There are some pretty big questions being asked of us in today’s retreat. What are some of the challenges presented by popular culture that I struggle with? My answer to that is just plain popular culture. Rarely do we see faith, spirituality or religion represented in the pop culture that we are bombarded with daily. As someone of faith, I struggle to keep Jesus and my faith at the center of my life. More often than not I’m embracing pop culture much more strongly than I’m embracing my faith. Watching TV, surfing the web, and listening to my iPod can be such a distraction to my spirituality.

However, I can often pull spiritual tidbits from some of these sources, and when I do I feel the faith within me jump for joy at finding God in all things. A prayer shouted out from a character in a movie, a song asking God for some answers, a TV comedian talking about his faith on air. All of these things are bright spots for me in the dismal abyss that pop culture can become if I let it lead my life and indulge in too much of it. This Lent I am engaging in less media and looking inward instead to find the very name of Jesus within me, within those I love and everyone I encounter.