Journeying With The Saints

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back to our last reading in the Second Part. In summary, the whole Second Part has been on how to approach prayer and the sacraments, mainly the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Eucharist.

Today, St. Francis is going to talk about how to communicate and he doesn't mean how to talk to people. He's referring to Holy Communion. How should we go up to receive Our Lord?

So, with that knowledge, let's open our books to Chapter Twenty-One of the Second Part.

Fellow Pilgrims, welcome to our reading today.

Most Catholics know and understand that we need to go to Mass on Sunday. It is an obligation and while that it is a dirty word in our culture, it needn't be. We are obliged to give a meager one hour to God, once a week.

There are certain things about receiving Holy Communion at Sunday Mass that are extremely important that we know. A few things are: 1. You cannot receive Holy Communion if you have mortal sin on your soul. It's still vital that you go to Mass, you just need to refrain from Communion until you go to Confession. 2. A weekday Mass does not make up for a Sunday Mass. You can't on purpose miss Mass on Sunday and say, "Well, I'll just go on Tuesday." Sunday is the Lord's Day. 3. You can miss Mass on Sunday but only for a grave reason. Kids' sporting events are not grave reasons.

But, what if we do receive Holy Communion more frequently at daily Mass? What does St. Francis have to say about that? Well, we are going to find out today as we read in Chapter Twenty of the Second Part.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims! Welcome back to another great day with St. Francis de Sales.

When I was around six years old, I became somewhat of a thief. I was stealing lots of things: Toys from church, toys of neighbor kids, and a lady's purse. Yes, you heard that right. I stole a lady's purse and hid it under my Smurf three-wheeler.

I got in some major trouble for it and maybe you've heard that story before, but one of the hardest things my parents made me do was to go, give back the purse, and apologize to the lady that I'd taken it from. That was pure torture.

I still remember how I felt walking up to her apartment. Everything in me did not want to confess to this woman and tell her that I stole. I didn't want to admit that I was the kid that took her things. I knew what I did was wrong, because I tried to hide it from my parents. But, to have to say out loud what I did was nearly impossible to utter. However, I never stole again, for many reasons, but one of them was that I didn't want to have to say that about myself again.

Confession is hard for this reason—we don't want to admit what we have allowed ourselves to become or what we have allowed ourselves to do. St. Francis is going to talk to us about Confession today in Chapter Nineteen of the Second Part.

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. Oh, I love today's reading. It's so good and a fresh way to look at inspirations.

Because it is a longer reading, I don't want to take too much time talking myself. Instead, let's jump right in to Chapter Eighteen of the Second Part.

Hello Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back!

When I was younger, I would pick up my Bible, intent on reading it straight through. I'd get through Genesis and Exodus, but once Leviticus it was all I could do to hang on and stay awake. It wasn't long after that I'd give up reading Scripture until I felt inspired again. But then I would go through the whole scenario all over never getting through the whole Bible.

I finally came to realize that I needed help in reading the Bible. Once I realized that, I grew to love reading Scripture mostly because I didn't feel like I had to go it alone or be a theologian to read it.

St. Francis today is going to talk to us about how to hear and read the word of God, so let's open to Chapter Seventeen of the Second Part.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back to another great day with St. Francis de Sales.

As you all well know, I grew up Protestant and, because of this, I did not grow up knowing about the saints or even the angels, really. Mary was only considered around Christmas time. So, when I became Catholic, it took me a hot second to learn to bring the saints and angels into my faith life.

This was something that wasn't super hard for me to incorporate for a couple of reasons: Number one, the Protestant way of thinking about those in Heaven didn't really make sense to me once I thought about it. It doesn't make sense that God would cut us off from each other. We are the Body of Christ and that doesn't cease to exist upon the ending of our earthly life. And number two, I wanted the saints and angels a part of my life because they are fascinating people and beings.

St. Francis is going to talk to us today about invoking the saints, so let's turn to Chapter Sixteen of the Second Part.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Good to have you back with me.

I'm going to totally date myself today, that's fine, I don't really worry to much about people knowing my age. Anyway, I grew up watching "The Andy Griffth Show" with my dad. Several years ago, when my family wanted to watch something that didn't scar our souls, we started watching "The Andy Griffth Show."

There are many things about that show that I love, but I particularly love when the show is centered on a Sunday. The people of the town go to church, they might have a potluck picnic afterwards, and then Andy and Barney sit on Andy's front porch, drink a Coke, listen to Andy play the guitar, and just sit around and talk about nothing. I just always feel a sense of longing for Sundays to be more like that.

St. Francis is going to talk to us about how to respond to Sundays, festivals, and other public services. So, grab your book and open to Chapter Fifteen of the Second Part.

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, our reading is on one of my favorite topics—Holy Mass.

Recently, my husband has been working with a small-business out of California that is owned by some crazy smart young guys. My husband, being in the Air Force, brought them on base for some testing. It's always so fun to see a base through the eyes of someone who has never been on one before.

I've been going to bases for 20-plus years now and you tend to just get used to it and the coolness factor wears off. For fresh eyes, though, they think it's so cool to see the old retired jets sitting around, the stately, vintage homes, and all the buildings with big badges plastered to the wall telling you what unit resides inside.

Us "seasoned" ones get used to the Star-Spangled Banner playing at the close of the day and the sound of jets flying over constantly doing cool maneuvers. When someone new comes on base, you see it through their eyes and it reminds you of its specialness.

I believe can be that way with Mass, as well. St. Francis will talk to us about how to be fully present at Holy Mass. So, let's grab our books and open to the Fourteenth Chapter of the Second Part.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back. Today is our longest read yet, but I don't want that to scare you. It's packed with some really good things. Because it is longer and I know everyone's time is precious, I don't want to offer a reflection at the end. Instead, here at the front end, I'd like to give you what I think you should focus on.

So often in our Christian life we are told to invite God into our every day, keep God at the forefront of your mind, St. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, but what does that really look like? Are we to be on our knees all day? Are we to listen to Christian music non-stop? Can we only read religious books?

Listen to the examples, St. Francis gives today and I think you will see it is much more simple then we often think. So, let's sit back and take it all in as we turn to Chapter Thirteen of the Second Part.

Welcome to another reading, Catholic Pilgrims. T

Okay, we are going to be talking about spiritual retreats, but not the kind you normally think of. Usually when someone speaks of spiritual retreat, you think of going away to some monastery or retreat house to spend a weekend. While those are good to do, that's not what St. Francis is going to discuss today. I'd be curious to know if they had organized spiritual retreats back in St. Francis' day.

So, let's see what he is talking about by opening to Chapter 12 of the Second Part.