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Because of fear and insecurity that is ruling our life, we tend to control everything and self-protect. We look inward and we really don't see what God is doing—we don't really trust anyone around us. We don't have to be afraid anymore. There will be pain and suffering on our healing journey and the wounds won't just go away, but that's okay. We got to stop running from our woundedness and stay rooted. Let us allow the vulnerability to happen at the source of healing and give the Lord permission to meet us, loves us and heal us in these deepest places in our hearts.  This episode invites us to let the Lord come into those vulnerable place and break down those walls that we've put up to protect ourselves. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

The brokenness that is present in our culture deforms us. We have been taught a certain way of living that somehow cultivated the sins of self-reliance, self-protection, fear and insecurities. Because we're afraid of being weak or being poor and failing, we put-up walls and put on armors to protect ourselves from being hurt—this in turn makes us live with a high level of anxiety. It doesn't have to be that way. We can be reformed and refashioned but we need to do that with the Lord and this episode provide some amazing insights and talks about how we go about doing that. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

One might often think that growth is gonna happen in a particular way that we usually perceive as a huge experience or something flashy, but growth might actually look different.  What does the Lord want to teach us and how does He teach us these things? We don't grow by having everything altogether all the time. We also cannot expect to grow while staying self-protected in our comfort zones. Instead it's when we actually experience poverty. In reality we can be uncomfortable from the challenges of our lives and realize that this is what we need to help ourselves to grow in love and in holiness. This episode looks back on how most of us perceive, encounter and experience growth. An invitation for us to reflect on what does it really mean and how can we make it happen. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

There is the undeniable temptation to achieve and perform in order prove that we are good enough. But, it shouldn't be all about that. We are gifts to the Lord not because of our perfection but only because of who we are. We can get caught up in the little things that we do and detach them from the overall goal. It's not just about being perfect on all virtue, discipline or devotions—it should all be geared towards Love. The love of God and growing in love with him, that's the ultimate goal. This is a supplementary episode to close the series on The Practice of the Presence of God, that talks about experiencing love, learning to be and being loved and from that being able to love. You can find the Presence of God challenge in the Hallow App or this link https://app.hallow.com/challenges/51, where you can join in and reflect with Fr. Mark-Mary on The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 4 of 4) There's a lot happening in the world we live in, and nothing much we can do about it. During this difficult time we need to pay attention to the Lord—to be immersed in the mystery of God, his goodness and his mercy. It's good to understand what is and what's not in our circle of influence even though it might be in our own country, group, family or even in our own life. Let's discern with the Lord, what's His and whats ours to deal with together. The beauty and grace of it is that we have the freedom to surrender all the things we cannot control, and bring it God. Let's not fall to the pattern of distraction, discouragement, despair. We need to find a way to encounter the light to push back the darkness. There's hope to find peace amidst chaos. You can find the Presence of God challenge in the Hallow App or this link https://app.hallow.com/challenges/51, where you can join in and reflect with Fr. Mark-Mary on The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 3 of 4) We can't do anything more to earn God's love, we have it already! We can be weak, we can be poor, and we can be sinners—and that's okay. We can bring all that to the Lord and that's where we start. Jesus doesn't want us to give him the good things alone, but the bad things as well. What the Lord wants is for us to invite Him in that space for Him to be with us on that. What we need to do is to surrender every bit of who we are, surrender our desires to control and give it all to God. This episode talks more about some great points in the practice of presence of God. An invitation to reflect back on who we are, understand or accept our weaknesses and sins. While at the same time, recognize who God is as we surrender everything to Him. You can find the Presence of God challenge in the Hallow App or this link https://app.hallow.com/challenges/51, where you can join in and reflect with Fr. Mark-Mary on The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 2 of 4) What does a good prayer look like? We don't know.. Everyone has the freedom on how they pray. But thinking about God, reading a book about God and just saying words about God is not praying. Praying is the relationship that brings us in to a conscious living contact with God himself. Everything is at the service of relationship with Him. There's a real person looking back at us in prayer—who loves us and wants to draw us close to his sacred heart. Jesus wants to meet us in that contemplative space and experience his heart there. In relation to Brother Lawrence's Book, this episode talks through some amazing insights on the relational aspect of prayer as well as some logic and application of prayer. An invitation for us to re-evaluate our prayer life which is meant to put us in relationship with God. You can find the Presence of God challenge in the Hallow App or on this link https://app.hallow.com/challenges/51, where you can join in and reflect with Fr. Mark-Mary on The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 1 of 4) With the abundance of noise in our world, there can be a lot of interruptions to our ongoing conversation and relationship with the God. The habitual, silent and secret conversation we all dream to have with God, all seems to be very difficult to achieve. There's going to be a cost, sacrifice and perseverance. We need to drive away from our minds everything that is capable of interrupting our thought of God. It doesn't overnight nor does it happen easily. Like any dream that we have, we do need to put some work into it in order to make it happen. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Whether we feel it or not—believe it or not, this is our identity. We live as beloved sons and daughters of God. There's a temptation to believe the we have to do something amazing or special to be able to bring the Gospel and Christ to people. But the reality is, the same spirit and the same gifts are given to us in our baptism as Christians and Catholics. All of us are called to bring the Gospel and Christ to people and by participating in this mission we are just being who we are supposed to be. This episode talks more about our identity, the inheritance we have and our mission. A beautiful reminder that the power of Christ is already in us, we just have to embrace it—have faith in it! The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

We are all beloved sons and daughters of the Father and through our baptism we are all anointed and empowered. We don't have to be all-put-together or be perfect in order to bring healing to ourselves and to other people. We are all incomplete and despite that God wants to work through us—right now. There might be times that we can revert our eyes from our Jesus, or get stuck within ourselves or maybe distracted by the world. At times like this we need to fight a continuous battle to keep looking at Jesus and feed our faith. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Series on The Twelve Steps (Part 3 of 3) God wants to go back into our lives and our stories—and start speaking light, redemption and truth over that. There's the need for us to have a radical opening of our hearts and honesty to what really is happening in our lives. We have to be searching and fearless to admit what's inside our "junk room" and bring that to the Lord. Whatever that makes our lives unmanageable is just a symptom of something else. We not only need to look at the things that make our lives unmanageable but also we look at the things that drives them and the ripple effect that it had caused. This episode focuses on the gift and highlights of the remaining step. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

When we struggle it can be really difficult and sometimes we even face impossible situations that may feel like there's no answer. In our poverty, there's the need to admit we're powerless—that life is not okay anymore and figure out what do we do with that. And as we are brought to our knees—utterly defeated. We can let go of ourselves as our own authority and give ourselves to a greater power, to Christ. Only then we can make a daily decision to turn our will to the care of God—say Yes to the connection we have with Him everyday even with all the craziness that's going on. This episode talks about the first three steps of The Twelve Steps that allows the foundation of our lives and our hearts to be set in experiencing renewal and recovery. And it is a reminder that tells us when we can't, Jesus can. We just have to let him. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Series on 12 Step Wisdom (Part 1 of 3) At some point, our lives are unmanageable and we need help. When we want to turn away from sin and our struggles, we turn to God to save and heal us.  We are given clarity to open our eyes and see our life in a new or different way. And while we're accepting reality as it is, we recognize what we can and cannot control, we realize what is asked of us everyday.  When we live that reality one moment at a time, that's the time we can accept life in a particular way and enjoy it! This episode talks about the Serenity Prayer and what it means to be in recovery and seek healing and conversion. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

There are multitudes of struggles that we are experiencing day to day. As we see our own and other people's struggles, weakness and even sins, we have to understand that we are going through different journeys. God is doing something completely different in each of our lives. Relative to this truth, this episode talks about some of the most essential topics that most of us can relate to. Here are some of our hot takes. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

It is easy to fall into the temptation and believe that we can't do it, that we can't live a holy life. Although the ordinary life is simple, hidden, and seems kind of normal, there's so much sanctity in our vocations that are being lived faithfully. It might not be flashy or spectacular but it's one of the most real ways we can grow in holiness. We may not be in the chapel or church making a eucharistic holy hour, but no matter what our day-to-day experiences look like or what daily lives we are accustomed to, God is there. There's something extraordinary in our ordinary experiences. It is possible to be in relationship with God, amidst everything that we do. We just need to make the space and time no matter how small and let Him enter into our lives. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you! A special shout-out to all the moms out there who are totally in it, Happy Mother's Day to you all!

We are made to live in relationship wherein two or more people speak to one another. As we have the desire to talk to God, He also has the desire to speak and to come close to His people. He is speaking to us. We have to grow in sensitivity to what God's voice sounds like, what our voices sounds like, what the voice of the world sounds like, and what the voice of the enemy sounds like. There are times we already know the voice of who we're talking to simply because we've been with them, we've spoken to them, we said things back and forth with them, same is true with God. Discernment is not a mathematical equation but it is a tool for us to become more sensitive to how God speaks in our lives. This episode talks about how we recognize the different voices around us and lays out some building blocks which are extremely helpful for our own discernment. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

This whole Lenten journey has a been about identity. In this journey, we again receive the gift of who we are as sons and daughters of God and every other identity along the way. But this identity pilgrimage will not make sense without the resurrection. Life will be incomprehensible if it's just suffering and brokenness. Jesus risen from the dead is the truth that changes everything. The gift of the resurrection shows us a new way to love. It gives us a new way to look at things and a new light to have a brighter hope. Ultimately, it helps us to have a new way of living. This episode talks about the transformation that happens in our hearts when we experience the new life of Jesus in us and what it means to live as new men and women. As we finish working through the Born of Fire book and enter into the Easter season, we invite you to look at and receive what the resurrection of Jesus mean to your personal life. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

Life of prayer is worth going "all-in" on. In this mystical identity, there's an invitation to let go of ourselves. Prayer is not authentic if we are stuck or focused on ourselves. Prayer changes as we let go of our own notion of what it should be. We are constantly invited for our hearts to be attentive and open to become mystics—to become men and women of prayer. It anchors us in the reality that we are made for relationship, we're made for prayer, and we are made to live in intimacy with God every single day of our lives. As we enter the Holy week, we're inviting everyone to let the truth be true and let God, be God. This Lent, we continue to work through Born of Fire by Fr. Innocent Montgomery, CFR. Order now (including digital copies) at bornoffirebook.com/ The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you! If you want to go and support Ali Hoffman and get some cool Catholic merchandise, you can go to https://www.alihoffman.co/

We come in as sons and daughters, then we graduate from sonship and daughtership. When we fall in love and receive the gift of the beloved, we have this deep desire to bear fruit and to let this love overflow. In this love, sons and daughters become spouses and from there we mature to become mothers and fathers. What we want is to live with the Father's heart—to give unselfish and sacrificial love. It is definitely not easy. But we are invited to become fathers and mothers after the heart of God. This episode tackles this topic through the most challenging moments in the desert. This Lent, we continue to work through Born of Fire by Fr. Innocent Montgomery, CFR. Order now (including digital copies) at bornoffirebook.com/ The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!

The world is a crazy place. There's always the temptation to hide, run away or to fear Love. There are distractions and lies—the lie that we cannot do it, that we may lose ourselves, that our love won't be reciprocated. But we are made to be in love. First and foremost with the Lord, Jesus the bridegroom, who comes to save, to love, and to die for us, His bride. And from this love we are called to lay down our lives and give ourselves fully for a bride or bridegroom. This Lent, we continue to work through Born of Fire by Fr. Innocent Montgomery, CFR. Order now (including digital copies) at bornoffirebook.com/ The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you!