Tag: Personality

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On My Bookshelf: My Type of Holiness

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My Type of Holiness: Striving for Sainthood with the Temperament God Gave Me

By Rose Sweet

Published by Our Sunday Visitor

Rose Sweet’s new book, My Type of Holiness, takes a fresh look at the age-old basics of temperament theory and connects it to our quest for sainthood. Our goal is Heaven, and God has given us the gifts to get us there — if only we can get out of our own way.

From the publisher’s blurb on the back cover:

Properly understood, the love and study of temperaments should be a doorway to holiness. As well as giving you self-knowledge, this book can lead you more deeply into relationship with God.

Know Yourself to Better Love God and Others

Through anecdotes and with gentle good humor, Rose Sweet describes what we can learn about ourselves from classic temperament theory. I found the author’s descriptions clear and enlightening; I’ve read quite a few books about the temperaments, but this is the first one that helped me understand how better to relate to others who are gifted with different temperaments than mine.

The author candidly discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the various temperaments, and true to her own nature, makes sure to keep the focus positive, upbeat, and encouraging. It’s never fun to consider your own weaknesses, but in this book, readers will learn how to leverage the best part of our temperaments into improving our behavior.

What’s Wrong with [Name of Temperament]?
Nothing that grace, wisdom, and experience can’t fix. Our weaknesses are our strengths carried to extremes — and this is true for everyone. Pride and fear are usually at the heart of our sinfulness.

A Very Catholic Look at Temperament Theory

With the focus always on grace, My Type of Holiness is a very Catholic look at temperament theory. There’s a whole section on “Looking to Sainthood,” and it’s refreshing to see our goal of sainthood emphasized so frequently in this book. In that section, you’ll learn about rooting out sin, creating a rule of life, making time for prayer, managing media use, spiritual direction, and more — all with specific advice targeted toward the individual temperaments.

In this book, you’ll also find capsule biographies of saints who exemplify the four temperaments: Melancholic, Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Sanguine. While we can never positively identify the temperament of another person, particularly one we do not personally know, there are clues we can use to correlate the qualities of various temperaments to the behavior of others. By doing so, we can learn to understand others better as well as ourselves.

There’s Even a Quiz!

I used to love the quizzes in print magazines, where you’d be asked five questions and your answers would reveal some hidden aspect of your personality. My Type of Holiness offers a 40-question quiz at the back of the book that will help you determine your own temperament — if you haven’t already figured it out from reading the preceding chapters.

Ask for My Type of Holiness at your local Catholic bookseller, or order online from Amazon.com or the publisher, Our Sunday Visitor.

Copyright 2025 Barb Szyszkiewicz

Amazon affiliate links included. Your purchase via these links supports my work. Thank you!

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#WorthRevisit: Panic at the Retreat

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I was listening to a podcast this morning while I baked cookies for the soccer team’s pasta party. Greg and Jennifer Willits were talking about one of my favorite subjects–personality–and that was spun into a discussion about why Greg needed to leave a retreat over the weekend.

I’ve taken various forms of the MBTI countless times over the years, and I just went through the free survey at 16personalities.com, the site Greg and Jennifer recommended. My score: ISFJ (but I’m pretty close to ISTJ.)

I completely understand Greg’s experience at the retreat, as he described in episode 157 of the podcast. Which brings me back to a story I shared last fall–a story about the very same type of retreat Greg attempted to attend last weekend.

The first time I was called upon to share my faith story, I had just returned from a Christ Renews His Parish (ChRHP) retreat. Newly married and new to the area, I was already feeling shy, and I was dismayed to discover that after you’ve attended a ChRHP weekend, you’re expected to be a presenter at the next one. I sat there at the follow-up meeting, listening to other women share dramatic stories of conversion and renewal of faith. I didn’t feel like I had anything to add or contribute; certainly, I had nothing that could compare to those witnesses. Finally I fled the meeting, weeping, and in a full-blown panic attack. I never returned. I felt like a fraud.

That was exactly Greg’s point in the podcast. We’re not all the same. Those retreats are wonderful–for certain types of people who benefit from certain types of activities. I am not one of those people.

Today, for the first time in over 25 years, I felt OK about running away from that meeting (though there are tears in my eyes as I think about it.) It’s part of my personality to want to finish what I start. It’s why I stuck it out a whole year in the school lunchroom, though I discovered under one month in that it wasn’t a good fit for me. I’d learned, by then, that I could create a new opportunity to help the school–and I’m still volunteering in the school library even though my kids have all graduated.

St. Paul is famous for saying, “There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.” There are different personalities, too–but the same Spirit. What works for one does not work for everyone. (It’s why I don’t podcast or do Facebook Live. It’s why I’ll probably bury myself in small tasks at the pasta party tonight.) As Greg said in the podcast, we don’t all fit the same cookie-cutter! The trick is finding what works for you, and using your own personalities, gifts and talents to serve God and others.

worth revisit

I’m linking up with Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for #WorthRevisit Wednesday, a place where you can come and bring a past & treasured post to share, and link up with fellow bloggers!