Technology + Growing in Faith

Hi everyone, I'm Lauren from When Beauty Met Truth, blog and Etsy shop!  

I want to give Patty a HUGE thank you for asking this newbie blogger to write a guest post while she's off to World Youth Day!!  Can you take me in your luggage Patty???

So today's topic of discussion is...drum roll please...faith and technology!  

So often we hear about the evils of the Internet and how it can take us further away from God.  Of course it can be used for that very reason, but I have a list of sites and apps that can bring us closer to God and help us to learn more about our Catholic faith.  

This post is really about taking advantage of technology that inspires and uplifts us in our faith journey.

I work out of my home and spend a lot of my time sitting at my desk.  I am one of those people who cannot stand to work in silence for hours.  I always need to have something playing on my computer (so I don't imagine that every random noise in my house is that of a stealthy burglar.)  

While I will be the first to admit that I struggle with getting sucked into time wasting sites on the Internet (I'm looking at you Netflix) I recognize the need to balance out all of the frivolity with things that feed my faith.  So I have compiled a list of some of my favorite sites, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels that help me do just that!

Blogs and sites:

National Catholic Register (America's most complete Catholic news source and a service of EWTN.) 

Blessed Is She (Subscribe to this website and receive the daily readings and a reflection in your inbox each morning.)

Formed (A sort of Catholic Netflix if you will.  Watch and listen to Catholic movies, programs, CDs and audio books.  It also includes talks by Lighthouse Catholic Media, which are fantastic!)

The Chastity Project (A great resource for leading a life of chastity, with articles by some of your favorite chastity speakers.) 

YouTube Channels:

EWTN (I can and have sat for hours watching episodes of The Journey Home and Women of Grace)

Ascension Presents (I love Fr. Mike Schmitz's byte size teaching moments on pop culture and our faith.)

Breaking in the Habit (Answers to common questions about the Church, culture, and religious life from a young Franciscan friar.)

Catholic Answers (One of my go to places when I have a specific question about Church teachings.  If you have a question no matter how random, chances are its been asked and answered here.)

Podcasts:

Word on Fire Sermons (Bishop Robert Barron's weekly homily.)

Catholic Bytes (Ten minute episodes that tackle various aspects of the faith.)

The Jennifer Fulwiler Show (Jennifer's take on modern life through the lens of a Catholic convert and mother of six.  Prepare to be entertained!)

Women of Grace (This radio program instructs and inspires listeners while answering questions about living the Catholic faith in the world today.)

Apps:

Laudate (Daily Mass readings with prayers, meditations, virtual rosary bead counter and so much more!)

Catholic Emoji (A Catholic emoji keyboard with stickers of your favorite saints and sacramentals!  Texting has never been so fun!)

Confession: A Roman Catholic App (This app helps you to make a good examination of conscience and answers all of your Confession questions.)

FOCUS Equip (Filled with talks and tools from FOCUS to help you evangelize others.)

What are some of the blogs, podcasts or apps that you love? I would love to hear your suggestions!

---------- Thanks Lauren! Having a good stock of encouraging online resources I find makes it easier to use my online life more intentionally:)
Lauren is an artist from El Paso, TX. She started her Easy shop as a side business while she tried to determine what career she was "really" supposed to pursue. Eventually, her "side job" came to "the job" God had called to all along. She now works out of her home to bring art and faith together as a way to evangelize others! When not painting, she can be found reading a good book with a cup of tea in hand, binge watching Netflix, or planning future trips around the world.
Be sure to go check out and get to know more about Lauren on her blog and her gorgeous shop too! :)

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Hi friends! While Patty is away in Poland, she's lending me her online space to share with you a post you'll hopefully helpful to read. If you like it, wander over to my blog: Utile Dulci. Thanks for reading and keep Patty in your prayers while she is on her pilgrimage! Love, Pomeline





I call myself Catholic, and yet it's astounding how little I ask of God sometimes. A perfectionist and control addict, it takes a lot  for me to humbly approach the Father and ask of Him what I need. It requires my admitting that I am not self-sufficient. How often do I hear, Sunday after Sunday, the readings proclaim the miracles of Christ? Yet, I doubt.

When was the last time you asked something of Christ, believed Jesus would care for your needs, and left it at that? The man believed [...] and went his way. My petitions often are full of conditions. I list off my worries, but it is so often merely an intellectual exercise, where I don't actually invite God's grace into the mess of my life.
When was the last time you asked Christ to work a miracle in your life, and believed He would care for you? God has not given us a Spirit of cowardice, of selfishness, but rather a Spirit of boldness. Go before the Father, and leave your great expectations at His feet. Trust in His perfect plan and wisdom. 
Our petitions are not always answered if they do not bring forth what is for our good, but we must practice our faith by asking God to provide for us, and surrendering our will to His.

47	When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48	Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."
49	The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50	Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way.
51	As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living.
52	So he asked them the hour when he began to mend, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."
53	The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live"; and he himself believed, and all his household.

John 4:47-53

---------- Thanks again Pomeline for taking time to write here while I am gone. I can really relate to what you said about remembering to invite God's grace into the mess of life. A good reminder we all need sometimes

Prayers I'm Taking to Poland

In Auschwitz, I am told there is a lone Paschal candle in cell block 13 where St. Maximilian Kolbe died giving his life to save a fellow prisoner. A stark reminder of the powerful witness of martyrdom of this priest but also a reminder of the millions lost in such a place.
When in Poland, our group will visit Auschwitz and that very same cell block. 
As I imagine what this experience will be like for me personally, I find myself recalling and praying overt the words in the first chapter of John's Gospel: "...the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
Over the last few days as I hear of the horror and true evil I see unfolding in our country and worldwide, I just keep whispering these words to myself: "No Lord, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will never overcome it."  It is a prayer welling deep inside my heart.

I am heart sick in so many ways of the evil and pain I see in the world, especially in the last few weeks as I prepare to take a journey of peaceful prayer with young people. 
I cry for those hurting, angry, and frustrated.  I cry over my own sinfulness and faulty perceptions of others.
Racism. Bigotry. Hatered. Terrorism. Hurtful words. Death. People suffering greatly. Sometimes it honestly is too much to even turn on the local or world news.
To me, that lone Paschal candle in cell block 13 represents the grave reality of our world right now. Our world is in darkness. Yes it is broken and sinful. And yes, people around the globe are suffering immensely. 
But no matter the darkness, the light always shines in the darkness and will never be overcome.  The light of radical compassion will break through. The light of mercy, grace, forgiveness, will always prevail. The light of justice, truth, and humility will break through. 
Jesus is that light but we are commanded to be that light as well.
I feel like I want to carry so many people and situations in my heart as we journey to Poland.
I carry in my heart all the pain, frustration, and crazy going on in our own country; for healing and honest dialogue in these painful realities. I want to carry people dealing with horrific trauma and loss from senseless killings.
Personally, I carry to Poland all of what the last year of my life has entailed. I carry those I still need to forgive and give them in love to the Father. I carry my former spouse, whom I pray for frequently. And I carry all that God has been teaching me about myself and my identity in Him.

A pilgrimage presents an opportunity to pray for and offer up the journey for other people back at home. It is a way to unite what I am experiencing with those across the ocean back home.
There is a lot to bring before God in our world and individual lives today. And I am looking at the coming days in Poland as an opportunity to just pray for the light to break through, and shine in the darkness of our hearts and in our world.
Hit me up with an e-mail if you have any prayer requests!  I'd be honored to carry you too over our pilgrimage :)