Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to the concluding episode of Season Four. Congratulations are in order for those that have made the journey through this book. I know that it can be hard to be methodical and take things slowly as we learn from the Saints, but it’s important that we do so. 

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Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome to our final reading from “Introduction to the Devout Life.” We still will have the concluding episode, but today, we will finish the book. 

The other day, I was thinking about how when I was younger, I thought holiness was lame and boring. I, also, didn’t think it was for people like me. It was for people like Mother Teresa or St. Paul. Remember, I didn’t grow up with Saints being talked about nor was sainthood something to strive for. Growing up for me, you believed in Jesus and that was enough, and when you died, you became an angel. 

Now, though, I understand what the purpose of life is—it is to be a saint. This isn’t bragging, this is recognizing that we were made for greatness and to use our gifts, in our unique way, to bring God’s light and love into the world. What an amazing adventure. 

So, let’s hear St. Francis’ final thoughts as we open to Chapter Eighteen of the Fifth Part. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to our third to last episode for this season.

Today, St. Francis is going to answer two objections to his Introduction, meaning, this book. 

The first objection is that if we were to do all the things contained in this book, we would never do anything else and would have to give up “all other occupation.” 

The second objection is that St. Francis assumes that anyone reading this book possess the gift of mental prayer. I’m not really sure what the argument is here other than maybe to say, one couldn’t possibly do all this unless they were wrapped in mental prayer all day and were just that connected to God. 

St. Francis has answers for both of these, so let’s open to Chapter Seventeen of the Fifth Part to hear what his answers are. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Including today, just four more. Four more times together with this book. As always, I get a little sad when the end is drawing near. 

This is a very short reading and it’s basically St. Francis telling us how to retain our feelings after the reflections that we’ve just been through. 

There isn’t a whole lot for me to add, so I will read it and leave it at that. So, let’s open our books to Chapter Sixteen of the Fifth Part. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Only five more readings to go. 

I want to take this time to remind you that next season—season five—we will be reading the book, “Letters from the Voyages of St. Frances Cabrini.” I think you are really going to enjoy hearing Mother Cabrini write to her daughters—the women under her direction—as she travels the world setting up hospitals, orphanages, and schools. Since learning about Mother Cabrini, I have been so impressed with her stamina and her ability to basically do it all. With God’s help, of course. So, anyway, get your book. I’ll link it in the show notes and join along with me for next season. 

Today, is the conclusion of the reflections and St. Francis is going to answer the question, “Now what?” 

So, let’s open to Chapter Fifteen of the Fifth Part. 

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Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. Only six more readings to go. 

One of the things that I love to do to is think about all the ways things had to work out for me to be born. 

I think it’s so cool to see how the “stars aligned” to use a common phrase. But, it isn’t really star alignment, it’s Divine Providence. 

Today, on this fifth and final reflection, St. Francis is going to talk to us about God’s eternal love for us. He has never not known your soul. That is an incredible thought. 

Let’s turn to Chapter Fourteen of the Fifth Part.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Including this one, we only have seven more readings to go. 

Today, St. Francis asks us to reflect on Jesus’ love for us. There are many different religions out there and many different gods have been proposed up and down the millennia. But, none of those religions propose a God that loves you and would die for you except Christianity. 

Let’s open out books to Chapter Thirteen of the Fifth Part. 

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Only eight more readings to go. 

Growing up Protestant, I didn’t grow up with Saint stories, unless you count strictly those people found in the Bible. Even then, they weren’t called Saints. Mary wasn’t called a Saint, the Apostles, Stephen, Timothy, or Paul. Nobody was called a Saint. 

This is just tragically sad. 

When I looked around the church that I grew up in, I saw very few people that lived out the Christian Faith well. I hate saying that, but it’s true. Of course we are all sinners, but looking around, I didn’t really see how the Christian Faith was helping. Part of that is that Protestantism doesn’t require a whole lot of self-reflection, because "once saved always saved.” Another part is that Christianity is not easy to live out well, because of the constant battle with the flesh, the world, and the devil. 

Once, though, I became Catholic, it was like a whole world was opened to me in reading about the Saints. Here were men and women who did live out the Faith well and their lives were impressive. 

St. Francis is going to talk to us about the examples of saints today in our reflection, so let’s open to Chapter Twelve of the Fifth Part. 

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Thanks for joining me today. I hope you all know how much I appreciate you following along with me. 

Today, is another short reading and we will be reflecting on the excellence of virtue. 

So, let’s open our books to Chapter Eleven of the Fifth Part. 

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. We only have ten more readings together, if you can believe that. 

Today, we start a series of short reflections which are designed to help us renew our resolutions to God. 

So, let’s hear what St. Francis says by turning to Chapter Ten of the Fifth Part.