Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe! Around the table today we have Emily Roman, a Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi, sharing her story of life and love with Jesus, building His Kingdom! As she says, “we ended up talking a little bit about everything!”, which sparked the title and also the motto of her beloved Pinecrest Academy: Everything is grace! We hope you all enjoy the laughter, joy, and sisterhood! She is a woman in love with Jesus, her King, and is teaching, serving, and singing with all her heart to make Him known and loved.

Check out one of her apostolates “RC Music Collective” (maybe their Advent Tour is coming to a city near you!): https://www.rcmusiccollective.org/

The school she has served at for over a decade: https://www.pinecrestacademy.org/

Laura and Megan enjoyed meeting a new friend this week on the podcast. Anna shares her beautiful “heart story” from her missionary experiences in India and other foreign countries, meeting Regnum Christi and now serving in the ministry of spiritual direction. She shares how both types of contemplative and missionary experiences are all wonderful adventures with God, who loves us so much.

The summary of her experiences is found in Isaiah 43:1 “Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you, you are mine.” This unshakable trust now leads her to live life with an abandonment to God, as she says “Bring it on!”

Besides being a spiritual director, Anna also engages in speaking about her experiences of missionary life and finding within the ordinary, extraordinary purpose. To find out more please see her website: https://www.missaest.org/

This week, Megan invites one of her closest mom friends and Regnum Christi sister, Amber Starr. Amber shares with us her story–from when she joined ECYD as a young girl to how her relationship went from knowing about God to loving Him and following Him through the twists and turns of life. Similar to climbing a mountain, Amber shares how the landscape can seem the same, but as you deepen into the heart of Jesus, you gain a better perspective.

Megan quotes C.S. Lewis’ Last Battle to describe this experience: "This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this…. Come further up, come further in!”

In this episode, Megan and Amber share the beauty and sacred mission of motherhood and how, through it, they are sanctifying themselves, their families, and the Church. Truly, they are building the Kingdom by serving and loving as wives and mothers.

After a short stint away, Megan and Laura are back in the swing of things with our lovely guest, Maddie Nagel! Maddie joins us from Atlanta, Georgia where she is serving as High School Campus Minister.

Maddie shares with us how by listening to God’s voice and following His lead through the circumstances of her life she was brought, in His perfect timing, back to the very place she had given two years as a Regnum Christi Missionary.

We enjoy swapping stories about how God works through the circumstances in our lives, ever leading us on, even if it seems mysterious what He is doing. Waiting on Him, trusting Him, and holding on in hard moments, lead to the places the Good Shepherd has prepared for us.

Enjoy listening to Maddie share how she is giving the RC charism she received as a young girl to other young people. As Pope Francis said in his letter to young people on November 9, 2023: “Dear young people, do not be afraid to share with others the hope and joy of the risen Christ! Nurture the spark that has been kindled in you, but at the same time share it. You will come to realize that it grows by being given away!”

Show notes:

The song “Available” Laura mentions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjIY4UKGl-Y

To learn more about our Regnum Christi school, Pinecrest Academy, visit: https://www.pinecrestacademy.org/about/welcome

Another poem mentioned in the podcast:

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on.
Keep Thou my feet;
I do not ask to see the distant scene;
one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that
Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, pride ruled my will;
remember not past years.
So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on.
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

-St. John Henry Newman

Today we are around the table with Mary Schwarz who has “traveled the farthest” of all our guests-joining us from the Philippines!

Mary shares how she was first drawn to God through the existential ache for Him through beauty, how in college she found she could have a personal relationship with Him, and how He drew her to Himself through her vocation as a Consecrated Woman of Regnum Christi.

Enjoy listening to Mary’s new and exciting apostolate of teaching the Alpha Course to law students at Manila’s De La Salle University and how she has gathered a community of apostles to help her live out this mission. Mary uses her spiritual charism of evangelization to reach a population that doesn’t know Him.

We recognize that we are engaged by Christ’s call: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19) to go beyond our known borders. We want to share his Heart of a Shepherd who, in today’s world, more than leaving the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one, brings and works with the one to go search for the ninety-nine together with him; to go out to meet those who are away and distant at the crossroads.-Regnum Christi General Convention Communique, n. 21

Thank you, Mary, for reading “the world from the Heart of Christ” (RC General Convention Communique, n. 20) and responding to His invitation with a generous yes–going out to meet those at the crossroads!

Show notes:

Alpha Course: https://alphausa.org/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwl6-3BhBWEiwApN6_kncAi2--7GuBRUDZ325LXhS3ZaMPvCAcuq16Jj9O7RSobTH1JC8LVRoCEnMQAvD_BwE

For this week’s episode, Laura got to have the guest over in person! She and Megan had the opportunity to sit around the table with Genesis Torrens. Genesis is the current director of Youth Faith Formation at St. Brendan the Navigator Parish in Cumming, Georgia. There she has the grace to impact over a thousand young people and their families, giving back the same formation and love for Jesus that she received as a young girl through ECYD.

Genesis’ story began at a retreat in Arizona when, as a young 11 year old girl, she first met the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi. Since that first encounter with the Lord, she received a grace to be set on fire for him and to spend her life to make his Kingdom come.

The passage that came to mind while listening to Genesis was Matthew 5: 14-16. “A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

Thank you, Genesis, for coming on this week to shine your joyful light!

This week’s episode is fun: two sisters interviewing two sisters! Sarah and Angie are new Regnum Christi members and share with us how, through the gift of the Eucharist and sacramental life, especially in their parish, they’ve been able to find hope, healing, and a desire to serve the Lord using their time and talents. This episode will especially strike a chord for women who are building up the domestic Church in the beautifully mundane day-to-day of motherhood. We speak about how this glorifies God and builds His Kingdom, like a mosaic in a cathedral. It may be unseen by us, but God sees it all.

We pray that mothers, especially those who sometimes feel hidden, will feel seen and encouraged in this episode. Each of our homes and families is a corner of the Kingdom that is also called to spread the love of God.

“And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”- Matthew 6:4

We hope you enjoy this conversation and the love and bond between these sisters. We were inspired by their gratitude and how they champion one another! Thank you, Sarah and Angie!

Jennifer No, a loving wife and mother, shares with us how the Lord prepared her to say “yes” to be the Mission Youth and Family Director in Washington, D.C. alongside her husband. The beauty of her call lies behind how the Lord shaped her path: from a loving, nurturing Catholic family, to meeting Jesus more deeply in her adulthood through Spiritual Exercises, to launching the Walking with Purpose program in her parish, to being approached to consider the director role for Mission Youth. It is very clear how the Holy Spirit prepares us, one step at a time, for this moment we are called to!

As the RC Convention Communique 2024, n. 19 says, “An epochal change like the one we are experiencing requires a courageous and radical missionary choice. Small changes in our traditional pastoral work will be insufficient, and the mere implementation of means, plans, manuals, and programs will not be enough either. These all lead us to places we are already familiar with; to paraphrase St. John of the Cross, in order to arrive at where we do not yet know, we should walk where we do not know.”

Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing with us your courageous and radical missionary choice to go out to the homeless, door-to-door, March for Life, etc. in the heart of our country, and for forming the next generation of missionary apostles!

Show notes:

Walking with Purpose: https://walkingwithpurpose.com/

Mission Youth & Family Apostolate: https://www.regnumchristi.com/en/mission-youth/