Episode Transcript  

One

Bl. Solanus Casey  

Today, we celebrate an American who reached the heights of holiness, Blessed Solanus Casey.

Born on November 25th, 1870, near Oak Grove, Wisconsin, he was one of sixteen children in a hardworking Irish immigrant family. In 1894, he entered the Capuchin Franciscans. But even though the seminary was in Wisconsin, all classes were taught in Latin and German, two languages he couldn’t master. Because of this, his superiors concluded he lacked the intelligence for full priestly ministry.

He was ordained in 1904, but only as a simplex priest. He wasn’t allowed to preach homilies or hear confessions. He could offer Mass privately and perform the ordinary duties of a religious brother. Most humiliating of all, they assigned him to be the porter, the doorman, at the monastery in downtown Detroit.

In the eyes of the world, he had been set aside, underestimated, and passed over. But faced with a situation he couldn’t control, Fr. Solanus had a choice: become bitter, angry, and walk away, or trust that God was working even this for his good. He chose to trust God. And he began to live by a simple but profound motto, “Thank God ahead of time.” Those five words became the secret to his holiness and the doorway through which God worked countless miracles through him.

Two

Doorman 

When we face painful and difficult realities, we must do what we can to resolve them. But once we’ve done all we can, we’re faced with a choice: either cling tighter, striving to control what is beyond us, or let go, and entrust what we cannot fix to God. The first shuts God out. The second gives Him room to work. Fr. Solanus Casey entrusted the humiliating injustice done to him, being silenced, overlooked, and assigned to answer the monastery door, to Divine Providence. And because he gave God room to work, God worked miracles.

During the Great Depression, when people were desperate, sick, hungry, and heartbroken, they would come to the Franciscan Monastery in downtown Detroit and knock on the door. And who would answer? Fr. Solanus. He listened. He comforted. He gave what little material help he could. But more often, people came with problems no one could fix: terminal cancer, broken marriages, addictions, despair. 

He would write each person’s name and need in his journal, promise to pray for them at Mass, and gently encourage them to do what he had learned to do: “Thank God ahead of time.” And then, miracles happened. People returned with stories of healing, reconciliation, peace, and impossible breakthroughs. Word spread. Crowds grew. But Fr. Solanus remained the same, humble, joyful, trusting. 

When he died in 1957, more than 10,000 people came to his wake and funeral, almost all with a story to tell, how one man’s quiet trust opened the floodgates of grace. In 1987, his body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt. Today, it rests behind glass beneath the chapel at the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit, where people still come to knock and ask for help. And on November 18, 2017, in front of 70,000 people at Ford Field in Detroit, Fr. Solanus Casey was declared Blessed, one step away from sainthood.

Three

During the Great Depression, St. Bonaventure’s, the monastery in Detroit where Casey lived, ran a soup kitchen where thousands of people lined up each day. 

One day, the food ran out with hundreds still waiting in line. Fr. Solanus came outside, gathered the people, saying, “In this moment that looks very uncertain, we will thank God ahead of time for taking care of us.” He then began to lead them in praying the Our Father. At the very moment when he got to the words “Give us this day our daily bread,” a bakery truck pulled up and provided bread for everyone. 

Solanus Casey was absolutely confident that no matter what happens, if God is Our Father, we will be okay. We are safe. 

Four

This life is not the end of the story

Fr. Solanus Casey saw many miracles. But not every prayer ended in healing. A friend once brought his sick child to visit him. Fr. Solanus gently said, “Go to the chapel and tell God He can have her.” The child died a few days later from undetected pleurisy.

Why does God heal some and not others? We don’t know. But we do know this: God only permits evil, suffering, or loss if He intends to bring about a greater good, even from what is truly bad. We are not asked to thank God for evil. That would be absurd. But we can thank Him ahead of time for the good He will bring out of it.

That’s what Christian hope is: the unshakable certainty that God works all things for good for those who love Him (Rom 8:28). Jesus did this at the Last Supper. He knew the Cross was coming. Yet He gave thanks, Eucharist, ahead of time. So can we. Because in Christ, even the worst suffering is not the end of the story.

Five

Remedy for Anxiety 

If you want to live free from anxiety and worry, learn to make one essential distinction: What can I control and what can I not?

Do what you can. That is your responsibility. But everything beyond your control? That belongs to God. It is not your responsibility.

When you try to control what is not yours, you’ll be consumed by fear, frustration, and exhaustion. But when you place what is beyond you into God’s hands and thank God ahead of time to do what is best, you give God room to work miracles, and you will find peace.

That’s why Fr. Solanus Casey, who carried so many people’s pain and saw both suffering and miracles, lived by one simple rule of life, “Thank God ahead of time.” It wasn’t just his motto. It was his peace. And it can be yours too.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

• Whatever you’re worried about right now, offer thanksgiving by going to Mass or adoration, thanking God ahead of time for his answer to your prayer, whatever His answer may be.

• Father Solanus Casey met people where they were at, simply greeting people at the door and listening to them in deep friendship. This week, be more present and listen more actively to the people that are already in your life.

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