Lumen FidEh!

In this documentary you can understand the love and uniqueness of how God granted us these blessings as Mexicans to share with the world. The blessing of having a unique piece of art created by God in the time of the Spanish inquisition in Mexico. Throughout the times of Hernan Cortez, Fr. Juan de Zumarraga, and Nuno de Guzman, the clash between newcomers and indigenous peoples of Mexico. With a Catholic ruler in Spain, Don Fernando & Dona Isabel and the liberation of the Arabs.Our Mother “Santa Maria de Guadalupe” a name our Mother selected specifically to unify the different people from the different lands across the world. Maria means chosen by God, from a Jewish historical (typology) perspective. Guadalupe is from Arab origin, which unites the conflict of the people of Spain, as well as the unification of the two races in Mexico by the acceptance of the “Mestizo” race. Our Lady of Guadalupe embraces all races and people of the world. Universal Motherhood was a very important time throughout the Conquest of Mexico and also the Renaissance era in Europe.Our Lady of Guadalupe is at the “Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” in Mexico city. It is the only physical visual miracle. The importance of the symbolism and iconography represented by our Lady in the “tilma” (Saint Juan Diego cloak) to be able to convert just by looking at her, millions of natives from Mexico into Cristianity. The iconography being a Codex that fulfills ancient Aztec prophecies, which provided a new beginning for a new world, a new race as Americans and children of our Mother Mary.Listen to our Podcast to learn more about the symbolism, iconography, as well our impressions as Catholics.Merry Christmas to all and God bless you and all your families this upcoming 2022!

What is the Season of Advent? What does preparing for Christmas is for a Catholic?Caroline, Mark and Malena delve into what really Advent means for us? Why is exciting and how do we prepare as Catholics to celebrate Christmas. In a world where Christmas has been commercialized an we truly have lost the meaning of Christmas, learn with us how can make small changes in ourselves, to help us prepare better for the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this episode, Caroline, Malena, and Mark discuss the first chapter of the book "The Signs off Life" by Scott Hann.Scott Hann is an American Catholic theologian who teaches at the Franciscan University in the USA. In his book, he talks about the different opportunities we have as Catholics to connect with our Father. He also explains further our traditions based on biblical roots. "Lifelong Catholics realize that it usually takes a convert to help us appreciate and better understand the customs and practices we too often take for granted. Scott Hahn does just that in this immensely readable yet substantive loving look at Catholic prayer, devotions, and beliefs." (Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York)

Have you ever considered the story of Jesus? Was he for real? What evidence does exist that could help us solidify our faith further? In this episode, Caroline, Malena and Mark are discussing the first two chapter from the latest book by Dr. Brant Pitre - one of our favourite writers on Theology of Christianity and Judaism. In his latest book, Dr. Pitre researches deeper the validity of the Gospels, who wrote them and shares his research with us on the true existence of our Lord Jesus.

The Mission is a 1986 British film, based on the experiences of Jesuit Missionaries in the 18th Century in South America. It was a well recognized and awarded movie back in the 80's, including a beautiful musical score, that goes in accordance to the overall message of the film.St. Ignatius of Loyola organization - the Society of Jesus - mainly engaged in evangelize and apostolic ministry. Jesuits around the word work towards education, social rights, cultural pursuits, hospitals, parishes, and different social ministries based on the country they are in. The Society of Jesus is open to “whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God.” This movie truly envisions and captures the difficulties of colonization, the ethical, moral and religious dilemma the different characters find themselves in and how they may act according to their beliefs.Listen to our latest podcast to learn our take, what was new to us, and how we relate it to our current life.

C.S. LEWIS, currently popularly known as the Narnia writer, from the Hollywood movies created a few years ago. CS Lewis was an Irish Novelist known for his essays on literature and his explanations on Christian teachings.Lewis was part of the well known literary discussion group - The Inklins - associated with J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford University, which allowed him to explore and discuss different ideas and concepts in different topics related to poetry, literature and religion.An Anglican, which Tolkien felt sad for him not converting to Catholicism, in his writings he has always amalgamated or explained very good the Catholicism, Christian, Anglican messages, as all of them have the same foundations - The Bible.And at the time when Lewis was well known to be seek to have conversations, he pursued the challenge to explain in different ways the general messages of the bible. He understood at the time, the only learning the population was getting about God, was via a Bible which not allow of them understood the language.Listening to the audio book of CS Lewis talking at Cambridge University and readying the first version of his study on love, being published three (3) years later after the talk you are about to listen to. In today's podcast, we will be reviewing the book by CS Lewis the four loves.In today's world the word love has become a mistreated word, a word that can mean so much and be misused so often, where the people have been desensitized from the true origins and depths of LOVE.Scripture tells us that LOVE is the highest attribute, the 11th commandment given on the Last Supper - “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12In this podcast, Caroline, Malena and Mark will be discussing their takes on the four different loves described by lewis: Affection - storge, friendship - philia, romantic - eros, charity - agape.

Learning further about the Corpus Christi celebration via the example of Carlos Acutis, an Italian kid that offered his life to help the people around him. "«“To always be close to Jesus, that's my life plan” were words by Carlos Acutis, who in his short life touched millions of people around the world.Carlos Acutis created an exhibition of the different miracles from the Altar, in which the body and blood of Christ transformed themselves to real flesh and blood. After scientific studies made on these different examples across the world, the  same result came - heart muscle was the composition of the  flesh. How may you explain this? Caroline, Malena & Mark researched the documentary on Carlos Acutis as well as different studies on the celebration of Corpus Christi. Join us throughout this learning process as Catholics.

Caroline, Malena and Mark started a journey to learn further about Joseph and why Pope Francis decided to consecrate this year to him. A beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father, a creatively courageous father, a working father, a father in the shadows: Joseph, the Foster Father for Jesus,  who was the role model for Jesus here on earth. As a woman in ancient times, Mary the Mother of Jesus required a spouse that will protect her and protect the sacred family. How much trust you need to have on your partner and understanding the different roles within a family.Learn more about the echoes of the Old and New Testament about Joseph, what are the similarities that we can identify to help us understand better the role of Joseph as the Father of Jesus. What is Joseph lineage? Why is it important? Learn further with Pope Francis Apostolic Letter on the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as patron of the Universal Church. Read the letter via this link.Also, Dr. Brant Pitre recently released a study on The Hidden King: The Jewish Roots of St. Joseph. Watch a small preview on him on this project.https://youtu.be/1J1XbTOFxqoWould you like to pray to St. Joseph? Here are a couple of prayers for you.Pope Francis Prayer for the Year of St. Joseph:Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.To you God entrusted his only Son;in you Mary placed her trust;with you Christ became man.Blessed Joseph, to us too,show yourself a fatherand guide us in the path of life.Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage,and defend us from every evil.  Amen.Litany of St. Joseph:Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us. Holy Mary, pray for us (after each line) Saint Joseph, Renowned offspring of David, Light of Patriarchs, Spouse of the Mother of God, Chaste guardian of the Virgin, Foster-father of the Son of God, Diligent protector of Christ, Head of the Holy Family, Joseph most just, Joseph most chaste, Joseph most prudent, Joseph most strong, Joseph most obedient, Joseph most faithful, Mirror of patience, Lover of poverty, Model of artisans, Glory of home life, Guardian of virgins, Pillar of families, Solace of the wretched, Hope of the sick, Patron of the dying, Terror of demons, Protector of Holy Church, Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us. V. He made him the lord of His house: R. And ruler of all His substance. Let us pray. O God, who in Thine unspeakable providence didst vouchsafe to choose blessed Joseph to be the spouse of Thine own most holy Mother: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may deserve to have him for our intercessor in heaven, whom we reverence as our defender on earth: who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Join us this month of May to learn further about our Mother Mary. Do you know why us Catholics pray to our Mother Mary?This month we picked to learn further about Mary through the Lectio by Dr. Brant Pitre about Mary. Find out Mary and its role based on the Jewish traditions on the time of Jesus. There are three (3) principles you must consider when you are learning about Mary when looking into a Catholic perspectives:Understand that everything we believe about Jesus and Mary goes together. If you understand Jesus you will understand Mary.Typology - studying old and New Testament. Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) the image of Mary is woven entirely out of Old Testament threats. The portrait of the new Mary the threats are from the Old. We need to understand the Old Testament to make better sense of the role of Mary in the New Testament.Belief from Mary are NOT new - they are based on our initial Christians and the rise of our Church Fathers.Learn further about Lectio Mary via the Augustine Institute, Formed, or Book.

“The Chosen”https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosenCaroline, Malena & Mark decided to review the next episodes of “The Chosen” Series created by Dallas Jenkins  and distributed by VidAngel streaming service.  The whole series is a crowdfunded venture, without any larger studio influence.  A story told and done by Christians who are passionate about the message of Jesus and all the amazing stories that surround Jesus visualized in a humanistic perspective.In Episode 3 - Jesus Loves the Little Childrenhttps://youtu.be/GvOpb1sxx8Q Episode 4 - The Rock On Which It Is Builthttps://youtu.be/z49zw1jMPo4Warning, this may be a bit more lengthy episode than normal, as we added a couple of audio scenes that we would like you to listen to. We are trying to make those 30 minutes podcasts from now on, so you get quick topics of ideas or conversations about our journey to discover further our faith and learn from each other.

A look into the life of a Roman Tribune - Clavius - who has been trained to follow orders and conquer. He is also a religious individual, as he prays to the Roman gods. He has been put in charge to execute Jesus and ordered the Roman soldiers to pierce Jesus. The journey comes when he needs to make sure the Apostles do not steal Jesus' body and when Jesus “disappears”, he is looking for Him for the Romans & Pharisees. He encounters the Apostles with Jesus and that when his world turns upside down. A faithful soldier to the Romans, becomes curious and ultimately changes his life for Him.Listen to Caroline, Malena & Mark talk about different stories and insights about the movie, looking further into the perspective of a non-believer and his journey to conversion.A great story that can help reflect anyone's actions towards our Lord.

Preparing for Passover? Are you curious about learning why we celebrate Holy Week as Catholics? It is amazing how people do not know the meaning behind Easter, why do we get Good Friday off?These traditions are coming from our Catholic or Christian roots, this is the fulfillment of the prophecies from the Old Testament, where we get to spend 40 days of Lent, in preparation for the most precious sacrifice ever done for the people of the world.As Catholics, Caroline, Malena and Mark, even know the celebration of our most important tradition as Catholics, we didn't really know about what really happened throughout the whole week.In this episode, we listen to the 1hr episode of “Holy Week” by Dr. Brant Pitre. In this episode we understood so many different levels of understanding the symbolism of all the different events throughout the week. Did you ever wonder what Jesus did on Holy Monday? Or that Holy Wednesday is called “Spy Wednesday” ?Dr. Brand Pitre is a distinguished scholar of Jewish and Christianity studies. He has several publications, introduction to new Catholics books,  lectios which we highly recommend for anyone - whether you are a Catholic or not. You can listen to Dr. Brand Pitre via his websites:https://www.brantpitre.com/ https://catholicproductions.com/collections/brant-pitrehttps://youtu.be/SBkIxeF1HQY 

Caroline, Mark, and Malena tackle the first two chapters of God (Ignatius Press & Augustine Institute, 2019) from the What Every Catholic Should Know series. Author Elizabeth Klein is Assistant Professor of Theology at the Augustine Institute in Denver, CO, though originally from Ontario.The hosts discuss their impressions from the book which endeavours to address the age-old question of ‘Who is God' in a succinct and refreshing way. Klein introduces man's desire to know God (Chapter 1) and God's Name (Chapter 2) as kick-off to her text. She invites readers to know, love and serve God by addressing 3 major concepts in her book: 1) the nature of God; 2) the Trinity; 3) the Incarnation.Klein is also the author of Augustine's Theology of Angels (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Parishes can purchase the book in bulk from Catholic Market (https://catholic.market) as part of the $1.50 book distribution program. Free shipping is available to Canadian parishes! Also in the What Every Catholic Should Know series: Literature; Being Catholic; Mercy; Salvation. Check out more from Klein on FORMED.org: Catholicism & Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear it Away; FORMED Now! Evangelizing Millennials (Part 2); FORMED Now! Martyrs & Monastics. 

What is Lent?Caroline, Malena & Mark decided to discover traditions and the stereotypes that we may have about Lent. Understanding the principles of Lent and also our personal traditions on how might we be able to repent in this season of Lent.Lent is a tradition currently present in our culture without even knowing it. For example - McDonald's created the McFish to be able to appeal to catholic communities around the USA. Lent is a season of transformation of ourselves, to help us repent of our sins and become better individuals. Have you ever wondered why we fast? Why do we fast during Lent? Listen to this episode and let us know your questions.NOTE: This episode is episode 4.

“The Chosen”Online SeriesEpisode 1 & 2 ReviewWatch Trailer by clicking in this linkCaroline, Malena & Mark decided to review the online series of “The Chosen” created by Dallas Jenkins  and distributed by VidAngel streaming service.  The whole series is a crowdfunded venture, without any larger studio influence.  A story told and done by Christians who are passionate about the message of Jesus and all the amazing stories  that surround Jesus visualized in a humanistic perspective.How might you be able to relate to these characters who were “chosen” and decided to follow Jesus?The Chosen season 1 is available for FREE in English & Spanish. The Chosen has grown to become the largest crowdfunded TV series of all time.We believe this is a great way to start our lent season and maybe inspiring us to go and pick-up our Bible to read some of the passages the first seasons is visualizing.We highly recommend the series as a family and hope you find it insightful. Please send us an email with any questions or comments about our episode at patron@lumenfideh.com 

Quo Vadis (1951)Directed by: Mervyn LeRoyActors: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo GennA movie based on the book by Polish Writer Henryk Sienkiewicz and turned into a major Hollywood production in 1951. You can download the free epub via our website.Caroline, Mark and Malena discussed the early beginnings of the Christian Faith, the struggles and tribulations early Christians had and how it compares to the current struggles we are facing and our reactions to these. 

The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of NoiseBy Robert Cardinal SarahIn these difficult times and with isolation on us, we took this great opportunity to talk about one of our favourite books. Caroline, Malena and Mark discussed their views on how these books helped them connect and share their struggles on how busy we get and we live in a world full of noise.In this modern world full of noise that keeps us busy to take a minute away from our lives, silence is an indispensable doorway to connect with the divine. How might we be able to start a conversation with ourselves? with our God?Seeking moments of silence is becoming harder and it is more needed than ever before. Caroline, Malena and Mark embark themselves into this new journey together as regular people, trying to learn more about our faith, as well as to help grow as an individual, a community member, a member of our faith, and a member of our world.Join us to discover why it is important to dedicate some time for silence, how might we be able to start fostering good habits to listen and be silent, instead of not listening and being one of those individuals who causes the noise.