Category: Discernment

  • If You Quit, You Can’t Blame God

    We all feel tempted to quit sometimes. Whether they are related to relationships, parenting, or work, there are moments in life when we simply want to throw up our arms in frustration and give up. And, sometimes, we want to blame God. After all, God allowed circumstances to be so hard. Obviously, God doesn’t want […]

  • BooK Review: “Where do Priests Come From?”

    Where Do Priests Come From? by Elizabeth Ficocelli Waterford, MI: Bezalel Books, 2010 From a child’s perspective, priests can sometimes seem very mysterious. After all, they dress differently and live differently and do different things than all of the other people in their lives. It can be hard to imagine that they were once little […]

  • “Why Did God Make Me This Way?”

    “God has created me to do Him some definite service.” Those words came from Cardinal John Henry Newman, who will be beatified this September. He continues “I have my mission. I may not know what it is in this life but I shall be told in the next. . . He has not created me […]

  • The Choices We Make

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the choices we make in life. On any given day, we make any number of choices. Many are inconsequential – Cheerios or toast for breakfast, the red or black shoes, etc. Then, there are the decisions that change the course of one’s whole life – who to date, […]

  • Finding Where One Belongs

    I went to go visit my best friend and her three month old baby yesterday. The baby is beautiful, an absolute gift from God. Like all new parents, my friend and her husband are studying her every move and characteristic, trying to determine where she fits in their family. Whose eyes and nose does she […]

  • Trusting in God in the New Year

    I always enjoy starting a new calendar. As the old year winds down, I go through the process of going over the old calendar and transferring any dates and appointments I need to remember such as birthdays, anniversaries, when to get the car inspected, etc. The new calendar with its fresh unblemished pages always represents […]

  • In Search of Grace

    “Grace” is one of those terms we often use without being quite sure of what it means. As a child, I was taught about being in a “state of grace” which meant that one hadn’t committed a mortal (a.k.a. serious) sin. As an adult, I’ve heard grace described as something we can tap into whenever […]

  • God Calls Us to Different Paths to Perfection

    One of the most comforting things about reading lives of the saints is realizing just how different all these men and women were. Some lived their lives in cloisters and dedicated their lives to prayer. Others worked in the missionary fields or died as martyrs for the faith. Some were priests or religious sisters while […]