Gratitude is a powerful force that shields us from negativity and fuels our spirits with renewed energy. In this blog post, we will explore the profound impact of gratitude on our lives. We’ll also look at and how Catholics draw inspiration from the sacrament of the Eucharist. Translated from the Greek word “Eucharista,” meaning Thanksgiving, the Eucharist embodies the concept of gratitude. We will dive into how practicing gratitude unburdens us from life’s struggles and cultivates a mindset that fosters empathy and recognizes the presence of God.
Continue readingEucharist
Small Pilgrimages: Evangelizing Your Kids One Step at a Time
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Evangelizing children isn’t always about complex theological lessons or far-off mission trips. Sometimes, the most powerful encounters with God happen right in your own backyard or even your living room. Just as adults benefit from pilgrimages that draw them closer to God, children can encounter Christ through small, intentional “journeys” of faith that fit within everyday life.
Let’s explore how these small pilgrimages can help pass on the faith to your kids while strengthening your domestic church.
The Domestic Church: Where Evangelization Begins
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us of the parents’ vital role:
“Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule… Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children” (CCC 2223).
In many ways, the home itself becomes a sort of permanent pilgrimage site, a sacred place where children encounter God daily through prayer, forgiveness, service, and love.
As I’ve written before, even small actions like having holy images in your home, praying before meals, answering questions during Mass, or visiting a local Catholic bookstore create micro-moments of evangelization. One of my daughters, for example, loves flipping through pamphlets about the Eucharist. That small curiosity leads to natural conversations about the Real Presence. These little moments plant seeds that the Holy Spirit can grow over time.
Adding sacramentals and liturgical resources to your home can also help foster these everyday encounters. Catholic businesses like Pockets of Heaven provide beautiful, handcrafted tools that help families create prayer spaces, celebrate feast days, and make the liturgical year come alive for kids in simple but meaningful ways.
You don’t need a master’s degree in theology to evangelize your kids. What matters most is creating a loving environment where faith is part of daily life, where Christ is present in both words and actions.
Pilgrimages Teach Kids That Life is a Journey Toward God
Father Dave Pivonka wisely reminds us that “Every single one of us is a pilgrim on a journey. For us Christians, as Pope St. John Paul II said, this journey should ultimately lead us to the heart of the Father.”
Pilgrimages, whether big or small, teach kids that faith is not static. It’s a living, breathing adventure toward God’s heart. And this journey doesn’t require international travel. While trips to Lourdes, Fatima, or Rome are beautiful, they’re not necessary to experience the graces of pilgrimage.
Small pilgrimages could include:
- Visiting your diocesan cathedral for Mass.
- Spending an hour in adoration at a nearby chapel.
- Walking as a family to a local Marian shrine.
- Going on a nature walk while praying the Rosary.
- Visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead on All Souls’ Day.
These intentional acts pull kids out of their daily routines and help them encounter God anew. As Fr. Pivonka puts it, “Do something intentional that takes you out of your ordinary routine. Seek to encounter Jesus. You will be amazed what God can do in your heart.”
The Sacraments: Theological Rest Stops Along the Journey
Life is exhausting. I’ve written before how my own fatigue nearly led me to despair. Yet, in that weakness, I was reminded of Bishop Paul Swain’s beautiful words:
“Sacraments are not the end or graduation of the Catholic life, rather sacraments act as theological rest stops to give us strength.”
Confession, for example, is like a pit stop where we release burdens and receive grace to keep walking. As the Catechism explains, “The sacrament of Penance repairs or restores [fraternal communion]” (CCC 1469).
The Eucharist provides nourishment for the journey ahead — our manna in the desert:
“The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus… Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet” (CCC 1391).
And marriage? It’s not simply a contract but a covenant of mutual sacrifice. As I’ve joked before, marriage often feels like a holy war against pride, impatience, and selfishness. But it’s also a place of peace, where we strategize, rest, and receive grace for the road ahead.
When we bring our children into these sacramental rest stops by taking them to Confession, preparing them for First Holy Communion, and witnessing the beauty of a sacramental marriage, we’re showing them how to draw strength for their own pilgrim journey.
Penance, Solidarity, and Thanksgiving — Lessons Even Kids Can Learn
Pilgrimage isn’t always comfortable. Fr. Pivonka shares stories of pilgrims enduring blistering heat, unexpected thunderstorms, and travel mishaps. Yet these struggles become opportunities for offering penance, teaching kids a profound lesson: suffering can be united to prayer.
On a small pilgrimage to a local shrine, a child might get tired or frustrated. That’s a chance to gently explain:
“You can offer this tiredness for Grandma who’s sick, or for a friend who’s struggling.”
Solidarity is another beautiful fruit of pilgrimage. Whether walking together as a family or participating in parish events, kids learn that they’re not alone in their faith. They belong to the wider Body of Christ — a Church filled with fellow pilgrims, saints, and sinners all journeying home.
Finally, pilgrimages naturally lead to thanksgiving. As Fr. Pivonka writes about his own Camino de Santiago:
“Going on pilgrimage does something to our hearts and to how we see the world… We begin to see [God] in places where we didn’t before.”
When kids see the beauty of God in creation, family, sacraments, and community, gratitude becomes a habit that sustains their faith long after the pilgrimage ends. Even creating little “pockets of heaven” in our homes — through prayer corners, seasonal decor, or feast day celebrations — can help foster that spirit of gratitude.
Start Small, Start Today
Evangelizing our kids doesn’t require perfect words or elaborate plans. It begins with small acts of intentionality, small pilgrimages of the heart, the home, and even the neighborhood.
As parents, our job is to guide our children toward Christ through daily witness, sacramental life, and occasional small pilgrimages that draw them deeper into God’s presence. With each little step, they’ll discover that their whole life is a beautiful, lifelong journey toward the Father.
As Proverbs 16:3 reminds us:
“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”
Buen Camino.
Thanks again to today’s article sponsor! Visit Pockets of Heaven where you’ll find resources to help your children journey with Jesus, Mary, and the Saints in the pockets of everyday life.
The Pelican: An Ancient Symbol of Christ’s Eucharistic Love
Sponsored: This article is made possible by Archangel Outfitters supporting quality and engaging Catholic content.
While the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah are the most obvious and biblically clear animal symbols for Jesus Christ, the pelican is an under-rated symbol that is rich in meaning and beauty. There are many birds used in Christian history to represent God: like the dove for the Holy Spirit and even the Mother Hen as an analogy to speak of Christ’s protection of his people in Luke 13:31-35.
Honestly, I had never heard about the pelican as a symbol of Jesus Christ until a few years ago. Since discovering this powerful symbol I have started to notice it more and more in various parishes where I have attended Mass over the years. I have seen etchings of this majestic bird on pillars at the cathedral in my city and have seen the pelican adorned on altars in a variety of ways.
A Symbol Hidden in Plain Sight
I traveled to Italy during college and visited both Assisi and Rome. I wish I had known about the pelican symbol back then because I would have seen some beautiful portrayals of this symbol of Christ in those awesome churches. Before learning about its spiritual significance, the only time I really thought about pelicans was when looking up NBA scores and seeing the New Orleans Pelicans! It’s amazing how something can transform from mundane to meaningful once you understand its deeper significance.
Today, I wear a pelican brown scapular (I alternate it with my traditional style brown scapular every other day), and I received an awesome pelican t-shirt from Archangel Outfitters to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. These small reminders help keep this powerful symbol of Christ’s sacrifice close to my heart.
An Ancient Legend Transformed
The image of the mother pelican feeding her baby pelicans is rooted in several ancient Roman legends that precede Christianity. One version is that in time of famine, the mother pelican wounded herself, striking her breast with her beak to feed her young with her blood. Another version was that the mother fed her dying young with her blood to revive them from death, but in turn lost her own life.
Given these traditions, one can easily understand how early Christians adapted it to symbolize our Lord, Jesus Christ. The pelican symbolizes Jesus our Redeemer who gave His life for our redemption and feeds us with His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We were dead to sin and have found new life through the sacrifice of Christ.
The Biblical Connection
While the pelican doesn’t appear directly in Scripture as a symbol for Christ, Jesus himself uses bird imagery to describe his protective love. In Luke 13:31-35, after Pharisees warn him about Herod’s death threats, Jesus laments over Jerusalem:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, yet you were not willing.”
This tender image of a mother bird gathering her young under wings for protection parallels the sacrificial nature of the pelican legend. Both emphasize Christ’s desire to protect, nourish, and save his people, even at great personal cost.
As Jesus told his disciples (and us), “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Saint Cyril of Alexandria echoed this when he wrote, “Christ came into this world in human flesh not to be served, but, as he himself said, to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Physiologus and Medieval Symbolism
This tradition and others is found in the Physiologus, an early Christian work which appeared in the second century in Alexandria, Egypt. Written by an anonymous author, this text recorded legends of animals and gave each an allegorical interpretation.
The legend of the pelican is described: “The little pelicans strike their parents, and the parents, striking back, kill them. But on the third day the mother pelican strikes and opens her side and pours blood over her dead young. In this way they are revivified and made well. So Our Lord Jesus Christ says also through the prophet Isaiah: I have brought up children and exalted them, but they have despised me (Is 1:2). We struck God by serving the creature rather than the Creator. Therefore, He deigned to ascend the cross, and when His side was pierced, blood and water gushed forth unto our salvation and eternal life.”
This work was noted by numerous authors and was popular in the Middle Ages as a source for the symbols used in stone carvings and other artwork of that period.
The Pelican in Literature
The pelican symbol appears frequently in Renaissance literature. In 1312, Dante wrote in his “Paridiso” of Christ as “our Pelican who shed His blood in order to give eternal life to the children of men.” In 1606, John Lyly wrote in his “Euphues” of the “pelicane who stricketh blood out of its owne bodye to do others good.” Even Shakespeare referenced this symbolism in Hamlet: “to his good friend thus wide, I’ll open my arms and, like the kind, life-rendering pelican repast them with my blood.” In modern English this would translate as: “I’ll open my arms wide to his true friends, and like a mother pelican with her brood, I’ll even give my blood for them.”
The Eucharistic Connection
The pelican has been part of our liturgical tradition for centuries. In his great Eucharistic hymn “Adoro te devote,” St. Thomas Aquinas directly addresses Christ as the “pie pelicane, Jesu Domine” (the pious pelican, Lord Jesus), asking him to “wash my filthiness and clean me with your blood.”
This Eucharistic connection is why we often see the pelican image on tabernacles, altar frontals, and other church furnishings. The image powerfully reminds us of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, where He continues to feed us with His Body and Blood.
As Saint Pio of Pietrelcina said, “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass.” The Eucharist is not merely a symbol but the very life of Christ given to sustain us spiritually, just as the pelican in the legend sustains her young with her own blood.
Saint John Paul II reminded us that “Jesus waits for us in this sacrament of love.” The image of the pelican helps us visualize this profound truth—Christ giving Himself completely for our salvation and nourishment.
Finding the Pelican in Our Churches
Next time you’re in a church, especially an older one with traditional furnishings, look around carefully. You might spot a pelican carved on an altar, etched in a stained glass window, or painted on a tabernacle door. These images aren’t random decorations but powerful reminders of Christ’s sacrificial love.
In Catholic tradition, the pelican image on a tabernacle door symbolizes the “body of Christ” within. But more commonly, the pelican symbol is found at the top of the cross in late-medieval and Renaissance Crucifixion images, reinforcing the connection between Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the nourishment we receive in the Eucharist.
The pelican serves as a beautiful reminder that Christ not only died for us but continues to feed us with His very life. As we receive the Eucharist, we can meditate on this ancient symbol and be thankful for the Lord who, like the pelican of legend, gives His very life to sustain His children.
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3 Ways We Can Avoid Awkwardness and Apathy after the Ascension
Editor’s Note: Post originally published on June 1, 2019.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 675, “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.” This Sunday Catholics across the world will celebrate the feast of the Ascension. Until recently, this high feast was celebrated on a Thursday—forty days after Easter. From a traditional standpoint normally a 10 day period existed from Ascension to the Coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Regardless, of the precise days, the main point is that for a brief period, the Apostles and early disciples of Jesus lived in a transition period from when Jesus no longer visibly existed in the similar manner that he did previously and the official descent of the Holy Spirit.
Suffering from a severe dryness in my spiritual life this Easter season got me thinking: maybe I am in a transitory period myself whereby the descent of the Holy Spirit is not apparent in my life. I feel completely dried up—spiritually! Obviously, my situation is not exactly the same as the 1st century Christians who had to live for an awkward [and maybe apathetic] period before the official reception of the Paraclete. Nevertheless, maybe your life is at a stage similar to that awkward week and a half—pondering the return of Christ, experiencing doubt in Divine Providence, or possibly even living in fear or distress. Reflecting on Acts 1-2 and wisdom from the tradition of the Church—through the Catechism and the saints—I came up with three methods [not really earth-shattering] to avoid awkwardness and apathy in your spiritual life in the days after the Ascension!
Drink from the Wellspring of Worship
The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). I have probably cited this paragraph more than any other passage, yet it is vitally important to the Catholic faith. What sustained the Apostles in the early Church while waiting for the Paraclete? The body of and blood of Jesus Christ in the form of the Eucharist—it is the wellspring, the origin of worship!
Although Jesus’ physical existence did not appear the same after his Ascension, he is still present to the Apostles [and to us] body, blood, soul, and divinity in the sacrament of the Eucharist. St. Pope John Paul II mentioned the importance of this sacrament in his encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, “Her [The Church] foundation and wellspring is the whole Triduum paschale, but this is as it were gathered up, foreshadowed and “concentrated’ forever in the gift of the Eucharist” (no. 5). During periods of spiritual dryness we may be able to sojourn to the spiritual oasis of the Mass.
Hail, Mary: Mother of Perpetual Help, Mother of Good Counsel
Josemaria Escriva declared, “Love our Lady. And she will obtain abundant grace to help you conquer in your daily struggle.” I imagine the days following Jesus’ Ascension was a perilous time for Peter and the rest of the Apostles. During the most confusing and perilous times in my life it appears that Jesus is not present—the most difficult days lands in the middle of the work week when I lack the time to attend daily Mass or ability to go to Eucharistic adoration. Here is where my devotion to Mary is key to sustaining me during the staleness of my spiritual life. Jesus augmented Mary’s motherhood in John 19:27 with a simple command, “Woman, behold your son!” This is a reciprocal relationship as a mere verse later Our Lord urged the Apostle John [who represented humanity both individually and collectively] with the charge: “Behold, your mother!”
From my own experience, I normally contact my mom first [when my wife is not available!] after an incredibly stressful and frustrating day. This is not to downplay the role of my father, but there is something unique, almost mysterious about the ability for mother to sooth children in need. The Blessed Virgin Mary is no different. Mother of Perpetual Help pray for us. Mother of Good Counsel pray for us.
Trust in the Holy Spirit
The great scientist Isaac Asimov once purported, “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” While the first two points of his statement may be debatable, it is quite difficult to argue that turning points in life, no matter how large or small, pose a challenge for everyone. Transitioning from physically seeing the Resurrected Christ to the age of the Church would have been a tough transitory event as well!
Jesus prepared his followers of the coming of the Holy Spirit prior to his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. According to Christ in John 14:15-19, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate* to be with you always, 17 the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.”
While the Holy Spirit did not formally descend upon the Apostles in the Upper Room until Pentecost Sunday, the power of the Holy Spirit allowed Jesus to be substantially present in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Paraclete also guided Peter and the other Apostles in selecting a worthy replacement for Judas. Moreover, just before his Ascension Jesus repeated his promise to send another Helper to fortify his followers: “But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you,g and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Hope Always Never Despair
Although you may in a spiritual dry spell [if not now you most certainly will encounter aridity and acedia—spiritual sloth– sometime in your life!], please do not despair. Hope is always on the horizon. Through the sacrament of the Eucharist, guide of Mary, and promise of the help of the Holy Spirit we receive strength and sustenance make it past any awkward and apathetic period in our spiritual journey. Never give up—hope in the Lord always!
The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity (CCC 1818).
Related Links
The Church’s Birthday: What Pentecost Teaches Us About the Holy Spirit
Why Maundy Thursday is an Important Part of Holy Week
Editor’s note: Article originally published on April 1, 2021.
Holy Thursday is a celebration of The Last Supper Jesus had with his Apostles before his death on the Cross. Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain narratives of this event in their Gospels. The Gospel of John gives a different account where Jesus washes the feet of his Apostles. During the Mass on Holy Thursday the priest washes the feet of parishioners as a sign of service.
This liturgical feast is one of my favorites in the entire church calendar. The institution of the Eucharist takes place on Holy Thursday. I also find the washing of feet as a profound gesture of love and service. Finally, the conclusion of the Mass sets up the stage for Good Friday― Jesus’ Death on the Cross.
Continue readingA 1474 Word Interview about Catholic Liberal Arts Education
Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Elisabeth Sullivan, Executive Director of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, via email in 2025. We have rearranged and edited some of the questions. This provides the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
You describe Catholic education as an “engine of evangelization.” Can you share a specific example of how a Catholic classical liberal arts approach has transformed a student’s or school’s understanding of faith and learning?
At one of our member schools, Holy Innocents School in Long Beach, California, the results were almost immediate after the pastor and principal welcomed ICLE in to form their teachers in 2018-2019. Fr. G. Peter Irving was intent on offering a deeply formative education to the children entrusted to his care in this low-income and socioeconomically diverse Catholic community. His new principal and teachers were devoted to their students and were keen to learn new approaches that would engage them with rich content and better pedagogy.
Principal Cyril Cruz reported that, once the teachers stopped teaching to the test, standardized scores in reading and math jumped dramatically. Both teachers and students were enlivened by a more substantive curriculum.
As one veteran teacher described the change: “It’s not just something that’s compartmentalized into religion class, but it really is the most coherent way to explain reality itself. And the purpose of education is to help our children be able to grasp what reality is, what truth is, and to be able to know how to live according to that truth in their lives. That’s what we call growing in wisdom and virtue.”
Continue readingWhy Saint Pius X is the Eclipser of Errors
Editor’s Note: Post originally published on August 23, 2017.
Pius X was an influential successor of St. Peter at the turn of the 20th century. Born Giuseppe Mechiorre Sarto in 1835, he lived near Venice, Italy. Coming from a poor family of ten children, Giuseppe acquired an education aided through his keen intellect and high moral character. Eventually, he rose the ranks of the Catholic Church and became supreme pontiff in 1903. He led the Church until 1914.
To be honest, my initial knowledge about Pius X was overshadowed by his predecessor and later successor bearing the same appellation—Pius IX and Pius XII. However, the more I read and learned about the sainted bishop the more I gained an appreciation for what he offered the Church.
Marian devotion
Following the tradition of his predecessor, Pius IX, Pius X held a strong devotion to Mary. He dedicated an entire encyclical on the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception. The Italian pope definitively declared the significance of Mary in Ad Dieum Illum Laetissimum,
His Mother most holy should be recognized as participating in the divine mysteries and as being in a manner the guardian of them, and that upon her as upon a foundation, the noblest after Christ, rises the edifice of the faith of all centuries (no. 5).
Pius X lauded the intercessory nature and power of Mary throughout this encyclical letter. Safeguarding and passing on the teaching of the Church, the Italian pope cited his predecessor’s clear and definitive language on the importance of Mary. “By this companionship in sorrow and suffering already mentioned between the Mother and the Son, it has been allowed to the august Virgin to be the most powerful mediatrix and advocate of the whole world with her Divine Son (Pius IX. Ineffabilis) (no. 13), wrote Pius X.
Emphasis on the Eucharist
Pius X’s love and admiration for the Blessed Mother ultimately helped him grow in closeness with Jesus. As a result, it should not be a surprise that the saint held a deep reverence and adoration for the Sacrament of the Eucharist. If Pius X’s pontificate could be summed up in a single theme it would be the promotion of Holy Communion to young people.
In his encyclical letter, Quam Singulari the Italian pope lowered the minimum age to receive the Eucharist to seven years old. The ancient church allowed for children to receive the sacraments of initiation at a young age. Pius X condemned the error that delayed children from receiving the body and blood of Jesus until age ten or sometimes not until the adolescent years.
On Holy Communion for Youth
Over time this practice dissipated and the age to receive the Eucharist was increased. The pope wasted no time in chastising the error which distinguished the age of reason between receiving Confession and Holy Communion. He boldly proclaimed in his encyclical,
The abuses which we are condemning are due to the fact that they who distinguished one age of discretion for Penance and another for the Eucharist did so in error. The Lateran Council required one and the same age for reception of either Sacrament when it imposed the one obligation of Confession and Communion.
Therefore, the age of discretion for Confession is the time when one can distinguish between right and wrong, that is, when one arrives at a certain use of reason, and so similarly, for Holy Communion is required the age when one can distinguish between the Bread of the Holy Eucharist and ordinary bread-again the age at which a child attains the use of reason (Quam Singulari).
Pius X unified the Catholic Church by lowering the age to seven for Holy Communion. Children acquire countless graces from this sacrament to ward off evil.
Today’s world is as challenging to raise a family in the faith perhaps as any time in history. I am grateful I will have the weapon of the Eucharist to help my children fight the spiritual battles they will face daily.
Clarity of Truth
This year’s feast day of St. Pius X coincided with the epic solar eclipse. This saint and stellar event both elicit curiosity and awe. Truth has a penchant for grabbing people’s attention. Pope Pius X’s encyclicals are loaded with truth as the Italian pope acted as a guardian of Christ’s teaching. He wrote in Ascendi Dominici Gregis a lengthy refutation of the various errors and heresies surrounding his time. Pius X found the root cause of the prevalent heresy of his time—Modernism. He detailed this in his encyclical letter,
According to this teaching Modernism]…it is inferred that God can never be the direct object of science, and that, as regards history, He must not be considered as an historical subject (Ascendi Dominici Gregis no. 6).
In other words, the Enlightened Man never intends for faith and science to intermingle or coexist. According to the Modernist, a harmony between the two sources of man’s knowledge of God is simply a moral machination on the part of the Catholic Church.
From my experiences, the error of Modernity certainly eclipses truth [no pun intended!]. Creation is a revelation of God’s divine providence. Christianity is insistent that Christ became man. Knowledge through the senses is a path toward which God elects to reveal His grandeur. Amid cosmic events like the August 21st solar eclipse, humans grasp their small place in the universe. Despite our apparent insignificance, I’ve noticed that encountering God’s august nature can draw me closer to Him.
Wisdom from Pius to Guide Your Week
I discovered two concise quotes from St. Pius X to close my reflections on his life. The first concerns Mary [fun fact—the symbol of the Moon is traditionally associated with Her!] and the second relates to Christ—the true sun!
Of Mary he proclaimed, “ Let the storm rage and the sky darken — not for that shall we be dismayed. If we trust as we should in Mary, we shall recognize in her, the Virgin Most Powerful who with virginal foot did crush the head of the serpent.”
Regarding Jesus’ body and blood, the pope said, “Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven.”
Sadly, I did not get to experience the fullness of the solar eclipse of 2017. Darkness did cover the earth in my location, but clouds and storms prevented me from actually seeing the unique event of the moon aligning with the sun. I am blessed that I had an increased encounter with the true Sun—the Son of God. I am grateful for the gift of St. Pius X the Eclipser of Error who made Eucharist a priority for young people.
