In this final episode of Season 1 of Saints for Slackers, Lisa Martinez and Tammi McCarthy review the reasons for creating this podcast. They discuss how there is a universal call to holiness that God gives us. They mention several saints and episodes that strengthen this call and remind us that we too are to embrace this call.
Lisa and Tammi talk about our woundedness and hurt in light of Jesus’ wounds. God calls us to be like Christ in how he allowed St Thomas to touch his wounds and believe who He was. He entered into emotional intimacy with St Thomas when he allowed him to see His woundedness. God asks us to do this for others. To allow our areas of hurt to speak life into others.
Lisa dives into the emotional connection that the apostles must have had with Jesus. She brings us into the story of the Resurrection. She allows us to feel the pain of their friendship and interaction in knowing that Jesus is leaving them. But as we witness the grief and loss that the apostles are experiencing, it also allows us to enter into the pain of death. We know that pain. As we focus on Jesus’s last words to his grieving friends, we are reminded of His greatest gift: the Holy Spirit.
Jesus tells us that He must go. He leaves us the Holy Spirit and tells us that “you will do greater things than I” through the Holy Spirit. We discuss this “resurrection power” that Jesus leaves us.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
Lisa presents a new saint, Blessed Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, because of his profound love for the Easter Vigil and all it represents.
Blessed “Charlie” “was the first Puerto Rican, the first Caribbean-born layperson and the first layperson in the United States’ history to be beatified.” He was tireless in his service to the Church, as a catechist and choir manager, but he was a man before his time–who stood at the forefront of the liturgical movement in Puerto Rico.
On April 29, 2001, Charlie was beatified by His Holiness (now Saint) John Paul II, whom two podcasters have spoken about during this premiere season of Saints for Slackers (1st Patrick Novecosky here; then 2nd Fr. Chas Canoy here.) Several years ago, Lisa went on a pilgrimage with fellow teammate Kelli Davis, who works for Magnificat Travel. This pilgrimage company took them to Puerto Rico, where they visited where he was born in Caguas (in 1918) and met a relative of his.
St. John Paul II said that Blessed Carlos Manuel Rodriguez’s spirituality revolved around his faith in the Resurrection. He considered the Easter Vigil as the ‘defining moment of Christian spiritual life,’ often telling others (vivimos para esa noche) or “We live for that night.”
Ven. Carlos provides the laity a great example. He embraced his Catholicism, living a deep and fulfilling Christian life as an active member of his Church community. He died, gifted with participating in the Lord’s passion and resurrection in his own body. Charlie endured the dark night of the soul and finally was reunited with the Lamb of God. From his enlightenment, “he passed on the light of the Paschal Vigil to many others.”
Are we witnessing to Christ’s light and resurrection power through how we speak, serve and live our lives?
LINKS MENTIONED IN PODCAST:
Register for our LIVE Crowdcast Glory Stories event on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 7:00 PM Central here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/glory-stories-sharing
Fr. Mark-Mary video on How to Find Healing Together: https://media.ascensionpress.com/video/how-to-find-healing-together/
John Paul II Healing Center in Tallahassee, FL: https://jpiihealingcenter.org/
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