways by the gentleman, the worker, the soldier, the servant, the prince, the married woman, the widow or widower and the young. Not only is this true, but the practice of devotion must also be adapted to the strength, temperament, activities and duties of each person.” “We must not be disturbed by our imperfections, since for us perfection consists in fighting against them.” Sacraments // On receiving the Eucharist: "You cannot imagine our Savior in an action more full of love, or more tender, than this." Prayer // "Two points are always used to prepare oneself for the meditation: place yourself in the presence of God, and ask for his help in praying." "God often sends us inspirations through his messengers, the angels, so it is fitting that we return our prayers to him in the same way. The holy souls of the deceased who live in Paradise with the angels also perform this pleasant duty of inspiring us and interceding for us by their prayers." Practice of Virtue // “The King of Glory does not reward us according to the dignity of the offices we have but according to the love and humility with which we fulfill offices." “When God gives us His gifts, graces and talents, he intends us to use them.” Friendship // I have gone back to his section on friendship over and over again. His advice is reasonable and manageable—not overly spiritualized or unattainable. “Love everyone with a strenuous love based on charity, but form friendships only with those who can share virtuous things with you. The greater the virtues you share and exchange with others, the more perfect your friendship will be.” “Friends love each other despite their faults and flaws. Just as a gold miner separates the precious metal from the earth or sand, so friends must sort for the best in each other and treasure it.” “A friend who would lead us into sin is an enemy.” Exercises to Grow Spiritually // “Lift up your heart again and again whenever you fall, but do so meekly humbling yourself before God because of your misery. Do not be surprised that human weakness is weak or human misery is wretched." "Think of the little children who with one hand hold fast to their father while with the other they gather berries. If you handle the goods of this world with one hand you must also always hold fast with the other to your heavenly Father’s hand and turn toward him from time to time to see if you are pleasing him. Above all, be sure that you never leave his hand and his protection, thinking that with your own two hands you can gather more or get some advantage." "How does your heart stand with regard to mortal sin? Be firmly resolved never to commit it for any reason. This resolution is the firm foundation of your spiritual life." Wisdom… and Wit // Saint Francis was not one to shy away from the reality of daily life, which makes The Introduction to the Devout Life very approachable. He also was not shy about helping the reader not to take themselves too seriously. "Sometimes an act of spiritual devotion may help you- kissing an image of the Lord, prostrating yourself on the ground, raising your arms in the form of a cross, etc. This presumes, of course, that you are in private." "Be patient with the big afflictions that may come, but also endure the things that accompany the trial and the accidental circumstance. Many people would be willing to accept trials if it didn’t inconvenience them!" Patron Saint of Little By Little If you haven’t read Introduction to the Devout Life, be ready to make a new friend in Saint Francis de Sales. He wants to encourage and lead you. “You may take my word, if you persevere it will not be long before you obtain consolations so great and pleasing you will acknowledge that the world is mere gall compared to such honey…Little by little your strength will grow and day by day you will make progress.” Saint Francis de Sales, pray for us!   [bctt tweet="Meet the Devout Life #BISblog //" via="no"]   This post contains affiliate links. Thanks so much for supporting the ministry of Blessed is She!

"Sister. That was a mic-drop class." That's about as high of a compliment as it gets from middle schoolers. It was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and we spent the class going over the story hidden in the tilma. Since the majority of my students were Hispanic, they were very familiar with the story of the apparition of Our Lady to Saint Juan Diego and faithfully participated in Las Mananitas. Many had an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in their homes and lockers, and it was that image we spent the class discussing. Mary Tells a Story Then There were more than twenty languages and more than fifty dialects spoken in Mexico; however, when Mary left her image on the tilma, she left it in a language she knew everyone at the time would understand: symbols and cultural imagery. On the miraculous tilma, Mary is shown as a young native woman—not Spanish or European. Her dress—with jasmine, a fur-trimmed neck and cuffs, and a gold border on her cape—would have told the Aztec people that this woman was an Aztec princess or queen. Yet the greenish-blue color of the mantle would have spoken to the people of divinity. The angel holding the hem of her dress would have also told them she came from Heaven. So simply from her dress, they would have gathered that this woman was a Queen from Heaven. The Woman from Revelation The stars surrounding Mary on the tilma would have alerted the people of a beginning of a new civilization, and the winter solstice of 1531 is displayed in the arrangement of stars. The winter solstice symbolized the day of the sun’s birth to the Aztec people. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. // Revelation 12:1 We know this refers to Mary, but for the Aztec people, they would come to that knowledge through the image. The woman stands in front of the sun, signifying she is greater than the sun god, who was the greatest among the native gods. She stands on the moon, again showing she is greater than the god of night. The crescent moon was also a symbol of the Aztec serpent god, and Our Lady's stance upon it shows she will crush its head (see Genesis 3:15). This had even deeper meaning for the Aztec people, as the stone serpent demanded human sacrifice, and they would have recognized that this woman had power over human sacrifice. So where she was standing told the people this queen from heaven was more powerful than all of their gods. With Child The black band around Mary's waist alerted the Aztec people that the woman was pregnant. Over her womb was a jasmine flower in the shape of an Indian cross, which proclaimed in rich symbolism that the baby in her womb is Divine and the center of the universe. Mary’s hands are folded in prayer with her head inclined toward her womb, showing reverence to the one in her womb, not bringing glory to herself. She shows the people that she is not God, but belongs to and is worshiping God, the God who is in her womb and Who must then be Man. Mary’s fingers are three together, and one farther apart, hinting at the Trinity, three in one. The Aztec people would have connected this God-Man to the brooch at her neck. It has a black cross, which they would have recognized as the Cross Cortez had on his ships which brought the Catholic Faith to Mexico. So through the image on the tilma, the people would know that this queen from Heaven, mightier than all of their gods, worshipped the Man-God in her womb, and so must they. Mary Tells a Story Today Not only did Mary speak to the Aztec people then, but through science, she is still speaking to us today. The tilma is made of cactus fiber and would have lasted about 15 years. Yet, it is still here, almost 500 years later. It has faced smoke from fires and candles, water from downpours, candle wax, and oils from fingers touching it. The image shows no signs of decay, cracking, or deterioration. It even survived a bomb in 1921. The brass cross next to the tilma was bent completely and the altar rail was heavily damaged, but the tilma remained untouched! Scientists studying the tilma using infrared photography found no sketching lines or outlines to suggest an artist painted it. Nor can they find any paintbrush strokes! The biophysicist who studied it said it appeared to have been produced in a single moment. Scientists who have studied the pigments have no explanation for them. There were no synthetic paints in the 1500s, and the pigments do not come from any natural source. One of the most striking things that speak to us today but would not have been able to be seen due to the lack of technology during the time of the Aztecs are Our Lady’s eyes. An engineer magnified her eyes over 2,500 times. In her eyes can be seen the reflection of the Bishop and several other onlookers. Probably even more amazing is that Mary’s eyes follow the reflections and curves of what our eyes normally do when we gaze upon something. Our Lady Draws Us Then and Now to Her Son In 1541, ten years after the apparition, it is said nine million people had converted to Catholicism- practically the whole nation of Mexico. This massive religious and cultural conversion brought an end to the human sacrifice that was part of the Aztec culture. She is working today to bring about the conversion of our culture today, and this is why she is a patroness for the pro-life movement. Every year when I taught this lesson on December 12th, I remained just as awed as my students. Our Lady’s loves us enough to speak to us in a language we can understand. Saint Louis de Montfort said: She is more mother than queen. Our Lady of Guadalupe shows us she is mighty as both mother and queen and is willing to go to great lengths to speak to our hearts. May Our Lady of Guadalupe work this miracle of deeper conversion in our hearts this Advent.   [bctt tweet="Our Lady of Guadalupe's Miraculous Tilma #BISblog // " via="no"]

Blessed Miguel Pro is … overwhelming. There was a time in my life where he seemed to be everyone’s favorite Saint, except mine. I did all the things so he could be my favorite: read the books, watched his movie, prayed his prayer, yet we just didn’t seem to connect. I wanted to be friends with him but we simply weren’t. I think his intense personality and dramatic martyrdom overwhelmed my more natural, quiet temperament. An Impish Faith Even as a young child, Miguel was precocious, mischievous, and adventuresome. As a child he would read aloud to the family sermon notes from a book belonging to his mother. Then he would exclaim, “That is another matter! I do not understand it. Come, let us have a little music,” and reach for his guitar. He said of Heaven, “If I meet any long-faced saints there, I will cheer them up with a Mexican hat dance!” His sisters (two of whom later became religious sisters) were often the recipients of his pranks. He loved sweets, and secretly ran up the tab at the local shop until the bill was sent to his mother. A Greater Call After one of his beloved sisters entered the convent, he began to think about what God might want for his life (after consoling himself by eating the box of chocolates he meant to take to her when he visited). At the age of 20, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in his native Mexico. Because of the anti-Catholicism raging through Mexico, he and his novitiate class had to flee to the United States, and Miguel was sent to Spain and then Belgium for his seminary formation and ordination to the priesthood. His severe stomach issues did not allow him to stay in Belgium, and he returned to Mexico at the beginning of the Cristero War. War against the Church The Cristero War began when the government, intending to become a socialist state, closed all the Catholic churches in August of 1926. Baptisms and the celebration of Mass became a crime. Even dressing as a priest was outlawed. The war did not end until three years later, and by that time over 90,000 had died. Of those, thirty-five martyrs have been canonized and fifteen beatified. (Read more about it here and here.) Hero in disguise Blessed Miguel Pro, just 35 at the time the war started, would become one of those martyrs. He never lost hope and wrote at the height of the persecution: The Goliath will soon lose his head by means of the shepherd's staff...and then Christ alone will reign, Christ alone will conquer, Christ alone will command...already the splendor of the Resurrection can be discerned, for the darkness of the passion has reached its greatest intensity. He made his mark on the local church, basically becoming a secret agent for the Church. He would dress in disguises—often as a street sweeper, detective, or a wealthy businessman—to bring the sacraments to those in need. There is a great picture of him smiling almost smugly in his three-piece suit, hat, mustache (real or fake, I am not sure) and cigar, with a policeman strolling right past him. He once dressed as a mechanic to give a conference to cab and bus drivers. Another time he accompanied the police as they searched a house where he had been saying Mass. They were looking for the priest, not knowing that the man accompanying them as the "owner" was their priest. He said in one of his letters, “I assure you that I spin like a top from here to there with such luck as is the exclusive privilege of petty thieves.” He was bold and zealous, a heroic witness. Later he wrote: I see God’s hand so palpably in everything that almost—almost I fear they won’t kill me in these adventures. That will be a fiasco for me who sighs to go to heaven and start tossing off arpeggios on the guitar with my guardian angel. Forgiving Martyr In mid November 1927, Miguel and his brother were wrongly accused of plotting an assassination attempt. Caught and arrested, his brother requested to go to Confession. When he was refused by the authorities, Miguel boldly said, “Whether allowed or not, I shall hear him.” When called to his execution from his jail cell and the guard helped him with his coat, Miguel responded, “Goodbye brother, until we meet in heaven.” He forgave the policeman who apologized for his part in the arrest and execution, and then refused the blindfold that was offered to him. With arms outstretched in the shape of the Cross and a Rosary in his hand, he died with the words, “Viva Cristo Rey” (Long live Christ the King) on his lips. The government wanted his death to serve as a warning, and so had it widely documented with photographs. This ultimately backfired and instead it spurred hope among the people. His funeral brought tens of thousands witnesses in defiance of the law against public demonstrations. In my cloud of witnesses I think Blessed Miguel Pro's story is amazing and I love to use him when teaching about the Saints, particularly because there are pictures of him. Yet I just can’t seem to connect with him. It used to bother me, but now I realize that just as some human friendships are easier and more natural, the same thing happens with our spiritual friends. In both human and saintly friendships, we can have natural and supernatural friendships. Some may be particularly present for a season or a major life event, and some will be lifelong friends. Some friendships will be supernatural, taking a bit of work but are ultimately God-given and blessed. And although I may not have a natural, easy friendship with Miguel Pro, I know I have a supernatural one. I know he will be in my corner when I need him, encouraging me to be creative in my ministry, to pray, "Viva Cristo Rey” in difficulty. I know he is cheering me on in the pursuit of sanctity and will hopefully be in my long greeting line when I get to Heaven. I think this knowledge is even more comforting than if we had an easy natural friendship, because it’s our Christian life. It’s what we do: cheer each other on as we run this race to Heaven where Blessed Miguel will be waiting for us to sing arpeggios with him and his guardian angel. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. // Hebrews 12:1-2   [bctt tweet="My Friendship with Blessed Miguel Pro #BISblog //" via="no"]