About You:
Living Faith: Describe your vocation in life.
Ben Kupiszewski: I’m not sure — I’m still figuring out what God is calling me to do. I know I want to use my gifts and talents for the Lord. That means writing and editing, and I get to do that working on Living Faith and our seasonal product lines here at Creative Communications for the Parish. I’m also drawn to and apt for apologetics and philosophy. When I came of age, much of my millennial generation experienced mass apostasy and became irreligious. I found the Christian world passive in response, and I feel very little is being done at an institutional level to claim those souls back for Christ. And I’ve wondered, given what I’m passionate about and good at, if God has a part for me to play.
LF: Do you reach out to readers online via a website or social media?
BK: I’m a bit unusual for a millennial, but I do very little on my Facebook and X (formally Twitter) pages. I don’t have Instagram, and I will not touch TikTok. I have serious doubts about whether spending a life online is edifying for the soul. So the answer is no, I don’t reach out personally to readers, though I do manage Living Faith‘s Facebook page and reach out to Living Faith readers in that sense.
LF: How long have you been writing, or when did you start?
BK: I have been writing since at least the age of 6. I wrote fantasy stories in spiral-bound notebooks that were loosely based off of Star Wars.
LF: What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
BK: Sometimes, it’s getting started, but I would say it’s having trouble “murdering your darlings.” I easily become enamored with my prose, and I struggle to edit my writing — I can definitely be too wordy.
LF: How many books have you written, and which is your favorite? If you haven’t written a book, name a favorite that you’ve enjoyed.
BK: I haven’t written a book yet, but I recently co-wrote a little Christmas family devotional called Just Add Jesus. It features recipes and activities for families to do together during Advent and Christmas. I also have ideas for other devotionals that will hopefully be published in the not too-distant future.
LF: Where do you live today, and is that different from where you grew up?
BK: I live in St. Louis, Missouri. I moved here in 8th grade. So no, it’s not different, even though my family has bounced around from Pittsburgh, PA, to Madison, WI, and later to Cincinnati, OH. I consider myself a Midwesterner through and through.
LF: One additional thing you would want a Living Faith reader to know about you that we haven’t covered above. (A hobby, something silly or fun, an accomplishment, or an interesting fact?)
BK: I have a twin brother who also lives in St. Louis.
About Faith:
LF: When did you first know that God loved you?
BK: Since I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at a Christian soccer camp I was attending decades ago. I must have been around 7 or 8.
LF: Describe a prayer practice that is meaningful to you.
BK: As someone who struggles with anxiety, I’ve recently discovered the value of breath prayers, which combine the science of using rhythmic breathing to control the human nervous system with spiritual prayers based off of Scripture. With a little practice, you can learn to slow down while directing your thoughts and feelings toward God. It works.
LF: What’s something you’ve learned from the Bible or from the Mass or the Sacraments that has always stayed with you?
BK: God’s infinite capacity to forgive. It never ceases to amaze me that God the lengths God goes to reconcile with us — we wonder astray in sin, and he comes after us with unfailing determination and unfathomable humility as personified in the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of the God–Man, Jesus Christ.
LF: What excites you about being a Catholic?
BK: I’m not a Catholic, but I would say I appreciate the emphasis on ritual and mysticism. There’s a continuity there than runs back two millennia that is amazing and awe-inspiring.
What excites me about being a Christian is trying to live in faithful acceptance of the profound fact of God’s sacrificial love for us. For example, I was always struck by how God, when sealing his covenant with then Abram in Genesis 15:17, walked as a theophany between the seared and torn animal carcasses Abram offered there in his name, thus vowing that if he didn’t keep his promises to Abram, may he too become like what was left of these animals. It’s a powerful, moving image of our God and also a foretelling of the lengths, of course, God did go to rescue us in the person of Jesus Christ. That notion of God loving us so much that he would willingly condescend from his infinite glory, descending and embracing our finitude and mortal existence, in order to save us as truly sublime, unique and mind-boggling. It’s a challenge keeping that truth in my mind as I go about my day, but it’s something worth striving for — the only thing worth striving for. And that purpose found in a Christian’s life is always invigorating.
About the Bible:
LF: Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
BK: 1 Peter 3:15-16: “…sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear…”
LF: Do you have a favorite Gospel? If so, which one? Elaborate if you wish.
BK: It’s hard to say, but I’ve always liked Mark for its directness and Luke for its orientation and attention to historical detail. The earliest Christians understood that they had to make a case for Christ based off of logos, reason and truth, and not just mere pathos, appeal to emotion. Coming from a background in journalism, I’ve always like that.
LF: If you could spend a day with a person (besides Jesus) mentioned in the Bible, whom would you choose?
BK: Probably David, but Peter, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Sampson, Solomon, Jonah, et al. are all up there. I’m very sympathetic to all the very flawed people God transformed in order to accomplish his purpose.
About Living Faith:
LF: How long have you been writing for Living Faith?
BK: I think it’s been two-and-a-half years.
LF: Do you ever get to meet your Living Faith readers? What do you talk about?
BK: I have not, but we’re hosting our first ever retreat this March, and I’m going to have the pleasure of meeting lots of them there.
LF: What is one thing you love about Living Faith?
BK: That it’s been around for 40 years. Every day, I get to go to work on something that has roots and has touched millions of lives in its run. That’s an honor. I also like the wide variety of perspective on matters of faith that come from having such a varied and impressive stable of writers. There’s so much to learn and appreciate with all that collective faith-based wisdom.
*The interview was edited for clarity and conformity to style. No meaning was altered in the process.
