Midway through a 2-year course I was taking journeying through the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church, I was seriously contemplating not returning for the second year for various reasons. The Catechism in a Year podcast had come out by then, and I considered just finishing the rest of the Catechism via the podcast. While listening to a lecture near the end of that first year, as we were close to breaking for the summer, an incredibly strong conviction came into my heart of “Finish what you started.” My response was <insert exasperated teenager sigh and voice here>: Fiiiiiiiiiiine.

Had I not listened to the Holy Spirit, I would not have returned for the second year. I would not have heard Dr. Pamela Patnode’s lecture on prayer and the analogy of park benches versus bus benches (more detail on this under My Mission). I would not have started the daily routine of park bench prayer, and the entire trajectory of my life would not be where it is today. Whoa. (Or as the youth would say: woah.)