Journeying With The Saints

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today in our reading, it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1900.

Mother Cabrini has a lot to say about Our Blessed Mother Mary. It's always a good day to honor her and stand in awe that she is the Mother of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's open to page 255 and begin.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today is a super short reading and there's not too much to say.

So, let's jump right in by turning to page 255.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a short reading today. Mother is sitting on the steamer near Cadiz, Spain, which is on the western side of Gibraltar. Malaga is on the eastern side, so that means that the steamer passed through the Straits of Gibraltar.

Mother Cabrini has a cold and she says she is curing it with milk. Tinned milk to be exact. I've never heard of that being a cure, but who knows.

Let's go ahead and open to page 254 and begin.

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. We are going to hear a lot about raisins today in our short reading.

Raisins are not my favorite and by that I mean I really can't stand them. My favorite comedian is Brian Regan and he has a skit on raisins which pretty much nails my feelings on the matter. I'll share the link in the show notes.

Anyway, this is a short and sweet reading, so let's get started by turning to page 254.

Brain Regan: Raisins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FQXVt4Ns-4

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, and welcome back. As the steamer lifts anchor and begins the journey, Mother Cabrini has a bit of a reunion with two priests. At first, they don't quite recognize each other, but then the pieces start to fall into place.

One of the priests is the Provincial of the Scolopi in Buenos Aires. So, Scolopi is a Religious order, also known as the Piarists. Piarists are the oldest religious order dedicated to education, specifically to children and youth. This religious order was founded by St. Joseph Calasanz in Italy in 1617.

So, just a small history lesson for today. I was unsure of what Scolopi meant, so once I found out, I knew I had to share it with you to help today's reading make more sense.

With that, let's open to page 252 and begin.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to another day in the Mediterranean Sea with Mother Cabrini. Today, in the readings, it is the feast day of St. Francis Xavier. Mother is very excited to celebrate because St. Francis Xavier is who she modeled her name after. Remember, St. Francis Cabrini wanted to go to the East, like he did.

St. Francis Xavier was born on April 7th, 1506, so he was born 344 years before Mother Cabrini. He was Spanish and is one of the founders of the Jesuits. He was encouraged to become a priest by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

He was sent to India because Portugal was colonizing India and the Portuguese there were losing their faith or not living up to it. So, St. Francis Xavier went as the Papal Nuncio to India in 1541.

It was not an easy time for him there. He had to deal with government officials that didn't like him being there. He was upset by the poor moral lives of many Catholics living in the area. And he had to build a lot of churches which wasn't easy. He died in China on December 3rd, 1552 from being ill with fever. He is buried in India.

He has a fascinating story as a missionary and he most definitely met with many struggles and hardships in his time. It's not surprising Mother Cabrini looks to him as a model to imitate as a missionary herself.

Let's hear about her time today as we turn to page 250.

Hello and welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Are you ready for another trip? This time, we are going from Genoa to Buenos Aires. Here we are in the year 1900. Think back to all Mother Cabrini has done in our time with her and we are just getting a taste of all her works through her letters. She did so much more than is written down here.

As we sail from the Northern Hemisphere to the South Hemisphere, we are going back to the mission field Mother Cabrini set up nearly four years ago in 1896.

So, let's join her now as she boards the Alphonsus XIII by turning to page 247.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to our last day of the this voyage from New York to Havre.

Maybe it's just me, but on this voyage, I wasn't really paying attention to the trip. Maybe it's because we've done the New York to Havre trip with Mother Cabrini already, but I almost forgot she was cruising across the Atlantic. Sure, there were the storms and wind and such, but I wasn't as keyed into that. It was more her thoughts.

Anyway, this is one of the incomplete letters, so we won't get a report of entering the final port or a sign off. We will however get my thoughts at the end.

So, let's open to page 246 and see this voyage out.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to a beautiful day at sea with Mother Cabrini. In our reading for today, it is September 8th and that is the day that we celebrate Mary's birthday.

This got me thinking, "Why this day?" So, I went to look it up.

I'll read for you an answer from Catholic Answers.

With all that, let's hear about Mary from Mother Cabrini by opening to page 244.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back to another day at sea where the steamer is rocking around. It's not because of the water today, but because of the wind.

Today, Mother is going to talk about grace. Grace was not something I understood until I became Catholic and started homeschooling my kids. The good 'ole Baltimore Catechism teaches you all about grace. Essentially, grace is the Divine Life within you. There is Sanctifying Grace, Sacramental Grace, and Actual Grace. It is grace—the Divine Life—which enables us to do good things beyond the natural law.

Let's hear about grace and gratitude as we turn to page 243.