Journeying With The Saints

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we hear a lot about what it was like to travel around the Caribbean Sea. It's very pretty, but it can be tough to navigate the sometimes shallow waters. Can you imagine how many things are at the bottom of the Caribbean?

I have this daydream that I often draw to mind of draining certain seas and parts of different oceans. After they are drained, I imagine myself walking on the bottom looking at all the interesting treasures and pieces of history. I think that would be wildly cool to do.

Mother Cabrini is getting close to Port Limon and she is anxious to get to shore to find someone to help her understand her swelling problem.

Let's turn to page 120 to hear.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back to another beautiful day at sea with Mother Cabrini.

One of the biggest hurdles for me to get over with Catholicism was the papacy. Truly, I believed all the misconceptions about the pope. I thought Catholics believed the pope was God, that he was perfect. I didn't get the point of him. I didn't have any clue about the biblical significance of giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter. I was truly ignorant and willfully so.

Mother Cabrini is going to talk a lot about the pope in our readings today. During 1895, Pope Leo XIII was pope and he is generally considered a good pope.

Let's hear her thoughts by turning to page 116.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims! Mother Cabrini is feeling well. She's got those sharp pencils and ruled paper and is putting them to good use.

It's a longer reading today, so I want to jump right in.

Please open to page 111.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back.

Mother Cabrini is not feeling well, so we have a short reading for today, as she was unable to write much.

I'm continually impressed with how she accepts whatever comes her way without complaining. She explains her predicaments, but doesn't wallow in misery. A good example for us all.

Let's go ahead and open our books to page 110.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to the start of another voyage. We left our last voyage in September of 1894 and now we are in May of 1895.

Mother Cabrini is headed to Panama and she's leaving from New Orleans. At the time of this recording, I've never been to New Orleans, though I would like to go. I really, really want a beignet and I've heard that they have gluten-free beignets there and so I feel I need to test them out. You know, make sure they are fit for human consumption and all.

But, back to Mother Cabrini. The start of this voyage is a little rocky, or should I say, rainy. The rain is causing some traveling issues and delayed departures, but good and helpful people are there to help Mother and make sure she gets to the steamer.

Let's start out for Panama by opening to page 109.

Welcome to the final day of this voyage, Catholic Pilgrims. I feel like this trip was quick. We've been all over the place with Mother Cabrini. We started in Genoa, sailed through the Mediterranean, steamed by the Balearic Islands, Gibraltar, Morocco, the Azores, and now we will read about Mother and her Sisters docking at Hoboken.

I went to look Hoboken up. It's in New Jersey, which I didn't know. It's a terminal that has been used since colonial times. Today, more than 50,000 people come through that terminal daily, which is incredible. There's lots of things there now, it's not just a dock.

Since this is the end of a voyage, I will give my short reflection. Let's go ahead and open our books to page 105.

Hoboken Docks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoboken_Terminal

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We are nearing the end of this journey. I told my daughter the other night that Mother Cabrini has really made me want to travel with this voyage. There's just so many places to see and so little time.

It's funny, as I was reading through today's letter, I realized just how far I've come in understanding our Catholic faith. Had you given me today's letter to read when I was a Protestant, it would have sailed over my head. Words and phrases like, Holy Charity, Our Lady's Mantle, Immaculate Mother, God's attributes, were utterly foreign to me. I had never heard those topics spoken about once in the first 30 years of my life.

Now, after years of study and having been a Catholic for a little over 15 years, I have been gifted with so much richness and depth to the spiritual life. It's something I'm eternally grateful for AND there's still so much to learn!

So, let's learn from Mother Cabrini by turning to page 102.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back. As Mother Cabrini declares, it's another gorgeous day at sea. Also, of note, we've read 100 pages of the book.

Mother Cabrini is going to talk about the Holy Souls in purgatory today and how it's so important to offer prayers for them. Purgatory is actually a place of mercy. We know that Heaven is perfect and therefore nothing imperfect can enter Heaven. Most of us, when we die, do not have perfect souls and so we need to go and be purified of our venial sins and the stains of forgiven sins.

All those who are in purgatory will eventually come into the glory of Heaven. We need to offer prayers for those that have died to aid them in their time of purification.

Let's hear what Mother Cabrini has to say by turning to page 100.

How are you today, Catholic Pilgrims? I hope well. I hope you are feeling better than the poor seasick Sisters on board the Fulda. Yes, as they've reached open ocean, the waves have picked up and so has the nausea.

One of the hardest things to be good at in the spiritual life is praying. You simply cannot get better if you don't keep at it and discipline yourself. You also won't grow in it if you just see prayer as a wish list. It is good to bring God our intentions, but we, also, need to do more than that in prayer.

Mother Cabrini is going to give us some spiritual guidance on prayer, so let's turn to page 97 and see what she has to say.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Well, again, today, you are going to want to travel. The ship is steaming by the Azores and the description of them sound amazing.

They're so amazing, in fact, that people on board are begging the Captain to stop off and let them explore for just one hour. Even Mother Cabrini admits that the sight of them does make one desire to "visit the charming islands."

So, let's enjoy this letter where we hear about all things beautiful by turning to page 95.