The Poco a Poco Podcast with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

Episode 138 - Don't Fumble the Bag The gift of Advent is God proposing himself to us. He comes not just to command us to do something and watch from a far. He comes to sing with us, dance with us, BE with us. With that said, it would be tragic if the Lord comes knocking in our door and we don't open it—that we miss Emmanuel, God with us. Let us receive him and respond to him in the proper way during this Advent. This episode is the second part of the series on Emmanuel: An Advent Devotional, which talks about how we can have the hearts to be open and available to receive God—to keep our focus on the gift of Emmanuel above and beyond everything else. It is also an invitation to ask Mary to teach us the purity of heart that she had, to see God as she did. ✝️If you want to follow along with our upcoming advent series, you can get your copy of Emmanuel: An Advent Devotional (by Fr. Angelus Montgomery, CFR, and Sr. Karolyn Nunes, FSGM,) at https://ydisciple.shop/products/emmanuel 🛒You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Episode 137 - Gentle But Uncompromising Sometimes we lose hope, wondering, does He really want to come and be with us in our sickness, addiction, our family brokenness, our difficulty, our struggles, or anxieties? Advent is a time that God speaks a definitive word into our exiles, "Yes, I do"—He comes and desires to be with us. This episode is the first part of the series on Emmanuel: An Advent Devotional which talks about what Advent is all about. A reminder that God is pursuing us and that in our brokenness, He comes to be with us. If you want to follow along with our current advent series, you can get your copy of Emmanuel: An Advent Devotional (by Fr. Angelus Montgomery, CFR, and Sr. Karolyn Nunes, FSGM,) at https://ydisciple.shop/products/emmanuel 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! You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com

Episode 136 - Step One Jesus not only loves us—He thirsts for us. Why does He say "I thirst"? What does it mean? It's something so hard to explain in words. I thirst is something much deeper than Jesus just saying, "I love you". Mother Teresa tells us how much love Jesus has for each of us—beyond all that we can imagine. In her words "Not only He loves you, even more, He longs for you. He misses you when you don't come close. He thirsts for you. He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy" This fourth and last part of this series talks about Jesus's experience of us and our first step to begin to know who He wants to be for us, or who Jesus wants us to be for 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! You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com

Episode 135 - Little But Infinite Sometimes, we may feel that we are only able do the little things—that what we do is insignificant. Things may seem so small, but in reality no matter how little or insignificant something may seem, nothing is little. It's because God makes them and because He makes them, they are great and infinite in value. The Saints, like Mother Teresa did amazing things, but they were faithful to the little things and through that God did the huge things in their lives. Even Jesus himself came to us small, hidden and lowly and not in the most grand way. This third part of the series on Mother Teresa reminds us that everything is an opportunity to be holy when we allow God to enter into it. A reminder that if we are faithful, even the little things matter. 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 follow along with our upcoming advent series, you can get your copy of Emmanuel: An Advent Devotional (by Fr. Angelus Montgomery, CFR, and Sr. Karolyn Nunes, FSGM,) at https://ydisciple.shop/products/emmanuel You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com.

Episode 134 - The Ecstasy Episode Could you imagine being woken up in the middle of the night because of a great desire to be with someone? For Mother Teresa, it was her desire to be with Jesus. She had a deep, supernatural union with God that gave her the experience of divinely-inspired thirst for Him. A living relationship with Jesus that brings her to this mystical state of ecstasy. This episode is the second part of the new series on Mother Teresa that talks about the beauty of the relationship Mother Teresa had with Jesus, and how it relates to all of us. It is also an invitation for us to recognize this desire that Mother Teresa had and the desire that God has for her and for all of us. 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!

Episode 133 - Our Holy Aunt As we mentioned on our previous episode, we need to be in this place where we are able to both worship and adore Jesus and at the same time be in relationship with Him and our neighbor with compassion and warmth. This episode talks about an exceptional example of that-Mother Teresa of Calcutta. A person who embodied and lived the fullness of the gospel life and who was such a great steward of the grace the she received that it influenced millions of people in a very good way. A saint who gave us a glimpse of who Jesus is and how He loves us. This is the first part of the new series on Mother Teresa wherein the CFRs shares a little bit about their experience of Mother Teresa and what it meant to them. 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!

Episode 132 - Worship and Warmth In our faith we sometimes find ourselves in the extremes. We become either strict and liturgical or warm and casual but the truth is our faith should not be "either, or" but "both, and". We need to be in this place where we are able to both worship and adore the Lord and at the same time be in relationship with Him and our neighbor with compassion and warmth. When that becomes our reality, we can make a difference—that's why it's important for us to discern where we are in this mix. This episode talks about, how we can assess where we are in this regard and how we can integrate worship and warmth to our faith and our relationship with Jesus. 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!

Episode 131 - We Speak Praise We allow our hearts to agree with the truth of who God is—that's what adoration means. And as we become more familiar with the truth of who God is through adoration, we start to see more clearly who God is to us and what is given to us by Him. Everything that we have is a gift from God and for most of us this is an overwhelming truth where Praise is the only just response. This episode is the sixth and last part on the series on Hungry For God by Dr. Ralph Martin which talks about what praise is and its' importance. 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!

Episode 130 - Prayer Battle Tactics There's great wisdom to having some structure or intentionality to our prayer life because not having a plan for it can lead to the death of it. The truth is, killing your prayer or spiritual life is not only limited to doing violence to it, but also not nourishing it. There might be a lot of reason for us not to make time for prayer. But we need to make a commitment to the Lord and schedule some time for our prayer life. In our life, whether we realize it or not, we're making commitments, we're scheduling things. The only question we need to ask ourselves is, "Am I making the Lord a priority?" This episode is the fifth part of a series on Hungry For God by Dr. Ralph Martin that talks about some concrete ways and examples how we fight and win our prayer battles—may it be to about creating time and space for it or persevering in staying within 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!

Episode 129 - Stay Where the Grace Is Life is difficult—our life is a valley of tears. And the ability to remain in faith, hope, and love with God as Father is impossible if we do it ourselves. If we want to be able to experience God's closeness and his presence and to cry out "Abba, Father" in the midst of our darkness, difficulties, crucifixions, sufferings and loss, we need grace to do it. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can the Lord for greater commitment and resolve to receive and to stay in grace at all times. This episode is the fourth part of a series on Hungry For God by Dr. Ralph Martin which talks about how we persevere to be in relationship with God the Father in the midst of these lived experiences and provide some amazing insights on how we stay where the grace is. 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!