What does a good movie, our desire for the best job, and that perfect picture we just posted on Instagram have to do with each other?  None of these things is wrong in itself. But when we begin to allow the things of the world to control us, we miss out on the joy of God's call for deeper intimacy in our hearts.

In this week’s episode we discuss the battle for our hearts which is also a battle for our time.  We want to learn to pray well because that's how we give God authority over our lives.  But part of praying well is stepping away from distractions, even good ones.  

God calls us to transform our half-hearted, distracted, disconnected prayer life into a vibrant, meaningful, intentional way of communicating with our Father.

Grounding their discussion in Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis's book, The Way of the Disciple, the friars take a look at the battle of prayer. This is the principle place where we battle for grace, where we battle to receive the truth of our identity and the riches of our identity. But it takes work! It's hard!

The good news is, with God's grace, we're capable of hard things! May this episode encourage us all to be renewed in our commitment to prayer!

God has spoken, but he wants the Word to continue to echo through you! The Word became flesh, dwelt among us and revealed to us the heart of the Father. 

But the Word’s mission is not complete!

In this week’s episode the friars take a look at how different saints have heard the Word, been transformed by it, then echo it by their lives...becoming a living word.  And God wants to do the same through you!

Take a listen to learn what in the world this all means and looks like.

Prayer is like oxygen; we can't live without it. If you're not praying, you're dying. Prayer is not optional in our lives but it's essential. Prayer is our lifeline to God, and with it, lives are changed for eternity! God invites us into an intimate relationship with Him. This close, intimate, personal relationship that you can enter into with the Lord will be the door opener that will change the course of your entire life forever. The journey is there for all who are willing to step into it!

Blessed are the peacemakers! Peace comes from knowing your identity, but also knowing who God is.  Knowing who you are and Whose you are changes everything.  God is the only One who knows the depth of your struggle, and therefore He is the only One who could offer the exact reassurance of peace we so desperately need to hear.   Are we confident in our spiritual inheritance as children of the Father?  God promises us that if we stick with Him, He will give us peace that surpasses all understanding.

God doesn't call us by our sin, He calls us by our name. Our dignity is based on the fact that we are His children.  In this episode week's episode the friars dive into what "blessed are the merciful" really means.  God loves us even in our sinfulness and wants to restore what sin has taken away.  We are called to come face to face with our brokenness so that we can experience true healing and mercy so we no longer act as orphans but as children of the Father. 

"Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God." Journey from the cry of the heart expressed in Psalm 80, "Show us your face and we shall be saved," to the tragic loss of the rich young man who went away sad because he missed the answer to who he is and what he's made for as it was revealed to him on the face of Jesus who looked at him and loved him, to the world transforming conversion of St. Francis of Assisi who was able to find in the face of the leper the sacred face of his Savior.

It's satisfaction guaranteed people! "They shall be satisfied." Not, they might be satisfied or 9/10 times those who hunger and thirst for righteousness claim to be satisfied. Satisfaction is guaranteed to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness! It's a promise and the Father always keeps his promises!

But...you gotta want it. You have to burn for holiness. You have to burn for the infinite depths of his love and burn through all lesser goods. Let's get after it together!

Fr. Lloyd has experienced a whole lot of life over the past 98 years. In his own words, what has he learned, "The Father thinks I'm hot stuff."  The Father loves him and rejoices in him. And it's for you as well!  In this week's episodes the friars take a look at the true meaning of "meek."  Being meek doesn't mean you're soft, it's the strength that comes from already receiving the inheritance of your identity. It means living in touch with the reality that the Father thinks your hot stuff, too.

There's a whole lot of Good News in this episode. Jesus has clothed the lilies with great splendor and they didn't have to do any work at all! And he reminds us, if I take such great care of the wild flowers, how much more will I care for you!

The friars invite you to take a prayerful journey into the heart of Jesus as it's revealed in the story of the raising of Lazarus where we see him weep over Lazarus because he loved him so deeply...and he loves you like that too!

"Love is an exodus from me to you" (Pope Benedict XVI). Oftentimes the spiritual life can be focused on." Am I growing? Am I getting after it? Am I, am I, am I... Of course, each individual's particular growth is important, and there is a place for examining our own lives, but discipleship is a team sport and it's in losing ourselves that we authentically find ourselves. In the latest episodes, the brothers take a look at how poverty of spirit helps us do the hard work of staying in communion

Beggars and Beast Mode.  Taking another look at the "Franciscan Sweet Spot," poverty of spirit, the friars reconcile our poverty and dependence with the call to scale the heights of sanctity.  Fr. Innocent, Fr. Angelus, and Fr. Mark-Mary, looking at their own life experience, proclaim with conviction, that our poverty is not an obstacle to Christian excellence, but when it is properly brought to the Lord, our poverty becomes the very fuel for holiness.

It's time to go Holy Spirit-Anointed-Beast Mode.  It's time to give God permission to make us saints.

As a twenty-four year old friar, Fr. Innocent went in for a “routine” back surgery. A few hours later, when he woke up, he was completely paralyzed from the waste down, with no medical explanation. And it was in this place, in this poverty, he had what he calls a “conversion” experience. It was in this place, when he couldn’t hide behind his gifts and abilities, that he experienced who he really was in the Father’s eyes because God just “loved me for me and gave me everything.”

IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS! In the latest episode of The Poco a Poco Podcast, Fr. Innocent, Fr. Angelus, and Fr. Mark-Mary take a totally fresh look at the Beatitudes.  And what do we discover in the beatitudes?  We discover the face of Jesus and the invitation to become authentically, and overwhelmingly, fascinated with Jesus.

Intimacy with the Father is for you! FACT! Get it! In the first episode of The Poco a Poco Podcast featuring all three of our hosts, the friars proclaim with absolute conviction, rooted in lived experience, that radical relationship and intimacy with God IS POSSIBLE.