# Faith for the Fire, not for the Feelings.

An episode of [AfterMass](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1823710125), 15 Jul 2025, 32 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/1069762b8/podcast/play/105514903/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-6-15%2F403931852-44100-2-0bfbeaded01a3.mp3

In a world obsessed with emotions and instant gratification, how do we stay rooted in our faith when the feelings fade? In this episode, we dive into the heart of spiritual dryness, desolation, and the difference between emotional highs and true devotion. Drawing from the wisdom of the saints and St. Ignatius’ rules for discernment, we explore what it means to love God not just when it feels good but when it costs something. This one’s for anyone who has ever asked, “Why don’t I feel close to God anymore?” or “Am I doing something wrong?” Let’s talk about what real faith looks like when the fire flickers and how to keep it burning. Got a question or story you want to share for the podcast? Send it to aftermasspodcast@gmail.com. Find me on TikTok and Instagram @anamunley for more faith content between episodes.

## Transcript

[0:00] Hi, friends, and welcome back to Aftermath, the podcast for
[0:03] Catholics who want more than just faith on Sundays.
[0:06] I'm your host, Anna, and today we're going to talk about faith
[0:08] for the fire, not for the feelings.
[0:13] And if you notice, I am facing the camera this time.
[0:16] I've taken in all your feedback and it just feels awkward to
[0:19] look at myself talking for so long.
[0:21] But I'm going to try. So keep your fingers crossed.
[0:24] Today we're going to talk about, you know that moment where you
[0:27] are riding the spiritual high, like maybe you just got back
[0:31] from a retreat or you start praying rosary every day and you
[0:34] know you're back at Mass every Sunday after being away and
[0:38] you're feeling on fire. Everything is clicking and
[0:41] scriptures making sense. Worship music is hitting
[0:44] different and you wake up excited to pray and then out of
[0:47] nowhere, silence. Nothing.
[0:50] It's just dryness. You kneel to pray and you feel
[0:53] like you are talking to a wall. You go to Mass and you leave
[0:56] feeling, well, nothing. No consolation, no emotion.
[1:00] It's just quiet and still and empty.
[1:03] And suddenly you start to question everything.
[1:06] Did I do something wrong? Am I going backwards?
[1:09] Was this just all this phase or this feeling?
[1:12] Is God even here? Is he listening?
[1:14] So let me stop you right there and tell you if that's you,
[1:17] you're not broken, you're not failing.
[1:19] You're actually stepping into one of the most important parts
[1:23] of spiritual life because what you're experiencing has a name,
[1:26] and the Saints went through it too.
[1:28] And this is what the Church calls desolation.
[1:31] So let's define it first. Because once you know what it is
[1:34] that you can stop panicking when it shows up.
[1:37] Desolation is a spiritual dryness.
[1:39] It's when you feel far from God, even if you're doing all of the
[1:42] right things, your heart feels cold and prayer feels dull.
[1:46] You feel spiritually lazy, discouraged, and probably even
[1:50] tempted to give up. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who
[1:54] knew a thing or two about spiritual warfare.
[1:57] He taught that desolation isn't a sign that you're far from God.
[2:01] Often it's quite the opposite. It means that God is drawing you
[2:04] deeper into trust where your feelings don't get to be the
[2:09] fuel anymore, but instead faith gets to be the fuel.
[2:12] Now desolation is different from depression.
[2:16] This isn't about mental illness or burnout.
[2:19] That's important to address too. But spiritual desolation is
[2:23] about how we experience God's nearness or what feels like his
[2:29] absence. And Ignatius says when you are
[2:32] in that place, never make a major spiritual decision during
[2:36] desolation, because desolation clouds your judgement.
[2:40] It whispers lies, it convinces you to turn back right when
[2:45] you're about to grow. Modern Christianity has done
[2:47] something pretty dangerous. We've turned spiritual maturity
[2:51] into an emotional experience. If I don't feel peace, God must
[2:55] not be here. If I don't feel inspired, maybe
[2:59] I'm not holy. That's not how love works, and
[3:02] it's definitely not how spiritual growth works.
[3:05] Think about marriage. The real kind, not this
[3:08] Pinterest Instagram version. There are days where it feels
[3:12] romantic and joyful and beautiful and days where you are
[3:16] just showing up. That's all you can do.
[3:20] Folding laundry? Maybe holding your tongue,
[3:23] choosing to love when you don't feel it.
[3:27] Our relationship with God is no different.
[3:29] Some of the greatest Saints went through years, even decades, of
[3:34] spiritual dryness. They didn't keep going because
[3:37] they felt holy. They kept going because they
[3:40] were faithful. Faithfulness will always matter
[3:43] more than feelings. Now, Ignatius explains that
[3:47] spiritual life has seasons. There's consolation where God's
[3:51] presence feels close. You have your prayer time.
[3:55] It just flows. You feel uplifted.
[3:58] And then there's desolation when it feels like God is withdrawing
[4:02] from you. And here's the catch.
[4:04] Both are part of your journey and both are necessary.
[4:08] Both can lead to holiness if you respond well.
[4:12] In times of consolation, Ignatius says prepare for the
[4:16] storm. In times of desolation, he says
[4:19] remember the truth. God spoke to you in the light
[4:23] and don't change course. So why does it happen?
[4:26] Here's the part that we hate to hear.
[4:29] God sometimes allows desolation on purpose, not because he's
[4:33] cruel, but because he wants to purify your love to see if you
[4:37] will love him even when there is no spiritual high.
[4:40] Sometimes he removes the sweetness of prayer to deepen
[4:44] your trust. Sometimes he hides his face, so
[4:47] you learn to seek him, not the feeling of him.
[4:50] I know that can sound painful, but think about a parent
[4:54] teaching their child to walk. At some point they have to let
[4:58] go. Not because they're abandoning
[5:00] their child, but because the child cannot grow without
[5:03] learning to take a few steps on your own.
[5:05] That's what God does in desolation.
[5:07] He's not absent. He's inviting you to walk in
[5:10] deeper faith. We're also not the first to feel
[5:13] this, so you're not special. I don't mean it in a mean way,
[5:17] but you're not unique. Everybody goes through this.
[5:21] Psalm 13 says, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
[5:25] If you look at Job, he sat in silence for days, misunderstood,
[5:30] grieving and wondering where God was.
[5:32] And even Jesus cried out on the cross.
[5:34] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[5:38] Desolation isn't failure, it's part of the cross.
[5:41] And if Jesus himself entered into that silence, we shouldn't
[5:45] be surprised when we are invited into it too.
[5:48] When people experience desolation, this is when they
[5:51] start to fall away. They mistake dryness for
[5:54] distance. So if you're in this season
[5:57] right now, don't run root down. Don't stop praying.
[6:02] Don't stop showing up. Don't just say, I just don't
[6:05] feel it anymore. This is when your faith matters
[6:09] the most. This is the battlefield not of
[6:12] emotion but of perseverance. And if you can cling to God in
[6:16] the silence, you'll come out on the other side stronger and
[6:20] holier and more anchored than ever.
[6:22] So what now you've named it. You know what it is.
[6:26] Now what do you do when you're in it?
[6:28] This is where discernment comes in.
[6:30] Because if you're not hearing God clearly, you need to know
[6:33] how to tell whether that silence is from Him or if you're under
[6:38] spiritual attack. And that's what we're going to
[6:40] dive into next. If you're in a season of
[6:43] silence, you're showing up and praying and doing all of the
[6:46] things, and God still feels 1,000,000 miles away, like
[6:50] you're staring into the night asking where are you?
[6:53] The hard truth is that God's silence isn't always punishment.
[6:57] Sometimes it's preparation. So let's go back to Scripture.
[7:01] Because before Jesus ever began his public ministry, the Spirit
[7:05] led him into the desert, led him, not abandoned him.
[7:09] And what happened in that desert?
[7:11] Silence, Hunger, temptation, loneliness. 40 days of spiritual
[7:17] dryness. And yet it was God's will that
[7:20] he be there. So let that sink in.
[7:23] Sometimes the very place that feels most barren is exactly
[7:27] where God wants you to be. Not because He's trying to crush
[7:30] you, but because He's trying to forge you.
[7:33] And while we're on the topic of it, you know what doesn't get
[7:36] enough attention? The hidden years of Jesus. 30
[7:39] years of silence. No miracles, no followers, no
[7:43] crowds chanting His name. Just faithfulness in the quiet.
[7:47] It's the hidden, unseen moments that Saints are made, not just
[7:51] in the fire of zeal, but in the ashes of perseverance.
[7:55] Let's talk about Saint John of the Cross.
[7:57] He coined the phrase dark night of the soul.
[8:00] It's not just feeling sad. It's a deep spiritual trial
[8:04] where you feel abandoned by God even as you continue to love
[8:08] him. And that sounds very dramatic,
[8:10] but it's very real. Mother Teresa, she lived in
[8:13] spiritual darkness for over 50 years.
[8:16] Her journals revealed a profound ache for God's presence that she
[8:20] didn't always feel, but she never stopped loving him.
[8:23] That's refinement. That's love stripped of all
[8:26] fluff, all reward, all emotion. It's love that just loves
[8:31] because He is worthy of it. Period.
[8:34] So why does God do this? It's not because he wants us to
[8:37] suffer. It's because He wants us to let
[8:40] go of the false gods. Let go of the need to always
[8:44] feel inspired. Let go of the pride that says
[8:47] I'm doing great spiritually because I feel good.
[8:50] Let go of the emotional roller coaster, an anchor into truth.
[8:55] He's burning away the attachments, the pride, ego,
[8:58] control, so we can love him freely, not because of what he
[9:03] gives, but because of who he is and refinement.
[9:07] That hurts, but it's holy. Think about fire.
[9:10] It doesn't just warm, it purifies.
[9:12] Gold doesn't get pure without heat, steel doesn't get strong
[9:17] without pressure, and faith doesn't get deep without
[9:20] silence. This is where spiritual maturity
[9:23] is born. Not in the honeymoon phase of
[9:26] conversion, but in the years where you keep showing up even
[9:29] when it's hard. You keep going to Mass, you keep
[9:32] opening the Bible, confessing the same sins, keep praying the
[9:35] rosary, even when your mind wanders 900 times.
[9:39] That's where the real work happens.
[9:41] And biblical silence isn't new. The Bible is full of people who
[9:45] experience divine silence. Like I mentioned before, David
[9:48] in Psalm 13, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
[9:52] And Job, he lost everything, and he sat in silence.
[9:55] His friends gave all the wrong advice.
[9:58] And Elijah, even after his great victory, he ran into the
[10:01] wilderness and found God in a whisper, not in a fire.
[10:05] And even Jesus on the cross, My God, my God, why have you
[10:08] forsaken me? God's silence isn't proof of his
[10:12] absence. Sometimes it's just how he
[10:15] speaks. Desolation.
[10:17] It messes with your head. It'll make you think that you
[10:20] are regressing, that you're weaker, that you're faking this
[10:25] holiness. But what's actually happening is
[10:29] that your faith is deepening. Because when you walk through a
[10:32] season like this, you realize you don't love God just for the
[10:36] blessings. You love Him when you don't see
[10:39] or feel or understand. And that is not weakness, That's
[10:44] depth. And you know this is where
[10:46] spiritual direction really matters.
[10:49] Because sometimes what feels like spiritual dryness can also
[10:52] be temptation. Sometimes it's warfare.
[10:55] Sometimes it's a sin that needs to be confessed.
[10:58] And other times it can just be God pruning you for something
[11:02] greater. You don't have to figure it out
[11:05] all alone. And that's why, you know, I
[11:07] always recommend that you have a spiritual director.
[11:10] You have, you know, confessors, directors, Saints, the church.
[11:14] You turn to all of these resources because discernment
[11:17] really matters. How can you tell what's really
[11:20] going on when you're spiritually dry?
[11:23] Not every silence is the same, and not every feeling should be
[11:27] trusted. When you're in a spiritual fog,
[11:29] it's hard to tell whether it's God hiding from you, the enemies
[11:33] attacking you, or if you just need a nap and a good
[11:37] confession. And that's where Saint Ignatius
[11:40] comes in. The rules for discernment are
[11:43] like your spiritual GPS, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of
[11:47] the Jesuits. If you weren't aware, he was a
[11:49] spiritual director to thousands. He was, you know, a total
[11:53] warrior for Christ. And he gave us what are called
[11:56] the 14 rules for discernment of spirits.
[12:00] Now, we're not going to go over all 14 word for word, but I
[12:04] really recommend that you look them up.
[12:06] I'm just going to break down the most practical ones that can
[12:10] really kind of change your life if you understand them.
[12:13] These rules can help you recognize things like when
[12:16] you're in consolation or desolation, when the enemy is
[12:19] speaking, when God is guiding, and how you can respond to both.
[12:24] Rule #1 is the devil encourages sinners and discourages Saints.
[12:28] So here's how Saint Ignatius explains it.
[12:31] If you're moving away from God, living in sin, ignoring grace,
[12:36] the devil kind of leaves you alone.
[12:38] He'll even encourage you to stay comfortable.
[12:40] But if you're moving toward God, trying to grow in holiness, and
[12:45] then suddenly everything feels hard.
[12:47] You get anxious and doubt creeps in.
[12:49] You feel unworthy. That's not a coincidence.
[12:52] That's the enemy pushing back. It's like spiritual physics, the
[12:56] closer you get to heaven, the louder that hell gets.
[12:59] Rule #5 Never change a decision in desolation.
[13:03] So this one is huge. He says that when you're in
[13:06] spiritual desolation, when everything feels dark and heavy,
[13:09] you should never make a major decision because desolation
[13:13] distorts your way of thinking. It tells you to quit.
[13:17] It whispers lies. It says, you know, maybe this
[13:21] isn't for me anymore. It tempts you to walk away from
[13:24] God when you're just about to grow the most.
[13:27] So what do you do? Stick to the last clear light
[13:31] you had. Go back to the moment when God
[13:33] did. Speak clearly and anchor
[13:35] yourself there. Rule number six, fight back with
[13:38] opposite action. So when you feel the pull to
[13:42] give up or isolate or numb out, Saint Ignatius says to do the
[13:48] opposite. Don't feel like praying?
[13:50] Well, double your prayer time today.
[13:53] Are you tempted to skip Mass? We'll get there early and sit in
[13:56] the front view. If you're feeling unworthy, run
[13:59] to confession and receive God's mercy.
[14:02] The enemy wants you to be passive, but God is inviting us
[14:05] into perseverance. That is spiritual warfare, and
[14:09] you don't fight it by waiting to feel it again.
[14:13] You don't fight it by waiting for God to feel better, for your
[14:17] faith, to feel easy again. You fight it by showing up
[14:21] anyway. Rule #9 Sometimes God allows us
[14:25] desolation so he can teach us something.
[14:28] So Ignatius outlines 3 reasons that God may allow desolation.
[14:33] The first one is to purify our attachments.
[14:36] The second one is to test and strengthen our faith.
[14:39] And the third is to remind us that consolation is a gift, not
[14:44] something that we earn. So in other words, desolation is
[14:48] a classroom, and if you keep ditching class, you're going to
[14:52] miss the lesson. Now, let's make this super
[14:55] practical. Here's how you can recognize the
[14:58] voice of the enemy. If you feel sudden anxiety or
[15:02] confusion out of nowhere and you hear these accusations in your
[15:06] head like you're not holy enough, you're faking it.
[15:09] This is just a phase. God's done with you.
[15:12] That's the enemy. If you feel isolation, you feel
[15:16] like nobody would understand what you're going through.
[15:18] You see these people around you and everyone is praying their
[15:21] rosary and, you know, riding the high of Catholicism, that's the
[15:26] enemy. And when you feel temptations
[15:29] that they feel like urgent and obsessive, and then you get the
[15:33] feelings of feeling shame, that's the enemy.
[15:37] Now compare that to how God speaks.
[15:40] God speaks with clarity and with peace.
[15:43] Even if it's firm, it's always with peace and from love.
[15:47] God always speaks with conviction, but without the
[15:51] condemnation. Peace.
[15:53] And God is always speaking to us as an invitation back, not a
[15:57] push away. God convicts you to bring you
[16:00] home, and the enemy accuses you to make you hide, and you have
[16:04] to learn the difference. And you know the enemy can
[16:07] disguise himself as light. One of the wildest rules that
[16:11] Ignatius teaches is that the devil doesn't always tempt you
[16:14] with very obvious sin. Sometimes he uses fake good
[16:18] things to distract you from real ones.
[16:21] He might encourage you to take on a dozen new ministries just
[16:24] to keep you too busy for prayer. He might inflate your pride by
[16:29] making you feel holier than others, and then you start
[16:32] judging. He might tempt you with a false
[16:35] peace that keeps you from confession.
[16:38] If something draws you away from your vocation, from your daily
[16:42] prayer, from your obedience to God's voice, it is not from God,
[16:46] no matter how good it looks. And discernment is not this like
[16:51] one time thing I'm still learning myself.
[16:55] It's a lifelong skill. And you'll mess it up, and
[16:59] sometimes you won't, and then you'll mess it up again, and
[17:02] that's OK. But you can start noticing
[17:05] patterns and start recognizing what stirs your spirit towards
[17:09] God and what is draining it. You can start navigating
[17:13] desolation without fear if you can identify patterns.
[17:19] So think of it like this. Discernment is like your
[17:22] spiritual dashboard. Consolation lights up the path,
[17:26] you know everything's good, and desolation shows you where the
[17:29] potholes are. So you know you don't need this
[17:32] perfect clarity all the time. You just need faithfulness and
[17:36] perseverance, A commitment to not give up.
[17:39] So where do you go from here? Now that you know how to discern
[17:44] desolation, what do you do with it?
[17:46] Because we are not just meant to analyze our dryness and then
[17:50] just sit in it. We're meant to live faithfully
[17:53] through it. And that's exactly what we're
[17:55] going to talk about next. The quiet, steady, often unseen
[18:00] power of just showing up. This is where people get stuck.
[18:04] Because once the feelings are gone, motivation can disappear.
[18:07] So it's a whole lot easier when you think about it, to go to
[18:10] Mass when you feel close to God. It's easier to pray when the
[18:14] tears start flowing. You know when Scripture hits,
[18:17] when the rosary brings you peace.
[18:19] But when none of that happens, it's quiet and boring and
[18:23] repetitive. That's when your faith really
[18:26] begins. There's this quiet, almost
[18:29] invisible door that most people walk past it.
[18:32] It doesn't look exciting, it doesn't sparkle, it doesn't
[18:36] promise a dopamine hit. But it's the door of daily
[18:38] faithfulness, the power of showing up, of praying anyways,
[18:42] trusting anyways and loving anyways.
[18:45] It's not glamorous, not Instagram worthy, but I'm
[18:49] convinced that that's where Saints are made.
[18:51] If spiritual emotion was the standard of holiness, most
[18:55] Saints would have failed. Saint Teresa of La Soux, she
[18:59] spent months in total spiritual dryness.
[19:02] Her prayer life was often very dull, but she kept showing up,
[19:06] and she offered it up with love. Mother Teresa, like I mentioned,
[19:10] you know, she went years without consolation, and she still fed
[19:15] the poor, still taught about God's love even when she herself
[19:18] didn't feel it. And Saint Joseph, not a single
[19:21] word of his is recorded in Scripture.
[19:24] Silent, hidden, and yet he's the patron St. of the Universal
[19:28] Church. Faithfulness has never been
[19:30] about drama. It's always been about devotion.
[19:34] So when everything feels cloudy and you're not sure what to do
[19:37] next, just do the next right thing.
[19:41] Wake up and maybe say a morning offering.
[19:44] Go to Mass, even if you zone out halfway through.
[19:46] Say a rosary, even if it's distracted and rushed.
[19:49] Make a simple act of faith. Jesus, I believe in you.
[19:53] Just throughout the day, you know, pick up your Bible, read a
[19:55] Psalm, and sit with just one verse.
[19:58] It's not about being productive, it's about being present.
[20:03] God doesn't need some performance.
[20:05] He just wants our faithful presence.
[20:07] And listen, I'm not here to say that feelings aren't real.
[20:10] But they're just not reliable. I don't want to demonize emotion
[20:15] because God gave us feelings. Joy, awe, peace, longing.
[20:18] They're beautiful when they come.
[20:20] They're gifts, but they're not the measure of our faith.
[20:23] Feelings are like the weather. They shift constantly.
[20:26] If you build your faith on how you feel, it's going to collapse
[20:30] the moment the skies go Gray and you know what lasts?
[20:34] Habit, routine, vows, sacraments, things that anchor
[20:38] you even when the storm hits. The ordinary is the offering.
[20:43] Sometimes we think we need to do more to get back to that
[20:45] spiritual fire. But God can also be asking you
[20:50] to just do the same things but with more love, the same daily
[20:54] Mass Offer it with full attention even if your mind
[20:57] wanders a couple times. Or the rosary that you've prayed
[21:01] 1000 times. Offer it for someone else who's
[21:03] suffering. And that quiet bedtime prayer,
[21:06] offer it as an act of surrender, not just as a part of your
[21:09] routine. The ordinary is the offering.
[21:12] And when you give it in the dryness, it can become even more
[21:16] valuable. The daily choices, day in and
[21:18] day out. It's like, you know, think of a
[21:21] cathedral. It's the Church of your soul.
[21:24] It doesn't get built overnight. It's brick by brick.
[21:27] And not every stone is flashy. And sometimes the most important
[21:31] parts, you know, the foundation, the mortar, the support beams,
[21:35] they are the ones that nobody sees.
[21:37] That's what Daily Fidelity is. It's laying brick after brick
[21:41] when no one's watching, when it's slow, when it feels
[21:44] pointless. But over time, it can build
[21:47] something really unshakable. This pressure that we get in
[21:52] modern Christianity, to feel something, to chase this next
[21:56] spiritual high, to cry and raise your hands and have goosebumps
[22:00] and feel peace all the time is so detrimental.
[22:04] Don't get me wrong, I've experienced all those things,
[22:07] I've done all of the spiritual high things and I have felt
[22:11] fantastic. But we need to be OK not feeling
[22:16] those things. We need to remain devout and
[22:18] faithful when we're not feeling the goosebumps and crying and
[22:22] raising our hands in worship. That kind of emotionalism can be
[22:26] very dangerous because when the feelings fade, what are you left
[22:29] with? You're left with this emotional
[22:31] faith and that is not enough. Devotion keeps us anchored.
[22:35] When emotion falls short, that emotional high that comes from
[22:39] having a very emotional faith, you know, it can be subtle.
[22:43] It's like a trap almost. It's spiritually sounding.
[22:47] It's, you know, wrecked a lot of people's faith before they've
[22:49] even realized that it was happening.
[22:51] Because when we live in a society that's addicted to
[22:54] emotion, we want to feel everything deeply.
[22:58] We chase the next peak, the next thrill, the next surge of
[23:01] inspiration. Because if it doesn't stir us up
[23:03] emotionally, we feel like it's not authentic.
[23:07] I don't know what what we think it is, but the problem is that
[23:11] emotionalism might feel like faith, but it's not
[23:15] faithfulness. Faith isn't a roller coaster.
[23:17] It's very steady and it's grounded.
[23:20] Emotions come and go. That's part of being human.
[23:23] Feelings are not the foundation. Again, they're like the weather.
[23:27] If you spent your whole spiritual life chasing sunshine,
[23:31] you're gonna panic when the storm hits.
[23:33] And if we take it to Scripture, it's pretty clear devotion is
[23:38] study. When Jesus taught his disciples
[23:40] how to pray, he didn't say when you feel like praying.
[23:44] He said when you pray. When he instituted the
[23:47] Eucharist, he didn't say take and eat when you're emotionally
[23:51] moved. He said do this in remembrance
[23:55] of me. It's not about whether it gives
[23:57] you chills. It's about whether you're
[23:59] obedient. Devotion is the anchor.
[24:03] It's steady, chosen commitment to love God, not because he
[24:07] makes you feel something, but because he is something, someone
[24:12] worthy. Devotion says.
[24:14] I'll pray even when I don't hear back.
[24:16] I'll go to Mass even when I'm tired.
[24:19] I'll confess again, even when I'm ashamed, I'll adore you even
[24:24] when I feel nothing. Devotion is the slow burn, not
[24:27] the spark. And the slow burn is how you
[24:30] stay on fire long term, through desolation, through consolation.
[24:35] It's devotion day in and day out.
[24:37] And honestly, when we're thinking about it, you know, the
[24:40] enemy can mimic consolation. Not every emotional high is from
[24:46] God. Saint Ignatius warns us that the
[24:48] enemy can mimic light. You know, that was one of the
[24:51] rules we covered. He can stir up feelings that
[24:53] look holy or present us things that look good, so we can get
[24:57] hooked on the feeling, not the truth.
[25:00] And again, that's why discernment matters so much.
[25:03] The emotional spirituality can become very addictive.
[25:07] You can start measuring God's presence by your goosebumps.
[25:10] You start measuring prayers power by whether or not you know
[25:14] you cried or you were moved. You start confusing emotional
[25:19] comfort with divine intimacy. If your faith depends on what
[25:22] you feel, you're not worshiping God, you're worshiping
[25:25] experience. God isn't a mood to manage.
[25:29] He's not a spiritual vibe. He's a living person who desires
[25:34] relationship, and that relationship is sustained by
[25:37] covenant, not by chemistry. Again, think of marriage.
[25:41] You don't stay married because every single day feels euphoric.
[25:46] You stay married because you've made a vow.
[25:48] You've chosen devotion. That's how it is with God.
[25:52] Devotion builds strength for days ahead.
[25:55] The Church needs Saints who can endure, not just believers who
[25:59] feel something wants, but disciples who are anchored in
[26:02] Christ even when the fire fades. Because there will be times,
[26:06] hard times where feelings failure.
[26:08] And when they do, you know you go back to your habits and the
[26:12] sacraments, your devotions and your surrender.
[26:14] And that's what will carry you. Not the playlist, not the
[26:17] goosebumps, not the retreat high, but your, your habits,
[26:21] your devotional habits. And this is actually one of the
[26:24] reasons that I love being Catholic so much because the
[26:27] Church has given us structure. You know, we don't have to guess
[26:32] our way through spiritual dryness.
[26:34] We've been handed tools, sacraments, novenas, feast days,
[26:39] liturgical seasons, not to chain us down, but to carry us through
[26:43] when we can't see our way forward or feel our way forward.
[26:48] For example, the Rosary is perfect for when you don't have
[26:51] the words. The Eucharist is perfect for
[26:54] when you don't feel God's love. Confession is when shame and
[26:58] guilt tries to lie to you, the Liturgy of the Hours when prayer
[27:03] feels disorganized, and the Saints when you feel alone.
[27:07] The Saints are there. It's the beauty of Catholic
[27:09] devotion. It's, again, not based on
[27:11] feelings. It's rooted in fidelity.
[27:14] Emotional faith will get you started.
[27:16] There are some very good things to take away from feeling
[27:20] emotions, you know incorporated with your faith.
[27:23] But devoted faith is what is going to get you home in a world
[27:27] that's obsessed with feeling something.
[27:29] What we need are believers who can walk through silence and
[27:33] dryness and confusion and still show up.
[27:36] That's where holiness lives. And if you're wondering and
[27:39] saying to yourself, OK, well, what am I supposed to do right
[27:43] now when I feel nothing? That's what we're closing this
[27:46] episode with, What to do when you can't hear God and why
[27:49] sometimes silence is the holiest space you'll ever stand in.
[27:53] We've talked about a lot. Desolation, dryness,
[27:56] discernment, the danger of emotionalism, the quiet strength
[28:00] of daily fidelity. But I want to land this plane
[28:03] with something tender, something real that I hope sticks with you
[28:07] long after the episode ends. Because when you can't hear God,
[28:11] be still anyway. Silence is not absence.
[28:16] If you've been showing up in prayer and you're getting
[28:19] silence, I want you to hear me when I say this.
[28:22] You are not being ignored. God is not distant.
[28:26] He's not punishing you. He's not withholding himself
[28:29] like some cruel father waiting for you to impress him.
[28:34] Sometimes silence is the most intimate part of the
[28:38] conversation. Think of someone that you love,
[28:41] someone you've spent hours with on the couch, in the car, on a
[28:44] walk. You don't always need words.
[28:47] Sometimes the presence alone is enough.
[28:50] There's a reason Jesus was led into the desert before he began
[28:54] his public ministry. There's a reason that Moses
[28:57] heard God after 40 years of wandering.
[29:01] There's a reason Elijah covered his face when the Lord came in
[29:05] stillness. Not in the wind or the
[29:08] earthquake or the fire. The desert is not a detour.
[29:12] It's the training ground, the forge, the place where lesser
[29:16] loves are burned away, where idols are shattered, where the
[29:21] voice of God isn't drowned out by our noise.
[29:25] If you're in a desert season right now, if the silence is
[29:28] deafening, know that you are in sacred territory.
[29:31] Dillness can be a spiritual weapon.
[29:33] The world tells us to fix it, to push harder, scroll more, and
[29:37] distract escape. But God tells us something very
[29:40] different. He says in Psalm 4610, Be still
[29:43] and know that I am God. Dillness isn't being passive.
[29:48] It's, I hate I say this so much, but it's spiritual war.
[29:51] It says I don't need to chase a feeling.
[29:54] I don't need to panic or perform.
[29:56] I trust that you are working, even if I can't see it, even if
[30:01] I can't feel it. And sometimes that's the most
[30:04] powerful act of worship that you will ever offer.
[30:07] So stay rooted in the sacraments, Go to confession,
[30:11] receive the Eucharist. You know, grace flows even when
[30:14] we don't feel it. And journal your dryness.
[30:17] Don't be afraid to write down what you're experiencing.
[30:19] Often clarity comes through the process.
[30:22] And lean on the Saints. Read the writings of those who
[30:25] walked through the dark night, like Saint John of the Cross,
[30:28] St. Terese, or Mother Teresa.
[30:31] An anchor in prayer, even a short daily prayer.
[30:34] You know, I believe you're here. Jesus, help me to stay.
[30:37] Or just simply, I love you. I trust you, even in silence.
[30:41] It will really help. God is doing more than you can
[30:44] see, so remember that roots grow deepest in the dark.
[30:48] Fruit takes time, and the most faithful hearts are often the
[30:53] ones that learned to cling to God, not in the warmth of
[30:57] consolation, but in the cold of silence.
[31:00] He's not wasting your dryness. He's not ignoring your tears.
[31:04] He's forming you for something that you cannot imagine.
[31:08] So if you're in silence, be still.
[31:11] Stay close. He's closer than you think.
[31:15] Your faithfulness in the silence might be more pleasing to God
[31:19] than your joy in the heights. Because it's easy to love when
[31:23] you're on fire. It's harder to love in the cold.
[31:26] But that's exactly the love Christ poured out on the cross.
[31:30] Don't give up when the fire fades.
[31:32] Stay in the tomb like Mary Magdalene.
[31:34] Wait in the upper room like the apostles.
[31:37] Keep knocking like the persistent widow.
[31:40] Be still like the Blessed Mother standing at the foot of the
[31:43] cross, because he will come again.
[31:46] The voice will return, the fire will be rekindled.
[31:50] But until then, your stillness is your song, your silence is
[31:55] your offering, and your perseverance is your prayer.
[31:58] Thanks for spending this time with me.
[32:00] If it spoke to your heart, feel free to share it.
[32:03] Send it to someone who's in a desert right now, because you
[32:06] never know who might need a reminder that they are not
[32:08] alone. And if you're feeling dry,
[32:10] discouraged, or like your faith is barely flickering, listen,
[32:13] friends. That's where Saints are forged.
[32:16] So when Mass ends and the feelings fade, let your faith
[32:20] begin. Thank you so much for being
[32:23] here. I'm your host.
[32:24] Anna and I will see you after Mass.

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