You’ve Heard of FOMO — But Have You Heard of JOMO?

Friends, I’ve got a new article up at The Grotto Network: You’ve Heard of FOMO — But Have You Heard of JOMO? That’s right - it’s the JOY of missing out!

I will be joining John and the Morning Air team this coming Tuesday, March 5, at 7:20 am eastern to discuss embracing the joy of missing out, and why it’s the perfect attitude to adopt during Lent, as we “give up” pleasures and activities.

As I state in the article, I embraced JOMO during the pandemic after all my usual go-to activities were shut down. What I found was that a simplified life was in many ways wonderful, and cleared my mind and thoughts for quiet that allowed deeper introspection and meaningful prayer, as well as self-knowledge. FOMO is a terrible motivator, but if we’re not careful, that fear of missing out - usually of missing someone else’s expectation for us or not living up to their expectations materially - can really take one down a path filled with regrets. Instead, learn to listen to yourself and do what you want to do, because it is fulfilling. Not what society tells you to do.

More to come on Tuesday. May you have a JOMO Lent!

Lent for Pregnant Moms!

Dear readers, as promised, you can read my latest piece at Catholic Stand here: Lent for Pregnant Moms.

I had a great time talking with John and Sarah on the Morning Air Show yesterday, which you can hear here. The segment starts at 14:04.

One thing we talked about that I didn’t include in the article is that you can still fast if you’re pregnant, elderly, sick, etc. - it’s just from different things. So don’t starve yourself, but you can certainly give up, say, donuts. Or, even less tangible things: fast from gossip, self-criticism, TV, scrolling through your phone before bed, etc. One other tip: it helps to replace these things with something else. So if you have a habit of doom-scrolling before bed, replace it with a rosary, spiritual reading, or even something old-school like a crossword puzzle. Whatever will keep you from the thing that is distracting you and instead has a net positive benefit for your interior well-being.

Happy Lent, and recent interviews

Lent if officially upon us! Today is the first Monday of Lent, after Ash Wednesday. The season stretches all the way to Thursday, March 28, with Good Friday on Friday, March 29. If you’d like a few resources to help you think how to live Lent, see two of my past articles below:

• Prepare Your Heart for Lent

• Rethinking Lent this Year

And on that note, I’ve got a new article publishing at Catholic Stand on Wednesday, called “Lent for Pregnant Moms.” The article is a discussion of how pregnant women, who may not be able to fast, can find alternative, and just as valid, ways of observing the Lenten season. My advice is primarily through acts of service and offering up suffering - of which there is ample opportunity during pregnancy, both mental and physical! I will also be on Morning Air tomorrow at 7:20 am eastern to discuss Lent for pregnant moms. You can find your station or livestream it here.

I’ve also had a few other interviews on Morning Air in the past few weeks. The first was on the feast of St. Marianne Cope, which you can hear here. I really am fascinated by her wilingness to enter into a dangerous situation - caring for lepers - not just willingly, but joyfully and with full confidence in the Lord. That is a gift.

More recently, just as Lent got started, I joined John Morales and the gang on Morning Air to talk about what it means to offer up suffering, as we are called to do at Lent. Listen to that conversation here.

For my own Lent, I am doing the usual giving up of sweets during the week. And, I am adding reading He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek. A couple years ago I read his With God in Russia, which was good, but this is better. It is a re-telling of that story, but with more emphasis on his interior spiritual journey, rather than the factual outer details of all those years living in Soviet Russia and how he survived it. I am getting much out of it already, because the way he survived was by learning to rely fully on God, putting aside his assumptions and expectations for how God should answer his own will. This is an excellent lesson. And, since he was a Jesuit, reading it takes me back to the profound spiritual lessons I was exposed to during my time doing the 9-month 19th annotation with a Jesuit spiritual director, which is a blessing.

May you have a blessed and peaceful Lenten season!