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

Latest Episodes:

The Prodigal Son (Lent 2024) Mar 06, 2024

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Episode 202 - The Prodigal Son (Lent 2024), Series on The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups (Part 4)

If you were the prodigal son would you receive the Father's unconditional love?

The conversion that the Father wants us to have is to move on from a conditional, perfectionistic way of experiencing God to a place of just being unconditionally loved by Him.

But we can sometimes hold onto shame for security, what is asked of us is to leave behind that shame—let the shame and self-contempt crumble.

We don't need to "pay rent" to be loved by the heavenly Father. Our sonship/daughterhip is not to be paid but is freely given to us. The invitation for all of us is to remain in the forgiveness and mercy of the Father. Let the relationship we have with Him restore and heal us from the place of shame and insecurity that we put ourselves into.

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You can get a copy of The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups from the link below: https://ascensionpress.com/collections/the-ascension-lenten-companion

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

The Good Samaritan (Lent 2024) Feb 28, 2024

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Episode 201 - The Good Samaritan (Lent 2024), Series on The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups (Part 3)

Are you familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan?

When we're beat up, when we're in this place of difficulty and shame, He's there, at the side of the road looking at us, desiring to pick us up and saying, "Come with me.". That's Jesus for all of us.

The invitation of this episode is to allow the Lord to get close into our deepest places of darkness and shame so he can help us and love us there. Jesus actually comes into our messiness and He loves us unconditionally.

This Lent, let Jesus unconditionally love you, and let the healing begin.

You can get a copy of The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups from the link below: https://ascensionpress.com/collections/the-ascension-lenten-companion

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Christ the Bridegroom (Lent 2024) Feb 21, 2024

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Episode 200 - Christ the Bridegroom (Lent 2024), Series on The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups (Part 2)

How does a bridegroom love his bride?

That is how Jesus loves each one of us. He meets us wherever we are in our life to be our beloved and for us to be His. The Lord meets us in the desert-our place of poverty where He betroths us to Him and He betroths Himself to us.

In this way, Jesus as the bridegroom reveals to us a quality of love, the way that God loves.

In this episode, our aim is for us to better understand what it means to have Jesus as the bridegroom and the desert as the place of betrothal.

You can get a copy of The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups from the link below: https://ascensionpress.com/collections/the-ascension-lenten-companion

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Lent is About Jesus (Ash Wednesday) Feb 14, 2024

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Episode 199 - Lent is About Jesus (Ash Wednesday), Series on The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups (Part 1)

What does Jesus desire for you and Him this Lent?

The temptation during Lent is to make the Lenten journey about us, we can do hard things during Lent that are fueled by our own desires and distractions but Lent isn't supposed to be about ourselves. Lent is also not simply about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Those disciplines help us to focus on what we need to focus on. This season is about a person and that person is Jesus.

In this episode, we'll talk about the reality of Lent and how we can orient ourselves to our relationship with Jesus as we enter this year's Lenten season.

Happy Ash Wednesday everyone!

You can get a copy of The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups from the link below: https://ascensionpress.com/collections/the-ascension-lenten-companion

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Remember Like Mary Feb 07, 2024

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Episode 198 - Remember Like Mary, Series on "Mary and the Interior Life" by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock (Part 3)

Do you remember Jesus and what he did?

The most consistent word Mary had spoken to Fr. Jeremiah, was "remember". When we don't know what to do or how to act, Mary tells us to remember her son, Jesus' actions, that was the case for Fr. Jeremiah and this is an invitation that extends to all of us.

There is a richness and importance that Mary plays, for us not to have her be a part of our spiritual life.

We are invited to remember Jesus' constant presence, love, and grace in this episode. Let's allow Mary to teach us to remember Jesus and what he did—to remember Him as Mary did.

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Marian Posture Jan 31, 2024

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Episode 197 - Marian Posture, Series on "Mary and the Interior Life" by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock (Part 2)

Is your prayer and your life two separate realities?

Mary gives us a ton of hope that the grace of God and the Holy Spirit meet us in reality.

The Marian posture at the core of it is about the reality of the fullness of God. Mary teaches us that The best place to live your spiritual life is in reality—in where you are right now in this moment. It's about living one reality in the presence of God.

This episode is an invitation for us to have confidence in the daily bread and the grace given to us here and now. Let's not spend our time fantasizing about the change out there but try and respond as best as possible to what's currently there. Let's engage every part of our reality with the Lord while having a deep sense of his love and attentiveness as we respond in those moments.

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Mary: A Real Mom Jan 24, 2024

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Episode 196 - Mary: A Real Mom, Series on "Mary and the Interior Life" by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock (Part 1)

How important is Mary, Our Lady, in your spiritual life?

Our Lady is a real woman, a real mother to all of us and Mary's intercession is actually more real than we realize.

The gift of Our Lady is that she looks upon us, she knows our hearts, and her gaze can be the first safe and secure place in a world of filled insecurity. At this same moment, Mary wants us to look upon her and it is in this exchange where we find safety and security in our lives through a contemplative experience with her.

In this episode, as we start our mini-series on Fr. Jeremiah's book, we are going to talk about Mary—a real mom, an invitation to gain a different understanding of Mary and learn about the importance of viewing the world through her eyes.

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

Hope is Personal Jan 17, 2024

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Episode 195 - Hope is Personal

Do you actually believe and have hope that prayer does something?

Doing things over and over again can lose the awe and wonder of what's going on in our prayer life. There can come a point when we're no longer coming to prayer expecting to hear God's voice or expecting anything at all.

This results in boredom or discouragement—a loss of hope.

In this episode, we're gonna talk about how we can pray for a supernatural hope as the remedy for discouragement and boredom.

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

The Sweet Way of Love Jan 10, 2024

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Episode 194 - The Sweet Way of Love

How much focused are you toward yourself?

There can be times when we struggle with perfectionism, control, and activism, and this can sometimes rub off on our spiritual life.

Jesus does not demand great actions from us; rather, the invitation is simply to live in surrender and gratitude to Him.

At times, we can take a more Pelagian approach where more emphasis is given to our efforts, initiatives, and self-improvement—our achievement of holiness rather than the primacy being given to God and it being His work.

This gift of grace is the sweet way of love that Jesus sets before the little and the poor and that's what we're gonna talk about in this episode.

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

C'est la confiance Jan 03, 2024

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Episode 193 - C'est la confiance

Are you worried for 2024?

Worry is a lack of confidence and we can be worried about a lot of stuff.

The invitation from St. Therese and from our Lord is to have confidence in Him. We who run in the way of love shouldn't be thinking of suffering that can take place in the future. That's a lack of confidence.

The complete confidence that becomes an abandonment in love sets us free from obsessive calculations, constant worry about the future, and fears that take away our peace.

If we are in the hands of a Father who loves us without limits, this will be the case come what may. We will be able to move beyond whatever may happen to us. And in one way or another, his plan of love and fullness will come to fulfillment in our lives.

This episode talks about how we can go into the year 2024 with confidence. And with's God grace, return to the present moment, and be in relationship with Him, with confidence and hope of what he will do in the time to come.

🛒 You can also grab your Poco a Poco Merchandise at pocomerch.com!

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