Called to Discern

Called to Discern

“What are you going to do with your life?” For many, there is no more important (or stress-inducing) question in all of the world, which is why I put them front and center as the opening words of my new book Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God. Since the way we answer the big questions of life—what career you’re going to pursue, who you’re going to marry, where you’re going to live—has the power to shape everything about our lives, definitively answering these questions, as quickly and thoroughly as we can, would seem to be the very goal of life itself. As agonizing as it may be to pass through a period of unknowing, to wait for God to help us figure everything out, we know that once we answer those questions everything will get easier.

But does it? And is that all we think of discernment?

In my experience, discerning the will of God in our lives and figuring out what I’m “going to do with my life” is not something that can ever be fully answered. As soon as I answered what I thought to be the biggest question of my life—should I join the friars or get married—I found myself faced with new questions. And then new questions. And then new questions again. While I may have figured out my “place” in life, I have by no means figured out how I’m going to actually live it. With each day comes a new challenge, a new opportunity, and a new way of relating to God than before.

For me, discerning the will of God is not a matter of answering a question and moving on, it is a way of life that dictates everything we do. Because here’s the thing: As important as these questions may be to us in our world today, I don’t think they matter at all to God. Sure, God wants us to be happy and fulfilled, and to the extent that our careers, family, and living situation does that is important to God. But in the ultimate sense I don’t think God could care less if we choose to be an accountant or a firefighter, whether we marry Susie or Maria, or whether we live in Cincinnati or San Antonio. What God cares about most is not how we answer the big questions, it’s how we answer the most basic of questions: how am I going to be a disciple of Christ today? That is our calling. That is what God wants from us. And that is what we must discern.

This Lent, take a moment each day to discern this most basic of questions. Realize that the truly most important question in life—how we’re going to live as children of God and disciples of Christ—is not something that can be answered and moved on from but is something that must be taken up each and every day anew. Focus your discernment on that question and see if the bigger questions don’t just figure themselves out.

If you’d like to preorder my new book, Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God, click here.

 1 Comment

 Posted on February 16, 2018 by

 Discernment, Video

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Lent: More Than Misery and Negativity!

Ash Wednesday is here! (and probably already gone since I’m so late in posting this!) Kicking off our Lenten season by ridiculously smearing Ashes on our forehead, many of us became a visible sign to the world today of our Christian faith. Wearing our penance and contrition right there on our faces, one can only wonder what the rest of the world thinks of us.

Those Christians… celebrating their weakness, calling to mind their sinfulness, denying themselves the pleasures of the world… what’s with them?

And do you know what? It’s totally cool if they think that. What we do during this season is really peculiar. I mean, it’s pretty bizarre to actively give up what’s good in life and choose to cover our faces with burnt leaves, right? It sort of goes against every evolutionary impulse in our bodies.

Which is why I completely understand why many—even fellow Christians—just don’t get what we’re doing. I received a message last week from a viewer:

How sad, I have to say. Understandable, but sad. You see, one can absolutely understand why someone would say this. Looking at the external expressions of the season, we see many things that are far from happiness and glee: fasting, giving away our money, doing penance, sacrificing what we love, worshipping with a little less… excitement. For sure, there is a seriousness to the season, a focus that can come off as displeasing and negative.

But is that really what this season is about? Absolutely not! As I share in this week’s reflection, Lent is actually a season of great hopefulness. The key to it all is to keep our focus on the true purpose of Lent: coming closer to Jesus Christ.

 3 Comments

 Posted on February 14, 2018 by

 Video

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Is Lent REALLY 40 Days?

Believe it or not, Lent is already upon us. Coming a month earlier than last year, I feel like we just finished Christmas and we’re pulling out the ashes! But I guess it’s true what they say: the sooner you start the sooner you finish!

Which, in this case, presents a question unto itself. While we always say that Lent is forty days long, a look to the calendar might leave us a little puzzled as 40 days from Ash Wednesday only gets us to Palm Sunday. What gives? There are actually 46 days in Lent??

Well, sort of. As I actually learned last week (believe it or not, even friars know very little about our tradition at times!) the way we count to forty is both controversial and confusing. Some say one way. Others say another. And the Official Church just messes everything up with a third, inconsistent way! Gosh. I haven’t had this much trouble counting to 40 in twenty-five years!

But lest we just throw up our hands in frustration or disregard it as esoteric information, this week’s “Catholicism in Focus” attempts to get to the bottom of the issue, finding the important information in history and trying to make sense of the different approaches.

For those who are looking for something to actually do this Lent, be sure to check back every Friday for a new Lenten reflection series on discernment and discipleship in today’s world, inspired by my new book, Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God.

 Posted on February 13, 2018 by

 Prayer, Theology, Video

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Reading the Gospels

In many seminary classes and Bible studies, there is a standard way of reading the Gospels: pick a passage, compare it with similar stories in the other Gospels, and come to a conclusion about what it means. Like the lectionary of the liturgy, passages are isolated so to focus on one particular part of the Gospel.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with that approach. Seeing how a story in Matthew is different from the Mark and Luke versions is interesting and offers insight into Gospels, sort of “triangulating” our understanding of Jesus in the world; when we throw all of the stories into one mixing pot we’re able to come up with what we believe to be the most accurate depiction we can. Where there are holes in one Gospel, the others fill them in.

And yet, there is something tragically lost in the process. You see, each Gospel is a narrative. It’s a complete work of art and theology with a beginning, middle, and end. It may have similar components as the other Gospels, but the way it weaves them together tells something more. Just like any good story, there are details meant to set up the main point, foreshadowing at the beginning that reveal hidden details at the end, development of characters, and overriding themes that help influence the meaning of individual stories.

In a way, the medium and overall work are not insignificant; they are the message itself.

For this reason, many scholars have been pushing what is called the narrative approach to reading the Gospel. Rather than comparing and contrasting the four next to each other, each one should be read in isolation from the others and in its entirety. If you’re reading Mark, focus on Mark. What is he trying to say as a complete work? Who is the Jesus he is presenting? Don’t worry how Matthew tells the story. In fact, forget that there is even a Matthean gospel. Mixing in outside details will only serve to distract from the distinctly Marcan story being told.

When we do this, what we find is that each Gospel is not just a “different perspective” on the same historical events, they actually provide a beautiful work of art with distinct theologies and distinct depictions of who Jesus is.

That is the background for this week’s Catholicism in Focus. But sometimes seeing it for yourself and having concrete examples is much easier to understand than this sort of abstract explanation. If you would like to see exactly how this plays out and what the main themes in each Gospel are, I have provided two documents for your study, which you can click below to access.

Synoptic Gospels

Johannine Literature

 Posted on February 6, 2018 by

 Scripture, Theology, Video

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How Late Can I Come To Mass?

Ever have one of those days where it’s just not going to happen. You press the snooze button one two many times… you forgot you left your clothes in the washer the night before and have to wait for them to dry… the kids are just not cooperating this morning… and when you finally get to the car you realize there’s a sheet of ice on the windshield that needs to be scraped off. Yeah. One of those mornings.

Unfortunately, these sorts of mornings do not observe the Sabbath, and we can find ourselves running a bit late for mass some Sundays. What do we do? How late is too late?

That is the topic for the first Catholicism in Focus of the season. Each Monday this spring I’ll be posting a new video on a topic of faith that might need a second look.

 2 Comments

 Posted on January 30, 2018 by

 Theology, Video

Breaking In The Habit

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