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

Episode 122 - Hot Takes 2 As we go through life we encounter our own and other people's struggles, flaws, weaknesses and even sins. But 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 they may seem.  This is another...

Episode 121 - A Really Good Episode Because of fear and insecurity that is ruling our life, we tend to control everything and self-protect. We look inward and we really don't see what God is doing—we don't really trust anyone around us. We don't have to be afraid anymore. There will be pain and suffering on our healing journey and the wounds won't just go away, but that's okay. We got to stop runn...

Episode 120 - No More Self-Protection The brokenness that is present in our culture deforms us. We have been taught a certain way of living that somehow cultivated the sins of self-reliance, self-protection, fear and insecurities. Because we're afraid of being weak or being poor and failing, we put up walls and put on armors to protect ourselves from being hurt—this in turn makes us live with a hi...

Episode - 119 Rethink Growth One might often think that growth is gonna happen in a particular way that we usually perceive as a huge experience or something flashy, but growth might actually look different.  What does the Lord want to teach us and how does He teach us these things? We don't grow by having everything altogether all the time. We also cannot expect to grow while staying self-protect...

Episode 118 - Learning To Be Loved There is the undeniable temptation to achieve and perform in order prove that we are good enough. But, it shouldn't be all about that. We are gifts to the Lord not because of our perfection but only because of who we are. We can get caught up in the little things that we do and detach them from the overall goal. It's not just about being perfect on all virtue, di...

Episode 117 - Finding Peace in Chaos, Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 4 of 4) There's a lot happening in the world we live in, and nothing much we can do about it. During this difficult time we need to pay attention to the Lord—to be immersed in the mystery of God, his goodness and his mercy. It's good to understand what is and what's not in our circle of influence even though...

Episode 116 - Give It To God, Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 3 of 4) We can't do anything more to earn God's love, we have it already! We can be weak, we can be poor, and we can be sinners—and that's okay. We can bring all that to the Lord and that's where we start.  Jesus doesn't want us to give him the good things alone, but the bad things as well. What the Lord wants is for...

Episode 115 - Prayer: Pure and Simple, Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 2 of 4) What does a good prayer look like? We don't know.. Everyone has the freedom on how they pray. But thinking about God, reading a book about God and just saying words about God is not praying. Praying is the relationship that brings us in to a conscious living contact with God himself. Everything is at...

Episode 114 - Unceasing Prayer, Series on The Practice of the Presence of God (Part 1 of 4) With the abundance of noise in our world, there can be a lot of interruptions to our ongoing conversation and relationship with the God.  The habitual, silent and secret conversation we all dream to have with God, all seems to be very difficult to achieve. There's going to be a cost, sacrifice and persevera...

Episode 113 - Under Open Heavens Whether we feel it or not—believe it or not, this is our identity. We live as beloved sons and daughters of God.  There's a temptation to believe the we have to do something amazing or special to be able to bring the Gospel and Christ to people. But the reality is, the same spirit and the same gifts are given to us in our baptism as Christians and Catholics.  All o...

Episode 112 - Words, Works, and Wonders We are all beloved sons and daughters of the Father and through our baptism we are all anointed and empowered. We don't have to be all-put-together or be perfect in order to bring healing to ourselves and to other people. We are all incomplete and despite that God wants to work through us—right now. There might be times that we can revert our eyes from our J...

Episode 111 - Searching and Fearless, Series on The Twelve Steps (Part 3 of 3) God wants to go back into our lives and our stories—and start speaking light, redemption and truth over that. There's the need for us to have a radical opening of our hearts and honesty to what really is happening in our lives. We have to be searching and fearless to admit what's inside our "junk room" and bring that to...

Episode 110 - I Can't He Can, Series on The Twelve Steps (Part 2 of 3) When we struggle it can be really difficult and sometimes we even face impossible situations that may feel like there's no answer. In our poverty, there's the need to admit were powerless—that life is not okay anymore and figure out what do we do with that. And as we are brought to our kness—utterly defeated. We can let go of o...

Episode 109 - 12 Step Wisdom, Series on The Twelve Steps (Part 1 of 3) At some point, our lives are unmanageable and we need help. When we want to turn away from sin and our struggles, we turn to God to save and heal us.  We are given clarity to open our eyes and see our life in a new or different way. And while we're accepting reality as it is, we recognize what we can and cannot control, we real...

Episode 108 - Hot Takes There are multitudes of struggles that we are experiencing day to day.  As we see our own and other people's struggles, weakness and even sins, we have to understand that we are going through different journeys.  God is doing something completely different in each of our lives. Relative to this truth, this episode talks about some of the most essential topics that most of u...

Episode 107 - Ordinary but Extraordinary It is easy to fall into the temptation and believe that we can't do it, that we can't live a holy life. Although the ordinary life is simple, hidden, and seems kind of normal, there's so much sanctity in our vocations that are being lived faithfully. It might not be flashy or spectacular but it's one of the most real ways we can grow in holiness. We may not...

Episode 106 - Discernment Basics We are made to live in relationship wherein two or more people speak to one another. As we have the desire to talk to God, He also has the desire to speak and to come close to His people. He is speaking to us. We have to grow in sensitivity to what God's voice sounds like, what our voices sounds like, what the voice of the world sounds like, and what the voice of t...

Episode 105 - New Light New Life This whole Lenten journey has a been about identity. In this journey, we again receive the gift of who we are as sons and daughters of God and every other identity along the way.  But this identity pilgrimage will not make sense without the resurrection. Life will be incomprehensible if it's just suffering and brokenness.  Jesus risen from the dead is the truth tha...

Episode 104 - Made for Mysticism Life of prayer is worth going "all-in" on. In this mystical identity, there's an invitation to let go of ourselves. Prayer is not authentic if we are stuck or focused on ourselves. Prayer changes as we let go of our own notion of what it should be.  We are constantly invited for our hearts to be attentive and open to become mystics—to become men and women of prayer...

Episode 103 - A Father's Heart We come in as sons and daughters, then we graduate from sonship and daughtership. When we fall in love and receive the gift of the beloved, we have this deep desire to bear fruit and to let this love overflow. In this love, sons and daughters become spouses and from there we mature to become mothers and fathers. What we want is to live with the Father's heart—to give...

Episode 102 - Intimacy with the Bridegroom The world is a crazy place. There's always the temptation to hide, run away or to fear Love. There are distractions and lies—the lie that we cannot do it, that we may lose ourselves, that our love won't be reciprocated. But we are made to be in love. First and foremost with the Lord, Jesus the bridegroom, who comes to save, to love, and to die for us, His...

Episode 101 - We Do Hard Things Love demands everything. Not only carrying the cross—dying on it. We do hard things, but not for the sake of doing hard things. When modeled after the way that Jesus did hard things, it's a stepping stone that leads to the cross. This episode goes through all this by one of the desert's more intense moments: a helicopter rescue. Listen to what that experience was li...

Episode 100 - Get Over Yourself The fraternal life is not accessory to life. We're coming to the desert together, which constantly challenges each of us to give ourselves to the Lord and to each other. We belong to one another. Then there are times where the hardest part isn't giving… but receiving. We absolutely have to choose to be a brother, and we also have to choose to receive the brotherhood...

Episode 99 - This is My Beloved Son Being a son means that you have a Father. The first and most important identity: son. This is the foundational identity that the Father gives us—everything else builds on this. We're not talking about the Father as an idea or a concept. Because you can't have a relationship with an idea. An idea can't rejoice in you. This is a real relationship, with a real Fath...

Episode 98 - Rending the Heavens (Lent 2022) Sometimes Lent is a missed opportunity. We focus too much on what we're going to give up, what we're going to do, etc. This year, focus on our desire to have a Lent that brings us into contact with Jesus. Where are we going, and why are we going there? Jesus doesn't go into the desert for himself; he doesn't have some personal need. He does it for us. A...