Say Yes to Holiness Newsletter #341
Inspiration for the week of November 17, 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly Say Yes to Holiness newsletter—designed to help inspire, encourage and accompany you on the path towards holiness.
We are quickly reaching the end of the liturgical year, and this reality is seen in the liturgical readings that we hear being proclaimed at Mass.
In fact, Jesus paints a fairly terrifying picture in yesterday’s Gospel.
He speaks of false prophets, wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues, signs from the sky, nation versus nation, kingdom versus kingdom, and all the stones of the Temple being thrown down.
Jesus then goes on to add that before this happens, we will be seized and persecuted by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends.
I can definitely sympathize with Jesus’ listeners who ask when all this might happen-because I want to know too!
Yet, an even more pressing question might be, why is this all going to happen?
Jesus tells us.
So that we can give testimony.
So, in this week’s Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet our focus will be what we need so that we can give that testimony as we continue on our journey towards holiness…
Food for the Head
"The infinite is our homeland. Heaven has been waiting for us forever.”—Saint Carlos Acutis
First thing we need in order to give witness is to remember what our end goal is—heaven.
Saint Carlos Acutis reminds us that the infinite is our homeland and that heaven has been waiting forever for us to come home.
If we remember that this place is not our eternal home, then we will have the courage to give testimony to what really matters—life with our Heavenly Father for all eternity.
If our eyes are NOT on our homeland, then we will be tempted to be silent and to say nothing in the face of evil and injustice.
So, step one to being able to give testimony?
Keep your eyes on your heavenly homeland.
This week, resolve to be courageous and speak out against injustice.
Food for the Heart
"To love until the end: here is the key to understanding Christ’s heart.”—Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV gives us a beautiful guide for how we can understand Christ’s desirs for us—to love until the end.
What does loving until the end mean for us?
Prayer and spending time in silence so that we may be filled with the love we need to love always and well.
Prayer is the foundation and silence ensures that we will hear God’a voice.
Prayer is about showing up over and over again. If we show up, then we will be ready to give testimony when the time comes.
Silence helps to clear out any the clutter that might distract us from hearing God’s voice, and that will allow us to be filled with His words when we give our testimony.
Both of these will help us understand Christ’s heart and love until the end.
This week, resolve to spend time in silence.
Food for the Hands
"The times are never bad but that a good man can live in them.”—Saint Thomas More
Saint Thomas More definitely lived through some difficult times.
The politics of his day were constantly shifting and swirling in such a way that one minute you might be in the good graces of the King, but then the next you were not, and off with your head! (Sound a little familiar?)
This is literally what happened to Saint Thomas during the early days of the split of England with the Pope and the Catholic Church and the beginnings of what is now known as the Anglican Church of England.
The fact is that Thomas reminds us that regardless of the times, a good man (or woman) are able to live in them and bear witness to goodness, truth and beauty regardless of what might be happening all around them.
Our world today tells us that this is not possible as you can only be a good person if your circumstances allow for it, but this is not the case at all.
It is possible to be a good person (a person of virtue) regardless of the circumstances you may find yourself, and this is what it means to give testimony.
Now, being a good person is different than simply being a nice person.
Being nice can be a part of being good, but being nice is NOT the standard of good.
The standard of what it is to be good is virtue.
Therefore, the standard of being a good person is to be a person of virtue.
And to be a person of virtue—regardless of circumstances—is the best testimony we can give as to the reality of God’s presence, goodness and care for each and every one of us.
So, this week, don’t just be nice, be a good person.
A person of virtue.
This week, resolve to be a person of virute.
Food for the Feet
"Obedience is infallible when it is not contrary to morality.”—Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta
It’s difficult to be obedient sometimes, isn’t it?
We know that we should follow the law and obey the rules, but is obedience only about not going beyond what is allowed or doing what you are told?
No.
Obedience is only obedience if it is not contrary to morality.
Saint Mother of Teresa shares this wisdom with us in the context of trying to help us ensure that we do not do things in our lives that might look obedient—i.e. you are abiding by a law—but are truly not, because the law is not moral.
And if the law is not moral, then we must not be obedient to it.
But the only way to be able to do this is to know the moral law and abide by it.
The moral law is rooted in God’s commandments and His Word, and augmented by the natural law. Therefore, we must be knowledgable and immersed in each of these.
It is only by combining this knowledge and awareness and living it out in obedience that we are capable of being a moral person.
And striving to be a moral person is a necessity if we are to give witness when the time comes for us to do so.
This week, resolve to be obedient to the moral law as an example for others.
Exhortation
"Love is everything, and because it is eternal, embraces all times and places.”—Saint Therese of Lisieux
Saint Therese gives us the final insight into what we will need to bear witness as we keep our eyes on our homeland—love.
Love is everything.
And love is eternal, so it embraces all times and places.
God is love, and is eternal and embraces all times and places.
And God embraces each one of us.
It is His love that gives us the grace and strength we need to keep our eyes on our eternal homeland and have the courage to speak to power and in the face of injustice.
It is through prayer and silence that we are able to love until the end.
It is love that helps us not be just a nice person, but to be a good person.
And finally, it is through, with, and in love that we can become knowledgable of the moral law and live obediently to it.
In all these ways we will bear witness to God’s great love in the midst of whatever comes.
So, keep doing WHATEVER IT TAKES to be capable of giving testimony, so that together we can tell the Master of Death, "NOT TODAY!"
All the best,
Christina
Below are the Latest Happenings In the Say Yes to Holiness Community!
Guest appearances on the Religion to Reality podcast:
Catholic Podcasting with Paul Fahey, Christina Semmens, and Jose Manuel de Urquidi
Living the Works of Mercy: Bridging Faith and Action
(My comments can be found around the 24 minute mark.)
Guest appearance on the Equipcast Podcast:
"When God Asks, How Do You Answer?: The Power of 'Yes' with Christina Semmens
Posts on the Women of the New Evangelization (WINE) blog in 2025:
NEW!! Do Not Be Terrified (Nov 16)
Gaining Wisdom of Heart (Sept 9)
The Passion of the Passion (Apr 13)
Bearing Fruit in a Pruning Season (March 23)
Putting Out Into the Deep (Feb 9)
Article on Catholic365.com Platform:
We Are All Eucharistic Missionaires!
Latest episode of the Say Yes to Holiness podcast...
Episode #252--”I Am She Who Is Not”--1:1 with Jenny DuBay, Author
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The Say Yes to Holiness YouTube Channel
Episode #252--”I Am She Who Is Not”--1:1 with Jenny DuBay, Author
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle content continues! Here is the latest...
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle is a initiative that shares and discusses content from my upcoming book (also to be named The Catholic Leadership Puzzle) that focuses upon how we each can help to create life-giving communities where we can become the holy men and women that God created us to be.