There comes a point in the life of faith when effort stops working.Not because we’ve stopped believing, but because we’ve started trying too hard to believe. Many of us are wired to push — to keep momentum going, to solve, to fix. We approach life like a project that just needs better management. Even prayer becomes another task: if I can just focus harder, pray longer, discipline myself more, then maybe I’ll finally feel close to God. But effort can quietly turn against us. We do all the right things and still end up weary, anxious, unsatisfied. We mistake exhaustion for holiness, and when peace doesn’t follow, we assume something…

“I belong to my lover, and my lover belongs to me…” Song of Songs 6:3 The Line That Stopped Me I remember hearing the line “I am Yours and You are mine” in a song. Something about it caught me. The words were right, but I wasn’t sure I believed—or even understood—them. When I first heard it, I thought: If I give myself fully to God—if I’m faithful, obedient, surrendered—then He will give Himself to me. It felt like an equation, an exchange. And like most exchanges, it depended on my performance. But over time, something began to shift. I realized I had the order all wrong. It isn’t I…

In the Beginning: “Very Good” “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” And it was good. Over and over again in the first chapter of Genesis, we’re told that what God made was good. The land, the sea, the stars, the animals — all of it declared good. But then, on the sixth day, something changes. God creates human beings in His image and likeness — male and female — and when He steps back to look at all of creation, including us, the verdict is not just “good,” but very good. That phrase has always stayed with me. In those two words — very good —…

Feast of Saint Monica: August 27Feast of Saint Augustine: August 28 Most people know Saint Monica as the mother of Saint Augustine. That alone says so much — not because she was defined by her son’s sainthood, but because without her, we may never have had one of the most influential saints and theologians in Christian history. But before there was a conversion, there were years of sorrow. Years of tears. Years of watching her son walk away from everything she had taught him about God. And she never gave up. To the Mothers Who Are Still Praying I’m writing this for every mother who knows the ache of watching…

There’s a striking image found in traditional Catholic devotion: Jesus, on the way to His crucifixion, not recoiling from the Cross, but embracing it. In some meditations, He even kisses it — not because He enjoys suffering, but because He knows what it will become: a doorway to redemption. That kind of love — the kind that doesn’t just accept the Cross but embraces it — is hard to wrap your head around. Especially when most of our own crosses are less dramatic and more just… annoying. And yet, we’re invited into the same posture. Not necessarily toward martyrdom, but toward daily discomfort. Toward choosing love in moments when everything…

In Luke 11, Jesus offers one of His most memorable analogies: “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children,how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?”(Luke 11:11–13, NABRE) It’s a passage often cited to encourage trust in God’s provision. And rightly so — Jesus is pointing to the generosity of the Father. But lately, I’ve found myself lingering on the parenting angle of this moment. The quiet, implied truth…