Podcast appearances and mentions of saint rita

My guest and conversation partner for this episode is Anna Pereira. Anna grew up in New Jersey. She tells us about growing up in a home where she was discouraged by her father from going to college. She tells us that while her mom typically exceeded to the wishes of her dad, Mom did insist that Anna should be able to go to college if she wished. And so Anna did, but only stuck it out for three semesters.   Anna then joined the workforce holding a variety of jobs and becoming successful at most of them.   In 2009 she met and married her husband. That story is one I leave for Anna to tell, but suffice it to say Anna's story is an inspirational and fascinating one you should hear from her. Anna's husband is a sports expert as you will learn. A few years after marrying Anna and her husband moved to Portugal for a job and have been spreading their time between New Jersey and Portugal ever since. In fact, not just travels to Portugal but also to other countries around the world.   The Wellness Universe concept was created by Anna to help bring wellness to leaders and others. Through The Wellness Universe, and now Wellness Universe Corporate Anna has reached thousands of people. Her programs are in large part membership-based endeavors that help promote well being and a more positive outlook on life.   Our conversation is not only informative and inspirational, but it also is quite animated in a positive way that I believe will keep you engaged. Please enjoy your time with Anna and reach out to her afterward at www.thewellnessuniverse.com. I think you will see why Anna believes she is truly changing the world.       About the Guest:   Anna Pereira is the CEO of The Wellness Universe, and Wellness Universe Corporate, creator of wellness events, projects, community, programs, author of 4 best selling books, and founder of Wellness for All, donation based wellness programming and leads a woman-owned business, where they believe happy, healthy, healed humans lead to peace globally. She's an inspirational leader, mentor, and connector for business owners who help humans to live and lead their best life. Anna has worked with thousands of wellness business owners bringing their transformational resources to those seeking wellbeing and now taking those people to help transform organizations through the lens of company culture and well-being. Her contribution and impact are well documented through those she has worked with, evident in over 150 written recommendations in her Linkedin profile.  Anna resides between Portugal and her birthplace, New Jersey, USA, with her husband, sports expert, Hugo Varela. The couple has adopted pets (one dog and two cats) and cares for strays and their African Gray is a quite conversationalist speaking two languages. Her relationship with her loved ones and others is top priority. Anna finds balance in being creative, in nature, and at the beach.  She's dedicated to serving her calling and leaving her legacy as a ‘conduit for change' by bringing more health, happiness, and wellbeing to the world with a collaborative spirit and intentional action.   Ways to connect with Anna:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/annapereira1/  https://www.thewellnessuniverse.com/world-changers/annapereira https://www.facebook.com/CirclesOfInspiration IG - @annapereiraofficial Books - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VFFJPN9       About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of unstoppable mindset. Today we get to chat with Anna Pereira. And Anna is the founder of the wellness universe, the wellness universe and other things that we're going to talk about. She's written several books, and she has been a very active and engaging person. We've had fun catching up even before we started doing this podcast, because Anna spends her time between Portugal and her home in New Jersey, and where she lived in New Jersey was like just a few miles from where I and my wife Karen lived in Westfield New Jersey for six years, so we hadn't talked about that before. Shame on us, but now we have, and we got caught up. Anna, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Oh   Anna Pereira ** 02:14 Michael, thank you so much. I am delighted to be here. Thank you for having me. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:18 I'm really glad that we're getting a chance to do this. So tell us a little bit about kind of the early Anna growing up and all that stuff. Might as well start with that,   02:31 such a big question. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:33 if we take the hour to talk about that, then we know that there were some interesting events.   Anna Pereira ** 02:39 All right. Well, great. Well, you know, it's so funny, like you said, we were talking about growing up in in very close proximity to each other, probably around those same years, and had no idea that here we are, later again and and it was our wonderful friend Sharon Carn, that actually put us together here. Yeah. So I grew up in New Jersey, and I had a pretty, pretty average childhood, except for the fact that I feel, and I think that with a lot of first generation immigrants, people that came in from a very strict background, my my culture, my background is Portuguese. My parents raised me in a pretty strict household, but I was not a very compliant individual, growing up with a very free spirit and very creative spirit. So with that, I was always very independent. Wanted to do my own thing, and at the same time, there wasn't, like, a lot of, I want to say nurturing or good parenting from the from the angle of, there wasn't a lot of I love using the house, or there wasn't a lot of encouraging me to pursue a more of an academic route in life. When I expressed that I wanted to further my education, I was met with the minds with my father's fear mindset around money, saying, you know, no, you're not going to college. We can't afford it. Instead of saying, let's explore options here, let's get our child who is interested in furthering her, you know, her, her education, the resources that she needs in order for her to pursue her dreams. So everything was kind of met with that. So where was your mom and all that? My mom was there, and she was just basically subserving to my father. Okay, the and it's a great segue to the the conclusion of that my mom was the one who said, no, no, we're going to go enroll you in college. That's what I was wondering. Yes, thank you. So I went to the wonderful UCC over here in in Cranford. So. I went to for a few years of Union County College, and it still wasn't for me. So I never really finished with any degree, as with many union, I'm sorry, county college students and I joined the workforce. But growing up was a mixed bag. I was very artistic, and I was very well championed and respected, and my peers and even teachers and people around me really knew me for my artistic talent. They and I was very much celebrated and encouraged in that area, but there was a lot of areas that I felt were lacking. I was bullied when I was growing up, and again, the lack of nurturing, and if something happened, well, it had to be my fault. And if it was my fault, then there was the shame and the blame and all that put there. So in growing up with all of these stigmas and traumas, only as I became an adult, did I understand what what I went through and how to become more aware of the situations and circumstances which kind of led me to where I am today. But all through that time, it was interesting, because I don't know where the inspiration came from to have adult conversations as a teen with my teachers, my guidance counselor, which with other adults, and they would ask me for my advice or my perspective on things that I I don't know where I came up with things, but that was kind of like the the seeding of where I am now,   Michael Hingson ** 06:46 interesting. You know, one of the things that that comes to mind when you when you say that last bit, is that I've learned, if nothing else in the world, our subconscious minds, our heart, if you will, observes everything that goes on around us, and oftentimes, will tell us things if we learn to listen. So in a sense, I'm not really surprised that maybe you were able to carry on adult conversations because they picked up on that, but clearly you had been observant enough to be able to gather the knowledge to be able to go off and deal with some of those things, and it's so often that people don't do that today. My favorite example of that is playing Trivial Pursuit. When somebody asks a question and you immediately think of an answer, and then you go, Oh, no, that can't be the right answer. It came too quick, and then you give some other answer, but the original answer was the right answer. And we just don't follow our instincts and our heart nearly as much as we probably ought to.   Anna Pereira ** 07:44 I love that you use the word instinct, Michael, I like to use the word intuition.   Michael Hingson ** 07:49 Same concept, yeah, for what I'm talking about here. Yes, it's there, and we just, we don't use it. We, we seem to be taught by others that that's not the way to do things, and it's a problem.   Anna Pereira ** 08:08 I'm laughing so hard right now, authentically, laughing at what you're saying honestly, and people are now. And then you learn. You go through life, and then you learn like I should have listened to my gut. I should have listened to what I was being told, you know? And if we, if we do, listen more into that, and we lean into that space, which is what, literally, I'm all about right now, and the people I surround myself, it's like listening to that, tuning into your heart, tuning into your gut, and quieting the mind, because the mind is really great after you've come to some sort of decision to help you balance that decision. But if you go to your strictly to your mind, well, that just that just gets all up in the way.   Michael Hingson ** 08:54 Of course, it's really going to part of your mind, because the other part of your mind is really your gut that we don't tend to listen to nearly as much as we should agree. How long ago did you leave college? When did you leave?   Anna Pereira ** 09:06 Oh, my goodness, it was, it was quick. It was basically, I went to county college. So I went for like, three semesters or something. I was probably around, like, 19 or 20.   Michael Hingson ** 09:18 Okay, well, I was wondering how, like, how long, so, how long have you been in the workforce? Then,   Anna Pereira ** 09:23 oh, I've been in the workforce since I was 12 years old, if you want to talk about workforce, okay, no, I got it. I got a part time job after school, and then I was working three jobs when I was 19, so I can get my own apartment. So I joined the workforce like early on, and had always worked, and even when I was in college, I was working two jobs along with being in college. So it just kind of my ethic. And honestly, again, from the immigrant perspective, you work hard, you stay out of trouble, and then. You know you'll have an okay life. And so   Michael Hingson ** 10:03 often, even on this podcast, I hear people who talk about being immigrants directly, or first generation with parents who were immigrants, who say that very same thing and who follow that work ethic, and it serves them so well.   Anna Pereira ** 10:22 There's, there's lots of great things to take away from that. I will say, like when I'm dedicated, I'm committed. You know, there's a lot to be said for a lot of the benefits, as they have seen, have benefited them. But I also see how it creates a lot of shortcomings in your life, and I'm trying to reverse some of that, those patterns and that thinking and those beliefs, those false beliefs, as I've gotten older, because that they really don't serve. Not, not every single thing from that point of view, serves   Michael Hingson ** 11:02 no but it lays a foundation. And then the question is, how you work with and how you evolve? Yes, yeah, which, which really makes a lot of sense. But so you had, what kind of jobs did you have after you left college? Then,   Anna Pereira ** 11:17 oh goodness, well, I've done everything from retail to undercover security, to office, to head of a $15 million division for a pet products company. I've had my own businesses. I've had my own clothing lines, I've had jewelry collections. I I've been an entrepreneur, and I still am, and so it's kind of a hodgepodge, and I've taken away from every single experience, a very big learning experience, from the people that I worked with to the jobs that I've held to you know, even when I talk now, I know, for example, when I design product for a pet products company, I know that there's a certain footprint that a department store or a spec or a store, you have to stay within that footprint when you're designing the packaging, because if you design the packaging outside of that footprint, they're not going to bring the product in it. The profit margin is not there to that makes sense to occupy that footprint, right? So there's, there's so many things that I've learned along the way that I bring into my now. But, yeah, I've hold, I've held, like, various, various job. Telemarketer, like, you name it, almost, I've done it. I've done it. Michael, well,   Michael Hingson ** 12:34 let's, let's get real. You live in New Jersey. Bada, bing, bada, boom. Did you ever work with Tony Soprano? Just checking.   Anna Pereira ** 12:42 I did not, you know, just yesterday, where we headed out to Connecticut, and one of the one of the rest stops are named James Gandolfini, rest stops.   12:50 Oh,   Anna Pereira ** 12:51 I was like, That's so nice, yeah. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 12:52 what? I actually have a funny story when we were building our house. Well, we built our house, and the builder was a gentleman and his sons, Joe scalzidonna, and his partner was the financier for the for the group, and his name was Joe Pinto. And they Joe, especially Pinto, I guess, made his money ready. Here it comes in the garbage business. And it means all that that implies. But, you know, they were very nice to us. All of them were, were really great to us and helped us a lot. They they were very concerned about making sure everything that could be done to make the house accessible for Karen was done. And did some some really great things, and had some really creative contributions over the things that we included in the design. So it was wonderful to work with all of them. But, you know, it's an interesting it's, I like New Jersey. We had a lot of fun there. We would go into New York many weekends and go to the theater or just walk around, and so it was a lot of fun. But Karen was a native Californian and always wanted to get back to California. So after September 11, we did move back here, but it's always good to keep in touch.   Anna Pereira ** 14:14 Yeah, I do love it here. I couldn't give up my home when I married my husband back in 2009 um, it was we were here. But then my husband had to leave and go out of the country, back to Portugal to for an opportunity that he had, that he couldn't, that he couldn't refuse,   Michael Hingson ** 14:33 couldn't refuse one of those, huh?   Anna Pereira ** 14:37 But in a good way. And you know, then there was the, this is where it led to me living between two two countries. But I literally, there was no way I could go in my home in New Jersey. I'm sorry. I am a Jersey girl at heart.   Michael Hingson ** 14:49 There you go. Do you guys ever commute back to Portugal now?   Anna Pereira ** 14:53 Oh, yeah, we live between the two and also our global citizens. Like I just got back from San Paolo on I. Friday morning? Yeah, we, I've traveled this so this year, so far, we've been to San Paolo three times, Rio to London to Dubai to Oh, Argentina is   Michael Hingson ** 15:14 all of that for work?   Anna Pereira ** 15:16 Yes, well, both, because both of us are both business owners, entrepreneurs, networking is a big part of our success. So it's work related, not you know more, more with networking and showing up for different things. I came actually here from Portugal to attend an event as a as a facilitator of a master class for wellness. So I was actually in Portugal when I got called back here to come back to New Jersey, so and so. There is no rhyme or reason or where we go, or what when we go, unless it is provoked by a business opportunity or meeting.   Michael Hingson ** 15:58 What kind of work does he do? So   Anna Pereira ** 16:01 my husband is a very interesting person. He is actually a specialist in the sports world. He had played, yeah, he had played professional football in Portugal, which we call soccer. We call soccer Yes. And from that, it kind of ushered him into this amazing career. He used to be a professional goalie. He went from that to sports agent to advisor to sports team owners restructuring teams, to overseeing the whole workings of teams and helping helping an owner to being part of a fund and being owner of teams, as well as intermediate intermediating different deals and negotiations between partners and just all kinds of things he is. He is a sports expert. He's actually been asked last week to be part of a book that has nothing to do with sports. It's about, I think it's a mathematician or an economist that is a professor over at the college in Portugal has asked him to contribute to the book based on his expertise of sports management. So he's kind of like I want to say, and you and I will understand the terminology. He's a businessman in the sports world so   Michael Hingson ** 17:26 well, that's pretty cool. So does he own a team? Yes.   Anna Pereira ** 17:30 So we are in and out of ownership, depending on when you speak with us. Their their group buys and sells teams. They go in, they restructure, they make sure that the team becomes, you know, better than they were, and they create a great investment out of the the team that they're invested in based on, you know, recruiting great, great talent, selling those, selling the players for transfers much more than what they paid, things like that. So right now, we're in between, but something is coming very soon, and I'll let you know when that happens. When it happens. Keeps   Michael Hingson ** 18:06 you busy. Has he ever thought of or ever explored? This is an off the wall question. But what the heck creating any kind of level of accessibility in soccer, either for like people in wheelchairs or people who are blind, because there are people. I don't know about soccer, but I know that, for example, there are blind people who are well, there are blind golfers. I know a couple of blind people who is children in high school actually played baseball, and they have a clever way to do it. And it was and it was competitive. They were parts of regular teams, and of course, there's, you know, other things like basketball. But I'm just wondering, has he ever considered that, or has that ever come up? I   Anna Pereira ** 18:49 love that you brought this up. First of all, Michael, because this was actually just part of a larger conversation of the conference that I came back for. So my husband's wheelhouse is not in that area. However, you can imagine the amount of detail that goes into the inner workings or structure of an organization for the employees and the structure of a sports organization, down to the individual athletes and then to all of the experiences for everyone who's engaged, every stakeholder, every fan, and so I don't know how much he's ever been involved in those particular conversations before, but I will tell you what was so interesting last week, the organization Sega Sports integrity, global alliance is the organization that is addressing this. And last week we had the master class, sorry, a week and a half ago, there was the master class that I was part of, and the next day were panels, and one of the panels really addressed diversity and inclusion. And the the whole event was, was. Focused on female leadership in sport to bring in more women into the leadership. Their goal is to have 30% of the leadership to be women in sport, professional sport, all of it. So they their big focus, because their founder was part of the soccer world, Emmanuel, but they focus on all the other areas of sport, and so they had offensive champion on the panel. They had someone representing golf, someone there representing chess. They had someone representing all of these different areas, basketball, volleyball, from all these different areas of sport and the the Special Olympics and the Olympics were discussed, and there was a speaker there in a wheelchair, and we, they actually addressed this at this conference specifically. So it is a big conversation. It is a big topic. But to answer your question specifically about my my husband, my husband, I don't know how much he's been into that conversation, specifically.   Michael Hingson ** 21:06 Well, it's interesting. I remember this year when the LA Marathon was run, the first winner was the person from well, the wheelchair category. And I learned last year or the year before, in talking to somebody on the podcast that in reality, oftentimes people in chairs will actually complete a marathon course significantly faster than regular runners because they they get those chairs moving. But of course, it does mean that they have the athletic prowess to do it. And equating competitiveness is, of course, a different story. I suppose that ought to be explored. But the fact of the matter is that oftentimes, wheelchairs will will go through the whole 26.3 miles, or whatever, faster than a person just running with their legs. Now, at the same time, I know a woman who is blind who was an international rower. So rowing is not something that requires any real mate, well, any adaptations to work. But she could never be on an Olympic team. She could only be on a Special Olympic team because she was blind, even though what she did and what rowers did certainly could be done whether you're blind or sighted. So you know my my opinion is what we really should do is require that all sports be played totally in the dark, without any lights, and then we'll see who wins.   Anna Pereira ** 22:49 That is, that's an interesting approach. That's an interesting approach.   Michael Hingson ** 22:52 I worked for a company once, and when my wife also worked for the company, and she was in charge of Doc document control for the company. And one of the things I said is, if you really want to have true document control, because some of the people in the company, including the President, would oftentimes go in and steal the gold copy or the master copy of something, and send it out, rather than making a duplicate, which is a no no. But they did it anyway. And I said, well, then to have doc control, just put everything in Braille and then see what they do. But, you know, good doc control. But so it was just an interesting question, and it is a topic that is more and more part of the discussion, the whole issue of having some level of access for people who are who have other disabilities. And I say that because my opinion is, of course, that every person has a disability. Yours is your light dependent. You know, if the lights go out, you're in a world of hurt, although I'm not. And you know, Thomas Edison and the invention of the electric light bulb mainly fixed that it covers up the disability, but it's still there, but it's but it is true that we are at least discussing it more than we used to. And if we take that discussion further and make something happen with it, that will be a good thing, but it is a an interesting thing that we we end up having to face from time to time.   Anna Pereira ** 24:23 Well, I'll tell you what the individual that I was just speaking about that was part of that panel would probably be interesting for you to have a conversation with. If this is something that you're passionate, have a conversation with Michael. Her name is Karen Korb, K, A, R, I N, K, O, R, B and she she was the one that was speaking on that panel, specifically, and and she was in a wheelchair, so that is really something that she would love to dive into. I'd   Michael Hingson ** 24:50 love to chat with her. If you have a way to help us get an introduction, that would be cool. We'd love to have her on the podcast.   Anna Pereira ** 24:56 Absolutely, she's a divine in. Visual. And   Michael Hingson ** 25:01 of course, as I as I tell people often on this podcast, anyone who has an idea for a guest, we're always looking for, for more people to have so love to meet folks. It's fun.   25:12 Absolutely well, so   Michael Hingson ** 25:14 you wrote a book, 25 tools for happiness, one of four, I believe. And you talk in there about the fact that you manifested your husband. That's an interesting topic. Tell me about that, if you would.   Anna Pereira ** 25:27 Yes. Oh, Michael, this is one of my favorite stories. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Any chance, any chance I get. To number one, talk about my husband. Number two, encourage hope in someone who is of, you know, a middle age and still single. Is, is just, it's just a joy for me so and just, I just wanted to correct that. I didn't write the book. I authored book because I had, and this is why I want to, I want to really make note of this. I had 24 other 25 amazing authors contribute to this book. The diversity of stories in that that particular book is really, really, really amazing. So, God, where do I start? And it happened here, in the hat, in the home in union, New Jersey. And a lot of going back to what we were talking about earlier, about what structured my belief system about myself from my childhood and growing up, and how it manifested through my life, and the type of self love, self awareness, belief system I had from growing up really impacted my general happiness. So one of the things that at this point in my life, I just really wanted to settle down with someone that that I was going to build a life with. And in that introduction to the 25 tool this, it's the wellness universe guide to complete self care. 25 tools for happiness. Book my introduction specifically shares my secret sauce of how my life has literally turned into well, I mean, nobody has a fairy tale. Even a fairy tale has its challenges, right? But of as much of a fairy tale as possible, humanly possible on this earth, one day for no reason at all, and I this is why I believe that we all are connected to the Divine and have this channel, this guidance. I wish I just I was at the second floor of my house. I was at the top of my stairs, and it just hit me like because I had just gone through some really traumatizing experiences with somebody that I was getting involved in business with, and she was it just, was just terrible, terrible experience, one of the worst in my life taught me a lot of things. And for some reason, just that day, I was like, and I was raised Catholic. I don't really go to church. I don't like, I don't believe in strict religious rules, but I believe in my spirituality and who exists on the other side watching over me. I think that they are so I was at the top of my stairs, and I was like, Dear God, universe. You know Mary, Jesus, you know Joseph, Saint Rita, whoever's watching over me, I'm like, please just let me, allow me to release judgment of myself, judgment on others, and what I believed others are going to judge me on. And please just bring me someone that's going to allow me to live my happiness and make beautiful babies with and that's what I asked for. And all of a sudden, just by voicing that out, I release so much off of myself, but hearing myself say those words allowed me to have hope and believe in this and hang on to it and cling on to it. And I did. And nine months later, on october 26 I went out on my first date with with my now husband, but I didn't know it at a time. So october 26 was our first date. And on December 23 2009 we were married, and we've now been married 14 years. If, if I met, my math is correct and and that is, I believe, how I manifested, you know, my husband, because of making sure I voiced it, I committed to that I owned it. And then i i Every day, I reminded myself of what I really wanted, and because for me, happiness, it's not it's not what you're experiencing now, you don't really even know what happiness is until you're experiencing so I can't say I want this for the rest of my life, because you don't know if that's exactly what you will want tomorrow, it can make you very miserable tomorrow. Or whatever's making you happy today, like I might not want to go on a roller coaster tomorrow. You know what I mean, and I liked it when I was 14 or 15, so leaving it open to please just allow me to live my happiness was a very strong statement and resonated with me because I was aware enough to know that there was so much undiscovered territory in the world that I would not know what happiness was until I was there and and now here I am living around the world, experiencing all of these new experiences globally, traveling everywhere that I would have never known existed if I had boxed myself into one scenario or one expectation, or what I thought I would be happy, happiness for me, at least at that time, having the wherewithal to say, just allow me to live my happiness and make beautiful babies with and then beautiful babies was just more of a metaphor of Like, bring me someone who's attractive, who I'll be attracted to, who's and that we can create things together that would be beautiful. And I believe that we're doing that through his work, through my work, and through what we're doing on this earth, and our relationships with our friends and family. I think we're creating beautiful things.   Michael Hingson ** 31:18 So do you have children? No, we   Anna Pereira ** 31:21 have not had children and when the window is closed, but we do, we do talk about adoption when things get a little bit more settled, things are a little crazy with all the travel and the work. But no, we ended up not have being able to have children, not because of, you know, physiological reasons, but because of just timing and travel and time passed. I was 36 when, when we met. So,   Michael Hingson ** 31:48 yeah, well, and so, you know the for us when I met Karen, it was in January of 1982 and so I was basically 32 and she was almost 33 and we I always thought there had to be somebody who would be right for me, and I would know it when we met and when I met Karen, and it was a friend who introduced us, we started talking, and when we hit it off. So it was just great conversations. Great great interacting together. And over six months, we we talked some, and then, well, actually, seven months, and then at the end of July of 1982 we were in a car in Santa Ana, and I asked her to marry me, and she said yes, and we have said ever since we were old enough and mature enough to know what we wanted in a person who we would spend the rest of our life with and as I said, it is we. We were together 40 years, and I'm sure that she's still up there monitoring me, so I will behave but, but you know, it, it was just something that took it was the right thing to do, and she was definitely the right person. We had conversations about children and decided she was in a chair and didn't want to really go through a lot of the physical things, because she said if she had to be pregnant, she'd probably be bedridden for a lot of it, and she didn't want to do that. So we made the decision together that we would spoil nieces and nephews, because the advantage of that is that we could kick him out at the end of the day and shoot him home and do and did. So it worked out pretty well. But I know exactly what you're saying, and you know it when the right person comes along, if you really look at it and think about it, and again, it's like most things, all too often, we don't think about the right kinds of things, or we don't think about stuff enough, and that can be a challenge. Or in our case, it wasn't because we thought about it enough and it worked.   Anna Pereira ** 34:15 I love that. Thank you for sharing that.   Michael Hingson ** 34:18 So it is that's cool. And you know, you you guys will will figure out what you're going to do. And adopting. There's a podcast episode that we did with someone now, almost two years ago, and he and his wife adopted two daughters from China when they were over 40, because she wanted to adopt a child from China. And there were stories behind it, but they adopted, and now the children are, I think, like 22 and 25 or 23 and 25 or so, and he's written a book about their adopted. Option journey. But again, the the issue is that you never know where life's going to take you. And they never thought about adopting a Chinese girl, or he didn't his wife did for for various reasons, but they both became part of the journey, and it was, and it still is, a great adventure for them.   Anna Pereira ** 35:21 That's wonderful. So gives us hope.   Michael Hingson ** 35:24 Yeah, a lot of a lot of kids need adopting too. Yeah, so you went to Portugal and for the first time, and by the way, have you learned Portuguese? Let   Anna Pereira ** 35:40 me just put it this way, my Portuguese is as good as my singing. You don't want me to hear you want to hear me do either unless I am. It's absolutely necessary so,   Michael Hingson ** 35:55 and I assuming people in Portugal have probably affirmed that in some way, so I won't dig any deeper. Yes, but you, while you were there or somehow involving Portugal, you decided to form this thing called the wellness universe. Tell us about that.   Anna Pereira ** 36:15 Oh, thanks. Yeah. So I was over in Portugal, and I really didn't have much to do. I started a jewelry collection and a Facebook page to kind of get, you know, get the word out about the jewelry collection, but much more my my approach was to just share who I was and inspirational messages, because that's kind of what lent to the jewelry collection. They were called circles of inspiration, and they had, you know, words of inspiration and colors that attracted certain things to you. And so my facebook page actually really became the outlet for my inspirational memes and quotes and things like that, just where I shared and I grew a great community organically. You know, I started in 2011 and I kind of quickly grew to about 300,000 Facebook followers. And from there, I was very much networked with a lot of inspirational people, whether they were life coaches or spiritual coaches or counselors or speakers or authors or therapists, they all had something to do with being inspiring or motivating in some way shape or form a group of my followers And so we were networking and sharing each other's inspirational posts, you know, the memes, things like that. And then I was sitting at my kitchen table again, when you're hit with these moments of inspiration, when you go quiet and you listen, you know, it's amazing what messages you receive. And I was sitting on my kitchen table in Portugal in 2013 September 2013 and something told me, you know, there needs to be a place where people who are changing the world need to come as a community, and you're the one to build it. And I was like, Okay, not too big of an ask. I'm like, All right, so I kind of held to myself for a couple of months, and then I went out to one of my friends, Teresa. She ran this, this page called on the road to me, I believe it was, and I told her first, and I got her input, because she was very wise and she was a good friend, and she's like, Oh my gosh, it sounds like such a great idea. And I said, okay, so Well, since that was the cat was let out of the bag, I'm gonna move forward with this. I went to my husband, I said, Look at this, what I'm thinking of doing. Are you behind me on this? Because basically, when I moved to Portugal, he was like, you don't have to work. You don't have to do anything. You just, you know, you just hang out and you do what you want to do. And I was like, Okay, well, I can't not work. I mean, I have an entrepreneurial spirit. I cannot not work. So aside from the the the jewelry collection, which was slow, I mean, the the it was a slow business, so the inspirational side of me really took over. And this building, the wellness universe, was the next project on my agenda. And through 2014 we started growing a Facebook group of practitioners and people who and hobbyist as well. And then in 2015 we launched the first version of the platform, and it was, you know, self funded, membership supported. And so from 2015 january 2015 we've been growing the wellness universe every year. And now it's a basically, it's a directory of practitioners, wellness practitioners, and people who are making the work. A better place. So anyone go and find them through the wellness universe.com but we also have amazing classes and courses. The practitioners who are part of membership are able to host their classes and courses on our platform, the lounge, the wellness universe lounge. But also we work in partnership with those that we know, love and trust to help them also amplify their message through a program, what we call wellness for all and wellness for all programs on the platform are all free to join in donations supported by people who are seeking those courses and classes. And we have a blog, and like you mentioned, we have the books, the four books that we've published with over 65 people that we've created into best selling authors, because some of them have repeated through some of the books. So that's why it's not 100 authors, 25 chapters per book with 25 different authors. And now we've launched wellness universe corporate, and so we are actually delivering wellness solutions through a company culture lens of analyzing, going in and assessing an organization on what their needs are and their culture, through their culture, and then bringing in wellness components to shore up those gaps, while we have the buy in from the leadership, letting everyone know, hey, based on, you know, the assessment the organization, this is what you need, and we're bringing this in. So that's kind of like the very condensed version of the wellness universe, and wellness universe corporate division. And I'm really, really honored and blessed to have worked with some of the most transformational people in the world, like our friend Sharon, and bringing wellness to to places that it may have not been before, and bringing the conversation to stages and and rooms and boardrooms and classrooms and retreats and things like that that may not have experienced it before, which is really, that really, I find is the most fun when I when I bring something to someone and they never heard of it before, like EFT or muscle testing or, you know, you know, you know, you know, trauma informed, you know, sessions, stress management sessions, you Know, Like, what like that really has been so rewarding when people at the end of the day are like, you know, I learned from you last week, or what I read or whatever, or the person that you brought to me or to my organization, and it truly has transformed my life. I found, I found. I just got a story the other day from a woman who read our books, and from reading the stress relief book, she's like, you know, after reading this book, I had, I found the self love to go and get a surgery on my foot that I've been putting off because I feel I was worth the investment of the surgery to relieve myself of this pain. But then I did it after reading your book, and I was like, I literally was in tears. And of course, Michael, as you know, as an author, how often do we actually hear those stories that are so rewarding from the people you know? How do you feel about that? By the way, let me ask you questions. I know that. I know that you're interviewing me, but   Michael Hingson ** 43:20 how it's a conversation. It's fair.   Anna Pereira ** 43:23 Thank you. How great is it when somebody comes back to you and says, Your story has changed my life?   Michael Hingson ** 43:33 Well, let me tell you one of my stories. So the answer is great, of course, but I also know that I can't let that kind of thing go to my head. But let me tell you one of my favorite stories. I've talked about it a couple times here. In 2003 I was asked to go to New Zealand, so as basically a year, and it was about 1516, months, no, 14 months after September 11, and 16 months, I guess. And anyway, I was asked to go and help to raise some funds for the Royal New Zealand foundation of the blind by speaking. And they paid me to come over. And before I had had come over in, actually, early 2002 a gentleman from New Zealand called he said his name was Paul Holmes, and he wanted to interview me. Well, he came, what I learned was to to do an equivalent sort of thing. He is, what you would say would be the Larry King of New Zealand, so very famous and all that. Well, anyway, he came and we chatted and all that. And he said, If you ever get to New Zealand, I want to interview you first before you go anywhere else and talk to anybody else. And I said, Okay, had no idea that anything was going to happen about going to New Zealand. But then the next year. Early in 2003 I was invited, and we set up the trip to go over in early May. So needless to say, being a loyal kind of guy, I emailed Paul Holmes and said, hey, guess what, we're coming over. So we got there on a Wednesday, and he had arranged for the interview to be done that night, New Zealand time at seven o'clock. So we went and did the interview, and the Royal New Zealand Foundation had me traveling all over New Zealand for basically 16 or 17 days. We did 21 different stops, both by flying and by car and all that, in 16 or 17 days. But anyway, so we did the interview and a week and a half later. So it was the second Sunday I was in New Zealand. Now we were on the South Island. We had landed originally on the North Island. Now we're on the South Island. And I was speaking to a group of blind people, and I they wanted to know all about the World Trade Center and all that. And I told them, and then one of them said, we have to tell you a story. And his story went on something like this yesterday. That would have been a Saturday. We took a river rafting trip, and the foundation set it up. These are all clients from the foundation, and said they set it up, and the guy who was in charge of the trip took us out, and we all had a great time. It was wonderful. But at the end, he said, I have to be honest with you guys, I was about to cancel this trip. And I said, why? Or No, I didn't say, I mean, they said, why? And he said, well, because he said I didn't think that blind people could do this. He said I was just all afraid that the next thing that was going to happen by the end of the trip is at least one person was going to fall overboard and drown. But he said, I happened to be watching the telly the other night, and I saw Paul Holmes interview this blind bloke from the United States who was in the World Trade Center. And he said, if he could get out of the World Trade Center, the least I could do was have an open mind about you guys going on this trip. And he said, it has been the best trip I have ever had. Wow. So, you know, I, of course, there was a lot of pride. I love the story, and I know I've taken a fair amount of time to tell the story, but the point is, you never know what seeds you're going to plant. And the bottom line is that my goal in speaking has always been if I can help even one person learn something and inspire one person. I've already done my job. And more important, I've decided a long time ago, if I could help people move on from September 11, and I've done my job, but what a what a great story. And yeah, it has inspired me a lot, and it's one of the stories that continues to propel me forward, knowing that if I can help people and get them to understand about being blind a little bit more and and accepting of people who are different than they then, then it's working out really well. Michael,   Anna Pereira ** 48:22 I am so glad that you shared that story with me, and that is really that speaks the truth and the power of showing up and sharing who you are and impacting someone where they impact the many. Wow. Can you imagine if that guide had called off that trip and didn't give the opportunity, sure people, I'm sure, I'm sure, probably many was their first time. I don't even think river rafting. Oh my gosh, that's great. Thank you for sharing that.   Michael Hingson ** 48:55 It was great. I haven't either. I've been on boats, I've been on cruises, but I haven't gone river rafting, so it's something to do someday. Yeah, well, let me ask you this. You know you talked earlier, especially about your husband and in relationships and networking and so on, networking is certainly a very important thing. So relationships are really essential to having success. Tell me what you think about the whole idea and the intersection of having a relationship and building relationships, especially authentic relationships and success.   Anna Pereira ** 49:37 Michael, I've been talking a lot about this lately. To be honest with you. We were even talking about this last night, the new company that we're forming, we're actually putting together a very strategic team on the back side, and some of those people are new in my world. And one of the people happened to be this gentleman that was introduced to me by my partner. And. Founder of the wellness universe Corp. And his name is Jack, and I've met him online, virtually, you know, on Zoom calls, over several calls, I'm very confident, very comfortable with him. And I really, I really admire him and the work he's done in his life and what he's achieved. So he's already proven that he has been able to create successful businesses, manage successful businesses, exit successful businesses, and things of this nature. So none of that was was was why I wanted to meet with him, but I found out that he was because he lives kind of in the middle of the middle of the country, lives in Milwaukee, so he was coming out to New York and to Connecticut, actually, to for his current company that he's at, to be a part of a conference. And so with that, I'm like, Oh, you're coming out here, Hugo and I are going to be home. I want to come out. I want to meet with you. And what's interesting is he disclosed to me last night that I'm not going to use the words he says, But he said, like when I asked him to meet up in person, you know, he gets off the call with me, and he turns his wave. He's like, you know, what is Anna? Want to bleep and beat me for? And it was so funny to hear him say that last night, because for me, it's about making that authentic connection and meeting someone in person, if I have the opportunity to which I do and investing, knowing that you're investing in a bigger, a bigger project, building a company together, you know, it's, it's not transactional, it's about, it's about a bigger thing and and so I couldn't understand why he felt that when he when he said this To me last night. But then he said, I understand now, like, and I get it like, I get that. I get who you are, and I see who you are, and I see that you just wanted to just meet up, just to see who you know who I am, and for me to see who you are. I said, That's it, Jack. Because his immediate response, as you know, a man who's white in the business world. He felt that probably I was Troy. I wanted to kind of, quote, unquote, interview him in person after all of these months of working with him, you know, remotely, with alongside with him, on through us, building this new team together. But for me, it was all about beginning the foundation to nurturing a relationship that we've had many meetings, many strategy sessions, many of the do, do do phone calls and the what's what phone calls. But I wanted to sit down with this gentleman and have a break bread with him, see what he's about, him to see what I'm about, what my husband's about, and I truly believe, and I say this over and over and over again, and quite unfortunately, because of my position as the founder of the wellness universe, people see the wellness universe as a bright, shiny object. They see me as somebody in a place of power that I can just give stuff out or help them, give them a hand up, but it's it's not always that. It's still the same thing. Relationships need to be nurtured. I need to get to know someone if they're going to represent the brand of the wellness universe and work with us through wellness universe corporate, for example, or they're going to be a member, I have to see who they are in action that's helping me to nurture the relationship so I can work with them and bring opportunity to them, as well as you saw, Michael, as soon as I am completely networking relationship minded, I am all about giving opportunity and sharing the spotlight and giving the microphone over to people who are talented, just as you said before. It reminded me of Karen Korb, you know, I would love to introduce you to her, for her to be a guest because of a specific topic that was struck up while we were having conversation. This is just who I am. I do believe that networking has a bad name. And if you believe in the networking, like from the early days, and it's just about exchanging business cards, which of course, nobody even has anymore, but I mean, you know what I mean, I have one too, by the way. But if you just think it's about showing up and shaking as many hands as possible, and then, like just vomiting all over somebody what you do and how great you are at it, you're never going to get far in business these days, it's about building, nurturing those relationships and sharing and listening to what someone needs and sharing with them whether you're a resource for that need or not, and chances are 99% of the time, you're really not. But by giving them something that they need, they're going to remember you, and you've just created yourself as a value in their life. So by creating yourself as a value in their. Life, you're still nurturing the relationship. It may not have created a business transaction in the moment, but guess what? You're starting to nurture a relationship that will lead to business growth, that will lead to personal growth. I like to approach things that like you said before, if you don't, it was, well, you didn't say this, but it was part of the conversation, in a way, I think was before we started. You know, if I don't like the person, why would I want to do business with them? And I look at every, every person that I come into contact with, like, do I like this human? Am I trying to show up as my best self for them to like me as a human? And then we'll see where the chips fall around that, yeah, and that. That's kind of my whole philosophy around networking and building relationships.   Michael Hingson ** 55:44 Well, you know, one of the things that I encounter a lot when I'm talking to people about coming on the podcast is, well, I don't, I don't see why I would be an interesting guest. Why do you want me to have Why do you want to have me as a guest on the podcast? I don't have anything in the way of a famous story or anything to tell. And I, I love to tell people, Look, everyone has stories to tell. And the fact is that if you're willing to come on and talk about things and and as you know, I really want to cover the topics that you as a as a person, coming on as a guest, want to talk about, but we do have a conversation, and I do like to encourage everyone to come and tell stories, because I've yet to find people who don't have a story to tell, and I believe everyone does. Everyone's adventures in life is a little bit different than everyone else's, which makes the telling of the story worthwhile.   Anna Pereira ** 56:47 Agreed? Oh, agreed.   Michael Hingson ** 56:51 So with the wellness universe, Corp and so on. Tell me a little bit more, if you would, about wellness and how that plays into company culture,   Anna Pereira ** 57:05 absolutely well. I want to thank you for that. I mean, a few years ago, somebody else was because I was in the throes of my initial co founder, exiting the company and pivoting in some great way, and I didn't know really what was going to be. And at the same time, someone approached me, they wanted to create, you know, corporate wellness solution with me, and that started and fizzled out. And then I brought on somebody else that was going to do that with me. And then that started up and fizzled out. So over the past several years, I've been looking for the proper strategic partner that created a holistic approach to the well being of an organization so we can really create impact. Because all of these years, I've been building the community. I quite honestly, have had 1000s of members come through the wellness universe. Right now, we have a little over 100 and something, enrolled members, active members, people who have a membership and pay a membership and have a public platform through the wellness universe that we work with. But there's been 1000s that have come through. And I really wanted to find a way to work with the people I know trust and love, because they have something, something so great to offer the world. And it wasn't just about creating a wellness app or just the wellness component. There had to be something else that we can sink our teeth into. And also allowed an organization to really get behind because what happens is they bring in a wellness app because it's nice to have, and I'm doing air quotes right now, it's nice to have a wellness app, and then the truth behind it is, for a wellness app, the success rate is to have, you know, 4% is the highest engagement on with a wellness app, and that's their success rate. So nobody really uses that. They the wellness apps, and nor do I find it like a sustainable or something that's part of the person to go to through, through their you know, through their work. But if you go into an organization and you do an assessment around what's going on in the company, and you have that buy in from leadership, because they can see exactly where the breakdowns are and where the successes are. And then you bring in the solutions to reinforce the successes and also shore up where they have the challenges, and then you bring in wellness as a component for for the retention of the employee, for the happiness and health of the employees as individuals, then you have an ecosystem that creates success for the entire organization. And. Coming back down to the individual. So it's really important to find this way to holistically serve and it's a delicate balance, because sometimes it's going to create disruption and the changes that need to be implemented, but you have to have buy in from the leadership, and you have to show them this is exactly why you need it, and that's why the company culture, and addressing that through the assessment that we have is really essential to bringing in the different solutions we have, from the corporate trainings and things like that, to the wellness experience, the wellness experiences and stress management type of classes and courses and things. So for me, it was an evolution and a learning curve over the last four years. I think it took for me to find the proper partner, Alex Bowdoin and people first is her company, and that's where she comes from as a HR consultant, expert, and coming together with the wellness universe, and knowing what I know in the people experience, along with the evaluating the practitioners for what they do and how they serve to give a great experience to a wellness seeker, and then merging the two worlds together with the technology and the platforms and the solutions that we bring so then, that way, it's a really in depth, and I want to say all encompassing solution for an organization, for everyone to walk away, go home and feel good at the end of the day, and come back to work more and be more productive and happy in what they do, and know that they are, that they're supported by their organization, for an organization to be proud to bring these solutions to their employees, knowing that they're bringing something that they actually will use,   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:55 and that's really all anyone can ask For. They will do that and make it work. And think about it, they'll be more successful by any standard in the world. I would think   1:02:10 we would hope Yes. So if people want   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:12 to reach out to you and learn more about wellness universe and maybe contact you and become a part of it, how do they do that? Sure, so   Anna Pereira ** 1:02:21 my email is so simple. It's Anna a n, n, a at the Wellness universe, typical spellings, the wellness universe.com, they can reach out to me there, or they can go right to the wellness universe, which is the wellness universe.com, and connect with me there, or on any of my social platforms. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. I'm very excited to be a top voice in leadership on the platform, and they can connect on LinkedIn as well by searching. Anna Pereira, you'll see me come up. But I think those are probably the best ways to connect with me. There's, you know, there's Facebook and Instagram and things like that, but if you really want to reach me, I check these platforms, my email, and I check my LinkedIn and my wellness universe. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:12 there you go. Well, I hope people will reach out. This has been fun. It's been exciting, and what a great conversation. I'm glad that we did it and we finally got connected. And thanks, Sharon. Thanks, Sharon, for me, and I hope all of you have enjoyed this as well. So love to hear from you. Love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to email me. I'm easy to reach. It's Michael M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I, B, e.com, or you can go to our podcast page, www, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, and Michael Hinkson is m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I, N, G, s, o, n, so as I said earlier, love it. If you have any ideas for guests, we really appreciate and value any introductions that you can make. And Anna, we didn't mention it and much, but that's okay. I do. I'm really ramping up speaking again. So if anybody knows of anyone that needs a speaker, love to explore that and and we'll always be glad to talk to people about coming and speaking. If you would please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening to us today, we really value your ratings and your thoughts, and of course, I want to hear your opinion, so please let us know. So thank you once again, everyone for listening. And Anna, specifically for you, thanks again for being here and for being on the podcast. Thank   Anna Pereira ** 1:04:34 you, Michael. I really appreciate the time with you.   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:41 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Today's episode is a bit different. I will be reading a chapter from my book, Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace. Today's chapter is called The Power of The Saints. I hope you enjoy it!I love the saints! We can learn so much from them. I think we tend to put the saints on a pedestal and think that they were perfect and that we can't really learn anything from them because they weren't like ordinary people. We tend to think their lives were easy and they didn't struggle with the things that we struggle with so we can't relate to them. I am not sure how much you know about the saints, but I am not sure any of them had it easy and I know for sure that none of them were perfect because no one on earth is perfect. We are all human and we all struggle with human behaviors and sins. No matter what you are going through, there is probably a saint that has gone through the same thing in their life.If you are struggling with parenting, or if you have a child who has turned away from the faith, and/ or is getting into all sorts of trouble you could look to Saint Monica. She is the mother of St. Augustine. Saint Augustine is a doctor of the Church now, but before the age of 31 he was known for running around with women and having mistresses. His mother would not give up on him and his conversion. She prayed for him and his conversion everyday.Saint Monica was a Christian, but her parents married her off to a pagan. He husband wasn't all bad, but he did have a violent temper and he was promiscuous. Saint Monica also had a mother in law that lived with them that was bad tempered and uncooperative. Even though her husband criticized her for her faith, she never gave up on praying for him and his mother. Her prayers finally proved fruitful and her husband and mother in law both became Christians. Her husband died one year after his baptism.If you are struggling with a past that you are not proud of you could look to St. Augustine, or Saint Mary of Egypt who ran away from home at 12 and spent her years living on the streets as a seductress. She did her best to sleep with as many young Christian boys as she could. One day she went with some men to Jerusalem. They were on the way to see the life-giving Tree of the Cross that was being shown at the temple. She pushed to the front of the line, but when she tried to step over the threshold she could not get in. It was as if there was an invisible barrier was preventing her from getting in. She tried this several times and the same thing would happen.Mary was too tired to keep trying to get in. She stepped aside and just stood there. She wondered why she could not get in. Suddenly she felt the word salvation and it occurred to her why she was not allowed into the temple. Her unclean lifestyle was the reason she could not enter the holy place. Upon realizing this she because to cry and was filled with grief and sorrow.While she was standing there she looked up and saw an icon of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She begged Mary to let her into the temple to see the Tree of the life-giving Cross. She promised Mary as soon as she had seen the cross she would no longer take part in her unclean lifestyle and that she would renounce the world and its temptations. Mother Mary allowed her to enter and once she left that temple she crossed the Jordon and lived by herself in the dessert.Maybe you are the mother of boys and you are not sure how to lead them with love through all their difficulties. You can turn to St. John Bosco who took care of all the boys in his town, most of them lived on the streets. He had them in church every Sunday. He never yelled at the boys he just loved them.If you are struggling to forgive someone who has hurt you unforgivably you can turn to St. Maria Goretti. She was a child of about 12 I think when her neighbor tried to rape her. She tried to convince him that God did not want him to do that to her. He took out a knife and stabbed her several times because she refused to let him rape her. She was rushed to the hospital and before she died, she forgave him.Are you struggling with a lack of faith? Do your prayers feel unanswered, or maybe you can't even pray right now? Maybe you feel a complete lack of faith, and feel as though there may not even be a God. You could look to Mother Teresa. Most people do not know a lot about her story. She had a deeply personal encounter with Jesus on a train early in her religious life. She had a vision of Jesus and she told Jesus that she would do whatever he asked of her.As time went on she began to feel this deep darkness. Almost as if she were in a pit. She did not feel the love of Jesus, she did not feel anything. She was such a powerful ambassador for God's love, and yet she did not feel any of that love. This did not just go on for a year or so it went on for a very long time. She experienced this darkness for over half her life. She knew that there was a God because of her encounter on the train. However, she did not feel this for such a long time. She would go to her spiritual advisor and tell him she felt nothing. If you are struggling with your faith, you are not alone. Look to St. Teresa of Calcutta to see what she did and how she dealt with her struggles.I was listening to The Jeff Cavins Show Podcast one day and he was talking about how everyone should have a saints posse. A group of saints that you can really get to know well. You can read about them and get to know who they really were, the good and the bad. They could be a like a group of friends that you rely on. You can talk with them, maybe start your mornings with them.He said he got a small medal for each one of the saints in his posse and that he wears them around his neck so that they are always with him. That necklace can also serve as a reminder throughout the day of the person that you want to strive to be. I have photo cards of the saints in my posse on the wall by my desk. I see them every morning. Sometime I say hello and ask them to help me throughout the day and sometimes I forget. I also have a necklace with several medals on it as well.I love this idea of having a group of saints that you can pray too. There are more than 10,000 saints that are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. That would be a lot to learn if you learned about each one of them. However, if you focused on the saints that had similar struggles as you, that number would be more manageable. I have already talked about a few saints at the beginning of this chapter, there is not enough room in this book to talk about all my favorite saints, so I will finish with three of the saints in my posse.St. Maximillion Kolbe is my patron saint, meaning he died on my birthday. I was told, that whether we know it or not, we have a special connection with the saint that is honored on your birthday. Before learning this, I had already been introduced to St. Maximillion Kolbe through the Marian Consecration that I participated in. Kolbe dedicated himself to bringing the whole world to know God through Jesus under the guidance of Mary. He started a newspaper called the Immaculate that was widely distributed throughout Poland.St. Maximillion Kolbe was not always a well behaved child. One time when he was young he got into some some trouble at school. His mother told him that “She did not know what would become of him.” This shook him to the core. He went into their home prayer area and prayed. Mother Mary appeared to him holding two crowns, the white crown of purity and a red crown of martyrdom. She asked him which crown he wanted and he chose both.He did a lot of amazing things in his life. One of the most amazing was when St. Maximillion Kolbe was put into a concentration camp. One of the prisoners in his cell block escaped. In order to deter that from happening again, the guards randomly picked 10 prisoners left in that block and sentenced them to death by starvation. One of the men that they picked was a husband and father and he begged for mercy. St. Maximillion Kolbe volunteered to take his place. It is reported that he sang songs and praised God the whole time he was waiting to die. Kolbe lasted more than 14 days in a starvation bunker with no food or water. The Nazi's finally killed him on August 14, 1941 by lethal injection.Saint Teresa of Liseux is know as the little flower. She was always saying that she was too little to do anything on her own. She told Jesus that she would do anything that he wanted her to do, but that she would need Him to lift her up. She said it was as if she was at the bottom of a huge staircase and that she was too little to even climb up one step. But that if she could climb in Jesus's hand and he could be her elevator and lift her to the next step.A lot of people relate to Saint Teresa of Liseux because it is easy to feel like we can't do much. It is easy to relate to someone who was called to do more, but felt she wasn't capable. Saint Teresa is known for her “little ways” of trusting in Jesus to make her holy and relying on small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds. I think people like this idea because it is a way to holiness through your ordinary life. Saint Teresa did not go on mission trips, she was a cloistered nun, she did not go out into the community to help the poor. She made lots of small sacrifices throughout the day and she did it without complaining and often without recognition.Saint Rita of Cascia, I just love her. Saint Rita is known as, “The Saint of the impossible.” Saint Rita wanted to become a nun, but her parents did not like that idea. Saint Rita got married to a man from a prominent family in her town. He was not a nice man and she struggled with not wanting to stay in the marriage. However, she kept praying for him and eventually he left that lifestyle. The two of them moved away from his family and they had twin boys. They were finally living a happy life, when her husband was murdered. Saint Rita forgave her husband's attackers publicly at the funeral because she was afraid her sons would seek revenge.Saint Rita ended up sending her boys away to try to keep them safe. However, they got sick where they were and they died. She was very sad that they had died, and also relieved that they died of natural causes and did not have the stain of murder on their souls.Rita wanted to joint the Augustinian convent but her applications were always denied. She was not able to join until God stepped in and cleared a way an obstacles. Saint Rita once asked for a rose from the garden to be brought to her. The only problem was that it was the middle of winter. The person she requested it from went down to the rose bush and to her surprise she found a rose in full bloom. This same thing happened one time when Saint Rita requested a fig from the fig tree.Saint Rita loved the Lord and she never gave up her faith in him. She had plenty of heart ache in her life and she certainly did not have an easy life. She had plenty of reasons why she could have given up her faith in God. She had plenty of chances to blame God for the terrible things that happened in her life. She did not do either of these. She continued her pursuit to follow His will with all that she had.As I said earlier, I could go on about the saints for an entire series of books. I just love them. I love how much they loved the Lord. I love how dedicated they were to their mission. I know we could learn so much from them if we took the time to read about them. I remember how uncomfortable it felt to read in the Marian Consecration book that we are all called to be saints. I was not sure I was up to that challenge. However, reading about the saints gives me hope that if I just keep doing the next right thing, I can get there some day. What saint are you going to start learning about?Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you would like to buy my book you can get it on Amazon or on my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. If you would like me to write you a personalized message you can order it from my website and I will sign it before I send it out to you. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow! Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day and may the favor and Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.Today's Word from the Lord was received in March 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “My children, I say to you, here I am. And oh, how I love to hear you respond, here I am, back to me.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO CLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

After a year and 1/2, Winifred & I chat a 2nd time. In this show, we go into her experience as a medical intuitive (how she got there/what that looks like to her), master saints, Quan Yin, St. Rita, star beings, Central Sun, having an expanded view and conscious development.She closes with the Just Be Practice with a gifted healing using quantum grammar, ascended masters and galactics out of the hoo ha.Connect with Winifred:Websites: https://www.makinglifebrighter.com& https://www.winifred.netTwitter: @winifredadamsFB: Making Life BrighterFB: Winifred Adams MusicInstagram: @makinglifebrighterInstagram: @winifredadamsmusic & @winifredadamsofficialYoutube: Making Life BrighterVoiceAmerica: Making Life BrighterGAMI: FB: @medintuit*Host Eden Koz is a soul realignment specialist utilizing such gifts as psychological empathy, intuition, psychic ability, mediumship, meditation, mindset shift, Reiki, dimensional and galactic healing, to name a few. She can also perform a spiritual Co#id Vac+ Healing as well as remote & face-to-face sessions with individuals and groups. Contact info for Eden Koz / Just Be®, LLC:My 3D to 5D Merch here. Insta, FB, FB (Just Be), LinkedIn, TruthSocial, (see the podcast also on) BitChute, Rumble, YouTube, Odysee, Grassroots Warrior Network The Just Be~Spiritual BOOM Podcast can be found on the audio directories: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, ...

Why men should pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary. (2:16) Devotion to the Holy Spirit (19:35) Saint Rita's an incredible story! Hope for struggling marriage and those who want to be married. (38:11)  How to grow in perseverance with St. Rita.  (45:06) Resources mentioned :  The Men's Academy https://www.youtube.com/@TheMensAcademy   Dr. Phillip Chavez  – The Men's Academy  https://themensacademy.org/   Prayer of Perseverance  https://twitter.com/Timmerie/status/1793421108030611757/photo/1 Trending with Timmerie (@timmerie) • Instagram photos and videos   Novena Prayers to St. Rita https://www.saintritashrine.org/novena-prayers   Italian Nun who is helping brides say yes to the dress: https://www.occatholic.com/this-italian-nun-is-helping-brides-say-yes-to-the-dress/   Messages from St. Rita on Perseverance  https://www.holylove.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Messages-from-St.-Rita-of-Cascia-on-Perseverance.pdf

Today's Topics: 1) Gospel - Mk 9:38-40 - John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in Your Name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in My Name who can at the same time speak ill of Me. For whoever is not against us is for us." Memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious Saint Rita, pray for us! Bishop Sheen quote of the day 2) Kansas City Chiefs owner's wife and daughter defend Harrison Butker's pro-family commencement speech https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/kansas-city-chiefs-owners-wife-daughter-defend-harrison-butkers-pro-family-commencement-speech/ 3) Candace Owens joins Chartres Latin Mass Pilgrimage: "Something I will never forget" https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/candace-owens-joins-chartres-latin-mass-pilgrimage-something-i-will-never-forget/ 4) More pro-life activists sentenced to years behind bars, including veteran, and two women in their 70s https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/05/15/more-pro-life-activists-sentenced-years-behind-bars-including-veteran-elderly-women/

Full Text of ReadingsWednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 343The Saint of the day is Saint Rita of CasciaSaint Rita of Cascia's Story Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life. Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded. Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ's crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ's passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery. Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year. Reflection Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which to live out our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist. An “If only ….” approach to holiness never quite gets underway, never produces the fruit that God has a right to expect. Rita became holy because she made choices that reflected her baptism and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong choice was to cooperate generously with God's grace, but many small choices were needed to make that happen. Few of those choices were made in ideal circumstances—not even when Rita became an Augustinian nun. Saint Rita of Cascia is the Patron Saint of: Difficult MarriagesImpossible CausesInfertilityParenthood Learn more about Saint Rita! Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Join Father Kevin Drew as he preaches on this Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time and Memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia, religious. Today's readings First Reading: Jas 4:13-17 Psalm: Ps 49:2-3, 6-7, 8-10, 11 Gospel: Mk 9:38-40 Catholic Radio Network

Today is the feast of Saint Rita, a woman known as the saint of the impossible. Saint Rita was forced to marry a man who was violent and unfaithful. Listen to this reflection to learn why she is known as the saint of the impossible.

Welcome everybody. Another week, another chapter of the podcast that says not everything goes to the life. Today we are going to talk about the popular spanish sayings like "whoever wakes up early, God will help them" "In a closed mouth, the flys won't enter" or "Saint Rita, Rita, which you give, you can't take it back". So funny, in my oppinion. Then, Oscar, the strogen guy, will teach us how to speak properly in english. I'm from Fuenlabrada and look how well I can speak!! Everything because of that TikTok videos. I hope you like the podcast my friends. Writting by: Oscar Blanco, 2ºA ESO

On this special edition of Practicing Catholic, we're featuring the people and the stories behind the new book - Cairn - God Moment Stories - from the folks at the Church of Saint Rita in Cottage Grove.   Joining producer Kayla Mayer to share their stories are Alice and Rory Gilbert. And, no story about the power of parish collaboration would be complete without hearing from the pastor. Fr. Mark Joppa chats with Kayla about the dream behind the book and the power of community. To learn more about the book and purchase a copy of your own, head to the Church of St. Rita website. Like what you're hearing? Leave us a review, subscribe, and follow us on social media @practicingcatholicshow! Direct social media links: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Today's Topics: 1, 2) “New Age” beliefs found among both religious and nonreligious Americans https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/ 3) How Saint Monica can help your child return to Church https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/how-st-monica-can-help-your-child-return-to-the-church/ 4) Eight things to know about Saint Rita, Patron of the Impossible https://www.churchpop.com/st-rita/

Full Text of ReadingsMonday of the Seventh Week of Easter Lectionary: 297The Saint of the day is Saint Rita of CasciaSaint Rita of Cascia's Story Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life. Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded. Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ's crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ's passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery. Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year. Reflection Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which to live out our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist. An “If only ….” approach to holiness never quite gets underway, never produces the fruit that God has a right to expect. Rita became holy because she made choices that reflected her baptism and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong choice was to cooperate generously with God's grace, but many small choices were needed to make that happen. Few of those choices were made in ideal circumstances—not even when Rita became an Augustinian nun. Saint Rita of Cascia is the Patron Saint of: Difficult MarriagesImpossible CausesInfertilityParenthood Learn more about Saint Rita!  Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

The post SAINT RITA appeared first on Fr. Ed Broom, OMV Oblates of the Virgin Mary.

Join Father Kevin Drew as he preaches on this Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter and Memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia, religious. Today's readings First Reading: Acts 19:1-8 Psalm: Ps 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab Gospel: Jn 16:29-33 Catholic Radio Network

Today is the feast of Saint Rita, known as the advocate of desperate cases. She had a difficult marriage and when her husband died, she joined a convent after three unsuccessful attempts to enter. She received a thorn in her for head as a portion of Jesus' suffering.

May 22: Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious c. 1386–1457 Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of abuse victims, sterility, and difficult marriages She suffered for two spouses Rita Lotti gave birth to her first son at the age of twelve. Fortunately the child was not born out of wedlock. Rita's husband had been chosen for her by her parents, and they married when she was twelve. Throughout eighteen years of marriage, Rita endured her husband's insults, physical abuse, and infidelity until the loathful man was stabbed to death by one of his many enemies. Rita pardoned her husband's killers and impeded her two sons from avenging their father's death. Marriage ends with death, so Rita was free after her husband's passing to satisfy a holy desire of her youth and entered an Augustinian convent. The leadership of the local Augustinians was reluctant to admit Rita, however, because she was not a virgin. Despite wide precedence for widows entering religious life, Rita was compelled to wait a number of years before receiving the habit. Rita was a model nun who lived to the fullest the spiritual requirements of her age. She was obedient, generously served the sick of the convent, and shared her wisdom of human nature, especially regarding marital distress, with the lay women who sought her out. Sister Rita was also devoted to prayer and meditated so deeply on the Passion of our Lord that she experienced a mini-stigmata. Instead of open wounds in her hands oozing blood, as Saint Francis and Saint Padre Pio displayed, a small wound appeared on Rita's forehead. It was as if a thorn from Christ's crown had penetrated the tightly wrapped flesh on her skull. There was no thorn visible, of course, just as no nails or spears pierced the bodies of other stigmatists. Rita's wound refused to heal for a number of years. The unique statue, or image, showing a nun with a thorn stuck in her forehead is Saint Rita, making her one of the most easily identifiable people on the calendar of Catholic saints. After Saint Rita died of natural causes, her body did not deteriorate. She was placed in an ornate tomb, her extraordinary holiness was attested to in writing, and healing miracles were petitioned for and soon granted through her intercession. These many cures led to Rita's beatification in 1626 and her canonization in 1900. Leathery black skin still covers Saint Rita‘s habited body as she peacefully reposes in a glass coffin in her shrine in Cascia, Italy. She is invoked as a kind of female Saint Jude, a patroness of impossible causes, particularly those related to the difficult vocation of marriage. Saint Rita was both a physical and a spiritual mother. She was a spouse of Christ—a perfect man, and of her husband—a flawed man. She knew intimately the vocation both to religious and to married life, giving her a certain status, or credibility, with both consecrated and married women, which few others saints enjoy. Rita's dual vocation has given her a dual attraction, which is likely the cause of her fame and the continued devotion to her so many centuries after her death. In many ways, her life in the convent was not remarkable, except for the stigmata. There were surely many other nuns in Rita's era and region whose virtue and prayerfulness stood out. Yet for reasons known to God alone and which are therefore sufficient, this nun, among so many others who brimmed with holiness, is still visited in her shrine, still invoked, and still thanked for the favors that she continues to rain down from her place in heaven. Saint Rita, through your intercession, aid all women in difficult marriages and abusive situations. Help women in distress to think rationally, to be faithful to their husbands if possible, to be devoted to their vows if they are able, and yet to flee if they are in danger.

November 25, 2022My sisters and brothers in the Lord,Welcome to Week 47 of Disciples Together on the Way! We've made it to Week 47! Only four weeks left in our entire program. We've made it to the final stretch. So, for that, I say WELL DONE! God bless you.If you've missed a week or two do not grow weary but start back up and pray that God give you the persistence to march on.For inspiration, we can look towards our friends the saints as examples of perseverance. We've spoken about Saint Monica and how she persevered in prayer for 17 years for the conversion of her son, Saint Augustine of Hippo. Other great examples of persistence are Saint Rita of Cascia and Saint Joseph, foster-father of our Lord.Saint Rita, who lived in 15th century Italy, showed heroic perseverance in her desire to enter the religious life despite being given in marriage to a very violent tempered man by her parents at the age of 12. After her husband died, she again took up her journey to enter the religious life and encountered many trials – yet she persevered and was ultimately allowed to enter the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in Cascia, Italy.We also see a great example of persistence in the life of Saint Joseph. Despite the many hardships he endured protecting and guiding the Holy Family whether it was the journey to Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, or the loss of the Child in the Temple, blessed Saint Joseph never lost trust in God. He always remained steadfast in his faith.So, in these final four weeks I encourage you to continue your journey down the path of discipleship always turning to the Saints for strength and guidance.For this week, our challenge will be to reflect on the previous eight weeks.The focus of the last several weeks has been the Saints and Corporal Works of Mercy. As a good disciple always does, spend some time in prayer thinking about how those challenges have gone. Were there challenges that came easily? Were there some that seemed more difficult to stick with? Ask the Lord to show you where you need to spend time cultivating the habit of a good disciple by revisiting one of the practices mentioned in these past eight week. Then, repeat that challenge again to begin to develop the habits of a devout disciple.Practice makes perfect! Let us continue on our path of discipleship with the encouraging words of Saint Catherine of Siena: “Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.”I'll be back with a new theme and a new challenge next week. Until then, may God bless you abundantly throughout this week, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.Yours in Christ,+ Earl BoyeaBishop of Lansing

Molly talks with author Lina Rather about her books, "Sisters of the Forsaken Stars" and "Sisters of the Vast Black".   Order "Sisters of the Vast Black" from an independent bookseller at this link: https://bookshop.org/a/10588/9781250260253 Order "Sisters of the Forsaken Stars" from an independent bookseller at this link: https://bookshop.org/a/10588/9781250782144 or at Amazon right here https://amzn.to/3fRMNul ABOUT SISTERS OF THE VAST BLACK Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own. When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care―and that of the galactic diaspora―are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.

Your Host Jamie Strode and Aleister Sharkwater have a special guest on our show, Mark Velasquez with Chew and Ew Podcast. we review the film Lake Placid and the beer Saint Rita. we also discuss my scary adventure in Alice tx. We are Spooky crazy and just having fun. Music By Cheslie Dale Staples --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/texashorrornumbersstation/support

On the very first episode of this week's Hash Wednesday Podcast...we introduce you to Saint Rita of Cascia. She's powerful, she's holy, she's a mummy and your story tellers are stoned out of their minds. Let's see where this goes. Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/jerk-sauce License code: LKG3EUCP1MMNFEZO --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

On November 9, Fr. Paul Scalia addressed the Christendom College with a talk entitled “Clarity and Charity: The Catholic Response to Challenge of Homosexuality.” He speaks on the difficulty of being caught in between the uncharitable extremes when responding to homosexuality. Father Scalia is a native of Virginia and grew up in the Diocese of Arlington. He attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.  He then studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, both in Rome.  Since his ordination in 1996 he has served as parochial vicar at Saint Bernadette, Saint Patrick, and Saint Rita parishes.  He served as pastor of Saint John the Beloved until 2012, when he was appointed the Bishop's Delegate for Clergy.  He has written for various publications and is a regular contributor to the Arlington Catholic Herald and Encourage and Teach on the diocesan website.  He is also a frequent speaker for the Institute of Catholic Culture in Front Royal.

Father Ed Broom, OMV, serves as Associate Pastor at St. Peter Chanel Church in Hawaiian Gardens, California. He is a member of the Religious Order, Oblates of the Virgin Mary, and was ordained by Saint John Paul II in St Peter's Basilica on May 25, 1986. Fr. Ed is a Retreat Master and teaches Catholic […] The post SAINT RITA appeared first on Fr. Ed Broom, OMV.

Full Text of ReadingsSixth Sunday of Easter Lectionary: 57All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Rita of CasciaLike Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life. Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded. Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ's crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ's passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery. Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year. Reflection Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which to live out our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist. An “If only ….” approach to holiness never quite gets underway, never produces the fruit that God has a right to expect. Rita became holy because she made choices that reflected her baptism and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong choice was to cooperate generously with God's grace, but many small choices were needed to make that happen. Few of those choices were made in ideal circumstances—not even when Rita became an Augustinian nun. Saint Rita of Cascia is the Patron Saint of: Difficult Marriages Impossible Causes Infertility Parenthood Click here for more on Saint Rita!  Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Today's Saint with Mike Roberts!

Saint Rita of Cascia (1381-1457) was an Italian widow and an Augustinian nun, so famed for the efficacy of her prayers that she is known as the patron saint of the impossible. After her husband and twin sons died young, Saint Rita joined an Augustinian convent, and became known for her piety and her prayers. She received a partial stigmata, a wound on her forehead similar to Christ's wounds from the crown of thorns. 

May 22: Saint Rita of Cascia, Religiousc. 1386–1457Optional Memorial; Liturgical Color: WhitePatron Saint of abuse victims, sterility, and difficult marriagesShe suffered for two spousesRita Lotti gave birth to her first son at the age of twelve. Fortunately the child was not born out of wedlock. Rita's husband had been chosen for her by her parents, and they married when she was twelve. Throughout eighteen years of marriage, Rita endured her husband's insults, physical abuse, and infidelity until the loathful man was stabbed to death by one of his many enemies. Rita pardoned her husband's killers and impeded her two sons from avenging their father's death. Marriage ends with death, so Rita was free after her husband's passing to satisfy a holy desire of her youth and entered an Augustinian convent. The leadership of the local Augustinians was reluctant to admit Rita, however, because she was not a virgin. Despite wide precedence for widows entering religious life, Rita was compelled to wait a number of years before receiving the habit.Rita was a model nun who lived to the fullest the spiritual requirements of her age. She was obedient, generously served the sick of the convent, and shared her wisdom of human nature, especially regarding marital distress, with the lay women who sought her out. Sister Rita was also devoted to prayer and meditated so deeply on the Passion of our Lord that she experienced a mini-stigmata. Instead of open wounds in her hands oozing blood, as Saint Francis and Saint Padre Pio displayed, a small wound appeared on Rita's forehead. It was as if a thorn from Christ's crown had penetrated the tightly wrapped flesh on her skull. There was no thorn visible, of course, just as no nails or spears pierced the bodies of other stigmatists. Rita's wound refused to heal for a number of years. The unique statue, or image, showing a nun with a thorn stuck in her forehead is Saint Rita, making her one of the most easily identifiable people on the calendar of Catholic saints.After Saint Rita died of natural causes, her body did not deteriorate. She was placed in an ornate tomb, her extraordinary holiness was attested to in writing, and healing miracles were petitioned for and soon granted through her intercession. These many cures led to Rita's beatification in 1626 and her canonization in 1900. Leathery black skin still covers Saint Rita‘s habited body as she peacefully reposes in a glass coffin in her shrine in Cascia, Italy. She is invoked as a kind of female Saint Jude, a patroness of impossible causes, particularly those related to the difficult vocation of marriage.Saint Rita was both a physical and a spiritual mother. She was a spouse of Christ—a perfect man, and of her husband—a flawed man. She knew intimately the vocation both to religious and to married life, giving her a certain status, or credibility, with both consecrated and married women, which few others saints enjoy. Rita's dual vocation has given her a dual attraction, which is likely the cause of her fame and the continued devotion to her so many centuries after her death. In many ways, her life in the convent was not remarkable, except for the stigmata. There were surely many other nuns in Rita's era and region whose virtue and prayerfulness stood out. Yet for reasons known to God alone and which are therefore sufficient, this nun, among so many others who brimmed with holiness, is still visited in her shrine, still invoked, and still thanked for the favors that she continues to rain down from her place in heaven.Saint Rita, through your intercession, aid all women in difficult marriages and abusive situations. Help women in distress to think rationally, to be faithful to their husbands if possible, to be devoted to their vows if they are able, and yet to flee if they are in danger.

Miracles of the Cross in the Lives of the Saintshttps://bobandpennylord.store/search?q=Miracles+of+the+Cross+Lives+of+the+SaintsChapter 1 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Thomas AquinasChapter 2 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Francis of AssisiChapter 3 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Paul of the CrossChapter 4 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Catherine of SienaChapter 5 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Anges of MultipulcianoChapter 6 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Gemma GalganiChapter 7 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Padre PioChapter 8 Miracles of the Cross - Saint PeregrineChapter 9 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Clare of MontefalcoThis Podcast - Chapter 10 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Rita of CasciaChapter 11 Miracles of the Cross - Saint Teresa of AvilaChapter 12 Saint Veronica GulianiLenten SuggestionsSupport the show (https://bobandpennylord.store/pages/we-need-your-help)

Which Wolf Are You Feeding?Sirach 6:14-17 “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure.  Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth.  Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be.”There is a saying by Jim Rohn that says, “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” Take a minute to think about this.  Who do you spend the most time with?  When I first heard this quote it really made me think.  I spend the most time with my family, my husband and our three boys. I wondered if I was truly the average of these four boys/men.  It did not seem like I was, as we tend to think opposite about most topics.  I tend to think the glass is half full and they tend to think its half empty. When I think about the type of person I want to be it is a joy filled person that is optimistic and inspiring.  I want to see all that is right with the world.  So I was wondering, how can I be the person I want to be when the people I spend the most time with do not want the same things?  This is a situation that I bet we all fall into.  We are not always surrounded with people who have the same interests or even the same beliefs as we do. So, how then can we surround ourselves with people that do inspire us to be a better person?  There are several ways this can be accomplished.  One way is find a club or group that is filled with people that have your similar interests or beliefs.  This group can be your support system and can help encourage your progress and development.  For instance, a prayer group, a fitness group, a group for whatever hobby you might have, etc.  But, what if you have trouble getting out and about?  What if you don't know how to surround yourself with positive people?  Well, if this is the case and you do not have access to people who can build you up and encourage you to follow your dreams then do not worry, you can still surround yourself with books about people, you can watch TV shows and movies, you can listen to podcasts.  Have you ever noticed when you spend a lot of time with someone you start to talk like them?  For instance, when you go down south for any length of time and you might start saying y'all.  Imagine how much easier it would be to be happy and joy filled if you were surrounding yourself with books, podcasts, or tv shows that feature people who are joy filled?  How much easier it would be to forgive, to love or to have hope if you were surrounding yourself with people who did these things regularly?  Just the other day I was talking to a few ladies about how people don't believe in miracles anymore.  How much more likely would you be to think of miracles if you were hearing about them on a consistent basis?  Another great resource for positivity and encouragement are the Saints.  There is a saint for almost every situation.  If you are struggling with forgiveness then read all about St. Maria Goretti.  If you are struggling with your children or your husband read all about Saint Monica, if you are struggling with something that seems impossible, read about Saint Rita.  There have been so many that have come before us that are such great examples of what we can do and how we can do it.  The saints can be our faithful friends that God was talking about in the Sirach verse. They can be our sturdy shelter, our treasure, our life-saving medicine.  The more we are exposed to God's word and to people who are living it, the more we will want to do the same.  There is an old Cherokee story:An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.“ It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”So, my question to you is, “Which wolf are you feeding?”
Dear Heavenly Father I pray that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we pray that you help us surround ourselves with those that will help us grow in your love and in your faith.  Lord help us feed the good wolf.  The one that joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  Lord, please shine a light on anything in our lives that may be feeding the bad wolf so that we can fix it.   We love you Lord and we thank you for all that you do for us.  Lord, thank you for the Saints that are such a good example of how we can live our lives.  Help us to live like them Lord, Help us to sacrifice like they did.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  Thank you also to those of you participating in the 10 Weeks to Be More Like Jesus Challenge. Today was Day 1 and I already heard from one listener that she tried a few different things on the list today.  This week we will be focusing on Love.  I will keep the link to the article titled 87 ways to Be kind and Loving in the show notes. (click here for article) I will also keep the link to sign up in the show notes in case you want to sign up for the challenge and get the emails delivered right to your inbox.  (Click here to sign up) At the end of the show notes I put the names of a few podcasts that I really like in case you want to surround yourself with more great examples of how to live with the Joy of the Lord.  As always, I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!Podcasts (that I listen to and can recommend)Big Life Devotional (Daily)The Jeff Cavins ShowFr. Mike SchmitzExploring My Strange BibleYour Catholic Life with Jon LeonettiAbiding TogetherElevation with Steven Furtick 

On this latest episode of Hangin' with the Saints we're hangin with Saint Rita of Cascia.   Website: www.romeboys.org

Full Text of ReadingsSaturday of the Seventh Week of Easter Mass in the Morning Lectionary: 302All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Rita of CasciaLike Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life. Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded. Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ’s crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ’s passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery. Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year. Reflection Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which to live out our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist. An “If only ….” approach to holiness never quite gets underway, never produces the fruit that God has a right to expect. Rita became holy because she made choices that reflected her baptism and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong choice was to cooperate generously with God’s grace, but many small choices were needed to make that happen. Few of those choices were made in ideal circumstances—not even when Rita became an Augustinian nun. Saint Rita of Cascia is the Patron Saint of: Difficult Marriages Impossible Causes Infertility Parenthood Click here for more on Saint Rita!  Saint of the Day Copyright Franciscan Media

Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 • John 21:20-25

Does abortion truly help with family planning? Do you use dating apps? Timmerie shares five rules for surviving the dating app world. Who was St. Rita? Timmerie looks at St. Rita's marriage, family, and religious life.  Novena Prayer to Saint Rita of Cascia

Does abortion truly help with family planning? Do you use dating apps? Timmerie shares five rules for surviving the dating app world. Who was St. Rita? Timmerie looks at St. Rita's marriage, family, and religious life.  Novena Prayer to Saint Rita of Cascia All show notes at Surviving Dating Apps & The Life of St. Rita - This podcast produced by Relevant Radio

Saint Rita of Cascia - Miracles of the Rose and the Fig|Saint Rita of Cascia received two Miracles before she died|Miracles of the Rose and the FigMore about Saint Rita of CasciaWould you like to watch Catholic Videoson your TV, Computer or Phone?Well now you can do just that!Watch on Computer or any device www.bobandpennylord.tvSupport the show (https://bobandpennylord.store/pages/we-need-your-help)

Optional Memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious Gospel: John 16:20-23 ​ Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

We are introducing a new service for you today!We are uploading all of our media online and making it available at one convenient location at a very small cost.We are uploading all of our video programs that have been shown on EWTN.We are uploading all of our audiobooks on the Lives of the Saints, Apparitions of Mary and Miracles of the Eucharist.We are also uploading all of our podcasts.You have the opportunity to connect with all of the above in one place!We are using Patreon for this task. They have a great reputation.We have three tiers of membership,Here is the link to get all the details. Join today and watch our video on the Life of Saint Rita of Cascia. https://www.patreon.com/bobandpennylordSupport the show (https://www.journeysoffaith.com/donate)

Tommy talks about the practice of mindfulness and how to approach a teen with an eating disorder, introduces listeners to Saint Rita of Cascia, and answers listener questions about a sibling coming out as transgender, what to do when prayer is emotionally triggering, and the issues with Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs.

We celebrate Saint Rita of Cascia, Alex talks about the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II took place on Wednesday, 13 May 1981 and What's Trending con Moka Laguna. We have an interview with Sonia Quuintero (45:50) Padre Pio Letter: "Our justification from unrighteousness is so monumental that we can easily say God demonstrated more of his power in justifying us than in creating the heavens and the earth out of nothing. There is a bigger contrast between a sinner and grace than there is between nothingness and being. There is more distance between a sinner and God than there is between nothingness and God. In fact, nothingness, being the deprivation of being, has no power to resist God's will, whereas a sinner, a being with a free will, can resist all of God's wishes. In addition, creation belongs to the natural order of things, whereas the justification of the ungodly belongs to the supernatural and divine order." El Show Mas Piedra de las Mañanas. Tune in to El Capuchino Show Live at 7am M-F!! VoiceMail # (909) 293 9060 Please follow us on instagram as IncorruptoRadio

Tommy talks about disability awareness and how to help someone get into therapy, introduces Saint Rita, and answers listener questions about sex addiction, alcoholism, and not feeling good after a therapy session.

Laurie Power and Pete Sanchez share the life of Saint Rita of Cascia, a 15th century Italian widow and Augustinian nun, and now Saint of the Catholic Church. This Saint known as "The Precious Pearl" is a shining example of how we are called to live a life of faith and peace, in wherever we are at in our lives. Saint Rita of Cascia, Patroness of Impossible Causes, pray for us!!

Saint of the Day for May 22 Saint Rita of Cascia (1381 – May 22, 1457) Saint Rita of Cascia’s Story Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her

In this episode we feature listener stories that have been submitted by listeners of The Italian American Podcast. In the first story, Dina Horwedel explains how an Indian College President inspired her to learn Italian and travel to Italy to re-connect with her family. Since she made her first trip, she has been back seven times. In the second story, Amadeo Lauria explains how his teacher refused to call him by his true Italian name, so she changed it. Lastly, Virginia Mastroianni talks about how close she is with her Italian mother. She talks about the homemade food, the clothes her mother made for her, and more. In the Italian American Stories Segment, I talk about overcoming grief when you lose a loved one. We feature my Grandmother Jo telling a story about Saint Rita. Episode Sponsors The National Italian American Foundation Select Italy

The son of artists Fred Klein and Marie Raymond, Yves Klein was baptised a Catholic and dedicated to Saint Rita, patron saint of lost causes, in the same year that Kasimir Malevich wrote ‘The painter is no longer bound to canvas, but can transfer his composition to space’.1 These coincidences seem to set the scene for Klein’s heroic and sometimes tragicomic life and work. Malevich, who was one of the few art historical figures Klein profoundly admired, described himself as an aviator taking art to new heights (strangely similar to Klein’s claims). Klein did not study art but informally dedicated much of his time to the Rosicrucian teachings of Max Heindel and he was a keen Judo expert (the first European to secure a fourth Dan black belt in Japan). Throughout his short life he earned his living by teaching Judo at least as much as he did through his art. Klein paradoxically launched himself as an artist by self-publishing a retrospective catalogue of his monochrome paintings. The preface to this book is by Claude Pascal (the subject of our portrait relief) and consists only of rows of black lines. The reproductions are merely coloured paper tipped in; the dimensions are included without denominations of measurement. The coloured paper may suggest that these are fraudulent, that they are not reproductions, but at the same time they may be thought of as small monochromes in their own right. It was to be typical of Klein that he would make great claims for transcendental achievements and at the same time sow seeds of doubt on the authenticity of his claims. His defining project was the conquest of the void. Klein’s spiritual exercises and his Judo both played a part in this quest, and his monochrome paintings – most particularly the intense ultramarine that he copyrighted as International Klein Blue – aspired to provide a sensation of space and suggest the infinite void. This void for him is replete with spiritual energy. His most controversial act, a seminal example of performance art, was to leap ‘into the void’ from a second-storey window in Paris in 1960. In the photograph by Harry Shunk we see Klein leaping up into the sky not plummeting to earth. His face is yearning up and his arched body speaks of the deep desire for flight, and indeed of belief in its possibility. In 1962 Klein began a project to record himself and his circle of intimates in a quartet of body casts. ‘Portrait relief PR3 (portrait of Claude Pascal)’ belongs to this group, left incomplete at Klein’s death. The portrait is cast from the poet’s body and coloured in International Klein Blue pigment. Seeming to levitate in front of its golden field, the figure re-enacts Klein’s ‘Leap into the void’. Klein himself was to have been represented, conversely, in gold against blue but he died before making the cast. 1. Kasimir Malevich, ‘Suprematism’, www.artarchive.com © Art Gallery of New South Wales Contemporary Collection Handbook, 2006

On November 9, Fr. Paul Scalia addressed the Christendom College with a talk entitled “Clarity and Charity: The Catholic Response to Challenge of Homosexuality.” He speaks on the difficulty of being caught in between the uncharitable extremes when responding to homosexuality. Father Scalia is a native of Virginia and grew up in the Diocese of Arlington. He attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.  He then studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, both in Rome.  Since his ordination in 1996 he has served as parochial vicar at Saint Bernadette, Saint Patrick, and Saint Rita parishes.  He served as pastor of Saint John the Beloved until 2012, when he was appointed the Bishop's Delegate for Clergy.  He has written for various publications and is a regular contributor to the Arlington Catholic Herald and Encourage and Teach on the diocesan website.  He is also a frequent speaker for the Institute of Catholic Culture in Front Royal.

Prayer To Saint Rita For Hopeless Cases.