St. Therese is generally regarded as a cute saint.

In her autobiography, she wrote the types of things that might make adults quip, “Kids say the darndest things! Isn’t she adorable?”

Therese wrote that she desired to spend her time in heaven sending roses to people on earth. Cute.

She did happen to be a very cute little French girl, that's true. But she also wrote with the boldness of someone who didn’t seem to care what anyone else thought. And if you take a few...

Written by Sean Faulkner, IDDM Training Director

Think for a minute about what you are striving for in life. What is it that drives you to work really hard? What’s the narrative that runs through your mind when feeling this drive to accomplish things?

Many of us are trapped in a false narrative, trying desperately to earn what we can’t, despite the reality that we don’t actually have to. Why? Because - unbeknownst to us - we already have it. 

What the heck am I talking...

Let nothing disturb you. 
Let nothing frighten you. 
All things are passing away. 
God never changes. 
Patience obtains all things. 
Whoever has God lacks nothing. 
God alone suffices.

This short prayer/poem by St. Teresa of Avila hits the nail on the head as she reveals the reality of God's providence and pervasive presence in our lives. In it, she encourages us to recognize that no matter what, all truly will be well and that all we truly need is God - the only One...

This blog article contains an excerpt from The Mindful Catholic.

Catholic mindfulness presupposes faith that God the Father is a good Father. But if God is good and all-powerful and loves us, why does he let awful things happen to good people?

I once sent out a flyer for a mindfulness course that mentioned “trustful surrender to God who loves us,” which prompted a letter from a woman who was deeply upset. She asked how she could be expected to practice...

BY MAUREEN O'CONNELL

It was February 2017 and I was leading a group at church through Dr. Greg’s Catholic Mindfulness course. I was also 9 weeks pregnant with our fifth child. We had just started week 5 of the course. We were reading about how, when faced with difficulties, we tend to avoid them and how “in the midst of our deepest pain, we want to be in control. We want to be able to ask “why?” and have an answer that is acceptable to us.”

Week 5 of the Catholic...

Thanks to Amy Sherlock of Healthy Homes Fertility Care for this guest post on acceptance and trust in the face of infertility.

I started this blog post over two weeks ago.  I wrote the title, then placed the cursor into the body of the post, and promptly commenced staring blankly at the screen.  Even now, I’m not quite sure where this is headed.

But I do know why it’s been difficult to write.  Not just in general, since life always seems to throw some curve balls...

How many times have you set out to get somewhere and you surprise yourself when you get there? “Oh wow, I’m here already?!” If you were driving, you might wonder if you actually stopped at a certain red light because you have no recollection of it, or you wonder in amazement at the fact that you know a route so well you can travel it without thinking about it.

Chances are, you were still thinking, just not about where you were going. Your mind was probably...

During my time as a Franciscan Friar, a priest named Fr. Stan Fortuna wrote a song called “Everybody Gotta Suffer.” Fr. Stan is very talented in his music and his ministry. The song is catchy and I often think of how he sings the word, “Everybody.” It reminds me that rich and poor alike are all on the same journey to Heaven. The song reminds us that this journey is one that passes through the gate of suffering, and no one escapes this necessary way of getting to...

When I looked at my 7-year-old brother playing by the water, I was moved by a deep revelation.  I saw someone who is totally excited about life.  He was trying to catch an eel.  The eel and the rock he was hiding under were the only two realities that my brother was focused on.  How can he be so free?  Why isn’t he stressed or worried or anxious about life?  It’s because he has nothing to worry about!  This kid lives a totally spoiled, privileged...

Trust.  It all comes down to trust.  I suppose I shouldn’t start with that if it all comes down to it so I will back up.  Anxiety, Neuroticism, Eating Disorders, Phobias, Depression, Insomnia, Body Image issues, and the list could go on of problems that in some ways can be fundamentally broken down to trust issues.  I don’t mean to discount the scientifically proven role of physiology, things like serotonin and the effect of childhood trauma on developing brain...