Series on The Ascension Lenten Companion by Fr. Mark Toups (Part 4)
Would you receive the Father’s unconditional love if you were the prodigal son? The Father wants us to convert from a conditional, perfectionistic way of experiencing God to a place of just being unconditionally loved by Him. But we can sometimes hold onto shame for security. What is asked of us is to leave behind that shame—let the shame and self-contempt crumble.
We don’t need to “pay rent” to be loved by the heavenly Father. Our sonship/daughtership is not to be paid but freely given to us. The invitation for all of us is to remain in the Father’s forgiveness and mercy. Let the relationship we have with Him restore and heal us from the place of shame and insecurity that we put ourselves into.
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Freedom Greater Than Circumstances
What makes us most free is this submission to God and this dependence on Him. Yes, freedom is dependent on obedience rather than doing whatever I want. When we fall in love with God and experience that love, this profound interior freedom takes place, and it becomes the most important thing in our lives — even to the point that it…
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When One Door Closes…
What do you do when the plan you had suddenly falls apart?
In this episode, the friars reflect on the role of closed doors in discernment, those moments when something we hoped for, planned for, or tried to control simply doesn’t happen. A missed flight, a changed plan, a lost opportunity, a relationship that doesn’t unfold the way we imagined… sometimes reality interrupts us and invites us to listen more deeply.
Rather than seeing every closed door as failure, the friars explore how these moments can become places of surrender, curiosity, and trust. Not because every disappointment is easy or painless, but because Jesus is present even there. The Resurrection reminds us that no door is more closed than the sealed tomb, and even there, God was not finished.
Join us as we learn to trust Jesus in the detours, the disruptions, and the closed doors, and discover that what feels like an ending may become the place He begins something new.
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Trust Comes From Relationship (Rewind)
This episode kicks off a four-part series on a new retreat based on the Litany of Trust from the Sisters of Life. There are some virtues we can work on and grow in — but trust isn’t like that. It’s not your own project. You don’t work on it directly, because it’s the fruit of relationship with the Lord. If you want to develop more…
