Let them eat...humble pie?

Today on Daybreak, we talked with Fr. Andrew Roza, the chaplain at Columbus Scotus Catholic High School about the grisly subject of pride, and how we can conquer it through the freeing and ever-illusive virtue of humility. 

Father Roza said: "The only person that you need to be concerned about is the person God sees you as." When you're only focused on that, you allow God to love you into humility. You are free! Because you aren't so worried about what other people think, but just acting in love of God. This freedom actually makes for more boldness! Today, he challenged, allow Jesus to heal and evenaglize every part of your heart. 

One kicker that always helps is this famous Litany of Humility:

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

Lent is the perfect time to ask Jesus to purify us of our pride, and love our hearts into humility. 

Mother Delores Hart walks the red carpet again

Mother Prioress Delores Hart, O.S.B. made an appearance
at the Oscars last night. "God is Bigger than Elvis" - a documentary
about her turn from Hollywood to the Monastery was nominated.

Mother Delores Hart - it wasn't the name on the movie script, but it's been her name for 49 years after leaving Hollywood to become a Benedictine nun. Last Friday, we interviewed Mother Delores Hart - O.S.B., former Hollywood starlet whose life inspired a documentary that was nominated for the Oscars this year.

 It was absolutely enchanting to speak with her, as you can imagine. Her nostalgic and warm way of speaking about her happy days before entering the convent, her convicted passion for her life as a Benedictine...it was the perfect interview. She warmed my heart in a way that I can't explain. Anyway, this weekend, she made her appearance on the red carpet, much to the delight of popular media. The New York Times actually reported this morning that she presented at the Oscars in 1959! Can you imagine leaving that life to become a cloistered nun? It's something people in our day have a hard time imagining, but Mother Delores told us of a Hollywood that was much different from today's. She was actually quoted in a newspaper telling the story of how she and Elvis used to break open the bible every day before they went on set! Who knew that Elvis was a bible geek at one time.

Listen to her interview on Daybreak with TJ and Rachel. Make sure you scroll all the way down to see it.

What a beautiful role model of holiness and authenticity! For Mother Delores, she had to say goodbye to Hollywood to say yes to the Lord. What do you have to say goodbye to? We all have little "Hollywoods" on our life. Is God trying to tell you, that maybe, he is bigger than those things?

Rachel's Five Bright Ideas for Lent

Like we said on the show, we want to become 1% more Catholic each day of Lent. That's 40% more Catholic by the end of Lent. If everyone (1.1 billion Catholics in the world) does this, the world will be 44 BILLION PERCENT MORE CATHOLIC! How awesome is that?

Rachel’s 5 Ideas for a Super-Catholic Lent

      1. Pick up a challenging spiritual read. You know, the kind that you have to go to the adoration chapel with to acquire enough concentration to get through. It’ll work your spiritual muscles as well as your brain!

2. Pay close attention to what the Holy Father is praying for. It’ll connect you to the universal Church, and it will be a good exercise in praying of others, even the ones you can’t see!

3    3. Spinning off of Daybreak’s favorite housekeeping guru, the Fly Lady’s advice, make a resolution to purge your house of one possession each day of Lent. That’s 40 items pitched or given to charity. You’ll end with a cleaner, simpler life!

4      4. Strive to use Sundays for authentic recreation. This doesn’t mean zoning out in front of the T.V., this means spending time building relationships with your family, friends, and the LORD. Perhaps this would be a good time to spend time teaching your children about the Catholic faith!

5     5. And here’s a humdinger to end on: Resolve to say 5 positive things about other people, ideas, things, whatever, for every negative thing you say. This isn’t about being sun-shiney, this is about acknowledging Christ’s victory in the world!

No matter what you do, make sure you follow the priest's advice: Make sure it brings you closer to JESUS.

They will know we are Christians by our works!

We spoke with Father Frank Jindra about how the works we do are a constant evangelical tool to spread the loving message of Christ. It brought up in my mind a video that I saw recently where a famous atheist had an encounter with someone who had met Christ. Penn Jillette got the gift of a bible, and he was impacted. Although he is an outspoken atheist, he is also outspoken about his reaction to a look of love from his fellow man. Watch his reaction below:

I know this is not exactly the ideal response to the gift of a bible ("Aren't you nice! I don't believe you, but you are nice!")It still shows that no matter who you are, and  no matter who the other person is, acting as Christ acts WILL sow seeds of beauty in the world. What courage that man must have shown. Let's show the world the face of Christ today!

To know Him is to love Him...

According to Father Dan Andrews, parents are the best teachers. Which is why he implemented a new approach to parish catechesis: giving parents the tools to be the first educators, the first teachers of the truth for their child. By doing this, you will grow closer to the Lord as well!

"When we go to the well continuously, we're going to get nourished." -Fr. Dan Andrews

Any effort you make will make a difference for your child. He encouraged parents to spend at least 45 minutes per week talking to your child about the Catholic faith, and then spend at least one hour per week talking to the Lord. It's a way of life that every parent can adopt. But the key is that you take that step of catechesis with your child. Fr. Andrews says it's not important where you are in your faith, the important thing is that you are taking steps forward in your faith!

If you would like to work with your child as a family, visit Family Formation. 

The thing is though, that we have lots of parents all around us who take this responsibility to talk with their children very seriously and do it very well!  If there is something that works particularly well with your family, leave a comment and let us know!

Plus, we gave away a sweet gift card to our listeners on facebook. Make sure you like us on Facebook so that you can get in on our super easy cool contests!

Conquer your regrets before they happen!

A lovely and inspiring Catholic blogger Jennifer Fulwiler, who blogs at conversiondiary.com/ and ncregister.com, wrote a fantastic commentary on a book she had read by Bronnie Ware, who had spent years working with those who are dying. She noted that people generally have similar regrets about their lives. As Jennifer was reading through these, she noticed a pattern. Each of these regrets, she said, is because we have bought into a specific lie from the Prince of Lies himself, the devil.

Look at these Top 5 Regrets Voiced by the Dying, where Jennifer Fulwiler writes:

1. “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
When we say, “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me,” it was because we listened to the devil say, “You can’t be happy without other people’s approval.”
  
2. “I wish I didn’t work so hard.”
When we say, “I wish I didn’t work so hard,” it was because we listened to the devil say, “You’ll find your life’s fulfillment in your career.”  

3. “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”

When we say, “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings,” it was because we listened to the devil say, “God won’t help you to stand up for what’s good and true.”
  
4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”

When we say, “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends,” it was because we listened to the devil say, “You don’t have time to spend time with the people you love—just look at all those important things on your to-do list!”
  
5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

When we say, “I wish that I had let myself be happier,” it was because we listened to the devil say, “Don’t bother to seek God’s true purpose for your life—you’re obliged to do what people expect of you.”


When you are going through your day, take a minute to examine what is going on. "What message am I acting on?  Am I acting this way because of things I heard from Jesus Christ, the bringer of Truth, or am I acting this way because I am reacting to a lie I have been told about myself.

Father Scott Courtney, our regular guest on Daybreak, offered this prayer to help you start living in Truth NOW from Jose Marie Escriva.

Come, O Holy Spirit!
Enlighten my mind to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy;
inflame my will… I have heard your voice, and I don’t want to harden myself and resist, saying
“Later…, tomorrow.”Nunc coepi! Now I begin! In case there is no tomorrow for me.

O Spirit of truth and wisdom, Spirit of understanding and counsel, Spirit of joy and peace! I want whatever you want.  I want because you want, I want however you want, I want whenever you want.

When we face the day today, let us be reminded that the Lord is our strength! He will not abandon us, he is already triumphant! 

Read Jennifer Fulwiler's original post here.

Damon Owens visits the studios of Spirit Catholic Radio!

Damon Owens, the director of the Theology of the Body Institute came in this morning with Fr. Vitalis from St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Omaha and got us all pumped up to go out and build up family life in our culture! The end to crime, violence, and hatred in our world begins with the family, and Damon Owens did a marvelous job explaining what the family is meant to do in society. Watch the video below to hear his message:



For the flyer to attend the Damon Owens talk on Saturday night:
http://www.archomaha.org/pastoral/flo/pdf/St_Benedict_the_Moor.pdf

For the Theology of the Body Institute, visit http://tobinstitute.org/

"We Can't Afford to Strike Out"

Check out this exclusive video from Cardinal-Designate Dolan, as he explains the political climate and the Obama Administration's recent mandate by the Health and Human Services.

© 2012 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Washington, D.C. All rights reserved.  The USCCB grants non-exclusive permission for  Spirit Catholic Radio to use the code below to embed the video “USCCB President Sharply Criticizes HHS Mandate” (found at http://bcove.me/ueg1u0fa) (hereinafter, “the video”) on its website. The USCCB does not grant Spirit Catholic Radio permission to share, sublicense, or distribute the video to any other broadcasting, website or digital entity, or any other individual or organization by any means now known or hereinafter developed without written permission from the USCCB.

Rachel's Wedding Menu, pasta and chicken and steak, OH MY!

Wedding Update: Contrary to what TJ says, I think my guests will enjoy the chicken option that I have meticulously selected from the thousands of choices at the fancy tasting buffet from our caterer!

Choice number 1 and winner, in TJ's book: London Broil.

Beef, the ever popular choice. TJ poses the deep and meaningful question: "Who the heck would go for the chicken if you could have the beef? Beef is way better, TJ argues.

Sid Contra, mon frere. I present to you the delightfully stuffed choice of Stuffed Chicken Florentine!

Oozing with cheesy, nutty, green goodness, this chicken is not an average joe have-on-Wednesday-night thing. Its schwanky.

Sound good? Sure sounded good to me! More wedding updates coming soon!

What we need to root out our favorite sin is: TRUST

Ah, the favorite sin. It creeps, it crawls, it sneaks back into our lives. We all have one, that one thing that is keeping us from full communion with Jesus. But how do we go about rooting out that sin? 

1. Daily Examination of Conscience

2. Confession

3. Read the YouCat, Compendium, Catechism, or google to find the virtue that will counter your vice. We need behaviors to replace our attachment to vice, that's why the Lord gifts us with virtues, if we ask. Check our lovely local bookstores for copies of the books. (http://www.adoremusbooks.com/ and http://www.gloriadeo.com/)

And finally, as our lovely Teresa Monaghen suggested, whisper a word to plead with our beautiful Mother Mary to give us Trust! We can overcome our sins if we trust in the Lord!

To build up your knowledge of Trust and learn about how to build it up in your life, visit Pro Sanctity. http://prosanctity.blogspot.com/ 

Our Lady of Trust, pray for us! 

To listen to the interviews, visit Daybreak with TJ and Rachel. Thanks for listening to Daybreak with TJ and Rachel on Spirit Catholic Radio!

Inauguration as a blogger...

I know, I know....why the heck would the internet need another blog?

So we can keep in touch with our listeners, of course! 

Daybreak with TJ and Rachel airs on Spirit Catholic Radio every morning from 6:30 - 8:30. We love being Catholic, and we want you to feel the same way! So wake up and join us every morning as our guests open up the world of Catholic life to us.

Tomorrow, we have Father Adam Sughroue who will give us a pep talk about conquering that one favorite sin that everyone inevitably has. We can do it!

At 8:00, Teresa Monaghen from Pro Sanctity will join us to show how much each person needs trust in their life. Trust God, maintain trustworthy relationships, and bask in happiness! Alright, maybe it's not as simple as that, but it can sure help! 


To listen to our show today, where we talked with Fr. Scott Courtney about the Beatitudes and Bishop Fabian Bruskawitz about the Bishop's response to the recent HHS Healthcare mandate, visit our page here.

Thanks for listening, and see you tomorrow!