Ana Munley

I walked through much of my life in a kind of slumber. I went to Catholic school from the time I was little until I graduated, but the faith was never something I truly lived. It was just the background music of my life.. always playing softly in the distance, but never loud enough to really hear, never close enough to actually move me. I lived for myself, for my comfort, for what pleased me in the moment. I told myself I was Catholic and in name I was, but in reality, I was just drifting through a faith I didn’t yet understand.

That casual, lukewarm way of living followed me into adulthood and into my marriage. My husband and I were building a life, checking all the boxes we thought would make us happy. But even as we had what the world tells you to chase.. careers, money, plans, and goals.. there was this gnawing emptiness we couldn’t shake. It was as if we were always waiting for something to finally make us feel whole, but nothing ever did.

And then, by the grace of God, we realized why. We had been chasing after things that were never meant to satisfy us in the first place. The reason this world felt so empty was because it is. Without God, without eternity, without a life anchored in Christ, everything the world offers eventually fades, leaving you restless and searching for more.

That realization was our wake-up call. My husband and I came back to the faith, but not just in name. We came back ready to live it, to let it form us, to finally allow Christ to be the center instead of the background. And in returning, we discovered the fullness of Catholicism. Not just the rituals I learned in school, but the richness of the sacraments, the beauty of the Church’s teachings and the reality of a God who is alive and present.

Now, my personal mission is simple: to share that fullness with others. Because I know what it’s like to live lukewarm, to drift without direction, to try to fill the God-shaped hole in my heart with the world. And I also know the joy and freedom that comes when you finally wake up, turn back and realize that Christ has been there all along, waiting to give you everything your soul was searching for.