Solanus Casey (2026)
One
Blessed Solanus Casey
Today we celebrate Blessed Solanus Casey. He was born in Wisconsin in 1870 to a hardworking Irish immigrant family. When he was twenty, he entered the diocesan seminary in Milwaukee. But he struggled academically because classes were taught in German and Latin, so they suggested he consider a religious order instead.
In 1897 he joined the Franciscans, where he was ordained as a simplex priest. That meant he could celebrate Mass, but he was not allowed to preach homilies or hear confessions because they did not think he was intelligent enough. Instead, he was assigned to answer the door at the monastery. He was relegated to be a doorman because he struggled to learn very complex things in two new languages. If it were me, I would have been very angry. Not Solanus.
Faced with something he could not change, Fr. Solanus had a choice. He could become bitter, angry, and resentful, or he could trust that God was working even this for his good. He chose trust. His whole life came to be summed up in five unforgettable words, "Thank God ahead of time."
Those five words became the secret of his holiness.
Two
The Doorman
Whenever we face something bad, we should do everything we reasonably can to change it. But once we've done what we can, we reach a crossroads. We either keep trying to control what we cannot, or we surrender it to God. Control leaves no room for God. Trust does.
Fr. Solanus entrusted the humiliating injustice done to him, being silenced, overlooked, and assigned to answer the monastery door. He entrusted this to Divine Providence. And because he gave God room to work, God worked miracles.
During the Great Depression, thousands of people came to the Franciscan monastery in Detroit carrying burdens no one else could solve: terminal illness, broken marriages, addictions, financial ruin, grief, and despair. And who was the first person they met at the door? Fr. Solanus welcomed them, listened to them, comforted them, and wrote each person's name and intention in his prayer journal. He promised to pray for their needs at Mass and gently encouraged them to do what he himself had learned: "Thank God ahead of time."
Then people began returning with miraculous stories of healing, reconciliation, peace, and answers to prayer. God placed Fr. Solanus exactly where He needed him, and Solanus was able to cooperate with God because he trusted God when things were beyond his control.
Three
Thank God Ahead of Time
Throughout the Depression, the Franciscan monastery ran a soup kitchen where thousands lined up each day for food. One day the food ran out while hundreds of people were still waiting. Fr. Solanus came outside, gathered everyone together, and said, "In this moment that looks very uncertain, let us thank God ahead of time for taking care of us."
He began praying the Our Father. Just as everyone prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread," a bakery truck unexpectedly pulled up and provided enough bread for everyone.
Fr. Solanus believed with all his heart that if God is truly our Father, then we never face the future alone. Our future may look uncertain. God's providence never is. And that is why we should thank God ahead of time.
Four
This Life Is Not the End of the Story
Fr. Solanus witnessed many miracles. But not every prayer ended with healing. A friend once brought his seriously ill daughter to him. Fr. Solanus quietly said, "Go to the chapel and tell God He can have her." A few days later she died from undetected pleurisy.
Why does God heal some and not others? We do not know. But we do know this: God permits nothing unless He intends to bring a greater good from it. Christians never thank God for evil. We thank Him because He is greater than evil. We thank Him ahead of time for the good He will bring from it. That is Christian hope. Jesus Himself did this. At the Last Supper, knowing that the Cross was only hours away, He gave thanks. The word Eucharist means thanksgiving. He thanked the Father ahead of time.
Five
The Remedy for Anxiety
If you want to live free from anxiety and worry, learn to ask two questions: What can I control? And what is beyond my control? Then do what you can and let God take care of the rest. And thank God ahead of time.
When he died in 1957, more than 10,000 people came to his wake and funeral, almost all with a story of how God had worked some miracle through this humble doorman. 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 18th, 2017, in front of 70,000 people at Ford Field in Detroit, Fr. Solanus Casey was declared Blessed, a step away from sainthood.
Blessed Solanus Casey needs one more medically verified miracle, approved by the Church, before he can be canonized a saint. So ask for his intercession. But when you ask, thank God ahead of time, trusting that God hears and answers every prayer, and if He does not answer the way we hope, then for sure He has answered in a way that is even better.
That is why we can thank God ahead of time!