The Coming Home Network

The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #512

mattswaim — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 10:04:40 +0000

Got a question about the Catholic Faith, or need assistance on your journey? Consider joining our Online Community, or feel free to contact us for support. The Coming Home Network exists to help converts, “reverts,” those on the journey, and those who are just curious – we’d love to hear from you!

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The latest from CHNetwork

The June CHNewsletter is out! Read it here.

This week’s Journey Home episode was a powerful conversation with Fr. Allan Phan, who shared the story of going from Buddhist roots to the Catholic priesthood.

In an On the Journey short, Ken Hensley pointed out the problematic prophetic assumption at the heart of Dispensationalism.

We shared an article from Matt Swaim on how much you should know before you can make an “informed” decision to become Catholic.

And on a new Insights, Grant Adams shared how he began to consider the reality of the Eucharist while he was serving in Evangelical ministry.

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CONVERTS AND CONVERSION

June 3rd marked the feast of the Ugandan Martyrs, many of whom were killed within days of their baptisms.

Estonia, one of the least religious countries in the world, is experiencing a small but growing number of Catholic conversions.

On Catholic Answers, Desirae Sifuentes reflected on how to deal with being the only Catholic in your family.

Luke Larson looked at the rise of Catholic conversions in rural parts of the United States.

And the Catholic Herald shared the story of the Chinese prime minister who became a Benedictine monk.

APOLOGETICS PICKS OF THE WEEK

Msgr. Charles Pope explained why Jesus said “the Father is greater than I,” when all the members of the Trinity are equally God.

And an archaeological dig under Notre Dame cathedral has unearthed artifacts dating back some 1700 years.

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A convert member whose spouse has started to become interested in Catholicism, another member discerning membership in a third order, and all our members who were received into the Church at Pentecost — these are just a few of the people we are praying for and working with at The Coming Home Network. Please help us continue to support those on the journey by visiting chnetwork.org/donate today!

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“The Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship, but to keep her on her course.”

St. Boniface
Feast Day: June 5th

The post The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #512 appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

How Much Do I Need to Know Before I Become Catholic?

mattswaim — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:06:48 +0000

A CHNetwork Member Asks: I’ve been reading the Catechism, and there’s a lot that makes sense to me, but there’s a lot that goes over my head, and I’m a little intimidated at how much there is to learn… I’m afraid I can never become Catholic, because I don’t think I can ever absorb it all. How much information do I have to know before I can make an “informed” decision to become Catholic?

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This question is a common one, and it comes up in regard to all kinds of aspects of Catholicism. Do you really have to memorize the entire Catechism before entering the Church? Will there be a test?

A couple of distinctions in regard to “knowing”: in many ways, we can know God: through His creation, through His Word, through our neighbor, et cetera; just as we might have a certain kind of knowledge of an artist through that artist’s work. Therefore, we truly can understand certain things about God, especially through the incarnation of Jesus.

On the other hand, God is infinite, and we are finite, so there is no possible way to fit everything about God into our brain; therefore we cannot comprehend God fully.

In some theological circles, there’s an argument that because we can’t comprehend God fully, there’s no point in saying anything about Him at all, since he’s so far beyond us.

But in the Catholic worldview, we argue that we can indeed understand some things about God, so there is a point in saying at least a few things about Him based on what He has shown us about Himself through reason and revelation, while at the same time acknowledging that our language and concepts are going to be extremely limited.

Let’s take, for example, the doctrine of the Trinity: that term doesn’t really come about until people start challenging the relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit. The first real use of the term “Trinity” as a way to describe it comes in the late 100’s, but it comes from decades of reflection by the Church on the mystery of who God is. That doctrine tells us that we can understand that God is Triune, and we profess that belief in the Creeds and the Sign of the Cross. But can we ever fully comprehend that mystery? If we could, then that would actually put us above God.

In fact, even if you did absorb everything that human beings have ever written about the Trinity through the centuries, you still wouldn’t “know” all there is to “know”, because new insights into this one mystery will continue to emerge the longer the Church reflects upon it. And none of it will contradict what the Church already believes, but rather further illuminate it.

An analogy from the world of medicine might bring it down to earth a bit: medical research learns more about the brain every day, but the brain remains a mystery. In fact, we know very little about the total workings of the human brain. But everything we learn will build on what we already know about the human brain. It is highly unlikely that the medical world will wake up one day and say, “we’ve been wrong this whole time, the brain is located in the kneecap,” or something like that. And while it’s the job of experts to research and explain what the brain is and how it works, and further unpack its mysteries, the job of most of us is just to realize it’s there, and use it in everyday life the best we can.

Depending on our faith backgrounds, some of us have come from places where there was an emphasis on simply believing and not asking questions. In the Catholic Church, however, between St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Teresa of Avila and a whole bunch of others, we have example after example of witnesses who prove that the Church is not afraid to ask complex and difficult questions about God.

But we also are part of a Church that through the centuries has been full of beautifully holy men and women who had no formal education whatsoever. In fact, Jesus chose an uneducated fisherman, Peter, as its first earthly leader. So learn and absorb what you can; but realize that the ultimate question is not, “can I know everything there is to know about Catholicism?” But rather, “do I trust that the best way to be in relationship with Jesus is in His Church?” At the end of the day, it’s that relationship that will carry you forward in ways that mere studies cannot.

The post How Much Do I Need to Know Before I Become Catholic? appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #511

mattswaim — Fri, 29 May 2026 09:27:55 +0000

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The latest from CHNetwork

Do you know someone who came into the Church this year? Let them know about our great community of Catholic converts at the Coming Home Network! We’d love to help them take the next right step in their journey of faith.

This week’s Journey Home episode was an encore of our conversation with Fr. Matthew Hawkins about his journey from A.M.E. roots to Catholicism.

In an On the Journey short, Kenny Burchard shared how the Rapture is only in the Bible if it’s mentioned in the editorial footnotes.

We shared an article from JonMarc Grodi about the value of doing an Ignatian daily examen.

And on a new Insights, Jean Nixon, a former Hare Krishna, shared how she discovered Eucharistic Adoration.

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CONVERTS AND CONVERSION

An Iranian Catholic convert has been sentenced to prison for her faith.

Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden, himself a convert to Catholicism, reflected on conversions in his native country.

And Zenit shared the story of how the rosary is bringing about conversions at a senior care center in Colorado.

APOLOGETICS PICKS OF THE WEEK

Several Protestant outlets, including Christianity Today, published positive reactions to the pope’s new encyclical.

And Pope Leo has explained why it is important for priests to honor the prescribed structure and prayers of the Mass.

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A member trying to understand Catholic Social Teaching, another member working up the nerve to attend their first Mass, and all our members who were received into the Church at Pentecost — these are just a few of the people we are praying for and working with at The Coming Home Network. Please help us continue to support those on the journey by visiting chnetwork.org/donate today!

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“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”

Pope St. Paul VI
Feast Day: May 29th

The post The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #511 appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

Re-Reading Your Day with Jesus

mattswaim — Thu, 28 May 2026 10:45:10 +0000

Many years ago, a cradle Catholic viewer of The Journey Home program wrote in to express her gratitude for the encouragement she received hearing so many converts share the stories of being drawn home to the Catholic Church. Her note included a comment to the effect of: “These amazing conversion stories… they almost make me wish I was a convert, too.” That comment always stuck with me, and when I was blessed to step into the hosting seat for my father, I continued his habit of reminding the lifelong Catholics in the audience: you too are on a journey, you too have a story to tell! You may not have discovered it or learned to articulate it yet—but you too have a “conversion story” that God wants you to be able to share with people in your life. As one convert summed it up: “Every Christian has a testimony and it goes like this: I was (___), Jesus did (___), Now I am (___).” Uncovering this story and learning to tell it are themselves parts of the continuing journey.

There is a connection between this notion of discovering and learning to share one’s faith testimony and the practice of the daily Examen or Examination of Conscience that many converts learn as part of their spiritual formation as new Catholics. The Examen was popularized in 1522 by St. Ignatius of Loyola as part of his Spiritual Exercises and has been a treasured practice for centuries. In brief, the Examen is the practice of taking time every day, perhaps most especially before you go to bed, to intentionally reflect on the day’s events in prayer. The steps of the Examen can vary in number and content, but they generally involve the following aspects:

1. Transition—Beginning your time of prayer by recognizing the presence of God and inviting the Holy Spirit to aid your reflection.

2. Gratitude—Taking note of and thanking God for the blessings of the day.

3. Reflection—Examining your conscience and identifying sins and vices.

4. Repentance—Expressing contrition for sin and making a firm purpose of amendment.

5. Resolution—Learning from your experiences and making plans for the future.

Some form of daily Examen is crucial for the Christian journeyer because every day, as we experience the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows of the journey, we are always, intentionally or unintentionally, building a mental narrative of our life. Without an intentional daily practice of examining our experiences and consciously and prayerfully bringing them before God, we risk building up a mental narrative that is divorced from reality and reflective only of our vices rather than our faith in Jesus.

During his Regina Caeli address on April 23, 2023 in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis commented on the importance of a daily Examen, describing it as “re-reading the day with Jesus”. He went on to say:

“It is important to re-read our history together with Jesus: the story of our life, of a certain period, of our days, with its disappointments and hopes. Besides, we too, like those disciples, faced with what happens to us, can find ourselves lost in the face of events, alone and uncertain, with many questions and worries, disappointments, many things. Today’s Gospel invites us to tell Jesus everything, sincerely, without being afraid of disturbing him: he listens, without fear of saying the wrong thing, without shame at our struggle to understand. The Lord is happy whenever we open ourselves to him. Only in this way can he take us by the hand, accompany us and make our hearts burn again.”

As Pope Francis notes, without intentionally “re-reading” our lives with Jesus, our own auto-generated mental narratives can become sources of discouragement and temptation to despair. It is in re-reading our lives with Jesus, that we allow Him and His words to become the primary lens through which we interpret our experiences.

Perhaps we feel some amount of hesitancy or spiritual resistance to the idea of practicing a daily Examen. Perhaps we would rather not rehash the negative and troubling experiences of the day, or perhaps it feels a little prideful to focus on ourselves and our experiences in prayer. If rightly understood and carried out, the daily Examen can be a powerful exercise in the virtue of humility and a remedy to both our fears and our pride. Once again, we are always subconsciously building up narratives about ourselves and our lives. These narratives may be presumptuous—look how great I am and how great I am handling things on my own!—or they may be despairing—I’m such a sinner—how could God love me! Everything goes wrong for me. Where has God gone?—or likely some combination of the two. In the Examen, we invite Jesus and the words of Scripture to be the primary lens through which we consciously read and interpret the events of our lives. We surrender our self-made narratives and turn to Jesus in humility to ask Him: “Who do YOU say that I am, Lord?” A humble daily Examen is the attempt to read the book of one’s life and experiences through the lens of prayer and sacred Scripture, in order that all the things we experience—the good and the bad—may work together, by grace, to help us move forward on our journey deeper in Christ.

We are now closing out the month of May, which is dedicated in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is a model for Christian journeyers of both the spirit of the daily Examen—“Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19)—and of sharing one’s Christian testimony—“The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:49) As we remember her experience with the apostles at Pentecost, let us seek her intercession and follow her example. Consider making some form of the daily Examen part of your prayer routine— whether it be the exact method of St. Ignatius, a prayerful journaling practice, or Scripture study. Re-read your days with Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to uncover the truth of your own Christian journey and testimony—a testimony that is meant first and foremost for your own continued edification and encouragement, and then to be shared with others when the Holy Spirit presents the opportunity

The post Re-Reading Your Day with Jesus appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #510

mattswaim — Fri, 22 May 2026 19:00:10 +0000

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The latest from CHNetwork

Do you know someone who came into the Church this Easter? Let them know about our great community of Catholic converts at the Coming Home Network! We’d love to help them take the next right step in their journey of faith.

This week’s Journey Home episode was a fascinating conversation with Garrett Hines, an Evangelical missionary who is now an iconographer.

In an On the Journey short, Ken Hensley gave a brief history of Dispensationalism.

We shared an article from JonMarc Grodi on being formed in joy.

And ahead of Memorial Day, be sure to check out our archive of military-themed conversion stories: chnetwork.org/military

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CONVERTS AND CONVERSION

Some 250 Catholics from Hong Kong living in the U.K. were received into the Church this Easter.

The National Catholic Register shared the story of the conversion of an Italian punk rock band.

Karl Keating pointed out that zeal is good for new converts, but not if it leads to violations of the virtue of prudence.

Angelo Stagnaro reflected on the extraordinary conversion of St. Moses the Black.

And Pope Leo lamented the fact that many Catholics leave the practice of their faith as teenagers shortly after their Confirmation.

APOLOGETICS PICKS OF THE WEEK

With the new encyclical from Pope Leo on artificial intelligence expected to come out on Monday, Ishmael Adibuah explained what a papal encylical actually is.

And Dave Armstrong shared 100 Biblical passages that reflect what the Church believes about the Communion of Saints.

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A member preparing for their first Confession, another member praying their kids will join them in becoming Catholic, and all our members who are being received into the Church at Pentecost — these are just a few of the people we are praying for and working with at The Coming Home Network. Please help us continue to support those on the journey by visiting chnetwork.org/donate today!

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“The last degree of love is when He gave Himself to us to be our Food; because He gave Himself to be united with us in every way.”

St. Bernadine of Siena
Feast Day: May 20th

The post The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #510 appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

Being Formed in Joy

mattswaim — Thu, 21 May 2026 12:39:22 +0000

One of the great blessings of being Catholic is the way in which the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, helps us to sanctify our time and attention through recurring liturgical seasons. We have seasons that are “ordinary,” seasons for penance and mourning as we recently concluded in Lent, and we have seasons of joy. As we conclude the 50 days of this Easter Season, the “feast of feasts” (CCC 1169) and greatest of the Christian seasons of joy, we celebrate what J.R.R. Tolkien called the “eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation”—the joyful surprise that, just when all hope seemed lost, Jesus rose again victorious over sin and death. He has risen! Alleluia!

For many members of the Coming Home Network, these weeks after the Easter Vigil are moments of intense joy and discovery as they begin their life in full communion with the Catholic Church. However in the years to come, as we celebrate the Easter season again and again, at least some of the excitement will begin to fade. It is then that a more subtle aspect of these recurring seasons of fasting and feasting, mourning and joy, will begin to come to light. Easter, as a season of joy, is not just a time of passive celebration but a time of active formation in Christian joy.

Why do we need formation in joy? It seems an odd thing to say. Isn’t joy just something that happens to us? When we speak of “joy” we’re not talking about mere bodily pleasure or temporary gratification. Joy is not dependent on our physical circumstances, which is why it can be present even in the context of great suffering and uncertainty. The true joy for which we were originally created and destined is the result of friendship with the Lord. This side of heaven, while the journey continues, the cultivation of this friendship and growth in Christian joy is something that requires conversion, practice, and perseverance.

Consider, if you will, that familiar exhortation from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” (4:4) Contrary to how we sometimes think of it, joy is presented here not as something for which we are to just wait around passively hoping it will show up. Rather, we are exhorted to “rejoice”—that is, to actively seek our delight and fulfillment in the Lord. That we struggle to rejoice—to find joy in the God of the universe who loves us—this is, in a sense, our deepest human predicament, the root of our restlessness and our sin. We constantly seek and grasp for joy in things that we know cannot and will not satisfy: mere sensual gratification, power, possessions, the attention and praise of others, and in the end our own self-will and self-esteem. At the same time, when we do turn to face that which we know, rationally, is truly “enjoyable”—the almighty God, the giver of all good gifts—we find ourselves often nonplussed. Perhaps we do not desire joy as much as we thought we did. As C.S. Lewis noted in his famous sermon, The Weight of Glory:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half- hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

As the result of sin, both original and personal, we seek joy in all the wrong places, and even when we find it we are “halfhearted” in our desire.

God is calling us back to joy, but it will require our obedience, both in seeking the Lord and in accepting his discipline. To rejoice in the Lord is the vocation and destiny of the Christian soul. We were created for happiness, for beatitude—”to know, to love, and to serve [God], and so to come to paradise” (CCC 1721). Over and over, throughout the Old Testament, God reiterates in a hundred ways his invitation to peace, life, fulfillment, love, and the joy of salvation to his hard-hearted people: ”O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!” (Ps 81:13). At long last, in His great mercy, through the incarnation, Christ comes in the flesh to renew His Father’s invitation and to show us the way:

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (Jn 15:8–11)

The Christian journey is, in a sense, a lifelong “rejoicing” process through grace. Jesus came precisely to make this full joy possible: showing us that the resurrection of our joy—our true rejoicing—emerges only after we surrender and submit to the way of the cross.

As we conclude these 50 days of the Easter season of rejoicing, let’s keep in mind that the celebration is formation. We precede this season with a time of mourning for our sins, submitting to discipline, and detaching our hearts from distractions. But Lent is not enough! With the Risen Christ, we enter into Easter joy, not as passive spectators, but as active participants, freely responding to the exhortation to rejoice in the Lord. It is a time for purposeful celebration with family and friends, for persevering in prayer, and for drawing nearer to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist as the source of our abiding joy. And when this season draws to a close at Pentecost, may we resolve to carry this rejoicing with us always—even as we return to Ordinary Time.

The post Being Formed in Joy appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #509

mattswaim — Thu, 14 May 2026 18:33:02 +0000

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The latest from CHNetwork

This week’s episode of The Journey Home was a great conversation with Brenda Caster, who shared her path from Seventh-day Adventism to the Catholic Church.

In an On the Journey short, Ken Hensley looked at how Rapture theology argues for two second comings of Jesus.

We featured the written testimony of Jeremy Noonan, a former Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) missionary who became Catholic.

And on the latest Signposts, Deacon Michael Nixon shared his wild journey from Hare Krishna devotee to the Catholic diaconate.

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CONVERTS AND CONVERSION

Dr. Ken Craycraft reviewed a recent book on 20th century converts to Catholicism.

EWTN News shared the story of two converts from Islam who entered the Church at this year’s Easter Vigil.

David Bonagura reflected on the importance of mystagogy in the life of new converts.

APOLOGETICS PICKS OF THE WEEK

Pope Leo reflected on Mary as a model of the Church.

EWTN News reflected on what the Church has had to say about UFO’s and alien life.

And ChurchPOP looked at 12 flowers that are symbolic of Mary.

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A member struggling with questions about Mary, another member who’s struggling to connect with Catholic friends in their area, and all our members who have been received into the Church during the Easter season — these are just a few of the people we are praying for and working with at The Coming Home Network. Please help us continue to support those on the journey by visiting chnetwork.org/donate today!

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“Thank you, forgive me, help me more!”

Bl. Alvaro de Portillo
Feast Day: May 12

The post The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #509 appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #508

mattswaim — Fri, 08 May 2026 10:26:30 +0000

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The latest from CHNetwork

This week’s episode of The Journey Home was a great discussion with Patrick Correa, a cynical atheist who became a committed Catholic.

In the latest episode of On the Journey, Ken Hensley explained how the theology that argues for the Rapture is the result of a sort of Biblical “double vision.”

We shared the written testimony of John Kainer, who realized that the prayers of people who loved him had been guiding his entire journey of faith.

And on the latest Insights, Bobbyjon Bauman shared how becoming Catholic made him re-evaluate his call to ministry.

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CONVERTS AND CONVERSION

Justin Hibbard reflected on what happens when Protestant clergy become Catholic.

College students who came into the Church this Easter shared how things have been going in their first weeks as newly confirmed Catholics.

Margarita Mooney Clayton reflected on Mary as the first Pentecostal.

APOLOGETICS PICKS OF THE WEEK

Aleteia shared a brief interview with the Cardinal who announced the election of Pope Leo XIV.

And a professional race car driver has donated a mobile outreach vehicle to the Diocese of Columbus.

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A member whose spouse is starting to express interest in becoming Catholic, another member struggling to find friends in their Catholic parish, and all our members who were just received into the Church at the Easter Vigil — these are just a few of the people we are praying for and working with at The Coming Home Network. Please help us continue to support those on the journey by visiting chnetwork.org/donate today!

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“Woe to the man who does not lean on God but lives thinking whether it will rain a lot or whether it will not rain!”

St. John of Avila
Feast Day: May 10th

The post The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #508 appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #507

mattswaim — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:21:17 +0000

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The latest from CHNetwork

Please pray for the attendees of our 2nd annual Clergy Convert Conference, which takes place this weekend!

This week’s episode of The Journey Home was a great discussion with Steve Sjogren, a pioneer of the Vineyard Movement who became Catholic.

In the latest episode of On the Journey, Ken Hensley summarized the Biblical case against Dispensationalism.

And we shared an article by Matt Swaim about how sacred art has helped him to better meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary.

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CONVERTS AND CONVERSION

Angelus News shared the story of a 98 year-old woman who entered the Church this Easter.

Recent Journey Home guest Lee Sondeno was asked about his conversion story in The Catholic Spirit.

The Catholic Spirit also interviewed one of this year’s converts about her journey from Calvinism to Catholicism.

Hawaii has declared “Joseph Dutton Day” in honor of the Catholic convert on the road to sainthood.

Fr. Jeremiah Shryock, CFR, reflected on contemplation as a “second conversion.”

The Catholic bishops of Paraguay reflected on catechesis and the sacraments of initiation.

And Christianity Today reported on how some Evangelicals are beginning to practice Natural Family Planning.

APOLOGETICS PICKS OF THE WEEK

Dave Armstrong looked at how the Church Fathers can be used to help push back against the Reformation doctrine of “Faith Alone.”

Msgr. Charles Pope reflected on what our resurrected bodies might look like.

An asteroid has been named after Pope Leo XIII.

And the winner of this year’s Boston Marathon shared how his Catholic Faith informs everything he does.

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A member who’s preparing to enter the Church at Pentecost, another member who just started praying the rosary, and all our members who were just received into the Church at the Easter Vigil — these are just a few of the people we are praying for and working with at The Coming Home Network. Please help us continue to support those on the journey by visiting chnetwork.org/donate today!

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“ Let (us) subject (our) own judgement to the will of God, who provides better for our interests that we can even desire ourselves.”

Pope St. Pius V
Feast Day: April 30

The post The CHNetwork Weekly Roundup #507 appeared first on The Coming Home Network.

Praying the Rosary with Art

mattswaim — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:10:58 +0000

The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides a brief description of three expressions of prayer: Vocal Prayer, Meditation, and Contemplation (CCC 2700- 2724). Vocal prayer involves expressing oneself to God either silently or audibly; meditation has to do with reflecting intentionally upon the mysteries of faith; and contemplation, sometimes referred to as the “prayer of presence,” is perhaps best described in Psalm 46:10—”be still and know that I am God.”

In my experience as an Evangelical Christian growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I was really only conscious of two expressions of prayer; praying aloud (usually in the presence of other Christians), and what we called “praying in the silence of our hearts,” which was actively talking to God but without saying audible words. Both of these, I would come to discover, fall under the umbrella of Vocal Prayer in the Catholic tradition; and I was more than a little dismayed to learn that Meditation and Contemplation were both considered higher expressions!

That’s not to say that I never engaged in Meditation (certainly I did when reading the Scriptures), or even Contemplation (such as when a worship leader or pastor would ask us to quiet our hearts and place ourselves in the presence of God), but Meditation, as a term, had a negative connotation in my world because some of the Christians from the generation before me had been “born again” after experimenting with Transcendental Meditation. Contemplation, on the other hand, I do not recall being used explicitly to describe a specific prayer style at all.

As I began to make my way towards the Catholic Church, I knew I wanted to try my hand, or at least my thumbs, at the rosary. However, because I was still trying to sort out the distinction between Vocal and Meditative Prayer, I found it difficult at first; how could I make my brain focus on one of the Mysteries when my mouth was doing all the talking? Amid all of this, my wife-to-be got me a book by the late Fr. Benedict Groeschel, The Rosary: Chain of Hope. The power of the book, for my specific situation, was in its selection of classic depictions of the mysteries of the Rosary as painted by some of the greatest sacred artists in the Church’s history: The Annunciation by Carl Bloch, Carracci’s Flagellation of Christ, Giovane’s Wedding at Cana. Soon, I found myself focusing on the images and placing myself in the scenes beside Jesus and Mary, with the repetitive prayers serving as a rhythmic anchor to help my mind stay with each mystery. Ever since, I’ve tried, whenever possible, to find visual depictions of the mysteries of the Rosary to aid my meditation.

Through the CHNetwork Online Community, we’re blessed to host a live Rosary on a Zoom video call every Monday afternoon for all of our members, but especially for those who are just getting started with the Rosary, and are perhaps having the same difficulties I’ve experienced.

Selecting the art to go along with our Monday afternoon Rosary has quickly become a highlight of my week!

If you’re interested in praying the Rosary with us each Monday, or in our other weekly prayer and fellowship opportunities, we would love to have you join us online at chnetwork.org/onlineevents.

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