Latest radio times: praying the rosary, and saints for mamas

Yesterday morning I once again joined John and the Morning Air crew to discuss: five saints all moms can go to for all our needs: Those saints are:

• St. Monica - patron of patience

• St. Joseph - patron of sleep

• St. Zita - patron of cleanliness

• St. Dymphna - patron of mental health and anxiety

• Plus: most important of all, the Queen of the Universe and Mother of God herself, Mary

The segment starts around 16:26.

Now these are just the first few I thought of. There could be more! Are there any other needs you have as a mom that require some special intercessory saint prayers? I bet you can think of a few.

And earlier this month, we talked all about the rosary, and Relevant Radio’s 21-day rosary challenge. You can listen to that conversation here.

It's worth checking in on the Rosary in a Year

You may be well aware of the mega successful podcasts coming out of Ascension Press the last few years, specifically Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year and Catechism in a Year. Well, Ascension is back with a new podcast, Rosary in a Year, with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames. Interestingly enough, just like its predecessors, it’s already the #1 podcast in the country. Yes, even beating out the true crime, news, and celebrity podcasts that you’d expect to be in first place.

You can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts (and apparently Ascension has an app; I haven’t tried it). Here is a list of the show episodes on YouTube. I just listened to day 6, “Prayer is a Battle” and was struck by something Fr. Mark-Mary says. He says prayer is our lifeline of grace; when we aren’t praying, we are cut off from God in a particular way. And not only that, but that the enemy of our human nature would like to interfere with our ability to prayer and therefore keep us unable to hear the voice of God. Yikes! I will remember that next time I think my short prayers are not enough and I shouldn’t bother. Every little bit helps. Every effort we make to speak to God is hear by Him.

I say this because I often do not have enough time for a full rosary. I know they say it takes 15 minutes; that has never been my experience, especially once I add in the time it takes to actually name my intentions at the beginning. So then another day without really intentional prayer comes and goes. But this lesson calls me back to basics: just to be present with God, and pray sincerely, in the truth, for a few minutes, is better than nothing. It need not be a structured, fancy, 45 minutes, mystical mountaintop experience. God is already with us in all the day to day details of our lives; he will be with us in our small prayer, too. And glad to be there.

So, I do recommend the show, and i look forward to whatever further insights I will gain - prayerfully - by listening. And on that note, I will be on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air program this Thursday at 8:20ish, probably talking about this very topic.

God bless you in this new year! And God bless those moments where God is able to break through all our noise to show a little piece of himself to us.

Two signs of hope at the end of the year

This morning I spoke with John Morales on the Morning Air Show about two recent headlines that caught my attention and that indicate signs of hope at the end of the year: one, that for the first time in American history, a display of the nativity was okayed to be held at the US Capitol; and two, that Bible sales are soaring. 22% growth of Bible sales in the last year, to be exact! All while regular book sales are not increasing. You can listen to that conversation here, starting about 17:20.

The increase in Bible sales is particularly interesting. The reporting indicated it could be driven by Gen Z, actually, as they search for meaning in a confusing world that seems increasingly meaningless and scary. I can relate to this, as a “revert.” Although I grew up with a very lukewarm faith, I had no idea about anything. My favorite thing to recall is that I didn’t even know churches had Mass during the weekday. I thought they were locked up and dark every day but Sunday. What a strange thought! Anyway, my own sense of “something missing” as a young adult is ultimately what drew me back, in a way, for the first time - at least sincerely. I didn’t get there through the Bible first, though, it was actually the rosary.

As for the nativity: isn’t it a strange thing, the way that an image like that can effect our hearts? Why did St. Francis of Assisi feel compelled to create the first nativity - how did he know it would work, so to speak? As we discuss in the conversation linked above, Catholics understand the power of beautiful imagery to call us out of ourselves and direct us to truth and goodness. Somehow, the nativity does that. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I presume.

Wishing you a beautiful remaining Advent season and a Merry Christmas season! P.S. my favorite thing right now: The Merry Beggars’ A Christmas Carol.