Series on The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups (Part 1)

What does Jesus desire for you and Him this Lent? 

The temptation during Lent is to make the Lenten journey about us, we can do hard things during Lent that are fueled by our own desires and distractions but Lent isn't supposed to be about ourselves. Lent is also not simply about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Those disciplines help us to focus on what we need to focus on. This season is about a person and that person is Jesus.

In this episode, we'll talk about the reality of Lent and how we can orient ourselves to our relationship with Jesus as we enter this year's Lenten season.

Happy Ash Wednesday everyone!

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You can get a copy of The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups from the link below: https://ascensionpress.com/collections/the-ascension-lenten-companion

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Series on "Mary and the Interior Life" by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock (Part 3)

Do you remember Jesus and what he did? 

The most consistent word Mary had spoken to Fr. Jeremiah, was "remember". When we don't know what to do or how to act, Mary tells us to remember her son, Jesus' actions, that was the case for Fr. Jeremiah and this is an invitation that extends to all of us.

There is a richness and importance that Mary plays, for us not to have her be a part of our spiritual life. 

We are invited to remember Jesus' constant presence, love, and grace in this episode. Let's allow Mary to teach us to remember Jesus and what he did—to remember Him as Mary did.

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Series on "Mary and the Interior Life" by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock (Part 2)

Is your prayer and your life two separate realities? 

Mary gives us a ton of hope that the grace of God and the Holy Spirit meet us in reality. 

The Marian posture at the core of it is about the reality of the fullness of God. Mary teaches us that The best place to live your spiritual life is in reality—in where you are right now in this moment. It's about living one reality in the presence of God.

This episode is an invitation for us to have confidence in the daily bread and the grace given to us here and now. Let's not spend our time fantasizing about the change out there but try and respond as best as possible to what's currently there. Let's engage every part of our reality with the Lord while having a deep sense of his love and attentiveness as we respond in those moments. 

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Series on "Mary and the Interior Life" by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock (Part 1)

How important is Mary, Our Lady, in your spiritual life? 

Our Lady is a real woman, a real mother to all of us and Mary's intercession is actually more real than we realize. 

The gift of Our Lady is that she looks upon us, she knows our hearts, and her gaze can be the first safe and secure place in a world of filled insecurity. At this same moment, Mary wants us to look upon her and it is in this exchange where we find safety and security in our lives through a contemplative experience with her.

In this episode, as we start our mini-series on Fr. Jeremiah's book, we are going to talk about Mary—a real mom, an invitation to gain a different understanding of Mary and learn about the importance of viewing the world through her eyes.

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Do you actually believe and have hope that prayer does something?

Doing things over and over again can lose the awe and wonder of what's going on in our prayer life. There can come a point when we're no longer coming to prayer expecting to hear God's voice or expecting anything at all. 

This results in boredom or discouragement—a loss of hope.

In this episode, we're gonna talk about how we can pray for a supernatural hope as the remedy for discouragement and boredom.

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How much focused are you toward yourself?

There can be times when we struggle with perfectionism, control, and activism, and this can sometimes rub off on our spiritual life. 

Jesus does not demand great actions from us; rather, the invitation is simply to live in surrender and gratitude to Him.

At times, we can take a more Pelagian approach where more emphasis is given to our efforts, initiatives, and self-improvement—our achievement of holiness rather than the primacy being given to God and it being His work.

This gift of grace is the sweet way of love that Jesus sets before the little and the poor and that's what we're gonna talk about in this episode.

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Are you worried for 2024? 

Worry is a lack of confidence and we can be worried about a lot of stuff.

The invitation from St. Therese and from our Lord is to have confidence in Him. We who run in the way of love shouldn't be thinking of suffering that can take place in the future. That's a lack of confidence.

The complete confidence that becomes an abandonment in love sets us free from obsessive calculations, constant worry about the future, and fears that take away our peace. 

If we are in the hands of a Father who loves us without limits, this will be the case come what may. We will be able to move beyond whatever may happen to us. And in one way or another, his plan of love and fullness will come to fulfillment in our lives.

This episode talks about how we can go into the year 2024 with confidence. And with's God grace, return to the present moment, and be in relationship with Him, with confidence and hope of what he will do in the time to come. 

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What was Jesus like for you this year?

As we end the year, let's do a poverty and identity check and put Jesus in the center as we look back to this past year and look forward to the coming year

For this episode, a proposal to reflect on where Jesus have been, how He has been with you, how He loved you, and how He is loving you into this year.

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Series on "Prepare Your Heart" by Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR. (Part 4)

How often do you say Yes, without understanding or knowing the outcome? 

Sometimes we have to see and understand the plan before we say Yes, that's not our Lady's experience.

She didn't understand but she knew what was proposed to him by God, and despite that, she said Yes. She trusts; she surrenders in this whole experience of her life without knowing what's gonna happen.

This is the fourth part of this year's Advent series where we talk about Mary and her radical littleness and dependence on grace and God. An invitation to how we can become more and more dependent, more and more empty but with the confidence that we can be more and more full of God's grace. 

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You can get a copy of "Prepare Your Heart" by Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR from Ave Maria Press through this link: https://www.avemariapress.com/products/prepare-your-heart

Series on "Prepare Your Heart" by Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR. (Part 3)

What's the best thing you learned from St. Joseph? 

Advent teaches us that God has a different way of doing things and St. Joseph is an amazing example and witness of that.

Throughout his life, St. Joseph should've had the opportunity to grasp human comfort or control, but instead, he chose to enter into humility, into silence, he didn't overthink, he didn't overtalk, but rather he trusted and was obedient to God while being completely attentive to Mary and Jesus. 

This Advent, just like St. Joseph, we are invited to be radically open to what God wants us to do. Advent is not about evaluating everything but being with those who are most important and anchoring ourselves to God like St. Joseph did.

This is the third part of this year's Advent series where we continue to look into the lives of different saints of Advent and for this episode, we're talking about the heart and experience of St. Joseph.

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You can get a copy of "Prepare Your Heart" by Fr. Agustino Torres, CFR from Ave Maria Press through this link: https://www.avemariapress.com/products/prepare-your-heart