I've learned something over the last couple of months.
You can't help someone who doesn't want help.
You can't warn someone who refuses to hear.
You can't protect someone who doesn't want to be protected.
Sometimes people, as hard as you may try, are on a mission to self destruct.
But God sees your heart. He knows you tried.
Father Adrian Mantykiewicz, who was injured in a stabbing attack at a Polish monastery that killed another priest, celebrated Mass two days later with his head and hand bandaged. In his homily, he said he forgives the attacker and urged people to pray for him, especially for the grace of conversion.
BREAKING: Another Princeton philosopher has announced his conversion to Catholicism as a result of studying miracles.
Noah McKay joins Joe Schmid as the second philosopher to convert at the prestigious university.
Please pray urgently for the daughter of some friends of ours. She fell 12 feet yesterday at a trampoline park and broke her back in three places. She also has compressed discs and damaged ligaments in her neck. Her name is Lauren. She’s 9 💔
For anyone taking care of their elderly mom:
Remember, she never counted the times she woke up to soothe your cries, banish the monsters under your bed, and comforted you back to sleep.
Don’t count the times she needs you now.
Remember to hold her hand as she can only take small steps now, just like she held yours when you needed to be steadied.
Don’t get frustrated when she repeats herself, she spent all her life listening to your trials and tribulations and always knew how to comfort and celebrate you.
When her memory begins to fade, remember, she knew you first and has loved you the longest.
Remember, as her world gets smaller, don’t let her feel alone. For her entire life, you have always filled her world.
Don’t abandon her now.
It’s hard watching the one who gave you life, or the one who chose you, to slowly lose theirs.
It’s even harder for them to know their earthly journey is coming to an end.
This is the priest who died on the Titanic to hear confessions and administer last rites.
Given the opportunity to board a lifeboat on two separate occasions, Father Thomas Byles firmly declined. He chose instead to stay behind, absolving sins and consoling the doomed passengers.
Following the vessel's collision with the iceberg, he assembled the remaining crowds on the aft deck.
Those who lived through the disaster recalled him standing bravely amid the panic, listening to confessions, granting collective absolution, and reciting the Rosary right up until the ocean claimed the stern.
This is the type of story we should elevate, heroic virtue. May the Lord bless us with more holy men possessing the courage of Father Thomas Byles.
As the world's highest IQ record holder, I was once an atheist, and it eventually led me to a suicide attempt. Then I found Jesus Christ. I found truth. I found hope. I found a reason to live. Now I know this above all else: Jesus Christ is Lord.