Faith

J1ST 101: Guest Meg Hunter-Kilmer aka Hobo for Christ and Praying for your Temperament

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Happy New Year, Friends!

Today we’re tackling a fascinating topic, and one that could possibly help you achieve some New Year’s Goals: Praying for Your Temperament.

This episode started as a conversation pre-recording a few months ago… sharing how novenas appeal to some people but for others they are impossible to stick with. “I wonder if that’s a temperament thing…” lead us to Google which lead us to discover Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s blog series on a book called “Prayer and Temperament: Different Prayer Forms for Different Personality Types” by Chester P Michael. Apparently it IS a temperament thing.

But before we get to THAT, a funny backstory of how Meg came To My House to record this episode… Nancy and I found her blog series, thought it was fascinating, and I offered to reach out via Instagram to ask her to be a guest on the podcast. Throughout 2019, Meg kept popping up on my feed via various Catholic folk with the hashtag ‘hobo for Christ,’ so I had been following her for several months and her posts had been hitting home for me (especially this one). I was happy to have an excuse to DM “Heyyy Meg!” After a bit of back and forth, we realized Meg was actually booked for a couple retreats and speaking engagements around my neck of the woods in early December, so she offered to come in person to record. How cool is that? If you’re wondering about her mission and work, we go into it for the first bit of this episode.

BACK to temperaments…In the book, Chester breaks down the human population based on their Myers-Briggs personality types and divides them into four categories: Ignatian, Augustinian, Thomistic, and Franciscan

Why is this important? Well, the Church has a few ways that we are ‘required’ to pray. We all need to go to Mass every Sunday and Our Blessed Mother has asked us to pray the rosary daily, but beyond that, we’re free to pray in the way the feels most comfortable to us. Additionally, if you’re married and you’ve been struggling to pray together (*raises hand*), it could be a temperament thing. Have a listen here and read though Meg’s blog for suggestions of how to work through these differences in prayer styles.

Hoping this helps you achieve a more prayerful (and hence peaceful) New Year!

Your sisters in the small things,

Nancy and Katie

Connect with Meg via her blog, on Facebook, or on Instagram

Prayer and Temperament: Different Prayer Forms for Different Personality Types is available on Amazon right here

J1ST 100: Advent Book Study on Interior Freedom Pt 2

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

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Hey Friends!

Happy Fourth Week of Advent! Today we are wrapping up our book study on Interior Freedom, and sticking with the theme of ‘we can only control what is within ourselves,’ Nancy is without a voice this week so it’s just me, Katie.

This episode focuses on the last third of the book (that first section was so huge!!). And for me, the two words that kept popping out were HOPE and IDENTITY, so they are the focus of the episode as well.

Fr. Jacques Philippe defines hope as, “the virtue of people who know they are infinitely weak and easily broken and rely firmly on God with utter trust… To learn hope, we have to pass through impoverishment.” (p100-101) On page 105, he goes on to say, “lacking hope, we don’t really believe God can make us happy, and so we construct our happiness out of covetousness and lust.” And doesn’t that capture the frantic-ness of “preparation for Christmas?” Our to-do list triples in length, we spend money we may not have (or don’t really need to), say yes to more events and outtings than is our norm (possibly even our comfort level) and why? Because it’s Baby Jesus’ birthday and He wants us to or are we afraid that that Good News isn’t enough?

I think the way the world prepares for Christmas (consumerism, greed, busy-ness, etc.) can also be linked to our need for Identity, the other theme for today. We desperately want others to like us, or at least others to ‘see’ us in some favorable light… This feeds our Social Media addiction (or maybe just mine?). Doing and making things, decorating in certain ways, so we can get that perfect picture worthy of a hundred likes and comments. As modern moms, we are more isolated than any other generation of mothers before us. If we haven’t worked hard to create and maintain our ‘village,’ we’re without one, so we put that time into an online presence which doesn’t actually fulfill our need for friendship and camaraderie. In the words of Fr. Philippe:

One of man’s deepest needs is the need for identity… we are trying to satisfy a need for being by having… or confuse being with doing. (p 121)

It is extremely dangerous to identify ourselves with the spiritual good we are able to do. (123)

Humans beings are more than the sum of the good they can accomplish. They are children of God, whether they do good or cannot yet manage to do anything… this is why humility, spiritual poverty is so precious: it locates our identity securely in the one place where it will be safe from all harm. If our treasure is in God, no one can take it from us. (p124)

So this Advent, my challenge to you is this: some time between Now and Christmas, sit silently for just 5 minutes, holding the creche in your hands, and ask Him “What do you see when you look at me?” Then ask Him to fill you with Hope and Awe at the mystery of the Incarnation.

Also: reach out to a real life friend and make plans for sometime in the next month (if you don’t have something on the calendar already). Maybe it’s just me (introvert and HSP), but in winter, I tend to ‘hibernate,’ despite my need for some (even just a little) interaction with other mommas. This hibernation tends to cause a resurgence of my ‘media addiction,’ which feeds the Mom-Guilt-Monster, so… I am going to be proactive and make some real life plans for interaction and I challenge you to do the same.

To close: I want to share a few of the quotes I shared in this episode that I haven’t already mentioned above. Anyone of these would be amazing to take before the Blessed Sacrament and ‘chew’ on. Here we go:

(on being Hopeful)

Pure-hearted people are not so much those free of all faults and all wounds, as those who put all their hope in God and are certain his promises will be fulfilled. The pure-hearted expect everything from God; they hope in him and in him alone. (p110)

(On gracefully receiving more than we could ever return)

It doesn’t come naturally to us to give freely… nor do we find it easy to receive freely… receiving freely means trusting the giver, with open hearts, It also means abandoning ourselves and it requires a lot of humility…. We commit a fault against this free giving and receiving in our relationship with God or with other people every time we make the good we’ve done into an excuse for claiming a right, demanding gratitude or recompense… learning to give and receive freely requires a long laborious process of re-educating our minds, which have been conditioned by thousands of years of struggle for survival. (p119)

(Words of Christ to an anonymous Spanish spiritual writer)

“Doesn’t God reveal himself as your Abba? Have not I, the Son, taken on your condition at its most wretched? Doesn’t the Paraclete defend you? Believe all this with heart and soul and it will fill you with trust and confidence…. God pitches his tent to dwell with YOU. God is incarnation. God’s new name is Emmanuel, God With Us: God with YOUR reality. Open yourself to it without fear.“

Your sisters in the small things,

Nancy and Katie

PS: If you still haven’t bought the book and this series sparked your interest, it’s available right here.

J1ST 098: Advent Book Study on Interior Freedom

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

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Welcome back from our Thanksgiving break and welcome into Advent! We hope you had a beautiful “Turkey Day” and that the first week of Advent has been somewhat peaceful and prayerful.

During Advent, we will be doing a three part series on the tiny but powerful book, Interior Freedom, by Fr. Jacques Philippe. If you don’t have it yet, you can grab it here and join in on the fun. For this episode, we focused on the first section (through pg 81). Even if you don’t plan on reading the book at all, this episode still has something to offer and we’d love for you to tune in.

We picked this book for Advent because this time of year is full of expectations. Expectations others have of us. Expectations we have of others. Expectations we have of ourselves. Besides all the normal busyness of life, there is all that Needs to Be Done to get ready for Christmas. All these expectations can make us feel penned in and frankly a little grumpy (especially if you are an introvert!!! All the gatherings this time of year are EXHAUSTING).

Enter Fr. Jacques little book on Interior Freedom. We have limited control to no control on what happens exteriorly, but interiorly, we can choose how we react, interpret, and respond.

To illustrate, Father tells a little story about St. Therese (one of his favorite saints who he mentions quite frequently in his writing). St. Therese was often given involved tasks to complete within her community… things that required concentration. Before beginning such a task, she would tell Jesus, “I choose to be interrupted.” In this way, she could lovingly accept interruptions from her sisters and if she was able to work for an entire focused hour or even two, she could thank God for the gift of that time.

There were a few quotes we both loved from this first section of the book:

No circumstance in the world can ever prevent us from believing in God, from placing all our trust in him, from loving home with our whole heart, or from loving our neighbor. (p24)

Our freedom always has this marvelous power to make what is taken from us- by life, events, or other people- into something offered. Externally there is no visible difference, but internally everything is transfigured. (P57)

We are not always masters of the unfolding of our lives, but we can always be masters of the meaning we give them. Our freedom can transform any event into an expression of love, abandonment, trust, hopen and offering… positive things become a reason for gratitude and joy, negative things an opportunity for abandonment, faith, and offering: everything becomes a grace. (P58)

During the season, let us turn our little annoyances, distractions, and disappointments into opportunities to accept and offer it all to the Baby Jesus.

Your sisters in the small things

Nancy and Katie

Because the Saints have the Best Stories: New Cross Stitch Book

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

Hey there!

In case you missed it, we are running a big PRE-ADVENT sale…because we plan to be offline for most of Advent! You can check it out right here: https://catholicsprouts.com/pre-advent-sale-2019/

After about a year and half of recording the Catholic Sprouts Podcast I have come to a surprising conclusion:

STORIES ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN FACTS.

Not necessarily more important, but so much more powerful.

Here’s what I mean.

I love hearing from you about which episodes really resonated with you and your family, and I work to pay careful attention to what worked…and what fell a little short.

When I started producing the podcast I thought that the most important thing I could offer was a very clear, very simple EXPLANATION of the Faith. Now, I will never say that an explanation isn’t important, but telling a story on the same topic to ILLUSTRATE a concept is infinitely more successful. I see this with my own children when we listen, and I feel it in my own heart.

When it comes to teaching, stories are king.

And you know where the best stories come from?

THE SAINTS.

I LOVE learning about the saints. I love reading their journals, biographies, and hearing their legends. I love it all. And I am inspired to keep trudging up that hill to holiness so much more by looking to the examples of Saints than I am by reading passages from the Catechism (which is also SO important…just not quite as inspiring).

I am constantly working to bring the stories of the saints to my children (and yours through the podcast). I also love to have images around our house to REMIND us of these powerful stories that we have heard. All too often we hear something incredible…only to race off to the next thing and never think about it again. Or is that just me?

No! We need to hold onto these stories and allow them to guide us and inspire us daily.

In my own small way I am working to honor the saints and the stories they have given us with my newest creation:

The Saints of the Catholic Faith in Cross Stitch.

I created many of these patterns years ago, but I am thrilled to be able to give them new life with a much better book and format.

The book contains 170 different Holy Characters, including images of God, Mary, Angels, Biblical Characters and Saints.

And if you don’t cross-stitch, don’t worry! The patterns can be used for melty bead creations as well.

Now, in case this sounds all a little new and strange to you, I thought I would let you take a closer look inside of the book, and explain a few decisions I made while putting this book together.

Here is an example of a couple of pages from the book:

As the title says, Saints of the Catholic Church in Cross Stitch can be used by crafters of ALL ages, so I deliberately made the patterns simple. Here is what I mean.

Each pattern is displayed as colored stitches on a grid. There is no additional image of each saint as a “pattern” with a thread color chart and thread symbols as there was in the previous Saint Cross Stitch book. Why? Because I decided it was unnecessary.

The cross stitch and melty bead patterns I have created are simple, and yet fun to stitch for even experienced stitchers.

They use color blocking and very few thread colors for each pattern. In fact, I encourage crafters to ADJUST THE COLORS they use for these saints. Not thrilled that St. Agatha is wearing blue? Change it! Not sure you agree that St. Agnes had hair that color? Change it!

I created something that I pray will be a springboard for your creativity.

Here is what I really hope you will do with these patterns:

1. Learn about the saints and their incredible lives. Allow their stories to MOVE YOU.

2. Then, create an image of that saint to display in your home, or for your children to play with. Stitch up something or set the kids up with the Melty Beads.

3. Look often at that image and REMEMBER the stories they have given us, and keep following their example.

It’s that simple.

There are literally COUNTLESS ways to use those patterns in this book. Here are just a couple of ways that they have already been used by some Creative Catholics out there:

Gift Patron Saint Ornaments to those you love.
Stitch a Patron Saint onto the corner of a baby blanket.
Create an entire Nativity Set out of Melty Beads
Create Melty Bead Saint super heroes for the kids to play with.
Stitch and frame each child’s patron and hang it above their bed.
Teach and entire Little Flowers/Blue Knights group to stitch and let them pick out a saint to stitch as their first project. (these simple patterns are a PERFECT first project).
Use the patterns with your class! Stitched Saints make a GREAT art project.

Sharing the patterns with your large family, Youth Group or class is super simple since each purchase of the book includes access to a library of digital content. Inside of that library, you will find lots of additional patterns, as well as a digital copy of the book ready to be printed and shared.

Need more ideas? Well, here are a few ways I have used them.

Saint Quote Bible Bookmark (template included with the digital resources):

Patron Saint Rosary Case (simple directions included with digital resources):

Patrons Saint Family Sampler (tutorial for creating a sampler for your family is also included with the digital materials):

By the way, here is my crew, including all of the little saints that we have waiting for us in heaven. Can you name all of those saints? 😉

Okay, have I whetted your creative pallet? Just writing this email has made me want to get back to it! Got so many Christmas gift ideas swirling around in my head right now! Ha!

The Saints of the Catholic Church in Cross Stitch is available right now, and, as part of the PRE-ADVENT SALE, you can get the book for just $20. To check out all of the deals and grab your copy of the Saints in Cross Stitch, head here: https://catholicsprouts.com/pre-advent-sale-2019/

All deals expire Monday, December 2nd at Midnight.

(because I plan to be offline for Advent ;))

Interested in reading more about the Cross Stitch book? Just head here: https://catholicsprouts.com/saintpatterns

Got a question? Just hit reply.

Your sister in the small things,

Nancy

The truth about living liturgically

by Nancy Bandzuch · Leave a Comment

The 2020 Thy Word Gospel Reflection Journal is on sale now, but supplies are super limited. Make sure to grab a copy soon!

There is a lot of talk in Catholic Circles about “Living Liturgically”.

Now, living in sync with the seasons and feast days of the Catholic Church is AMAZING…but when I was a young Catholic mom, just discovering how to run a home, I was totally STRESSED about “Living Liturgically”.

Why?

Because I thought that to live liturgically I needed to remember every single feast day, and plan a cute craft, and cook an involved and witty meal. And if I missed even one feast day I was a TOTAL FAILURE.

And, I missed nearly all of the feast days. So most days I went to bed confident that I was, once again, the worst Catholic mom ever.

Well, the years passed and babies kept coming. The idea of doing a craft or making a special meal for each feast day was simply laughable. We were hanging on by the skin of our teeth! Fed and clean was good enough!

And here is the funny thing.

As our family grew, life got busier, and I gave up on living liturgically, we naturally became more Liturgical.

This didn’t happen through crafts or food.

Nope, it happened through Scripture. Specifically through the liturgical readings of our Church.

Gradually I have made it a habit to read the readings assigned by the Church to each day, with a special focus on the Sunday readings.

Simply making time to read the daily readings has done something to me and my family–it has brought us into the rhythm of the Church.

My heart is asking the same questions of the disciples, and straining to hear the words of our Savior. I am with the saints, pondering the Psalms and working through the teachings of St. Paul’s letters to the Early Church.

I know that this is simple and fairly obvious, but I can’t tell you how freeing it is to know that I don’t have to remember every feast day with a special meal and craft. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love cooking and crafting…but the idea that I HAD to mark these days with things that could potentially stress me out, and that I constantly had to be looking into the future, planning crafts and meal plans… Ah! I’m getting all hot and tense just thinking about it!

Celebrating with meals and crafts is AWESOME, and so many more organized people than me do just that. Bravo if that’s you!

But if it’s not you, please don’t label yourself a failure!

You can live liturgically–and you can guide your family in a liturgical life.

THROUGH THE SCRIPTURE.

Of course, we can even make reading the Scriptures complicated. (The Devil likes to do this so that we stop doing these good things). But let’s not do that! Let’s keep reading Scripture SO SIMPLE. So small. So easy.

Yes, work to get into the habit of reading the daily Gospel reading… But how about one verse a week? Taken from that Sunday’s Gospel reading. Just one verse to read and sit with. Just one phrase from Jesus, Himself, that will help you live with the Church.

This was my guiding hope for you as I put together the 2020 Thy Word Gospel Journal.

Here is a look at one of the weeks included in the journal:

As you can see, the journal is so simple. Just the date, citation, a flower, and a single verse.

And likely you’ve heard that verse on the page before, right? But do you really understand it? Read through it right now. Read it again.

What exactly is Jesus trying to say? And what is His specific message to you, right now, right where you are?

Looking at just one verse from the weekly Gospel will open your eyes to the power of Scripture. All too often we rush our way through reading Scripture. We start a reading and think, “oh, I know this reading…” and then our mind drifts and we are done, close the book and move on.

But Scripture is not like anything else. Scripture is the Word of God, it is alive and it has a message for you!

And that is what Thy Word is for. It is an invitation to slow down and dwell in His word. Allow the words to speak to you, and as they do you will start to naturally live liturgically.

If you would like to grab a THY WORD GOSPEL JOURNAL, I encourage you to place an order soon.

Since I put this book together sort of last minute, I didn’t have very many printed and MANY have already been claimed.

To place your order, just head here: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/products/thy-word…

Your sister in the small things,

Nancy