What do you do when you are suffering and want nothing more than to avoid it?
The holy mystery of “Jesus is the Garden” is the sacred blueprint to follow when what we are facing seems too much to bear.
Learn how to go to God, even in the times you want to run away.
This Lent, allow the Divine Physician to hold and propel you forward to new life.
Read More"Quitting the Christian Life. It's Too Hard...."
This is the title of a YouTube video Roxie Beckles, "That Black Catholic Chick" filmed a year ago. Roxie awakened in the very early morning hours and was having a "dark night of the soul."
Roxie's depth of vulnerability about her personal struggle with the demands of an authentic Christian life was untouched before Roxie pushed "publish." The video has over 30K views.
There is no mistaking that Roxie knows suffering.
In this Lenten podcast, Roxie revisits where she was at a year ago when she filmed this video. She then takes a deep dive into what she has learned from God ever since.
We can't be lukewarm in our Catholic faith--we must make a complete surrender and be "all in." This includes sharing barrenly about our struggles with our faith and wrestling close to Christ.
Roxie encourages listeners with this: If you aren’t wrestling in some way with your faith, you need to go deeper this Lent.
You can find Roxie on YouTube @thatblackcatholicchick or @TheologyOfFitness, as well as at https://www.roxiebeckles.com.
Read More“You’re going to stay in this marriage.” This was the message Nicole Berlucchi heard from God.
Before this, Nicole was convinced she was doing most of the work at home and in her marriage. Her friends told her she was a “saint” for putting up with her husband. To top it off, Nicole’s husband was unwilling to go to therapy.
Nicole was sure God was on her side.
Nicole left her husband for four days to discern if she was going to leave him. While Nicole entered this time of discernment relatively certain she was headed for divorce, God made it clear that Nicole needed to change and give her marriage a chance.
Nicole engaged in a very difficult season of healing that resulted in the transformation of her heart and marriage.
Listen to this mini-retreat in a podcast in Mamas in Spirit’s Lenten Series: HEAL. Allow God to help you remove barriers to love and be loved.
Nicole Berlucchi is the author of “Magnify Love: Unlocking the Heart of Jesus in Your Marriage and Your Life.”
Read More“Healing happens organically as love is being expressed,” says Dr. Bob Schuchts of the John Paul II Healing Center
In this mini-retreat in a podcast, Dr. Bob shares how important it is to listen and be attentive to what spiritual practices the Holy Spirit is drawing you to this Lent--so the Divine Physician can bless you with healing.
As we look at our patterns of sin and chronic wounds we have carried with us for a long time, we must remember God sees us in our wholeness. And remember that we cannot fix our own brokenness; however, we can name it and bring it to Jesus for healing.
Dr. Bob shares stories, including when he had a panic attack and realized his own need for healing. As Dr. Bob engaged in the healing process, he learned that beneath his anxiety was abandonment from his parents’ divorce. The pain in his heart began to heal through the love of God and he forgave his parents. Healing is a life-long journey that we all need to engage in.
Pope Benedict XVI said, “Whoever truly wishes to heal man must see him in his wholeness and must know that his ultimate healing can only be God’s love.”
May we bring all of ourselves to God this Lent, to discover the healing touch of The One who loves us completely.
Learn more about Dr. Bob Schuchts, the John Paul II Healing Center and additional opportunities for healing at https://jpiihealingcenter.org.
Read MoreWishing you and your family a blessed Christmas!
Mamas in Spirit will return on March 6th, 2025 for Season 7.
Subscribe now!
May God bless you and yours, always.
Read MoreHas a friend hurt you or left you out?
Dr. Mary Ruth Hackett was just about to leave for a party hosted by a dear friend when she received a text—Mary Ruth’s friend asked her to come a little later, because she was running behind.
Mary Ruth pulled up social media to pass time and was surprised to see a live photo posted by her friend. The image showed the host and many of Mary Ruth’s friends gathered around her friend’s table eating dinner. It turned out that the party was already in full swing.
In reality, Mary Ruth realized she was on the B List and was the only one of all her friends to be invited to the “after party.”
Mary Ruth was crushed.
Yet, while incredibly difficult, Mary Ruth chose to dig deep into this experience to better understand herself, her friendships and God’s hopes for her.
In this Advent Podcast Mary Ruth shares the wisdom she learned about sisterhood in Christ and the healing grace of God.
Learn how God blessed Mary Ruth with a new heart to love and friendships deeply rooted in Christ.
Discover how you can receive the beautiful gift of sisterhood in Christ, too!
Read MoreLisa Martinez was incredibly anxious and fearful as a child, but neither Lisa nor her parents understood why.
When Lisa attended her freshman year of college at Franciscan University—a place Lisa and many others refer to as a "field hospital” for souls—Lisa discovered why she had been consumed by such angst and fear.
Lisa experienced flashbacks of sexual abuse as a young child. She finally knew what she had been carrying.
Listen as Lisa takes us on a sensitive journey of the soul, culminating in Christ’s miraculous healing through prayer, contemplation, EMDR therapy, Catholic retreats and more.
If you or someone you love is the victim of abuse, know that healing is possible! Learn more about Lisa at www.littlewithgreatlove.com (http://www.littlewithgreatlove.com). Reach out to get connected to resources at mamasinspirit@gmail.com.
Abby Davis received a call. Within thirty minutes of hanging up the phone, there was a social worker on her front porch holding a baby girl.
Abby and her husband would care for this little girl for many months to follow, not knowing if they would adopt her or just care for her for a little while.
Abby’s heart was filled with love for this precious child, yet was also breaking at the possibility of being separated from her.
Abby would rock the baby and pray:
“Whether you stay or whether you go, let it be for Christ.“
This little girl, as well as two boys, are now the adopted children of Abby and her husband Cameron.
Listen to this mini-retreat in a podcast and imagine how your life can be more fully for Christ, too.
Read MoreStill reverberating in Colleen Carroll Campbell’s heart are an older mom’s words of wisdom from 15 years ago: “I don’t know if there is room for perfectionism in any other part of life, but I know this: there is no room for it in motherhood.”
Colleen had done her best to achieve flawlessness during her ambitious career, including a job as the American president’s speech writer. But it wasn’t until hearing the wise mom’s words about motherhood that Colleen realized her own struggle with perfectionism.
God began changing Colleen that morning and continues to transform her to this day. While she strives to do her best for the greater glory of God, Colleen has learned to let go and trust she is in God’s hands.
And she has discovered that there is no better place to be.
Listen to this inspiring “mini-retreat in a podcast” and allow yourself to surrender into the arms of Merciful Jesus, too.
Read MoreAfter raising four boys, Caroline Graham’s husband shared that he felt called to adopt a daughter.
Soon thereafter, Caroline received a call from a dear friend about a toddler girl needing a home.
Caroline figured that she and her husband knew how to love children and said “yes.”
Caroline realized that the call to love her precious daughter would demand more of her than she ever could have imagined. Loving her daughter would require her entire self and more—it would require daily and full dependency on Christ.
Caroline’s daughter suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD).
Hear Caroline share about how she has learned that while we come to the end of our own ability to love, God’s love is endless. Be inspired by how Caroline has opened herself to the supernatural love of God to care for her daughter and family—just as she is called.
Read MoreChaplain Father Jon Meyer was in his early twenties when his mother passed away.
In his grief, Father Jon faced the dark thought of needing to earn love, as well as the fear of being unloveable.
Father Jon was in the seminary at the time and chose to be honest about the thoughts he struggled with. He shared with his Spiritual Director and Formation Advisor, as well as some family and close friends. Over time, Father Jon was blessed with the transformation of his mind by God.
This podcast will help you explore your own thoughts and how they may be separating you from self, God and others. Learn tools of transparency and vulnerability to open yourself to the glorious “renewal of your mind" (Romans 12:2).
Read MoreJennifer Calabretta’s childhood and early marriage were perfect in so many ways. But Jennifer never could have imagined what was to come.
Jennifer lost her second baby weeks after delivery to a rare muscle disorder. Doctors told her this would never happen again.
However, during one of Jennifer’s subsequent pregnancies, she learned that her daughter wouldn’t survive the very same disease.
Jennifer carried her baby throughout the remaining months of her pregnancy—and she and her husband were blessed with ten minutes with their daughter.
Jennifer experienced God deep within her throughout it all. God’s love was like holy balm to her injured heart.
In this vulnerable and joy-filled podcast, learn that God’s grace is sufficient. You will be blessed with God’s holy balm of the heart, too!
Read MoreHave you ever been blessed with a sense of peace that “was not of this world?”
This is what Ester Munt-Brooks experienced while in a Croatian hospital just miles from Bosnia. It was a Sunday, there was no doctor to be found and no one in Ester's family spoke the local language.
Yet Ester had a very sick child in need of emergency surgery.
In this moment of maternal desperation, hear how Ester accepted God's will with love.
Ester will never forget the following week with her family, as they divided their time between the hospital in Croatia and our Blessed Mother in Medjugorje.
Listen to this podcast and learn how to live according to God’s will.
Read MoreHow does a Catholic woman become Planned Parenthood's "Employee of the Year?" And then later become what she termed its "Enemy of the Year?"
This is the life-story of Mayra Rodriguez, a teen immigrant groomed to believe she was helping women, even encouraging them to receive abortions without their husbands knowing.
From becoming director of an abortion facility to witnessing the horrific reality of abortion firsthand, Mayra faced the truth. Her heart changed.
But not before a bitter lawsuit with Planned Parenthood.
Listen to this inspiring podcast and pray for the gift of every human life!
Read MoreAnne Trufant was sixteen and only went to Catholic summer camp to find the “cute boy in the room.”
However, when Anne finally got the chance to dance with the cutest boy at camp, she looked up and didn’t see the boy—she saw Jesus. This moment changed her life forever.
Anne went home and couldn’t get enough of what a seminarian referred to at camp as “Jesus’ Love Letter.” She soaked Scripture in daily and, about 50 years later, continues to do so.
Anne’s personal relationship with Christ has led her to create a home for women who are pregnant and in crisis, do missionary work in Kenya, establish a Catholic summer camp in North Carolina and develop an online ministry centered in the Bible.
Anne pours out Scripture passages embedded in her heart, personal stories of God’s supernatural blessing of peace and phenomenal mama wisdom in this inspiring podcast.
Learn all about Anne’s summer camp and ministry at themissiononthemountain.com.
Read MoreAs twelve-year-old April Mascola sat in her school desk she wondered what things would be like when she got home. Her mom had gone away for psychiatric care—April was doing her very best to fill her mom’s shoes and care for her three younger siblings while her mom was gone.
While April’s family wasn’t praying or attending church during this time—or any of the first twelve years of April’s life—April was graced with a supernatural peace to persevere though this difficult season.
Hear how April’s mom was not only reunited with her husband and children months later, but also her Catholic faith. And how April’s mother began to share the gift of Our Blessed Mother with April.
In this podcast, learn how Mother Mary has continued to draw April close. On a trip to Medjugorje in 2011, April discovered A Holy Prescription of The Five Stones of Medjugorje. April prays the Rosary daily, fasts two times per week, attends Confession monthly, reads Holy Scripture daily and attends Mass weekly.
Listen and be inspired to make your own promises to Mary!
Read MoreThis podcast contains sensitive content, including discussion of suicide.
Lisa Morris stopped going to Reconciliation as a teenager. She figured she could just go to God herself.
Lisa now recognizes her turn away from God was the beginning of many choices that resulted in immense suffering, including an abortion, eating disorder, poor relationship with alcohol and divorce.
Lisa went to church on an impulse the morning she signed her divorce papers--she had a full circle moment when Confession was available and she attended about fifteen years after she stopped going.
Lisa was touched by the unfathomable mercy of God in the confessional and began a healing journey of the soul. Lisa wants you to know this gift is awaiting you, too.
Read MoreRich Peluso was in a dark place in his early twenties--he was working a job that compromised his values and chisled away at who God created him to be.
While Rich was avoiding time alone with God in prayer, he desperately desired to reconnect.
One night as Rich laid in bed, he called out to God. And even though Rich was not ready to fully amend his life, God was faithful.
Days later Rich unfolded a newspaper that held a ceramic Christmas tree in his car--Rich never could have imagined the pages would hold the gift of new life for Rich. God would transform Rich's heart and provide him with a hope-filled future.
Listen to this final podcast in the Easter Series and behold an eternal perspective!
Read MoreElizabeth Blanke never could have imagined she’d be a young widow, on her own with three small children.
Elizabeth’s husband and high school sweetheart passed away unexpectedly from a sudden heart attack.
Hear how God guided Elizabeth one step at a time to face the unimaginable.
From planning the funeral to learning taxes to becoming the sole parent of their three children, Elizabeth leaned into God’s holy presence and supernatural provision—with God, she was able to attend to all the details while God attended to Elizabeth’s heart.
Listen to this newest podcast in the Mamas in Spirit Easter Series and know that all things are truly possible with God.
From planning the funeral to learning taxes to becoming the sole parent of their three children, Elizabeth leaned into God’s holy presence and supernatural provision—with God, she was able to attend to all the details while God attended to Elizabeth’s heart.
Listen to this newest podcast in the Mamas in Spirit Easter Series and know that all things truly are possible with God.
Read MoreIsmael Fierro and his wife Vanessa prepared for three years--and even learned French--to move from Mexico to Canada. However, when the time came to go, Ismael's company didn't offer him a job in Canada--they unexpectedly invited him to work in Nashville, Tennessee.
Ismael learned to let go of his own plan and surrender to God's will. He prayed, “Let me be the person you dreamt of when you created me.”
Soon thereafter, Ismael, Vanessa and their two small children landed in the Nashville airport to create a home in a country they didn't know with a language they didn't speak. Ismael sensed God with him in a sacred moment he will never forget.
In this Easter podcast, be inspired as Ismael shares what “Thy Will be Done” in the Our Father means to him, as well as his love for Saint Joseph and the Surrender Novena.
May we, like Ismael, always invoke the Holy Spirit in prayer and surrender our lives to God's will.
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