Living in the world but not of the world

You made it! Congratulations on completing your time as a missionary, seminary, or Catholic college student. Whether you left for good reasons or unfortunate reasons, you were searching for God and that is worth congratulating. Maybe your experience in Catholic community was good, maybe not so much.

Like you in at least one of these ways, I was a missionary, seminarian, and student at a great Catholic University. Each time I left I noticed something seemed to be missing from my heart, that I was left wanting. While this is a completely normal experience, the question that plagued me was "what now?" How do I take what I experienced, living in authentic Catholic community, with me to the next chapter of my life? How do I maintain a missionary heart in an isolated world? How do I maintain a steady prayer life when there isn't a culture of prayer? How do I continue to pursue the Lord when I am in a culture of self-pursual? How do I heal from the wounds I incurred that "shouldn't have happened" in Catholic community? If any of these questions are on your heart and mind, you are not alone. These were all questions that I had to wrestle with.

"And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28).

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You may be fresh off the plane or have been wrestling with these questions for months or years. What I do know is that "my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:19). Never lose hope that your deepest desires for authentic community, a rock solid prayer life, and a life of freedom and peace are unattainable. God bless, and I look forward to meeting you.