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J1ST 081: Friendship with Mary

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Hey there friends!

It’s a big day around this small corner of the internet. Today I am sharing the LAST installment of the VIRTUES OF THE ROSARY. I can hardly believe it! I started discussing these virtues last summer, and here we are finishing them up as we approach another summer.

So, today is all about the virtue attached to the final Glorious Mystery: the Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. The virtue for this mystery is FRIENDSHIP WITH MARY.

Since I feel like I have been talking about being close to Mary for this entire series, I start this episode by looking at Friendship in general. First of all, we need to remember that clearly friendship is important to God. While on Earth Jesus went out of His way to form friendships and He seems to even had had various types of friendships, and His best friend was likely St. John, the Beloved Disciple.

There are two problems with modern friendships:

  1. We often USE our friends for our own gains, and don’t really love them.
  2. We think that one friendship (or marriage) should be the only friendship that we need. And this is simply not true.

True friendships require time, vulnerability and listening. These are the building blocks for any friendship and we can apply them to our friendship with Mary as well.

We are called to spend daily time with Mary, share the secrets of our heart with her and listen to what she has to share with us. We need to listen, in particular to her message from Fatima: to Pray the Rosary and to accept suffering for the redemption of sinners.

And that is it! I certainly enjoyed recording these episodes and I pray that they have enriched your own praying of the Rosary.

Once again, if you would like to grab a copy of the Rosary Booklet where I offer reflections of each mystery of the Rosary, you can grab one right here: https://catholicsprouts.com/rosary-book

And, the Just One Small Thing Podcast will be taking a break for the months of June and July! But, I will be back with new weekly episodes in August (God willing).

Your sister in the small things,

J1ST 080: Union with Jesus

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Welcome back to another installment of the Virtues of the Rosary on the Just One Small Thing Podcast. I have really loved attaching a virtue to each mystery of the Rosary, and I hope these episodes have been helpful and enriched your own praying of the Rosary.

And, we are in the 2nd to the last episode in this series! Can you believe it?!? Today’s episode is all about the fourth Glorious Mystery, the Assumption of Mary into heaven. The virtue attached to this mystery is Union with Jesus. And, what I talk about mostly in this episode is devotion to the Eucharist.

Does that seem strange? That a mystery about Mary should be devoted to the Eucharist? Well, if you understand the nature of Mary and her role in our Faith Life, then it shouldn’t be!!!

Mary was so united with God that at the end of her life she didn’t die, but instead was taken up, body and soul into heaven. I like to think that she was so united with God that the world simply couldn’t hold her any more! And the way that we can follow her example and also be so united with God is through the Eucharist.

As many saints have put it, Through Mary to Jesus. Mary is the door that leads to Jesus.

I conclude this episode with lots of practical tips for living out your devotion to the Eucharist just a bit more fully. Here they are:

  1. Be better about spending the 15 minutes are you receive communion praising God! The Eucharist is still Jesus and now it is inside of you!
  2. Fight to attend daily mass. Look into the schedules once more and try it with the kids again. It’s worth it.
  3. Commit to an hour of adoration each week!
  4. Remember that Jesus is in the tabernacle and just being near Him is a gift for us, and a wonderful gift that we can give Him!

I hope these ideas are helpful and rekindle the fire of love for the Eucharist inside of you!

Here are a few of the links I mentioned in this episode:

Thanks for being here!

your sister in the small things,

When you join the Catholic Sprouts community, you not only will be part of a thriving community of over 11,000 Catholic Parents, but you also will get instant access to the Catholic Family Digital Resource Library.  Simply head here to sign up!

https://catholicsprouts.com/catholic-family-resource-library-signup/

J1ST 079: Zeal for the Mission!

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Hey there!

Welcome back to another episode of the Just One Small Thing Podcast. I am working my way through the final VIRTUES OF THE ROSARY. This episode discusses the virtues attached to the third Glorious Mystery, the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles at Pentecost.

The virtue attached to this mystery is Courage…or Zeal for the Mission…or just being Open to the Spirit. Sorry if I sound a little bit all over the place, but as I prepared for this episode I realized that there is no way to discuss one of these virtues without discussing them all! In fact, they are really all the same thing!

We need to listen to God (be open to Him) so that we might receive what He is calling us to do… and then we need to overcome sloth (have zeal) so that we might set out on the mission  God has given us…and then we need to be courageous as we set out into a hostel world.

Does that make sense? If not, sorry! And I do a much better job explaining it in the episode!

Here is a quick overview of what is discussed in this episode:

  • We start with this incredible quote from Mother Teresa: “Jesus lives His life all over again when we radiate to one another the love and virtues of His Eucharistic Heart.”  But this can only happen if we remain open to Him (the Spirit) and zealously embrace our mission.
  • Here are 4 steps to being open to the Spirit (inspired by the first chapter of this incredible book: https://amzn.to/2PWf01F)
    • Ask to receive the Spirit, and then assume and attitude of being respective (silence)
    • Trust in God, not yourself.
    • Embrace humility by emptying yourself out so that God might fill you up.
    • Remain detached from the world…and from your plans!

Easier said than done, right! But we are all working away on this, little by little, each and every day.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Thanks for being here!

your sister in the small things,

When you join the Catholic Sprouts community, you not only will be part of a thriving community of over 11,000 Catholic Parents, but you also will get instant access to the Catholic Family Digital Resource Library.  Simply head here to sign up!

https://catholicsprouts.com/catholic-family-resource-library-signup/

J1ST 078: Hope

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Hey there!

Let’s continue on with our investigation of the virtues of the Rosary! Head here if you would like beautiful coloring pages with the virtues of the Rosary and right here if you would like to grab a Rosary Booklet of your very own.

Today’s podcast is all about hope, but not hope in the sense that we use the word every day. In common usage, hope is like optimism. We might say, “I hope I’m not late.” Now, it is perfectly fine to be optimistic, but optimism is not a virtue.

Hope as a virtue means places all of our trust in God. Hope is also what connects us to heaven. When we hope in Jesus Christ we acknowledge that we are not God, that or God loves us and wants what is best for us, and that this world is not our home. Our home is heaven and we should keep our eyes fixed on heaven.

Hope is attached to the second Glorious Mystery because when Jesus ascended into heaven the disciples stood looking up at heaven, with their eyes fixed on heaven. And we should do the same.

If hope is the virtue, then there are two vices that we can choose to embrace instead of hope: pride and despair. Pride believes that lie that I am everything and I have no need for God. Despair believes the equally destructive lie that I am worthless and horrible and God has no need for me.

Hope acknowledges that there is a God (and it isn’t me), I am His beloved creature and I was created to be with Him in paradice when this life is over.

In the episode I spend time reflecting on an area where I struggle to let go of pride and despair and instead fully place my hope in God: Motherhood. I feel like the older my kids get the worse this gets. Listen and let me know if you can relate.

Thanks for being here!

Your sister in the small things,

When you join the Catholic Sprouts community, you not only will be part of a thriving community of over 11,000 Catholic Parents, but you also will get instant access to the Catholic Family Digital Resource Library.  Simply head here to sign up!

https://catholicsprouts.com/catholic-family-resource-library-signup/

J1ST 076: Rise with me through Prayer

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Hey there, friends!

This week the Just One Small Thing Podcast is a challenge for you (and for me!). Since we are in the Easter season I think it is the PERFECT time to take stock of life and our faith life. Have we been moving forward? Do we actually, deeply believe the things we processed during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday? And, perhaps as important as anything, am I committed to prayer?

Because, as I have learned over the last year, it all comes down to prayer.

In the podcast I take you on a bit of a journey of thought with me (hopefully the path isn’t too twisting!). In recent months I have discovered that it ALL COMES DOWN TO PRAYER. I realized this while thinking up (nearly 200 episodes now) the Catholic Sprouts Podcast. When I challenge kids to do something at the end of each episode, it really doesn’t make sense to challenge anything but prayer. I also felt this hit home as I learned about the early Christians and that first Easter Sunday.

And, so, if you feel called to deepen your prayer life…or finally really learn how to pray, I would like to invite you consider joining the PRAYER COURSE from Catholic Sprouts.

The course is open for enrollment right now. In the course you learn Why we need to pray, How to pray, When to pray, and How to combat the struggles we all face with prayer. And not only this, but you will be part of a community of women also learning to deepen their prayer life.

But, I will only be enrolling students this week (ending April 29th, 2019). At that point I will be closing the doors and starting the course.

Think about it, pray about it, and for more details, head here: https://catholicsprouts.com/prayercourse/

When you join the Catholic Sprouts community, you not only will be part of a thriving community of over 11,000 Catholic Parents, but you also will get instant access to the Catholic Family Digital Resource Library.  Simply head here to sign up!

https://catholicsprouts.com/catholic-family-resource-library-signup/

Thanks for being here!

Your sister in the small things,