Sr. Bethany Madonna: "You follow Me:" Letting Love Lead

In this moment I feel enlightened, discouraged, and feel as though we Catholics are TOTALLY selling ourselves short. just watched an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love.) She professes no religion as far as I know but she came across as a heart-wide-open, fully alive person. Her relishing the romance of simply being alive was irresistibly attractive. I found myself asking, “how can someone who has only a small fraction of the truth be so enamored with

Do you feel stressed out and anxious that you'll "miss" your vocation? Do you get upset with God when you try to do everything right but still don't receive a definitive answer about what he wants you to do? Are you concerned that you will make the wrong life choices? Have no fear. Read on.... Let's start by examining the definition of vocation. What is a vocation? A vocation is a calling from God. It is a path that you choose, with God’s help, as your vehicle to Heaven. It i

A few days ago, I got a text. It was one of my voice students “breaking up” with me. She said she had just lost motivation and was rethinking her decision to pursue a career in singing. Immediately a flash of insecurity hit me. Had I done something wrong? Was I the reason she lost her passion? Does she secretly think I’m a bad teacher? Almost immediately, however, I recovered. I let go of those questions that, a few years ago, would have bugged me all day and run circles in m

There’s no denying we are facing a lot of anxiety-inducing problems “out there” in our Church and in the world. On a more personal level, I know few young people who don’t face the struggle of feeling inferior to others on social media or in real life. If you have found yourself becoming cynical or discouraged by the world’s problems, or if your Instagram news feed is giving you a complex, then I have something I truly hope will help you. In this YouTube video I made recently

Maybe this post will resonate with you... Sometimes events fall out in such a way that it seems like no one cares about you. Ever feel that? You know you’re being irrational, or at least you hope you are, but you just hurt to feel that you are cared for. I had an instance recently where I felt like some people who are important to me didn’t care about me. There was no explanation given for dropping out on our plans and communication was poor. When I asked for one it was ignor

Just a little food for thought tonight: when you receive the Eucharist, Jesus makes His ENTIRE self vulnerable to you. After I received communion the other day I received the image of Jesus kneeling in front of me with his arms out, palms up, and head bowed. This may seem nearly sacreligious, (and believe me it did to me,) but I realized that he just wanted me to be with him. He wanted me to include him in my thoughts, to talk to him and feel his nearness every moment. And it