Yesterday I was angry and very sad. Today I am abandoning myself to Divine Providence as I should.
Most of you reading this opening line will say, yeah, yeah Sofia, what’s this rant about? It’s not a rant this time, it’s an observation of why I love being Roman Catholic. Being Catholic affords me the gift of being a member of the Body of Christ as my family…the ultimate support system and just like family, quite abit of angst at times. This time it started out really aggravating. It went to anger, then sadness and hurt, then letting go and finally, prayer and an answer.
I started Always Catholic to leave a piece of me behind. My health situation leaves me never knowing when God would be calling me home so even a tiny legacy was my wish. Mary Wellman (@AncientSoul on Twitter & author of BattleBeadsBlog and BattleBeads.com Rosary/Jewelry maker extraordinaire) was and is my mentor and without her there wouldn’t be AlwaysCatholic. For her, I am truly grateful. She kept me going in order to be recognized immediately and published often by the Brothers Archbold at CreativeMinorityReport.com which pushed the site’s readership to dizzying heights.
As Always Catholic moved along with much positive response from readers I fell to the sin against charity. In my enthusiasm and love of the Faith I started to rant against those in charge who were neglecting their duties to the faithful. I am a straight up Jersey girl and did not mince words. One post in particular I went after Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago concerning the infamous Father Michael Pfleger. That was the day Lisa Graas came into my life. She commented to me on Twitter with gentle, loving fraternal correction. She made me think and actually feel uplifted by her Catholic duty to help me. Later that week I was on Twitter having fun going back and forth with Catholic Twitter friends and Lisa joined in and we had a wonderful time. At that time I didnt realize that she was THE Lisa Graas. In my childlike behavior, I knew who she was as a profound, authentic Catholic writer but I never thought that it was she who was my spiritual mentor. I thought the names were similar and that was it.
One of the Twitter friends sent me a private message and said, “Do you know who Lisa Graas is? I said she’s a Catholic on Twitter. She has a name similar to the Catholic writer…” My friend laughed and laughed saying, “Sofia, don’t ever grow up…your child-like demeanor keeps you sane.”
I came back on the public timeline and private messaged Lisa…I said to her, “I’m sorry I didn’t know you were THE Lisa Graas” she thought that was very amusing and we became sisters in Christ that night. Lisa has never left my side from that day and has been there for me as the mentor I needed to complete my circle.
I am writing this today because I want people to be aware of the evil that is pervasive in the world. I do not want ot blame the Internet, social media on this one. This is the same evil that has affected the Church since the day after Pentecost. Lisa ia a white martyr. She does not shed the physical blood of martyrs but is a “white” martyr as coined by Pope John Paul II. Her suffering is the same as those who spilled and will spill their blood for the Faith. sometimes I think perhaps that would be preferable. To become a martyr when given the choice of physically dying or denying your Faith. The day in day out, relentless evil that attacks those truly holy like Lisa is much tougher in my humble opinion.
Lisa Graas’ blog is no more. Her final post is done.The Catholic Blogosphere is the loser. Lisa walks in Faith now with the Her Saviour and a monastery of Passionist nuns for support. “It’s about Jesus, she says…”
Personal attacks on her to me are of the lowest there can be. Lisa has given so much to us while asking for nothing in return. She made the mistake of being an orthodox Catholic in a world and in a country where that is laughed at. She made the mistake for being faithful to her Lord and to her Church. She told the truth.
“But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:16 Lisa Graas is not lukewarm, she never will be. Why? Because in the end, “it’s about Jesus…”
Beware to those who call themselves Catholic….Are you lukewarm? I don’t know about you, but I’m going to follow the lead of my mentor and speak the Truth, to never be lukewarm and know that it’s about Jesus…”
I am providing the link on the backstory of why Lisa Graas closed her blog. I will not give a forum for those who sought to personally attack her by putting the articles up here. AlwaysCatholic is not here to sensationalize this story, however I encourage you to go to her site which is about the Passionist message. She has also opened a thread for her friends to comment. The back story is posted there also. LisaGraas.com
A little note to this story: Lisa defended a colleague and friend when the friend was being attacked on her blog by endless visits to her blog by anonymous readers with an agenda of hate against Catholics. In defense of her friend, Lisa posted the story and took up her friend’s cause. Her friend freely expressed her opinion as a Mother and as a Catholic. As a result, it was CATHOLICS who personally attacked Lisa. “And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
Biblical References are from the Douay Rheims version of Scripture.
A special thank you to my fiance, Sean Norris, my personal @Commonpatriot for his support ad help in ALL THINGS ALWAYS CATHOLIC