Fairy Tale

Burdened by broken dreams, broken hearts, and even broken bodies, many don’t think they are living a fairy tale. Yet, Blessed Pier Giorgio offers a joyful witness that fairy tales are not found in circumstances but rather in relationship.

He loved her. “Pier Giorgio fell head over heels in love with Laura Hidalgo and dreamed of making her his life-long companion.” She was kindhearted, courageous, rich in faith and loved the mountains as much as PG did (An Ordinary Christian, 87). Let us “listen in” to Bl. Pier Giorgio’s conversation with his former tutor Fr. Cojazzi as he grappled with something so many of us struggle with – romantic relationships:

“ ‘So you’re telling me that standing between you and this girl is your parent’s wishes. Have you thought about ignoring them?’ Father Cojazzi asked.

“No! Never, not under any circumstance,” Pier Giorgio responded

‘I feel I should point out that in good conscience, you have every right to ignore your parent’s opinion, since you’re an adult,’ the priest continued.

“I realize I have that right,” Pier Giorgio answered, ‘but I don’t feel I should exercise it.’

“Well then,” concluded the Salesian priest, ‘ you have no choice but to renounce your feelings for her.’

Pier Giorgio lowered his head, his characteristic gesture of agreement, and began to weep. The same young man well known for his courage, for refusing to be intimidated by any challenge or to lose heart in the face of disappointment now found himself with his back against a wall.” (Ibid, 88).

“When Father Cojazzi spoke with Pier Giorgio about the difficult situation, he remembers Pier Giorgio telling him: ‘to destroy one family in order to create another would be absurd and is not even worth thinking about. I will pay the price, but God’s will be done…’ Faced with his parent’s disintegrating marriage, Pier Giorgio’s pure and generous heart led him to say, “I will pay the price.”” (91). His hope of a romantic relationship with Laura was thwarted.

As “Pier Giorgio kept it a secret and suffered his heartache in silence,” he wept. While experiencing the wrenching ache of a broken heart he penned, “today, in the struggle, I can only thank God, who in His infinite mercy desires to give me this heartache, so that through these difficulties I might return to a more spiritual interior life” (Ibid., 89). Bl. Pier Giorgio knew amidst the reality of heartbreak, the ultimate fulfillment of His desires could be found in Christ alone. Is God sufficient for you? Pier Giorgio recognized heartbreak as a means to encounter God’s love more profoundly.

“In the words of Edith Stein, the interior life is a person’s deepest, purest source of joy.” How do you live the fairy tale when the end is still unwritten and the promises seem vague, set only in typeface print in your Bible compared to a living reality? Hope trusts that God fulfills His promise: “I will not leave you desolate” (Jn. 14:18); it calls us to imitate Christ who: “when He suffered… He trusted” (1 Peter 2:23).

Whether you are rocking out with Easter joy or you feel like it is stuffed in your head and hasn’t trickled down to your heart, Truth says He is the Way for our eternal happiness, our eternal fairy tale, our eternal Love. Let us prepare for Pentecost as He tells us: “I  will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14:16). Let us stand at the cross with Easter joy and triumphant hope knowing that the Holy Spirit, who flies through the open tomb, abides exactly where we are and proclaims “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3).

Verso l’alto,

K. Coop

Yes, you got me in the palm of your hand

Cause I don’t dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7bZsRo13cY&feature=kp

Keep on dreaming, even it if breaks your heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-5GnZYxI4M

Live your life with arms wide open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtGY4G7II6s

For greater things are yet to come

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk&feature=kp

*STARTS TODAY!!!!!!

Make sure to hit up the Holy Spirit, Kids!

http://www.praymorenovenas.com/novena-to-the-holy-spirit/

*The Spirit’s Road Blocks – by Fr. Roger Landry (aka When God Says No)

“Sometimes He’ll prune that path, shut that door. He has something else in mind. But whatever else He has in mind; He’s going to come down and give us the grace right here. “

Link: http://catholicpreaching.com/the-spirits-roadblocks-fifth-saturday-of-easter-may-24-2014/

Unrepeatable

We all have moments where we share intimate joy, beautiful dreams, raging frustration, or venting anger with those closest to us behind closed doors. These  times are often seen as unrepeatable. Over the past few weeks, after said unrepeatable conversations, I was told more than once: “You’re not the stereotypical, devout Catholic.” The response has taken me by surprise, as “You are an inspiration” is not exactly what you expect to hear after announcing, “I could smash a tea pot”.

I used to think being a good Catholic meant having it all together and all figured out. I thought it meant being perfectly virtuous to the point of ignoring the reality of my human experience: what was actually going on emotionally, physically, intellectually, and even spiritually. I thought I had to adopt the ways of the Church blindly, with an unaffected disposition, becoming a cog in the wheel or a mouthpiece for Truth. As Sister Mary Gabriel, S.V. says in the clip below (yes, it’s worth watching the entire thing), “God can handle our wrestling.”  Sometimes I strive for holy, forgetting I was called to become so through my human existence. Other times, I want to be human and “just do my thing” while ignoring the Divine. Both cause division and restlessness.  

In some ways, I wanted to stereotype myself – placing myself in a box so as to ignore the vital work of integrating my body and soul, my head and heart, my faith and doubts. I think in some ways we use stereotypes as a means to minimize the mystery of life, as an attempt to control the unknown, and even sometimes to excuse our vices. Whether we place others or ourselves into a “category”, stereotypes are boxes we use to make ourselves feel more comfortable. You are an unrepeatable miracle. You are an unrepeatable mystery. Yes, that is worthy of repeating. Yes, I get the irony.  The mystery of life and death is one that we don’t contemplate often enough. I exist because I am loved.

Never has or will be someone who exists as you do. There is no one else who is where you are, interacting with all of the people you do who can live your vocation and your unique relationship with Christ. You are the only one who can receive and give the personal love of Christ as God wants you to because you are the only you. We are both collectively and personally made in the image of God. We each bear His reflection of Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Mercy and Love, universally and yet each of us has a unique imprint of the Father. Stereotypes limit the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It attempts to say there are just a few rooms and each person should fit into one of those narrow places. Rather, when we come to know ourselves as an unrepeatable miracle we can see the divine imprint of God not only on ourselves but also on our brothers and sisters.  As Christ weaves together the tapestry of our lives, let us recognize the beauty in His hand weaving as He created us to be: holy and human, uniquely ourselves. “Be yourself; everybody else is taken”

Verso l’alto,

Coop

We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to turn it all around or throw it all away

We gotta tell them that we love them while we got a chance to say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbfeSImDntw&feature=kp

and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8axAKaObDo

Doesn’t matter where I’m going if I’m going with you

I press on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQsRKCH59qw

Let Him speak to the deepest questions and desires of your heart. Listen to this while you are making dinner, on the way to work, while working out, whatever it takes.  This is a composite of TRUTH and freedom and JOY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1LY0yNPka0

“The core of the Gospel (of life)…is the proclamation of a living God who is close to us, who calls us to profounc communion with Himself and awakens in us the certain hope of eternal life. It is the affirmation of the insperable connection between the person, his life, and his bodiliness. It is the presentation of human life as a life of relationship, a gift of God, the furit and sign of us His love. It is the proclamation that Jesus has a unique relationship with every person, which enables us to see the face of Christ. It is the call for a ‘sincere gift of self’ as the fullest way to realize our personal freedom.” (The Gospel of Life, 82).

“ ‘Know then, O beautiful soul, that you are the image of God,’ writes St. Amborse. “Know that you are the glory of God (1 Cor 11:7). Hear how you are his glory. The Prophet says: Your knowledge has become too wonderful for me (cf. Ps. 138:6,Vulg.) That is to say in my work your majesty has become more wonderful; in the counselors of men your wisdom is exalted. When I consider myself, such as I am known to you in my secret thoughts and deepest emotions, the mysteries of your knowledge are disclosed to me. Know then, O man, your greatness and be vigilant.””(Splendor of Truth, 10)

Home

Transition can make us feel homeless. Not exactly comfortable with our new reality and yet not entirely comfortable leaving what we had come to know and love. To say it can cause unrest would be and is an understatement. How do you handle transition? “Handle the transition with patient and discipline,” author Matthew Kelly suggests. It’s good advice and not just because I love his Australian accent.  But how do you handle transition? The answer isn't binary: well or not well. What are the practical things you need to do in order to transition safely, joyfully, and and peacefully? Living the answers to this question leads us to live in the present which is the only place we are supposed to be. 

“It’s what’s unchanging in your life that helps you make sense of change,” Kelly adds. If the love of God is unchanging; what does it mean to abide in Christ’s love? It means to walk through the Crossroads with grace and strength, trusting the peace which Christ gives sustains us through any trial of life – the Good Fridays and the Holy Saturdays- and that as we walk, we participate in the joy of Easter Sunday.  Let Him be your home.

Verso l’alto,

Kathryn

Settle down, it’ll all be clear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoRkntoHkIE&feature=kp

Faith of My Fathers

As I sat in Church, the sun shined through the stained glass window cascading three separate rainbows on the gold candlestick. It reminded me of God’s promise to Noah:

“I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood. The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life” (Gen. 9: 9-15).

As I thought about the faith of my fathers I thought about the promises God made to His chosen people throughout the ages and how these promises extend to us in our current day and our current situation. These aren’t just notions of piety meant to offer pseudo-solace in the midst of difficulty nor are they past realities. They are truths we are called to cling to when our faith is weak and we can’t make these proclamations by ourselves. It is then that we pray, “Lord, I believe help my unbelief”. It is here also that we hold onto the faith of those who have gone before us. When I think about the faith of my fathers I think not only of those who I have known personally but also the communion of saints who have lived these truths, showing me it is indeed possible to trust that God’s promises of protection in the midst of the storm is real and that the floodwaters, though they may rise, shall not destroy.

St. John Paul the Great and Blessed Pier Giorgio are men who staked their lives on the hope of the risen Christ. They trusted through trial and storms and they proclaimed the triumphant light of Christ in the midst of darkness. JPII made one of the boldest acclamations of faith, in my estimation, when he proclaimed: “No matter the difficulties, I accept.” This wasn’t a “I’ll suck it up and deal with it” faith. Rather it was a bold surrender trusting the love of God and His promises no matter what. He knew “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).” JPII knew not only the promises of God but the God who keeps His promise. Let us trust that the will of God will never lead us outside the grace of God. May our living faith be emboldened and our vision of who God is, a tender and merciful Father, be made more clear. "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).

Verso l’alto,

Kathryn 

I put all of my hope on the truth of your promise and I steady my heart on the ground of your goodness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKosVfAEUPE

I can see clearly now the rain is gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkwJ-g0iJ6w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vixruyRols

GET YOUR SHINE ON!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjqMB6ILaIc

Vilinus Christi

I wanted to be a priest in elementary school. I thought the Church would change it’s teaching by the time I was old enough and that maybe I would be the first female priest. Keep reading, I’m not a heretic. I didn’t know that I didn’t know the beauty of the Church’s teaching about our personhood, the priesthood, and the Eucharist. When the priest says “this is my body, do this in remembrance of me” he does not mean nor say this is a symbol but rather “this is my body.” And as he makes this bold proclamation as an alter Christus, another Christ, the body he speaks of, like each of us, has a distinct gender. Christ came as a man and so it is most fitting that the priest in his maleness proclaims this reality so we don’t get tripped up on seeing one reality, a female, while being asked to believe another, the true presence of Christ’s fleshed and engender body, which we know was male. Now my desire to be a priest was not entirely misguided for by our baptism we have been anointed as priest, prophet, and king. But what exactly does that mean for a sometimes sassy, twenty-nine year old laywoman and for us collectively?

In the Old Testament, priests offered sacrifices for people. Christ as the ultimate priest paid the highest sacrifice when He laid down his life for his friends. “In His resurrection, [Christ] had a beautiful body: the cuts of the scourging and the crown of thorns are gone, all of them. His bruises from the beatings are healed and gone. But He wanted always to keep His wounds [in His hands, His feet and His side], for those wounds are precisely His prayer of intercession to the Father. [It is as if Jesus were saying,] ‘But ... look,’ ... this person is asking you this thing in My name, look.’ This is the novelty that Jesus announces to us. He tells us this new thing: to trust in His passion, to trust in His victory over death, to trust in His wounds. He is the priest and this is the sacrifice: his wounds - and this gives us confidence, gives us courage to pray” (see Pope Francis article below).

Today, we, the faithful, fulfill this mission of priest through intercessory prayer as it is a journey outside of oneself into the sacred wounds of Christ. As we pray on behalf of another person to God, we come to know the heart, His heart of mercy, of the Father. His wounds are the price His mercy paid.  Pope Francis says the only way to enter into the priestly ministry is through the wounds of Christ. The only way. He doesn’t say this is a good option- it’s the only way.

As we intercede for one another we want to pray with the heart of the Father and in order to know His heart more intimately we must make room and invoke the Holy Spirit. ^“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-17). He is our counselor and our guide. We must beg for the Holy Spirit so that we can participate in His outpouring of love.

Let us approach the throne of grace with child like trust, believing in the wounds of Christ. Have you meditated on the wounds of Christ? Do you see His great, personal love for you in each of His wounds? What we find in the wounds of Christ is the Heart of the Father. Let us rest in His Most Sacred Heart and surrender ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as her heart rests most perfectly in His. It is there alone that we can proclaim: “Wounded, I will never cease to love” for it is “by His stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:5).  

Verso l’alto,

Kathryn

I wanna know your heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTUWO636_-c

 “And when they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body.” Luke 24:2

We are an Easter people, that is how we roll (the song doesn’t say that but I like it ;))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpC3Zh0_JVM

What’s up Pope Francis? I’m liking you more each day. This guy is legit! 

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-at-saturday-mass-true-prayer-takes-us

*most of the theology in here is taken from Br. Malachy’s awesome workshop on intercessory prayer and praying in the Spirit. I would have quoted where appropriate but it’s pretty much all stolen from him!

​ *​

Bold Love

I thought about my understanding of bold love in college and what comes to mind is In Your Eyes blaring out of a boom box from the scene of Say Anything. Now, I can’t say I had any interest in that movie but I did love that song. It was a communion meditation song at 10:30 pm Mass. And well, I’m biased. St. Dom’s is the place I grew up. In the movie High school senior Lloyd Dobler wants nothing more than to go out with beautiful and intelligent Diane Court. Lloyd attempts to win her heart and one of the memorable scenes is when Lloyd stands outside Diane’s house blaring this song as an attempt to win her over, despite her father’s objections. (Thank you 1980s for making cheesy movies and memorable scenes). The part that stands out in this “bold move” is that he does stand a chance of being rejected. The bold roar of a lion quivers compared to the silent acceptance of the lamb.

I think of boldness usually as one impelled by courage and he is. Naturally, I would equate bold love with audacious acts. But it’s also faithfulness in the mundane. It’s folding laundry and doing dishes and biting one’s tongue and extending forgiveness. Boldness is both the soldier who rucks up for battle and his wife who awaits his return. It’s radical commitment and involves giving without expecting in return. “Christian love is always bold.” In that bold love there is a gentle kindness. It is a both tidal wave and deep waters of stillness. Boldness is not stoicism. It is a heart that has been injured that loves anyway. It is an outpouring of one’s very self.

Mary’s heart, her bold yes, was precipitated by Christ’s invitation. The invitation He extends to us through the trials and blessings of life: “do you trust me?” In particular, when God invites us to grow through suffering, when He extends the intimate invitation to join Him on, and not run away from, the cross, do we see and hear the invite as it is: “an invitation to participate in the resurrection”? Bold love proclaims the goodness of God through all seasons. It imitates our Lady’s fiat when in the midst of the unknown she proclaimed: “He who is mighty has done great things for me…be it done unto me according to the thy will.”

Bold love is a holy surrender and a tenacious commitment to see through the good the Lord has started. It is a docile receptivity to the Holy Spirit knowing God fulfills the desires of our hearts, just not always as we expect. The bold love Christ poured out  on the cross was and is His mercy from His wounds, opening a torrent of life-giving grace. Bold love sits at the feet of Mercy to receive Him. Will you let Him boldly love you? Will you love Him boldly in return?

Verso l’alto,

Kathryn 

In your eyes, I am complete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4clhZZ6sdjk

I give anything to see the sun again but I believe I will

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/your-time-ep/id680360725

Sarah Kroger – Soon and Letting Go .. worth the itunes buy J

Good things are worth waiting for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AJmKkU5POA

The Gift of Time

“His diagnosis was terrible and conclusive: poliomyelitis, an acute infectious disease that can affect the Central Nervous System, primarily the spinal cord, leading to rapidly progressive paralysis and death. Pier Giorgio may have contracted the virus in the home of one of the poor individuals he visited every day. As one person observed, ‘since there is no true giving without sacrifice [Pier Giorgio] was dying the victim of his own good will.’ “ (Ordinary Christian, 100).

“But there was ‘the one reality in which human suffering is essentially transformed’: the cross of Christ. On the cross the Son of God had accomplished the redemption of the world. And it was “through this mystery that every cross placed on someone’s shoulders acquires a dignity that is humanly inconceivable.’ In entering more deeply into the mystery of the cross, suffering was ennobled. And so [St. John Paul the Great] asked the sick for a favor: ‘You who are weak and humanly incapable, be a source of strength for your brother and father who is at your side in prayer and heart.” (Witness to Hope, 310).

A few years ago I was at the doctor and he said, “it might be brain cancer or MS; otherwise, I don’t know.” I kicked around what was better: knowing or not knowing. It ended up being the later. Waiting for results, it felt like time stood still and my breathe along with it. It was a profound reflection. Sometimes we are begging for just a little more time, while other moments we are pleading to speed things up. But the gift of time is exactly that – a gift. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. How do you use them? Do you live in light of eternity? Are you thankful for the gift of life you’ve been given? Pier Giorgio, at the ripe age of 24, had learned to use his time well. He developed a deep prayer life, served the sick and the poor, and fraternized with friends. He seized every opportunity to ascend towards the heights. Let us imitate him, trusting Saint John Paul the Great’s advice that through this “mystery of suffering we can be ennobled” and "become a source of strength for your brother"

Verso l’alto,

Kathryn 

Cause I can see the light before I see the sun rise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h30qiH7MSHM

Let your love be the shining light, breaking chains that were holding me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6gjVS_d5H4

Love will hold us together make us a shelter to weather the storm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvnVjLX_hRE

Never Alone

Dear Friend,

There’s nothing you can do – at least it seems that way. I’ve got a problem you can’t fix. Now, I’m not saying I don’t believe in miracles or cures or healing. I believe in all three. I even, slowly but surely, believe in the body’s ability to heal itself. But, you can’t fix it. It’s my body that’s got to heal itself.

I’m writing to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not being understanding  of your not knowing what to do, not knowing how to support, and for the times you’ve felt helpless, it’s not one of our favorite feelings. It’s overwhelming and can lead us in a tailspin if we let it. It can propel us to reach out and want to fill the empty feeling, the void, the chasm, of wanting but not being able. There is a poverty in being sick and there is a poverty in suffering with another. We don’t like poverty. It’s an uncomfortable reality that all we have is a gift. All false notions of self are striped naked when disease comes to the light. For he who is sick is in need of a physician. I get it. It’s not comfortable. It’s terrifying to recognize our limitations; there are days it’s infuriating. But as we work through our frustrations we come to see an invitation in our powerlessness “let me love you,” He beckons. “Weak and strong, let me love you.” And it is there, that there is a great strength. 

Even though, only I can walk my story, thanks for letting me I know I don’t walk it alone. For in that accompaniment, you have provided the greatest gift - the gift of true friendship. Thanks for being Simon of Cyrene and Veronica along this journey.

Verso l’alto,

KC

May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having

with every year passing they mean more than gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pXrMPtCVcE&feature=kp

Love will hold us together/ Make us a shelter to weather the storm and I’ll be my brother's keeper so the whole world will know that we’re not alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvnVjLX_hRE