Author Archives: anastaziejoy

Often, in our Catholic faith, we speak of John the Baptist as the last of the prophets. He was in fact the final herald of the Messiah, the last to proclaim the coming of the long-awaited One, because it was in his time that Jesus came, fulfilling the prophecies, bringing in His person the fullnessContinue reading “Being a Prophet”

Many of us walk through our lives with false perceptions of who we are and who we are meant to be. The messages that we receive in childhood combined with the noisy society we live in erode our sense of reality and hold up a false mirror to us making it nearly impossible for usContinue reading “Broken Perception”

The Catholic Church, by her nature, by definition is universal. All are invited into the kingdom of God. Jesus taught about this reality when he told the parable of the wedding feast. After the originally intended guests rejected the invitation, the king sent his servants out to into the streets and byways to invite inContinue reading “Dressed for the Banquet”

I have a confession to make: Lent is not my favorite liturgical season. I know and appreciate that it is a good season, one in which I am preparing well to enter into the joy of Easter. There is great wisdom in the Church’s cycle of liturgical seasons and I am grateful for each oneContinue reading “Lenten Discipline”

The story of Jesus’ transfiguration is a well-known and powerful moment in the Gospels. It is one of the times when it is made clear that Jesus is something more than another rabbi, something more than even the prophets, greater even than Moses. Peter, James, and John are invited to go to the mountain topContinue reading “Transfigured for Relationship”

In the early Church, the conversion of St. Paul was seen as nearly as startling and unthinkable of an event as the resurrection itself. Saul, the same man who had approved the stoning to death of St. Stephen, the man who had set out for Damascus, “breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,”(ActsContinue reading “Radical Obedience”

At my most recent Holy Hour, I was struck by the fact that I was happy. That might not sound particularly striking as I am generally a fairly happy person, but what I realized in that moment was that what I was feeling was a deep, undisturbed contentment. There is nothing exceptionally exciting happening inContinue reading “Contentment”

Life in Christ is a grand adventure in which even the most mundane things can become moments of extraordinary grace. Regular, daily prayer has been a habit in my life (though one not perfectly kept) for over twenty years and some mornings it truly does seem mundane, ordinary, and uneventful. But no matter how itContinue reading “Daily Transformation”

“Let Him enter, the King of Glory!”  (Psalm 24:7) At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We know this and yet so often we enter into this holy season without truly considering the weight and glory of what it is we celebrate, the reason for our rejoicing. We were created to be inContinue reading “The Joy of Christmas”

“Modest is hottest,” is one of those phrases that gets thrown around in Christian circles, especially in ministries for high school and college-aged women. I hate it. I find it grating, not only because it is cliché and cringy, but more importantly because being “hot” isn’t the goal, it certainly isn’t the reason we aimContinue reading “Beauty”