will to flower

✝️ ora et labora 🇻🇦

[talitha---koum]

Even if I weren’t faithful, I would still adore Christ and Christianity — there is no other faith that provides both a logically & emotionally compelling mythos that holds the world so steadily in Its Truth.

Through something as clean and plain as the single thread of love, Christianity hems sharp realities and weaves all contradictions into one cohesive and beautiful cloak that both dignifies and comforts the world.

I thank God that I was born in a Catholic-majority country; for the freedom and the access to the rich tradition that celebrates His Mystery.

[talitha---koum]

Sentiments above renewed after beginning to read Magnifica Humanitas and after Pope Leo XIV’s humble asking for pardon for the Vatican’s role in colonialism and enslavement.

The wheel of history according to our Lord turns once more.

The future more evidently belongs to Him and His Church than it ever has.

[thought-bubble-doodly-doo]

The thing about converting to Catholicism is that you HAVE to do it. And I'm not talking about YOU personally (girl reading this). Although you're certainly welcome/encouraged to join the church. What I mean is that, when you are convinced of the Church's claim that it is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church founded by Christ himself, when you are convinced of that truth, you kind of have no choice but to convert.

There are things I did not understand about Catholicism when I converted. There are things I still don't understand about Catholicism or even necessarily agree with. But I know they're the Truth. I know they're right, because the Catholic church is kind of like the "All of the Above" answer in a quiz. If you know A is right, and you understand that B is right, but you're not sure about C, there's not a "Both A and B" option. You HAVE to pick "All of the Above."

All my life I have heard the criticism that Christians pick and choose what to believe by what benefits them, and I really admired that the Catholic Church just straight up said, "No you have to follow EVERYTHING. EVERY little rule. EVERYTHING. <3" A huge part of being Catholic is submitting to the authority of the Catholic church, and trusting that the Holy Spirit has guided the Magisterium for 2000+ years and will continue to do so forever.

So when I decided to convert, I knew I was gonna have to change my ways to fit in accordance with what the Church told me was right. Because if I am not in accordance with the Church, I am not in accordance with God. The Truth cannot change, so I must change. I must convert. I must reform myself. I must become Catholic, because if Catholicism is the truth, then why would I ever want to live in a lie?

[talitha---koum]

Real. And in re: the replies…

I also love Catholicism because it’s like the oldest marriage of people who don’t always like each other but are fully committed to and intentional about loving each other.

I see priests who begrudge their obedience to the Holy Father. I see priests who shade each other. And priests that are downright repulsive to not just the faith but basic human morality.

It’s so real and messy. It’s giving the absolute dumpster fire (affectionate) that is the Book of Genesis. And it’s so humbling to remain a part of it.

Here lies a microcosm of all human frailty and drama, guided by the steady Hand of God, to Whom all submit and through Whom we still resolve to extend each other love.

If you want to know what love really is, and what it means in light of its natural tension with free will — that powerful concept that emboldens us to walk away any time — Catholicism is the way to go.

[talitha---koum]

You simply cannot surrender to God just once.

The moment you bravely say you will surrender to Him “all of you”, He will smile and reveal an infinity of depth about you that you haven’t known well enough about yourself to give to Him.

And maybe that is what’s safe.

To know — to glimpse — the maddening complexity of your inner workings outside a committed relationship with your Creator is to curse yourself with foolishness, if not downright insanity.

There is a reason they call you fearfully and wonderfully made by the Lord.

Only He knows you well enough to know that you haven’t the faintest idea of what He is asking you to give.

And only He has the Love, the Wisdom, and the Authority to teach you how to name each part of you and how to offer it all back to Him.

—

With gentle distinction: This reflection arises from personal prayer and has not been reviewed against official Catholic teaching. I offer it as part of my faith journey, not as authoritative doctrine.

[talitha---koum]

Christ's peace is not the silence of the tomb after a conflict, and it is not the result of subjugation. Peace is a gift that gazes at others and renews their lives. Let us pray for this peace, which is reconciliation, forgiveness, and courage to turn the page and start again.

Pope Leo XIV

[talitha---koum]

In our journey to imitate Jesus, may the Lord continue molding our hearts to that of Christ, the Good Shepherd.

May we tend to each flock under our care with the gentle and firm hands of Christ Himself.

May no flock be too few or too large for us to guide in strict keeping with His Instruction, training up those under our care in the ways that the Lord trained us in our spiritual youth.

[talitha---koum]

My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me.

John 10:27

[talitha---koum]

You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.

St. Augustine of Hippo

[eternal-echoes]

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” If we reflect on the scene we are considering, we might find two possible answers, which characterize two different attitudes.

First, there is the world’s response. Matthew tells us that this conversation between Jesus and his disciples takes place in the beautiful town of Caesarea Philippi, filled with luxurious palaces, set in a magnificent natural landscape at the foot of Mount Hermon, but also a place of cruel power plays and the scene of betrayals and infidelity. This setting speaks to us of a world that considers Jesus a completely insignificant person, at best someone with an unusual and striking way of speaking and acting. And so, once his presence becomes irksome because of his demands for honesty and his stern moral requirements, this “world” will not hesitate to reject and eliminate him.

Then there is the other possible response to Jesus’ question: that of ordinary people. For them, the Nazarene is not a charlatan, but an upright man, one who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things, like other great prophets in the history of Israel. That is why they follow him, at least for as long as they can do so without too much risk or inconvenience. Yet to them he is only a man, and therefore, in times of danger, during his passion, they too abandon him and depart disappointed.

What is striking about these two attitudes is their relevance today. They embody notions that we could easily find on the lips of many men and women in our own time, even if, while essentially identical, they are expressed in different language.”

-Pope Leo XIV, Holy Mass with the College of Cardinals, May 9, 2025

[talitha---koum]

[talitha---koum]

May each work we perform, no matter the nature, be imbued with the same elegance, intelligence, timelessness, and truthfulness that are the legacy of our Catholic faith.

May we all, members of the Body of Christ that we are, make each other proud.

[talitha---koum]

May we all be of quiet and sober minds. May we all mature into contentment with simple but profound truths and with simple but profound works.

[sulieen]

It’s a strange thing—to truly taste what it means to give up everything and have only Christ remain.

Sometimes I sit quietly and look around. I try to imagine my life stripped bare—no possessions, no comforts, no attachments. I’ve never placed much value on my own things, so the idea of losing them doesn’t trouble me. But then I think of what belongs to those I love: my mom’s piano, my father’s paintings, his books... what they have kept in their decades of life... What will become of them when they’re gone? Who will care, if not me?

And so I keep returning to Philippians 3:7–8, and it burns more deeply each time:

"Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…"

It feels strange to say it aloud, but this even includes my work.

I’m an Artist. I paint. Art once saved me—and in many ways, it led me to God. But now, I’m facing the aching truth: even Art is rubbish compared to Him. And it brings further to realization that without Jesus, everything I’ve ever done, everything I’ve ever clung to, becomes hollow.

My life, stripped of Him, loses its meaning. And yet... I feel lucky to have this opportunity.

The bittersweetness comes in waves, but so does peace. I’ve realized that from this point on, everything I do—everything—must be for Him. In His name. Through His love. He has become the measure of all things. My compass. My light.

And if that means walking away from all else, then so be it. Because nothing compares to gaining Christ.

[talitha---koum]

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 6:8

[talitha---koum]

Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Mark 16:15

[talitha---koum]

For, not in vain did God set the light of reason in the human mind; and so far is the super-added light of faith from extinguishing or lessening the power of the intelligence that it completes it rather, and by adding to its strength renders it capable of greater things.

Aeterni Patris. Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the restoration of Christian philosophy.

[talitha---koum]

May God bless all Catholics, especially those newly baptized and those starting out with their own families under the papacy of Pope Leo XIV.

[pharmaciacatholica-deactivated2]

I am a son of Saint Augustine—an Augustinian—who said: "With you I am a Christian; for you I am a bishop.” In this spirit we can all walk together toward that homeland God has prepared for us.

Pope Leo XIV