What’s this year of interviewing guests been like?
We’ve had Ìva, Simon, Peter, Tan, Cooper, Swaffs, Zelasko and capato – Andrew, Sweeney Paul.
Word of the year
What was it? How did you come to it? What did you learn from it?
Stina’s recap of 2022
Initial perception of what this year would entail
-Began with a sense of excitement, like this will be hard but I’m ready for Him to sculpt.
– Sensed trepidation from Padre and accountability partner which I didn’t feel myself.
– Expectations – I expected my life to change structurally – and it did – my career became more focused and my passion clear – I love relationship counselling
– VM’s mission became more targeted, and we expanded the team to meet that target and reach out to other places in Australia in different ways than before
What I didn’t expect
– Didn’t anticipate taking on a year of refinement would mean my relationships would be stripped down to their core, to really see the people in my life for who they are and the place they hold in my life, which meant watching new relationships form – some that took on a new level and others that simply blossomed with time. But it also meant watching some existing relationships wither, and die, and that meant people exited my life. The hardest part about that wasn’t that they no longer hold an active place in my life, the hardest part, the real refinement, is in letting them go within my heart, AND letting all those newly empty places be filled with Jesus instead of with sorrow, regret or resentment. It’s the tomb like places in my heart, where something died and was buried – that’s where Jesus wants to come and be, and in time heal and roll away the stone. That’s been the really hard refining work of this year, letting Him do that – not just passively letting Him take over, but actively willing His will in that, wanting that, and learning to love that.
– I also didn’t anticipate a new lesson of hope – from watching a beautiful witness of a friend of our ministry from a distance – to seeing hope burn brightly and be tested in my ongoing visa trials – that’s been another area of refinement that God has done in me this year.
Padre’s recap of 2022
Gentleness
A word I didn’t expect, but one I needed. Gentleness isn’t always my thing. I will often tell the truth and be a bit abrasive in the manner I do it. That’s a fault and I’m working on that and part of that work has been to engage more in gentleness. The gentleness journey is one that has been really essential to my ministry. As Vic-rector of a seminary, I was used to simply telling men in the seminary the truth in a pretty blunt manner. The approach was often useful. However it was clear that the same approach would often not be a useful approach in the parish. I had to learn how to be gentle with others in the way that I spoke. Part of that was practicing patience.
Gentleness with self
But part of it also was learning gentleness with myself, something I am still very much learning. And I know this will garner some criticism from certain quarters, but to be gentle with self is so important. It doesn’t mean we don’t hold ourselves to a high moral standard, it doesn’t mean we don’t reject sin in our lives, it doesn’t mean we aren’t honest about our moral lives, and our strengths and struggles. It does mean that we open ourselves up to the mercy of God. We give ourselves time to rest, reflect and and grow. We give ourselves time to speak to God and engage in uplifting relationships. There is a notion in the Catholic world that the self is irrelevant. This is not true. God has made us for Himself, and He want us to know His love and mercy, He wants us to be agents of that mercy to others, but before we can get there, we must be open to receiving Him.
Last Episode of Season 2 Living Fullness
A fun way to end the season, we always ask our guests rapid fire questions but we’ve never asked each other that on the podcast – probably because we could take a guess at each other’s answers, but here’s a chance for you our listener to take a guess along with us. Head on over to the Podcast!
Virtue Ministry in 2023
We will be taking a longer than usual break this year – you won’t see us back until towards the end of February 2023. So make sure you’re following our Social Media LF underscore, and Virtue.Ministry on Instagram or Virtue Ministry on Facebook. Or You can join our living Fullness Facebook group to stay updated and find out when we return in the new year and the changes we’re making to the podcast.
In the meantime, go back and check out our previous episodes that you may have missed, including Video interviews with our guests over on Youtube and don’t forget we have behind the scenes with our guests exclusively for our patreon supporters, so do consider joining us to support our mission in the new year.