Dealing with Traveling?

After a tooooo long absence from writing in my blog, I’ve decided to ask my readers a question.  How do you deal with seemingly impossible situations when you are traveling? 

Do you scream at the other driver(s)?  Do you give them one-fingered salutes?  Do you get right up on their back bumper and intimidate them?  Do you listen to traffic reports hoping to miss the latest fender-bender?  Do you say insane things like, ‘There had better be blood or a body on the road to justify this kind of backup!’?  Come on – it’s embarrassing to admit, but we’ve all been there.

So, who do we ask to intercede for us when travelling?  Looks like the patron saint for this activity is St. Christopher.  St. Chris has a lot of bases covered; athletes, ferrymen, lightning, pestilence, archers, bachelors, boatmen, bookbinders, epilepsy, floods, fruit dealers, fullers, gardeners, for a holy death, market carriers, motorists and drivers, sailors (same as a mariner, I would assume), storms, surfers, toothache, mountaineering, and transportation workers as well as things related to travel and travelers.  Busy Saint! 

St. Christopher

His story seems a bit fantastic.  He was supposedly a 7′ 6″ Canaanite.  (I guess he could have been that tall – some people are.  Wasn’t Samson and Goliath guys from Canaan too?  Must be some ‘BIG’ genes in the Middle East!)  From what I read in Wikipedia, he seemed a bit of a lost individual, like he couldn’t find his path in life.  Sound familiar to anyone?  I know I was looking for a good long time too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Christopher  While Jesus didn’t actually sit on my shoulders like in the story of St. Christopher, he was there euphemistically and yes, the load was heavy until I saw the truth.  Jesus says His burden is light, but yeesh!, the road to get there is terribly long and up-hill.  I have to admit though, the view from the top is amazing!  🙂

So I get the picture.  Traffic isn’t forever.  You eventually reach your destination. You may have a couple more wrinkles or gray hairs, but all-in-all, you’re still in good health.  I’m still saying the Rosary in traffic and many times in church on Sunday. I think I’ll be asking St. Christopher to pray the Rosary with me on those especially trying traffic days too.

I hope each of you have a light and easy journey to your next destination wherever that may be.  And remember to take along St. Christopher and your Rosary.  With a team like that, how can you go wrong!!!

Blessings,

Deneen

St. Aloysius Gonzaga

 

St. Aloysius Gonzaga – Washington, DC

 Since it’s Holy Week, I thought I’d like to do daily Mass all week.  It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years but never had the chance.  This is the lucky year! 

In the District of Columbia, there is a high school with the same name as the well-known university, Gonzaga.  It’s an all-boys school; college prep, I believe.  Theirs is a huge, old church there (founded in 1859) that has daily mass at noon.  The parishioners fondly call it St. Al’s.  It’s old, it’s beautiful and it got me wondering, just who was St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

St. Aloysius – Washington, DC

Well, turns out St. Al was the eldest son of a wealthy family in Castiglione near Mantua, Italy.  He was born in 1568.  His father’s name was Ferrante.  How about that, my maiden name!  And they were part of the court of the Medici’s.  My nephew married a Medici.  So maybe I’m related to St. Aloysius!

Anyhow, when Aloysius, then know as Luigi (Aloysius is the Latin form of Luigi), was around 16, he decided he didn’t want to be a Marquis.  He wanted that right to go to his brother so that he could enter the seminary.  Ferrante wasn’t pleased and apparently there was a disagreement.  Now, I come from an Italian home and I can assure you, there is either peace or war but there are no ‘disagreements’.  I’m sure the Gonzaga household was a war zone.  Luigi won out and began to study under a newly founded religious order, The Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits.  (The Jesuits have founded both Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA and Georgetown University in Washington, DC.) 

He studied for the priesthood in Rome.  It was there that he would go out into the streets of the city to care for victims of the plague. and where he contracted the disease himself.  He died on June 21, 1591, at the age of twenty-three, six years short of his ordination.  Pope Benedict XIII canonized Aloysius a saint in 1726, and three years later declared him to be the patron of youth in the Catholic Church.  His feast day is June 21.

Now when I attend daily Mass at that beautiful church in downtown DC, the painting behind the altar will mean much more to me! 

You can read more detailed information about St. Aloysius Gonzaga on Wikipedia –> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysius_Gonzaga

Happy Easter!

Deneen

St. Patrick – a pagan?

Since March is the month noted for the celebration of St. Patrick, before the month was over, I thought it would be nice to find out some trivia about the popular saint.

St. Patrick

Yep, St. Patrick dabbled with paganism while he was a teenager.  I’m sure his parents weren’t thrilled since they were Christians.  Just goes to show you that teenagers drove their parents nuts 2,000 years ago too.  Not sure if that makes anyone feel better, but at least you parents of teenagers can know that your misery has been shared by parents just like you for many, many years.  Of course, he could blame the people to whom he was a slave for introducing the practice to him.  [All said tongue-in-cheek!]

Here’s what I found out:  Patrick was born of fairly high rank in the land now known as Scotland around the year 387.  His parents, were considered Britons because of where they lived, but were also Roman citizens.  His father’s family name was Calphurnius and his mother was called Conchessa.  Some stories say she was niece to St. Martin of Tours. When he was about 14 or 16, he was captured from his home by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland to herd and tend sheep and cattle.  Ireland at that time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him, probably not voluntarily.  There are a couple of St. Patrick’s original writings that have survivied the centuries.  At some point during his captivity, he turned  back to God.  He wrote,

“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same.” “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”

He existed there for six years before gaining his freedom.  He escaped after having a dream in which he was told, he believed by God, to leave Ireland by going to the coast.  There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.  So, I’m sure, that when his family saw him again, they really didn’t care what he had done while being held in Ireland!  I’m sure they were just ecstatic that he was home.  After six years of hell though, he probably wasn’t the same person inside as the boy that was taken all those years ago.

He studied to become a priest, was ordained a bishop and returned to Ireland to preach to and convert the pagan people there.  Saint Patrick’s day is observed on March 17, the date of Patrick’s death.  He is believed to have died around the year 493, but have would have made him a mighty old man.

I’ll post more later on his life during his preaching days in Ireland.  There are so many interesting facts about Patrick it’s too much to put into one post!

Blessings!

Deneen

How do you make a Saint?

Pope John Paul II is set to be canonized a saint on May 1, 2011.  I admired him greatly and would love to be in Rome for the festivities.  It’s going to be crowded, I’m sure.  I was able to attend a Mass in Baltimore when he visited the United States in 1995.  Nothing lifts your heart more than when you have a stadium filled with people from all colors of Christian faiths; there were about 50,000 people there that day, saying the Lord’s Prayer in unison.  WOW!  I never saw so many priests gathered in one place!  The whole day was simply amazing.

Pope John Paul II

That leads me to today’s topic.  What makes a saint?  Beyond the obvious of being a very holy and upstanding person, of course.  What specifically are the steps that have to be worked through before a person is officially declared a saint?  {Google is a wonderful tool!}  Off to the internet I went and here’s what I came up with from ‘Ask a Catholic’ (http://www.cptryon.org/ask/ask/index.html):

Question: How do people become recognized as saints?

The road to sainthood begins at the grass-roots. Ordinary Christians, perhaps in a parish or a religious community, recognize that someone of extraordinary holiness has lived among them. The memory of that person inspires them. The story of his or her life is told, perhaps in a book. People pray to the person, asking intercession for some favor, and their prayers may be answered. Extraordinary signs, perhaps a cure from sickness, occur. A local group may be formed which seeks to make this person’s life and gifts more widely known.

After a long period of time, sometimes many years, the bishop of the diocese where that person lived may be asked to begin the local process for declaring a saint. If he sees merit in the request, he sets up a board of experts to investigate the person’s life, soundness of faith and reputation for holiness. Those who knew the person are interviewed. If miracles are attributed to that person’s intercession, they must verified by medical experts. Finally the bishop must ascertain from the other bishops of the region if this person is known and venerated more widely than in one local area.

Then, if there is reason to proceed further, the bishop may petition Rome to begin the process of beatification.

Beatification

Beatification is the next step toward sainthood. It begins when the local bishop provides the materials he has accumulated to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Using the materials, officials of the congregation create an historical-critical account of the candidate’s life and spirituality. One important criteria sought at this stage is the historical importance of the candidate: Did he or she meet a particular challenge of their time and place? Did the candidate offer a new example of holiness to the world in which he lived? Or was he truly a martyr, one who died for faith in Jesus Christ?

If the candidate was martyred, a miracle need not be sought. If the candidate did not die as a martyr, then one miracle after death must be proven, through the scrutiny of a body of medical experts. Once they find it acceptable, and the candidate’s life is judged truly heroic by a group of theological experts and cardinals, then the pope can declare that beatification may proceed. After the beatifcation takes place, the candidate can be called blessed and veneration may be offered by the local church. The pope can then go further and canonize the blessed.

Canonization

Canonization is the final step that declares someone a saint. It means that the candidate, already called blessed, is entered into the worldwide list of saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. First, however, in the case of a candidate who is not a martyr, the church looks for another authentic miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession, as a sign from God of the candidate’s heroic holiness. Then, if the candidate’s reputation for holiness continues to grow worldwide, the pope may decide to canonize.

For a detailed discussion of this process, consider looking at Kenneth Woodward’s book, Making Saints, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

This “Ask a Catholic” response written by Fr Victor Hoagland, C.P.

 So I guess that answers my question.  I guess I better get busy with those miracles!  🙂

Blessings,

Deneen

The ‘Other’ Sheens

We’ve been sick here in my home.  The flu bug bit all of us and we have not functioned, at all.  I haven’t posted since February 25th!  It’s been all I could do to get a bit of supper on the table and keep the kitchen sink from filling to the brim with dirty dishes.  And if I see another bowl of chicken soup, I’ll grow feathers and lay an egg!  LOL!

Speaking of a full kitchen sink…..my sink is painfully full of the ‘stuff’ coming out of my television in regards to one very misguided moviestar; Charlie Sheen.  This post, however, isn’t about the pornstar-lusting, drug-loving, very lost child of God.  Nope, this post is about the other two men of the Sheen family; Martin Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez. 

Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez

Did you know that the Sheen family is of Spanish, Roman-Catholic descent?  And not only are they Catholic, they appear to practice their faith.  How refreshing!  But of course, a practicing Christian isn’t newsworthy – it’s clean laundry as opposed to the filthy, dirty laundry the public likes to hear about.  (Sorry Charlie.)

Emilio and his father Martin have just finished a movie called ‘The Way’.  It’s about a 500 mile pilgrimage route that begins in the French Pyrenees and ends at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. 

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral

Martin’s own father, Francisco, followed the route, locally called ‘El Camino’, many years ago.  Five hundred miles!  Can you imagine walking that far?  It apparently takes about 40 days to complete and has been a pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages.  The Cathedral is reported to be the burial-place of Saint James the Greater, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ.  Wikipedia reports that the route was declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in October 1987; it was also named one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.  The full name in English is called The Way of St. James.

The movie, ‘The Way’, is a story about a man, who is estranged from his son, and finds out that that son dies in a storm in the Pyrenees on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.  The rest of the film is about this man’s journey, along with 3 others, to find himself.  There’s a great article in the Arlington Catholic Herald, March 3-9, 2011, http://www.catholicherald.com/detail.html?sub_id=15233, about how the Sheen’s feel that the whole making of the movie had so many ‘coincidences’ that it had to be divine providence.  That certainly wasn’t Charlie talking! 

Well, I plan on seeing the movie.  I want to see about this pilgrimage that the God-following Sheens have taught me about.  I never heard of it until today.  Instead of wanting to watch a porn movie (again, Sorry Charlie), I want to see a movie that will help to strengthen my faith, maybe take a moral inventory of my soul, and receive God’s light into my life.  I wish the media would put THAT on the news!

Dear Jesus, please deliver people from the chains of addictions and help them to see The Way back to you.  Amen.

– Deneen

Do You Have the Fortitude and Moral Strength of a Saint?

Did you know that even the Boys Scouts have a patron saint?  I didn’t, until today.  It’s St. George.  Actually, he’s the patron saint of soldiers, but I guess you can consider the scouts as ‘mini-soldiers’! 

My son was chosen at today’s Scout Mass to give one of the prayers of petition.  He had stage fright and I was offering up prayers that he’d do a good job.  And since Father said St. George was their patron saint, I asked him to offer a prayer up for my son too.  (Must have worked, he did great!)

St. George

In my research on St. George, it sounds like he was an upstanding kind of guy; someone who stood up for his beliefs.  He was a Tribune in the Roman army for the Emperor Diocletian and was of Palestinian birth to Christian parents sometime in the late 3rd century.  When Diocletian started torturing and killing Christians because of their religious beliefs, St. George publically denounced the emperor and resigned his commission in the Army.  You guessed it, he was arrested, tortured and killed as well. 

 

Do you ever wonder what it’s like to live in a country where you are hated for your belief in God?  It’s so illogical to oppress people; to force them to do something they don’t want to do.  I’m not talking about disciplining your children; making them do something for their own good, or punishing a criminal who has abused his rights and privileges in society.  I’m talking about peace-loving citizens who practice the Golden Rule, people who don’t break the law except for worshipping a Being who is greater than the current dictator. Wow! I can’t even begin to imagine how it must be like to live in a place like that; a place where you are trapped, a place you can’t freely leave if you choose to do so.  To live with that kind of fear for yourself and for your loved ones, takes a strength that I’m not sure I possess.  Have I grown soft from living in a society that is protected from that kind of oppression?  Would I be able to stand up for my beliefs and say, like St. George, ‘I am a Christian! Nothing can shake my faith!’, especially when I know for certain that my life was about to become a living hell for having said so?  That kind of faith is what separates those who are proclaimed Saints from those of us who are not.  I’m not sure I even want to have that kind of faith.  It’s scary! 

 

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.  What would you do?  Would you run?  Would you hide? Or would you stand up for your convictions like St. George?  What if you had young children or old parents to protect, even if you wanted to stand up for your beliefs, but couldn’t, to keep them safe?  Could you leave your livelihood and everything you’ve made of your life because some nutty government said you couldn’t be trusted – just because you believed in God and openly worshipped Him?

May God always be a strength to you when you need someone with broad shoulders to lean on.  May your road to Heaven be a smooth one that does not contain too many crosses.  May you have the strength of a saint. Amen.

– Deneen

 

Amazing Saints, Extraordinary Men

This is the week that we in the Catholic church recognize two extraordinary men who became saints; St. Blaise and St. John Bosco. 

St. Blaise was a physician who lived in the 4th century.  While on his death bed from being tortured with wool forks to flay his skin, he prayed for a women’s only son to be healed of a throat ailment that was killing him.  How can a person who is dying from horrible, horrible wounds, think of another’s welfare?  How can you see through that kind of pain?

St. Blaise

St. John Bosco was born into poverty in northern Italy, near Turin, in 1815.  St. John’s father died when he was just a young child.  Without a father to earn food and shelter for a wife and three sons, John Bosco and his brothers had to work as children to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.  Can you imagine being so poor you don’t know when your next meal is coming and from where?  I can’t.  I’ve never been hungry or had to worry about a roof over my head.  St. John Bosco took these life lessons back to the streets when he was a grown man and a priest.  He looked for those boys so like himself when he was young; poor, dirty and seemingly without hope.  He thought of them, instead of himself, and with love and caring, helped them to become contributing members of society. 

St. John Bosco

St. John Bosco is honored on January 31 and St. Blaise on February3.  If you get a chance this week, ask them to pray for you.  Then take their lessons and try it on for size.  Do something sacrificial for another.  Something that really makes you give something up for yourself so that another may have.  Often I want to feel sorry for myself because my days are so full with lots of responsibilities and little sleep.  But it could so easily be worse.  I need to take a step back and realize just how blessed my life has been and is today.  And you know, doing something really, really good for another, without expecting anything in return, just may leave your heart more full than you could have imagined.  This is the lesson that I need to take away from these two great men’s lives.  They were just people, like you and I.  If they can do it, so can we.

Blessings,

Deneen

St. Honoratus – January 16

Today is the day Catholics and Russian Orthodox honor the saint, Honoratus.  I guess he was an honorable guy!  🙂

It is believed that Honoratus was born sometime around the year 350 BC in Gaul, present day France.  Originally pagan, he and his brother, Venantius, converted to Christianity. Eventually Honoratus was ordained an archbishop of Arles (France), after the prior archbishop, Patroclus of Arles, was assasinated in 426. (Not sure I’d want to follow in the footsteps of someone who had been assasinated!)  Before becoming a bishop and intending to live in solitude, he took up residence on an island that now bears his name, Île Saint-Honorat.   His ‘students’  followed him there and started a monestary.  So much for planning!  He was considered a very pious man and as archbishop is reported to have restored order and orthodoxy to the faithful in Arles.

Lerins Abbey

Here’s a picture of the island today and of the abbey started by St. Honoratus and his followers, Lerins Abbey.  The monastery provided three bishops for the See (another word for ‘Diocese’) of Arles: Honoratus himself, followed by Hilarius in the fifth century and Cesarius in the sixth. It is said that St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, studied at the monastery in the fifth century.  In medieval times, the island became a very popular place for pilgrimages.  The island still has an active monastery, which is home to 30 Cistercian monks, and is a popular tourist attraction.  The monks there produce wine and honey to support themselves.  It is close to Cannes, France and people can get there on a ferry.

St. Honoratus is the patron saint of rain (either for it or to make it stop!), patron saint against drought (goes hand in hand with the rain piece), and the patron saint against misfortune.  Not sure how he earned those patronages, but he’ s one of the saints to ask for intercedence when the chips are down.

– Deneen