Taking Back Our Innocence

There is a particular obsession in our culture with “losing your innocence.” You can see it just about anywhere: the beauty ads in the mall targeted at teens, the sexualized billboards on the highway, or, as is often my case, watching coming-of-age rom-coms with my little sister.  After collecting a sturdy sample size, I’ve noticed…

Men, We are Responsible for Women

Today in Catholic circles, discussions of modesty and controlling one’s eyes can very quickly become heated arguments that leave men and women alike feeling angry, disrespected, unheard, and ashamed.  The tension often rests on determining who bears the responsibility of upholding the other’s dignity. Is it up to the women to dress modestly so as…

Your Past Does Not Disqualify You From Love

When I think of the happiness that is in store for me, every sorrow, every pain becomes dear to me. -St. Francis of Assisi If you’re the reader of this blog, you probably have a past.  For a lot of us, our past can be filled with great joy. And then I’m sure for a…

A Guide on Healing

In Christian circles, we hear about wounds and healing from those wounds all the time. We understand that these wounds are typically not physical, but rather they are deeply emotional; ones that have a lasting effect. But what does it mean to seek healing? What does it mean to ultimately be healed? Until fairly recently…

Bullying, Repression, and Healing

I saw his face pop up from the seat in front of me. “Well, what do we have today?” I remained silent. The bus, far from being brand new, jumped and rattled violently with every little bump in the road it passed over. I clinched onto my lunch box tighter and stared out the window,…

When Mental Health is Part of Your Story

At the age of 8 I couldn’t stop touching door knobs. I mean I could stop, but it was like my brain wouldn’t let me. If I didn’t touch that knob the “right” number of times then something bad was going to happen. At least that’s what I thought. Not really thought so much as…

Made with Glory

I was eating ice cream and prancing through a parking lot when a very profound and simple truth dawned on me. I was singing one of my favorite worship songs, which has a lyric “I was made by You, I was made for You”, and the truth of those words flowed out of my voice:…

Being Grounded in Being “From the Ground”

It is evident that in today’s Western culture, a sense of the true nature of the human person has been lost, one which maintains that inherent to the complete composition of man is his unity of body and soul (hylomorphism).  It seems that our culture has taken to heart the Cartesian theory of the dualistic…