I think a big part of the struggle to celebrate the concept of “American” and apply it to myself was because everything I knew about that identity — whether from history, the media, or lived experience — was centered around people who looked and lived nothing like me or my friends.
On October 13, 2019, in St. Peter’s Square, at a Mass with over 50,000 attendees, Pope Francis declared Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes, Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, Cardinal John Henry Newman, Margurite Bays, and Giuseppina Vannini saints.
But in our social-media-consumed world, sometimes the first inclination when we go on mission is to come back and to post a glamour shot surrounded by minorities from an impoverished community to Instagram with a trite caption featuring a bible verse and cute little saying about how much more was received than what was given.
Anger is a powerful emotion, and it drives quite a variety of actions. It can be used to wound people, but can also be used for good. This emotion is something we are allowed to feel.
I came to terms with the fact that I’m physically attracted to people of the same sex the summer before my junior year of high school. It was by far one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.
I became ensnared by porn in high school. Sexual sin ran the show for a while and I fell away. I also became ensnared by the idea that I wasn't good enough to get better. That somehow, my sin had spoiled salvation. I wasn’t a real Catholic, I would never be good enough for Prince Charming or even Jesus Himself. I thought that God probably didn’t want me.
As we move through Holy Week in a way the Church never has before and might never again, I pray that our hope will rest in God alone. If we hope only in the goodness of situations or the favorable outcomes that might befall us, I think we’ll always be disappointed. But if we hope in God and His infinite goodness, we will never be let down.
I had no real idea why horoscopes or fortune tellers were wrong, I just thought it was another “rule” that adults wanted to impose upon me to keep me from having fun. I had no idea that, at the core of the “rule,” was a radical invitation to love.
How can you practically live out God’s mission for you right here and now? Sure, there are tons of different ways, that you can discern by prayer, but these three, simple steps, will get you started in the right direction.
