remembering Father Stanley Rother, martyr

“Nathaniel said to him,

‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ 

Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’”

                                                               ~Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 46

“On the Cross, Jesus felt the weight of death, the weight of sin, but he gave himself over to the Father entirely, and he forgave. He barely spoke, but he gave the gift of life… Christ ‘beats’ us in love; the martyrs imitated him in love until the very end… We implore the intercession of the martyrs, that we may be concrete Christians, Christians in deeds and not just in words, that we may not be mediocre Christians, Christians painted in a superficial coating of Christianity without substance—they weren’t painted, they were Christians until the end. We ask [the martyrs] for help in keeping our faith firm, that even throughout our difficulties we may nourish hope and foster brotherhood and solidarity.”

                                     ~Pope Francis, Vatican Radio (10-14-13)

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From my biography of Father Stanley Rother, Oklahoma martyr:

There was nothing “painted” in Stanley, the young man who chose to follow Jesus as his disciple; Stanley, the seminarian who endured difficulties, even failure, yet persevered in his calling to the priesthood; Father Stanley, the young parish priest who put aside his fears, courageously agreeing to serve the People of God in Oklahoma’s mission in Guatemala; Father Stanley, the man who struggled to pass Latin and learn Spanish, yet succeeded in learning the rare and challenging Mayan dialect of his Tz’utujil parishioners.

Father Stanley, the Okarche farmer who believed plowing the fields manually next to the Tz’utujil farmers was part of his vocation as a minister of God’s love. And finally, Father Stanley, the shepherd who chose to face death rather than abandon his flock—the shepherd who didn’t run.

It is my hope and my prayer that in the telling of Father Stanley’s story I succeed in introducing you to one person who loved “to the extreme limit,” as Pope Francis described, in making God’s presence real, tangible to the people in his life—by living, loving, and being himself completely.

To paraphrase the question asked in the Gospels by incredulous people about Jesus of Nazareth: can anything good come from Okarche, Oklahoma? 

I invite you to come and see.

If you'd like to read some of my previous blog posts about Father Stanley Rother, see here and also here.

And to order a copy of my book, “The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run: Fr. Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma,” click here!

why I need saints: two bright stars

Earlier this week, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdamez of El Salvador was beatified. You may recall that Archbishop Romero was assassinated in 1980 as he celebrated Mass, just a day after pleading and ordering soldiers to stop killing innocent Salvadorians.

Ever since I first heard the news announcing Archbishop Romero’s beatification, I have found myself pondering why I need saints in my life.

I don’t mean just the holy people that have graced my spirit and shaped my life, like my dear Pat Stankus or my grandmother Josefita—but also the kind of holy that is proclaimed a saint by the universal Church.

First, let me be clear. I’m not trying to articulate—or defend—an intellectual, theological concept regarding sainthood.

What I’ve been asking myself is much more tangible, and self-centered… what is the point? what difference do saints make for me?

Here’s what I’ve come up with this week.

• I need saints because they intercede with God on my behalf. Theirs is the sort of passionate pleading akin to the mother I met years ago in Austin whose son was on death row in Huntsville. When the Governor of Texas refused to see her in person to hear her plead for a stay of his execution, the determined mother set up a tent to live in across the street from the Governor’s mansion, and she invited the local press, the local bishop, and anyone else who would listen and join her in prayer and in peaceful demonstration.  Who doesn’t need this sort of passionate intercession?

• I need saints because they connect me to others—across time and geography—and that constantly reminds me that my faith is little “c” catholic. And I am not alone in my quest and desire to live for God. No matter how much I screw that up, there are saints whose lives are worthy of being a spicy HBO movie—and they get just how hard that desire can be.

• I need saints like Archbishop Romero and Father Stanley Rother (whose 52^nd anniversary of ordination was this week!) because being holy –and at the very least, learning to live holy lives – is possible for everyone, no matter how ordinary. Romero and Rother, who died a year apart, became martyrs for the faith. But they did so by desiring to respond in and through their faith to every person, every circumstance, every moment in their ordinary lives.

At the ceremony for Archbishop Romero’s beatification this week, the Cardinal who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes called Romero, "a bright star shining in the American spiritual firmament.” 

"And,” he added, “thanks be to God, there are many."

Father Stanley F. Rother,
 Lake Atitlán, Guatemala

[To check out and pre-order my book on Father Stanley Rother, click here]

life + prayer = writing

The awareness that for me there’s an intricate connection between writing and life was a pivotal moment in my faith journey. 

But I often need reminding!

When I say connection, I’m not talking about balancing the hours of the day, or how to handle interruptions, or the necessity to often shift gears, or even my response to family demands. 

Certainly, all of those are skills and values that I’ve learned over the years. And how I react to “life” makes an enormous difference to the quality and the quantity of my writing. That is true. And for someone working out of a home office perhaps doubly so.

Yet there’s a weaving from my writing to my life and from my life to my writing—a back and forth flow, that is both indisputable and difficult to describe.

I’ve written here about my latest book project, the biography of Father Stanley Rother, Oklahoma martyr.  You can see some specific blog entries and read more about it here, here, and here.

And—you will be hearing a LOT more about the book and about Father Stanley’s story in the next few months, because it is in the final stages of production (woo hoo!) with a publication date of September 2015!

What you may not know is that I consider this book somewhat of a miracle, or at the very least, full of Divine interventions.

During the year that (under contract) I agreed to complete the book manuscript—and the six-month extension I requested, the “events” of my life included:

• ·      Multiple stays at the hospital with and for my dad and countless doctor visits as his health issues became more and more complicated;
• ·      The decline and death of my close friend and fellow writer Carrie Swearingen;
• ·      The diagnosis of brain cancer and death of my best friend and Camino de Santiago partner Pat Stankus—as well as
• ·      The births of THREE glorious grandchildren

That’s a lot of emotions, all intense ones – and to my weird, creative temperament—all energy sucking emotions. Or is there any other kind?!

There was one point as I saw my deadline looming closer and closer when I remember saying to a close friend, “I am certain that I was meant to write the biography of Father Stanley right now… so what is God telling me by what is happening in my life?  I honestly have no time, let alone any energy, to actually complete this book!”

My friend Patricia was silent for a moment, before replying, “María, it’s like prayer. You have to trust that the events of your life are meant to be incorporated into your writing, into the telling of Father Stanley’s story. Don’t separate the two… let one guide you to the other.”

That’s how I got from this:

To this!

you can pre-order the book on Amazon by clicking here

martyrs: their blood confesses Christ

winter light in my back yard

I have spent much of the last few weeks editing my latest book, the biography of Father Stanley Rother, the courageous Oklahoma priest who was martyred in Guatemala in 1981 while ministering the Tz'utujil indigenous community of Santiago Atitlán.

I've written several blogs about Father Stanley before -- read more here and also here. Or check out the article I wrote for Our Sunday Visitor newspaper, here.

The good news is that the manuscript has a publisher--and I am thrilled that it's found such a good home for publication! I'll announce more details on that soon.

Yet as I continue to work on the manuscript edits, I am deeply moved by the powerful and striking reality of martyrdom, dying for one's faith--especially in light of Christians being persecuted and killed for their faith today, like the 21 Coptic Christians murdered by ISIS in Libya this weekend.

"Their blood confesses Christ" -- and challenges me to take the name Christian seriously. Their story, like the story of Father Stanley Rother, becomes a witness and a call to action.

A Vatican commission recently declared that Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was killed in odium fidei, Latin for "in hatred of the faith."

We wait for a similar official announcement regarding the martyrdom of Oklahoma's Father Stanley Rother, who died a year after Archbishop Romero.

As Pope Francis said in relation to Romero's announcement, "What I would like is a clarification about martyrdom in odium fidei, whether it can occur either for having confessed the Creed or for having done the works which Jesus commands with regard to one's neighbor... And this is a task for the theologians."

May it be so -- and may it be soon!

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NOTE: It seems impossible that Lent is two days away. Am I the only one not ready?

Here's something to help you... message me on FB, Twitter, or here on my blog, for a chance to win one of two of Magnificat Magazine's Lenten companion app!

Small Mercies! I'm grateful for "the end"

I know it's not Small Mercies Wednesday, but I hope you will go easy on me when I tell you why it's still time to thank God for small mercies.

On Tuesday I handed in to the Archbishop a completed first draft of the book that I've been working on for the past year and a half, the biography of Servant of God Father Stanley Rother!

The writing of this book was laced with so many unexpected graces and blessings, and I hope to write about that soon. It was also an unexpectedly difficult task for me to tackle, full of moments of doubt about myself and my writing vocation... deciphering through that will take me some good chunks of prayer time... we'll see when I'll be able to give words to that part of the experience.

But for now, please join me in prayers of thanksgiving for completing this BIG step on the writing journey, and add a small request that I may have clarity for finding the right publisher for it?  No doubt God has already picked one... I pray that I may listen and get out of the way.

Today I am grateful for completing a full draft of Father Stanley's biography, and for all of you wonderful friends who have prayed me through it!

Thank God for small mercies, and big ones, too.

here's what things looked like a week ago!

Small Mercies Miércoles: I'm grateful for... the work of my hands

I have been on hermit mode, trying to bring together the research, reading, interviews, of the past year and a half into a full, coherent draft of my book project. 

As you may recall, I’ve been working on the biography of Oklahoma martyr Father Stanley Rother who was murdered in Guatemala in 1981.  Here are some links with information--see here and here, including an article I wrote a few years ago, published in Our Sunday Visitor.

To some it may look like a tornado hit my office—but in spite of the piles, it’s organized chaos, at least for now. 

This is holy work.

It’s truly an honor to be in “conversation” with someone who was so clearly a lover of Jesus. Father Stan’s dedication and faithfulness to the people of Santiago Atitlán was a sacrifice of love, and to the people there, there is no need for an official process… Father Stanley Rother (Padre Apla's in their native Tzutujil language) is already their saint, interceding on their behalf!

So today, I am specifically grateful for…  the work of my hands.

I am spoiled. I get to work at home, in my slippers, writing the story of someone who inspires, challenges and provokes me to live radically for Jesus. 

And I must add, I am deeply grateful to my husband, who has for years not only offered me “patronage” (akin to the Renaissance tradition) so that I can carry out this ministry -- but even more importantly… brings me flowers, cooks dinner and sweeps the floor… so that I can stay focused when I’m in hermit mode!

Please pray for me? And do join me in praying for the canonization process of Servant of God Stanley Francis Rother.

Heavenly Father,

source of all holiness,

in every generation you raise up

men and women heroic in love and service. 

You have blessed your Church

with the life of Stanley Rother,

priest, missionary, and martyr. 

Through his prayer, his preaching,

his presence, and his pastoral love,

you revealed Your love and Your presence

with us as Shepherd. 

If it be your will,

may he be proclaimed

by the universal church

as martyr and saint,

living now in your presence

and interceding for us all. 

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

angels watching over me... all day

Gorgeous angel in front of the Pauline Books & Media store

When Michael and I left our home yesterday morning, it was 8 degrees and snowing in Norman and Oklahoma City. A mere handful of hours later we landed at LAX, where the temperature was a balmy 60 degrees.

Needless to say, I’m in heaven. 

we began the day with daily Mass at Our Lady of Malibu 

the view from Pepperdine University

As if the warmer temperatures were not enough, I am spending the next few days writing and staring at the ocean—while my husband attends a conference on “Law and Love” at Pepperdine University. 

I can already confirm that this was a good way to spend my airline miles!

I brought with me enough research material to tackle one, maybe two good chapters of my book project while I’m here.

In my experience writing a book, the early stages in the process always make me feel a bit overwhelmed by the picture I see. As I whittle at it little by little, not only does the picture become clearer, but the process itself seems to find a natural rhythm that leads me in directions I couldn’t even see until I was “there.”

In a very real way, it’s a lot like going on pilgrimage. 

I am convinced that a pilgrimage begins the moment you decide that you’re going on one. In those early stages of preparation, it all looks and feels “big,” too big!

But this feeling (for lack of a better word) is only temporary—and as I continue to make progress on this project it’s important that I remember that.  As my dear Pat Stankus often reminded me, just enjoy it. It will pass!

It was easy to enjoy today.

the amazing Sr Rose!

I had a delicious lunch with my lovely and talented friend Sr Rose Pacatte, and even got to see her “writing space”  at the Pauline Center for Media Studies, as well as the impressive store run by her community, the Daughters of St. Paul, in Culver City. By the way, if you go, be sure to drop by their beautiful chapel in their store!

Just talking with Sr Rose was energizing and inspiring! 

On the way back to Malibu, I was enthralled by the beautiful drive along California’s PCH and made several stops along the way. 

Wishing you inspiration and blessings this weekend. And if you don’t hear from me for a few days, say a prayer for my writing project!

a few shots of my drive north on Cali's PCH: