Spiritual Life

“Men do not fear a powerful hostile army as the powers of hell fear the name and protection of Mary.”

-St. Bonaventure

One of the questions we ask parents as an icebreaker for our in-person events is “How many of your childrren have used rosaries as weapons?” This is a common experience of families with young children as parents try to pray.  We get it.  For a long time, we found it hard to encourage devotion to the rosary with our children, but we have grown and learned a lot over the years! As we launch into the month of May, we wanted all our listeners to take some time to reflect on why the Blessed Mother is so important to families.  In this re-release of an earlier podcast, we talk about devotion to Our Lady, how to pray the rosary as a family creatively, and how she can inspire us in our family life.  Listen in and be encouraged and inspired!

Find all this and more at www.messyfamilyproject.org

Play and Pray Challenge – www.messyfamilyproject.org/challenge/

When we look at the lives of those who have faithfully followed Christ, we are inspired with a new reason for seeking the City that is to come and at the same time we are shown a most safe path by which… we will be able to arrive at perfect union with Christ, that is, perfect holiness. – Lumen Gentium, 50

One of our great gifts as Catholics is the “older brothers and sisters” that God has given us in the saints.  There are saints for every personality, vocation, and even job type!  In this episode, we interview the creators of the podcast “Saints Alive!” who tell dramatizations of the life stories of the saints.  This is a great tool for parents in this digital age when we are all looking for good media to put in front of our children and into their minds. We hope this will be a valuable resource for parents looking to fill their children’s minds with good and holy things!

Family Board Meeting Course – https://messyfamilyhood.com/

For more information on this and other topics visit: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/

Each day be conscious of your duty to be a saint. — A saint! And that doesn’t mean doing strange things. It means a daily struggle in the interior life and in heroically fulfilling your duty right through to the end. ~ St. Jose Maria Escriva

One of the things we teach couples all the time is that marriage and family life is your path to holiness.  So the celebration of Lent and Easter should look different if you are a married person!  Sacrifices and commitments that take away from your vocation should be avoided because the first step in discerning anything is to consider your state in life. This means that you and I can become holy by not just having an hour of adoration, but also by playing with our toddlers!  Or taking your teen out to coffee, or having a weekly date night with your spouse. Catholics need to explore more of what it means to be a saint in our homes.  Listen in to this webinar we did on the Monday before Ash Wednesday to explain our Cana90 program for couples and families.

Interested in Cana90 for your parish or yourself – https://messyfamilyproject.org/cana90

Moms and Dads Courses- https://messyfamilyhood.com/

For more information on this and other topics visit: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/

“Anger isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can be.”

For some reason, dealing with sons and daughters can bring out anger in a person who has been mild mannered and easy going their whole life!  Why is that?  What we have noticed is that children do not create our weaknesses, they reveal them. It is good to understand why we react so strongly to certain situations in order to grow in virtue.  In this podcast, we shed some light on the truth about anger, give some tools and ideas for handling anger, and share some of our own experiences and difficulties.  If you struggle with anger you are not alone!  Listen in and join the conversation.

Family Board Meeting Webinar –  https://messyfamilyproject.org/our-events/date-night/2023-family-board-meeting-webinar

Interested in Cana90 for your parish or yourself – https://messyfamilyproject.org/cana90

Moms and Dads Courses- https://messyfamilyhood.com/

For more information on this and other topics visit: https://www.messyfamilyproject.org/

“Ultimately, only bountiful marriages can transform our domestic churches into sanctuaries for this liturgy of love; and it is this liturgy by which we sanctify our daily lives and the world” ~ Living Beyond Sunday

We have been blessed to work with many great ministries serving marriage and family and The Catholic Man Show is one of them!  David Niles and Adam Minihan, along with their wives Pamela and Haylee have written a great book for Catholic families called Living Beyond Sunday; Making Your Home a Holy Place  and we were thrilled to talk to them about it on this podcast.  David and Pamela joined us for this interview in which we talk about the book, but also about how they started out as a family, why they wrote this book, and how it can help other families in their walk with Christ.  Just like our work at MFP, this book is full of truth, but also very practical and real. Listen in to be encouraged and inspired!

“Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” ― Padre Pio

Parents worry about many things – finances, children’s health and education, extended family, grandparents… and then there is the state of the world and the economy!  How do Christian parents handle all the things that COULD go wrong?  The answer is that this world is not our home and God is in control.  God allows difficulties to come our way not for us to worry or be anxious, but for us to turn to Him in prayer and rely on His grace for our lives.  This is a throwback podcast – way back to #51!  Listen in and join the conversation.