Keep Knocking | Sr. Maria Leah Japos, PVMI on Faith, Doubt & Doing It Anyway | Love Him Ever More by Fr Joe Laramie, SJ

In this episode of JoshFriends,Sr. Maria Leah Japos, PVMI — former lawyer, acoustic band singer, and now a religious sister who knocks on strangers' doors for a living — reflects on what it means to keep showing up when the mission feels heavier than it looks.From courtrooms where every word carried consequence, to parishes and homes where the work is quiet, unglamorous, and deeply human — her story is one of a life fully lived, deliberately left behind, and just as deliberately rebuilt around something greater than herself.Because nobody tells you that religious life comes with its own kind of loneliness. Nobody prepares you for the doors that don't open. And nobody warns you that the hardest part of mission isn't the dramatic sacrifice — it's the going-back-anyway, carrying-your-own-crosses-while-carrying-others, show-up-even-when-nothing-seems-to-change kind.With a brother battling cancer, aging parents, and the daily weight of accompanying people in the margins — Sr. Leah sits with three questions from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius that are easy to read and hard to live: What have I done for you? What am I doing for you? What will I do for you?This episode draws from Day 8 of Love Him Ever More by Fr. Joe Laramie, SJ — a nine-day retreat rooted in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, asking all of us to move from knowing our faith to actually living it. Not in grand gestures. In small things. Done with a full heart.This isn't a story about a perfect vocation.It's about what faith looks like when the doors stay closed.It's about what mission looks like when you're running on empty.It's about choosing — every single day — to knock again, to stay present, and to trust that showing up is already enough.Whether you're discerning a big decision, carrying quiet crosses no one knows about, or simply trying to stay faithful in a season that feels like too much — this one is for you.What if the bravest thing you can do today isn't something grand — but simply going back to the door that didn't open yesterday?📖 Love Him Ever More by Fr. Joe Laramie, SJ Available at jescom.ph/josh