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

Episode 128 - The Me in "Our" Father There is no denying that there can be many circumstances to dismiss fatherhood, both from our earthly and our Heavenly Father. But despite what we've experienced, God is your Father and my Father who intently listens and cares for us—a Father who delights in his sons and daughters. We all need to have a personal relationship with God. Aside from praying "Our" Father in a communal way, You and I also need to pray to "My" Father in a personal way. God provides concrete expressions and revelations of fatherhood every day of our lives. What we need is to be more open to receive that gift of every moment that He gives us and be able to see again how the He truly cares for us in reality. This episode is the third part of a series on Hungry For God by Dr. Ralph Martin which talks about the personal fatherhood of God to each one of us. An invitation to the possibilities and responsibilities of sonship or daughtership to The Father. 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 127 - Define the Relationship Being in relationship with God looks like we're sitting down in front of a big table with Him, and what a deeper conversion and deeper healing means is that we are willing to be at this table and we are willing to lay out everything here for the Lord to see. He sits us down and He wants all our weapons, all of our distractions, all the things that keep us from Him, all the obstacles, and He's gonna keep calling us out until we lay them all out on the table. Jesus has so much more to give us, but he's waiting for us to take this step—to surrender everything to Him rather than trying to be the Lord of our own lives. Those parts of our hearts that we'd rather keep quarantined or closed off, the Lord is now sitting saying "I want to be the Lord of that as well." This is how He is inviting all of us. This episode is the second part of a series on Hungry For God by Dr. Ralph Martin that invites us to define our relationship with Jesus and fully commit to his Lordship. 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 126 - Authentically Awesome When we were kids, we were usually amazed and awed about something that was new, grand or magnificent, but as we grew older we became more indifferent towards those things. As Christians and Catholics, we are in love and fascinated with Jesus. But as we've sat with the Lord for longer periods of time, we too sometimes become indifferent to our Faith and His life as well. We need to keep seeing our Faith with fresh eyes—to be excited and eager to grow in relationship with the Lord. Let's ask for the grace to continue experiencing a child-like awe and wonder towards God. This episode is the first part of a series on Hungry For God by Dr. Ralph Martin. An invitation for us to return and authentically stay in awe and wonderment before all the mysteries of God. 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 125 - Heaven Within Life and circumstances are undeniably hard, but we are not alone in this. The beautiful reality is that even when we leave prayer and go into the world, we may leave God but He never does. God is still always with us—within us. Knowing that the Lord is dwelling within us, it does change how we navigate through whatever is happening in our lives. It doesn't mean that our problems will go away instantly or that it will fix it immediately, but there can definitely be a drastic change on how we approach and live our lives. This episode talks about this gift of the Holy Trinity dwelling in us, its' importance and how we can access 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!

Episode 124 - Dryness in Prayer Probably the most important relationship in our life is our relationship with God, and we are building that through prayer. Prayer is real—it's for everyone, but we know that prayer is not always easy. Sometimes it can even be really hard. Growing in relationship with God is a journey, there are ups and downs along with some twists and turns. There are good days when you just feel really close to God—days when you feel that you can hear the voice of God and there's so much joy, peace and consolation that goes into that. But in some days, there may be a lot of struggles where we feel far away from God. This episode talks about what happens when prayer is hard and how we go about it. It also serves as an encouragement to be more aware of what's happening in our hearts when we pray. 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 123 - Sons of the Church Obedience is rooted in God, it is lived trust and lived surrender in His pastoring and fatherhood—that's where we want to be. It can be really difficult but as sons and daughters of the church we are invited to stay in obedience, not only to our religious superiors but ultimately to God. We need to be able to listen to the voice of God amidst all the ups and downs of the church. This episode talks through some great insights about what the Catholic appreciation for obedience actually means. 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 122 - Hot Takes 2 As we go through life we encounter our own and other people's struggles, flaws, weaknesses and even sins. But we have to understand that we are going through different journeys. God is doing something completely different in each of our lives and we have to be attentive to that. Let us not be so quick to judge—everything is not as simple as they may seem. This is another one of our Hot Takes episode that talks about some of the most essential topics that most of us can relate to. 1️⃣ "To tell someone the truth that they are not ready to receive, does violence to the person" 2️⃣ Can you miss your vocation? 3️⃣ Praying for healing for other people 4️⃣ "Life is a struggle, make sure you pick your battles" 5️⃣ A little bit about shopping ( "Checks and Balances on Impulsive Buying" ) 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 121 - A Really Good Episode 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!

Episode 120 - No More Self-Protection 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!

Episode - 119 Rethink Growth 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!