This week, Pope Francis delivered part 4 of his Catechesis on Discernment, this time speaking about the vital role of self-knowledge in discernment. Sometimes when we are don’t know what we really want or who we are. We learn who...
One of the transformational moments in my spiritual journey was the realization that in order to grow in faith and my relationship with God, I would have to learn to live with tension and uncertainty. Accepting and living with tension...
Authentic dialogue depends on asking and answering good questions. It is often hard to distinguish good questions from bad ones, however. Luke’s Gospel records two seemingly similar questions in response to angelic messages. When Zechariah was told that his wife...
This article is dedicated to Paul Fahey who by a post published on SmartCatholics galvanized some volatile thoughts to come together and form an article. Thank you, Paul! I enjoy reading articles about science–when they are written in a way...
We saw in an earlier article how the experiences of miners during the Gold Rush can illustrate some facets of the discernment of spirits. An inexperienced gold miner could mistake pyrite or Fool’s Gold for real gold and be led...
In his homily for the opening of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis presented three verbs that “characterize the Synod.” These three verbs are encounter, listen and discern. In a general sense, to “discern” means to” perceive or recognize (something)....
In our first article, Lessons From the 49ers, we took a deeper look at the formation period for Carmelite nuns as presented in St. Teresa’s masterpiece, The Interior Castle. We saw that she puts the formation of her nuns as...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, October 24, 2021 — The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time One of my duties as Vocation Director is to periodically visit parishes throughout the Diocese to preach on vocations. At first glance my choice for vocation-related...
Have you ever had an “a-ha” moment? Six decades on this earth have taught me two lessons about “a-ha” moments. One: when they arrive, pay attention. Two: when it passes, spend some time looking back and more deeply. This week’s...
In this morning’s General Audience address, Pope Francis began a new catechesis series on St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In just a few words, he returned to some familiar themes: inculturation of the Gospel, trust, discernment, prayer, and rigidity....
Our regularly-scheduled livestream will be happening TONIGHT at 8pm EDT / 5pm PDT. Rachel Amiri, Melinda Ribnek, Mike Lewis and David Lafferty will be discussing dissent, discernment, and how we learn to think with the Church–especially in a polarized Catholic...
Over the past year, I have heard a lot of people–most of whom are fellow Catholics–lamenting the difficulty of discerning the truth about current events. What really happened, and how can we know? Some people are genuinely confused about how...
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