5 practical ways to get better at practicing chastity.

Chastity is for lovers. That isn’t solely the title of my book, but a truth I believe with my whole heart. It is a virtue for all of us — single, married, priest, or nun — that creates conditions in which we can do what we were designed to do: love God and each other.

Chastity doesn’t separate sexuality from the rest of the stuff that makes us human, but helps us to arrange our lives in such a way that sexuality isn’t misused (See CCC 2337). It requires us to subordinate desire to reason — to discern before we act on an urge instead of acting because of an urge.

We live, however, in a culture that isn’t conducive to chastity, a culture for which restraint is incomprehensible — a culture that creates conditions in which we believe we can and should get what we want when we want it, without consequence. In other words, we live in a culture that teaches us to subordinate reason to desire — to act on all the urges ever. Continue reading “5 practical ways to get better at practicing chastity.”

NUNS ARE COOL! | Sr. Miriam James edition.

[callout]This post is part of a monthly series called PRIESTS & NUNS ARE COOL! in which I interview a priest or a nun about his or her vocation — and about how adults who haven’t discerned a vocation yet can discover their own. This edition features Sr. Miriam James, a sister in the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), a missionary community that serves global areas of deepest apostolic need. She is the author of Loved as I Am (Ave Maria Press, Nov. 2014.)[/callout]

Sr. Miriam Promo Pic 1

Sr. Miriam James’s Twitter handle kids you not: She is one groovy nun. She’s got a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Nevada-Reno, where she played volleyball on a scholarship.

Now, lives at a convent in Texas, and travels to speak at conferences, retreats, and parish missions. She’s working on a master’s degree in theology from the Augustine Institute, and believes deeply in the power of authentic love and in the redemption that Jesus brings.

Sr. Miriam likes reading, drinking coffee, sports and power walks, and is gracious today to discuss her vocation for this series, and to tell us how an adult who doesn’t know his or hers yet might discover it: Continue reading “NUNS ARE COOL! | Sr. Miriam James edition.”

What every human needs to know about love, marriage, and sex.

The best book I ever have read is Love and Responsibility by Karol Wojtyla, a.k.a. St. John Paul II before he was pope. It is hundreds of pages of exactly what all of us need to know. But it is tragic, because it is hundreds of pages that most of us haven’t read.

Richard Spinello, author of Understanding Love and Responsibility, agrees: The “neglect of this extraordinary book is unfortunate,” he writes, about Wojtyla’s book. “Those who do take up the challenge of carefully reading Love and Responsibility will be amply rewarded.”

Believe me when I say he kids you not. Continue reading “What every human needs to know about love, marriage, and sex.”

3 Lessons and 2 Tips From Jennifer Fulwiler

jennifer-fulwiler-bio-thumbnail3 Lessons and 2 Tips is a series of interviews in which some of my favorite people (and probably some of yours) share three lessons they’ve learned by being married, plus two tips for single people.

This edition features Jen Fulwiler, author of Something Other than God and blogger at conversiondiary.com.

She grew up atheist and converted to Catholicism, and has appeared on the TV shows Fox and Friends, Huffington Post Live, The Journey Home, Life on the Rock, and The Choices We Face.

Jen is mom to six kids under 10 and her favorite genres of music are Gregorian chant and gangsta rap. She is gracious to offer three lessons and two tips to us today: Continue reading “3 Lessons and 2 Tips From Jennifer Fulwiler”