189. What To Do When You Do Not Know Your Purpose | Dr. Peter Howard

How do you go about finding your purpose when life feels like a series of decisions made without a clear direction. That is the question I explored with Dr. Peter Howard, a theologian with a doctorate from the Angelicum in Rome and the mind behind the Fulton Sheen Institute, who has spent thirty years building his entire life around a single retreat that changed everything for him. Peter shares the remarkable story of Fulton Sheen tearing up a life changing opportunity because his spiritual director told him God had something else in mind, and what that moment teaches us about trusting God even when the path forward looks uncertain. We also get into how he and his wife Chantal are raising seven kids to seek their own calling instead of rushing into the wrong one, why he believes we are living through what Sheen called the final battle of an era, and the daily discipline that has held his family together through their hardest seasons. If you have ever felt lost about what you are meant to do with your life, I think this conversation will give you a lot to sit with. I would love to hear what stands out to you in the comments, and if this episode speaks to you, please subscribe and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Peter earned his doctorate in theology at the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, and has spent the last three decades of his life devoted to the legacy of the soon to be beatified Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He is married to Chantal Howard, who I spoke with in a previous episode, and together they are raising seven children while homeschooling and running a household built around discernment and faith. This conversation is really about finding your purpose, and Peter brings both a theologian's depth and a father's practical wisdom to that question. He tells the story of Fulton Sheen as a young seminarian holding a life changing scholarship letter in his hand, and how one conversation with his spiritual director asking him to trust God completely changed the trajectory of his entire life.

We talk about discerning your calling not as a single dramatic moment but as an ongoing posture of trust, and Peter shares how he and Chantal have tried to raise their own kids to genuinely seek God's will for their life rather than default into whatever path looks safest or most expected, including their daughter's decision to take a gap year to figure out her own direction. We also get into some bigger cultural territory, including why Peter believes artificial intelligence represents a kind of counterfeit to what it means to be made in the image of God, and how that ties into what Fulton Sheen called the final battle of an era. Peter opens up about the daily holy hour of prayer that has anchored his marriage and family through genuinely hard seasons, describing it as one discipline that has made the biggest difference in living with purpose day to day. Whether you are in a season of feeling completely lost or just want to hear the story behind Fulton Sheen's own path to the priesthood, I think this conversation offers real clarity on knowing God's will for your life.

Find more from Peter:
Website: https://fultonsheeninstitute.com/
Catholic Finishing School: https://catholicfinishingschool.com/
Show Me Your Scars (the book): https://fultonsheenmovement.com/show-me-your-scars
Beatification Pilgrimage: https://fultonsheenmovement.com/pilgrimage-register
America's Saint Conference: https://fultonsheenconference.com/
Mass Tickets: https://www.celebratesheen.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fulton.sheen.movement
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fultonsheeninstitute
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fultonsheenmovement

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