you shall be true to yourself!

Saint Teresa, Avila, Spain

mural to modern saints like Bishop Romero of El Salvador,
Hospital de Órbigo, Spain

“The stars in heaven are a little bit closer to us tonight on this feast of All Saints!”

~Fr. Robert Wood, pastor

St Mark the Evangelist, Norman

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are… Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives… I think of it as the audacity of authenticity.”

~Brené Brown,

“The Gifts of Imperfection”

“Understood correctly, our love for ourselves, our ‘yes’ to our self, may be regarded as the ‘categorical imperative’ of the Christian faith: You shall lovingly accept the humanity entrusted to you! You shall be obedient to your destiny! You shall not continually try to escape it! You shall be true to yourself! You shall embrace yourself! 

Our self-acceptance is the basis of the Christian creed. Assent to God starts in our sincere assent to ourselves, just as sinful flight from God starts in our flight from ourselves. In accepting the chalice of our existence, we show our obedience to the will of the Creator in heaven; in rejecting it, we reject God… knowing how difficult it is for us to bear with ourselves and how quickly we feel betrayed by ourselves, knowing how difficult it is for us not to hate ourselves, we can then understand why God had to prescribe ‘self-love’ as a virtue and one of the great commandments… 

We must learn to accept ourselves in the painful experiment of living.”

~Johannes Baptist Metz,

“Poverty of Spirit”

banners to women saints, Cain, France

I am grateful for my Pastor’s excitement about this great feast of All Saints. And thanks to him, I've caught a new peek into this feast’s abundant gifts.

In our Church’s saints—both the ones officially proclaimed and the ones that have personally touched our hearts, we have companions that will walk with and guide us on this pilgrimage of living.

I have always loved reading saints’ stories, even as a young girl growing up in Puerto Rico, when saints from other continents seemed exotic and provoking.

But it’s more than that. What I’m hearing in a new way today is that what makes these women and men saintly and holy is not only their unique and intimate connectedness to the Divine, but also their willingness and courage to embrace their complete humanity.

Like Mother Teresa and John Paul II, our saints had the audacity to live authentic lives, to use today’s lingo. True to themselves, they completely embraced their humanity and the chalice of their own unique lives. And in so doing, they lived fully and whole-heartedly the person God created them to be.

May we have the courage to do the same!  

All holy men and women, pray for us!

Joan of Arc, Rheims, France

Why I love Catholic Schools #2

Michelle at her first teaching job, 

Lourdes Central Catholic in Nebraska City, 

with her good friend Sally. 

As we celebrate

National Catholic Schools Week 2013

I'm proud to say that this year two of our daughters are teaching Middle School at Catholic schools! 

After two wonderful years at Lourdes Central Catholic in Nebraska City, Michelle is at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School in Oklahoma City, and Anamaría is at Michelle's alma mater, All Saints Catholic School in Norman. 

I have always been surrounded by teachers, all levels, all types of schools -- mother, father, brother, husband, father and mother in-law -- and now daughters and daughter in law! 

Coach Michelle praying with her volleyball team

Lourdes Central Catholic

Seeing first hand the hard work, energy, time-commitment and faithfulness of these family members who are teachers, I've always had a special place in my prayers for all teachers. 

Often underpaid, those who have made teaching their vocation do so because they're answering a special call to serve, and to spread the Gospel through their lives. This goes doubly so for Catholic school teachers, who  work extremely hard, often get paid less, and still go the extra mile for their students.

What does a Catholic School teacher look like? 

well, here's Michelle on "Superhero day"

Catholic Schools Week 2013

I love Catholic schools because of their teachers! 

Two fun videos:

one minute video of a typical day at a Catholic school

Diocese of St. Petersburg

And this one, a 6-minute video on Catholic schools

Diocese of Austin

Why I love Catholic schools -- #1

Choosing the best schooling option for your children and their education is one of the hardest decisions a parent can make. At least, it was for us! It was also one that we revisited at various points in our family's journey.

Rebekah at St. James

Where should they start school? What about moving into a new city, a new state? What about high school? And finally, what should we encourage for college? At every one of these points, Michael and I stopped, re-assessed, discerned--and finally re-committed to sending our awesome foursome to a Catholic school.

Because it's a difficult and important decision, I'm not trying to convince anyone one way or the other. But I do want to share with you my top three reasons why I love Catholic schools, and why I'm grateful that we committed to Catholic schools.

First of all, I love Catholic schools because they offered us, as parents, the opportunity of sending our children into an educational environment that provided a wholistic approach to learning, one where faith is not a separate topic, but an integral part of EVERY other subject. 

When our oldest was ready to enter Kindergarten, we had no Catholic school in our vicinity. More than anything I desired an educational setting for Christopher that was Christ-centered and founded on the Gospels. One where, whether learning history and mathematics or going on a field trip, I knew that every subject, topic, event or activity centered on living out our Christian faith. So our first school experience, in fact, was a small Lutheran school in Cedar Park, Texas.

When we moved to Oklahoma, Christopher was headed to 5th grade, and our youngest to Kindergarten. Again, we discerned and found a Catholic school in nearby Oklahoma City. As beautiful as our experience was at Good Shepherd Lutheran, being able to incorporate our Catholic faith and tradition to their academic experience was the ultimate goal for us. 

Michelle serving at a school Mass

Clearly, we -- and the schools -- don't always get it right. But the fact that incorporating our Catholic faith was the mission and vision of their school provided our family continuity. This was and is the life code and cornerstone that we deliberately profess(ed) and present(ed) at home.

To put it another way, I knew that we needed all the help we could get to inculcate in our children the Catholic faith that I love and profess.

That's why I love -- and am eternally grateful -- that the schools and the teachers that were a part of my children's lives were my partners in this primary endeavor.

Thank you, Good Shepherd Lutheran School -- Cedar Park, TX

Thank you, St. James Catholic School -- Oklahoma City

Thank you, All Saints Catholic School -- Norman, OK

Thank you, University of Notre Dame -- South Bend, IN

Thank you, Marquette University -- Milwaukee

Thank you, Creighton University -- Omaha

Saints are coming

A year ago today, I attended a funeral Mass for a woman I barely knew, yet someone to whom I felt intensely connected. Bea was the first person I ever met who had lupus. Her heart just gave out in her sleep, a complication related to her condition. The ironic thing is that I had always thought of Bea as older, sicker. But at her funeral I found out that she is, she was, exactly my age.

Recently my rheumatologist suggested that I consider switching to one of several "stronger" drugs for my lupus-like autoimmune condition, including the only new medication that has been introduced into the market for lupus in decades. As I pondered my hesitation to try it, it struck me that even the idea of considering this possibility means I have to acknowledge a development, a progression, in my physical condition. And that scares me into immobility.

I felt quite guilty that I spent most of the funeral Mass that day thinking about ME, relating every story that I heard about Bea and her condition to me and to my situation. But then it hit me. Bea gets it now. She sees the whole big picture of life, including me. And the reality is that now I have one more saint in heaven to join the chorus of the communion of saints who already walk this unknown journey with me. Saints who pray for me when I can’t. Saints who believe for me when I can’t. Saints who trust for me when I can’t. And saints who hope for me when I just don’t have it in me.

On this feast of All Saints, I am reminded of the words of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein: 

“To believe in saints means only to sense in them God’s presence… The main thing is that we remain united in prayer and come together some day in the eternal light. The longing for this grows more intense the more we see others precede us.” 

Help me, Saint Bea of Norman and Saint Edith Stein, to remember and to count on the fact that we are one in prayer, one in our suffering, and above all, one in Him who loved us into being.