I was talking to a group of adults recently, and we began to discuss a number of times when we had “lightbulb moments” regarding our faith. These were moments when the words, prayers, or concepts that we were hearing, or reading, gave us a new insight or made sense all of a sudden. These new understandings were really meaningful and powerful for our faith growth. Following that conversation, I began to reflect on what each of our examples had in common. I settled upon a couple of things. First of all, each of these moments occurred because we were involved in an activity where content or conversation about some aspect of faith was included. Secondly, in that moment, we were really paying attention and not just going through the motions. Here, I’d like to take a moment to discuss these two points.
Regarding the first point, I hang with a mighty fine crowd! We are folks who love to learn because we have found value in learning new things. Besides keeping our minds sharp, we have found that complex topics like theology or scripture interpretation really need an adult perspective for any degree of understanding. It can be pretty challenging, however, to find the opportunities for discussion or content about faith, morals, and the like. To answer that challenge, I can say that I have found that adult faith formation opportunities in the parish are just one way to answer that need. There are scores Catholic websites and YouTube videos available for spiritual enrichment, but the very first place that I’d go to is to the website Formed.org. There, you can skip the tedious searching through websites and resources. St. Therese has a parish subscription so the huge cache of movies, online books, and other content is available to you for free. All you have to do is set up an account, indicating that St. Therese is your home parish. It couldn’t be much easier! Do that, and begin browsing right away!
To the second point, I don’t know too many people who’d say their lives are filled with tons of free time. Most of us are rushing from one thing to another. That distraction can keep us from focusing in the task at hand… especially when that task is something like Mass, prayer, or reading a spiritual text, especially the Bible. That ability to focus and really think about what we are hearing, seeing or reading can be enhanced, however, by approaching “spiritual” content in a new way. For example, our group watched a YouTube video that illustrated the text of C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity in a way that made it clearer. Also, Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” or “Catechism in a Year” are, both, resources that provide time to reflect on these texts through the explanations that he provides. The method of him reading the texts to you, and his own insights can provide us with a new and different perspective that provides clarity and understanding. In both of these instances, a new mode of hearing the message can help to keep our attention. For another example, just think of how the television series “The Chosen” has helped many folks see scripture in a new way!
