For the Soul Archives - Amy Schisler

Bear Fruit this Winter

December 4, 2025December 4, 2025Amy Schisler

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21.

We’ve just begun the season of Advent. It’s a time of preparation but also a time of healing, sharing, and reaching out to others. There is so much we can do, in ways both large and small, to have an impact on the lives of others. Take your children to drop off gifts at a homeless shelter or a prison. Support your local organizations that help those in need (look for a St. Vincent de Paul Society near you and ask how you can help). Bake cookies for the shut-in across the street, and spend time with her when you deliver them. Call an old friend or family member you haven’t seen or spoken to in a while. Let go of old grudges, and forgive. Open your heart to the relatives you’d rather not spend time with or those far away. Ask them how they are, and let them know you care.

It’s not enough to sing songs of goodwill and peace on earth if we aren’t living lives of goodwill and peace. In fact, it’s kind of like the two missing verses from today’s Gospel.

What’s in Your Wallet

November 19, 2025November 19, 2025Amy Schisler

Power = Responsibility

For my entire life, I’ve been a fan of superheroes, in particular, Super-Man, Wonder Woman, and Spiderman. I’m sure many of us have heard the line often attributed to Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility.” It’s a line I’ve often pondered, and I was surprised to learn that it has its roots in the Gospel of Luke and in the Gospel from Matthew.

The servant, who doesn’t take his master’s coin and multiply it, is chastised by the king. The man was given something and expected to increase its value, to make it useful to the king, to expand the king’s power and his kingdom. Instead, he kept it, stored it away, and gave it back to his master without any added value.

Great Expectations

The Meaning of Life – Part 1 of 3, An Introduction

May 1, 2025October 26, 2025Amy Schisler

“Live the present moment, filling it to the brim with love” (Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân, Five Loaves and Two Fish).

In the midst of ongoing world crises — wars in Ukraine and Gaza, economic uncertainty, and the loss of our Pope — there remains the desire to celebrate, to hope, to live, even as we mourn the Pope’s death.

As we Catholics ponder the future and await with joyful hope during this time of Sede Vacante, we celebrate the life of a good man who has gone home to the Lord, we have hope for the future, and we live each day awaiting news of our next shepherd.

Over the past three weeks, there has been a great outpouring of love for our Holy Father on Earth. He emulated our Lord as a man of mercy and compassion (“As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them,” Mark 6:34). He understood Jesus’ call for mercy (“A bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just,” March 17, 2013 First Angelus of Pope Francis). He was a man of great love for all people (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” Mark 12:31).

Pope Francis, a man who lived like Jesus lived, taught what Jesus taught, and loved like Jesus loved, was beloved and adored the world over because he knew the meaning of life. What did he know that we should know? How can we discover the meaning of life?

Faith Beyond Sight

April 27, 2025October 28, 2025Amy Schisler

By Amy Schisler

“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” ~ John 20:29

When Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament and establish His Kingdom, he introduced a new list of commandments, His “rules” for living a happy, Christian life. These rules, which begin the Sermon on the Mount, include the phrase, “Blessed are the/they…” Though the eight Beatitudes we know of and refer to are those listed in Matthew 5:3-11, these are not the only Beatitudes which Christ left us.

Who are the Ones Who See?

I once heard that the first Beatitude was said at the Visitation when Elizabeth extolls Mary, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled” (Luke 1:45). I think this is the most beautiful Beatitude because it tells us the one thing that matters most: that we trust and believe in what the Lord promises.

In Luke, we hear a woman cry out from the crowd, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed” (Luke 11:27), to which Jesus replies, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Luke 11:38). While some have said this means Mary is unimportant, that even Jesus dismisses her being blessed, the Lord’s statement confirms just the opposite. With almost identical words to Elizabeth’s, Jesus tells us that His mother is blessed because she heard the Word of God and observed it.

We Are All Pilgrims

April 3, 2025October 27, 2025Amy Schisler

Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. (Jeremiah 6:16)

In 2016, something amazing happened to me. I was able to get two spots on the Catholic Channel’s lottery for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I could hardly believe this dream might come true. My husband was reluctant at first, but one look at the itinerary and he was all in. “These are all real places that still exist?” he asked. My assurance they are was all he needed.

A Life-Changing Pilgrimage

I always tell people that a pilgrimage, particularly to the Holy Land, is life-changing. For me, this journey facilitated multiple changes. From meeting a group of women who would become my closest friends, to discovering more about myself and God’s plan for me, to going from a writer to speaker and pilgrimage leader myself were things I never imagined would happen. Since that trip, I have gone on pilgrimage to the Holy Land once more as a pilgrim and once as a leader (my second and third chances at leading have been on hold since the October 6 massacre). I have organized and led two pilgrimages on El Camino (one for myself and two friends and one for thirty-three pilgrims), one pilgrimage to Italy, and several “local” pilgrimages. Next month, I’m taking 43 pilgrims to France!

Ever since that first pilgrimage, I have felt like a different person. No that’s not quite right. I have become a different person, someone whose life has been turned in the right direction. Where God always had a place in my life — one that was dictated by my own needs and schedule — He now occupies every space of my life, and I’m constantly turning to Him to make decisions about everything from what I eat to what I write.

Mountain Moments

March 16, 2025October 27, 2025Amy Schisler

“Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (Luke 9:43)

I recently led a retreat for a parish in Arkansas on the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. One of those mysteries is today’s Gospel, a story with which I’m sure most of us are familiar. Jesus takes His chosen three Apostles — Peter, James, and John — up to the top of Mount Tabor to pray.

A Vision of Heaven

As the three Apostles look on, Jesus is transfigured before their eyes, “his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” The three men saw Jesus in all His glory, the way He is in Heaven, the way we hope will be our reward in the afterlife. The glory of Jesus and the understanding that this is a glimpse into the awesomeness of eternal life were not lost on Peter. He felt the importance of this moment.

And it gets even better. While in His glory, Jesus is joined by Moses and Elijah “who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” Overwhelmed by what he is seeing and hearing, Peter naturally wants to cling to this moment. He wants to build tents there on that spot so they can stay there with Jesus forever.

Mountaintop Moments

As I told the ladies at the retreat, Peter was experiencing a true Mountaintop Moment. Often these moments are fleeting or come only after a beautiful spiritual experience. When we attend a meaningful retreat or go on pilgrimage, we typically feel the same as Peter. We are so wrapped up in the divine, influenced by the Holy Spirit, and full of zeal, we don’t want that time to end. Weddings, births, and other momentous occasions also lend themselves to this feeling.

Two by Two

February 6, 2025October 27, 2025Amy Schisler

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two. (Mark 6:7)

Two by two. Not alone. Not in a group. Jesus sent out the twelve two by two.

Jesus could have sent the disciples out on their own. After all, there would come a time when they would each go their own way — James to Spain, Thomas to present-day Iran, Andrew to Greece, John to Asia, Matthew to Africa, and so on. He could have told them that this first sending out was meant to prepare them for what was to come. He could have told them that there are times in life when they would feel and be alone, and they would have nobody to turn to or consult or just talk to.

Likewise, He could have sent them in two groups of six or three groups of four. There’s safety in numbers. Plus, groups of young men traveling around the globe attracting audiences have always been popular, right?

The Lamb in the Temple

February 2, 2025October 28, 2025Amy Schisler

“When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” ~ Luke 2:22

On the day my first daughter was born, twenty-one people visited us in the hospital. A dozen more came the next day. On the third day, when we arrived home, a blizzard was settling in, and I was ready to settle, too. My mother said, “Thank Heaven we’re having a blizzard so that nobody can stop by.” Just then, the doorbell rang!

In the Jewish faith, the mother and newborn baby were required to stay in seclusion for forty days, considered unclean after the birth. Can you imagine? On the one hand, what bliss! On the other, imagine no contact with anyone, no leaving the house, and no going to worship the Lord. This was the case when Mary arrived at the temple.

What are you looking for?

January 4, 2025October 28, 2025Amy Schisler

“The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’” John 1:38

My favorite hymn when I was a child was, Here I Am, Lord. I loved the rhythm and the simple prose, and I thought the sentiment behind the words was lovely even if I didn’t quite understand their importance. As an adult, the song continues to be my favorite hymn, and it brings tears to my eyes every single time I hear it. Though I still love the music and the words, it’s the deeper meaning that gets to me now. Jesus asks us to serve, and we need to respond like Samuel and the Apostles, ready to answer and do His will.

Awaiting God’s Call

This month, we celebrate the feast day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, our first American-born saint. Two of my three daughters graduated from Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Emmitsburg was the home and final resting place of Mother Seton. Mother Seton to Emmitsburg moved in 1809, where she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, the first community for religious women established in the United States. It was in Emmitsburg where she also began St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School, the beginning of Catholic education in the United States.

Before becoming a nun, Elizabeth was a wife and mother. She was not Catholic but was very religious. While nursing her sick husband in Italy, she learned about Catholicism from friends who lived there and was intrigued by the Church and its sacred traditions. The more she learned and attended Mass, the more she felt called to become Catholic.

Lord, We Are Hungry

December 4, 2024October 28, 2025Amy Schisler

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.” ~ Isaiah 25:6

In today’s first reading, God promises Isaiah that everyone in Heaven will be provided with rich foods and choice wines. What a promise! Everyone can share the Lord’s rich food and choice wine. How?

God’s Answer

Matthew, in his Gospel, provides the answer. Jesus told his disciples, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat” (Matthew 15:32). Jesus’ followers had only seven loaves of bread and two fish. Yet, somehow, they managed to satisfy the great crowd completely and still collect seven baskets of leftovers.

God’s Abundance

I’ve heard it said that this story, and the feedings in the other Gospels, are not miracles but examples of the power of sharing, to which I say nonsense! Nowhere does either passage say someone shared, so everyone shared. In Mark’s account, a boy shares, but not anyone else.