This week we have a unique episode! Our first time interviewing two women who share a similar passion: the way of beauty. Megan and Laura's sister, Emily, and Holly join us around the table to discuss how they find God's love through beauty. They are both artists, and describe how their love for art's creative process ultimately points them to God. Both share how this love for art has helped them both put on and attend the Regnum Christi Artist retreat in Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The Church needs art and artists, for beauty is the promise of happiness. The greatness of art is rooted in the fact that it seeks and finds a bridge to the human soul... Art opens up to us a path to the divine, showing us a beauty that reflects the glory of God."-Pope St. John Paul II, Letter to Artist, 1999

RC Artist Retreat: https://www.regnumchristi.com/en/stained-and-sainted-an-artists-retreat-in-cincinnati/

Holly's website: https://www.hollyschapker.com

Books mentioned in the podcast:

"This Beautiful Truth" by Sarah Clarkson

"God is beauty" by Pope St. John Paul II (commentary by Christopher West)

"A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanauken

Around the table, we are delighted to invite our guest, Elsa Hoffman, whose knack for storytelling illustrates God's presence with her throughout her life. She shares how she first came to find Jesus as her best friend, and how, in the many different apostolates she's been a part of, her main desire is for others to encounter Him and be set on fire to give His love to others. Enjoy this week's episode and, if God inspires, maybe share with a friend who needs light and encouragement!

An exciting new apostolate, First Fruits, is launching and Kathleen Conklin is here to share with us all about it! Her story of being impacted as a young child in a faith-filled family, her deep desire as a wife and mother to pass that faith on, and her adventures of moving cross-country and founding K4J (Kids for Jesus) all contribute to how God has prepared her for such a time as this to help start a new apostolate for young families. Enjoy hearing how God prepared her and how you can learn more to form yourself, your spouse, and your children into a faith-filled family!

To learn more about the “First Fruits” apostolate, a dynamic small-group experience designed for parents in the early stages of parenting, visit: www.firstfruits.family. Or contact Kathleen at kconklin@legionofchrist.org

Megan and Laura are kicking off the new year of 2025 with an interview with their mom, Elizabeth (Beth) Matthews. It truly was girl time around the table as they listened to Beth share her story of the tender faith in her childhood: from nightly rosary to the mountains of Peru. Beth shares how her desire to know the faith and pass it on to others grew stronger each year. Regnum Christi was an answered prayer and has been, for nearly 30 years, an instrument of grace in her life. This episode includes a bonus Advent by Candlelight talk Laura and Beth gave in Atlanta, Georgia. In all the many stories Beth shares, she truly can say she can “count it all joy”!

“Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”-James 1:2-4

Show notes:

“Precious Treasure” by Elizabeth Matthews: https://stpaulcenter.com/product/precious-treasure-the-story-of-patrick/?srsltid=AfmBOorKedbvsPeNT6aW5A8pKzXjvBhSKJcAE1N97babdSVT6b_rlDXs

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