Realities Not Fantasies (2023)

Listen to this episode from The Poco a Poco Podcast with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal on Spotify. As Fr. Mark-Mary mentioned, the friars will be taking a meaningful break to embrace the rest and the joy of the Jubilee Year. While they are away, please enjoy listening (or re-listening) to this previously released episode, and join us in continuing to pray for Fr. Mark-Mary, Fr. Innocent, Fr. Angelus, and Fr. PT as they follow God’s will and heed the call of the Jubilee. The Poco a Poco podcast happens because of many generous donors, including recurring monthly donations of any amount. Thinking about helping out? You can give at https://spiritjuice.org/supportpoco. Thank you! --- What makes us most free, is this submitting to God and this dependence on Him.  Yes, freedom is actually dependent on obedience rather than kind of doing whatever I want. When we fall in love with God and we experience that love, this deep interior freedom takes place and it becomes the most important thing of our lives—even to a point that is greater than our circumstances. This episode is the first part of our series on Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacque Philippe that talks about what it means to live in freedom as sons and daughters of God and how this freedom can become greater than the circumstances of our lives. We think we're most free when we can kind of be in control.  "I'm free when I get to get up every day and just have control over my life and my circumstances."  That's not a Catholic freedom according to Jacque Philippe, but it is actually being able to accept reality as it is. We struggle with freedom because it's hard to accept our weakness. It's quite difficult to accept our sinfulness—it's hard to accept these different parts of our lives. But if we don't accept ourselves, our realities, we either live in memories or fantasies where Jesus can't reach us. This episode is the second part of our series on Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacque Philippe that talks about and the importance of acceptance towards being truly free.