Lay Life in a Year

52 Reflections on JPII's vision for the Laity

Week 16: Temples of the Spirit

Have you ever lost your keys and ended up searching all over the place? Maybe you even look in the same drawer two or three times? You know they’re around, but they just don’t seem to be anywhere.

Well, sometimes this is how it is with God too.

We know He is everywhere. We know that because of Confirmation and Baptism, He is even in our souls. But we don’t always experience it. It can often feel like God is a stranger in our souls. We don’t hear Him. We don’t see Him. We don’t always even feel Him.

It can be hard to admit, but searching for the Lord is tough. And, just like checking the same cabinet over and over again to find the keys, looking for God in our souls can feel pointless, or even like a waste of time. So sometimes, we even stop looking.

But Jesus tells us that “the one who seeks, finds” (Mt. 7:8). Do we really believe Him? Are we prepared to keep looking for Him even when we can’t seem to find anything? Living with faith isn’t about things feeling good, or getting immediate results. It’s about seeking even when it feels pointless. It’s about trusting even when it seems hopeless.

Constantly searching for the Lord in our hearts and in our lives can be grueling. But sometimes, even though you’ve already checked the drawer a thousand times, you look again and find the keys sitting there ready to be grasped. ​

Lay Life in a Year Overview

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Week 25 : An Urgent Diagnosis

Imagine you go to a routine check up, and your doctor sits you down: “Look, you need to urgently change some things. In fact, I know you’re already taking some medicine and don’t want to hear this, but as I look at your bloodwork all the fundamental indicators are not...

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Week 24 : Salt of the Earth

I didn’t grow up a Catholic, or even a Christian. So when I would hear my Christian friends say things like “that guy is salt of the earth” I never really understood what it meant or where it came from.  But over time, I began to notice something.  These “salt of the...

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Week 23 : Identity and Mission of Lay Christians

Who are you supposed to be and what are you supposed to do? The answer is really the center of the entire document because it has the potential to change everything about our lives. John Paul II does not mince words: You cannot be a Christian and live just like...

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