Living Fullness

Should I befriend my pastor/priest?

Padre opens up about a question he saw online regarding pastors and their friendships. Padre and Stina open up a conversation about what it means to have a friendship and what it means to have a pastoral relationship and whether they can ever co-exist. 
Lay people have a wonderful opportunity to engage their pastor/priest in deeper pastoral relationship, but it's not the lay person's role to dictate what kinds of friendships they should have. It's a lay persons role to support and respect their pastor's needs not to be the one to fulfil them.  
Mentions: Vianney College Students, and Fr Scott Armstrong,
T.B.G
Stina - Gratitude
Padre - Romano Guardini  
Padre speaks about a document he used through his own formation 'Integrity in Ministry' and it's role in shaping pastoral relationships. 

Grace Ukich - Life journey, prayer, and accompaniment

Each month we interview a guest - and this month Grace Ukich, a friend of Stina's and prayer coordinator for the Virtue Ministry team, joins the podcast. 
Grace shares with us a bit about herself, what drew her to medicine, whether she was always a Christian, what brought her closer to Christ and her role within the Virtue Ministry team. Our hosts then dive deep into a conversation on Prayer; How grace prays, what is the divine office and what is prayerful accompaniment. She also shares some advice on what to do if you're someone used to reciting set, formal prayers and would like to try informal vocal prayer for for someone; as well as the impact of friendship on her personal life. 
The episode concludes with a rapid fire round. 
 
Shout out to - The Convent and to Prepare and Enrich program for couples
If you would like to hear more from Grace and pray for our ministry, Join the Prayer Tribe by becoming a prayer partner today!
Also, Please keep Grace and her fiancé Sam in your prayers as they prepare to enter into Marriage in Late August 2021. 

Virtue Challenge yourself because you're more than 1-in-a-MILLION

In this week's episode of Living Fullness, Padre and Stina, talk about The Virtue Challenge created by Sarah Swafford from Emotional Virtue Ministries also found in her Book, Emotional Virtue - a guide to drama free relationships. 
Virtue is governed by Love, For Love, and orders our thoughts, desires, and behaviours towards that which is true, good, and beautiful - towards love. It ultimately frees you to become who you were truly made to be. 
Both our hosts share their personal experience with the Virtue challenge and how it shaped their personal development and growth as well as their relationships with people and with Christ. 
If you are interested in doing the Virtue Challenge, here are some steps to follow:
1. Pray
2. Ask someone to be your accountability partner (send them this podcast so they know what you're after). 
3. Set achievable goals - you can find a list of traits to download (originally created by Sarah Swafford) here 
- Virtue Challenge - Women
- Virtue Challenge - Men 
Or create your own list, remembering that although men and women are different, we do share humanity and therefore share many of the same qualities and traits. We are equal in dignity and complementary in nature. 
4. Just Start - You are more than 1-in-a-MILLION. You are ONE-in-ALL-of-ETERNITY, and there will forever be something missing without you becoming ALL that you were made to be. 
T.B.G
Padre - Vocations Day - Men some young, striving, dedicated men - inspirational
Stina - Flowing waters on a River walk
 

Respect & Communicate the turn on boundaries

How far is too far? is a question, as a Priest, many couples ask Padre. In this episode our hosts suggest that question comes from a problematic place and instead ask a question like 'what does affection in a healthy, God oriented relationship look like?'. 
Modern civilisation seems to equate intimacy with the breaking of boundaries as opposed to setting and respecting of them. When in reality, intimacy is more than the physical, it is also emotional, psychological and spiritual. When we enter into only one of those facets without appropriately seeing the other aspects of a person, we are only ever seeing them in parts. It doesn't allow for intimacy - Into-Me-See
It seems to be that moving in together is the height of intimacy in a relationship. This makes sense when we have lost sight of the gift of life and instead value our status and our assets that we've worked hard for. Sharing of these most valuable things therefore seems to appear to be a form of intimacy when in reality these are external things, they are not part of who we are as a person. 
It is VITAL to communicate the impact and effect of affection to your significant other. Every person will be affected differently. Every couple is different, and therefore every couple need their own set of boundaries. 
An encouraging message to couples to have confidence and freedom to move within the boundaries set by the church regarding intimacy, and to not feel like you need to create a checklist of behaviours in order to act 'morally', and there is no need to check for morality within every detail of intimacy with you priest. Morality is the result of a lasting relationship with Jesus Christ, therefore it's more than a check box. 
 
T.B.G
Padre - a friend in ministry who has been through a rough patch and thriving through it
Stina - An invitation by a not so familiar person at church

Spiritual Director & Mentor - Do I need one?

In this episode Padre and Stina talk about Spiritual Direction, Mentorship and Counsel and help the listener determine if they should seek someone, and what to look for, as well as what to do if someone asks you to be their Spiritual Mentor. 
A Spiritual Director and Mentor should not be someone who interprets the Voice of God in your life, but instead be someone who helps you hear the voice of God in your own life.  
Seeking spiritual counsel is different to seeking therapeutic counselling, and the two should be not be misused. It may be necessary to share information about your therapy with your spiritual mentor or director, but we should never seek advice from our spiritual mentors about what to do therapeutically. They are not one and the same, and should not be treated as such. 
One piece of advice to consider in choosing your mentor is words from St. John of the Cross '... one ought to take care who we entrust ourselves to. As the master is, so will the disciples be'. 
Some things to consider if you're asked to be one; 
1. Why me?
2. Pray about it, don't rush
3. Are you the right fit for what they need?
4. Does your current state in life allow for this relationship?
5. Is it the right time?
6. Is it an appropriate relationship?
 
TBG
Padre - Diving into study and growing in appreciation of God in asking Mary to be so intimately involved in salvation. He wanted to free us by using human freedom. 
Stina - a gift from a friend - oil diffuser necklace for stressful times

Bishop Mark Edwards; Faith Journey, Friendships, and a bit of Fun

In this week's episode of Living Fullness, our hosts sit down with the current Bishop of Wagga Wagga, Bishop Mark Edwards OMI, to get to know him a bit better and about his faith journey. Here are some of the questions that were covered
What does a day in the life of a Bishop look like?
How does a bishop do to unwind?
What was your upbringing and your faith journey? - Shout out to Mazenod College - Victoria https://www.mazenod.vic.edu.au/ and Oblates of Mary Immaculate https://omi.com.au/
Some words of wisdom to figure our your dream
How have you found the Wagga Wagga Diocese so far?
If there was one aspect of living fullness that you thought was important, what would that be?
What can someone do if they find they're in a workaholic kind of space?
Friendship - Can men and Women be friends? or does the sex thing get in the way? What do you think?
What is your relationship with Jesus like, at the moment?
What is God calling you into at this time? Is there anything on your heart - a message for young people? A message on prayer
Rapid Fire Fun Questions
Books mentionedLord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien A secular age - Charles Taylor
 
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Facebook Group: Living Fullness

The 4 Temperaments and Jesus

Our hosts explore the 4 temperaments in this week's episode of Living Fullness;
Sanguine - Life of the Party
Choleric - Natural born leaders
Melancholic - Detail focused
Phlegmatic - Peacekeepers 
The conversation unpacks their natural strengths, tendencies of weakness, spiritual suggestions and a couple of well known examples of people with these temperaments. 
Learning to identify our friend's temperaments can be both a fun and useful piece of information in order to love them better. Stina offers a fun exercise to try. 
Our hosts also discuss Jesus' temperament and what the idea of being a Christian means, in light of the 4 temperaments
 
T.B.G
Padre - IVA - Young Artist (Also Padre's niece). You can follow her on Instagram: ivamahoni
Stina - Discovering similarities with a friend 
 
Congratulations to the New Rector and Vice Rector of Vianney College, Fr. Rick Micallef and Fr. Brad Rafter, respectively.  
 
 

Self-knowledge; a necessity in relationships

In this episode of Living Fullness, our hosts take a closer look at Self-Knowledge, what it is, and how it serves various relationships including that of friendships, romantic relationships, family and even co-workers. How can we grow in self knowledge and what is it's true purpose?
 
T.B.G
Stina - Baptism reflection on the Presentation in the Temple
Padre - Study on Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul 2nd) and Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict 16th)

Stina's Deportation & Managing Crisis

This episode of Living Fullness is a little unusual as Padre sits down with Stina to talk about the elephant in the room, the undefined turbulence she has mentioned on several occasions before. 
After 20years of being in Australia, Stina is facing deportation due to a clerical error not of her own doing, and the outcome of the situation is entirely out of her control. Listen to the episode to find out how they're both coping with this news as they explore how to manage crises in life and where friendship becomes a very clear gift at this time. 
Petition Page (Ministerial Intervention): https://www.change.org/p/honorable-mr-alex-hawke-save-our-stina-from-wrongful-deportation
GoFundMe Page (Legal costs):  https://au.gofundme.com/f/help-stina-stay-in-australia

Elise Drum; an unfiltered, writer and young Country Doctor in the making

On this week's episode, we welcome a young country doctor in the making, who is also one of the writers at Virtue Ministry, Elise Drum. 
Padre and Stina talk to Elise about what it was like to move from a country town into the big city, adjusting to a new life style and to making new friends. AND THEN to readjusting back to a country town life when the people around her have essentially moved on in life. 
Elise may be young in age, but her wisdom is beyond her years. Her consistent deep thoughts are an asset on the Virtue Ministry Team. Check out her blog posts here
Virtue Ministry Blogs - https://www.virtueministry.org.au/blog/
Elise also shares about a moment in friendship that has always struck her and ways to remain other focused when making new friends, as well as how this drastic move has helped shape her faith and her personal relationship with Jesus. 
Elise encourages young people to look to John Paul II's words for encouragement to remember that 'you're not waiting for your time, your time is now'.
The episode concludes with some fun questions for Elise. 
 
Shout outs in this episode to 
Rebecca Gosper - Life Choice
Saint John Paul the Great: His 5 Loves - Jason Evert 
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand