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

Episode 160 - Prayer, Presence, Party (Easter Things) What do you do after Easter Sunday? We are invited to be overwhelmed with paschal joy during the Easter season, but instead, we usually resolve to our daily grind like everything isn't transformed by our encounter with the risen Lord. So many of us return to our normal ways shortly after the resurrection—we can sometimes take comfort in that. In today's episode, we're gonna talk about the importance of Easter and how we can allow the liturgy to break into our everyday lives. 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 159 - Our Stories How much do you know about the hosts of the Poco a Poco Podcast? Some people have been along with the Poco a Poco journey for some time now and may already know certain things about them. On the other hand, some people might also be new to this podcast and may want to know more about our beloved brothers. So in today's episode, the Poco a Poco squad is going to share a little bit of their stories—their testimonies about what God has done to their lives and how they got to where they are now. 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 158 - The Options Not Optional "How is Jesus calling you to serve the poor?" This is the question we'll attempt to answer in this episode. Jesus loved the poor and like Him, we are called to be a lifeline for a person in need. God's sees the poor but we are called to intercede on their behalf—to be somebody who'e able to bring them to Him. This episode talks about the importance, necessity and the beauty of having hearts that are mindful of those who are most in need. An invitation to live how Jesus lived and loved those in need. 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 157 - Hot Takes 3 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 it may seem. As we continue our journeys through life, we will constantly encounter our own and other people's struggles, flaws, weaknesses, and even sins. In our Catholic life, there will be a lot of questions that will come our way and in this episode, we'll try to answer a few of them. Here is another one of our Hot Takes episodes that talks about some essential topics that most of us can relate to. In this episode we'll be going through the following topics: 1️⃣ Should I write down my sins for confession? 2️⃣ How to make a better confession. 3️⃣ Thoughts on the fraternal correction. 4️⃣ Theraphy, Yes or No? 5️⃣ Chapel Etiquette 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 156 - I Am The Resurrection Do we live our lives believing—having faith in the ressurection? In this ongoing journey of stripping the things we clothe ourselves with, Jesus wants us to give him the things that hold us back and desires to give himself in return. We have sins that isolates and causes us to go into hiding, but the gift of the resurrection breaks it all open. This episode focuses on the importance of the resurrection. An invitation to allow the hope of the resurrection to enter into all of our darkness and all of the different areas of our lives, in this Valley of Tears as we continue to journey through it. This Easter season let's pray to have an increase in faith in the Lord and his resurrection. 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 155 - Surrender It All (Lent 2023) Can we allow oursleves to be exposed before the Lord in prayer? Are we able to be before the Lord as we are and not holding anything back of ourselves or hiding ourselves in any way? These are the questions that we are attempting to unpack in this seventh part of our Lenten series. In this episode we are talking about how we can be stripped of all the things we cloth ourselves with—to be clothed with the dignity of the Father's providence and our identity. An invitation to be naked without shame and give the God everything—to be able to surrender the fullness of our past, our lives to Him and firmly trust that he can take it all on himself and let us begin again. 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 154 - Surrender Authority (Lent 2023) How does Jesus have authority? It is through His obedience to the Father. But one incredible reality of Jesus is that, in His authority He takes all the stench to the cross where it will be killed in His crucifixion. His authority is not one that lords it over us. It's not one that forces us to bow down and tremble before Him. But it's one that allows Himself to be emptied and clothed with all the messiness, struggles, confusion and pain so he can take it to his death at the cross. And in His authority he conquers sin and death, upon his resurrection. This episode is the sixth part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion that reminds us that we should not take lightly that God comes and let himself be stripped and crucified for all of us—an invitation to allow Jesus to have authority to live his life in obedience and in surrender to his Father, within 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! 🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Episode 153 - Surrender the Stench (Lent 2023) "Have I told Jesus all of my story?" That's the question that we are going to unpack in this episode. Most of us have confessed and have sought healing in particular places of our lives, but there are still parts of who we are now that we keep in the dark—the stench. The reality of that stench is that it is discouraging and it is despairing, but Jesus comes and He's not afraid of that. This episode is the fifth part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion. An invitation to have the radical vulnerability and trust to say "Jesus here is everything." and let Him see all of the death and stench in our lives. 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 152 - Surrender the Script (Lent 2023) There's this simplicity that when we encounter Jesus, our lives become different. We may not understand it and it might not look the same for each of us, but our lives becomes different. Just like the story of the man born blind, before he met Jesus and hoped in Him, he was living in darkness unable to see. After his encounter there had been healing and he was finally able to see. Things changed. We know that there's an absolute vulnerability and struggle with physical blindness and it is similar to the vulnerability and struggles that we have in the desires we can't give ourselves. That is why we need to receive this gift of acceptance and surrender for us be comfortable in being uncomfortable. This episode is the fourth part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion, a beginning of a journey of surrender. An invitation to make space for the Lord, ask Jesus for help with the crosses we carry and to trust and hope, not for outcomes but in 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 151 - At The Well (Lent 2023) In one form or another we can sometimes live in isolation and hiding. Because of shame and sin we clothe ourselves with shadows, we hide. These lies that we hide behind keeps us stuck and paralyzed—Jesus wants to call us out of that. The places of hiding don't have to defeat us, but they can become these intimate places where the Lord desires to be. This episode is the third part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups's Lenten Companion that talks about the Well not only as a place of shame but intimacy as well. This episode shows us the reality of the renunciation and what it means to leave the shadows behind. An invitation to say "no more lying and hiding", an invitation to be honest that the shadows affect us, an invitation to name our struggles or sins, an invitation to remember that the brokenness never defines us. A reminder that God is always in search for us, that we are pursued even as sinners and He wants to shed light to our darkness. 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!