Fr. Sam and Paola, hosts of the Roar Like the Lamb podcast, are not parents. They’re not even married. So what do THEY know about marriage and family life?

Well, as a pastor and a director of evangelization, respectively, they happen to know a lot! And, it’s funny to see how some of the struggles tired parents face are universal – as though they could apply to “tired Catholic pastors” or “tired Catholic parish lay ministers.” Perhaps there are some sequels to “The Prayer Book for Tired Parents” coming… 😉

In all seriousness, the concepts we cover in The Prayer Book for Tired Parents are all part of the universal call to holiness we all share (sorry, that was really redundant). We’re all called to holiness in our state of life. We’re all called to make God the priority, to live our lives in service, to lead others to Him, and to grow in our love of Him daily.

But the expression of that call to holiness varies from person to person, depending on their vocation, their state in life, their current circumstances, and so on. We’ve set up The Prayer Book for Tired Parents in such a way that it’s scalable to where you are now and where you want to be. Even for one person, there are different seasons where it’s going to be more feasible to “do more” for God.

If you want an example, start at the 21:00 mark (go back a minute or two if you want a fun tie-in to stinky pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago…). I’m currently in a season of life where no one would fault me if I did NOT take my kids to Daily Mass on a Wednesday night. However, when I gave God a chance, an “inch,” if you will, He showed me His love in a seemingly small, but powerful way.

God is good! He’s working through you in those seemingly small ways, and our little acts of faithfulness that happen while we’re tired parents open us to so many graces.

Paola says it so well at 26:00 – “Jesus, this is where I’m really at, and so Jesus, I need you to take it the rest of the way…” What a powerful prayer to pray!

Watch/listen to the full chat on Roar Like the Lamb here.

Thank you, Fr. Sam and Paola, for inviting me on the show! It truly was an honor and a pleasure!