At first, I thought I was going crazy. I was supposed to be praying about my vocation while I was in Panama for World Youth Day in January 2019. But for whatever reason, all I could think of was story ideas, potential guests, quirky theme music — basically, anything but my vocation. This "distracted prayer" followed me for about four months.

 

Then in April, while I was in an adoration chapel in Ottawa, I apologized to God for what seemed to be the hundredth time for being so restless and distracted. And then I heard God say, "What if this isn't a distraction? What if I am calling you to pursue this project?"

 

I started giving God a number of reasons why He couldn't possibly be calling me. I had no money, I didn't have the time, I didn't have the proper equipment, I had tried and failed a number of podcast projects, and worst of all, what would I talk about? But in a moment of peace, God simply said, "You already know."

 

I was quickly reminded of how I was listening to an episode of the podcast Abiding Together where they discussed the concept of the feminine genius. It was obvious I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have, because I remember thinking to myself, "The Abiding Together ladies should seriously consider copyrighting that term — it's brilliant!" But once I did a quick search on Google, I learned that it was a Pope St. John Paul II term, one that is still relevant today, even though he wrote his Letter to Women more than 20 years ago. 

 

As I read the Letter to Women, I could see myself more and more in it. Previously, I had been really discontent about the state of womanhood as a whole, and in particular, I couldn't see how I fit into the misconceptions of "Catholic femininity" that I had in my mind — that is, a holy homemaker who prayed rosaries while making picture perfect casseroles. The Letter to Women help me see that all women of all walks of life are not only fine in our society, but needed and necessary.