Kathleen Soucheray, a columnist for The Catholic Spirit, recommends that Catholics take more time this summer to put faith at the center of their lives and be intentional.
“Sometimes we get so busy in our lives that we’re not intentional about anything. We just get to the next thing and then that’s done. Check it off,” Soucheray told Rachael McCallum, producer of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show, for an episode set to air at 9 p.m. June 20 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Going to Mass each Sunday, Soucheray said, is the bare minimum for Catholics.
“People might be thinking, ‘Well, wait a minute, that’s the full extent of my commitment to my Catholic faith. I’m obligated to do that, so I’m doing it. Isn’t that enough?’” Soucheray said. “That is the bare minimum; that is expected of us. We go there, we gather in community, we offer thanksgiving to Christ for his sacrifice, his witness, his obedience, all of that and then we take what we’ve been given in those moments at Mass and we go back into our lives and we just try to live that, that sense of listening and being the presence of Christ in our lives.”
Quoting St. John Paul II, Soucheray said Catholics should create a “little Church of the home.” Soucheray suggests that Catholics wake up a few minutes earlier for time with Jesus.
“Just kneel beside the bed, have a prayer book next to you that you start the day with and then ask Jesus for all day his voice in our heads, our hearts and our souls for patience,” Soucheray said. “Our kids are all raised now, but it’s not so far away that I don’t remember how hard it was to stay patient and not become activated by kids who fight or who get upset in the car or refuse to put on their shoes. How do we stay calm in those moments?”
Soucheray recommends taking an hour a week to pray. If Catholics don’t have an hour, she suggests taking 15 minutes in the adoration chapel, lighting a candle to Mary and asking her for help that day and that week.
“One day a few summers ago … I had visions of going out for lunch with the kids,” Soucheray said. “And I’m thinking, ‘There’s a fountain near us and there’s a little restaurant, we can have what we like’ and then the kids collectively said, ‘Yes, mom, we love that, but we want to pick it up and come home and sit on the deck with you.’ That is exactly what we did. We sat outside and we talked for about an hour. They didn’t want the fountain; I wanted the fountain. They just wanted time with me to sit.”
To hear more Soucheray, tune into “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. June 21 and 2 p.m. June 22.
Also on the program, JoAnn Schulzetenberg of St. Patrick in Oak Grove discusses the newly created Catholic Montessori Institute at the University of St. Mary in Bismark, North Dakota. And Zach Jansen, the digital content producer for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, shares the story of St. Thomas More in the 1966 movie “A Man for All Seasons.”
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, “Practicing Catholic” can be heard after it has aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
