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

Sometimes, in the heart of the wilderness, your step that was a strong march slows down. Then turns into a limp after rolling an ankle, and finally ends up looking more like a crawl by the end of the day.   And that's fine. Because the only rule is we don't stop .    When there's a choice between struggling and stopping, we always want to err on the side of going for it.    That means that at the...

After trying to go it alone day in, day out, you start to realize you can't do it alone. That's miserable. In the desert, you're radically dependent: on the Lord, and on people who surround you.   Relationships are not accessory. They're essential.   This breakthrough happens humanly and spiritually. All the physical sufferings start to purify you and you can experience what's most important. It's...

The desert isn't about struggling for the sake of struggle. There's a wrong kind of struggle; one that's self-reliant, self-focused, worldly. It's difficult for the Lord to do anything for us there.   In the desert, the reality of the wilderness slams against pride and ego. Against "I know what's best" and "I'm strong." You get to the desert and it punches you in the face because everything's so h...

We're kind of tired of mediocre Lents. You?   This Lent, we're going for it: into the wilderness. Accepting God's invitation into the desert, with all its dangers and hazards and risks.   Why does a loving Father, through a loving Church, invite us into a wild unknown?   Because it's not unknown… to him. He's the one who initiates the invite every time.   Jesus' journey into the desert began immed...

If you want to be healthy, happy and holy—and truly, these things are possible!—you have to live intentionally. It's not going to happen by accident.   The small things are the foundation for that kind of life; getting out of bed on time, showing up to that planned workout, cooking the healthy groceries sitting in the fridge instead of firing up that food delivery app (again).   Because things fal...

What's one thing you can do that will move you towards being holier, healthier and happier? Seriously… take a second. Bet something came to mind. Right?   Sometimes we overcomplicate the plan. When there's a lot to change, or the change is going to be rough, it's tempting to bail on starting. It's easy to avoid doing the hard things, even the little hard things. Maybe especially the little things—...

This week, we welcome a special guest for the first in a three-episode series: Jackie Mulligan of Reform Wellness.   "It's ok to not be ok… and it's also ok to want to be ok."   God loves and accepts us as we are, in all the messiness of our weakness. And his love also draws us to renewal; to real change that leads to real holiness, happiness, and a life that's abundant.   Life-changing renewal is...

We welcome a pretty special guest this week... Br Kolbe, of "He likes cars" renown!   Let's get right to it: interior poverty. Facing our own brokenness, weakness, failings. Not the first place we want to go, right? But here's the thing… there's no way around it. The "secret" way to following Jesus is coming to terms with our poverty— with him, as he gives us the grace to be able to see it and not...

If you live community life well, if you live family life well, people are going to see your sins and weakness and failures. That can be a hard place. But if you can stay there, and people can stay there with you: that's the good stuff. That's the place of abundant fruit.   Real fraternity—the love of brothers and sisters—is powerful.   There can be a real infection in our hearts today that comes f...

"There are so many voices telling me I'm not good enough, not worthy of that love. And lots of voices saying that this kind of freedom doesn't matter or isn't possible. That I can't experience true forgiveness or true healing or true conversion. That's where the battle is fought."   We hear a lot of voices. And the gift of prayer is a space where we can hear the one voice that matters. Blessed are...

Even when we're actively trying to trust God in all things, there's a constant temptation to take back control. To just do it ourselves. To bail out of surrendering to Him, and keep things from Him to try and "make sure they get done." We forget, over and over, that God takes initiative, does things, takes care of us. We overlook the ways He's doing that right now.   What's opposite that temptatio...

Sometimes we need to stop and take a real look at what's going on in our hearts and our lives. What has power in my life? Who has influence over me? And if God isn't the first authority—by a mile—then it's time to reorder. It's time to get back to relationship with Him above everything else.   Because Jesus isn't meant to be one priority among many. We can't balance our pursuit of Him with other t...

Isaiah 25: "The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces." We face suffering in this world; trials and hardships and pain that can leave us feeling so alone. In Advent we wait to celebrate Jesus coming to us in the Incarnation, and for him to come at the end of time, when he will definitively wipe away all tears. But he also comes to us today. Wherever we are, whatever we're feeling; he gently...

Let's take an honest look at our expectations of God. Specifically, how our wounds and weakness can make us expect so little of him. The times when we feel threatened by others, insecure about ourselves, anxious about life—these are all fruit of a small heart with small expectations of what our mighty Father will do.   Jesus says he will come. So do we believe him? And when he comes to us—at Bethl...

Where do you feel most "at home"? When are you most free to be yourself? Ultimately, our hearts can only fully experience this  through a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. He's the one who settles our insecurities and gives us the sense of belonging which we crave. If you're feeling a sense of exile, of not feeling seen and known and loved... maybe it's time to discern if that's due to trying t...

Advent is here! In these days leading to Christmas, we all have the chance to look at the places where we need Jesus to break in and bring light and hope. In this week's episode: We start our 4-week exploration of Blessed is She 's Advent Devotional, Maranatha Recommendation from Fr Angelus: Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons and Prison Writings, 1941-1944 by Fr Alfred Delp, S.J. Martin Jernber...

Peace on the outside comes from knowing God on the inside.  This week we discuss the Prince of Peace who is Christ crucified.  Through the cross, Jesus has made a way for us to have peace with the Father in this world. Peace WITH God will bring the peace OF God. Jesus promised peace in our hearts. So, we remain in His presence.  It's in Him alone that you can find real peace…

In this week's episode we talk about the reality of our heavenly Father. The God of heaven and earth is passionately pursuing you right now. No matter how close you are to him, he is knocking on the door of your heart, asking to come in and meet with you once again. He's not knocking just to fix you. He's not knocking just to make you do something for him. He simply wants to meet with you. He simp...

This week we discuss the title, "Mighty God" and the way in which God shows his might by making himself small, by forgiving us, by coming to us in the Eucharist.  God is great and omnipotent but he chooses to become small to us so we can respond to Him in love. He made himself fragile to give us his strength. He became vulnerable so we could finally open our hearts in love, without fear. He is wit...

Are we fascinated by God or merely interested?  God wants His creation to be fascinated with Him and His ways. In this week's episode we talk about what it means to put aside our worry and to trust in the Wonderful Counselor.  The truth is this: If we are fascinated with anything in life other than Jesus then we don't really know Him intimately!  If  we allow ourselves to be captivated with Him an...

In this week's episode Fr. Angelus talks about his favorite Icon, Our Lady of Tenderness and how Our Lady teaches us how to surrender everything that keeps us from loving Jesus with all we have. Through her example Our Lady teaches us how to have hope in seemingly hopeless moments, and what it means to really be seen by the Father.  We uncover how Mary desires to mother us in our poverty so that w...

As the Father sent me, so I send you.  In this week's episode we talk about the real share that we have in Jesus's own mission and the urgent need to bring Jesus to the world. God uses our gifts and talents to touch the people that God brings into our lives. God is not waiting for somebody else. God want to use you.  No matter what our vocation in life God calls us to mission.

The Holy Spirit, who worked in and through Christ during his life on earth, now works in and through us. In this week's episode we discuss how the Holy Spirit wants to move in our lives. Just as the Spirit enabled Christ to bring glory to his Father, so now the Spirit enables us to glorify both the Son and the Father.  The Holy Spirit can help us greatly, but only if we let it.  

We look at Jesus and the Samaritan woman with an emphasis on they way in which Jesus thirsts to love her.  We also mention Mother Teresa's relationship with the thirst of Jesus and how important it is for us to know that God thirsts for our love.  We're wanted and pursued by God.

Our first guest!  Our long time arch nemesis, Michelle Benzinger from the Abiding Together Podcast, joins Fr. Innocent and Fr. Mark-Mary to talk about tangible grace for tangible trials, seeking first the Kingdom of God lest you go about your day spiritually hangry, and praying when there's no time to pray.  Also, we learn about Fr. Innocent's cheap shot on Fr. Mark-Mary and his failed tinkerbell...