I love saint stories. I know I’m not alone – even the saints loved saint stories. St. Ignatius of Loyola’s conversion was spurred by reading the life of Christ and the lives of the saints. Edith Stein stayed up all night reading the life of St. Teresa of Avila. There is an attraction in the radical witness of holiness that […]
Joannie Watson
About the Author
Joan Watson was born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, but college and graduate school took her to Virginia, Ohio, and Rome. After graduating from Christendom College with a B.A. in History and Franciscan University with a M.A. in Theology, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to be part of the explosion of Catholic culture in the middle of the Bible Belt.
She has been blessed to work for Dr. Scott Hahn at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia at Aquinas College. She is presently the Director of Adult Formation for the Diocese of Nashville. She also serves as the Associate Editor of Integrated Catholic Life.
When she’s not testing the culinary exploits of new restaurants or catching up on the latest BBC miniseries, she’s FaceTiming with her eight nephews and nieces and enjoying her role as coolest aunt. She likes gelato, bourbon, and the color orange.
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Leave Room for the Holy Spirit
Over the last few years, on at least two different occasions, I have declared I would “never” do something or that something “is not happening.” Let me clarify—I was not speaking about things that were sinful or harmful to myself or others. I was speaking about things that were not in my plan or were not included in how I […]
Sacramentals in Our Time
Over the last few weeks, we have looked at sacramentals, the integration of our life, and a sacramental worldview. In this last post on sacramentals, I want to look at the place sacramentals can play in the evangelization and restoration of our culture. How do we evangelize our culture? How do we protect our families from the encroachment of secularism? […]
Sacramentals and an Integrated Life
As we strive to integrate the various parts of lives – our jobs, our social activities, our family time, our spiritual lives – sacramentals can help direct our daily activities toward our vocation to holiness. My last two posts looked at what sacramentals are and how they fit into our view of the world and God’s plan to save us. […]
What is a Sacramental?
Last week, we looked at the concept of a sacramental world view. A sacramental worldview perceives the mysteries of God hidden in material creation. It sees the material world not as something to be rejected or from which to be released, but as a channel of God’s grace and as the arena in and through which God acts. God uses […]
A Sacramental Worldview
When film or television programs want to portray Catholics, how do they portray us? They depict things like statues, rosaries, candles, and crucifixes. These are what set us apart as Catholics to the world. And for good reason. These things are outward manifestations of a Catholic understanding of the world—our sacramental worldview. As Catholics, our Faith is sacramental. This does […]
The Witness of Peter and Paul
One of the most remarkable places to experience while visiting Rome is a small dark room under Vatican hill. Very few tourists even know its existence, and access is limited to 250 people a day. In a city filled with art, this room is bare. A tour guide shepherds you into the room, and then points through a large […]
Love in a Time of Social Media
A recent post here on Integrated Catholic Life echoed what I have been thinking about social media lately. Sister Laus Gloriae reminded us of the many sins of the tongue and gave us remedies for overcoming them. As I looked over the list, I thought of how many have been exacerbated, expedited, and assisted by social media. I was speaking […]
Recognizing the Lord when He Comes
Today’s first reading might be a familiar one. This week we’ve been following glimpses of the story of Elijah, and today we find him having fled the murderous designs of Jezebel. He is taking shelter in a cave when the Lord passes by. There is wind, there is an earthquake and there is fire – but the Lord is not […]
The Messiah’s Human Heart
I stood on the Mount of Olives and looked across at Jerusalem, the skyline a mix of old and new. The light blue dome of the Holy Sepulchre seemed to almost touch the dominant gold Dome of the Rock, and the Western Wall was invisible to my eye but present in my thoughts. I saw a crowded Mount Moriah that […]