Searching for More

We are God's children through baptism. No matter what we go through on the day-to-day, God gives us the grace necessary to do what is pleasing to him. We need only rely on him and ask for the grace to call him Father! Reference: Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 301) Search for More Episodes: https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/searchingformore

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes a saint as "someone who practiced heroic virtue and lives in fidelity to God's grace." (828) And in the simple words of Mother Teresa, saints are "only sinners who keep trying." They just knew how much God loved them. Can that not be us as well? Do you know the depths of how much God loves you?  Search for More Episodes: https://www.arlingtondiocese.o...

Should Catholics have a sense of humor? Why is it important and even necessary for us to find things funny and how does that relate to humility? It's no coincidence that humor and humility share a common route. When we are truly humble, we see the world in its proper proportion. So, when things become out of proportion or incongrous, we can laugh! If we take ourselves lightly, we will begin to not...

Has a saint ever found you? A saint is somebody who finished the race - who fought the good fight - who persevered until the end. Those souls, now fully alive in heaven, are given to us by God as models. St. Scholastica's relationship with her brother Benedict models for us the beauty of communion with one another as we await our eternal destiny. Think of ways you can establish better communion wi...

Imagine if every person in the world obeyed the Ten Commandments. No lying. No stealing. No murder, cheating, or hate. Imagine the peace and joy that we would experience! God made us to be in union with him. How does the way that God asks us to live lead us closer to that love? How can we reframe from our default disposition—how can I get what I want?—to asking a different question: what does God...

Your home is where Jesus lives. Your home is a place where Jesus lives because you live there and he resides in you. But when we're home, how often are we reminded that he is with us? Think of ways you can make space for him. Can you mark the rooms in your home with sacramentals? Get your house blessed by a priest? Explore the Epiphany house blessing? Reference: Catechism of the Catholic Church 16...

Is love, or the virtue of charity, really just a feeling? Can we just think nice thoughts about somebody and truly say that we love them? Scripture and tradition say otherwise. Love is active, not passive. Being charitable means doing things for those you love even when it costs you something. The greatest example of that is the Cross - when Christ gave his life for us. Struggling with loving thos...

How does hope keep us afloat even when things get tough? Or when it feels like we are enslaved to chronic sin?  Hope sustains us because it is found in Jesus Christ. He became man to save us from our sin so that we might spend eternity with him. His grace is available to us especially in the Sacrament of Confession, when we come to him with a contrite heart, and the Eucharist, where his ultimate s...

Especially in a season like Advent, it is good to sit with Mary. The Mother of God models our waiting for Jesus after her waiting. Think how often throughout those nine months she had to put faith in so many: the angel Gabriel. God the Father. Her husband Joseph. How can you put faith in God this day? References: Catechism of the Catholic Church 149 Search for More episodes at https://www.arlingto...

The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. What does this mean? This spousal love is in fact Jesus' longing to give himself to us through his Church. This love of Christ is reflected not only in the Church but also in our bodies as male and female. We are made for relationship, made to be given as a gift to another in love. As a groom waits for his bride...

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32) As brought to light in Scripture, truth and freedom are not mutually exclusive. Truth is in fact the birthplace of freedom. When we direct our free will towards the service of the truth, it is then that we more free.  The Catechism defines freedom as a power "rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that,...

God knows the desires of our hearts. Whether we are interceding on behalf of a friend or praying for our vocation, we know that God always hears our prayers. He desires that we trust he will see it to fulfillment as he wills and in his time. So have faith! God knows what we long for and hears us when we call to him. Reference Catechism of the Catholic Church 2737

Catholics are known for their pro-life beliefs. Have you ever considered how giving somebody your undivided attention supports our belief in the dignity of every human person? We have countless engagements with fellow souls every day. How often are we tuning them out for the sake of something more trivial? Ask yourself, "Am I truly engaged and interested in what this person has to say?" When we st...

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8) Bishop Burbidge explains how this verse came to be his priestly, and later his episcopal motto; what "walking humbly" means for him and how it has made a difference in his own life. Living in humility unlocks the ability to slow down and walk with God the Father. This virtue m...

Are we making Sundays what they can and should be? Are we experiencing Sunday the way that God wants and calls us to live? In this episode of Searching For More, we reflect on the kinds of rest we should embrace as Christians, and in a particular way on Sunday—the Lord's Day—instituted from the beginning of time. How can we rest with God on Sunday as an exercise of what we're called to for all ete...

What makes something alive? How has God created humans different than other living things? In this episode of Searching For More, we consider the specific characteristics of humans that set us apart from the rest of creation. God made human beings unique and unrepeatable from the rest of creation through the great gift of free will and intellect so that we can contemplate him and grow in relations...

God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. We are here on this Earth for these reasons, so that one day we might get to spend eternity with Him. What is distracting you from the goal of heaven?  How can we focus our attention on the things that are above? What are some ways in which we can recenter our hearts and minds on Jesus? References: Catechism of...

Who we think we want to be, who the world wants us to be, and who God wants us to be may not be one in the same. We were created for so much more than what we "do" — we were made to *be* fully ourselves. We were made for mission. So if we desire to lead a deeply fulfilling life, the Lord invites us to enter into the places where he nourishes, brings healing, and where he gives us life. These place...

Can artificial intelligence truly "know"? Can AI replace human knowledge? Do computers have memory like humans do? What does it take to truly know someone?   Innovations in technology lead us to ask questions such as these, which bring us face-to-face with our Creator. And as Christians, it leads us to ask a deeper question: Do we know about God , or do we know him personally?   God knows us bette...

Saying yes to God is at the heart of every Christian prayer: to be wholly his, because he is wholly ours. To answer the call to motherhood is one of the most beautiful and courageous ways of saying yes to God in this way.    The heart of Mary, our Blessed Mother, was full of grace. It was this grace that supplied her with the courage to say yes in spite of the confusion and other emotions she must...

Grace is a free gift, given by the Father out of love for us. And when we pray to Mary, we pray to the model recipient of God's grace. God made her full of grace and free from any stain of sin so that she could be fully united and present to Him in this life and the next. Pray for her intercession for whatever may be on your heart this day: Our Lady of Grace, pray for us! References: Catechism of...

"But I have called you friends..." - Jesus Christ What is true friendship? How to we unlock the treasure therein? Christianity and many philosophers have taught us over time the key to true friendship — a mutual sharing of our hearts and minds.  A friendship with the Lord, first and foremost, is possible, but requires our participation and desire. Time invested in prayer is a perfect exercise of f...

"If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love." - St. Gemma Galgani How do we make sense of our suffering? Despite the pain and hurt we experience in our humanity, Jesus has great plans of healing for us. We make sense of our suffering by reflecting on these very truths: That Jesus himself brought about our salvation through the very act of sufferi...

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." - Saint Pope John Paul II How does sin chain us and take away the freedom that God freely gives us and wants for us to live in? Ask yourself: what are the ways I feel held back first and foremost from my relationship with God and, subsequently, with others?   References: Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC...