Merry Christmas! It’s Been a While

Hello Everybody! Merry Christmas!

I decided to dust off the old blog to wish you all a very beautiful Christmas Season and Happy New Year! I’m still trying to figure out how best to use the time I have been given — is it best to write in this cozy little space on the internet — or to focus on the cyber “public square” that is social media?

Honestly, I hate so much about social media — including the fact that they have most definitely played with algorithm to mess with our minds and limit Catholic voices. That being said, it is a place that you can find many people who would never wander over to a blog.

The question becomes, what is the point of this blog? I first created it to house my thoughts and family memories. Then it began to grow a little and I began to venture to social media to share the foundational ideas that inspire me — the good, the true and the beautiful.

I’ve seen growth over on Instagram and I find that I can control the ideas that are being placed before me, just by being careful about who I follow and the time I give to it. Besides the fact that I actually love making videos and sharing ideas about the faith — I first met my husband John filming a chastity video — so that medium of video is very dear to me.

I’ve basically abandoned Twitter and Facebook because I don’t find them very good for my soul.

I have always enjoyed the creativity of writing and I also find I love the creativity required to break through the unfair algorithms and try to connect with souls that I would likely not encounter here. So, for now, I will stay on Instragram — but you never know, I might drop it altogether at some point.

The truth is, I love our faith. I love sharing our faith. I know that it leads to the only happiness we will ever know in this life — and to everlasting happiness in the next — so I can’t help but share about it with everybody I meet.

There are no “unmentionable” aspects or questions of our faith over here. Pope Francis says something I find confusing, we’re going to talk about it, round the dinner table. I love our Pope and I think it’s important to teach our kids that in the Church, some statements on faith (like on an airplane) are not infallible.

I think it’s been a good lesson to separate the humanity from the office — for all of us who grew up with a Saint that was a Pope (St. John Paul II) this was a necessary lesson in the history of the Church. Let’s be fair, JPII made mistakes along the way, too, but that didn’t stop him from eventually dying a Saint.

Hope for all of us, isn’t it?

I think it’s important to teach our kids to know their faith well and to also pray for all leaders in our Church — that’s our job — and that a Holy laity is an essential part of a Holy Church. So, instead of focusing on all the mistakes others are making, what if we spent a wee bit more time trying to correct some of our own?

Sometimes, our job is also to correct in love, to write that letter you think that Bishop or Pope will never read and to fight for Holiness in our Church.

But it is also our job to affirm the truth that Jesus’ Church is our SURE foundation, until the end of time, so we can never, ever leave it for greener pastures — because there are no greener pastures!

The truth is, we are a family in the Catholic Church — sometimes it feels like a big, dysfunctional family, but that family also has Jesus as the Head, the Saints at our side, the Holy Spirit to inflame in our hearts the love we are lacking and a Father leading us all Home.

Some of our greatest Saints grew out of the most challenging times in the Church, and it seems God is yet again pouring out His grace on us so we might become Saints for the times we find ourselves in.

So, no matter where you find me, I hope you will know one thing about me: I love being Catholic, I love our faith, and I pray that you and I do make it HOME.

Till then, let’s keep sharing all that is good and true and beautiful in this world. Let’s keep fighting for the truth and trusting that God can bring GOOD out of all the mess — no matter how messy it gets!

I’m going to try to spend more time in this space in this upcoming year, but I hope if you’re on social media, you’ll find me over there, too.

Let’s all agree to keep sharing the good, the true and the beautiful in our little realms of influence — wherever they may be — shall we?

That’s about it. Merry Christmas! Happy 2023!