Among Women Podcast 133 features The Bright Maidens, Part 2.

Among Women 133 welcomes back the beautiful trio of twenty-somethings, the Bright Maidens. Otherwise known as bloggers Trista Leigh, Julie Robison, and Elizabeth Hillgrove.  This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation talking about what's on the minds of these fabulous women. This week we'll be talking about virginity, chastity, theology of the body, and what attracts modern women to the pro-life cause. Catch up on Part 1 here. or on iTunes.

This episode also profiles one of the youngest blesseds I know, Jacinta Marto, the youngest visionary from the Marian apparitions of Fatima, beatified in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

The take away here is that even young people are called to live saintly lives, and all of us are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ . I think you'll enjoy the young women profiled on today's episode.

Feel free to subscribe to Among Women, or leave a rating or review for the podcast on our iTunes page.

Don't forget to "like" our Among Women Facebook page.

Also, I've put out a call for feedback for an upcoming Special Edition of AW (where we feature the voices and comments of AW listeners.) The topic is joy. I'm looking for feedback on either one or both of these questions: What brings you joy? Where do you find joy?

Send you answers via the facebook page, or via email at pat.gohn@comcast.net, or, most favorable would be your own voice recorded on our voicemail feedback line at 206-203-2024, or by emailing me an mp3 file.

Among Women Podcast #125: "Spiritual Bootcamp"

Among Women 125 is all about spiritual bootcamp and the fight against vices big and small and turning our hearts toward virtue. Join me for a reading on obedience from St Catherine of Siena's The Dialogue, and then catch my dialogue with author and OSV columnist, Mary Lou Rosien. Together we'll talk about faith, the challenges of family living and her new book, Catholic Family Boot Camp.  There's a free drawing for a copy of the book too so email me at amongwomenpodcast@me.com or visit our facebook page.

This is the last week to submit your favorite Lenten practice (thru 2/20)... what "works" for you in Lent? Call our feedback line and get your voice on the show: 206-203-2024.

The Ripples of Generosity, Unseen - my latest at Patheos

The beauty of the Sacred Scripture is the myriad of layers that are found in every chapter. My column this week at Patheos ponders the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem, and the unexpected blessings I have witnessed, and sometimes received, from modern-day "magi" in our midst... in a kind of unseen ripple effect...

Here's an excerpt:

Generosity is going the distance with big-hearted energy. It powerfully frames the Gospel’s challenge to “love one another (John 13: 34).” 

After all, the call to holiness is supposed to imitate God’s first love for us… “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…(John 3: 16.)”  

God’s munificence leads us, like Magi-wannabes, toward charity for others. 

Generosity has a rather noble duty attached to it. It is always connected with lifting up another person. It is a chance to serve, bless, or elevate another through the sheer graciousness of giving liberally. To paraphrase Jesus’ later Sermon on the Mount: we go the extra mile. (See Mt 5: 39-41.) 

Generosity is the ability to give with no thought of getting, whether one is giving time, talent, or treasure. Fortunately, in God’s economy, giving without thought of a return is never for nothing. 

People I know have routinely offered their generosity to my family and me. I am so grateful for their unselfish love. Even if they were unable to see into the future to know if it was all going to be worth it, they didn’t stop from giving in the first place. 

The gifts of the Magi remind me of a remarkable potentiality: when we bestow generosity on those beyond our own circles, unseen exponential blessings become possible. There are many people this side of heaven who will never know that they have participated in the largesse of Providence through their own charitable giving.

Read the rest of the column here.  And please consider subscribing to A Word in Season today, and get it delivered right to your RSS reader or email inbox.

 

The FUN Quotient... Amazing Harmonica edition

I first heard Buddy Greene play the harmonica back in my days as a deejay for a Contemporary Christian music station. My favorite song penned and song by him is "A Virtuous Woman" listed below...

This makes me think... prayer and love of neighbor are linked

Q: How does loving my neighbor -- husband, wife, children, friends, co-workers -- contribute to my contemplative prayer?


A: I may begin with the theological core of the matter: there is only one virtue of charity by which we love God, ourselves, and our neighbor. If I am not loving others -- although not necessarily liking them -- I cannot have a deep prayer life, for its heart, love, is missing. My prayer will be no better than my love for others. No set of techniques... will be able of themselves to improve it.


...


The whole of life is lived in the divine presence, which is an atmosphere of love. We are urged by St. Paul "to live through love in his presence (Eph 1:4).  St. Augustine also shrewdly noted that "in loving our neighbor the eye of our mind is purified to contemplate God." Loving our associates requires that we practice other virtues: humility, gentleness, patience, obedience. Thus we are purified of our faults, each of which may be an impediment to growth in divine intimacy.


---Thomas Dubay, S.M. Seeking Spiritual Direction,  Servant, 1993.

This makes me think...

Humility rests on an interior decision of the will. Furthermore, humility is not primarily an attitude that pertains to the relationship of man to man: it is the attitude of man before the face of God.  Humility is the knowledge and acceptance of the inexpressible distance between Creator and creature.  It is, in a very precise sense... as Gertrud von le Fort once said, "man's true and proper worth before God."


---Josef Pieper, On Hope