Not, like, "yeah, I'm happy, I just got to sleep late and the house is empty so I can binge on my current fave show" kind of happy. I mean the deep down content, not restless, peaceful sort of happy. The kind that can't be ruffled. The kind that is hard to shake even when bad things happen. THAT sort of happy.
No?
Well, then we need to talk. I saw that - I saw you rolling your eyes at me! But really, we should talk, because its time for a Holy Spirit intervention. (there you go again with the eye rolling!)
God has made each and every person for a purpose. There is a mission, a plan JUST FOR YOU. The world needs you to accomplish it! It is why you were created! God loves you so much that He not only MADE you, but He made you with a PURPOSE. And this purpose will make you happy. It will give you that deep peace. The unshakable happy peace. It will also get you to Heaven - where you will be deliriously happy FOREVER. See, God desires your happiness. He desires you to have peace. He made you this way!
If you aren't feeling it, its time to figure out why, because living without this peace, without this happiness, isn't worth it.
Some of the biggest things that steal this peace and happiness from us are sin, lack of a prayer life, and noise. If we haven't been to confession in a while, if we are stuck in habitual sin, if we aren't praying or seeking to deepen our prayer life, if we are so distracted by noise and social media and phones and friends and stuff we will soon be robbed of happiness and peace. The good news is that we can change this! We can start frequenting the confessional. We can pray! And keep trying to pray! We can put the phones down and sit in some quiet with God. And we can ask Him to help us do these things! The Holy Spirit has been sent to us for just this! To convict us and to assist us!
The Holy Spirit can help you to stay on track with a relationship with God and He can help us to discover what it is that God has made us for!
Invoke Him! Call upon Him! Trust Him! He is our Advocate. Our Guide. Our Helper. Tell the Holy Spirit you want to be happy and ask Him to show you how! He will!
I have realized something about myself and I want to share. (Actually I have realized 2 things, the first being that I am HORRIBLE and have neglected this blog and I MUST do better. I WILL do better. Seriously, send me threats via text if I fail again!)
See, I have this plant. It is a stupid little plant, but its hard to kill, which is why I still have it. Me and my black thumbs haven't gotten the best of it yet!
Anyway, so this plant sits on my desk:
My messy, functional, desk. (How do you like the lights underneath? Totally Pinterest-worthy, right? And yes that is JPII and a cat plaque....and the Holy Spirit. Really, you aren't THAT surprised, are you?)
Every so often I realize that the stupid little plant is basically climbing the window. The stems aim for the sun and the whole thing bends to reach the window and be as close to the sun as it can.
When I notice this, I turn the plant. Sometimes I turn it 180* so its facing the opposite direction, totally away from the sun. In my mind its like plant exercise - it will keep it healthy. (or at least that's what I tell myself.)
Whenever I do this, the plant dutifully and hastily makes it way back to the sun. It amazes me how quickly it moves too. One of these times it would be fun to time-lapse it.
After just one day, look how far this stupid little plant has come:
Its halfway there already! Its like 'The Little Plant That Could!'
It needs the sun. Its stops at nothing to get to it (I've seen it all of a sudden grow or contort itself just to get to the sunlight!) And I realized I am that plant.
I am my stupid little plant.
Except I'm a stupid little girl who needs the Son. And I literally stop at nothing to get to Him. Even when it seems crazy. Even when it makes no sense. Even when it gives my parents a mini-heart attack (no really, ask them). I cannot help myself. Like my stupid little plant, who just knows it needs the sun, I, stupid little girl, need The Son. Desperately. And without Him, nothing is worth it. Its just not. There is no joy. No peace. No FUN. No Adventure!
So I want to tell you. You need Him too. You need the Son, just like my stupid little plant. Just like I have realized I am worth nothing - to you, to me, to ANYONE or ANYTHING without Him and I just can't change that (nor, honestly, would I want to) you too need Him. For EVERYTHING.
We are made like my stupid little plant. We were created to NEED, to CRAVE the Son. God. We just get so distracted with stuff, and things, and media, and filters on Snapchat (ahem. no comment) that we put Him off. We forget. We have Him in His God-box and take Him out when we have a crisis or feel a fleeting sense of piety. Or want to show off for the hot guy in Church. But we NEED Him. All. The. Time.
JPII said, "It is Jesus you seek when you dream of happiness..." He nailed it. It IS.
So turn to Him. Keep turning to Him. Little by little. Like my stupid little plant. Aim for HIM. And you won't want to turn away.
My Dear Godkids,
I am sorry! This is a LONG overdue letter and I feel terrible that it has taken me THIS long to write it! Things have been so wacky (did she just say "wacky?") lately and well, that is sort of the theme I'm going for here. Because, Godkids, this is a flipping whacked-out world.
Seriously, can I take a moment and apologize for my generation (ahem NOT a Millennial though, OK?) and everything we have done to royally screw up the future for you? You're welcome...
You know what I think the most cray-cray-crazy thing is? The bizarre notion that whatever someone feels or thinks is "reality." I know one of you recently had an incident at school along those lines. All of a sudden men aren't men. Boys aren't boys. Women aren't women. They are instead, whatever they feel like they should be. Or feel like they are. Or want to be, or whatever. Things like, oh, you know, biology, have little to do with reality. Instead of the famous "I think therefore I am" we have coined the belief that "I feel, therefore I am.....whatever I feel like I am." (If this is actually the case, I am a chinchilla. And my name is Horace.)
And the craziest thing? If you call out the absurdity, YOU are ridiculed, or reprimanded, or punished. That person over there, with the large biceps, facial hair, and deep voice? No, NOT a man. That person is a Shar Pei today. Please refer to him as "puppy."
Godkids, you are inheriting a mess.
But I am not worried.
Do you know why?
Because of YOU.
YOU are going to be the ones who have to put this mess back together again. It will be up to YOU to make order out of the chaos that is all around. It will fall on YOU to make things make sense again. And I know you can do it.
You're ALREADY doing it!
Every time you refuse to fall for the crazy. Every time you speak the simple Truth that you know is in front of you. Every time you don't allow yourself to bullied by the pop culture cray.
You KNOW the Truth. You do.
You have been confirmed (well, those of you who can speak in sentences and sleep through the night without soiling yourself). Mo and Helen, you are ADULTS in the Church. You are responsible for witnessing to the Truth, in Love. Even if that has consequences.
Recently Pope Francis canonized a new Saint; Jose Sanchez del Rio. He was one month shy of turning 16 when he was put to death for professing his Faith in Christ. He was killed. For speaking the Truth. He was killed for standing for TRUTH. My Godkids, no one is seeking to kill you.
Will you speak the Truth?! You are tasked with witnessing to your Faith- to witness to what you know is right and what you know is true. You can do it. If this 15 year old boy can die gladly for his faith, you can stand up to the crazy and witness to the Truth.
Your fairy Godmother is proud of you. You can do it.
So there are some things I want you to know.
Namely, I want you to know what I want for you.
However, unlike Selina here, I won't "tell you lies." (While we're talking about Selina though, how many times do you think she fell over filming this video? I mean anyone who flips their head around THAT much, with THAT much hair couldn't have had very good balance..... also, why does she change her outfit three times for one night out clubbing? Does she spill drinks on herself? Sweat through her other clothes? [ew!] Is she THAT indecisive? Sorry.... I digress...)
So it's graduation season. None of my Godchildren are graduating this year, unless you count G-man graduating to the rank of Big Brother and being squarely in the "eating solid food" camp.... but I think we all know a few people who have put on that ridiculous Mortar Board hat and walked to Pomp and Circumstance (Does it get stuck in your heads too?).
Graduating is great. It's an accomplishment. It is something to be proud of. It also usually gets everyone talking about the future. "What do YOU want to do when you graduate?" "What are YOU going to be when you grow up?" "What are YOU going to go to college for?" "How much money do you want to make?" "What career are you going to choose?" "PLAN YOUR WHOLE FUTURE RIGHT NOW!"
Guess what?
I will NEVER ask you these questions.
Ever.
Dear Godchildren, I am not the least bit interested in WHAT you want to be. What you want to DO. I AM interested in WHO you want to become.
Is there a difference? Absolutely.
See, you are up against a world that measures success by "accomplishment." A world that says power, money, prestige, and position define who you are and even define your worth. That power, position, money, social status, and material gain are what MATTER.
This is a lie.
A BIG FAT LIE.
Don't take this the wrong way, but I could honestly care less if you go to college. If you double major in political science and molecular biology. If you score a job with a huge company and your entry level position brings in six figures. If you own a yacht or fly in a corporate jet. I could care less if you discover a new planet, cure Zika, or win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Because if you aren't doing the Will of God, if you aren't, as JPII said, "Becoming who you ARE" then it doesn't matter. None of those things, by themselves will get you to Heaven. In fact, if being destitute, uneducated and dirty was going to get you to Heaven and all that stuff I just mentioned wasn't, then by golly I want you to be destitute, uneducated and dirty!
The world has it wrong.
It's not about stuff. It's not about accolades. It's not about what or how much you DO. If God has not called you to it, it's not worth it.
When John Paul II said "Become who you are" he wasn't being mysterious. He wasn't being coy. He understood that when God made you, even before anyone else knew you existed, He knew what would make you the most happy - the most peaceful. This was the beginning of what He wants for you. Because in addition to knowing what would make you the most happy and peaceful, He also knew what the world would need. He knew the kind of person the WORLD would need you to be and to become. Did you get that? The WORLD needs you to "Become Who You Are." God made you for a reason. Firstly because He wants to love you. Forever. Secondly, because He wants you to be with Him in Heaven someday. Thirdly, because He knew the World would need you. But the world needs who He made you to be. And who He made you to be might not stack up with what the world THINKS you should be.
My Godchildren, I want you to "Become who you are." If that means going to college, go to college. If that means being the person who cures cancer, cure cancer. If it means becoming the Secretary General of the UN, I'll visit you in NYC. If it means becoming the best wife and mother you can be, I'll babysit for you when you need a night off. If that means selling everything you own and begging in the streets for the poor, then I'll help you advertise the yard sale. Become who you are.
There is something ONLY you can do. A purpose God has ONLY for you. Don't get weighed down and confused by the very loud noises this world makes. Listen to HIM. Ask HIM. And if you don't hear Him answer right away, that's OK! This world is noisy! It takes practice to learn how to tune it out of our minds and our hearts. Keep talking to Him. Keep praying. Keep listening. He will lead you. And while you are waiting on Him to show you who you are, pay attention to your passions. Your talents. Your gifts. He gave them to you for a reason. Not so you can get rich. Not so you can be famous, but because they are part of His plan. Part of what He wants for you and what will give you that happiness and peace. They are like clues God has given you. They will help you to know Him and they will help you to know yourself. And they will help you to change the world for Him.
So, my Godchildren. This is what I want you to know:
I want you to know that I already know without a doubt that God's plan for you - Who You Are and Who You Are to Become - is better, more exciting, and beyond what you could ever imagine. I promise. I want you to know that all you have to do to Become Who You Are is to Trust Him. And if you don't Trust Him yet, ask Him to help you Trust Him.
I want you to know that I support you. That I will do everything I can to help you figure out and become who you are. (Whether that is quietly praying at home every day like I do now, or something else).
I want you to know that I love you. And I want you to know that the world desperately needs who He made you to be. Desperately.
And I am proud of you.
First off, I'd like to dedicate this particular post to the newest Godchild to join this lucky bunch. "AJ" joined his family earthside this week and he is a cutie. Someday he may care to read these letters but for now he is too busy getting used to life in this big world!
I'd also like to note that I am feeling particularly lucky myself because in the last week I have seen ALL my Godchildren and this makes me happy! Helen and Mo are gorgeous (though, really, I'm not sure how I feel about this, and not just because I have hair envy....) and G-man is a trip! Every time I see him he has MORE energy! In no time AJ will keeping right up with him!
Me after seeing all the fairy Godkids!
So anyway. For those of you old enough to read, if you've been on social media this week (especially if you've trolled your fairy Godmother at all) you've noticed that Pope Francis wrote and released this big ol' document called Amoris Laetitia (Uh-mor-ees Lay-teet-see-uh). Which translates to "The Joy of Love." This particular document is called a "Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation" and it is particularly focused on "Love in the Family." So what does all THAT mean and more importantly, why the heck should you care?
A Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation is basically a letter written to the faithful after a Synod that summarizes and explains the main points that the Holy Spirit wanted the Church to understand as a result of the Synod. A Synod is a weird word for what is pretty much a meeting/focus group/debate/gathering/discussion that is officially held by the Church in order to really dig into a particular topic. In this case the Synod was all about the family and it involved meetings and events that took place over the last 2 years. Pope Francis called for the Synod because he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to try to tackle all the complicated difficulties facing family life today and provide Hope. I mean, let's face it, family life isn't easy - no matter what role you have in the family! So in Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis takes all the discussions, opinions, Truths, and findings of the Synod, weeds out the falsehoods, bad ideas, wrong opinions, and unTruths, and then presents to us all a lovely explanation of Family Life, God's plan for the family, God's Mercy, and how the Church helps us live it all - in the midst of the messes we often create in the process!
Mess. Sometimes we mess things up.
So. Why should you care?
Well, its my opinion that you should care for two reasons. The first being that you are part of a family. The second is that I think the document is really about much more than family life. Its about Mercy. No one is really talking much about that aspect of it, but I think the bigger message that The Church, through Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia is trying to communicate is "Hey! Guess what! You're human! You're not perfect! Sometimes you screw up! Sometimes you REALLY screw up. Sometimes you REALLY REALLY screw up. Its OK. That is why God left us a Church! Let the Church help you right where you're at. Let God show you how much He wants to love you despite your mistakes. Don't try to navigate life all by yourself! There is a way to have a life a joy!" I think this is FANTASTIC news!
Joy! God wants you to have JOY!
We would be very foolish to try to say that family life is perfect. We'd be even more foolish to try to say that ANY life is perfect. Generally, the more perfect someone's life appears, the more they are faking it. (Harsh? maybe. But true.) What I love about Pope Francis' response to the Synod on the family is that it is real. He isn't afraid to dive into the nitty gritty, messy, confusing and raw reality of family life in this day and age. In fact, he doesn't just dive in, he charges headlong into the muck of it all and unabashedly proclaims the Truth and beauty of God's design for the family AND God's patience and Mercy towards us when we find ourselves very far from that design. See, he isn't afraid to explain to us that it isn't the Church's job to punish us when we find ourselves falling short of God's intentions. Usually when we fall way short of how God intended something to be, we end up punishing ourselves with the unavoidable consequences. Pope Francis, like a good and loving Father, is explaining to us that it is the Church who wants to guide us, walk with us, show us how to navigate our lives and circumstances so we can eventually begin living our lives the way God had intended all along. That is why Amoris Laetitia spends a bit of time talking about divorce, remarriage, homosexual acts and unions, contraception, the abortion mentality, being open to life, difficult family situations..... all these really tough and really personal, really REAL situations that people face today. Yet, all these things end up leading us away from God and away from His plan for us to experience JOY. So the Holy Spirit, through His Church, is loudly proclaiming, through Pope Francis' latest document, "Don't worry! There is a way to find that Joy! Don't be afraid, Christ left you His Church for JUST THESE REASONS! Let her guide you! Let her help you! We are all in this together! No one is beyond the Mercy of God and no one is beyond the reach and assistance of His Church!"
And this, my dear Godchildren, is GREAT news for us, and exactly why you should care!
Until next time (which will be sooner than this last one - sorry!)...
Be Saints!
Love,
Your fairy Godmother
PS: If you want to read Amoris Laetitia for yourself, here is a link to the whole thing!
So I suppose its no secret that I try to make my prayer time a priority. My morning prayers typically include reading from several different books of the Bible, doing some spiritual reading, visiting with the souls in Purgatory and trying to meditate without my kids waking up or interrupting.
Obviously he didn't have children ;) photo Cred: facebook.com/thecatholicrose
Sometimes a wonderful thing happens when I say my prayers and its like everything comes together to basically beat me over the head. This happened this morning.
It started with me reading about a soon to be new saint, Bl. Jose Sanchez del Rio. He was just credited with the miracle he needed to be Canonized! He cured a baby who had a fatal stroke and tuberculosis. (Read the whole story Here) But here is what got me: he was a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD MARTYR! That's right. Fourteen. 14. Four-teen. This of course made me think of my Godchildren! God wants you to be saints too!
Bl. Jose Sanchez's story is pretty crazy. He was martyred during the Cristero wars in Mexico. These were wars against the anti-Catholic government that openly persecuted and killed Catholics. Bl. Miguel Pro, best know for shouting "Viva Cristo Rey" (Long Live Christ the King!) was also martyred during this time. Bl. Jose was tortured before he was killed. The soles of his feet were cut off and then he was forced to march to his grave. When he got there he defiantly yelled "Viva Cristo Rey" like his fellow Cristero martyrs, and was executed. Think about that. He was fourteen.
Bl. Jose Sanchez del Rio and the baby he healed being held by her Mama. photo cred: Catholic News Agency
After reading about Bl. Jose I turned to my Bible reading. (Here's where it gets crazy). Having just finished reading through Isaiah, I began Jeremiah today and read this: "But the Lord answered me, 'Do not say, "I am too young," To whomever I send you, you shall go; and to whomever I command you, you shall speak.'" (Jer 1:7). That struck me as a fun "coincidence" after having just read about 14 year Jose and thinking of my Godchildren. So then I turned to 1 Tim 4 and read THIS: (verse 12) "Let no one have contemptfor your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity."
Well!! After all that, how could I NOT write you this blog letter and beg you to not listen to those who say that you are "young" and therefore not capable of living for God. Not capable of greatness. Not capable of becoming saints!
When I think about St. Philomena, martyred at thirteen. Maria Goretti, who was martyred when she was ELEVEN (and begged her attacker to stop because she was afraid for his soul!), Dominic Savio who died of illness when he was fifteen, Agnes of Rome who was thirteen when she was martyred, St. Francis of Assisi was in his early twenties when he renounced his family in a spectacular (and naked) fashion and gave his life to God alone, and lets not forget the Blessed Mother, a young teen when the Angel visited her!
I do not believe these young men and women were anomalies! Yet people today would try to have you believe that "kids are just different now" and that "back then children matured faster." I don't buy it. Bl. Jose didn't live "back then." The Cristero Wars took place less than 100 years ago in the late 1920s. No, I think people do you a great diservice when they don't think you are capable of being saints. Now. Today. Because you are.
Why don't we expect MORE from you, as you are teenagers? You are capable of SO MUCH. Its a lie, a flat out lie that "now is the time to have fun." "You're only young once!" "Live while you're young." "YOLO" is a trap and an excuse to not live for something greater than yourself. Did Bl. Jose yell "YOLO" at his executioners? No. He yelled "LONG LIVE CHRIST THE KING." He lived for someOne not somthing. That, dear Godchildren is the difference.
Who are you living for?
Yourself?
You will be empty and disappointed.
Christ? Others?
You will have the capacity to be a saint.
You knew I couldn't leave him out ;)
See we have our perspective all wrong. We treat this life here on earth as the be-all-end-all. Its not. We are here so that we might go to Heaven. THAT is out goal. Not living it up. Not partying. Not getting away with as much as we can. Not living for ourselves. This is what all the saints understood! They understood that they were here so that they could learn how to love God in a way that would allow them to Love not only HIM in Eternity, but the world!
They understood that this life was passing, so they better not care so much about stuff and things that weren't of God and start caring for Eternity! They LOVED here on earth as best they could, yet they understood that they would be able to do so much more in Heaven! This is a worthy goal! This should be our goal too!
This is what we are ALL called to do, my Godchildren. To be saints. To Love, not ourselves here on earth, but to love God and love others so that we may love perfectly in Heaven! In Heaven we will be able to live so much more fully than we could ever imagine here!
Do you think when he was marching to his grave Bl. Jose thought he would one day heal a baby? Do you think he knew the impact he would have or the great things God would allow to happen through his intercession? His life of love and faith has allowed him to do infinitely more now that he is in Heaven!
