… it all started when a man and a woman said “I DO”… Well, it actually started a while before that but let’s skip to the really good part… Continue reading →
One of my favorite saints is St. Jose Sanchez del Rio because he was an example of having no fear. He was a Mexican Christero.
I love his battle cry, which was “Viva la Cristo Rey” meaning long live Christ the King. I was touched because at the young age of 14 he was martyred. He was also martyred with many other Christeros.
He had so much faith and that is why he is one of my favorite saints.
St. Jose Sanchez del Rio, Pray for us
To God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Before I start, I have to write a couple things first, there needs to be some start point. In three words I would like to say that, Saints are awesome!
They are incredible people with beautiful stories, each unique and special. There are a lot of them, so many stories that I had a hard time choosing which ones to write about. The Saint and servant of God I will write about are both incredible women that have shown me such wonderful examples in life. I also acknowledge my patron Saint and namesake Kateri Tekakwitha, another woman that I love.
I have had a decent amount of struggle in my life, as I had been diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that brought me on some trips for testing at the hospital. I have always felt a connection to those who have suffered like me (well in different ways of course) martyrs, those who struggled with sickness, persecution, disabilities, all those people who have given of themselves, given up their pain to the Lord and stayed faithful no matter what. There are so many people I would love to acknowledge, but the list of names would be endless. Both of these women I will write about suffered but they all brought their troubles before God. They are women that I have become very much attached to, more so recently.
Saint Margaret of Castello is the Saint that I chose for my Confirmation. When I first read about her in a Saint book (‘Saints Around the World’, by Meg Hunter-Kilmer) and then later on a web page, I knew that she was meant to be my spiritual Godmother because she definitely feels like it. Margaret was born into a well-to-do family near Florence, Italy in 1287. She suffered rejection due to her severe physical disabilities as a dwarf, having a curved back leaving her hunched over, she was lame to the point that she could barely walk and she was blind. That is a lot to suffer from. Margaret was kept hidden away for many of her first years, at the age of six she was walled up in a room attached to a chapel. A family chaplain taught her about God, and there by the chapel she could attend Mass and receive the eucharist. Her parents were looking for a miracle to heal their daughter but when it didn’t happen, they abandoned her. Margaret later became a member of the Dominican Third Order of Castello and developed a deep prayer life, devoting the reminder of her life (33 years) to acts of penance and charity.
Margaret suffered so much but through it all she was serene, calm, cheerful and courageous. Even though her outer appearance might not have been the most appealing, her joy and kindness overpowered that and gave her a unique beauty through that. She had patience, forgiveness and understanding.
St.Margaret of Castello, Pray for us!
St. Margaret of Castello teaches me about the importance of remaining joy filled, kind and loving. She is just such a role model for my life and that is what I aim to follow, living with joy, kindness and love.
I deeply have come to love this incredible woman, Catherine Doherty. She is a “servant of God” at this point, on the path to being recognized as a saint. I really got close to her when I began reading about her life in books(such as, ‘Victorious Exile’ by Echo Lewis and ‘They Called her the Baroness’ by Lorene Hanley Duquin). Her life was literally like an epic adventure story! It was a very inspiring story too. Her Russian name was Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkina and she was born in the year 1897 in Nizhny-Novgorod, Russia. She was baptised and received an upbringing in the Russian Orthodox Church as well as an openness to other religions. Catherine spent much of her childhood in different countries, places where her father’s work brought them. She even travelled to Egypt. At the age of just fifteen, Catherine married her first cousin the Baron Boris de Hueck who was many years older than she.
Catherine’s road of life she travelled was filled with physical, mental and emotional pain. She had learned from her father how to pray during times of suffering and she saw so much of it in her lifetime. The marriage between her and Boris was quite full of verbal and emotional abuse which submerged Catherine in misery. Boris was unfaithful to her and along with that came the emotional control of her and her feeling of unworthiness. World War I came and in Catherine’s words she said “I dipped into a sea of pain.” She was a hero during that time and so very brave and courageous. Catherine became Catholic in London, England, 1919. She had a son and so often she had to leave him at home so that she could earn money to care for her family and unfaithful Boris. She opened a friendship house in 1932 in Toronto after moving to the slums. She was a radical gospel witness and she took care of the poor with a loving motherly heart.
Servant of God Catherine Doherty, Pray for us
Catherine knew so much suffering and she pushed through the pain and found beauty. She founded Madonna House (a place I would like to go someday) a beautiful place filled with beautiful people. I love how Catherine Doherty brought the eastern and western church together. Here is the prayer “The Little Mandate” which is a prayer I love. She has shown me what real motherly love is and how to be a disciple of Christ.
Arise — go! Sell all you possess. Give it directly, personally to the poor. Take up My cross (their cross) and follow Me, going to the poor, being poor, being one with them, one with Me. Little — be always little! Be simple, poor, childlike. Preach the Gospel with your life — without compromise! Listen to the Spirit. He will lead you… Do little things exceedingly well for love of Me. Love… love… love, never counting the cost Go into the marketplace and stay with Me. Pray, fast. Pray always, fast. Be hidden. Be a light to your neighbour’s feet. Go without fear into the depth of men’s hearts. I shall be with you. Pray always. I will be your rest.
I just love the Saints; they can be your greatest friends when you have or feel like you have none. These two women really teach me how to love authentically, have kindness and courage.
These two saints I am sharing about I have always felt like I wanted to learn more about.
I was named after St.Magdalene of Canossa, Magdalene being my middle name. She is the foundress of the Canossian Sisters. She had a great desire to care for the poor and the needy, even offering lodging to poor girls in her own home. She inspires me to be generous towards others.
I desire that God may set your heart on fire with his love.
St.Magdalene of Canossa, Pray for us
St.Cecilia is another saint I feel drawn to. Whenever I hear her name I feel like I need to get to know her more. She also makes me feel inspired by her gift of music. I too desire to express myself in music and so I look to her as an example.
St.Cecilia, Pray for us
To God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The saints I would like to share, are two I have come to find great admiration for.
When I chose St.Catherine of Siena as my Confirmation Saint I did not know much about her, but I think the main reason I chose her was because of her confidence to speak the truth and what she thought was right. When she was young she went to the Pope herself, in Avignon, and told him to go back to Rome (which influenced his decision to go back to Rome in 1376 ). I also liked her because I found her to be a lot like me; feisty, and passionate about her beliefs and thoughts.
Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.
As I got to know more about St. Catherine it also changed my outlook on fasting. She fasted greatly, by giving up her bed, and eating little food( which she died from in the end ). She even cut her hair off, so she could influence her mom to let her be a nun and not have to get married. St. Catherine was also tempted greatly but stayed strong through it all, often by repeating the powerful name of Jesus. She had such a devotion to the Lord that he appeared to her many times, and helped her stay strong. Knowing her has brought me to realize that as long as I don’t fill my mind with things of this world and always give up more, I can be a lot closer to the Lord.
St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us!
The second saint I would like to share about( one that awes me) is a very recently canonized saint… St. Carlo Acutis.
I was first introduced to him when we did an activity where each person in our family picked a name from a hat of a “Blessed”( a person on their way to being recognized as a saint ) to share about when it came to their feast day. I just happened to get Blessed Carlo Acutis! What I admire about St. Carlo is that he loved Jesus and was not afraid to show that, even inviting friends of his to the church with him. He often expressed Jesus as being his best friend to those he asked to join him. He even converted the family caretaker to the Catholic faith!
Our goal must be infinite, not the finite. The infinite is our homeland. Heaven has been waiting for us forever.
I also love his example of self-control amidst his time of playing video games, pokemon, soccer, etc. He always found time to visit Jesus and others. Carlo often brought his conversations back around to Jesus. He even used his love of computer progamming to make a website about eucharistic miracles! Although St. Carlo lived a short earthly life he gave us the most amazing example of joy by his smile he wore all the time. He is a reminder that no matter how young you are you can make a change in people’s lives, even adults came to him with serious situations they trusted him with. St. Carlo became a saint even though he only lived 15 years. He teaches us to love always, because we never know how long we have.
I consider Saint Maximilian Kolbe as the saint whom I think of most as a spiritual friend. He seems to have adopted me which I never discovered until some years beyond my childhood, at the age of 21, with the discovery that the first time that his feast day was celebrated, after he was canonized a saint, on August 14th, 1983 was also the very day that I began my new life in Christ as a baptized Catholic Christian.
Perhaps what Saint Maximilian is most well known for is the offering of his life for another man in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. And this has always been striking for me; the image of Him offering to die in this man’s place. Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friend, from John 15.13, has been a verse I have meditated on as I pondered Maximilian’s offering. It has led me to ask, “are we not to give our life for all, even our enemies?” A treasure I have received is to realize that in loving and offering our lives even for our enemies they become friends.
Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life…
One year after I made my consecration to Jesus through Mary, at the age of 20, I started to discover Saint Maximilian more fully and have come to realize his intense devotion to the Blessed Mother of Jesus. His pursuits were always done with such complete trust in the Virgin Mary and for the greatest glory of God. His complete and total trust is so striking for me and has been something that I have sought His intercession in acquiring.
Another striking aspect is how this trust gave him such a firm foundation that struggles or barriers, including health or jealousy from others, never weighed him down or caused him to waver in always seeking to do the Lord’s will and that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in pleasing her Son.
Saint Joseph is another saint whom I have come to befriend. He is a bit of a mystery with much of his life being unknown, because of the little we hear about him in scripture, but what we do know of him I find very striking. One particular aspect which I admire, and seek to emulate, is that when he heard the voice of God he followed expediently, without delay, in total trust (Matthew 1.20,24; 2.13-15; 2.19-22).
Another aspect of his life that is striking to me is his care for his family; the Virgin Mary and Jesus, the son of God. I imagine at times he probably felt unworthy but found strength in that the Lord had chosen Him for this task, leading with both humility and strength from God. We do not know for sure how old he was, or how long he lived, but I picture him as both young and old at the same time; having the wisdom of age yet the strength and endurance of youth.
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
I seek the intercession of St.Joseph in leading my family and living out my own vocation as a Father, and to be able to hear and respond to the voice of the Lord in my life.
To God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
One of the aspects of the Catholic Faith that I have appreciated the most is the knowledge that we are never alone on our journey to eternal life. We are a part of a huge family consisting not only of those on earth, the “church militant”, but also all those who are being purified as they await the glory of heaven, and those who have already attained that glory. Those who have already attained the glory of heaven, the “church triumphant”, we celebrate on November 1st, All Saints Day. And those awaiting that glory as they are being purified to see God face to face, the “church suffering”, we commemorate on November 2, All Souls Day.
The month of November is a special time to pray for our loved ones who have passed from this life, and also to be encouraged by the examples of the saints in living here on earth what we desire to live for all eternity.
We hear of Christ’s example in Sacred Scripture and it is His example that we seek to follow. But we also have so many people, the saints, who have gone before us and lived ordinary lives, yet their lives have become extraordinary because they have lived them in, with, and for Christ.
This month we will be sharing stories about the particular saints who have inspired us to live in, with, and for the Lord Jesus in our own lives. We are so thankful for the lives of these holy people, these saints and spiritual friends, who have gone before us and are still very much with us as “a great cloud of witnesses”. (Hebrews 12:1) They encourage us, and I imagine are cheering us on, to cast aside everything that would hinder us in our ‘not so ordinary’ life, in our own journey of faith, and to run with perseverance the race that is set before us towards union with God through love of Him and love of our neighbour.
To God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
We continue our Advent journey of preparation and expectation of the birth of Jesus. But have you ever realized that Jesus wants to be born in you?
Jesus wants to be born in us!
There are 2 figures which point us towards this reality today:
1.) John the Baptist (from the Gospel for the 2nd Sunday of Advent; Matthew 11.2-11) came proclaiming the coming kingdom, a kingdom which we hear about from the prophet Isaiah(35.1-6,10) in the first reading. We hear of John appearing in the “wilderness” (also understood as a deserted and desolate place). So why do we meet John there? It seems to me because there are no distractions; nothing to divert us from what is going on in our heart. In our lives we are constantly tempted to divert and distract ourselves from what really matters, to fill those empty spaces.
John calls you and me in to the wilderness(the desert) to “prepare the way of the Lord”, to open our eyes and become convicted, to turn and confess and prepare our hearts(the wombs of our hearts) to give birth to Christ. What do I mean by this? That our lives would be centred and focussed on Jesus, and our relationship with him; expressing in our thoughts, our words, and our actions.
2.) Mary, the mother of God offered her entire being and body to this reality, of birthing Christ. Saturday began the novena(9 days of prayer) before the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, of the unborn, and of the Whitehorse diocese.
We have been blessed to have been donated a beautiful statue which resides at a side altar, above a votive candle stand, in our village church here in Telegraph Creek. This week she will be travelling to the different homes of our church community until her feast day on December 12th(also the National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous People).
She appeared to Juan Diego in the year 1531, in Mexico, and by a miracle imprinted her image upon his tilma. The details and symbols* of this image revealed the message she wanted to share, not only with Juan Diego and the Indigenous Mexicans but to all people, about who she is and consequently who Jesus is:
Her dark complexion and mix of Indigenous and Spanish features represents the unity of all people, that we are all her children. Her eyes are gazing down, revealing humility. As great as she is she is not god. Indian gods always looked straight ahead, never down. Her face has an expression of compassion, as a mother gazing at her child(ren).
Her mantle is a blue-green colour, a colour of cloak which was only worn by the native emperors. The stars on her mantle were configured as they were in the sky just before dawn on that day she appeared to Juan Diego. Indigenous tradition also recognized the end and beginning of different eras by comets or bodies of stars.
Her hands express prayer and offering, while her bent knee, as in movement, signifies dancing prayer; expressing how the indigenous prayed.
The particular band around her waist is the sign of a pregnant woman. For the indigenous it was a sign of someone to come. This is also one of the few depictions of Mary in pregnancy.
Mary hides/eclipses the sun, only the rays come forth. She does not extinguish the light and it shows that she is greater than the Indigenous sun god.
She is standing on the crescent moon indicating that she is greater than the Indigenous god of night and also signifies her purity/immaculate conception .
The Angel ‘carrying’ Mary is seen by the Indigenous as an “intermediary god” carrying in a new era. The Angel is holding both her mantle(representing the heavens) and her tunic(representing the earth by the flowers) in each hand signifying a union between heaven and earth.
“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet…she was with child…” -Revelation 12.1-2
So let us look both to the examples of John the Baptist and Our Lady today as we pray for strength to turn away from distraction and sin and open our hearts to welcome Christ who wants to be born in us, not only at Christmas but, today!
It was crazy reading the Gospel from yesterday (Luke 21.5-19)! Crazy, because it was almost like I was reading the daily world news in Jesus’ response to his disciples about the temple and “when there shall not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”:
-“Nation will rise against nation…” v.10
-“…there will be great earthquakes and…famines…” v.11
-“…wars and insurrections…” v.9
-persecution of the Church v.12
-people turning against each other v.16
What Jesus speaks of that will happen, before the end, is happening right now! Are we at the end? We very well could be! But that doesn’t really matter.
You may be thinking, ‘Well of course it matters. What do you mean that being at the end doesn’t matter?’
I say this because we really need to focus on what does really matter! Jesus warns us not to be led astray, in verse 8.
what DOES matter?
Remaining faithful & enduring, in faith and hope.
If it is the end, or even if it isn’t, what should we be doing?
Remaining faithful & enduring, in faith and hope.
All is in Gods hands, including you and me. Even, and especially, in our everyday tasks, our work, and our responsibilities(2 Thess. 3.7-12), it is essential to seek God and keep walking toward Him. Keep your eyes on Him. Keep your thoughts on Him.
There is so much in this world drawing our attention away from Him, with everything around us and in us: the needs, hurts, brokenness, distractions, temptations to pleasure to ‘unplug’ and ‘escape’, and false promises of security. We worry about missing out and we worry for our children and grandchildren and their futures. Amidst all of this remain faithful to Him; this is your testimony(Luke 21.13).
Everything we rely on in this world will one day pass away, BUT He will not!
Remain faithful. Endure in faith, that all is in God’s hands, and endure in hope in what does last, Heaven!
Lord, I pray for the grace today to endure, to fix my eyes on that which does not pass away, and to endure in faith and hope in your promise, remaining faithful to you. Amen
Do not underestimate the power you have to overcome temptation!
Surrender is key here.
One of the biggest lies of the devil is that just because you are tempted you have to give in, and essentially surrender to the sin. But we have to realize that ….
it is ok to feel angry,
it is ok to feel lustful,
it is ok to feel jealous,
it is ok to feel impatient,
it is ok to feel these things.
It is only when we surrender to these that the feeling becomes a sin. And all too often the moment it begins we just give in.
What do we do? Because we will be tempted. Jesus starts his ministry being tempted in the desert by the devil (Luke 4.1-13). And he shows us the way through temptation.
You see… temptation made him stronger, and it can make us stronger too. Think of it as resistance!
Our children received a rock tumbler as a Christmas gift last year. What it does is polish rocks; what would take Mother Nature hundreds to thousands of years takes just several weeks in a rock tumbler. How it works though is the important part; it works by adding grit(course sand) which, when combined with water and the rocks and the continual turning/rolling action of the barrel, wears down the rough points and surfaces. Regular rocks are turned into gem stones by this continual rubbing and resistance.
You and I are called to greatness….
…and part of becoming great is being able to face temptation, to struggle through it. Like a rock in a rock tumbler temptation(grit) will smooth out your sharp edges and polish your rough parts.
As you surrender to God’s love(and not to temptation), and as you surrender to His word and his work and his life in you…
…you will, bit by bit and grit by grit, become who you are meant to be, who God is calling you to be!
Do not underestimate the power you have to become a saint!
*initially posted May 19th, 2021 in ”pages”. I have decided to re-publish as a post instead, just finally got around to it 😊
The following was our Christmas letter that we mailed out to many of our friends and family last fall(2020). Since it has been a while we figured it was a good excuse, and about time, for a public update. Perhaps this will spur more regular posts 🙂
“Who are you?” The line hit me with a bit of shock sitting in the newly finished church in Telegraph Creek, still waiting for the installation of the last few holy fixtures of the crucifix and the stations of the cross, while reflecting on the scriptures for the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Relegated, at least that is the feeling, to simply keeping the church open on Sundays for people to ‘pop in’ for personal time with the Lord is a bit underwhelming. The comfort of an hour long scheduled gathering for worship & communion seems like a distant yet fond memory, yet this is where we are. What do you mean ‘who am I’? Well, “I am a husband, a father.” These are my immediate reactions. If someone asked me this as I was walking down the street these would probably be my first responses. As important as these things are, as I dwelled a bit longer on this word I hoped that I could be asked this question out of curiosity of why I do what I do in life, as a husband and as a father. “Who am I?” I am, our family is, we all are, called to testify to the light. And as we are nearing the celebration of Christmas this theme of light resonates back on this year, beyond, and forward to the new year just around the corner.
It is amazing to see where we have come over these last couple years; ‘New life’ and ‘light’ in so many ways. The greatest sign of this for us was the wonderful sunflower ‘bush’ (pictured below, on our move in day).
that we discovered in late Spring that had sprung up on the edge of the upper terrace of our yard, 100 or more feet from our old garden where we had previously (before the wildfire) planted sunflower seeds. It was for us a beautiful sign of the work that God has been doing all along. It has been a reminder for us to trust In His plan and to enjoy the journey and cherish relationships.
We really enjoyed our time in Dease Lake, having sparked new relationships and having had the time to spend with the church community there. Our favorite past time would have been going down to the lake, via the path at the end of our street, and ice fishing or walking on the trails. One of the highlights for the kids in late spring was their two-day lemonade stand where they made almost $200! They made all sorts of wonderful noise enticing customers, a welcome joy many mentioned as they stopped by. There were several generous customers that paid $20 for their cup of lemonade. They were raising money for their sponsor child and kept just enough to each get a double scoop ice cream cone at “The Shack,” the local take out restaurant.
We were blessed with the presence of 2 young workers who came to help us with the continued work on the house & church: siding, painting, and building both both wood and storage sheds. Just having their presence and company was so wonderful and the children loved their time with them.
A lot of the year was spent in joyful expectation of the new life in Denise’s womb, with talk of name ideas and voting on whether the baby would be a boy or girl, light or dark, taller or shorter.
Another highlight was a visit with family (both sides of grandparents & cousins) mid-summer, with a secondary purpose of bringing back a full trailer load of pews & IKEA cabinets (and a snowmobile as well, diving into a whole new world). In our plea for help for extra workers, to our bishop, we returned with seminarians, who lived with us for 6 weeks and helped with painting of our doors, and installation of cabinets, pews, wainscotting, doors, and trims. Wow, it was a lot, but what an amazing help! The kids’ favourite time with these guys was our after supper board games, which got pretty heated at times but brought much enjoyment.
Josh spent much of his time this year continuing to coordinate work on the house, while also making late summer runs for appliances to Terrace & for countertops to Prince George.
Despite our desires to wait to move in to the new house until it was completely finished we opted for the best option of being able to settle in before we left to head south for the arrival of our newest little life. Our time living in Dease Lake, sadly, came to an end at the beginning of September. While it was sad to leave it was so wonderful also, to be living back in Telegraph Creek, despite all of the changes in our hearts and within the community; the grief, the growth, the planning and coordinating, the waiting, the stress, the expectation all coming to a culmination. There was, and still is, that peaceful feeling that we were meant to be back and that we were once again ‘home’.
But amid this feeling it was also slightly hectic as we moved back amid incomplete wiring and finishing work, only to be leaving 3 weeks later. However the leaving again came with the excitement of time with our family and the new life that would be arriving soon!
Above all, our most cherished time this year was the arrival of little, or should we say tall, Malachi. We were blessed with 6 weeks with extended family. And while we would say that it was quite busy adjusting to being back in our new home still with a few things to finish, with a newborn, homeschooling, and isolating for 2 weeks upon our return it allowed for much growth as a family in many different ways.
The saddest part has been, perhaps, the delay of the dedication of the Church, that had initially been planned for November 29th, although it has allowed us to take the time to really be present with our children and slowly pick away at the work and the final touches still to be done. Do I dare say that COVID has made our lives more purpose focussed and presence filled?
This Christmas, as we will not be able to gather for the traditional evening Mass with a priest and the community we recognize that the Lord is calling us to testify to the light of this newborn child in a manger who brings peace, clarity, wholeness, and purpose through every situation, to every life. We recognize this year He is calling us in new ways to bear this light to our community here. We pray that you may be blessed, regardless of whether you have been yet this year, with an encounter with His peace and His light in your life that you may be able to testify… ”The light has shone in the darkness …but the darkness has not overcome it!”
For pictures of the construction & progress of the house and church you can go to the Whitehorse Diocesen website for a full video gallery of the project from start to finish. ENJOY!
the BLUE DOOR 