FAITH-DRIVEN LIFESTYLE Archives - Full-of-Grace

Feedback From Falling: Why Understanding Your Relationship Patterns Isn’t Enough to Change Them

Why are we still doing the same thing? So you've done the reading. You understand your attachment style, your patterns, why you react the way you do in relationships. You can name it, explain it, trace it back to where it started. So why are you still doing the same thing? Here's what so many therapeutic approaches miss: your relationship patterns aren't stored in your understanding. They're stored in your body. Think about learning to walk....

The Mathematics of Grace: Remembering Provision in Advent Darkness

What do you do when your wallet is empty? When you've shaken out the last coins and there's nothing left? What if that emptiness - that total letting go - is exactly where grace begins? My throat is tight as I write this. There's also a squeezing sensation, that familiar tightness in my abdomen that signals anxiety trying to take root. The problems are piling up - financial pressures mounting, difficulties multiplying - and I can feel despair...

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) – Free Liturgical Resources

"Ordinary" doesn't mean "less important." It means ordinary as whole—encountering Jesus complete, not through a seasonal lens. QUICK REFERENCE Date: November 16, 2025Liturgical Season: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CReadings: USCCB Lectionary #159 One-Sentence Theme:When temple structures fall, the widow's poverty-encounter proves stronger than magnificent worship—and Jesus sits alone, waiting for us to show up in our lack, not our...

Magnifying God: A Pre-Wedding Meditation on Living Heaven

Shaking Before the Feast Tomorrow is the Feast of the Assumption, and I'm struggling. Here I am with a blog called "Full-of-Grace," somehow connected to Mary, and yet as this huge feast approaches, I find myself shaking, holding back, feeling overwhelmed. My new Polish parish is named after the Assumption, and tomorrow there will be a huge Mass, blessing of the flowers, then music and barbecue and cakes. It should be joyful, festive. I should...

The Camino Crush: When Hearts Meet on the Santiago Trail

A reflection on relationships found and lost on pilgrimage, and the beautiful journey to finding true love Walking Toward Truth Instead of Escape Six years ago, on what started as an ordinary June Monday, I had the most spontaneous idea: I would walk the Camino de Santiago as preparation to become a nun. By Wednesday, I was on an airplane, boots packed and heart full of the most peculiar intention. There I was—a young woman so certain of her...

Coming Home From Camino: A Mother’s Day Reflection

Three Mothers at the Heart of Resurrection Today I'm traveling back to Poland on Mother's Day – May 26th in our Polish tradition. As I journey home, I'm reflecting on three mothers who have shaped my spiritual resurrection years ago: my earthly mother whom I'll embrace today, the Mother Church to whom I returned after 17 years in the wilderness, and Mary, the Mother of the Church. The little me holding onto my mum Like the three women who...

The Day Everything Went Wrong (And Perfectly Right)

Airport musings after a shortened Camino The Comedy of Errors Picture this: a peaceful pilgrim, fresh from three nights in Santiago de Compostela, checking out of their hostel before 10 AM with the serene confidence of someone who has just walked the Camino. That was me this morning—strolling through Santiago's ancient streets one last time, breathing in the cathedral's timeless presence, choosing to skip the four-hour queue I'd already...

The Sacred Art of Waiting: Camino Day 16

A Santiago Pilgrimage Reflection Faith is often less about movement and more about stillness. Today, my second day in Santiago de Compostela, I discovered this truth through four hours spent within the cathedral walls - a masterclass in pilgrimage patience that no amount of walking could have taught me. A busy morning in Compostela Small Graces and Gentle Transitions Last night, I had worried about switching from a hotel to a pilgrim hostel,...

A Smile from Saint James

Santiago de Compostela - Day 15 Today I write from Santiago de Compostela, not having walked the complete path as planned, but arriving nonetheless with a heart full of wonder. The pilgrimage called me back to Poland with urgent matters, yet here I am, and I feel Saint James himself has been smiling upon this journey. Yesterday’s view from the hotel balcony This pilgrimage has been profoundly different from my 2019 walk along the entire...

Camino Day 14: Neither Last Nor Least

Cardañuela-Riopico to Burgos - 8 kilometers I woke in the albergue to the most restful sleep I've had in two weeks. Perhaps it's the lightness that comes with a difficult decision finally made - the relief of accepting what needs to be, rather than clinging to what I had hoped. For days I had wrestled with the choice between continuing the pilgrimage or returning home, and now there's peace in knowing my path. At Cardañuela-Riopico they read...