Journeying With The Saints

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We've got a bit of a longer reading today, so I don't want to take too much of your time here on the front end.   Today in the readings, it's the feast day of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who is widely known for her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This would be why Mother Cabrini most definitely mentions her, because Mother's order is the Missionary Sisters of the...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Today's letter is a continuation of what happened on October 15th.   Because I'm a history nut, you get another history lesson today. Mother Cabrini is going to describe steaming past "Fortune Island." This is Long Cay Island located in the Bahamas. It's a tiny thing and today it only has roughly around 50 people living on it. It was named "Fortune Island" by Christopher...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. It's October 15th, 1891 and it's the Feast Day of Season Three's saint—St. Teresa of Avila.   As I've been doing these five seasons now, it's been so wonderful to see Saints talk about Saints. Mother Cabrini valued what insights and witness St. Teresa brought to the world and I think that shows her great humility.   The steamer that Mother Cabrini and her Sisters are on...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, Mother and her Sisters will be off for Nicaragua. Everything is going well, until at night, a serious storm hits.   Mother Cabrini describes how the waves are like mountains and the steamer is in deep valleys. For me, that is one of the most terrifying experiences I can think of, but what does Mother Cabrini and the Sisters choose to do? Pray. They pray fervently...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, welcome back to another great day with Mother Cabrini.   If you happened to look at the dates for this voyage things may seem a bit messed up. The voyage starts out on the date October 15th, but then the next letter is dated September 21st. Then it moves to October 10th and then back to October 15th. So, probably what happened is that she wanted to catch her Sisters up on...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims, to the start of our 4th voyage with Mother Cabrini. This time she is traveling from New York to Nicaragua.   Very briefly, I want to give a short history lesson. Today, Mother is going to talk about visiting Manresa and I want you be clear on what she means by that.   If you saw the movie, you saw Mother Cabrini buy a big home that had been abandoned by Jesuits. She got...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. This is the last day of this voyage. Mother and her Sisters will be in port very soon. Today, we will get another roll call from Mother. She will give an account on how the different Sisters on board are doing. It's easy for us to think of these women almost like fictional characters in a novel, but they were very real and did very real work.   Since this is the end of...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We are only 55 pages into this book and already Mother Cabrini speaks directly to my heart.   She is going to talk today about how we, as Catholics, need to be bold in speaking the truths of our faith. We can't worry about offending people. We do worry about that, though, and we need to ask why? We don't need to be off-putting offensive people, but we can't be afraid to...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. We are on the 5th day out at sea and things are going pretty well. We will get a bit of a roll call and hear how some of the others Sisters are doing. Mother will stress the importance of humility, so be sure to take note on that.   There is a lot in our readings today. Mother clearly is feeling good because she has a lot to say and write about. This is a longer one, so...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a bit of a longer reading today, but its packed with great spiritual direction. Mother Cabrini was writing to her daughters, but it's pertinent to all of us.   She focuses on prayer and obedience. Prayer is one of those things where we want immediate returns on our investment. What if that doesn't happen? Mother Cabrini will touch on that.   And obedience. Quite p...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. I'm glad to have you join me today.   Our reading today is from the Feast of the Nativity of Mary in September 1891. There are five priests on board the ship, but Mother Cabrini writes that none of them can say Mass. The only thing I can think is that they are all too seasick to get up and say Mass. So, spiritual communion is what Mother has to be content with.   Today,...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. We have a very short reading today. I think since Mother and everyone else is feeling better she just wants to enjoy the fresh air and the sights.   This is a good reminder to us that all difficulties eventually pass, though when you are in the moment, it seems they will never end.   Let's open to page 47.  

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. The boat is out at sea and pretty much everyone is sick.   The poor Sisters. I'm telling you, I would be sick right there with them. I am not good with movement on the sea. If I had been one of Mother Cabrini's Sisters, I would have been down for the count, too.   So, what started out as a trip full of beautiful seas and blue skies has turned into one of misery as they...

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, Mother Cabrini and the Sisters are aboard the ship. They sleep on the ship the night before it sets sail and they wake early in the morning to go to Mass before leaving port. After Mass, they head back to the ship and have breakfast.   So, if you can just imagine as we read, they are off again steaming through the English Channel. England is to their north a...

Hello, fellow Pilgrims. Welcome to our third voyage with Mother Cabrini.   Mother is getting ready to leave to head back to NY. It's been a year since the last voyage. Before leaving for America, she gets to visit Montmartre which is a well-known hill in Paris. It's a district in Paris and at the top of the hill in this district sits the beautiful Sacre Coeur Basilica. In English, this means, Sacr...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Mother Cabrini has landed in Havre and is on her way to Paris.   This is a very short reading today, but since we are at then end of a voyage, I will be offering my reflection.   Please open your books to page 41 and let's begin.  

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today, Mother Cabrini is on her last day at sea for this particular voyage.   She spends time in reflection on the gift of the Holy Eucharist. This is something that all Saints have in common—their love for the Eucharist. They come from different walks of life, different missions, different personalities, and different struggles, but they all love the Eucharist and unde...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Thank you for joining me today.   So, last time, we read an entry that was marked August 21st and, today, we will also be reading from an entry marked August 21st. What I'm guessing is that Mother Cabrini wrote at two different times during the same day.   What I would love for you to do today is imagine receiving these words from Mother Cabrini. Imagine that she has wr...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. I'm so happy that you decided to join me and Mother Cabrini today.   Growing up Protestant, there was only one path you could really take in life and that was to get married. There is no vocation of the religious life in Protestantism. Funny enough, I interviewed an ex-atheist years ago and one of the things that converted him was those in the religious life. He said, "I...

Welcome, Catholic Pilgrims. Today in our reading, we find Mother Cabrini still at sea and still conversing with the Protestant woman.   The other day I was telling my husband about Mother Cabrini and her interaction with the Protestant lady. I explained how she had simply gone up to pet this woman's dog and that was her in. Then, I told him that I wished I could have more of these conversations, b...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. We are on day three of Mother Cabrini's trip back across the Atlantic from New York to Havre, France. Seas are calm and this trip, so far, seems less eventful.   Back in 2015, my family attended the World Meeting of Families in Philly. I went to a talk given by a woman professor, I think. The only thing I remember from that talk is that she said that Catholics should stop...

Welcome back, Catholic Pilgrims. Mother Cabrini isn't feeling particularly well today as we will hear in her writings. I think something to keep in mind as we travel around with her is that she had very frail health. She was born prematurely and, being born in 1850, that set her up for a life of struggling with her health being as the medical care isn't what we have today.   Then, as a young girl,...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Who's ready to sail back across the ocean with Mother Cabrini? My gosh, it's only been a little less than four months and Mother Cabrini is headed back across.   It's now August of 1890. She just got to NY at the end of April 1890, so very little time has passed. This voyage is from New York to Havre, France. I went to look up Havre and it is a major port city, which make...

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims, we made it to the end of this second voyage to NY. There have been some delays, icebergs have threatened, the engine broke, and many of the Sisters struggled through seasickness, but they made it and soon they will make landfall.   After today's reading, I will give a short reflection about this second voyage to NY.   Let's open to page 33. Download: Reading list

Hello, Catholic Pilgrims. Welcome to the Feast Day of the Patronage of St. Joseph in 1890. Mother Cabrini really laments not having a priest on board. If you are a priest listening, just know how much we need you.   The rest of Mother's letter today could be written about our times today. She pulls no punches. We often think that our faith life and the way we talk about Jesus must be super sugary...