Healing and Forgiveness

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeramiah 29:11

Embracing the Darkness

Traditional Catholic wisdom teaches us to call on God to scatter the darkness, but it took a young Saint and Doctor of the Church to turn that wisdom upside with a radical spirituality that captures the very heart of the Gospel: embrace the darkness so that God’s mercy may overflow into all the dark places to transform it. In this talk, we look to St. Therese of Lisieux to find hope in our chronic struggles and the mercy that can be found in the broken and hurting places of our lives.  

When

How do you recover when an important relationship in your life is broken? Forgiveness is a powerful yet mysterious part of human life. When we hold onto hurt or resentment it’s like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. But when we align our head and our heart and intentionally dive deeper into ourselves, we’ll learn the true joy of the Father’s heart. In this talk we follow the journey of reconciliation between a daughter and her alcoholic father and the visit to the confessional that changed everything.

Hope Against Home

Pandemic. Protests. Lost time. When everything that we’ve planned out doesn’t go our way, is God even for us? How do we have hope? How do we grieve what was and live for what’s present? In this talk we go to the foot of the Cross to discover what Mary can teach us in the darkest hours of our lives.

Unbecoming

Running from one zoom meeting to the next, managing long days, sleepless nights, endless to-do lists, all in the name of becoming something – someone. But what if the very essence of life was unbecoming everything that isn’t you so you can be who you were meant to be? In this talk, we’ll look at common myths women tell themselves and turn to the spirituality of the present moment to find a fuller, more joyful life.

Prayer

A nature walk, meditation, or simply pausing to notice the sunset. There are many ways to enter into prayer, but ultimately, it’s a relationship, a conversation.

Through the Storm

Drawing from the story of Jesus calming the waters, we examine the storms of our lives and where our faith is when we feel shaken. What grounds us? What’s taking root in our lives? How do we weather the challenging seasons? We explore what it means to enter into God’s time and to cultivate a relationship that will shelter us all the days of our lives.

A Gentle Voice

In our loud and busy world, we’re so used to everything competing for our attention. Notifications that won’t stop going off, videos that play endlessly, pop-ups here and there trying to get us to do something. We’re becoming more distracted, anxious, our mind is scattered, and being alone with our thoughts feels terrifying. And God is in it, right alongside us, inviting us to breath and know peace. In this talk, we learn to slow down and live with more intentional, what recollecting ourselves mean, and how to quiet our hearts to hear His whispers.

Heart Pondering Prayer

“Mary pondered these things in her heart.” What does this mean? In this talk, we look at what Mary, the archetype of contemplative prayer, can teach us about entering more deeply into prayer for the renewal of our families. 

The Paradox of Prayer

We mean to, but the day slips away. We settle in, but our minds race. We seek connection yet leave empty. If God desperately wants to connect with us and prayer is our communication with God, why is it so hard to pray? In this talk, we look at common struggles in prayer and how to overcome them based on who we are and how we communicate best.

A Saint? Me?

Have you ever thought about being a saint? If you have, did you shrug it off perhaps thinking you are unworthy or fearing what it might mean? In this talk we look to three powerful saints who dare us to be a saint and show us the way.

Power of Mercy

The Gospel of Luke is called the gospel of mercy. Paul calls the water and blood that flowed from Jesus’ pierced side, the fount of mercy. Mary was given to us as the Mother or Mercy. But what is mercy? These talks take up Jesus’ invitation to “go learn what it means I desire mercy not sacrifice”

Scandal of Grace

Jesus came to the world to save us - nothing we ever did or will do earned this. It was pure gift. How should we live our life in a way that reflects our gratitude and that glorifies Him? What do we do with this gift? Enter into this journey of discovering what it means to live fully alive in the gift God has given us.

Welcome Home

Nothing is too big or too much for our Loving Father. Whatever you’ve done, wherever you’ve been, it doesn’t matter to Him. All He wants is your heart. Like a shepherd, He’ll leave His flock to come pursue you, to meet you where you are. Drawing from the parable of the Prodigal Son, we’ll dive deeper into the mystery of God’s merciful love.

Do You See This Woman?

Three women. God entrusted three women with the message of whose we are and where we are going. In this talk, we draw from Luke 7:44 and look at how Jesus viewed and valued women and empowered them to shape the early church. It’s a message of urgency for women to take up their role in rebuilding the church for our times. 

Thieves of Hope 

Floods, fires, famine, war, failed leadership, and injustice, it feels like the world is coming undone. And yet, God has revealed we are in the time of mercy. How can this be? In this talk we bust false images of God that steal our confidence and trust in God’s goodness. We discover a simple path that not only restores our connection with God but our essence of God. His talk is full of hope for our everyday lives as we explore the way from fear to love, punishment to tenderness, and justice to mercy. 

The Little Church

Pope Francis’ vision for the Church is the Church of Mercy. He describes it this way, “The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground up.” In this talk, we look at the Church of Mercy as the little church that does three things intentionally and faithfully well. Come learn what these are and where you and your church find itself.