As a nineteen-year-old college student, I first stumbled upon Saint Peregrine in a small chapel somewhere in Europe. Surrounded by hundreds of candles, this little chapel tucked away in the back of a larger church caught my eye. Why did this particular chapel have such a draw that so many left their candle offerings there? Who was this Saint who, although covered in candle smoke, prominently had his leg showing a large gash? As I figured out who he was, I too became one of the pilgrims to leave a candle.   Canonized in 1726, 381 years after his death, his feast day is May 2. In 1260, he was born the only son in a wealthy Italian family , which was tied very closely to politics at the time. As a result of this political involvement, his family was staunchly anti-papist in a time when the pope had great secular and spiritual power.  Peregrine went so far as to hit the papal representative that had been sent to calm down a local uprising. This papal representative, Philip Benzini—himself a canonized saint—turned and offered Peregrine the other cheek. Eighteen-year-old Peregrine, overcome by Saint Philip’s humility and concrete living of the Gospel, is said to have run three miles after Saint Philip, repented, and asked for his forgiveness. Thus began his conversion, and a few years later, he joined the Servite Order. His conversion led him to be a merciful priest.  A good priest, as well as a popular confessor and preacher, he went on to found a Servite monastery in Forli, Italy. It was in this monastery that there occurred the event which led to  his patronage as a saint. He developed a cancerous growth on his foot. It was not only painful, but also caused a stench, causing people to turn away from him. The doctors could not provide relief, except with amputation. Crawling to the chapel, he spent the night before the operation in prayer, begging the Lord to spare his leg. The following morning he was completely cured! News of this miracle became widespread and his popularity increased even more. He lived to be 80, and his popularity after his death spread throughout Europe. He is known as the patron saint of cancer and running sores.  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Answered Prayers?  I began praying to him as a young 19-year-old for a dear friend of the family, my kindergarten teacher, who was suffering from breast cancer that had metastasized all over her body. She passed away three years later.  Five years later, I asked for his help for my uncle, dying of liver cancer. He passed away after a short battle with cancer.  About five years after that, I began praying to him again, this time for my dad, who had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Three years later, he also passed away .  Did those prayers go unseen, unheard by Saint Peregrine? Was he too busy with the countless souls suffering this horrible illness? Did it even matter? Why didn’t this wonder worker work wonders for me?  Even though I didn’t get the outcome I was hoping for in my prayers and Saint Peregrine’s intercession, those prayers were heard, seen, and answered.  My dear kindergarten teacher, who had introduced my parents, became a radical prayer warrior through the Rosary during her battle with cancer. My mom went to visit her every week, which witnessed to me the gift of friendship and intercession, through the corporal works of mercy she did without thinking, purely out of love.  My uncle was reconciled to the Church shortly before he passed away.   My dad gave the witness on how to bear suffering patiently to all of us, saying on occasion, “This is the cross I’ve been asked to bear.” Our family grew closer during this time, and again, my mom was heroic in her witness and care for him. He passed on Trinity Sunday, during the Divine Mercy hour, while we were praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced a moment more holy than when he passed from here to eternity.  “Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today!”  “Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today!” is one of the Servite mottos, and this is how Saint Peregrine interceded in my life. In the dear ones who have battled cancer—not just these I shared, but also friends and classmates from college—these words describe how they lived after their diagnosis: “Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today!” For those suffering with cancer, the veil between heaven and earth becomes even thinner, and a strength, trust, and hope that is only from God gives them the grace to be there. For those of us entrusted to take care of those with cancer, being at their side is a privileged place to see God.  Saint Peregrine is always at work interceding for those with cancer. Ask his prayers and see the good he can bring about. It may look different than you imagined, but it will be good. God is always working about our good and for our good, and He listens to Saint Peregrine’s prayers that we become better today than yesterday, and better tomorrow than today. He intercedes for us to become saints, and there is no better gift than that.

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Unaware of what I was going through, a friend sent me a picture of a kintsugi bowl with the message, “When I see you, I see gold.” Kintsugi is the Japanese art of bowl-mending. Artisans reassemble broken ceramic bowls and costly gold is set into the seams between the shards. The cracks are not concealed, they are accentuated—remaining a symbol of admiration, bestowing more value, emboldening strength. Today as we celebrate the feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, I can’t help but think of how accurately her life resembled kintsugi. Set against the brutal Black Plague in Italy, her witness emanated a rare kind of beauty, reminding us that God doesn’t merely fix us in our suffering, He restores us to usefulness, and by virtue of gleaming Grace, transforms the world around us. Early Life of Catherine Catherine was born Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa in the spring of 1347. She and her twin sister, who died in infancy, were the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of twenty-five children. At the tender age of seven, Catherine was touched by extraordinary movements of the Holy Spirit and began to see visions of Jesus seated in glory with Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and Saint John the Evangelist. The sense of affirmation that God was calling her to a life consecrated to Him was both powerful and permanent. As a child, Catherine was nicknamed Euphrosyne, which in Greek means “joy.” Though Catherine’s mother longed for a "normal" daughter, Catherine refused to be stereotypically feminine. At age fifteen, she frantically chopped off her hair to thwart pressures to marry and even dreamed of joining a monastery disguised as a boy. At sixteen, motivated by a vision of Saint Dominic, Catherine entered the Third Order of the Dominicans, the female branch known as the Mantellate.  Catherine spent many hermetic years in the confinement of her room, where she experienced spiritual union with God which she described as "mystical espousal" to Christ. It was in this encounter that she discovered true ‘joy’ in the face of plague and pain. It was in this solitude that she wrestled to gain dominion over her heart and fleshly impulses. It was in this intimacy that she experienced the all-consuming Divine fire that invades our hearts, transforms our lives, and turns the world upside down. Pursuing Truth with Love During Catherine’s era, the dark age of the Church was manifest. In a power struggle over dominance in northern Italy, the papacy had moved to Avignon.  In an age when women’s religious vocations were confined and apart from the world, it was Catherine who boldly informed Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon and return to Rome. Often referring to Him as the "sweet Christ on earth,” she called him out in truth. “Respond to the Holy Spirit who is calling you,” she commanded. “Come! Come! Come! Don’t wait for time because time isn’t waiting for you.”  We don’t have to have a call like Saint Catherine’s to have experienced the sting of having to speak truth with people we care so deeply about. How desperately we want them to know Jesus, the only sure way to freedom. But because speaking truth in love can be so challenging (see Ephesians 4:15), we tend to either speak it with harshness or say nothing in so-called “love.” Catherine’s evangelical fervor overflowed not so much from what she spoke but rather from what God did in her interior life. She was completely docile to the Spirit. She understood that truth brings transformation, not by merely standing on podiums but by restoring from within. Truth penetrates to the degree all our faculties are surrendered in worship. Truth produces fruit when we seek reconciliation for the ways we fall short of Grace.  Catherine was unconcerned about making a mark as a woman in active service to the Church,  and was more consumed by Christ's love for her to be a woman who serves.  In the Church of the twenty-first century, in which one finds fractures of sexual abuse and financial corruption or manifestations of dishonesty and raw ambition, Catherine’s love for a sinful Church is not easy to embrace. Yet it was this love that brought clarity and conviction, rallied support for change, and unified Christians in service.  Are our words and actions seasoned with truth and love?   If we are criticizing the Church more than we are praying for her, we are not speaking truth, we are not serving in love, and we are not reflecting Christ.  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} “I see Gold” It is hard to grasp the strain the “Black Death” put on the physical and spiritual fabric of Siena. The illness seemed to strike through breath and sight. People went to bed perfectly healthy and were found dead in the morning. Yet, despite it all, Catherine stayed and served. Her devotion to the sick was as contagious as the Plague itself. In the midst of poverty, terror, and stench, Catherine spread the aroma of Christ, often risking her own life. I have often pondered over Catherine’s witness, especially last year. It seemed like the pieces of my life were so destroyed that they weren’t just shattered: they were ground to dust. I found myself taking the familiar path of self-protection, retreating from pain, even glamorizing the gouges of my circumstances. But it is precisely here that Christ met me personally and profoundly and used my suffering to reveal more of Himself to me. He was the gold that bound my broken pieces, lovingly, painstakingly putting them back together. Where my heart was ground to dust, He created a new one, filling every crack with His light and life.  Interestingly, in kintsugi, before the artisans begin mending, they hold the broken pieces in their hands and honor them. This is what God was calling me to do: to honor the broken pieces of my heart, to entrust my sorrows to His Sacred Heart, to relinquish my pain to His wise plan and to trust that He was at work in the darkness.  Though all I saw were broken places, people saw gold.  At the heart of Catherine's service was the image of a bleeding Christ, the Redeemer—ablaze with fiery charity, eager sacrifice, and unqualified forgiveness. In The Dialogue Jesus told her, "Your love should be sincere: you should love your neighbors with the same love with which you love Me." Catherine had astounding spiritual manifestations, but she understood that being seated with Christ in the heavenly places did not mean lolling about in mystic ecstasies. It meant being brought down from ineffable glory into the valley to be crushed in service. It meant asking God to use her in whatever way possible to mend the brokenness she saw around her. Sisters, we each have our own private stories that have shattered us. Mankind is fallen and we are all broken. But in the slain Lamb of God, who now stands (Revelation 5), we can encounter both the beauty and power of One who died and yet is living. In Him, our broken pieces remain an important part of our history. In Him, their redemptive value is extended to those who do not know how to confront their pain and only see broken pieces.  God wants to heal your broken places with golden lines. Will you yield to His beautifying work so others can see gold . . . so people can encounter our gracious Redeemer?  Rebuild My Church  It is no coincidence that Saint Catherine was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970, on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis’s call from God to “Rebuild my Church” continues to echo through the generations. Today, on her feast day, Catherine urges us women to return to our spiritual boot camps and become houses of prayer. She urges us to return to intimacy, to pursue truth and become who God made us to be, so we can go forth and set this world on fire.

It was last year, while listening to The Bible In A Year Podcast, that the deep beauty of the Gospel of Mark was revealed to me. In the past, likely due to its brevity, I had not given his message the focus I had prescribed to the other Gospel writers. Yet its brevity is a mark of beauty, as it compelled Saint Mark to write succinctly.  There are many lessons we learn from Mark’s Gospel, and even with its shortness, innumerable unique aspects are found therein. It is only in his Gospel that we hear Jesus called, “Son of Mary” (Mark 6:3). He is also the only Gospel writer who identifies himself as the author.  Euthus, Immediately  Though I found, and continue to find, abundant wisdom in Saint Mark’s Gospel, one lesson—rather one word—stands out: immediately. Saint Mark uses the word euthus, translated immediately, over forty times in his Gospel. Averaging two times per chapter, this word allows Saint Mark to evoke in the reader a sense of urgency, a sense of the now..  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} The Time For Grace Is Now Saint Mark teaches us the importance of action in the present moment. So often I fall into the temptation of indecision. As theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard taught, making no decision is a decision in itself. Too easily, I fall into the sin of sloth, which at its root, is lack of charity toward God and neighbor. We can combat both of these personal defects with Saint Mark’s call to immediacy—his invitation to live life fully present, fully alive, full of grace. Saint Mark reminds us that grace is found in the present moment, and the time for grace is now. When we do things immediately, when we glorify God, when we love Him and our neighbor right now, we are imitating our Lord. In Mark’s Gospel Jesus prays immediately, moves immediately, teaches immediately. He does not wait, rather, He entrusts His will to the Father and acts. Within those immediate actions, grace is outpoured. The Action We Can Take Now Is there a decision that you need to make that you have been putting off? Is there a conversation or a phone call that you feel called to initiate or a message which you are prompted to write that you just haven’t done? Do you feel moved to serve, but just haven’t started yet? Often a spirit of fear, timidity, and anxiety can paralyze us. Sloth enters in. It’s easier to scroll than it is to move. It’s easier to not decide than it is to use our heart, mind, wisdom, and will. It’s easier to live passively, taking life as it comes, rather than making a decision and living with its consequences—good or bad. However, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). God has placed us in this time in history, this very moment, this very now, to live a life of abundance—to glorify Him and spread His message of hope, joy, and Resurrection. He has called us to a life of discernment and decision, a life of both faith and action, a life of love and works. “Do not fear, only believe.” // Mark 5:36 The powerful reality in this all is that we need not fear. “What if I make the wrong decision?” is a question that often halts our resolutions. But even if we do, God will bless our goodwill and our trust, and will create beauty—sometimes even more beauty (O Happy Fault!)—from the decisions we make. Pray, discern, seek counsel, and then act. God blesses a decisive heart.  There are many fruits to living in the immediacy that Saint Mark proclaims. A slothful heart is won over by virtue, union with the Father is achieved, and good works abound. May we, on this Feast of Saint Mark, pray, hope, act, and receive—always uniting our will with the Father’s and trusting in His abundant goodness and grace.

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Have you been waiting for God to answer questions about your vocation or career? Have you applied for a big college scholarship and are trying hard to entrust the unknown outcome to the Lord? Are you waiting to meet your future husband? Are you waiting for clarity on a health issue—yours or a loved one’s? Throughout life, there are many seasons of waiting. These seasons are an invitation from the Lord to trust His will, His timing, and His promise of faithfulness to flourish in our lives. Settling Into a Season of Waiting Some years ago, already well into my vocation as wife and mother, I yearned for something God had planted in my heart years beforehand: the seeds of my heart’s desire. And I wondered if they would ever bloom. Then, an amazing opportunity came my way. It was a dream come true. I was so excited, and I couldn’t wait to dive in. But soon afterward, it became quite obvious that the project itself, as well as the timing of it, were not quite right. I had no peace about it, and anxiety overwhelmed me. At my very core, I knew God was asking me to wait. At first, I was very disappointed. Wait, Lord? Why? This is my heart’s desire! But in reality, some health issues had worn me down. And God knew I could not add one more thing to my plate. God’s prompting to wait gave me a profound amount of courage and grace to turn down the project. And while my heart’s desire remained, I settled into a season of waiting. Waiting: So Much More Than We Think Often when we think of waiting, we assume it is a waste of time. Like the type of waiting that happens in a long checkout line or in traffic. That type of waiting is filled with anxiety. We want to be anywhere but in the waiting. Waiting for God, however, is a completely different type of waiting, because it is not meaningless or idle. Rather, this waiting has purpose; it is active. It is a personal invitation from Jesus to come to Him and be attentive to what He is doing within us while we wait. When we wait for God, of course we are hopeful about what we are waiting for. But there is something good and desirable in the waiting itself. Yes, sometimes God has to do something within us before He can do something for us. For in the silence and stillness of our waiting, He comforts and consoles us. He brings us peace in the quiet of our hearts. He whispers what we need to hear. We Do Not Wait Alone If we can settle into the waiting, we realize that the waiting no longer seems unbearable. Because we are not waiting alone. We are waiting with. God’s invitation to wait gifts us with a closeness to—a “being with”—God that is truly worthwhile. In the waiting, we can pour our hearts out to Him. And we can listen to His message of love, mercy, peace, and hope—the message we may only hear while we wait. Scripture Verses to Pray During Times of Waiting The Bible is full of stories of God’s people enduring seasons of waiting. The Old Testament unfolds the narrative of their waiting for the Messiah to finally come. There is also the tale of waiting on the Lord while they were enslaved in Egypt, and of how God provided for them as they waited to enter the Promised Land. Sometimes, we need to remember how God fulfills His promises to help us through seasons of waiting, and the Psalms overflow with these reminders. Yes, the Bible abounds with verses that express what it’s like to entrust our waiting to the Lord. And they guide our own prayerful posture in the midst of waiting. Below is just a sampling of Scripture verses to pray during times of waiting. Wait Quietly Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. // Psalm 25:4-5 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. // Psalm 62:1 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. // Lamentations 3:25-26 Wait Courageously Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! // Psalm 27:14 But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. // Isaiah 40:31 But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. // Micah 7:7 Wait Patiently Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. // Romans 12:12 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. // James 1:12 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. // 1 Peter 5:10 Wait Hopefully I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. // Psalm 130:5 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord . . . // Jeremiah 29:11-14 Be astonished! Be astounded! For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. // Habakkuk 1:5 After the Waiting Reflecting back, that season of waiting I went through was hard but also blessed. While it did not result in what I had originally hoped for, God used that time to conform my heart to His. So that when a tiny bud blossomed from those seeds of my heart’s desire, I recognized His attentive handiwork. And I truly knew it was worth the wait.   HIS WORD CHANGES LIVES God is speaking to you through His Word. In this personal study, you will learn to hear God's voice by reading slowly and praying deeply. BEGIN THE JOURNEY

Even though suffering is such a big part of all of our lives on this side of heaven, no one necessarily likes talking about suffering. As if we don’t talk about it, then suffering will just disappear from our lives. And of course that’s furthest from the truth! My goal with this blog is to guide you and help you change the way you think about suffering. I don’t pretend to know what your personal struggles and wounds are, but as someone who knows a lot about suffering, I can sympathize. We live in a society that tells us we need to avoid suffering at all costs. Most of the time suffering is looked upon with resentment and the sentiment of “why me?” One of the many beautiful things about our Christian/Catholic faith is that it teaches us how, because of Christ’s sacrifice, suffering can be redemptive. Which means that despite the pain suffering brings, if we allow it by uniting it with Christ’s suffering, that same pain from our wounds can transform us and those around us.  God can use our experiences to draw us closer to Him. He can also make us into wounded healers for others.  Suffering is unavoidable  Once we get past the fact that suffering is unavoidable, then we can move on to praying that God will teach us how to suffer well. To suffer well is to understand that God can use our sufferings for the sanctification of our souls and that of others. Suffering can also transform us into better missionary disciples.Those who have suffered much are usually the ones who can love deeply and abundantly. With all the suffering and pain we are seeing all around us, it can be tempting to assume that God is no longer listening or that maybe He just doesn’t care. Of course that is not true. He does listen and He cares—1 John 5:14 says: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”  Sometimes, in our human nature and because we can only see parts of the puzzle which make up our lives here on earth, we find ourselves asking questions such as: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow so much suffering? And the list goes on.  One thing we can all agree on is that suffering is just part of our lives on this side of Heaven. We all go through it. What we do with our sufferings is what makes all the difference. {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} You are never alone in your suffering Friends, whatever struggles you are facing in this season of life, it’s good to remember that you are never alone. Psalm 34:18 reminds us that “God is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit.'' This verse is one I cling to when I find myself in a dark place.  And remember this: Your sufferings and struggles are not a detour, but they are the most important part of your journey. It is from those struggles that the good Lord can make beautiful things. Our struggles also have the power to purify us—mostly from the illusion that we are in control of our lives. Simply put, we cannot become the best version of ourselves without going through those rough waters of our life journeys. We need to learn how to see God’s glory, even in the midst of our sufferings. Those struggles are unique to each one of us, and they might include pain from any of the following:  The sadness of losing a loved one  The devastation of being sexually, physically, or mentally abused  All types of addiction, including alcohol, drugs, and addiction to pornography  Depression and anxiety  Neglect and rejection  Chronic illness such as cancer  Going through a divorce or watching your parents go through a divorce And of course the list goes on…  In this fallen world we live in, it is difficult to find someone who doesn’t have some big wound that needs healing. If we allow it, those personal sufferings can become redemptive. We can get to a point in life where we are actually thankful for our scars, because we can clearly see that those same scars have brought us closer to Christ. After all I have been through in the aftermath of being raped and sexually abused at the tender age of eight years old while growing up in Brazil, I have come to believe that the worst part of suffering is not necessarily the suffering, but suffering alone. Our suffering, united with Jesus’ suffering, can bear immense fruit in this life and the next!  I love what Fr. Jacques Philippe says in one of his books, Interior Freedom: We need to stop dreaming of a life without suffering or conflict. That is the life of heaven, not earth. We must take up our cross and follow Christ courageously every day; the bitterness of that cross will sooner or later be transformed into sweetness.  Jesus was clear when He said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you will have peace. In this world you will have tribulations. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” In saying that in this world we would have tribulations I don’t think Jesus was trying to scare us. I think His goal was to prepare us. What Jesus is saying to you and me is this: “Yes, there will be suffering in this life, but remember that I have overcome suffering. Therefore, if you truly believe and trust in me, even though you will go through suffering, it will not destroy you.” And the reason why it will not destroy you is because with Jesus anything is possible. When we don’t see a way out of a situation, He’s there to show us the way. Jesus Himself will prepare us to go through all those trials and tribulations that are sure to come our way throughout our life journey. We need only do one thing: we need to welcome Jesus into our hearts and wounds and give Him permission to take over for us. When we have our foundation in Christ’s words to us we can stand any type of storm that comes our way. Friends, we all have a story, and our stories matter! You matter! The enemy will have you think that only other people’s stories matter. That’s another one of his lies. Healing happens not only internally, but also in communal sharing. That means when we share our stories, they have the power to inspire and give others hope. My story was never supposed to be told. You see, the enemy made me believe that I needed to keep my story hidden in his darkness. But then the Lord showed up and told me something completely different—He wanted me to tell my story so that other men and women like you would know that no matter what they have gone through, healing is available and possible to all God’s children. My story is the perfect example of how God can create amazing things with and from our broken pieces. Don’t be afraid of your broken pieces. Bring those broken pieces to the foot of the Cross. You will be amazed and in awe at what the Lord can do with those broken and hurting pieces of our hearts.  No matter what’s going on in your life right now, I pray that you can rest knowing that God sees your pain and that He desires to be your healer and comforter! Here are a few simple ways to unite your suffering to Christ as you are walking through your own dark valley. Place Christ at the center of everything in your life—that means your emotions, your struggles, your well-being.  Let the Divine Physician make you whole.  Shift from self-reliance to reliance on Christ.  Pray every day.  Read the Scriptures every day.  Cultivate awareness, consistency, patience, perseverance, compassion, and most importantly, trust.  Every night before going to sleep, surrender everything to the Father and sleep in His peace.

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“Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” That’s what my mom would gently remind me of as I awaited the outcome of different events throughout my life. Would I pass my driver’s test, get a good ACT score, get into the college I wanted, etc.? Then, in the years beyond high school graduation, there came many more seasons of waiting. Will I land a job that I enjoy? Will I meet my future husband in college? How about in grad school? Still no…okay, what about later in my twenties or thirties? Am I called to religious life? Which order? Mission work? Where? Then even when some of these questions were  finally answered, I never seemed to find the peace that I assumed would come along with these answers. After I met my husband and got married, the questions continued: Will I have children? Will my unborn baby make it to full-term? Will I have another child?  Time and time again I have found my heart in another season of waiting, with great longing building up within me. In times like this I find that I resonate deeply with Psalm 130:5-6: “I wait with longing for the Lord, my soul waits for his word. My soul looks for the Lord, more than sentinels at daybreak. More than sentinels for daybreak.”  Learning from Longing Even as I write this, I find myself again in a season of struggling to “wait.” I am pregnant with our rainbow baby, and I am thrilled! But I keep thinking of all the things that could go wrong and of all the things that must go right. I want my waiting to result in what I hope for: a smooth pregnancy and a healthy child. In this season of being asked to wait, I notice myself hurrying about. I struggle to be still. To listen. I rush from thing to thing hoping that I will be distracted, and time will pass more quickly. I fear that if I stop to listen to His voice, He might say something I might not want to hear. I worry that His answer won’t align with the one I have in mind.  And then, when I do finally pause to listen, He gently calls me back into His arms, asking me to trust His goodness. He tells me that he wants more for me than my constant worrying about all the “what-ifs.”  Holy, Just, and Beautiful Saint Francis de Sales wrote: “While taking a walk by yourself, or when you are alone at some other time, turn your eye to God’s universal will . . . Then with profound humility, accept, praise, and then bless this sovereign will, which is entirely holy, just, and beautiful . . . Ponder this a while, as you consider not only the variety of his consolations, but above all the trials suffered by the good . . . Conclude with an act of great confidence in his will, believing that he will do everything for us and for our happiness.” Holy. Just. Beautiful. That is the will of our Father.  These three words are bringing me comfort in my time of waiting. I can rock in the rocking chair, keeping busy and going nowhere, or I can start walking in faith and in hope, confident that God wills my happiness.  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Tested By Fire However, knowing that God wills our happiness doesn’t mean trials won’t come our way. In fact, scripture tells us just the opposite: we are basically promised suffering.  [A]lthough now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6-7)  When gold is tested by fire, it burns all the impurities away leaving absolutely pure gold. This testing by fire reminds me of the lyrics in Blessing Offor’s song Believe.  What if you will something I won’t? If you don’t give me what I want But you give me what I need Is that enough to believe? So often I enter prayer with my intentions, hoping that God won’t will something that I don’t. I forget to praise God for who He is. To enter into prayer with the highest form there is: adoration. In this season of waiting, for me, and for you, we can remember that in this trial we are being purified. And through this time of being tested by fire, we can bring God praise, glory, and honor for his holy, just, and beautiful will. Despite our unknown. So turn up that praise and worship music. Don’t be afraid to praise Him. “Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8).  We have a good Father and we can trust that even when it’s hard to understand, our waiting will result in an indescribable and glorious joy.  And if we don’t get what we want? Keep waiting. “The Lord will fight for you; you have only to keep still” (Exodus 14:14).

Both my family and my husband’s family have long-depended upon the intercession of ‘the Theresas.’ My dad and his siblings all attended Saint Thérèse grade school. My husband’s family lineage may stem from the same line as the Little Flower, and my oldest chose Saint Teresa of Calcutta as her Confirmation saint a couple of years ago. My grandfather shared with me that he picked Thérèse as his intercessor while he was at war. When I asked him which one, he replied, “all of them.”  Which, it turns out, is a lot.  Perhaps a bit like being born a Kathryn in the ‘80’s—there are a lot of us too! It wasn’t until college that I stopped having to write my last initial behind my name to decipher myself from the sea of other Katies. I’ve since wondered if Saints ever experience that same anonymity when called only by their first names? Lesser-known stories Like many holy men and women, Saint Teresa of the Andes was introduced to me by way of Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s book Saints from Around the World. In her illustrated write-up, she describes Saint Teresa (whose given name was Juana Enriqueta Josephina de Los Sagrados Corazones Fernández Solar) as a pretty relatable young woman: someone who was playful, loved to be the life of the party, and sometimes got a little wild. On occasion she was even described as self-centered and hot-tempered. Influenced by another Thérèse Despite these tendencies, or because of them, Juanita gradually allowed Jesus to become more and more the center of her life. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (the Little Flower) died just three years before Juanita was born. Her writing had a lasting impact on the young Juana, as did receiving her First Communion. Upon reading Saint Thérèse’s autobiography, she realized that a life  most closely modeled on the Lord’s would call her from her selfish tendencies into loving others well. Those who have read her diary entries have noted a marked difference after this time in Juana’s spiritual writings. When she was 18, she entered a Carmelite monastery near her home and was given the name Teresa, though her time as a discalced Carmelite was short. She died nearly one year after she had entered, possibly having contracted the Spanish flu. She is remembered for the letters she wrote about God’s love. Larger impact Teresa of the Andes was the first saint canonized from the country of Chile. She is the patroness of Santiago, young people, and the sick. Saint Teresa was also chosen to be among the ‘young witnesses’ during the Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment in 2018. These young, international men and women serve as inspiration to the wide variety of callings and gifts given to be used in the name of Jesus in the world. It is a happy coincidence and Providence that both Teresa of the Andes and Thérèse of Lisieux are represented on this list.  Thank heaven for the witnesses we have been given, and those who are determined not to let their stories be lost to history or region. We need to be reminded of the breadth of the Mystical Body, the abundance of our gifts, and the variety of those who have responded to the call to love God so that we are equipped to bring our love of God into the world in our own particular time and place.  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Prayer for surrender to the heart of Jesus Only God can satisfy us. He is truth and unchangeable good. He is eternal love. Oh, my Jesus and my Mother, may I belong to Him forever. May nothing on earth claim my attention but the tabernacle. Preserve me pure for Yourself so that when I die I can say: how happy I am now that at last I can lose myself in the infinite Ocean of the Heart of Jesus, my adored Spouse. Saint Teresa of Jesus Fernández Solar of the Andes (source) St. Teresa of the Andes, pray for us! *For further information, FORMED has put out a six episode mini-series about the life of St. Teresa of the Andes.

There is no denying that the Liturgical Year of Saint Joseph shed a spotlight on the humble Nazarean carpenter, bringing into greater focus the monumental role this young, virtuous man played in Jesus’ life. Joseph was no accident. He was not some bystander that just happened to be a part of the Holy Family. Joseph, too, was chosen by God to fulfill a need for Jesus’ humanity. It was the just Joseph who modeled virtue, service, suffering, and surrender to the Child Jesus. And perhaps one of the greatest things Joseph ever had to surrender was the end of his life. Before Jesus’ public ministry could begin, Joseph’s earthly life had to end. Otherwise every ear that heard Jesus speak about His Father would wonder “the carpenter?” and completely disregard whatever He had to say. So, in a final act of surrender to the Divine Will, Joseph passed away peacefully before the crux of his foster Son’s life, surrounded by Mary and Jesus. Two Possibilities Unsurprisingly, the beauty of this death was not without its pain. Surely, the perfect hearts of Jesus and Mary missed and mourned the head of their home, both immediately and all throughout the years to follow. During joyful moments of Jesus’ ministry, they would have longed to have him share their exuberance. During painful moments, they likely longed for his presence and support—perhaps it was even a great comfort to Mary when Joseph of Arimathea, who shared the same name as her husband, stepped forward to make burial arrangements with Pontius Pilate and donated his own tomb to be used by Jesus.  There is no way that this small, tight-knit, perfect family did not feel the sting of Joseph’s absence over and over and over again. However, we also know that Jesus defeated death, and at some point, Joseph would have been reunited with his foster Son, the Savior of the world. Where would this joyous reunion have taken place? Logic allows us to deduce two possibilities. {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} 1. In Hell Between His death on Good Friday and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday, Jesus descended into hell to rescue all the righteous souls who had died before Him. This was a final blow to Satan, who was defeated definitively on his “home turf.” This is also the first possible location for Jesus’ reunion with His earthly father.  Can you imagine being Joseph at this moment? Having waited in the spiritual anguish of Sheol for years, knowing your Son will come, but also knowing He will pay a great price in order to make it there? Can you picture what he witnessed as Christ came down? Was it gradual light like the dawn, or something more instantaneous and drastic? The emotion and pride Saint Joseph must have felt! And Jesus too—what must it have felt like for Him to rescue the father who raised Him and taught Him all about sacrificial Love? 2. On Earth, On Easter A position long-held by many Saints is that the first thing Jesus did when He rose from the dead on Easter morning was go rejoice with His Mother. This not only explains why the tomb was empty (He could have just stayed sitting there and showed everyone immediately that He was alive), but it also explains why the Blessed Virgin never returned to the tomb herself. She had no need to go finish the burial process—she could see that Jesus was already alive! This is the second possible location for Jesus’ reunion with Saint Joseph as well. One of the lesser known events that occurred at the moment of Jesus’ death was a mass resurrection of the dead. Matthew 27:52-53 reads: “[T}he tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Many top theologians take the position that Joseph was among the Saints who were raised, that he was with Mary as she kept vigil on Holy Saturday awaiting Jesus’ return, and the entire Holy Family celebrated the salvation of mankind together first thing on Easter morning. The triumph they must have felt at this moment! The gratitude for God’s mercy! Regardless which of these events transpired, imagining both can lead one to weep.

Retreats, sabbaticals, and sabbath rest are glorious things: time set apart to be with the Lord, in His presence, attentive to His work in a way we miss at times in the day-to-day busyness of life. Sometimes the hardest part of retreat is the end. After all, you “have competed well . . . have finished the race . . . have kept the faith”  (2 Timothy 4:7).  So what now?  To continue St. Paul’s analogy, after a long run or hard workout you need time to cool down. In fact, some argue that the cooling down process is the most important part of the workout. It improves circulation, prevents stiffness, and over time, improves overall performance. And, as is the case with so many things of the body, so it is for the soul. The “cool down” time after a retreat solidifies graces, promotes new fervor, and strengthens us spiritually.  How do we enter that time after a retreat? What does it concretely look like? I offer three ways: a gathering of graces, resolutions, and an entrustment to Mary. Gathering of Graces A gathering of graces, an Ignatian practice, is exactly what it sounds like. Where did God work during the time away with Him? What do you understand differently about Him and yourself now? What are you grateful for?  It’s important to have this to reflect on throughout the next few months, even years. We have all experienced the let down from a “retreat high”—but gathering the graces helps us to move past that to remember all the good the Lord has done (Psalm 126:3). Even if you are not someone who frequently journals—or even if you have never journaled—write these graces down. Scientific studies show that we remember things better when we write them by hand. And don’t just write it down and stuff it on a shelf. But for the next few weeks review the graces once a week, letting the Holy Spirit remind you of what He’s done and is still doing. (John 14:26) Resolutions At the end of your time, it is good to set resolutions. These resolutions will carry the graces received during your retreat into your everyday life.  We’ve all experienced setting resolutions and then not following through. What’s the difference with setting resolutions after a retreat experience? You have received many graces during your time away because “[g]race is a participation in the life of God” (CCC §1997). You may not see them, or even know them, but they are there! Have confidence that “the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:4).  The resolutions you make are simple reminders of the encounters you’ve had with the Lord and His work in you. It might be offering a decade of the Rosary in thanksgiving once a week for graces received. It could be looking over your gathering of graces once a week for the next month during your prayer time. It could be spiritual reading on a particular grace the Lord brought to light. It doesn’t have to be complex, and really shouldn’t be, as then it could distract from the real gift of the retreat: a deeper encounter with the Lord. I heard someone recently say, “What the devil can’t destroy he accelerates.” The evil one does this also with resolutions—both Lenten and retreat ones—by trying to get us to complicate the resolutions so that we will abandon them.    {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Entrustment to Our Lady  That’s why we need Our Lady! We can entrust the graces received during our time of rest and retreat to her. One of my friends has seasonal bins into which she gathers her children’s toys, and then brings them out again the next year or when the children need a refresh. There might be a little complaining or whining when the toy is first tucked away, but when she brings them out again, it’s like Christmas! Many had been forgotten about, and now are happy reminders and a refresher.  I see Our Lady doing much the same with us and the graces we entrust to her. As a good mother, she is happy to hold on to them until we need them. She also sees the bigger picture better than we do. She knows when we need the reminder and the refresher. It may hurt initially to entrust them over to her, but when she reminds us later of the gift it’s exactly when we need it. St. Bernardine said, “All the gifts, graces, virtues of the Holy Spirit are distributed by the hands of Mary, to whom she wills, when she wills, as she wills, and in the measure she wills.”  St Louis de Montfort says in True Devotion to Mary:  “Pour, pour into the bosom and the heart of Mary all your treasures, all your graces, all your virtues. She is a spiritual vessel, she is a vessel of honor, she is a marvelous vessel of devotion. Since God Himself has been shut up in person, with all His perfections, in that vessel, it has become altogether spiritual, and the spiritual abode of the most spiritual souls.”  Even after a time of sabbatical, our vessels are still fragile. We’ve grown, learned and formed new habits, but we’re still fragile. Our Lady’s vessel is not—she can weather any storm that comes along after our time of rest. She's the ironclad to our vulnerable wooden ship.  Storms will come. We will want to run back to the place of rest. We may be tempted to give up on the resolutions we have made or to doubt the graces we have been given. But Jesus assures us: “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you” (John 14:26).  So most of all, be at peace. “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

 “rest” This word reverberated in my stomach and tied it in knots. I had come to the end of another week, exhausted, once again. Ministry work, household chores and school schedules toppled over juggling health challenges. Somewhere along the way, lines between ministry and family time were constantly crossed. Trying to be “sold out for Jesus” I had become “worn out for Jesus.” My strength had failed and my spiritual maturity had plateaued.  Unsurprisingly, in that season, I encountered many Church leaders wondering the same thing. Too many of us had fallen for the Teach. Serve. Work. Reward. Repeat cycle.  The outcome? I found myself constantly equating work with my worth, measuring my family life by how many dinners we went to and my spiritual life by how many mission trips I animated.  The only time I felt I had done enough was when I was running on empty.    During those mind-numbing months, I was confronted with the mess of my own devising. Clearly, I had made an idol of exhaustion. Clearly, it was time to reclaim Sabbath rest. The Rhythm of (Sabbath) Rest “Let there be light”, God spoke to the void in the beginning. And, God created rhythms (Genesis 1:12)  When Adam entered Eden, he stepped into the rhythm of day and night, seasons, and tides.  Between those rhythms, God added one more - a seventh day of the week (Genesis 2:1–3), a pattern reflecting His own character, a rhythm Adam was called to imitate, take pleasure in and find fulfillment with.  It is alarming how our lives have become increasingly rhythm-less. In a culture that sees stillness as laziness and rest as sloth, our evenings and mornings have lost their meaning and our refusal to rest is leading to breakdowns in mental health, broken relationships, broken families, and substance abuse.  Is it any wonder why God gave us the Sabbath?  In ancient Israel, Sabbath began from sundown on Friday evening until sundown on Saturday evening. Unlike most of us, where day begins with our alarm clocks ripping the predawn darkness, for the Hebrews, day began in the night…. with God.  In this night, since the beginning, God spoke, worked, created, and renewed, while man slept. When man awoke, he participated in God’s creative work. He woke up in a world he did not make. He was given a salvation he did not earn.  Man does not rest from labor. Man, labors from rest. In other words, Sabbath emerges from the very life and being of God. It is a testament of God’s covenant love. It is a reminder that we belong because we are already accepted. It is freedom from the incessant demands of technology and productivity. And, it is an invitation to expand our hearts for God’s inexhaustive presence so His Divine life can flood our souls, invigorate our spirits and empower us to witness to Eden’s lost world.  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Let My People Go  I had toiled more than 80 hours a week in that season. No boundaries. No rhythms. No rest. In my role as ministry leader, I felt compelled to be available to everyone. Every crisis was my crisis. Every complaint, my problem. What more, I was bombarded with the ever-surging, ever-present self-care trend, offering me a myriad of solutions ranging from therapeutic ads to lattes, teas, and oils.  But, outside God’s presence, my feeble attempts at ‘rest’ — whether that implied sleep-ins, days off or entertainment, felt like seeds planted in granite. I sowed, dug, and watered but the soil of my soul couldn’t hold the seeds.  I was looking for rest but reaping restlessness instead. When the Hebrews were commanded to "observe" the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:12), they knew what that meant. Being slaves for 400 years, they did not know what it was to rest. Hence, the command to take a day each week was a clarion call to live free, live higher, and to leave behind lesser loves.  Mark Buchanan, in his book The Rest of God writes, “In some ways, the whole point of the Exodus was Sabbath. Let my people go, became God’s rallying cry, that they might worship me. At the heart of liberty—of being let go—is worship. But at the heart of worship is rest.” Only a worshiper can turn the work of his hands into an offering.  After regular meetings with my spiritual director, frequenting the confessional and returning to the heart of worship, I was able to take a step back and breathe a sigh of relief. By cutting back on ministry tasks, cultivating worship and introducing silence I was able to experience God’s invigorating rest. Rest Has A Name At the end of last year, I reflected on Matthew 11:28, ‘Come to me all who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ The word ‘rest’ was revelatory. I clung to it as my word for 2023. I understood that in order to enter this rest, I must leave behind pride and self-reliance - this fierce tendency to control my burdens and meet everyone’s needs. I must acknowledge that I don’t need the tag of ‘good mom, wife, leader’ to earn God’s favor. My restlessness cannot be solved by a spa day or a sweet latte or an array of spiritual activities. It begins at soul-deep level, where my deepest ache and weariness abides…. this place where Jesus most desires to enter.   True rest flows not from a weekly pause, but from a Person – Jesus, who is our Rest. He is our living, saving, Seventh Day. The refreshment He provides isn’t dependent on our circumstances or our schedule but simply on our obedience to “come” to Him.  Sister, are you tired? Worn out?  “Come”, Jesus says. No one is excluded. He promises not to lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you; simply an opportunity to be refreshed and be tethered to him.  Rest Fosters Fruitful Relationships So often, we subconsciously believe that serving others at the cost of our wellbeing is saintly.  But that is not the Gospel. Jesus Himself went into the mountains and prayed alone.  He never acted out of rhythm, was never controlled by busy schedules nor lived to serve people’s expectations.  How can I love others without recognizing God’s love for me? How can I see the needs of my community without admitting my own needs?  Before we can contribute to revival, we must first be refreshed. Our busy schedules create satellite relationships. But when we truly rest, we intentionally make room for others. In keeping the Sabbath, we see ourselves for who we are, and we see ourselves as integrated parts of a community. In our rest, we allow others to rest. In our rest, we foster fruitful relationships. In our rest, we allow marriages to flourish. In our rest, we teach our children that grace is real. In our rest, we remember that we do not cause the grain to grow, and that our greatest fulfillment does not come through the acquisition of material things, but only through abiding in Christ.  In all these years of ministry, I am yet to encounter a spiritually thriving person who accidentally keeps a Sabbath. Sabbath is intentional. It is commitment. It is a rhythm of Grace. Sister, I need a story that plays out differently than work, reward, repeat. I need a story that speaks - Blessed. Fruitfulness. Rest. What about you? As we begin Lent tomorrow, my prayer for you is that Sabbath-rest becomes an undeniable reality this year, a refreshing gift waiting to be unwrapped, a confirmation that you are never alone and a testament of God’s abiding rest, especially during seasons of weariness.

In the room that I shared with my sister while we were growing up, we had a small, glow-in-the-dark statue of Our Lady of Fatima with three little children kneeling in front of her. I only ever really noticed Our Lady and did not think much of the little children. Once, after visiting the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, which is in my home state of New Jersey, my mom came home with a book for me as a gift. It retold the story of Fatima and had a special focus on the children of Fatima and what our Lord revealed to them, as well as on how they responded. I became swept up by the devotion of these little children. What love they had for our Lord and for souls! Who Were They? Francisco and Jacinta were born to Manuel Marto and Olimpia de Jesus, bringing their grand total of children up to nine. Francisco was born on June 11th, 1908, and Jacinta was born on March 11th, two years later. Although they were siblings, Lucia, their cousin and the third visionary of Fatima, noted that the two were quite opposites. Francisco was a more quiet and docile type, happy to contemplate nature and walk about in silence or play his flute. Jacinta was lively and energetic, as well as a sensitive soul. Lucia admits that her cousin Jacinta was a little spoiled, as the youngest child of a big family, and that Francisco did not always love to pray (source).  And yet, we see that the hearts of these two young people were transformed as they received the message of Our Lady and the call to pray and do penance for the world. Francisco died at the young age of eleven and Jacinta, one year later—shortly before her tenth birthday. They were canonized by Pope Francis in 2017. Through their lives, lived out as an offering of love to console the Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Jacinta and Francisco became an example of 1 Timothy 4:12: “Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Our Lady’s Message Before Our Lady began appearing to the three in 1917, Jacinta, Francisco, and their older cousin Lucia were first approached by an angel. This angel taught them beautiful prayers of affection to Our Lord, to console His Heart and prepared them for the visions and messages they would later receive from Mother Mary. During these occasions of divine visitation, the angel would recite the prayers with the children while prostrate, a position which the children would later adopt while praying in private, adoring the Lord and begging graces for those in need. Our Lady’s visits to the children began in May of 1917 and culminated on October 13th of the same year with the renowned Miracle of the Sun, wherein the crowds present saw the sun as though dancing and then coming down towards them as though falling from the sky. During that time, the ground and the people, once drenched from the rain, became immediately dry and many among them received physical healing from their ailments. Throughout these apparitions to the three children, the messages which prevailed from Our Lady were a call to conversion, to pray the Rosary, to make sacrifices and prayers for sinners, and to console the Heart of Our Lord, so deeply offended. Our Lady prophesied the early death of Francisco and Jacinta, while promising the anxious heart of Lucia, “Do not lose heart, I will never forsake you! My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” (source).  {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Responding to the Call Perhaps one of the most powerful moments of the apparitions was the vision of Hell granted to the young children. This sobering moment marked the children deeply, and their resolution, fervor, and devotion grew immensely from then on. For Francisco, the main focus of his mission was to console the Heart of Our Lord, Whom he saw so saddened in that vision by the loss of souls and their many offenses. Lucia once asked Francisco if he preferred to save souls or to console Our Lord. Francisco replied,“I’d rather console Our Lord . . . I want to console Our Lord first and then convert the sinners so that they won’t offend anymore.” During his final days he reassured Lucia, who had asked about his sufferings, that he offered all “for the love of Our Lady and Our Lord” (source). Such devotion and love from a heart so young! Jacinta’s mission had a twofold emphasis: devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and offering sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. Jacinta told Lucia as she was being taken away to the hospital in Lisbon, “Tell everyone that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that people should go to her . . . ...O, if only I could put into everyone’s hearts the fire that burns here inside of mine, making me love the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary so much!” Although granted an extraordinary grace of being chosen by Our Lord to see Our Lady and receive her messages, Jacinta and Francisco had a choice to respond to this invitation or not. They responded with a wholehearted yes, allowing the many graces bestowed on them to bring to fruition the holiness to which we all aspire as Christians: union with God.  Inspiration for Us One of the lessons taught to the little children by the angel was to offer everything to the Lord, including small sacrifices, as these could be offered to console the Heart of Christ and make reparation for the offenses made against Him (source). In the illness that took the lives of Francisco and Jacinta, in 1919 and 1920 respectively, the young Saints made the offering of their little lives complete. They suffered the pain of influenza and the discomfort of the treatments, as well as having to offer the deep desire to pray prostrate and continue with bodily mortifications that were no longer possible in their state. Jacinta was asked by Our Lady if she would be willing to remain on earth longer to suffer on behalf of sinners—to which she gave her consent (source). She was taken away from her family in Fatima and brought to Lisbon, where she also underwent the pain of solitude in her suffering.  At such young ages, Francisco and Jacinta were docile to the graces they had received at Baptism, which underwent further flourishing through the guidance of the angel and Our Lady. They were determined to love on Our Lord, to console His heart so greatly pained, and to save even just one person, bring back one sinner to the merciful arms of the Father. The vision the three were granted of Hell remained so deeply ingrained in their memories that to offer penances and physical mortification seemed as nothing compared to the pain they saw souls undergo. They were given a zeal for souls, to bring them to Jesus, to offer their own lives and daily inconveniences and suffering that others might come to know and love the Lord and change their lives. Sister, how much are you and I aware of the need to save souls—not by our own merits, of course, but through the unification of our sufferings with that of Christ, holding nothing back from the altar of sacrifice? Are we willing, then, to look upon these two young lambs of holiness and see there an icon for us, an invitation, a challenge? To place all that we are each and every day into the hands of a loving Lord who takes what we give and makes it powerful—a source of redemption and restoration for others? Sister, how will you pray and what will you offer this week for the intention of the salvation of souls and to console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary?

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. // Matthew 5:48 Phone Wallpaper Desktop Wallpaper

There is something about the number seven. Throughout myths and folklore this number has been given precedent, considered lucky, or presented as possessing innate magical qualities. A quick scan of cultures and generations will confirm that phenomena surrounding this number are present in some way, shape, or form. It is unsurprising that this number is popular among athletes, whether amateur or professional, and is one of the first to be scooped up by members of a team.  Some mathematicians will make the case that this is due to the innate mathematical properties the number possesses, and perhaps there are innate qualities of the number that make it so appealing to the masses. But could it be that these properties were put there because it is meant to direct us to the One Who is Most Appealing? Seven in Scripture It is common knowledge that the first creation story in Genesis spans the length of seven days. The Creator begins with the habitats (light and darkness, sky and sea, land and plants); then He fills each one (sun and moon, birds and fish, animals and mankind). All this takes place in six days. On the seventh day, God rests and invites His creation to partake of this rest.  This occurrence makes it very clear what the purpose of creation is. Much like we know the purpose of muffins is to be eaten, as that is what occurs once their time in the oven is finished, the intent of God’s creation is to be in relationship with Him, as that is the first thing that happens once His project is complete. On this seventh day, we see what we are created for: union with God. In Hebrew, the word seven is שבע, or “shba.” It is easy to see the connection between the words “seven” and “sabbath,” the day of the week which is set aside specifically for relationship with God and one another. What is harder to see is the connection between this word and the covenant. I remember being awestruck upon learning from my favorite professor that when entering into a covenant, the wording used in Hebrew is the same. Thus when swearing, or vowing, to belong to one another, the wording could also be translated as, “I seven myself to thee.” All of this stems back to the beginning, mankind's purpose: to be one with God.  So when it comes down to it, there’s nothing lucky about the number seven. The world finds it so satisfying because it points to Who and why we are here! {formbuilder:OTk3ODc=} Seven and Sabbatical Upon learning a bit of linguistics, the connection between the number seven and a sabbatical rest becomes obvious. We can also then connect it relatively easily to the reason for which we were made. Our incredible Blessed is She team has spent seven years creating a beautiful ministry and community for Christian women to come together in fellowship and follow Christ. For them, we are incredibly grateful, as this ministry has been so impactful for so many hearts. As they prepare to take their sabbatical and rest during the season of Lent, we lift up their lives in gratitude, and ask that this time of rest would be Edenic for them. May we all be more fully united with the heart of our Creator!  Next time you see the number seven, say a little prayer for greater union with God.