God With Us Live!

Have you been reminded lately that Catholics are called to evangelize? Does that sound daunting, intimidating, or even… scary? We sit down with Fr. Dcn. Michael Wynar, a deacon serving in the Eparchy of St. Nicholas and a former FOCUS missionary, this week to find out why evangelization is both a lot easier (and in some ways actually a little more difficult) than most people think.

Our saint of the week once turned down a marriage proposal from the Roman Emperor and went on to write some of the most beautiful hymns in the Byzantine tradition.

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Have you been wanting to go on retreat but can’t find the time? Have you wondered what kind of spiritual wisdom our Eastern Catholic bishops would share if that had the opportunity? Wonder no more! The League of Ukrainian Catholics returns this year with their annual Lenten Live Spiritual Lenten Retreat on Sunday, March 24, but that’s not all the League is up to. Sophia Shchur, President of the League joins us to share how this organization established in 1933 continues to find new and innovative ways to serve not only Ukrainian Catholics, but everyone seeking to grow closer to Christ.

To register for the retreat and to find out more about the League click here: https://leagueofukrainiancatholics.org/

Oh, and this week’s saint convinced a lion to become a monk!

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Did you know there’s a Papal charity specifically organized to support the material and spiritual needs of Eastern Christians in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Ethiopia, and India? The Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) supports clergy, religious, and laity of the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches in these areas who are already doing heroic things in the face of violence, disaster, and hardship. Michael La Civita is the Communications Coordinator for CNEWA, and is also the Lieutenant of the Eastern Lieutenancy of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre here in the United States. In the second half of the show Michael shares how the Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre also help people living in the Holy Land.

Our saint of the week also helped serve the spiritual and material needs of his flock by, among other things, selling a blanket 3 times to raise money for the poor.

You can find out more about the amazing work CNEWA does, and ways you can support them, on their website: https://cnewa.org/

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God With Us Radio is excited to offer a daily dose of inspiration on the weekdays of the Great Fast through Seasons of Grace! This Great Fast we will feature recordings of Fr. Jack Custer’s Lenten devotional, Back to the Garden: A Lenten Journey through Genesis. Thank you to Jack Figel at Eastern Christian Publications for his permission to present this fantastic book in this way. And not to worry, we’ll be back next week with our usual episodes of God With Us Live!

Check out Seasons of Grace here: https://godwithusonline.org/show/seasonsofgrace/

If you’d like to purchase a hardcopy of Back to the Garden, check it out here: https://ecpubs.com/product/back-to-the-garden/

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What’s the Jesus Prayer? Why and how should we incorporate it into our lives? This week we speak with Fr. Michael Bombak of the Eparchy of Edmonton, who has a few tips about the Jesus Prayer, and even a challenge.

Listened to the episode and want to take up the challenge? Visit: https://www.jesusprayer33.ca/

This week’s Saint served as an undercover missionary and bishop.

BONUS: Here’s a talk Fr. Michael gave this past summer about the Jesus Prayer to give you even more inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5selEvMDyE

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One of the most beautiful and solemn traditions of the Byzantine Churches during the Great Fast is the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts. Where did this liturgy originate? Why don’t we have regular Divine Liturgies on the weekdays of Lent? Our guest this week, Fr. James Bankston, is offering a series of webinars through God With Us Online about Fr. David Petras’ soon to be released book about the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts, Now the Powers of Heaven. The webinars take place on the first and third Thursdays of February and March, and recordings will be posted for later viewing. You can find out more information and register for the course here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Hz8f2LXGRpmJ51VbT8dCjQ#/registration

Oh, and our saint of the week had his vocation delayed TWICE through the prayers of his mother.

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Why did a Chaldean Catholic priest from California decide to start making videos for TikTok? How does social media form a part of his ministry? Oh, and who are Chaldean Catholics anyway? This week we’re joined by Fr. Simon Esshaki of the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle to answer these questions and more on God With Us Live.

And our saint of the week collected so many relics that they renamed his See city after them!

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Has your pastor asked you to spruce up the parish website or “take care of that social media thing”? Don’t know where to start? Well, this week’s episode is for you! Ben Windsor, commercial marketing professional by day and Communications Consultant for the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton by night, tells us about his own efforts at the eparchial and parochial level to improve evangelization efforts through effective communication. These include creating the iPraises app and publishing a magazine for Ukrainian Catholic men in Alberta.

And this week’s “Scenes with the Saints” features a bishop who traded himself to save a young man from slavery.

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Have you ever been on a pilgrimage? How about an ecumenical one? Jack Figel has been planning and leading ecumenical pilgrimages for years and, also, documenting these trips through recordings and publications. This week Jack joins us to talk about the importance of pilgrimages, as well as a book he recently published called That They May All Be One: Stories from an Ecumenical Pilgrimage. This book was written by a 17-year-old about her experiences this past summer on a trip Jack organized to Istanbul and the Holy Land.

And Diakonissa Maria’s saint of the week really loved the gentle deer that visited him at his hermitage. So much so that he almost lost his hands!

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How does a man go from not really liking his first time attending Divine Liturgy to becoming the Communications Coordinator for the Melkite Eparchy of Newton? Tune in this week to hear Michael Davis’ amazing journey into the Melkite Church and his and Bishop Francois’ vision for the future of communications at the Melkite Eparchy of Newton.

And our saint of the week was literally clothed in righteousness. Any guess who he is?

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