Imitating Saint Peter

I read all the time that we should strive to imitate the saints. After all, they are acknowledged by the Church as righteous and holy and now living with God in Heaven. But they were also far from perfect. And this is what makes the saints so relatable. If they found ways to honor God in their lives despite their imperfections, so can we. Let’s take a look at a saint with plenty of faults — Saint Peter.

Keeping Christ at a Distance

Look at Peter during Christ’s arrest and trial. He did not completely abandon Jesus like many of the other apostles. He followed Jesus into Jerusalem and through the trial but at a distance. He did not get involved with the hearing in the Sanhedrin but was more of a passive spectator. And then, when questioned, he blatantly denied that he was one of Jesus’ disciples.

The Denial of Saint Peter by Caravaggio (1610)

I think Peter’s example is one that many of us imitate. We follow Jesus, but at a distance. We may go to Mass regularly but go through it on autopilot. Maybe we sit in the back pews so we can make a quick exit after Communion. And when was the last time we did something a little extra like go to adoration, receive the Sacrament of Confession, or just say a few extra prayers throughout the day? Like Peter, we aren’t completely rejecting our faith but we’re not exactly embracing it either.

Going Back to Normal

After Christ’s death, Saint Peter said that he was going fishing (John 21:3). Remember, that was his profession before becoming one of Jesus’ apostles. His returning to fishing could mean one of two things. He was either taking a break from being an apostle or he was completely renouncing it and going back to his old way of life. Peter, like many of Jesus’ disciples, may have thought that now that Jesus was no longer physically with them that everything was just going to go back to “normal.”

I think many of us feel the same way after Lent and Easter Sunday. We just go back to the way things were. We may have had a great Lent and Easter but that was hard work. We may feel like it’s time to take a break and “go fishing” or even completely ignore our faith entirely and not give it a second thought until Christmas. But our lives going back to normal is exactly the opposite of what the Easter season is about. We should feel transformed and joyful about renewing our life in Christ.

What can we do to prevent our lives from going back to normal? How do we fight the temptation to “go fishing” or keep Christ at a distance like Saint Peter? Here are some ideas.

  • Fast like you did during Lent. If you gave something up, consider continuing to give it up or at least cutting back.
  • Continue to abstain from meat every Friday. We do this in our household and it’s a good sacrifice that is sustainable throughout the year.
  • Go to adoration and First Fridays. Spend some quality time in deep meditation.
  • Pray the Rosary daily. If you already do that, pray multiple Rosary chaplets.
  • Jump into a novena. There are plenty for all sorts of intentions.
  • Read the Bible. Maybe start with the daily readings. If you’re feeling ambitious, pick up a study Bible and read all the books.
  • Volunteer and get involved with your parish.
  • Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation

We may feel tired and even give up and return to normalcy. But then again, so did one of the greatest saints — Saint Peter. So don’t feel discouraged if you can’t act holy 100% of the time. None of the apostles could either. The important thing is to keep trying by keeping God close in your mind, heart, and actions.

Jesus’ Crucifixion: A Message of Hope

Being a parent forces you to look at your role in life different ways. On one hand, there are the day-to-day challenges — getting kids ready for school, packing lunches, taking them to their various activities, and resolving disputes. It’s a grind. It’s tiring. And yes, at times it feels hopeless. Maybe you got called into yet another teacher’s conference over your kid’s behavior at school. Maybe your kids are fighting over toys or otherwise creating needless conflict. In these times, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This is what parenting feels like sometimes

And then there are those times when everything comes together. Your kid does or says something sweet. Or they are playing nicely with each other; laughing and having fun. Maybe they passed that big test they studied hard for. It’s those times that can make you feel like the parent of the year and fills you with a sense of hope that you can not only handle but excel as a parent.

It’s this dichotomy between despair and hope that surround Jesus’ crucifixion. When I pray the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, I try to focus on the hopeful theme of the mystery.  Wait, what?  How does Jesus’ death send a hopeful message?  Jesus died, an apostle betrayed Him, His disciples abandoned Him.  Where’s the hope in this low point?

Jesus’ crucifixion delivers a message of hope because it all transpired the way He said it would.  Jesus said He was going to be betrayed and that He was going to die.  But He also said that He was going to rise again in glory.  And that’s the hope-filled part of this rosary mystery. Jesus always spoke the truth. So when Jesus said that God loves us and we are meant to spend eternity in Heaven with Him, he meant it.  Jesus asks us to look beyond the current situation, no matter how dire and hopeless it may seem, and focus on His message of hope.

We all have our challenges in life and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by them.  We sometimes feel like giving up whether that be in the form of giving into sinful temptations, stop practice our faith, or just stop believing that God hears us and helps us through our challenges.  We see things getting worse and think there is no hope for a better outcome.  But remember, things also got worse for Jesus — He was scourged, crowned with thorns, carried a cross, nailed to it, and basically suffocated to death.  When things couldn’t get any worse, they did.  And yet, Jesus endured because He knew this was God’s plan which would not end in death and despair but in the glory of the resurrection.

Similar to how Jesus knew that God would see Him through the darkest moments of His life, we know that Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Mary, and the saints will see us through the darkest moments of ours.  I remember what a priest once said about suffering and despair.  He said look at the Bible.  Who wins?  Is it Satan and suffering or God and eternal joy?  SPOILER!  It’s God’s vision that ultimately wins out in the end.  Any suffering in our lives is temporary and ultimately ends in glory if you have faith in God’s plan.

Holiness Is Possible

There’s a saying in the creative world that the artist is his own worst critic. Many people, when seeing the results of their efforts, focus on the flaws. A painter only sees a shade of color that is slightly off. An actor remembers that one line that didn’t quite deliver the emotional impact he wanted. A musician dwells on that missed note that no one else noticed. A software developer, see a working computer program, instead dwells on a few lines of code that feel hacked together. We all have our faults that gnaw away at us leading us to doubt our abilities.

What about our spirituality? How accurately do we see our ability to live in holiness? Do we think we have the ability to live holy lives? Or do we only see the challenges and limitations and think holiness isn’t possible? This is the exact question Matthew Kelly asks in his book, The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity. Don’t worry, this isn’t a spoiler since he clearly states it in the first chapter. The biggest lie in Christianity is that holiness isn’t something we can achieve. And that lie has had a negative cascading effect on the world.

Buy it now on Amazon

Buying into the lie that we cannot be holy has prevented many of us from even trying. We look at the lives of the saints and think, “I can’t be like that.” And so we skip Mass, skip prayers, and go along with the secular crowd. Why choose a challenge that can only end in failure? And that’s the type of thinking Satan wants us to fall in to. If we give up on holiness we become susceptible to his influence.

Now, of course, the book (which is an easy read by the way) goes into detail on exposing the lie that we cannot achieve holiness. Holiness is possible. Matthew Kelly explains that we need to practice what he calls holy moments — small instances when we act holy. We can start small with one or two holy moments per day — saying prayers, making a sacrifice, doing something nice, etc. We can then expand the number of holy moments. And guess what happens when you chain together enough holy moments? You have a holy day! Then a holy week, holy month, and guess what? You now have a holy life! And what happens when multiple people live in holiness? A holy world!

Holy Moments in the Rosary

When I think of holy moments when I pray the Rosary, I think of Veronica in the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery — Jesus carrying His cross. Veronica is the woman who wiped the face of Jesus during His passion. I consider it a pure holy moment. It was something small and mostly ineffective in relieving Jesus’ suffering. But she showed courage standing out from the crowd and possibly incurring the wrath of both the Roman soldiers and Jewish authorities to help someone in need the best she could. We may scoff and criticize the futility of Veronica’s actions. But who knows how many people she converted in that single action. Perhaps her example eased the fear others in the crowd may have been feeling at the time. And maybe many of those people went on to become one of the many of disciples that formed the early Church.

Matthew Kelly wants us to understand that there is no act of holiness too small. They all can have an impact, especially when combined. And there is no challenge too great that we can’t overcome if we leave ourselves open to God’s influence. When you pray the Rosary and meditate on the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery, remember that we can all act like Veronica and stick out from the crowd. But first, we have to want to stick out from the crowd. It’s not easy to break out of our routines but that is exactly what God calls us to do. And that is why we pray the Rosary — asking Mary for her help to follow God’s plan. When we have as powerful of an intercessor as Mary, holiness is not only possible, it’s inevitable.

The Transfiguration and Selective Listening

Last Sunday, my parish priest gave a great homily on the Transfiguration. We pray and meditate on this event in the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary. He focused on what God told the apostles, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” I’m going to focus on that last part about listening to Jesus. Or rather, all the ways we often don’t listen to Him. My priest classified people’s attention to Jesus’ message into three groups — those who are half deaf, half listening, and fully deaf.

Half Deaf

The first group are those who are “half deaf” or spiritually hearing impaired. These people hear God’s message but only process the “easy” parts. They hear that God loves them and will forgive them. But they don’t hear how they must take up their cross and follow Jesus. They don’t hear that they need to lead a life of conversion and can’t just live according to their own conscience if it’s not well formed. The half deaf sort of hear Jesus’ teachings but not all of it. They hear that Jesus loves them and think that’s enough to live however they want.

Half listening

This group picks and chooses the teachings they like or agree with. These people are similar to the spiritually hearing impaired. They hear Jesus’ teachings and may even be passionate about a few of them. They will even put in the hard work and bear their crosses if they need to. But they may completely disregard certain Church teachings they don’t like. You usually see this in so-called “social justice” Catholics who work hard helping the poor or persecuted but then support pro-abortion politicians and policies. And just to be fair, many pro-life Catholics will march every January to end abortion but then close their wallets to support social programs to help those in need.

Fully deaf

This group doesn’t hear Jesus’ message at all because the world drowns it out. Instead, they are completely tuned into the world as presented by popular media, late night talk shows, TV, movies, and politicians. They hear about Jesus’ message through various mediums that filter and distort His teachings. They don’t hear the authentic message of the Catholic Church but a fictional, stereotypical account of it.

Are you listening to Jesus or are you too busy capturing Pokémon?

Where do you fit in? Most of us fall into these categories at different points in our life. I know I probably lived days where I fell into all three of these groups. Lent is a great time to think about how well we are listening to God. Are we making an effort to truly hear Jesus’ message or filtering and distorting it? Now is a good time to read the Bible, encyclicals, and the Catechism and listen to how Jesus truly wants us to live. Approach Jesus’ teachings with an open mind and heart so that the Holy Spirit may work wonders in you. Finally, pray for everyone who experiences some sort of spiritual hearing impairment.

God’s Time is not Our Time

Lent is a great time to contemplate about the time scale God operates on. As I said in my previous post, our time frame isn’t God’s time frame. The way we look at time vastly differs from how God looks at time. What seems long to us — a day, a year, a decade, a lifetime, and even multiple generations is a passing instant compared to God’s eternal view of time. The entire age of the universe is but a grain of sand in God’s hourglass.

Lenten Challenges

I think back to fasting on Ash Wednesday. To me, it felt like a long day because I had small meals with no snacks in between. Throughout the day I kept looking at my watch. Was it lunch yet? Was it dinner? When can I eat again? Should I go to bed so this day will end? When you’re hungry, time seems to slow down to an almost unbearable pace. But you know what? The day of fasting eventually came to an end. I woke up the next day and was fortunate enough to eat a satisfying breakfast.

I gave up alcohol for Lent. I’m not a big drinker but I do enjoy an ice cold beer on the weekend or a glass of red wine with dinner. So 40 days without a social cocktail seems like a long time. The wine bottles in my house will be taunting me until April 21. But I have to remember that it’s only 40 days. Much like fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Lent will pass and I’ll be able to enjoy my weekend bottle of beer again.

Can’t have any of that sweet, sweet Duff.

Throughout Lent, we can begin to understand the finite time frame we live in and the infinite one of God’s. Much like our Lenten sacrifices and fasts, this life will come to an end as well. And all our suffering, both minor and major, will be over. And then hopefully we’ll enter into eternity in Heaven. Our lives may seem like a long time to many of us especially if we want God to immediately answer our prayers or perform a miracle. But God does answer our prayers, even if the answer for many of us is, “wait until Heaven; you don’t have to wait long.”

The Rosary

Let’s look at the Rosary, particularly the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery. Picture Jesus carrying His cross. It must have seemed like an eternity of pain and suffering as He was whipped, beaten, and fell multiple times. The human side of Him must have wanted all that suffering to end instantly. But Jesus also understood that to God and His divine plan, Jesus’ suffering was ending instantly compared to the eternal majesty He would obtain in His resurrection and ascension into Heaven.

We may find ourselves feeling like we’re in a similar situation as Jesus carrying His cross. We may have challenges with our health, family, money, faith, or addictions. Relief never seems to come despite how hard we try and how much we pray. But God assures us that it will come to an end, even if it’s not in this life. We must remember that a lifetime of suffering is an instant compared to the eternal joy of Heaven. Like Jesus carrying His cross, we have to get back up and continue doing God’s will in this relatively short time we have in this life.

The 40 days of Lent may seem like a long time, especially if we’ve given up something that we really enjoy or taken up a practice that is hard to do. But let’s treat it as an opportunity to better understand how God works. Lent comes to an end in the joy of Easter. Just how joyful Easter feels depends on how hard we work on focusing on our faith during Lent. Think of Lent and Easter as a microcosm of life and eternity. Much like Lent, our lives will end. And it’s really not that long of a time we have so we must make the most of it. And when we do, we can enjoy living in God’s grace, both during Easter and in Heaven to come.

Rosary Prayer as a Process

When I look around my house, I see all sorts of bins filled to the top with toys and games. They belong to my boys and they’ve accumulated them over years of Christmases and birthdays. And besides the initial week or two of excitement, many of them go untouched for months. My thought is that because most of their toys are gifts, they don’t have any real emotional investment in them. But God help me if I throw one of their drawings or worksheets into the recycle bin. I’ve had to empty entire trash bins looking for my son’s random stick figure drawing or worksheet.

My little parenthood story outlines a greater insight into human behavior. We tend to value things more as we invest more in them. That could be an investment of time, money, memories, emotional energy, etc. What about our faith? Does the value of our faith increase the more time we spend in prayer? I certainly believe it does. And I’m sure those of you who pray the Rosary daily will attest to that as well. God designed faith as a process that we work on our entire lives.

Why does God choose to make our faith a multi-step process and not something more instantaneous? Why did Jesus heal certain people one at a time and not the entire world in one fell swoop? Or why do miracles come to a few and not to everyone who requests them? Like anything important, there’s value in the process. Things that are just given to us with no effort on our part aren’t as valuable as the things we work hard for.

When we make an effort to develop our faith, it becomes more valuable. Jesus didn’t come into this world to just give away faith. He knew that people wouldn’t value it if He did. Instead, He showed the benefits that came from having a deeper faith almost as a way of encouraging people to work harder at it. Remember, God gave us free will to choose whether to follow Him or not. But that’s not a binary decision. We also have the freedom to choose how much effort we want to put into our relationship with God. Hopefully, through Jesus’ teachings and example, we know that it’s important to invest in our faith development because it’s worth it.

In his article, No Soul is Too Far Gone, Francis Chan writes this about the power of perseverant prayer when he talked about praying for 30 years for the conversion of his childhood friend. Not only did the target of the prayers benefit when he was eventually baptized, but so did the person doing the praying as his faith must have grown through 30 years of prayers and intentions.

There is tremendous power in perseverant prayer. God is not like us; he is not bothered by his children asking for the same thing over and over. He is pleased by the faith demonstrated when we pray and pray for someone to be saved.

When we understand the consequences of rejecting Christ, and we are filled with love for another human being, persistent prayer should be the natural response. To this day, I still have questions about how the decreed will of God meshes with the effectiveness of my persistent prayers. For now, I’m more than content to obey and pray. Though I’m still uncertain how it works, I have seen it work. Meditate with me on Luke 18, trust the words of Christ, and then pray with sincerity and expectation.

Looking at the Rosary, I think about the Fourth Joyful Mystery — The Presentation in the Temple. I think of Saint Simeon, a pious man whom the Holy Spirit promised would see the Messiah before his death. And while it doesn’t say how long he waited, I always picture it being many years. In that time he must have prayed regularly building up his faith in God’s promise. How much stronger was Saint Simeon from a lifetime of devout prayer than if God had immediately fulfilled His promise?

In the eyes of God, even the oldest and wisest are like infants. We must seem like babies whenever God hears us complain about why He’s not answering our prayers. What we do not see or understand is that He does hear us and answers our prayers. But it’s according to His plan, not ours. It’s by His timeline, not ours. We must understand that we often need time to grow and mature in our faith. And when we put in that time and effort, we see that God answers our prayers in a manner far better than if we would have received it immediately.

Jesus’ Miracles — Brining Joy to All of Us

I know this is a tad late given that the Sunday Gospel reading about the Miracle at Cana was several weeks ago. But the way I see it, we should be visiting this mystery at least once a week when we meditate on it in the Second Luminous Mystery. So any insight, no matter when it is given, should be valuable.

In his homily, my priest made a rather insightful observation about this Rosary mystery. Jesus’ miracle at the wedding at Cana was turning water into wine. In doing so, He saved the hosts from the embarrassment of running out of libations too early in the feast. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus’ first public miracle involved prolonging a celebration? It wasn’t healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, calming seas, or other more life-changing miracles. Essentially, Jesus kept the wine flowing to keep the party going. Jesus’ first miracle was bringing a little more joy into the world.

Joy is really at the heart of Jesus’ ministry. He came into this world so that we may better know God. Through Jesus, God was no longer this distant, impossible-to-understand entity. Rather, he was a human in Jesus. He ate with us, spoke to us, prayed with us, and celebrated with us. Jesus encapsulated all the love, peace, and joy already contained in God but presented it in a way we could understand. It’s no wonder that Jesus’ first miracle was keeping a celebration going because that was exactly why God manifested Himself through Jesus — so that we may continue to celebrate His peace and love. Jesus kept the party at Cana going by turning water into wine. But God kept the joy flowing by manifesting Himself as a human through Jesus Christ.

Remember the miracle at the wedding at Cana the next time you feel burdened by the Church’s “rules.” Remember that the heart of our faith is joy and happiness. Jesus didn’t come to oppress. He didn’t force anyone to love, honor, and celebrate with Him. So why all the rules? The rules help us better receive the joy that Jesus offers. Similar to how guests at a party need to act appropriately for all to enjoy themselves, we need to live in accordance with God’s laws to find the most joy. We can’t be party crashers — ruining the party God invites us to. We don’t want to cut ourselves off from genuine joy and happiness for that momentary yet shallow thrill of acting selfishly.

The next time your pray the Second Luminous Mystery, thank God for giving us the opportunity to embrace the genuine happiness that comes from fully living our Catholic faith.

God Didn’t Create Us to Live in Fear

When I read the Catholic Answer Forums, I sense a lot of fear in the questions people post. There’s the fear that they or a loved one is going to Hell. Or the fear that God does not hear them. Or the fear that they are following the wrong religion. There’s fear that they are praying incorrectly or that they aren’t following proper protocol making their prayers null and void.

There is a lot of confusion about why the Catholic Church preaches what it does. And the media and pop culture doesn’t help any. If you only knew about the Church based on how She is portrayed on TV, movies, and memes, you would think that it’s all a bunch of arbitrary rules made up by old men to make people miserable. You would think that the Church likes nothing more than setting a standard so high and illogical that only the super spiritual 1% will make it into Heaven while the rest of us are doomed to Hell.

“Oh no! What if I sit on the wrong side of the church during Mass?”

How do you combat that fear? First, you need to acknowledge that what you’re fearing isn’t real. Just look at Third Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary. The angels said fear not to the shepherds and that they come to bring glad tidings. Does that sound fearful to you? Does that sound like the greeting of a vengeful God that wants fearful submission? To me, that sounds more like a loving God reaching out to us so that we can embrace Him through Jesus Christ. As I said in an earlier post, Jesus didn’t need to come into this world as a baby. He could have just manifested Himself as an adult. But God chose to take the form as a baby maybe as a way of making Himself more accessible and less fearful. What’s a more innocent and unthreatening person than an infant?

Before you get carried away and start living however you want because God is some pushover, think again. Yes, the Church lays out rules we need to follow. But they are the rules you would expect of any close and loving relationship. For example, is treating your best friend, spouse, or family member with love and respect some sort of impossible standard? No. It’s something we do because we want to (or at least we should want to). The same goes with our Catholic faith. We follow all sorts of rules and customs because we want a close relationship with God.

Now there is protocol to follow like how to make a good confession and properly receive the Eucharist. But again, think of these things like spiritual etiquette. They are learned behaviors that should just be second nature for us. After all, do you fear eating dinner? There’s a lot of things to remember — how to use a napkin, chew food politely, don’t spill or knock anything over, etc. I bet most of us follow these protocols without a second thought and certainly not with a sense of fear. Following the Church’s rules and protocols should feel similar. Much like how there are social conventions that we learn to follow, there are spiritual ones as well. Remember, God didn’t create these rules as some sort of trap for us to fall into so He could punish us. They exist so that we can have a fuller and more meaningful relationship with God.

The takeaway is that God loves us and wants us to be joyful in His grace. The guidelines, protocols, and commandments of the Church best foster that relationship. In other words, the Church is trying to help us find true happiness, not hinder it. That can be difficult to see in an age of false information. That makes prayer and receiving the sacraments all the more important so you can see the Catholic faith and God’s love for us for what it clearly is.

Here’s a tip if you still feel nervous and fearful about following the Catholic Faith. Read and learn the faith. I think we tend to fear what we don’t know or understand. Our minds fill in gaps with all sorts of nonsense. To prevent that, read the Catechism. Read books and websites by great Catholic authors. Fill your mind with knowledge about why the Church teaches what She teaches so that you don’t make up a Church that doesn’t actually exist beyond a few stupid TV shows and movies.

Rosary Hack: The Importance of Breathing

Zoom! That’s what many of us do now right? Zoom through everything? After all, we have to make every second count. Why waste time reading the full book when you can listen to the condensed audio version at 3x speed? Why watch a series over the course of months when you can binge watch it in a weekend? Waiting in line at the market for a few minutes? Might as well pull out the smartphone to read a few posts.

Everything in our lives seems to revolve around processing as much information and entertainment as quickly as possible. And who can blame us? There is a lot of information to take in. We live in an age where the entire history of human knowledge is available at our fingertips 24 hours a day. And new discoveries and media content are produced faster than we can possibly consume it. So we implement all these life hacks to just try to keep up.

This mindset of racing through information can also creep into our spiritual life. We may explore what hack can we apply to finish Rosary prayer in 15 minutes instead of 30 and still get all its benefits. To channel my inner Han Solo from The Force Awakens, that’s not how the Rosary works! There isn’t any way to hack the Rosary to race through it and still receive its many benefits. In fact, just the opposite is true. Any Rosary hack is intended to slow it down to receive maximum benefit. At its core, the Rosary is a meditative prayer. You can’t speed up meditation.

That's not how the force works | THAT'S NOT HOW THE ROSARY WORKS | image tagged in that's not how the force works | made w/ Imgflip meme maker

In an article on Catholic Exchange titled Interceding for Others by Praying the Rosary, Father Edward Looney talks about a great Rosary hack to make it a more meditative experience — praying a Rosary litany. A litany is the practice of inserting a small phrase or intention after you say the fruit of thy womb Jesus in the Hail Mary. A litany was a practice proposed by Saint Louis de Montfort, an authority on the practicalities of Rosary prayer. It helps keep us focused on the mysteries by breaking us out of the autopilot mode we can sometimes get into when we repeat the same phrase. Fr. Looney goes on to suggest many different intentions we can offer up to God while praying the Rosary. Of course, I’ve written entire books with that very purpose — to provide intentions and prayers for those who pray the Rosary.

I like the idea of a Rosary litany as a means of slowing down Rosary prayer. If you don’t have a litany, here’s another hack you can employ– pause and take a deep breath after saying the fruit of thy womb Jesus. We so often forget that the Hail Mary is two sentences (angelic salutation and call for intercession) and tend to just merge them together. By taking a pause, even a small one, it helps us remain focused on the prayer.

Why is the pause so important and helps increase the value of Rosary prayer? Like knocking over a domino, it starts a chain reaction of events that deepens our relationship with Jesus. Let’s look at the chain of events that follow a pause.

  • You pause because you know you shouldn’t rush through Rosary prayers.
  • You remember that you shouldn’t rush Rosary prayers because the Rosary is a meditative prayer.
  • What do you meditate on? The life and teachings of Jesus Christ and ask Mary to intercede for us.
  • Why is the life of Jesus so important? Oh yeah! He is God made Man who came into this world so that we can have a closer relationship with Him.
  • How do we forge a closer relationship with Jesus? By knowing and following His teachings reflected in the Rosary.

That whole chain of contemplation and meditation stems from taking one small breath. Now that’s what I consider a great prayer hack!

Saint Dominic: Model of Humility

I recently completed reading Saint Dominic and the Rosary by Catherine Beebe.  Saint Dominic’s life was a saintly one in every sense of the word.  He practiced the saintly virtues of humility and patience throughout his life.  We should also practice these virtues during Advent as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth and reflect on the life of the greatest saint, our Mother Mary, who is the paradigm of patience and humility.

Catherine Beebe’s book walks through Saint Dominic’s life from his early childhood through his holy death.  Keep in mind that this isn’t an academic or rigorously historical book.  It contains conversations and events that I’m sure came from second and third hand sources or were created in an attempt to better explain aspects of Saint Dominic’s personality.  But that in no way takes away from the motivational and inspiring power of this book.  Personally, I want to learn about Saint Dominic’s virtues, not a dry day-by-day historical account of his life.

According to the book, Saint Dominic strived for sainthood his entire life.  He always oriented himself towards bringing people closer to God.  When he was a young priest traveling through Spain, he was never too tired or busy to preach to the Albigensian heretics and try to convert them.  He lived humbly, never indulging in earthly delights.  In fact, he never ate more food than what he needed to stay healthy.  Even the order he founded put their faith in God to provide for them as they relied entirely on people’s donations of food, clothing, and other provisions.

It is this total giving of self that is the main theme throughout
Catherine Beebe’s book.  And I think this is also why our Mother Mary choose Saint Dominic to bring Her Rosary into the world.  She too, was a total servant of God; putting aside Her wants and expectations to completely accept God’s plan for Her.   That is what God wants out of a saint — a complete and willing submission to His Will.  When I say “submission” I’m not talking about it in that dominating sense of the word.  I mean that we willingly put our lives into God’s hands with faith that He will lead us to true happiness.

You have to be humble to be a servant to God.  Humility is the virtue which defeats pride.  And pride is the sin of centering your entire life around your wants and desires.  You can’t put yourself into God’s hands while centering your life around what you want at the same time.  You have to choose.  Likewise, saintly behavior requires patience.  It’s a lifelong journey of trusting in God when times are either good or bad.  You can’t say you’re devoted to God and then bail on Him at the first sign of hardship.  Is it easy?  Of course not.  But where do you think the phrases patience is a virtue and patience of a saint come from?  Being a saint isn’t easy but it’s the life God calls all of us to live.

The Rosary Connection

Look at Mary in the First Joyful Mystery.  She showed great humility placing Her life in God’s hands in the Annunciation.  Now move on to the Fifth Joyful Mystery.  Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus for several days “in sorrow.”  Imagine the patience Mary had to show and not give up hope of finding her lost son.  We can learn from Mary that even when times are difficult, we need to show patience for God to show us the way.  It is in that quiet patience that God will show us the way out of hardship.

PSA: archive.org

Lastly, I want to point our a really useful Rosary resource — www.archive.org.  I found that book about Saint Dominic on archive.org and, like a library, I was able to check it out as an ebook.  If you do a search for “rosary” on the site, you will find all sorts of books, newsletters, pamphlets, etc.  Many of those are out of print and you cannot find anywhere else (which is the whole point of why we have archive.org).  If you’re looking for some new Rosary material, give archive.org a look (and support it with a donation if you find anything of value).