Among Women Podcast #127 Captive Hearts Now Free

Among Women 127 tells remarkable stories of the faith of women imprisoned for the faith in our "Blessed are They" segment, as it relates the passion and death of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, two martyrs who were jailed for their beliefs in Christ and executed in the arena. Their lives are forever memorialized in Eucharistic Prayer I, otherwise known as the Roman Canon.

In our "Among Women" segment, I bring an interview that is months in the making. "Tracy" from the sunny beach, is a longtime AW listener who came forward to share her story of faith and family triumph as she emerged from 8 years of separation from her husband who was imprisoned for a felony. Through her testimony "Tracy" talks about clinging to God's Word in the middle of the night, the sanctity of marriage vows, the power of loving friendships in the Body of Christ, and the reconciling graces of forgiveness.

"Tracy" reminds us that for every person who has ever served time, in many ways, their families serve the time too. Hear how she picked up the pieces and moved on one day at a time. 

This makes me think... nothing we do is wasted...

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.


Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.


Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks 
Compassion on this world. 
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

--- St Teresa of Avila, as cited in A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms by Lisa Hendey

The Presence of Another... wonder regarding Advent, Maternity, and the Eucharist

Inspired by the Christmas cards I bought this year, my weekly column at Patheos discusses the mysteries of life in the womb, the incarnation of Christ, and the dynamism of the Real Presence of the Eucharist.  Here's an excerpt:

Mothers come to know their biological children in a way that defies proper explanation. This heartbeat and these first stirrings are an advent of that first encounter face to face.

And mothers expectantly await the meeting of this tiny one they know somewhat dimly, and yet intimately.

Presence. Heartbeat. Blood. Life. Relationship.

These are not just the proximities of maternity; they are the stuff of the once-invisible and inexpressible God entering our humanity and cleaving to us in ways unimaginable yet tangible. They hail Immanuel, “God-with-us”, (Is 7: 14, Mt 1: 23.)

And Mary gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths,                            and laid him in a manger… (Lk 2: 7.)

What started with Mary’s maternity has ramifications for all of us.

Mary’s precious womb contained the Body of Christ.

Two millennia later, Christians still recognize the Eucharist as becoming the true Body and Blood of Jesus. (Jn 6:53-56)

Eucharist is the sublime privilege of receiving Jesus inside our very selves bodily. 

Read the rest over here.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Did you know that you can subscribe to the Catholic Newsletter from Patheos? Just click here and then follow the prompts. (Be sure to check the Christian-Catholic box in order to receive the Catholic Newsletter, and save your changes at the bottom of the page.)

Then your newsletter will arrive in your email inbox, looking like this sample photo.  

This makes me think...

Our bodies are so noble.  The infamous carnal sinners of history are, not those who loved their bodies too much, but those who loved their bodies too little. They are those who failed to respect or perhaps to understand the dignity of that masterpiece of the Father, the human body.  It is a creation so marvelous that the Father did not hesitate to give it to his own divine, eternal, infinite, all-comprehensive expression of himself in the Incarnation of the Son, in the same way that it is given to us and with the same senses and faculties possessed by our own bodies.  The Father manifestly did not think this unbecoming. No, his own expression of himself, his Divine Logos, would become incarnate in a human body, brother to our human bodies....


Indeed... "Corpus Christi", the Body of Christ, does save me. But there is also a revelation here about our own bodies as they are meant to be and which they can be only through the body of Christ, who is "the first-born of all creation." (Col. 1:15) and whose created body was the perfect partner of his created soul.


A lowly estimate of our bodies results in our becoming prey to all manner of sins.


---Mother Mary Francis, PCC, Anima Christi, Soul of Christ


image credit