Hello and welcome to the genius podcast.

My name is Karen Doyle, your host and founder of the genius project.

An initiative for Catholic women designed to resource and support you towards

growth in all areas of your life, spirit, your personal and professional.

We seek to do this through the genius podcast.

The Catholic women's master class, our live virtual Catholic women's

summits and our genius project coaching for Catholic women programs.

You can check out any of these resources at www dot genius, project.co.

You can follow us on Instagram genius, underscore project

underscore daily Facebook on YouTube.

The ladies were coming into week three of this podcast series.

For Len, I wanna extend a huge invitation to you that if you haven't signed

up for the Lenton retreat series yet called restore, you still can do that.

You can join at any time.

We are running fortnightly live zoom sessions, where we have a guest

speaker, and then we break out into sisterhood, small discussion groups to

go through the content in more detail.

And these have been a really blessed, beautiful experience for

all of the women who are gathering.

So ladies.

Check out the link at the end of this podcast or in the show

notes or on our Instagram bio.

And you can still sign up on today's podcast.

I'm welcoming somebody who has played a pivotal role in my spiritual formation and

in my faith journey over many, many years.

I first met this man when I was 12 years of age.

When my dad took me along to a mass that he was saying, and he's my great

honor to be able to introduce father Ken Barker, to the listeners on the genius.

Podcast this week, father Ken has such wisdom, such depth of knowledge,

and just a very beautiful way of inviting us into an encounter with God.

And so today we are going to be taking a look at the nature of God and the heart

of God and how his nature is mercy father.

Ken Barker is the founder of the order of the missionaries of God's.

Love here in Australia.

They have a number of missions that spread across Australia

and into the Asia Pacific area.

And he's also the author of a number of books.

I really wanna encourage you to get some time and space to listen to this

podcast episode, because what father can will have to share with you today

will really impact your heart and your.

Well father Ken, welcome to the genius podcast.

I think I just said to you before, you've known me since I was 12

years old, I turned 48 this year.

So it made me feel old.

that make you feel old?

I, I was actually thinking about this episode and I thought, gosh,

you have been, and I know that you don't like to, um, be, be affirmed

and everything, but anyway, you have.

Played such a pivotal role in my spiritual formation.

And I think, you know, you'd be amongst one of the top two people that have really

been very pivotal in my early years.

And then obviously throughout, um, I guess my dating with my husband and

then throughout our marriage as well.

And so we're very, very grateful for not only the personal

impact you've had our life.

I guess the, you are the founder of the missionaries of God's love and

that the incredible impact that that's had throughout many people's lives.

So it's a real gift to have you so welcome.

Thanks

Karen.

It's great to be here with you.

It's wonderful.

Yeah, it's good to catch up.

Yes.

I

know you, you only live a few suburbs.

This is one way to do it.

Yes, its

yes.

But um, what I'd love to do is really this idea of our identity.

As the beloved daughters, because this is a women's podcast, but we

know that you are very familiar with talking to the women because

you've been against oh, serious.

yeah.

You've been a guest at our sisterhood women's conferences for, for many

years prior to COVID hitting, I think you've even serenaded us all.

Haven't you?

Do you

remember that?

I have, yes, I do remember that.

That was pretty for me.

It was, but everybody.

Feel free to break out in song at anymore.

oh, don't worry.

I won't bother.

No.

Well, what we wanna do is we really want to hone in on this, I guess this

theme of our identity and this idea of homecoming, because we're in the third

week of lent and we're really moving through, I guess, this return to home.

That's what lent is about.

It's about at a reset with the Lord and.

What I'd love to do is just unpack this.

If I thought of you.

And if I had a signature message that you have implanted in my mind,

it's around this idea of being the beloved and also the nature of

God and his nature being merciful.

Right?

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Is there, anyway, look, I might hand over to you.

Would you like to share just a little bit, firstly, about yourself

and just what you're doing?

Well, yes.

Um, I'm, uh, the moderator of the missionaries of God's love this new

congregation, which is both men and women.

And, um, yeah, it's a great thing to be moving with.

Young people, always love with being, working with young people.

Uh, and, um, that's given me great joy over the years, even I'm

aging myself, but, um, but yeah, and I do really believe in the.

Uh, the graciousness of God, his mercy.

And, um, I wrote a book once called his name is mercy.

I know, I love that.

And, uh, and I got that just, uh, it really struck me, uh, and I

actually gave a copy of the book to, to pop Francis and, and yeah.

Uh, when I got to meet him, and he was so excited about it and I couldn't

understand why he was so excited about it.

It was only about a month or two later that he put, put out a

book called God's name is mercy.

Oh, really?

serious.

You're ahead of the Pope.

well, that's it.

Yeah.

Well, we must have had the same idea.

Yeah.

But it it's basically saying that the highest attributing God is mercy

of all the things you can think.

God is great.

Beautiful, magnificent, uh, all knowing, uh, merciful.

It's really the, the deepest reality, the greatest attribute in the heart of God.

And I like to proclaim that cause I, I think that's the real truth.

Uh, and, uh, when we discover that it actually puts a great affirmation

into our being because, uh, we're all aware of course, of our.

A brokenness, a woundedness of failures.

We're all aware of how dismal.

Sometimes we seem to come up, but when the Lord gaze us upon

us, he doesn't see all that.

He just sees his beloved.

He sees the one who he is always loved and, uh, he just longs to have a us

come back to him and be affirmed, ever more deeply in this reality.

And that's where we find our identity.

I think in.

God who is merciful.

Yeah,

absolutely.

One said, I think it's Henry Newan that said self rejection is the greatest

enemy of the spiritual life, because I'm just trying to find the quote because

yes, it, it contradicts the sacred voice of God calling us the beloved.

That's beautiful.

I, I really, I love that quote because I think for many women,

they actually really do struggle.

I don't know what the reality for men is or the equivalent.

I'm sure they have different struggles, but I think in the hearts of women,

we often struggle with this idea of self rejection and condemnation.

Yes.

But we are never quite kicking the goals on making the mark.

And I think that's fair.

There's a great invitation for us.

And I think our freedom comes.

When we actually come into that place of being the beloved and we can

claim that identity that's actually bestowed and given to us as a gift.

Mm-hmm

yeah.

True.

Yeah.

I think self condemnation is so destructive really.

And, and especially when we are aware that we've failed.

You see objectively, we will fail at times we will mess up.

We we'll go much shorter of the mark than what we should, should have gone.

And that tears us down inside and, and where the enemy works.

He works on the self condemnation, you know, to get you to sort

of like, uh, Think that you're hopeless, you're, you're gonna, uh,

you are not capable of anything.

Uh, you you've failed again.

And, and so you go that little sort of self-rating voice inside

that self condemning voice.

It's very destructive.

It tears us right down who we are, I think.

And, and it's not really the Lord's way you see, especially when we file, like,

um, Uh, there is interesting, um, you know, she was wrote much about this whole

issue of mercy, but one time she sort of said, um, Go the image of a little

child, you know, who's really upset her mother, you know, and the mother's

been quite angry and upset everything.

Let me and the child sort of goes over the corner and jokes, socks and socks

and socks and feels sorry for itself.

Cetera.

And he, she says like, if the child stay like that, well,

it's gonna be there forever in, you know, A hopeless situation.

All that child needs to do is turn to mommy and say, mama

mama, kiss me, mama, sorry, mama.

And what mother would not sort of embrace that child.

You see, she uses this as an image of the mercy of God is like that.

Mm, you know, the same as when the father, you know, receives the Al sound returning,

you know, it's a, there's a what in, in the Hebrew where the rather of God, which

is like the hug of God, , it's a, it's the, the word taken from, uh, uh, the

Hebrew, which is, uh, it, a Hebrew word.

Uh, take the idea that, um, the way a mother will tenderly

hold her child in her wound.

That's how God wants to hold you at your most vulnerable moments.

Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah,

it's beautiful.

I it's beautiful.

I was talking to Zenko earlier about the power of images and gives us these

images to help us relate to him that making visible the invisible, uh, that's

a beautiful image of him just holding a.

Holding us.

And I, I often feel that the more we progress in the spiritual life,

the more we feel we fall short.

Like we, we don't have any big mortal sins, usually after we've been walking

in the faith for many years, but there's the little things that actually

I've personally find harder to accept about myself and harder to receive.

God's mercy to be self compassionate with those little things.

True.

So true.

Yeah.

That tears us down.

Really?

Yeah.

And, and we feel belittled in a way.

The last thing the Lord wants now, his purpose is to build us up.

I like the image of the adult woman in the gospels.

That's a.

Not a bad one.

Um, you know, she, it was a terrible thing.

Wasn't really that women in those days, uh, if they were caught in a adult, they

would sort of like be stone to death.

It's just amazing, but that's actually how it was.

And so here she was caught in adult.

There's nothing about the, the man I know it's.

Incredibly unfair and unjust, but anyway, but, but, uh, it becomes a

beautiful scene because, you know, she's brought out by man, mind you and

thrown at the feet of Jesus, uh, and, um, you know, accused of what she's

done, which of course she has been done.

Uh, and he just simply is writing on the ground.

I'm probably writing the sins of the guys.

I dunno.

Then he says, let the one who's about sin cast the first.

Because she was supposed to be stoned to death under mosaic law.

And, and that the ones about sin cast stone, of course, they all

went away because they obviously had their sin disclose to them,

uh, by the words of the Lord.

And, and then is just the left alone with her.

And, and he, he says, woman, where are they?

Is there anyone here to condemn you?

She says, no, there's no one to condemn me.

And he says those beautiful words, neither do I condemn.

You goes sin no more.

You see that's the acceptance of the Lord.

He, he accepts her as she is, but he of course don't continue with bad behavior.

yeah.

But, but he accepts the person.

Now it took a long time for me to appreciate that in my own personal

journey, that I'm acceptable.

No matter what I've done, no matter how much I've botched up or what I've done

in terms of relationships or anything.

Like I am acceptable to God.

He finds me acceptable as he finds you acceptable.

He finds everybody who's, uh, listening to this podcast or watching us like,

uh, we're each one of us is acceptable.

You know, uh, to, to God.

Totally.

And, and of course our behavior's not sometimes acceptable no,

but he looks at the person.

That's the thing.

Yes.

He looks at the person first and wants us to be affirmed deeply in who we are.

And then he freezes as he did for that woman to guns in them.

Right.

Does that make

sense?

Yes.

And I love that the image of that woman called in adultery too, because I think

my experience a number of years ago, I made my way through home tonight.

The return of the prodigal son by Henry.

Oh yes.

Yes.

That's and I actually, it's a beautiful book and I spent a whole year actually

going through that book in Aari.

Yeah.

And I, I never liked the painting of Rembrandt of the prodigal stuff but

it was dark for me and I, I wasn't.

To it, but I took this little picture actually.

I've got it here.

It's um, oh, it's a very small one that came in the book.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Once you meditate on this and whether it's the woman, court and adult, or

one of those stories, you actually then take the place of that person.

And you have an encounter with the Lord and his mercy.

And I, for myself, that image of the, the father welcoming the son home, I

meditated on it so much so that, that actually I could visualize it actually

happening in my own heart with the Lord.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

Just beautiful.

Yeah.

It's fundamental.

Isn't it really?

Because the son, as Henry New York points out so many things in that book, but

like the son offended the father very deeply because he wanted his inheritance

before his father died, which was more or less saying, I wish you were dead.

haven't

thought of it, but

it's.

Yeah.

And then he left the father's.

And again, that wasn't a great offense.

You see, because in those days you, you were expected to stay at

home with your, in your parental place and work there, et cetera.

That's what you are meant to do.

But he said, no, I don't want any of your crap I'm off.

And, and off, he goes to a foreign land and squanders everything.

And of course, finds himself in the ex died and begins to remember the father.

And, and the father's great love of course, but he feels he wouldn't be worthy

to be restored to the father's house.

So I'll just go and I'll just plead with the father that, you know, at least

I can be one of his hide servants and that he's going through that sort of

negative self talk, cuz he's returning.

To, to the father's house, knowing that he's, he's messed up badly.

He doesn't deserve any mercy at all.

Uh, but at least in those, you'll probably be a high hand in the father's house.

And meanwhile, the father's waiting and that's what we're meant to really

notice is cause the heart of the father.

The father has, has been constantly waiting for him to return.

There's nothing in the father that sort of says, oh, that's damn son of mine.

Uh, you know, I I'm gonna get him and not pay him back or

something, nothing like that.

And so when the father sees this son coming the distance, now he runs to him.

Like he hit up his garments, which are sort like the long

garments they were in those days.

So he could run faster, which was sort a very, very, um, uh, I ignorable

thing for some, someone that.

Um, binge used to do.

And yet he, he runs to the, the, the young boy and he throws his arms

around him and he kisses him tenderly.

So that's the Ramin of God.

And he, he throws his arms around him and he kisses him, tenderly.

Uh, and there's no questions.

There's no question.

She says, this is the mercy of God.

There's another word in Hebrew of what he said for, for mercy, which is like, he

does not hold out our faults against us.

Mm.

So he doesn't question us on saying, oh, you know, how many women,

where, where did the money go?

You know, no, no questions.

Just that welcome home.

You see such a beautiful sort of way of, of say not holding

faults against us, uh, at all.

He's like that, uh, as soon as we start to return to, so it's a beautiful story.

Yeah.

Could spend a lot of time on that.

Yeah.

I love that one, but you know, So often as humans, we

struggle because to hear and accept that there is a father in heaven

who loves us unconditionally because our parents and, and as parents

now, like we love him perfectly.

And so we're always going to come away with some wounds.

And I'm just wondering if you can speak into that because I was very blessed.

I had a beautiful for father and, you know, he loved me and I really

grew up with a sense of that.

I was beautiful and I was delighted in and.

But I still, you know, there were still wounds from obviously experiences at

school and growing up that men as an adult, I had to work hard to really, I

guess, accept the nature of God and, and the voice of God calling me his beloved.

Yes.

There are other women who obviously have not had great.

Earthly fathers, and that does wound on a different level.

And I'm wondering if you can speak into that experience for a moment

in terms of people who have been wounded, who haven't got, I guess,

an image of a loving father, how they can actually experience God as that.

Well, maybe I could sort of share something personally first.

Is that okay?

About my own dad?

yes.

Yeah.

Well, I, I was, uh, one of three sons, uh, a couple of, uh, uh, sisters as well, but

like, uh, I knew I wasn't a favor of one.

You know, and, uh, I knew that my other, uh, brothers were, were

hated by dad more than I was.

My dad died at the age of, uh, 53 when I was only, uh, 22.

And as he was slipping away, I didn't have, uh, I didn't have the words.

And, and I, I, I, I didn't know what to say.

And he went and he was gone.

That was it.

And we'd never really worked it out with one another.

So I held that wound deep within my heart for many years, until I actually

had a new experience of the holy spirit.

And when I experienced the spirit in this new way, uh, that opened up things in

my heart and healing started to happen.

I had all the hurts come forward.

You know, I had, I had a little memory for example, my little brother, uh,

one time when he was, um, Mucking around and making uses of himself.

And so I actually decided I'd pay him back.

So I, I had a pointy compass, so I just put the compass pretty just

in his backside, just a little bit.

And he jumped up and screamed and went in.

Cause he was dad's favorite.

Oh, he said the dad, Ken stuck this compass up my backside, you know?

And, and, and so dad came out, no questions.

He said, just grabbed the compass and just shoved it straight at my.

And I could still feel it and in my buttocks, it was pretty painful.

And so I, I felt terribly, um, uh, hard done by in that, but I tucked

it away and I think people do that.

Don't they?

And it had a sort of a poor experience of a parent they'll tuck it away and

it sort of goes right down, but it's repressed and, and in some ways it

does the surface and especially in our relationship to God, our father.

Because I I'd come to know Jesus pretty closely, but I needed to be able to

allow Jesus to take me to the father.

Mm.

That hadn't actually happened very much because of this obstacle with

my own dad, you know, and, and the way in which I image by the father

as being somewhat punitive and unfair and all that sort of thing, thing.

And dad used to belittle me sometimes in the face of others and things like that.

And so there was a whole healing that had to happen.

And when it happened, what was beautiful is I began to experience

the scriptural texts like Jose 11, where it talks about God, the father

stooping down to pick up Israel.

Like a father will hold his child against his cheek.

And I'd never had dad do that to me, like in my memory, except when he was

drunk and I wanted to pull his, push him away because of the alcohol, but just

to have him hold me against his cheek.

So God, the father was doing that in a new way to me.

And that was beautiful, really healing for my heart.

So I began to experience it, tend to have.

Daddy father God, you know, and the affirmation that brings to my being

and the security that you feel inside yourself when you know the father's love.

Huh?

Mm.

Uh, so that was sort of, um, some of my own personal healing, Karen,

that, um, so had a big difference in my, uh, ability to just simply

walk with is the father's love.

Uh, and knowing who I am as a son of God.

And, and I'm sure, you know, the, the women will experience very similar and,

and especially, you know, um, I remember ministry with woman, not that long

ago, and, and she'd never really heard from her father that she was beautiful.

Mm, she tells sorts of negative things, but she'd never heard that affirmation.

You're my beautiful one.

And you know, every woman needs to hear that from her dad, I think.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And that was a pain in her heart.

Let's be prayed in everything.

She was able to forgive her dad and then she was able to open up.

To appreciating her own beauty as God sees her.

You know, and just appreciate that, that God delights over here.

You're my precious one.

You're my daughter.

You're my beloved, you know, uh, you, I I've always loved you,

so never last in love and I'm constant in my affection for you.

So she began to experience that love in a new way.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

And I thank you for sharing your story because I think so many of us and you

know, my parents, weren't perfect.

And I'm certainly as a parent, not perfect.

And there's so many ways yeah.

That, like you said, we can file these little memories and they live

dormant until a particular time.

It might be marriage.

It might be called to religious life.

I know for me it was parenting when I started parenting,

it was like, whoa, I, I.

Like I'm surprised at all of this stuff.

That's in me that yeah.

Need to take to the Lord.

And when you were sharing your story, you touched on the fact

that the holy spirit came down.

So we, we can't, I find when I try and work it out on my own, I'm very

conscientious and task oriented person.

Yes.

It seems to get more and more.

It sort of gets more elusive.

It's harder to catch, but there's an invitation just to sit and be like

we said, with our strengths, but also with our struggles before the Lord.

Yes.

Yeah.

True.

And allowing that holy spirit and to, to sort of come in and perform that

holy surgery in our soul, because there's nothing that we can do, right.

To, to have that sense of being the beloved.

We can't grasp it.

It's something even as a gift.

So anyways, another image that comes to mind actually,

I've told this story before and, um, um, but, um, might help.

It's the story of a young woman she's getting married, right?

she's got this beautiful gown on and everything.

She's at the family home, uh, and a beautiful white gown.

They're just about to, and go to.

Someone's got a taster, uh, from the cake.

Oh, it's not what you'd like to taste the cake.

And she says, oh yes, yes, yes.

She takes a taster.

And then a little bit of it falls down on her beautiful white

gown and she doesn't notice.

Right.

And so she gets into the car, her dad, and after the church and dad doesn't notice.

And so they get to the door of the church are coming up steps and the, the, the

music going and everything like that.

And, um, so they come into down the aisle and she's on the arm of her dad

and she's looking Radient and beautiful.

And her mother is at the front together with, of course her,

her husband to be and the groom.

And, um, her mother takes my look at her and says, oh my

God, she's covered with cake.

Oh no.

but you see her husband, her, her groom didn't see that at all.

He just saw his beautiful pride.

Mm.

And that's how God's eyes are with you.

He's not looking at the stain.

He's looking at the person.

That's not mean he accepts you as you are.

And then of course, he'll help you get rid of the stain, but like it's,

it's the person that he, he looks at.

And, and loves and cares for, you know, you've been created in his image

and like this he's, he's hung on the cross for each one of us, you know?

Uh, and, and he's chosen us.

He's very own he's, we've been baptized and the, the spirit in, in the, and we

we're the beloved of God, you know, And to be able to appreciate his eyes upon us

in that way, I think is very important.

Oh, it's so important.

I completely agree.

And I, again, I love that image.

I think images are so powerful in helping us grasp this, but I, I

think also father Ken, that what happens for us is this voice.

That cause us the beloved is often quite and gentle.

And so the other voice that we hear is harsh loud, and it's just condemning us.

And yes, I think as women particularly, but for all humans that we have

to learn once a holy spirit is active and present in our life.

Yes.

Learn to hear the voices and to discern, earn the voices because too easily.

And, and I'm guilty of this as well that you fall into listening to that condemning

voice because it's louder and it's.

But really, and I think it comes back to this invitation just to be in prayer.

And during this season of lent is such a beautiful time to try and

really engage with the quite a voice, the still a voice, the gentler voice

of the father, a God calling us.

The beloved.

That's beautiful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just whispering into the heart really.

Mm.

I think that was the secret of Jesus actually.

Yes.

Now how did Jesus put up of all of that stuff that was thrown against him?

You know, he knew deep within himself that whisper the father, which you

heard when he came out out of the baptism in the Jordan, you, my 11.

Yes.

And my son, my favorite rests on you.

Mm.

So you live under that blessing that you are favor, you, you,

you are loved, intensely.

Uh, that's uh, a way to move forward through life.

Isn't it.

As you say, if you cultivate that.

Quieter spirit and listen to it.

You know, it reminded me just as you were talking about, uh, an old song we

used to sing many years ago behind this.

You get a sing to us.

Come on.

No, I can't sing.

No, no.

If it's an Amy Grant song, just the words Amy song know.

Are you living in a dead man's rubble listening to the lives or

are you living as a new creation, listening to the father of life?

Right.

So who are we listening to?

Yes, you know, and a dead, a dead person's rub, just sort of know the old

self you're listening to the father of lies, hammering away, uh, lie after lie.

You're no good.

You're happy as you're an idiot.

You're you'll never make it.

You know, you've always been stupid.

All that sort of thing or how you're listening to the father

of life, life as a new creation.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think the father of lies, he speaks in that voice that whenever you hear that

voice, you are always, you are never, you, you won't, that's a good point.

Those words, because I think, you know, yes, a female self talk is always around.

You will never, you are always.

You'll never too.

And I think if we can tune into that voice and like you said, start to cultivate that

space where we can hear the holy spirit.

And I know for myself, it took 12 months of going to adoration

and really meditating on that.

That's good.

And before I had this and it was a profound experie in my soul of

the love of God and my belovedness.

And once I had experienced that, I stepped into a new freedom.

It was a freedom to be actually who I was not who I kept thinking.

I should be according to.

That's beautiful.

Yeah, my parents' expectations or anybody else's, but who I

actually was as gone daughter.

And I think, you know, that's another struggle that women.

Kind of get caught up in is this comparison trap of looking around,

measuring their worth and their value and their gifts and what

they're doing against everybody.

Else's and one of the quickest ways out of that is to spend time doing exactly

this and hearing God's voice because.

As women and, and men as well, like when we understand our belovedness,

then we understand that God gives us a unique mission and purpose.

Hmm.

So then we're actually able to walk in that mission and purpose with integrity

and with strength and just knowing that we are doing what Christ has

put us here to do, rather than trying to do what everybody else is doing.

So I think that's one of the beautiful fruits.

Yes, we receive our identity, but I think after we receive our

identity, we receive a mission and a freedom to walk into that mission.

Yeah.

That's good.

And what you're saying about prayer, uh, I just wanna emphasize

that too, cause thank you.

So it's so right that we can think in prayer, we have to sort of achieve a

lot of things and do a lot of things and make ourselves res sendable to

God, you know, but actually what he wants is the real person he wants you

to just be really who you are and.

And the more you're able to just be really who you are before him.

What I mean by that is that at any moment you might be still feeling

pretty disheveled and downhearted or disrupted or, or angry or whatever.

Uh, you can just be there in reality and know his gaze of love upon you.

Uh, in that, and that, that I find that a lot of my prayers like that because, you

know, life is full of all sorts of and, and upset and demanding things, et cetera.

And so you, you come to prayer somewhat, you know, upset or whatever, but, but

you're just there and just really open your heart to your best friend, you know?

Mm.

And let him be present with you.

Uh, and that's when he meets us most, he meets us in our

weakness, not in our strengths.

Yes, meet just in our, in our brokenness, in, in, in the struggles of our life where

we're real, we're gonna be real with God.

You know, a lot of people they feel when they go before God, they've gotta sort of

present some beautiful image like you do.

When you go out to sort of ball or something like that, you make yourself

look really nice and everything.

. We try to do that with God.

These things say, look of, take off the versa, you know, just

come as you are, just come in all your weakness and you're broken.

Let's just be real.

That's how I wanna meet you.

In in reality.

Yeah.

And I wonder, just affirm the truth of who you are.

You know, it's not dependent upon how you look before others,

not dependent, how you, how you achieve or anything like that.

It's you?

I love you.

Mm,

that's beautiful father, Ken, it's just, there's such, um, I don't

know, you know, I think coming out of the pandemic as well and all the things that

are going on this becomes more important than ever just to really connecting with.

You know, the Lord and what he is doing in our own individual hearts, because yes, so

many crazy circumstances happening around the world that, uh, if we can maintain

our peace and maintain our identity as his, it does a lot to safeguard us

against worry and, and everything else.

I think so in, in some ways I think all of the

confusion is happening at the moment can lead us deeply to prayer.

Yeah.

Cause we, we find our real anchor in the Lord, you know,

and there real security there.

Cause there's so many other things so much around it's terrible's

like, I like that talked about living in the eye of the storm.

Yes.

Uh, that sense of, I remember one time when I was in Manila and there was

this huge storm around us, you know, it was like came right through, uh, a

sort of hurricane type of experience.

And, um, uh, and like there were pieces of trees coming past my

window and all that sort of thing.

all calmed down.

And we all came out and had a look at the damage and everything, and I

thought it was over, but we actually were in the eye of the storm and

then it started whipping up again.

And, and so I realized this, uh, to that use, the image to, to pray

is to live in the eye of the storm.

You know, there's a arts center within.

Where you're at peace and at home with God, even though

the storm's raging all around.

Yes.

Like that, uh, to live in that quiet place that the Lord establishes with us really

and speaks to our hearts in that place.

Um, yeah.

So just the.

Encourage that I think.

Absolutely.

I love that.

And I like, um, recently I came across St.

Elizabeth of the Trinity.

Oh, oh good.

She has a, she really talks about, you know, religious sisters can enter

into the CLO and they can pray there.

But for lay women and women who are mothers, women who are career women,

Like we have such a busy world.

There are so many demands.

Like I find two 30 to eight 30 every day.

I'm just in the car and it's constant.

it never lets up.

Yes.

What she was really encouraging of lay women is that we can withdraw into

the internal cluster of our own soul.

So if we can cultivate this prayer, if we can cultivate a sense of our

belovedness, like you said, everything's swelling around, but we can actually

withdraw to living in that quiet place.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You can be living from that all the time.

That's what we're, as you said, to cultivate that, to go into that secret

place, as Jesus says, where the father is present and you, you can do that wherever

you are, whatever you're doing, really, you can be in communion with the Lord.

Yeah.

And certainly that's something that it's a wonderful thing to encourage.

It's it's far better than sitting on a psychosis couch.

Really?

absolutely.

absolutely.

It's interesting.

I was walking with a friend and, and they've been through a devastating

situation recently and their children needed to see some counselors and

psych, and there's absolutely a place for that, but they just,

it was trial and error for them.

They, they, yes.

And it was interesting that one of their kids at, at their school, it's not in,

in Australia, but their child actually went before the blessed sacrament.

And they, it was in front of the blessed sacrament.

This child actually experienced this piece.

And this kind of, I guess, just that sense of being held

in the chaos of their tragedy.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

Really

beautiful.

Yeah.

True.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Cause I know some people actually teach children to pray before

they bless a sacrament and they just sit there, the kids.

And so what's amazing is the kids actually get absorb?

Yes.

They quiet down, which is extraordinary

yes.

And, but there's, there's just a piece that descends.

Yes.

It's all.

And, and there's no work that has to be done.

So I think for women listening to this, I really would love to encourage them

to try and get to adoration during this season of lent, because what greater gift

could you give yourself and the Lord, and to be meeting with him in that way?

True.

True.

True.

Now that our churches are open again, right.

we can do that.

Oh, father, Ken.

Thank you so much.

That's just conversation.

Good.

Would you be open to just closing in prayer over the women for us?

Please

love to.

Yeah, we thank you Lord.

For this time we've had together.

And just ask you Lord, that you would really touch into the heart of each

person present here at the moment.

And each one of us will be able to experience you speaking into

our hearts and affirming the truth of who we are in you.

Help us Lord to really know that peace within that surpasses our

understanding helps us to draw deeply Lord from your presence within us.

Help us Lord to know your voice in our hearts.

Lord affirming the truth that we are, uh, daughters, sons of living God.

We thank you for that.

Thank you for your presence.

Lord always keep us safe and protect us from the lies of the enemy.

Speak your truth into a hard door times, Lord, and may we listen attentively

to all that you would say to us?

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you for your beautiful hand upon each person.

Not protect each one from any dangers of troubles.

Uh, she may be going through.

Director hearts Lord, by your spirit guys, always, we bless your name.

Jesus.

Amen ladies, how amazing is father Ken vier and that conversation.

I really hope and pray that you will take away a sense today of

your belovedness as God's daughter.

And those words of father Ken spoke that God's favor rests upon you.

This is such a journey for us as women to really come to a place.

Of deep encounter with that fundamental truth and to receive our identity as

the beloved, as a gift, if you would like to go deeper with this content,

can I invite you to join us inside the genius project Lenton retreat series?

So we are running this podcast throughout lent with a very special

focus on lent and pillars of lent, but we're also working through system,

Miriam, James he's book restore, and how we can be restored as women.

This lent.

Now you don't have to have a copy of the book.

I believe it is sold out in Australia, but you can get the Kindle version

or every Sunday I will send through a free PDF journal with some of

the high points takeaways and some questions for reflection.

Then once a fortnight throughout lent, we are gathering on live zoom calls where you

will get some input from a guest speaker.

And then we break up into small sisterhood connect.

Groups where you can go deeper with other women, with a company of other

women and just share life and share this journey of blend together.

So if you'd like to join us, please do so.

There is a link in the show notes or on our website, www

dot genius project dot code.

And if you are interested in any of father Ken's podcast, all good.

I would encourage you to get a copy of any of father Ken's book.

But particularly the one we mentioned, his name is mercy.

This is a beautiful reflection on the merciful heart of God and how weak, and

if you are struggling with forgiveness to forgive yourself or to forgive

others, how we can actually do that in our lives until next week, ladies