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!