Join me on Relevant Radio tomorrow at 7:10 am eastern

Friends, I am joining John and Glen at 7:10 am eastern tomorrow morning to discuss part 1 of my recent two-part articles, For Whom Should I Pray? We’ll be talking how to pray for and about things outside of oneself.

You can listen to Morning Air on Relevant Radio live online here.

Very fun news: I will soon be appearing regularly every other Tuesday morning, starting in October. More details to come!

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Praying you and your family are having a good transition into fall and the last part of this year!

Blessed Feast of the Queenship of Mary

Today is the feast of the Queenship of Mary. A few resources:

One, EWTN has a whole page, here, answering why we celebrate this feast. There, you will learn that the feast day happens eight days after the Assumption (that’s an octave). Pope Pius XII, who established the feast, wrote that:

We are instituting a feast so that all may recognize more clearly and venerate more devoutly the merciful and maternal sway of the Mother of God. We are convinced that this feast will help to preserve, strengthen and prolong that peace among nations which daily is almost destroyed by recurring crises. Is she not a rainbow in the clouds reaching towards God, the pledge of a covenant of peace?

Peace among nations. Think we could use any of that?

Secondly, an article I wrote at a few years ago called Why Mary’s Queenship Matters.

Today I am thinking about how so many of our Catholic beliefs are odd, or hard to believe. The Assumption, for example, states that Mary’s body went to Heaven, not just her soul. I read somewhere recently that when a woman gets pregnant, some DNA or biological remnant of the child remains a part of her, for the rest of her life. So, it makes sense that the “vessel” by which Christ entered the world could not disintegrate and rot like a normal human body. And that could be one “scientific” reason this dogma makes sense.

The bottom line is, some things just have to be…believed. I suppose that is backwards from our hyper proof-hungry world, but there you have it. Some things are just mystical, and that’s that. And, it makes life more beautiful.

More importantly, rather than focus on the physics of a miracle, I find it far more interesting to meditate on the devotion itself. “Is she not a rainbow in the clouds reaching towards God, the pledge of a covenant of peace?” Have you ever heard more beautiful words to describe a holy woman? Do you not find it reassuring? For all the disintegration and rot here on earth, it is a reminder of the eternal things: heaven, and God’s love, and his promise to be with people for all time, until the end of the age.

The Feast of St. Lawrence!

Saint Lawrence and the means of his death

As a Laura, the feast day of St. Lawrence is special to me. In honor of this mighty saint, below are three things to know about him.

1. He is known for his charity. Specifically, for his understanding of the centrality of the poor in the life, mission, and purpose of the Church, and for knowing and living what “treasure” really is. The most famous story of his charity, and the event which led to his martyrdom, is this:

A well-known legend has persisted from earliest times. As deacon in Rome, Lawrence was charged with the responsibility for the material goods of the Church, and the distribution of alms to the poor. When Lawrence knew he would be arrested like the pope, he sought out the poor, widows, and orphans of Rome and gave them all the money he had on hand, selling even the sacred vessels of the altar to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he imagined that the Christians must have considerable treasure. He sent for Lawrence and said, “You Christians say we are cruel to you, but that is not what I have in mind. I am told that your priests offer in gold, that the sacred blood is received in silver cups, that you have golden candlesticks at your evening services. Now, your doctrine says you must render to Caesar what is his. Bring these treasures—the emperor needs them to maintain his forces. God does not cause money to be counted: He brought none of it into the world with him—only words. Give me the money, therefore, and be rich in words.”

Lawrence replied that the Church was indeed rich. “I will show you a valuable part. But give me time to set everything in order and make an inventory.” After three days he gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned, and widowed persons and put them in rows. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, “These are the treasure of the Church.”

1. He died a martyr. See above. The method of his martyrdom was to be roasted alive on a spit. For the reason, he is known as the patron of barbecuing!

2. He is also known as a patron of jokes and good humor, as legend has it that while roasting over the fire he joked to his murderers, “I’m well done on this side, turn me over!”

I love barbecuing and jokes, so that fits. Now I can work on my love for the poor. St. Lawrence, pray for us!