Journeying With The Saints

Welcome aboard, Catholic Pilgrims.

Today, Mother Cabrini and some of her daughters set sail for America. As you can imagine, there's some seasickness along the way. We are only a few readings in and I hope that you can see just how faithful and prayerful Mother is.

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Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, we arrive in Paris with Mother Cabrini after an eventful train ride.

Grab your books and turn to page 20 for Mother's entry titled, "Arrival to Paris."

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Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to the start of our journey with Mother Cabrini.

We start today with her second voyage to New York. The year is 1890. There are twelve separate entries for this letter, some are short, some are longer. Today, we will read the first entry.

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Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to Season Five!

This season we are going to be journeying with St. Frances Cabrini. She is the first missionary that we've read here on the podcast, so I think this season is going to have a very different flavor. Which is good. We need to see and learn from saints that were doing different things and living vocations and callings.

So, how was it that I settled on Mother Cabrini?

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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.

To purchase the book:

From Catholic Treehouse

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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.

To buy the book: https://catholictreehouse.com/products/letters-from-the-voyages-of-st-frances-cabrini/

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.