Episode 9. The Ache We All Know (w/ Ashley Cermak)
Episode 9. The Ache We All Know (w/ Ashley Cermak)
Show Notes
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." ~ C. S. Lewis
As we make our way through this earthly life, we experience a nagging ache or longing for something more. While we feel this ache even at the best of times, it's often in the midst of our deep human suffering and anxieties that we come to understand our soul's ache for God's perfect love.
Our guest for this episode is Ashley Cermak, a counselor, a former teacher & youth minister, and - as you'll hear in this episode - a single Catholic woman. Through Ashley's beautiful and vulnerable reflections on the particular aches that come with living as a single person in the Church, we can all become more aware of our own aches to be known and loved completely by our Father in heaven.
Join us for this powerful and deeply real conversation on disappointment, fulfillment, and meaning. You'll be glad you did!
Show Notes
Ashley’s journey of faith as well as her journey from college to teaching to youth ministry and now to a career in counseling.
Some of the awkward comments that Ashley has heard as a single Catholic woman
The grief that can come from being single and watching your friends get married & have children.
Including “ambiguous loss”: grief that no one can easily see from the outside so it tends to go unnoticed and unempathized
Ashley’s reflections on her ache for marriage helping her to understand the universal ache for God’s love & for heaven.
“I think my singleness has helped me realize that I’m not made for this earth.”
Acknowledging the pain that comes with having desires that go unfulfilled, even while recognizing that there is an even deeper ache that we all know.
The universal ache is truly universal; we all experience it - even when it seems like we have everything we need and hope for.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
~ St. AugustineThe importance of developing the ability to sit with other people in their particular aches & unfulfilled desires.
Psychologically speaking, self-compassion in our hardship leads to empathy for others in their hardships
Ashley’s new favorite song by Josh Garrels
A video version of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s “I Thirst” reflection that Ashley mentioned
Challenge By Choice
In prayer, invite the Holy Spirit to highlight a particular ache in your heart. Then entrust that ache to Jesus by praying the Litany of Trust.
What are you feeling about this ache?
What are you thinking about God within this ache? What are you thinking about yourself?
What do you experience during and after praying the Litany of Trust?