Journeying With The Saints

Welcome, my Catholic Pilgrim friends. We have reached the Second Part of the book, which is a nice milestone for us to celebrate.

My son is in his first year of ever playing baseball, which is thrilling to me because I loved playing softball. I, also, enjoy watching baseball games. It's, also, exciting to me because with my girls, most of their sports were in things that I couldn't help with.

But, my son, since he is nine, he's a little bit behind, because most boys have been playing since they were little. Thankfully, Jeremiah is very athletic and picks things up pretty quickly. Early on, before the season started, he was frustrated because he wasn't as good as the other boys: They could throw farther and faster, bat better, they understood the game way better and so he was a bit mopey.

I said to him, "Son, the only way you are going to get better is to practice all the time. That's what I used to do with my dad and you are going to have to want that, too." So, now, he is constantly asking to practice in some way and I'm happy to play catch, hit balls to him, and explain the game. He is improving and that's the key.

If you want to get better, you must practice. That includes with prayer, too, which just happens to be our topic for today. Let's open our books to Chapter One of the SECOND Part.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back. Today is our last reading in the First Part which is a pretty big deal. After today, we will have read through 24 chapters already, if you can believe that.

There is a quote that is wrongly attributed to Marilyn Monroe that says, "If you don't love me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best." Now, on first blush, there is some truth to this, as we should love people even with all their faults and failings. The problem with this quote is that it is used as an excuse to never try to fix one's imperfections or failings.

That's what we will discuss in Chapter 24 of the First Part. Go ahead and grab your books and we'll dive in.

It's a beautiful day and a perfect time for our reading from "Introduction to the Devout Life."

In ten years of posting online for my Catholic Pilgrim page, I've learned that the slightest criticism of certain forms of entertainment will bring down the wrath of the internet upon your head. People DO NOT want to be told that they are too devoted to a certain form of entertainment. They don't want to be told that they hold their preferred entertainment up as an idol. They don't want to hear that maybe their favorite form of entertainment isn't good. People will defend their favorite entertainment with a passion that borders on the maniacal.

This will probably be the most touchy reading in all the book, mostly because it deals with making sure we aren't devoted to useless things–i.e. entertainment. I invite you, though, to read it with an open heart and examine yourself honestly.

Let's open to Chapter 23 of the First Part and begin.

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a more indepth reading lined up for today. It's going to be on venial sins.

Growing up Protestant, I was taught that all sins are equal. A sin is a sin is a sin. While it is true that all sin offends God, we know instinctively that some sins are worse than others. Of course, murder is worse than stealing a candy bar and we punish these sins–or crimes–differently because we understand the vast difference in offense between the two crimes.

Justice demands we treat the two differently and since we are not more just than God, it only makes sense that God treats mortal sins and venial sins differently. That isn't to say that He treats venial sins lightly, they still offend Him, but it is to say they don't carry the same weight.

It's good to reflect, though, on our venial sins and work to remove them, as habitual venial sins can lead us to mortal sins, which we absolutely do not want.

So, let's open our books to Chapter 22 of the first part.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Good to have you here.

So, today is going to be very light. I know the last couple of readings have been light and we haven't really gone into depth with them. That will change very soon and we will get into the more meaty readings. Today, we are reading the conclusion to the first purification. It's going to tie up everything we've read about so far and draw it into a conclusion as we head into the "rules" to live by in order to help us not fall into sin and give into temptation.

With that said, let's open our books to the 21st chapter of the First Part and begin.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. I hope all of you are well today.

Last time, in our readings, St. Francis mentioned that he wanted us to make a protestation as a conclusion to our contrition. To the modern reader, a protestation sounds negative and like we are protesting against something that we disagree with. That's not what is meant here. What is meant is a solemn or earnest declaration or affirmation.

So, today, that's what we are going to read. Let's turn to Chapter Twenty of the First Part and begin.

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims, to the first reading after our meditations. Our topic today is going to be on General Confession.

So, if you aren't familiar, a General Confession is where you go to Confession and confess all your mortal sins.

Going through the meditations hopefully made us detest our sins or made us detest them even more than we did before and St. Francis is encouraging us to make a General Confession after having–hopefully–purged our affection to sin.

So, let's go ahead and grab our books and open to Chapter Nineteen of the First Part.

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to the Tenth Meditation. Today, we conclude the meditations we've been going through to help rid us of our affection to sin and I think today's meditation is supremely excellent. I took it with me to church to read it over and if you really try to visualize the things St. Francis gives us for contemplation, I think you will find them excellent situations to think about in your mind.

So, without making you wait any longer, let's open to Chapter Eighteen of the First Part and begin.

Hey, there, fellow Pilgrims. Welcome back. Today, we are reading the ninth Meditation, which means we only have one more meditation after this. The topic today is on the choice of Paradise.

So, often, people accuse God of claiming to be a loving God and, yet, sending some people to Hell. What those people fail to see is that it is our choice whether we wind up in Heaven or not. If we have lived a life where we have turned our back on God, committed grave sin, and refused to repent of it, well, we have told God that we don't want to be with Him. He respects our free will choice. He isn't going to force us.

It's not what He wants for us, to be sure, but why would you merit Heaven when you've told God you want no part of Him or anything to do with Him?

But, I've probably said too much, as I don't want these meditations to be about my words, so let's grab our books and open to Chapter Seventeen of the First Part.

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome back for the Eighth Meditation.

Like I promised you, today, the topic is more uplifting. It's on Paradise. This is our end goal, to be with God in Paradise. We should think on Heaven and all its glory, knowing that we can't possibly imagination all that it will entail. It's good to think on it, though, because you can't reach a goal, if you never think about it.

So, just like the last seven times, place yourself in a meditative state and really contemplate what St. Francis is asking us to think about.

Go ahead and open your books to Chapter Sixteen of the First Part.