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

The Catechism doesn’t say anything about how to know when you’ve been spending too much time on Insta or when you need to walk away from Pinterest. Like many other areas of life, social media is morally neutral; however, you, being a smart cookie, are mindful that this doesn’t let you off the hook to stare at your screen for hours. Social media can be a wonderful tool or a menace to our spiritual lives. What we feed our eyes, and for how long, changes us. I don’t have all the

Friends are super important. We don’t discern anything in a vacuum, and the Bible is full of God speaking through the wise counsel of family and friends help arrive at decisions. The single life can be lonely as we wait for our spouses. For those of us who have found our vocations, we need support. Tim Gordon often says, “you’re the average of the five people closest to you.” Make sure those are the kind of people you want to be like- God-centered, helpful, balanced, physical

Does this sound like you? You've never done just one thing your whole life. You are a complex machine constantly needing to be kept in balance. You have a lot of needs- physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological, social. You also have duties in life- job, family, and close relationships- and must be sure to prioritize those. You want to have a strong spiritual life and nurture your relationship with the Lord. In your hard-earned free time you have so many options of things

This post is for anyone who feels a call to some self-starter initiative, whether it be a creative passion or an entrepreneurial venture. As someone in the arts and who has dabbled in entrepreneurism for many years, I am all too familiar with the infinity of little hours that can be frittered away doing anything but that calling. Fortunately, you don't have to stay stuck. Read on! Getting out the door with two kids is always a struggle. As I rifled through my drawer looking f

Do you feel pressure to always know what your next life project is, when in reality you feel adrift and messy? Do you fear making a decision in case it’s the wrong one? Do you struggle to take action and don’t have a definite north star or plan of action to guide you? This post is for you. When I was discerning religious life, I was always afraid of making the wrong choice. Somehow it seemed that whichever path I chose, it would be intractable. If I went to the convent that w

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

“Oh my gosh- I’m THAT person.” Have you ever said these words? What do you fear today- being THAT stinky guy, THAT desperate singleton, THAT girl with issues, THAT guy who never makes it out of the friend zone? Whom do you fear becoming? I never wanted to be THAT fat girl. In fact, I was absolutely terrified of it. My worst nightmare as a teen was standing out as the girl with the biggest thighs in the line of white tutus and pink tights. I dieted constantly and exercised an

They say God never gives us more than we can handle, but sometimes I don’t believe them, (whoever “they” are.) Have you ever felt overwhelmed and ill-equipped to just deal with life? I think everyone feels out of control sometimes, whether it’s end-of-semester exams and papers, an unexpected medical bill, projects that pile up at work, illness of a loved one…the list goes on. Nine times out of ten, when I call a friend and ask how they've been, the answer is "busy." If you’re