The Schoenstatt Way of Life

Episode 61: Tune in to this episode as author and host Julia Monnin* shares with listeners a talk she gave in April of 2024 at a retreat for women sponsored by the Ohio Schoenstatt Women's League. /// *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 60: Tune in to this episode as author and host Julia Monnin* shares with listeners a talk she gave to a group recently about the Schoenstatt Home Shrine. /// *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 59: "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." - John 12:32 Join author and host Julia Monnin* on this episode as she invites listeners to spend some time pondering the words found in John 12:20–33 and a Lenten sermon by Schoenstatt's founder Fr. Joseph Kentenich. "He who is raised on the cross wishes to speak to us. He who is raised on the cross wishes to draw our hearts closer to himself . . . He stresses that he possesses the first right over the heart which he created and which so many try to lure away from him. He wants to draw our hearts to himself; they should be completely his own." - Fr. Joseph Kentenich (Lenten Sermons) /// *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 58: "Schoenstatt highlights the way in which Mary embodied the Gospel and lived out of an intimate, personal covenant relationship with our Lord." (Sr. M. Isabel Bracero in "Sursum Corda: Lift Up Your Hearts!", pg. 11) "Slow down and receive." "Walk, don't run." "Focus more on letting Christ in and less on uprooting the darkness." . . . Join author and host Julia Monnin* on this episode as she reflects on these thoughts (and more!) while encouraging listeners to consider moving slower (not faster) during this season of Lent. "Let us walk like you through life, / let us mirror you forever, / strong and noble, meek and mild,/ peace and love be our endeavor. / Walk in us through our world, /make it ready for the Lord." (Opening of the "Imitation of Mary" prayer by Fr. Joseph Kentenich) /// *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 57: "...and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.'" (Luke 2:34-35) Join author and host Julia Monnin* on this episode as she reflects on The Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Looking ahead to Lent, Julia also shares with listeners some ideas on entering into the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving with a little more intentionality and focus. "Filled with longing for our salvation, you present in the Temple the One you conceived of the Holy Spirit. Your motherly gaze is turned to us as you return him unconditionally and entirely to the Father. ... 'Like you, the great servant of the sacrifice, I give everything I hold most dear for the salvation of souls.'" (Reflection on The Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary written by Fr. Joseph Kentenich in Heavenwards.) /// *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 56: "Grace is divine love's invitation, not compelling, but simply reaching out to us." (from Introduction to Schoenstatt Book 5, "Covenant of Love in Daily Life") "Not Compelling" could be defined as "not forceful, interesting, or persuasive." So, what does it mean that grace is "not compelling"? Tune in to this episode as author and host Julia Monnin* ponders this question and invites listeners to do the same. "Who has believed what we have heard? / And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? / For he grew up before him like a young plant, / and like a root out of dry ground; / he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, / nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. / He was despised and rejected by others; / a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; / and as one from whom others hide their faces / he was despised, and we held him of no account." - Isaiah 53:1–3 /// *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 55: "Before you make your dedication, I ask you . . . What do you consider your apostolate?" During Schoenstatt's Covenant of Love Ceremony the priest asks the candidates to answer four questions as they are stating their intent. The last of these four questions is "What do you consider your apostolate?" In answer to that question, the candidates respond: "To do whatever God asks of us according to our personal mission and state in life. Our most effective apostolate will be the sanctification of our lives and the service of those entrusted to our care. The horizon of our apostolate is the spiritual and moral renewal of the whole Church and world, in Christ through Mary. We will consider it our task to follow God's plan into any field of apostolate He desires." Have you thought any more about your response to this question since your own Covenant Day? Tune in to this episode as author and host Julia Monnin talks about one way she has responded to this call to "follow God's plan into any field of apostolate He desires." In this episode, Julia announces the release of her newest book "The World Is Noisy - God Whispers: The Second Daily Devotional" (which is dedicated to the Blessed Mother in a special way) and shares with listeners some of the thoughts inside its pages that might be especially helpful to ponder as we wait with Mary in the upcoming season of Advent. As always, Julia's new book (and all of her other books) are available for sale online at journeysrevealed.com/shop. /// *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com ** Learn more about the Catholic, nonprofit apostolate Journeys Revealed Ministries at journeysrevealed.com

Episode 54: "Jesus, the only mediator, is the way of our prayer; Mary, his mother and ours, is wholly transparent to him." - CCC, 2674 On this special "founding day" episode, author and host Julia Monnin* shares with listeners a live recording of a class she taught recently on paragraphs 2673–2679 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This section of the Catechism is titled "In communion with the holy Mother of God." /// "Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope." - CCC, 2679 *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 53: "On September 15, 1968, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, immediately after celebrating the holy sacrifice of the Mass, Father Kentenich was called home to the heavenly Father. At his request, the words Dilexit Ecclesiam (he loved the Church), were inscribed on his tomb." - from the website schoenstattsistersofmary.us/our-founder/ Join author and host Julia Monnin* on this episode as she shares a reflection on the Mystery of the Cross, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, and a pivotal moment in the young life of Schoenstatt's founder Fr. Joseph Kentenich. May we be filled with hope even in the sorrowful times of our lives as we remember that God doesn't always take the pain away (because doing so would take away our humanity), but that He does "enter into the loneliness of ruined love as one who shares the sorrow, as a consolation." /// “God did not work . . . in such a way as to make sorrow vanish and to change the system, so that there is no longer any need for consolation. That would be to take away our humanity. And this is what we secretly desire. Yes, being human is too burdensome for us. But if our humanity were taken away from us, we would cease to be human beings and the world would become inhuman. God did not work that way. He chose a wiser way that was more difficult in many respects but, for precisely that reason, better, more divine. He did not take away our humanity but shares it with us. He entered into the loneliness of ruined love as one who shares the sorrow, as a consolation. This is the divine way of redemption. Maybe from this we can best understand what redemption means in the Christian sense: not a magical transformation of the world, not that our humanity is taken away from us, but that we are consoled, that God shares with us the burden of life, and that now the light of his compassionate love remains forever in our midst.” – Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) from a homily titled “How God Comforts” in the book On Love: Selected Writings *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 52: O Mother, in your holy heart / deeply inscribe each name / and as a sign that we are yours / write it with blood and flame. / In love and childlike gratitude / your name shall also be / deeply inscribed within my heart / for all eternity. - "Oneness with Mary" Prayer by Fr. Joseph Kentenich How can we better pray like the Blessed Mother, "taking all things and pondering them in our hearts"? What does St. Teresa of Avila mean when she writes, "Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking the time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us"? Tune in to this episode as author and host Julia Monnin* shares a few thoughts about these questions while reflecting on Fr. Kentenich's "Oneness with Mary" prayer and the teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church found in paragraphs 2705–2707. // "Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them . . . (CCC, 2705). To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: 'Lord, what do you want me to do?' (CCC, 2706). There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly . . . But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus" (CCC, 2707). *Learn more about Julia's books, podcasts, and blog at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 51: "To play the game of love we need to be interiorly free, perfectly free—free from ourselves.'" - Fr. Joseph Kentenich What does it mean to be "free"? And what does freedom have to do with the identity of the Schoenstatt movement? Tune in to this month's episode as author and host Julia Monnin* turns to the Vatican's definition of Schoenstatt as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1730–1748) for a more detailed look at what it truly means to be "interiorly free, perfectly free—free from ourselves". /// The Vatican website mentioned in this episode is https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/laity/documents/rc_pc_laity_doc_20051114_associazioni_en.html The Catechism information mentioned in this episode (CCC 1730-1748) can be found at http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a3.htm * Learn more about Julia's books and podcasts at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 50: "You gather what I am aiming at: I would like to make this place a place of pilgrimage, a place of grace for our house and for the whole German province, and perhaps even further afield. All those who come here to pray shall experience the glory of Mary and confess: 'It is good for us to be here. Here we want to build our tents, here shall be our favorite place.'" - Fr. Joseph Kentenich Miracles get our attention, but do they keep it? Tune in to this month's episode as author and host Julia Monnin* wrestles with this question while reflecting on the simple (and incredibly "ordinary") founding of the Schoenstatt Movement back on October 18, 1914. /// The book mentioned in this episode is called "Joseph Kentenich: A Life on the Edge of the Volcano" by Dorothea M. Schlickmann * Learn more about Julia's books and podcasts at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 49: "It is so inspiring how your longing opened your eyes and hearts to the open doors through which God's Providence led you to the goal. Fr. Kentenich always told us that 'the measure of longing is the measure of fulfillment. And the Schoenstatt family in Ohio and the history of the shrine interior at St. Lawrence is a wonderful proof of this. He also said that 'longing is love,' and that confirms the Blessed Mother's covenant faithfulness in the words from the Founding Document: 'I love those who love me ...'" - From a letter written to Mrs. Carol Lis and the Ohio Schoenstatt Family dated March 24, 2023 from the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary in Waukesha, WI What are "prayers of yearning" and how can something as painful as "longing" be beautiful? Tune in to this month's episode to find out! Join author and host Julia Monnin* as she ponders the mystery of our Lord's Ascension and shares thoughts and reflections related to the connection between longing and hope. /// * Learn more about Julia's books and podcasts at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 48: We often talk in Schoenstatt about the need to "walk through the open doors". Well, thanks to the efforts of some Schoenstatt Mothers in Oregon who did just that, this podcast (and a few others!) are now being shared with a wider audience in the Portland area. Praised be Jesus Christ! Tune in to this special episode to learn more about these "Open Doors in Oregon" as you listen to an interview between author and host Julia Monnin and Brenda Aikin, host of "The Morning Blend" radio show on Mater Dei Radio. /// * Learn more about Julia's books and podcasts at theworldisnoisy.com ** Learn more about Journeys Revealed Ministries at journeysrevealed.com *** Learn more about Mater Dei Radio and their Hail Maria Media App at materdeiradio.com

Episode 47: "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" - Luke 1:43 Taking a second to breathe in God's goodness and say "thank you" for the gift of new life, author and host Julia Monnin* reflects in this episode on the mystery of the Visitation (Luke 1:39–56) as she shares with listeners a few details about the newly erected "Schoenstatt Chapel"** located at St. Lawrence Church in Rhine, OH. /// The Second Joyful Mystery - The Visitation "We see you, Mother, hastening with the Savior to stay with Elizabeth and serve her. She rejoices and is filled with the Holy Spirit, and feels her child sanctified in her womb." . . . Let us, too, devote our strength and time in quiet service to the work of salvation. * Information about Julia's books and podcasts can be found at theworldisnoisy.com and also at journeysrevealed.com/shop ** Information about The Schoenstatt Chapel at St. Lawrence Church in Rhine, Ohio can be found at schoenstattofohio.org

Episode 46: "In the shadow of your wings I take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.” - Psalm 57:2 Join author and host Julia Monnin on this episode as she shares with listeners the need for (and beauty of) taking refuge under the mantle of Mary's maternal protection, especially during the "Lenten seasons" of our lives. /// "What can likely be attributed to (what seem like) countless and never-ending 'storms' that have come up in my life... I have been finding myself (time and time again) in situations during which I have felt the need for some kind of shelter. It has been during my search for protection in the midst of these storms that I have found myself being drawn (once again) to the wound in Christ’s pierced side. When the storms hit, I find myself not only reflecting on this precious wound of His but wanting to somehow crawl into it. Yeah, I guess, in a way, this wound of Christ’s has, in particular, become what I have equated with the Psalmist’s 'Shadow of [His] wings.' I have a growing desire and intensifying longing to not only be near this wound of my Beloved but to somehow live inside it; to let it be my 'place of refuge until the storms of destruction pass me by.'" - from Reflection #291 "Refuge in the Pierced Side of Christ" found in Julia's book "The World Is Noisy - God Whispers: Volume II, My Trials and Tribulations" published by Journeys Revealed Ministries* * Information about Julia's books and podcasts can be found at theworldisnoisy.com and also at journeysrevealed.com/shop

Episode 45: "And is not the enraptured gaze of Mary as she contemplated the face of the newborn Christ and cradled him in her arms that unparalleled model of love which should inspire us every time we receive Eucharistic communion?" – Pope Saint John Paul II Reflecting some on the mystery of the Visitation (which we read about in Luke 1:39-56), author and host Julia Monnin ponders what it means to imitate "the enraptured gaze of Mary" as we continue our strivings to be transformed into a "little Mary"—a Christ-bearer—for others. Notes: * The document "Ecclesia de Eucharistia" by Pope Saint John Paul II mentioned in this episode can be found here: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_20030417_eccl-de-euch.html * Information about Julia's books and podcasts can be found at theworldisnoisy.com

Episode 44: "Joseph was an eyewitness to this birth, which took place in conditions that, humanly speaking, were embarrassing—a first announcement of that 'self-emptying' (cf. Phil 2:5–8) which Christ freely accepted for the forgiveness of sins" – Pope Saint John Paul II Pondering our Lord's birth in a lowly manger, author and host Julia Monnin shares thoughts in this episode on St. Joseph. Specifically, she focuses on St. Joseph being a model of silence and prayer for us as well as a model of faith, obedience, chastity, tenderness, and hope. St. Joseph, Man of Silence, Pray for Us! *Note: The document "Redemptoris Custos" by Pope Saint John Paul II mentioned in this episode can be found here: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_15081989_redemptoris-custos.html

Episode 43: "Each one of us must achieve the highest conceivable degree of perfection and sanctity according to his state of life. Not simply the great and greater, but the greatest heights ought to be the object of our increased efforts." - Fr. Joseph Kentenich (in the First Founding Document) What do we mean in Schoenstatt when we say, "Nothing Without You, Nothing Without Us"? And what does this saying have to do with our "strivings" and "contributions to the capital of grace"? You're about to find out! Tune in to this episode as author and host Julia Monnin unpacks some of these basic elements of Schoenstatt's Covenant of Love spirituality while encouraging listeners to join the Ohio Shrine striving initiative. *Note: The article mentioned in this episode can be found here: Nothing without you, nothing without us: origin and meaning – Schoenstatt.org

Episode 42: "Prove to me first by deeds that you really love me and that you take your resolution seriously. Now you have the best opportunity to do so." - Words from Schoenstatt's Founding Act. It may be easy to say the words, "You know the way for me, you know the time, into your hands I trustingly place mine. Your plan is perfect, born of perfect love. You know the way for me, that is enough." But just because it's easy to say them doesn't mean it's always easy to live them. Tune in as author and host Julia Monnin shares some thoughts on what is meant by Schoenstatt's message of "practical faith in Divine Providence." In this episode, Julia reminds listeners that true faithfulness to God is especially proven during the challenging times of life.