My Visit with Sister Wilhelmina

[00:00:16] Speaker A: I recently returned from a trip to Gower, Missouri, to venerate Sister Wilhelmina, the founder of the Benedictines of Mary, queen of the apostles, and incorrupt. [00:00:25] Speaker B: What did I learn about this important. [00:00:28] Speaker A: Figure in the church today? I'm going to talk about today on crisis point. Hello, I'm Eric Sammons, your host editor in chief of Crisis magazine. Before we get started, I want to encourage people to smash that like button. Subscribe the channel, but don't hit the notify bell because you have a life outside the Internet. You know, I realized recently some people might not realize why I say what I say at the beginning. First of all, to smash the like button is because I heard all the young people saying that. So in my effort to be hip and cool, I thought I would start saying that, too. But I don't care if you hit it, if you tap it, whatever you do to it, just make sure you like the video. If you like it, of course. But also the don't hit the notify button. For those who aren't familiar, I'm not a big fan of our phones telling us what to do, our devices telling us where you know, what we have to see. So I have almost no notifications on my devices at all. Only like emergency basically will notify me of anything because I don't want to be told what to do by our robotic overlords. So don't hit the notify button, but subscribe. That way. You do know when you do decide to log into YouTube or wherever that we have a new episode. Okay, enough of that little diatribe. Also, you can follow us on social media at crisismag. Also, don't hit, don't do notifications on social media either. You don't need them twitter telling you when to what you have missed or whatever. Just go in there yourself and figure it out. Also, you can subscribe to our email newsletter. Just go to crisismagazine.com putting your email. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Address, and you will get our latest. [00:01:59] Speaker A: News newsletter each day. Our latest articles sent to your inbox. Okay, let me go ahead and get started here. So, as I mentioned, I recently returned from Gower, Missouri, so my family decided to take a long vacation. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Just got. [00:02:15] Speaker A: That's why we haven't had any podcasts for the past couple weeks because I've been out of town and it somewhat revolved around I was going down to Dallas for the blessed Carl symposium, and which was, which was excellent, as it always has been every time I've gone. We had some excellent speakers, crisis writer and contributing editor Charles Colomb was one of the speakers, and he was excellent as always. I met some great people down there, saw some people I've known, I've met in the past. Always good to catch up with crisis readers in person. I really do enjoy doing that. You know, sometimes this work can make you a little bit heads down, a little bit too much on the computer. And so actually interacting with people in real life is a very good thing to do. So that was, that was excellent. Also, we stopped by St. Louis. So we, like I said, we did Dallas, but we first went to St. Louis, and what was interesting is, so. [00:03:07] Speaker B: This is the view. [00:03:09] Speaker A: If you're not, if you're just listening, you can't see the picture, but this is the view from our Airbnb in St. Louis. And if you notice in the distance, not that much of a distance, there's a computer. There's a computer. There's a church building aspired right there that is actually the St. Francis de Sales Oratory in Chicago, in St. Louis, which is run by the Institute of Christ the king. So we are literally walking distance from this church. And I pulled, put up a picture of that for people to look at if they want to. Absolutely beautiful church. I always argue that my own parish has one of the most beautiful churches in America, but I will say this one, this one is, gives it a run for the money, no question about it. So if you're ever in St. Louis, be sure to go and see that. Also, while we were in St. Louis, we went to the cathedral basilica, which is just stunning. I've been to it once before, actually, the cathedral basilica there in St. Louis. [00:04:05] Speaker B: But highly recommend going there as well. [00:04:07] Speaker A: We did not go there for mass. We just went there to check it out. My children had not yet, and my wife had not yet seen it. And that's an amazing building as well. So. Yeah, so it was great to be in St. Louis. It was great to be in Dallas again. The blessed Carl symposium was excellent. We also, we went to mass that Sunday at an ordinariate parish in Arlington. Mary, Mary the Virgin. Saint Mary the Virgin. Which is, I've been to before, and. [00:04:35] Speaker B: Excellent little parish there, but the highlight of the, of, of our vacation. [00:04:43] Speaker A: And this is something. [00:04:44] Speaker B: Okay, so here's what happened when Sister. [00:04:48] Speaker A: Wilhelmina's body was found to be incorrupt. This was last year, last May, May of 2023. I did not go out to see. [00:04:56] Speaker B: Her, to venerate her, because her body. [00:04:58] Speaker A: Was exposed at that point. At first, for the first about month, maybe a few weeks. And so you could go up and you could literally touch her body, touch, you know, her incorrupt body. And I did not do that. But I know a number of people did, in fact, like, for example, some good friends of ours who live in north Carolina, one of their daughters, my. Is my godchild. They trekked all the way from North Carolina. Do it. They sent me pictures of my godchild venerating her. And I was. It was beautiful. And literally, the day after they took her body and put it behind a. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Glass casing, I. I was full of regret that I did not go out. [00:05:30] Speaker A: That I did not take my family out. We're about 910 hours away. Drive. We could have done it. We didn't do it. I'm not a big traveler. I don't like traveling a lot. I'm not a big, spontaneous person. I like playing things out. So it's not really in my wheelhouse to just say, okay, guys, we're just going to drive 9 hours. But I should have, and I know. [00:05:48] Speaker B: This now, but after that, I said. [00:05:51] Speaker A: To myself, okay, I've got to get to Gower. I got to get there with my kids, my daughters. I want them to see the abbey there. I want them to venerate sister Wilhelmina. And so when we decide we're going to go to Dallas, that's. We added the St. Louis on the way there, and we said, we're going to Gower on the way back. It's not on the way. By the way, if you're wondering if. [00:06:10] Speaker B: You look at a map, Gower is. [00:06:12] Speaker A: Not in between Dallas and Cincinnati, but it is kind of, it's closer to Dallas and is, you know, than Cincinnati is to Dallas. So it made it, you know, a break in our trip. So I really think that I decided, okay, we're gonna. That's where we're stopping back. We're going to Gower. And so we got there. [00:06:36] Speaker B: This past. [00:06:37] Speaker A: Week, and, okay, this is what's amazing about this. [00:06:40] Speaker B: So we get to Gower and ends up two different families from our parish. [00:06:47] Speaker A: In Cincinnati were there on the same. [00:06:48] Speaker B: Day, and none of us coordinated this. [00:06:51] Speaker A: It wasn't like the three families did not coordinate all between themselves, that we'd all be there today. [00:06:56] Speaker B: Plus, some good friends of ours from. [00:06:59] Speaker A: Our parish when we lived down in. [00:07:00] Speaker B: Florida were also there on that day, and that wasn't coordinated at all. [00:07:04] Speaker A: Now, we did find out about that one about a day or two before, a couple of days beforehand, that they were going to be there just like, I mean, they had planned this for years, and we planned this for months. No idea. So there's four families there that we knew, all four, all three of the other families, but there was no coordination. We all just happened to be there. [00:07:22] Speaker B: On a Tuesday in April to venerate. [00:07:24] Speaker A: Sister Wilhelmina, which I just thought that. [00:07:26] Speaker B: Was very neat to see, you know. [00:07:28] Speaker A: That there's this devotion growing to her and that people are flocking to see her. And just the fact that, you know, there's family from our parish, friends of ours from Florida all there was just made it a more special time than it would have been. And so I'm very thankful for that now when we got there. Okay, so, first of all, for those of you who have been there, you already know this, but I know a lot of people have not yet been there. So basically, Gower is about 45 minutes. [00:07:57] Speaker B: North of Kansas City, something like that. [00:07:59] Speaker A: About 45 minutes north of Kansas City in Missouri, on the Missouri side. And it's out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, it really is to drive there. You take this gravel country road for the last mile or so, and you're just driving off and all of a sudden you turn into the abbey, which has a gate and, you know, walls in the front and a gate, and you pull into it. And I will just say I have somewhat a monastic heart and I love being at monasteries. Years ago, when we lived out in DC area, every year I go on a silent retreat to a monastery about an hour, hour and a half away from DC. And I just loved it. And just being on the grounds of Masjid, I feel very much at peace. It's very beautiful. And I will just say, as soon as we pulled in, I was like, this is beautiful. This is great. I mean, we literally had just pulled in. But there's just a sense there, first of all, just, it's beautiful. Just naturally beautiful. The grounds are the abbey, as the church is, but also there's a certain. [00:09:06] Speaker B: Piece of that you. [00:09:08] Speaker A: That you. I don't know, I just feel like you notice it the second you pull in. Like, okay, I've just gone from the world, out of the world. Like, as soon as you pull in, at least that was my feeling. As soon as I pulled in, I felt like, okay, now I'm entering into a holy ground, holy space. And so that was something. And it is beautiful. So this is, you know, here's a picture I took of the abbey from, from the ground. You can see it's got a lot of land there and a lot of the land is actually back where visitors like me can't access it. I could see it from a distance, like the gardens and such, but the. [00:09:41] Speaker B: Abbey church itself is just beautiful. [00:09:44] Speaker A: I think it was dedicated in 2018. I know it wasn't much older now or much younger now, I think around 2018. And what struck me about the abbey. [00:09:55] Speaker B: Church is that it was. It was new, yet traditional. [00:10:01] Speaker A: What I mean by that is simply. [00:10:02] Speaker B: That it was a new. [00:10:06] Speaker A: Like, you could tell it was new, like, it was very good condition and everything like that. So you could tell it was new, but at the same time, it was very traditional in how it was done. I'll pull up a picture here now, because it's an abbey. It's. If the church is built for the sisters, I was not allowed to go in the front, like, in front of the altar to take a picture or anything like that, because that would be where the sisters are. And so visitors like myself are not allowed in that area, which is a good thing, by the way. I think that's the way it should be. But so I took this picture from the side where, um, it is a, uh, you know, where people, anybody can. Can go to mass on this side. And so you can kind of see the altar there. But it's very new. Like, I know I've already said that, but, like, that struck me how new it is. Like, this has clearly been built recently, yet again, it's very beautiful both on the outside. [00:11:02] Speaker B: I mean, just look at this. [00:11:03] Speaker A: If you're looking at on YouTube or where you're watching the video, it's a very beautiful church on the outside. Somebody said in the comments, very much a. Looks like a catholic church. And on the inside, you have this beautiful high altar. There's a beautiful mural, but like an image of Mary and the apostles. Because remember, this is Benedictine. Benedictine is a Mary Queen of apostles. So there's an image of that above the altar. We went to mass there, and I just, we were talking the other night. I was talking to my kids the other night, and we were talking about. I was like, okay, what was the highlight of your vacation? Of our vacation? Everybody could kind of say what it was. And for me, it really was going to mass at this, at the Abbey church, listening to the sisters as they sang responses and saying different parts of it. And as we. We just. It just was heavenly. And it was just beautiful to be there. And we were sitting literally, like, right next to practically Sister Wilhelmina's body. And so just being at mass during that was quite the, quite the experience. It was very beautiful. I mean, art, the parish I go to, like I said, in Cincinnati, is very beautiful, but it is in the middle of downtown, and so there's noises outside, a lot of activity outside. And so you do have to deal with that, which I think there's a certain beauty in that, having the mass right there in the midst of the world. I think there's a very good meaning to that, that we're not outside of the world completely. We are in the world, but yet also having the mass here at this abbey in this heavenly location outside the world, I think there's something that really soothes the soul about going there as well. And so it just instantly just a beautiful place. And also, we were very fortunate. My daughters and my wife were able to speak with one of the sisters along with some of the other families I talked about and their daughters about life in the convent and what it was like. And so I just, I was very appreciative of the sisters for allowing one of the sisters to speak with them briefly about life at the abbey and what a vocation is like there. So. But, of course, the, the big highlight of being Ann Gower at the, the abbey of the Benedictines, of Mary, Queen of Apostles is Sister Wilhelmina, Sister Wilhelmina herself. Now, for those, I've had two different podcasts already about her, and so I'm not going to go through. You can, you can search on our YouTube channel for those. So I'm not going to go in depth on, all on her, but just those who haven't watched that don't know a lot about Sister. [00:13:48] Speaker B: I want to give a very brief biography of her. Essentially, Sister Wilhelmina. [00:13:55] Speaker A: She is, was an african American from, I think, originally Missouri, but she entered a benedictine order. I think it was 1920s, 1930s, something like that. I have the book right here in front of me. I should have probably looked up the exact dates, her biography right here. But she entered that, and she was, she, she was very much drawn to the religious life, to the monastic vocation, to living as a, as a benedictine nun. But then, of course, in 1960s and seventies, her order, religious order, did what many of them did. They started to get rid of the traditional habit. They started to do a lot of the spirit of Vatican II changes. That happened to a lot of religious orders, sadly. And she did not like that. She was against those changes. She wanted to stick to what she had been doing before the spirit of adicate, who swept through her religious order. And she worked to try to return to those within her religious order. She did not say, like, okay, I don't like this. In the early seventies. I'm getting out of here. I'm just leaving. No. She knew. She made a promise, a vow to God. She wasn't going to leave her order, leave the religious life. But she really did want to return to those methods, those practices that she. [00:15:12] Speaker B: Knew were inspired by God, were directed by God, and would lead people to God. [00:15:20] Speaker A: And so she worked within the system, so to speak, within her order, to try to return to the traditional habit, return to some of the traditional practices of the relative of the order. But she met with failure after failure in doing. You know, she would go before the council of the sisters. She would try to get these changes. It never worked. Nobody basically was with her. I mean, she's by herself essentially in the order. And, you know, at times, you know, what the question did, should she form her own religious order? And she didn't really want to do that because she had made a vow. She had made a promise. She had joined this old, this religious order for life. But finally, through a number of circumstances, in 1990s, mid 1990s, she did finally start her own religious order, the benedictines of Mary, queen of the apostles. At first, it was associated with the fraternity of St. Peter, not formally, but kind of informally. But then they kind of went their separate ways. They had different visions for what they wanted from religious order. And so they were originally out in Pennsylvania, I believe it was eastern Pennsylvania. But then they eventually moved out to Missouri to Gower, which I think they moved there in 2006. So it's 1995 is when they were founded. Sister Wilhelmina found him. So if you think about it, Sister Wilhelmina was in her seventies, in her seventies when she founded this religious order. [00:16:40] Speaker B: Most people in their seventies, I mean. [00:16:43] Speaker A: They'Re retired, they're winding down. [00:16:46] Speaker B: They're not thinking of, oh, let's take. [00:16:49] Speaker A: The energy to start up a new religious order. But that's exactly what Sister Wilhelmina did. And so the order grew. It flourished. They celebrate the traditional latin mass at the Abbey church. That's what the sisters, they follow, the divine office. The traditional divine office. So they're very much, Sister Wilhelmina had a deep love for their traditional latin mass, and so that's what they returned to when she started up the order. And so it really is a beautiful story. And then in 2019, she passed away. And so let me see, what year was she born? She was born in 1924. So she was born in 1924. She became a professed oblate in 1944. I said the thirties. It was actually 44. So then she founded Benedictines Mary in 1995, but then she passed away in May of 2019. And actually, our sister publication, one Peter five, has an article about her funeral, her request mass for funeral. If you just look up on one. [00:17:48] Speaker B: Picture five, you'll find that, and that's. [00:17:51] Speaker A: Kind of the end of the story. Everybody thought, okay, this is a nice nun. Start a good order. That's great. You know, there's nothing much to it. [00:17:59] Speaker B: However, last year, April, I think it. [00:18:02] Speaker A: Was of last year, she was buried. Okay, when she was buried in 2019, she was buried in a corner of. I should go to the. You can actually go to where, when. [00:18:12] Speaker B: You'Re there, where she was buried. [00:18:15] Speaker A: Of course, the tomb is empty. Not the same way as Christ's tomb is empty, but, you know, the tomb is empty because what happened was last year they decided, okay, we're going to take her body out, exhume her body so it can be in the abbey church, so it can be properly. As a founder of a religious order would normally be put in a tomb in some type of place in the abbey church. So that's all they were planning to do. Well, they exhume her, and the expectation was it would just be bones because. [00:18:45] Speaker B: It had been four years, and I was there. [00:18:49] Speaker A: It was, like, very rainy when I was there, actually. And, you know, there's no re. [00:18:53] Speaker B: And they did not embalm her when they buried her. [00:18:57] Speaker A: So medically or scientifically, I guess you'd say it should be bones. However, what they found was her body was very well preserved, was incorrupt, and her. [00:19:07] Speaker B: Her habit and veil were actually not. [00:19:10] Speaker A: Damaged or had not disintegrated at all either, which is not scientifically explainable. So then word got out, and like I said, everybody went out to visit her. And so now, though, what it is, her body is in this. You can see if you're. If you're looking at this, in this altar that with a. Encased in glass, so you can't touch her body more. However, if you look on the picture, you can see on the left of this, her veil that she was buried in is actually sitting out. And you can touch that. In fact, I made sure, like this rosary bracelet I'm wearing right now and a few other things. I touched to the veil and touched some holy cards to the veil, which I'm going to give to my kids. And so you can actually venerate that. You can kiss the veil and whatnot. But so her body is right there, and it's accessible to visitors like they have it in the visitors gallery, so to speak, of the church where anybody can go. And, um. [00:20:07] Speaker B: And so it really is unbelievable. Now, some people might not know, like. [00:20:14] Speaker A: Really understand what we mean by incorrupt. I was recently talking to my, uh, my mom and my sister, who are both Protestant, about going to Gower. Before I left, and I mentioned this, what we were going to see. And my mom was just like, what are you even talking about? She had never heard of an incorrupt, which is understandable if you're not Catholic. But even, I think a lot of Catholics, essentially, it's the miracle in which a body is preserved from decomposition after death. There can be different levels of how much it's incorrupt, but the idea is that it doesn't have the natural process of decay that a body normally would after death. [00:20:52] Speaker B: And it's a sign. [00:20:54] Speaker A: We believe, as Catholics, that when this happens, first of all, it points to. [00:20:58] Speaker B: The resurrection, that our bodies will return. [00:21:00] Speaker A: To us fully glorified, if we presumably we get to heaven. Actually, our body is returned to us in hell as well, but not glorified. And so it points to the resurrection that our separation of body and soul is not permanent. And so this is kind of a sign of that. But also, I would say it's a sign of God's favor. It's a kind of a vote by God, so to speak, saying, my favor rested upon this person. [00:21:27] Speaker B: This person was faithful to me, and I am going to favor them with incorruptibility to show others that this person did follow me faithfully. [00:21:40] Speaker A: And so it's not a mark for canonization. For example, they can't use her body being incorrupt as one of the miracles for her canonization. But it clearly is, in my mind. [00:21:54] Speaker B: A sign from God that this is. [00:21:56] Speaker A: A person that he wants us to look towards for veneration, for emulation. And I think this is a. It's kind of a way of God saying, follow this way. [00:22:08] Speaker B: Follow this way. [00:22:10] Speaker A: This person is somebody who you can. [00:22:12] Speaker B: Look to, and you can say, this is. [00:22:16] Speaker A: This is a way of following me that is faithful. And so what? Why do I think this is such a big deal right now? [00:22:24] Speaker B: I mean, first of all, how many. [00:22:27] Speaker A: Other places in America can you sit in a church where there's an incorrupt. [00:22:30] Speaker B: Body sitting, you know, lying there a few meters from you? I don't know. [00:22:37] Speaker A: Anywhere else? Yes, there are some places, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Her body is in her shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland. You can go up to the north american martyrs. And you can't. There's no bodies there because they were destroyed. But you can know that, like Renegopel, I think it is pronounced. He is buried there. Nobody knows exactly where, but in the general area. So there are some holy places like that in America. But this isn't Europe, where, you know, you got saints bodies and bones and everything everywhere. This is America, where that just hasn't happened very much. And here we have, I believe it's the only incorrupt American, I don't know of any other income Americans. And so it really is a unique place in America that we need to recognize that. And what does it say, though, that. [00:23:26] Speaker B: She is the one, that Sister Wilhelmina is the one that has been chosen to be the incorrupt? [00:23:33] Speaker A: I think it says a few things. [00:23:34] Speaker B: First of all, I think it is. [00:23:38] Speaker A: A vote, so to speak, of God for traditional, when catholic traditionalism has been. [00:23:43] Speaker B: Attacked within the church, obviously outside the. [00:23:46] Speaker A: Church, but within the church so harshly as somehow the problem we see here's a nun who loved the traditional latin mass, joyful, beautiful, but love tradition, love. [00:23:58] Speaker B: Traditional latin mass that she's found incorrupt. [00:24:00] Speaker A: I think that should tell us that maybe you shouldn't be opposed to the traditional catholic movement. Maybe there is something there. I mean, she is part of it. [00:24:09] Speaker B: She was part of it. [00:24:11] Speaker A: And so her love the traditional latin mass should be. Is obviously was not a barrier to her sanctity. For those who think that somehow the. [00:24:18] Speaker B: Traditional latin mass should be banned, in. [00:24:21] Speaker A: Fact, it was her path to sanctity. Her path to sanctity. I also think the fact that there's. [00:24:27] Speaker B: An incorrupt American is a big deal. [00:24:30] Speaker A: In the catholic church worldwide, especially at the Vatican. American Catholics are held suspect. [00:24:36] Speaker B: America Catholics, they like our money, but. [00:24:40] Speaker A: They don't really like the way we do things. They don't like the way we do Catholicism. Well, if you read the biography of Sister Wilhelmina, she's very american. I don't mean that as an insult or as a compliment. I'm just saying that's who she was. She couldn't help it. She's american. And so I think the fact that. [00:24:56] Speaker B: He chose an american, a traditional american. [00:24:59] Speaker A: Nun, I think, is also telling. Not to say that America is great and that we're like, you know, the. Should be the beacon of hope for the church, but is to say we're not the axis of evil, either. We're not the cause. We're not the problem in the church today. In fact, I'd say, a lot of the good in the church universally does come from America right now. And I think Sister Wilhelmina is a. An example of that, the preeminent example of that. I also think the fact that she. [00:25:28] Speaker B: Was an african American is fitting and. [00:25:33] Speaker A: Is very telling because we live in a time of racial divisions that are fostered by the left. I mean, let's be honest. That's what it is. There isn't a rise of racism because Donald Trump was elected by the same people who voted for Barack Obama, by the way. I mean, if you look, a lot of people vote for Obama, voted for Trump. [00:25:51] Speaker B: That wasn't racism. It was the left stirring up racial divisions. [00:25:57] Speaker A: George Floyd, obviously, is an example of that. What happened after the riots and everything. So the left has stirred up these racial divisions. Well, if you look at sister Wilhelmina. [00:26:05] Speaker B: Who did suffer discrimination as a black american, he made it very clear she's not going to play the victim card. [00:26:14] Speaker A: She is going to. She embraced who she was. She didn't, like, try to run from it, but at the same time, she didn't play the victim card. She didn't act like, okay, all the, all discrimination, all the problems in the world, oh, I'm such a victim. Everybody should feel sorry for me. Everybody should give me things. No, she's like, I'm going to be. [00:26:30] Speaker B: Faithful to God in the life that he has given me. [00:26:34] Speaker A: I'm not going to blame others for my hardships. I'm just simply going to be faithful. I think that's another sign for us today of how we are to be. Not play the victim card, no matter what our situation is, but just embrace each person as an image and likeness of God, as a child of God. I think that's what Sister Wilhelmina did. [00:26:54] Speaker B: And I think that's a example for us. [00:26:57] Speaker A: So I really do believe that Sister Wilhelmina is kind of the saint for today. And by the way, just to be clear, I know she's not canonized saint yet. Obviously, the process, I don't even think has been started yet. And I will defer to the authority of the church to declare canonizations. Obviously, I'm not declaring, declaring it. But if you look at the history. [00:27:16] Speaker B: Of the church, this is how canonizations. [00:27:19] Speaker A: Traditionally happened, is there was a groundswell support from the people who said, this person is a saint. Church officials, you need to canonize her. Him or her. [00:27:31] Speaker B: And that's what I'm saying here. [00:27:32] Speaker A: This person was a saint. Sister Wilhelmina is a saint. [00:27:35] Speaker B: I can declare it. I'm not declaring it. [00:27:38] Speaker A: That she's canonized, but I can declare. [00:27:39] Speaker B: It, because I see from her life. [00:27:42] Speaker A: From her works, and from the incorrupt nature of her body that she is a saint, that she is favored by God, that she was faithful to God. [00:27:50] Speaker B: And so I believe that this is. [00:27:54] Speaker A: Something that I really do think is a way God works in the world. We get so caught up in, like, church politics and trying to figure things out, okay, how can we make the church better? [00:28:05] Speaker B: This. [00:28:05] Speaker A: We got to do this. We got to do this. And I understand a lot of that is necessary. I mean, we do that crisis, I do that. But ultimately, the way God works is different. And I think this is one of the ways he's working, is through the example Sister Wilhelmina building up a devotion to her and asking for her intercession for the church today. So I'm just kind of leave it at this. First, is, if you have not been. [00:28:28] Speaker B: To gower, I highly recommend that you go. [00:28:32] Speaker A: I mean, I urge you to go make. Make the effort to get there. There's Airbnbs in the area. They even have a guest house, which I think is taken most of the time. But. But they have. Airbnb's near. You could even stay in a hotel down in Kansas City and drive up. [00:28:46] Speaker B: It's. [00:28:46] Speaker A: It's well worth it. You definitely need to go to Gower, get there, make a pilgrimage there. It really is a pilgrimage. Not just a vacation or trip, but a pilgrimage. Make a pilgrimage to Gower and be there. Also, if you can support the sisters, the. The benedictines of Mary, queen of apostles, support their order. Uh, so they've actually added another, um, abbey, uh, in. Elsewhere in Missouri, because they've grown so much that they couldn't fit everybody in the. In the. In the mother house. And I believe I've heard rumors they're. They're doing a third one, but don't hold me to that. But I believe I heard rumors to that effect. Um, because they are growing so much to support them anyway. Obviously, their prayers with donations, and by the way, they accept bitcoin, which is this bitcoin guy loves. You know, I gotta mention that as well. So support them, but also pray for Sister Wilhelmina's intercession. Pray for her intercession for the church today, particularly a church in America, but the church universal, as well. And pray for. Excuse me. [00:29:51] Speaker B: Pray for her canonization, that the process. [00:29:53] Speaker A: For canonization would be started, and that eventually she would be raised to the altars. I think that would be a beautiful sign and a beautiful witness. To her life. So, again, pray for her. You can pray for intercession. Now, obviously, privately you can't. What I'm saying is that I understand they can't have masses in her name or anything like that. I'm not saying that. But you can, as a Catholic, pray for her intercession. And so, again, make it to gower if you can. [00:30:22] Speaker B: It was. [00:30:23] Speaker A: It was a wonderful place for me to go. I'm very glad we went. And I would encourage everybody else to go and just continue to pray to Sister Wilhelmina. Okay, that's it for now, everybody. Until next time. God love you and sister Wilhelmina, pray for us.