Posted on 02/01/2016 4:05:40 PM PST by NYer
6) Plan a mini pilgrimage to a local shrine; make an effort along the way to live the corporal work of mercy of "welcoming the stranger" as Christ.
Growing up Catholic in San Diego, in the shadow of the first of 21 missions founded by St. Junipero Serra, clearly influenced my life as a nomadic Catholic, seeking out sacred sites that raise my mind and heart to God. As I moved around the country and the world, I learned that no matter where I am, a Catholic church is always home.
While I have been blessed to make a few of the "big" pilgrimages -- to the Holy Land, Rome, Fatima -- I still find a great deal of comfort knowing that there are no fewer than five small shrines all less than a 30-minute drive away from my little neighborhood in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I remember when we first moved here, I was amazed at how few of the Catholics I met knew that we were so blessed. It made me wonder, how many more Catholic shrines and places of pilgrimage do we have in the United States? How many people know about them?
My desire to find out and share that knowledge led my husband and I to produce The Faithful Traveler, a television series that explores those very sites. We devoted our entire first series to local shrines, visiting some of the most astonishing shrines and cathedrals in Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Shrines and places of pilgrimage take on many forms. There's the little shrine, made up of a statue in a corner of a church, or the big shrine, like the National Shrines of Our Lady of Guadalupe or of St. John Nepomucene Neumann. I am also a fan of visiting cathedrals, because they are often stunning and historic and provide a plethora of little shrines or chapels to pray to many saints.
To live out this suggestion for the Year of Mercy, the first thing you have to do is find out if there is a shrine near you. Here are some ways to do that:
Once you've found your spot, plan to bring a book of spiritual reading. Or don't. I'll bet they have some good ones at the gift shop.
Bring your rosary and your list of prayer intentions.
If you have kids, bring them along! Visiting shrines is a great way to teach them about our faith.
Spend the day at the shrine, learning about the saint to whom or the devotion to which the shrine is dedicated.
And while you're there, it's a great time to move on to the second part of this challenge.
Welcome the stranger as Christ
The world can be a mean and unwelcoming place. But while I can't control how others behave toward me, I can control how I behave toward them. A simple smile and saying hello does wonders. Mother Teresa was a great proponent of the smile:
"Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."
"Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."
"Peace begins with a smile …"
Visiting shrines brings us face to face with strangers, and strangers provide us with the opportunity to grow in virtue, be it the virtue of patience, charity, or humility.
And of course, once we're nestled into our own pew, we can perform some of the spiritual works of mercy by forgiving offenses and praying for the dead.
There are so many blessings to be had from making a local pilgrimage, I could go on forever. Instead, I'll leave you with these words, spoken by the Virgin Mary to a young St. Catherine Labouré:
"Come to the foot of the altar, for there you will receive great graces."
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Diana von Glahn is the co-creator of The Faithful Traveler, a travel series for television that broadcasts on EWTN. The Faithful Traveler website provides access to her blog and photos from her travels. DVDs of her first two series can be purchased there, as well. Her upcoming special on Pope Francis' pilgrimage to the Holy Land, A Papal Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, will be broadcast soon.
Oh??
Is it as fractious as FR at times?
Oh?
If I get banned, or timed out, or scolded/rebuked; it is my fault ONLY.
I do dumb stuff, and I get hauled to the woodshed.
I've learned NOT to say: "That don't hurt!"
BD wastes your time by posting to you; right?
It seems to me that you waste your own, by repeatedly telling him to stop picking on you.
"Ignore it and move on." works for me.
Bttt.
5.56mm
Earlier you posted:
“I’m not going to play your game, vladi.”
Your last post was 111 words long - none of which you had to write. Stop posting to me. It isn’t hard. Just stop posting to me.
Slow down and smell the roses...
Sigh...
“You need to read the whole post not just the part you wish to comment upon.”
I’ll read as much or as little as I like. Also, I did read the whole post. In the future don’t assume you know what I did or didn’t do. You’ll simply make errors that way.
“Your deceptiveness and apparent inability to converse in a mature manner is duly noted.”
Kettle. Pot. You just accused me of not reading what I read with no evidence whatsoever for your claim. Making such assumptions says a great deal about someone’s lack of maturity. Hint: It says nothing about me.
“The continuity and clarity of my post to you should not be that difficult for a clear mind to understand”
I didn’t say there was a problem with the “continuity and clarity” of your post. It was simply incorrect. Did you feel compelled to create a misrepresentation of what I said for some reason? Disagree all you want, but be honest. Try.
“The irony is that it is I that has been honest.”
THREE sentences. ONE sentence. See the difference? To claim there was only ONE when there were THREE is not an honest accounting by any means.
“The Pee Wee Herman tactic doesn’t work on me.”
It’s irrefutable that there were THREE sentences so it’s not a tactic. It’s just a fact. And it is clearly working as a factual representation of what you did. Hence, your post.
HMMMmmm...
Is it as fractious as FR at times?
No not at all. We spend a lot of time singing but the songs are modern praise songs devoid of substance and often led by a woman who means well but rubs me the wrong way. I've always liked the preaching part of church best but it seems like such a long wait before it starts. Also I'm not making the extra effort to get to know people like I have at churches I used to go to. It's our 4th serious attempt at making a new church home due to moving and other issues.
;^)
Exactly.
And now, it's like the guy who initiated that nastiness wants to take the limited apology that was made, back (as long as he gets to keep trying to get a rise out of yet other people).
The actual words of Francis (that muslims worship the same God as do Christians, having been said with hardly any limiting, qualifying refining) was the issue initially referred to, even if there was some degree of possible mis-application of those words, in eventual response, here on this thread (a person having made it out to be, in response to Bergoglio's comment, that mosques and churches were said by Bergoglio to virtually be the same things) which was not specifically included in Bergoglio's statement, but still does logically, rationally follow as consequence, to some extent.
Has this been dealt with honestly? Not by those who initially derailed the thread by making a series of rude comments.
Instead, now we have word counting, and sentence counting substituted, presented as some form of pretended-to-be-crucially important commentary (as if anything much hinges upon that 'game' and distracting noise-making) while the underlying truth of the matter is still being studiously avoided.
Any who attempts to touch upon that issue --- is attacked in some way.
The technique there repeatedly appears to be ---make it all about the persons posting (THEY COMMITTED ERROR, by gum) so the whole deal gets dragged off into the bushes, if possible.
Here we are, dozens of posted comments later. We've all seen this movie before, haven't we?
In this thread, whether consciously, deliberately intended, or not, it has served as a way to obscure Bergoglio's troublesome words ----since of course it's all the fault of the listeners who didn't engage the trusty old "what he's really trying to say" decoder rings (which grace of giving one benefit of the doubt is of course not extended to any who dare criticism of the secret decoder society/cult) instead of being upon the initial speaker, Bergoglio, who was being referenced.
Come Home, they like to say. You're thinking about us all wrong though. Don't believe your own eyes. Believe instead what we tell you, and only what "we" say (sola ecclesia, nothing restricting that Supreme guiding sola, whatsoever).
Come home, so that the snakes among us can bite you, is more like it. Which is why I advised one of the promoters of Romanism to leave this forum, since that one's contributions, I am sure, drive far more persons away than could ever attract ---that otherwise possibly would be interested in submitting themselves to popery, and the associated attendant philosophies (and included corruptions of Christianity, as I recognize portions of those philosophies, to be).
Trying to find Jesus in Catholicism is like those games Where’ Waldo and Finding Nemo.
Lots of Mary and rosaries, they dominate many of the private devotional threads posted here in the RF.
You would be hardpressed to find wher I CLAIMED there was only one.
I never did so here we have another example of the deceptive practice you employ to make you "right"
Indeed I did only post one sentence because to make my point that was all I needed.
Take a look at my post #70 from which you state I CLAIMED there was only sentence:
Here is the money quote:The comment was:
According to Francis, Catholics and Muslims worship the same God.Did you miss that when it was proclaimed?The other two statements were metaphorical taken from the sentence quoted.
Surely you could find some words to respond to the post.
Or do you wish to hide the facts about Muslims and Catholics worshiping the same "God?"
The other two statements were metaphorical taken from the sentence quoted.
Stop the false accusations and mindreading personal attacks.
If you go to the post from which I got the sentence I posted, you will see the other two sentences.
If you understand the concept of metaphors it's possible you will understand.
You of course have to WANT to understand for it to work.
"Happy Trails"-Roy Rogers
It is indeed very sad, thanks for your post.
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