The Love of a Mother

This morning I was struck by the example of St. Monica, whose feast we celebrate today. She was the mother of St. Augustine and an incredible intercessor on his behalf. The simple and yet profound witness of the saints continues to bowl me over from time to time, and St. Monica is no exception. As I was reading an excerpt from the Confessions of St. Augustine about his mother, I couldn't help but be amazed by the beauty of her statements to her son.

We desired with all our hearts to drink from the streams of your heavenly fountain, the fountain of life. That was the substance of our talk, though not the exact words. But you know, O Lord, that in the course of our conversation that day, the world and its pleasures lost all their attraction for us. My mother said: "Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have even renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?"

I'll tell you a couple of reasons why her testimony hit me. First, it speaks to me of how greatly a mother loves her son. I wonder sometimes whether that same love still manifests itself in our selfish culture--whether a mother's primary concern for her son is still the salvation of his soul, as it should be. I am also impressed by St. Monica's unceasing prayer for the sake of her son's conversion. St. Monica so obviously believed in the ability of God to convert her son and she would not stop pleading his cause until God answered. Our world seems to have lost its confidence in God's ability to actually effect something in this world. We pray for peace in the world, but do we actually believe that God can provide that? We pray for the healing of sick members of our family, but do we actually believe that God can provide those miracles? We pray for the conversion of the sinner, but do we actually believe that God can intervene in our lives and save our souls? Do we still believe that God can touch this world? Certainly, God will not grant it if we do not actually believe. The doubt of this world scares me sometimes, but St. Monica's witness provides a beautiful example of faith outshining that doubt.

St. Monica, pray for the conversion of this world. Amen.

My Spiritual Testament of Totus Tuus

At the end of our Totus Tuus experience this summer, we were asked to write a spiritual testament. Not knowing exactly what to write, I sat outside the Chiara Center on a beautiful summer day and petitioned God for His help. Inspired or not, this is what I wrote:

Serviam

God has led me to the doors of the Church, not looking inward, but outward to the world He has called me to serve. Through His grace which sustains, He has given me the faith by which to know His love and mercy.

So then, I am called to respond, to lay down my earthly life to serve the kingdom which my flesh could neither merit nor deserve, all for the sake of spreading Christ's Gospel.

"Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God's grace." (Acts 20:24)

I have been called to withdraw my desire of all earthly things, and yet in His kindness, His earthly creation constantly proclaims the glory due His name.

As I take up my cross and die to self, I know that I shall never be alone in doing so. With so great a crowd of witnesses as have gone before me, I am filled with gratitude for the example that has been and continues to be--the example of the Church. God, so intimately knowing His creation, has inspired in me a great love of humanity, and so blessed me with the gift of the Church, who in her majesty can never displace herself from the love of God. In fact, even before my fleshly existence, He knew of my need for His Incarnation--for His joining in my humanity--and so for my salvation, He sacrificed His only Son.

Thanks be to God for all that He has given me, none of which I deserve, but all freely given, for me, His chosen one.

A Summation of the Last Half of Totus Tuus

Admittedly, I've failed at keeping up the weekly Totus Tuus correspondence. Hopefully that means I was investing the extra effort into the youth of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois...

The last half of the summer was incredibly busy and very intense. We went from St. Peter's in Quincy, which had the largest numbers of any parish this summer (85 day and 55 night!), to St. Francis Xavier in Jerseyville (not a small parish itself), to St. Agnes in Springfield (also pretty substantial), finally finishing up in Auburn at Holy Cross Parish.

Without going into much detail, I found that the last half of the summer was just as epic and grace-filled as the first (if not more). My teammates were all spectacular and I couldn't have asked for a better group of fellow missionaries. We worked hard this summer and hopefully contributed a little to the salvation of souls. I think I'll let prayer and the Holy Spirit take it from here...

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, Pray for us!!

Everyone Needs a Break Sometimes...

...And this one was very much needed. I don't remember being that tired after the first four weeks (five counting training) of Totus Tuus last year. But boy was I exhausted this time around.

To be honest, I was able to kick some of the weariness as the week went on and I looked more and more forward to traveling up to the Chicago area to see some of my friends from college. Even though it's only been a month and a half since I've graduated, it seemed like it had been forever since we last met.

I drove straight from Springfield to Flanagan, where I had dinner with Austin's family. We then drove up to Downer's Grove, dropped my car off at Maggie's, and finished the drive to Libertyville, where we crashed for the night with Dan! We visited some place called the Island for a drink and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep during a movie when we returned home.

The next day we bummed around Libertyville. Later that day, we ended up in Naperville, where Dana was so nice as to invite us for dinner and a pool party. Dinner was delicious, but the company was what I truly missed. I was SHOCKED when everyone showed up...it was literally everyone that I was hoping to see during my trip up to Chicago (with the exception of Claire and Tim, who I saw earlier that day during Mass at Marytown). It was like a dream come true. It was so great being back together for one more meal before we all part ways for the school year.

After a night of awesomeness, Komo, Austin, Maggie, and I retired back in Downer's Grove. After Komo left the next afternoon, the happy couple and I wandered around the DG area and had a very nice dinner. We spent most of the night drinking strawberry daiquiris and playing Trivial Pursuit (that's right...and it was awesome). This is why I love my friends. I then fell asleep (again) during a movie.

After a great weekend, I drove home to visit family. Now, after visiting a few high school friends and spending a very restful few days at home, I'm armed and ready to start another four weeks of Totus Tuus!

I love my friends.

P.S. I'm sorry most of the posts this summer haven't been terribly interesting or cleverly worded...my method the past few posts has definitely been word-vomit until my mind is purged and don't try to spice it up at all. I'll see if I can work on that.

Totus Tuus Parish #4: St. John Vianney, Sherman

Whew! It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted. You can attribute that to the fact that I was pretty tired during our fourth week of...catechizing those kids!!

After having distanced myself from the work by a week, let's see how much of a memory I can produce of that wonderful time spent in Sherman.

First off, the church was beautiful (especially for a 1960s construction), as you can see for yourself:

As it turns out, the pastor of the parish is also the Vicar General of our diocese, so it was also great to get to know him a little bit. He's an incredibly busy man, but he managed to clear his schedule and spend some time with us!!
The beginning of the week was a little shaky, with a somewhat low turnout of the jr. high/high school kids. But by the end of the week, the numbers for both the daytime program and nighttime program grew, and I managed to get over my initial tiredness and be there for the kids! Totus Tuus...not halfus tuus; something frequently said to remind ourselves that the kids and families we encounter deserve more.

Final thought for this (not-so-well-put-together) post: something by St. John Vianney that was written on the side of the church.

Legend of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

This week, the Gold Team is at the parish of Forty Martyrs in Tuscola, IL and St. John the Baptist in Arcola (pictured below respectively, outside then in).

I'm not sure I had ever heard the story of the forty martyrs, but it's pretty interesting. Here's the story as found on a holy card I found in the church:

"About 320 A.D., Roman Christian soldiers ordered to sacrifice to pagan gods refused and were exposed naked on ice in a lake, tempted by a warm bath nearby. One renounced his faith, entered the warm water, and died. A guard nearby had visions of angels giving them precious gifts. Moved by the Holy Spirit he removed his clothes and died with them."

The week has been pretty great so far! The team's a little tired, but there have been many moments through the week where I feel as though God is picking me up and encouraging me onward. Adoration this week was spectacular...gotta love spending an hour with Jesus in the middle of a crazy hectic week!

Sorry for the short post. I was hoping to do more, but it's almost prayer time and I'm a little tired. Pax!

Hello, Paris!

Okay, sure, it's not quite as exciting as Paris, France, but it's a start, right?!

The Gold Team for Totus Tuus 2011 Springfield just arrived yesterday at our new digs in Paris, IL, still located in the very eastern part of our fine diocese/state. Paris is a town of about 9,100 and was founded in 1823 (I think that's what I read on the sign on the way into town?). This week, the three other missionaries and I will be serving the parishes of St. Mary (pictured below) and St. Aloysius (which is a smaller, rural parish nearby).

If you can't tell from the pictures, the architecture of the Church is astounding and fairly unique to our diocese (at least what I've seen of it). St. Aloysius was similarly beautiful, albeit in a less sweeping way. St. Al's is apparently (from what Father told us in the car ride over to Mass at 7 am this morning) the oldest running parish in the diocese, having its start in a log cabin built in 1817 as a part of some diocese in Kentucky. They're located only about 5 miles from the border to Indiana and we actually crossed the road which marks the border between the old United States and Indian Territory. A nice little piece of history for this morning!

After a long day of playing on a jet ski, swimming, and cooking out (with the girls' host family) at Twin Lakes, we settled down for the evening program, preceded by a performance from a band consisting of four of the kids who were coming to the program. The parish provided pizza and they provided the music...a nice way to get the kids to come out and participate! It must have worked, as 27 people ended up being our final tally for the night program (only about half that were previously registered I think...). Praise God! I'm feeling good things coming out of this parish!

Mary, Mother of God and St. Aloysius, Pray for us!!