How to build your "Saints Prayer Squad" to build a prayer community around the world and discover the power of prayer
Social media and the Internet can be tools for good to evangelize across borders. However, it can also point to the dark side of humanity
How do we sanctify social media?
With careful and purposeful intentionality in what we consume on social media and for Christian content creators, what we produce.
How do we fight the dark side of the web? How do we arm ourselves in the spiritual battle against the dark forces of the world and in the web ?
Through the armour of faith, through the power of prayer.
Let's listen to Cassandra Verhelst of the Hozana and Rosario App speak of how we can join our prayers together to bring souls to Christ, and build a prayer community of support around the world.
To explore the Hozana and Rosario Prayer Apps, please visit:
For Rosario: https://tinyurl.com/9d5bsk2t
For Hozana: https://tinyurl.com/4sfb4ck9
Thank you for listening! May you have a blessed week!
If you'd like to join our prayer challenge for Lent, feel free to sign up: There will be an accountability checklist and prayers for reflection.
veilandarmour@gmail.com
00:00:00
Saints Come in Squads
00:16:40
Revival and Restoration in France
00:32:04
The Power of Community Prayer
00:37:23
Strengthening Faith Through Group Prayer
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana Ap (00:00):
I think that it's incredible
because we were talking, Sheila,about the fact that saints come
in squads and you become saintsby surrounding yourself with
other people that are alsotrying to achieve that goal in
holiness and striving to becloser to the Lord, and I think
that being faithful in yourprayer can be absolutely helped
by the fact that you havefriends that are also faithful
in their prayer, and sosomeone's habit can also become
(00:23):
your habit, and you have thiskind of positive cycle of
pulling each other up towardsthe Lord, and so this idea of
saints come in squads issomething that we're encouraging
on Rosario is to create you rRosary group and invite four
other people that you know fromnear or far, from recently, or
that you've always known, andinvite them to pray the Rosary
with you.
Sheila Nonato (00:41):
Invite them to pray the rosary with you.
Hello and welcome to the Veiland Armour Podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist.
Seeking the guidance of theHoly Spirit and the inspiration
of Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
(01:01):
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
.
Co-Hosts (01:09):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Sheila Nonato (01:17):
Social media and the internet can be tools for
good to evangelize acrossborders, yet it can also point
to the dark side of humanity.
How do we sanctify social mediaWith careful and purposeful
intentionality in what weconsume on social media and, for
(01:38):
Christian content creators,what we choose to produce online
?
How do we fight the dark sideof the web pornography websites,
human trafficking, onlinepodcasts on the occult?
How do we arm ourselves in thespiritual battle against the
dark forces of the world and onthe web Through the armour of
(02:00):
faith, through the power ofprayer?
Let's listen to CassandraVerhelst of the Hozana and
Rosario App speak of how we canjoin our prayers together to win
hearts and souls for Christ.
Welcome, Cassandre, welcomeback.
(02:29):
We are happy to have you.
You are in Paris, France, andjust wanted to re-introduce you.
You've been here already acouple of times already, so I'm
sure people know you very well.
You are the head of theAnglophone edition of the Hozana
Association, which has two apps.
One is Hozanaa, hosanna.
(02:53):
org and Rosario app, and theseapps help people to pray and
they show the diversity of thechurch, the Catholic church,
where religious communities,priests, lay people can all join
to pray together in communionwith the saints.
So let's start with a prayer,since we're going to be
discussing prayer, so if you can, please lead us.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana A (03:09):
In the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Dear Lord, enlighten ourconversations, and the Virgin
Mary, please guide us in ourdiscussion.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among all women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb.
Holy Mary, mother of God, prayfor us poor sinners, now and at
(03:33):
the hour of our death, Amen.
In the name of the Father andthe Son and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Sheila Nonato (03:41):
Thank you very much for that prayer.
Thank you very much for thatprayer.
Yeah, so we are when I'mtalking to you right now, so I
think I will try to edit thisbefore Christmas.
But as I'm talking to you rightnow, we have about a week
before the beautiful most holyday aside from Easter of
Christmas, and everybody's busy.
(04:01):
It's always a busy time,planning get-togethers, gifts,
all the things, and sometimes wemight forget about our
spiritual life, preparing ourown hearts for Jesus.
But I'm sure a lot of ourlisteners that is top of mind in
their hearts, but they're alsooverwhelmed with the busyness.
(04:22):
So can you give us some tips?
How do we pray in a busy season?
Can we pray?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana A (04:32):
Of course, and maybe more than
tips, just my personal testimony, because I'm no one to give
lessons, but I found that thereare a few things that have
really helped me out recently isthe first of all, understanding
that prayer isn't somethingthat needs to be done in one
block of time, at one givenmoment during the day, but that
(04:53):
it's something that canaccompany us along the whole day
.
As religious people, as monksand sisters.
In their monasteries, they prayseveral times a day, and so we
can do that too.
And so, concretely, for me,what that means is that I start
my day as I put my feet downfrom my bed, I do a sign of the
(05:14):
cross and say Lord, open my lipsand my and I don't know how to
say it in English, but in Frenchit's Seigneur, ouvre mes lèvres
et ma bouche chantera ta, and Idon't know how you'd say it in
English, but in French it's andmy mouth will speak of your
glory and um and worship you.
Uh.
And so that's the first thing Ido, and I think it's it's a a
(05:36):
beautiful way to actually markthe fact that I'm going to start
off my day by praying, um, andby just talking to the Lord, um,
because he, he wants to heareverything that we have to say.
And in the same vein ofdividing up my prayer time, when
I finally, when I arrive atwork, before I, after I just
(05:56):
opened my PC, my laptop, andbefore opening my mails, and all
of that, I say one decade, theone I've been attributed on
Rosario.
I'm part of a living rosarygroup on the Rosario app with my
colleagues, and so we all sayour decade before or at the
moment, during our day, sothat's when I start mine.
And when I go home, I also sayone on my bike, because
(06:23):
transportation is a good momentto meditate and think and to
speak with the Lord.
And by the time I get home,I've already prayed three times,
which is pretty nice because Icould say, ok, gosh, well, now
it's 9 pm, I want to go to bedand I still have to pray, but
actually I've already spoken tothe Lord throughout my day,
(06:43):
which is a great feeling.
And then the last time I prayis actually just before going to
bed.
And again, I opened my Rosarioapp and something that struck me
was the fact that I'm veryaddicted to my phone, or at
(07:04):
least I don't have muchwillpower to say'm I'm very
addicted to my phone, or atleast I'm I.
I don't have much, um,willpower to say, okay, I'm
stopping now, I've I've hadenough of, uh, of of useless
content.
Um, and I, I noticed that whenI, when I first opened my
Rosario app and I first praywhen I, when I'm about to go to
bed, um I I put myself in this,this mood of um of union with
(07:27):
God, and um and I do my, my, theremaining decades of my rosary.
And then, by the time I'm done,I realize that I can let go of
this phone and I mean I don'tneed to be on on my screen
anymore, and so I think that wasa pretty nice revelation.
To think, okay, well, I can usethis technology for good and it
(07:50):
doesn't have to be master of me, I can be master of it.
And that works well for me isscheduling my meetings with the
(08:10):
Lord.
I try and go to adoration onetime per week, and that's
something I decide on Sundayevening.
I look at my schedule and Ithink, okay, when is a good time
?
And then I stick to it.
It's not.
Oh, I'll go to mass if I havetime this week, because there's
always something to do.
But if you're in anothermindset and you think, okay,
(08:30):
well, wednesday I have a meetingat 7 pm and that meeting is
with the Lord, well, I have tobe there, and so I think that
was really a nice revelation forme to think, okay, well, it's
not when I have time, it's Ihave time, or I make the time to
go to adoration, because youdon't always have to be in a
prayer space in a church or inoratory to pray with the Lord.
(08:52):
You can do that all the waythroughout your day.
But it's also nice to be ableto go to that place at least
once per week, and so that'swhat I try and do.
Sheila Nonato (09:03):
Yes, and when you're saying about how you're
using your phone withintentionality, I think, with
purpose, I think that's whathelps focus, right?
I have the same problem, to behonest, and I was speaking to a
therapist saying, yeah, thephones are, they're addictive
for a reason, like the socialmedia.
(09:23):
They want you to go therebecause that's how they make
money.
Right, it's a dopamine hit that.
Yeah, a lot of people.
I see people walking crossingthe street on their phone, so I
pray they get across the streetsafely.
But, yeah, people walking downthe street just on the phone.
It's one of those things thatwe are all trying to, I guess,
(09:47):
detach from, but it's difficultto do.
But, like you were saying, ifthere's intentionality, that
there's a purpose, I'm going onthe phone to go to the Hosanna
app and I'm going to say adecade Um instead of yeah.
I mean, it's fine if peoplewant to relax that way, right,
um, 10 minutes or whatever.
Like we could take an examplefrom Blessed Carlo Acutis, who
(10:10):
his mother said he played videogames, but he limited himself
for an hour, I think about anhour, and that's truly amazing
because you know video games arealso addictive, right, but he,
yeah, he, he sort of he realized, yeah, I like to do this, but
my main, I guess my main love,my greatest love, is God.
(10:31):
So I'm gonna limit myself toit's only an hour a day, and
then I'm gonna do other things,like what he was doing with his
website building up this websiteto showcase the Eucharistic
miracles, to bring people toJesus, and I feel like every
Christmas and even Easter, Iguess and nothing disparaging
about Christmas and Eastercoming home campaigns, right,
(10:52):
but it's always like come homeCatholics, come home Anybody.
If you're not even part of areligion, is that there's, you
know, you're welcome the door,the door is open.
And what, what if people, yeah,they're in that, that situation
that they haven't been tochurch, like you were talking
about going to Adoration,scheduling that in which is so
(11:13):
important?
Because, yeah, how do we builda relationship if with someone
we don't know and that's one wayto do it right Like, and he's
right there, jesus is in, jesusis there in the Eucharist,
that's what he promised us andwe can just sit there in silence
with him.
But for people who have beenaway from the church or who
(11:33):
don't even have a church andmaybe they feel a calling or
maybe they have been invitedbecause it's Christmas or it's
New Year's, hey, come to church.
So they come.
Now they don't know what to do,right, they don't know.
Let now, they don't know whatto do, right, they don't know.
Let's say, they don't know howto pray.
What is the first step for them?
How do?
How do we make it lessintimidating, less of a burden?
How do you?
(11:57):
do you have any tips?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (11:58):
Yeah , you, you lead by, or what
comes to mind is you lead byexample and you explain, because
following without understandingis just the worst thing, I
think.
And so if you're bringing backsomeone to church, I think it's
worth.
I mean, you might be talking alittle bit during Mass, but
explaining what's going on andor, you know, giving a booklet
(12:21):
of what's happening on, giving abooklet of what's happening and
what's going on during thecelebration is something that's
maybe super useful for theperson that you're accompanying.
And then, if it's on your heartto help someone grow closer to
the Lord, I think helping andbeing there and showing that
(12:46):
you're going to you're, you'regoing to accompany them is super
precious.
And I'm trying preaching to thechoir, but I think, and at least
pitching the people I work for,but at the what I, what I find
super beautiful about theRosario app is that it is and
(13:07):
basically the idea is thatyou're praying one rosary with
four other people, so everybodysays a decade per day, and
there's really the social aspectof prayer is that everybody,
for the rosary to be complete,everybody has to pray their
decade.
And so there's this idea of ifyou do it, I'll do it.
(13:27):
And so, if you're trying toaccompany someone back to prayer
and back to the Lord, well,they need to be kind of guided
and you need to hold their hand.
And so, by doing something easylike praying together and not
saying I'm going to pray for you, but saying let's pray together
, and there's this really simpleprayer.
It's called the Hail Mary, andit's literally I don't know, I
(13:54):
don't know if it's one sentenceor two sentences, but it's
pretty, it's pretty easy and ifand it's pretty repetitive, so
it gets stuck in your mindpretty quickly, and showing a
person that we're going to dothis together, um is is really
powerful, and so I think thatthat's something that is.
You know, if you're trying toget someone back to the faith,
(14:18):
praying with them and not justfor their conversion, is
something that can beinteresting to try.
Sheila Nonato (14:25):
Yes, and yeah, I'm definitely leading by
example.
That is the invitation to, youknow, for somebody who may feel
lost, to be honest, right, likethey haven't been to church in a
while and perhaps, let's say,they're baptized and now they're
wondering do I go out forcommunion, what do I do?
I guess that's anotherinvitation that they can look
(14:48):
into the sacraments, right, theone of the sacrament of
confession which, to be honest,I try to go weekly because you
know, I really need.
It's kind of like taking ashower, right, like you, you
need, you need to be washed of,yeah, of whatever's burgeoning
you, what's, what's not keep,what's keeping you from being
truly free in Christ, and andyeah, so, if a person hasn't
(15:13):
been to church, they might wantto look into that.
Going to confession.
And, to be honest, I just sharewith you briefly my first
confession.
I remember, I mean, I was.
I forget now how old I was,maybe 10, 9 or 10.
And as soon as I said I wasnervous, as most people are.
And as soon as I said I wasnervous, as most people are, and
as soon as I said the sins, Ifelt I don't know what happened,
(15:37):
like I just felt thisoverwhelming grace, love, like I
don't know.
I just started crying, to behonest, and the priest said your
tears are making Jesus happy,something like this.
And I thought, wow, and eversince then I do go.
I mean, sometimes it's scarybecause you're like, oh, I don't
(15:59):
want to tell somebody else why,but once I do it, it's like a
release.
It's like the priest is therein Jesus' place.
He's saying to you your sinsare forgiven and you're truly
free now.
You're free again to love, tobe yourself, to be who God
(16:21):
created you to be.
And I think that's a wonderfulthing.
That, yeah, at Christmas time,I know people, you know, they do
the church kind of routine.
They see it as a routine, butit's.
It's actually a beautiful sortof invitation to other people as
well who haven't been, whohaven't been to church.
And speaking of churchinvitation and opening of doors,
(16:43):
I'm thinking about not notredame and how it was a big to do.
It was.
It was all over social media inthe news that it reopened after
the fire and it's gorgeous.
The interior is gorgeous.
All the world leaders, many ofthe world leaders, were there
and the focus was on the churchagain.
(17:04):
Can you tell me what was theexcitement in France.
Were they excited?
Can you tell us, and the youngpeople, how did they see this?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (17:14):
Yeah , um, I don't know if it's
really comparable, but um, I, I,I kind of felt like it was um,
the same as the um, the fall ofthe Berlin wall.
It's something that everyonewas talking about.
Super exciting.
Gosh, do I go, do I not go?
Uh, do I cancel my plans justto be able to to be there.
And so it was.
It was pretty, it was as if itwas a big um, you know, a
(17:37):
worldwide event, because it wasthrough, it was um, shown on all
the medias across the world.
I mean just this, this churchthat Parisians, you know, go by
all the time, because it'sreally in the cross or at the
crossroads of the of paris.
When you go from east to west,from north to really in the
cross or at the crossroads ofthe of paris, when you go from
east to west, from north tosouth, you, you cross, you pass
by notre dame, notre dame, and.
(17:58):
And so there was a real bigexcitement.
They were looking forvolunteers.
So I have quite a few friendsthat just decided to take a day
off of work to go and volunteerfor the reopening, um and um,
and some were invited by thepriest that had married them to
go and volunteer for thereopening Um and um, and some
were invited by the priest thathad married them to go to the uh
, one of the reopening masses,which was it's as if you got the
(18:18):
golden ticket in Willy Wonka,because the places were so rare,
um and so.
So, personally, I haven't beenable to go yet, because to visit
um you need a ticket, and sothe tickets are all sold out.
But you can attend Mass and so,um, and so one lady from my
(18:38):
prayer group told us that shehad been and that she encouraged
us strongly to go as well.
It's mass at 8 am, so you haveto be ready to be there, um.
But I think what was interestingwas the fact that it's not our
parish, because there are a lotof churches in Paris, and so
Notre Dame is not the parish ofmany people, but it was
(19:00):
something that we're allattached to, because it's really
the emblem of the French church.
It's the emblem of the or atleast we see it as the seat of
the bishops, and the heart of,and the heart of Paris.
I mean, if, if the world isfalling down, where you go?
Okay, quick church, big church,okay, notre Dame.
(19:21):
And so I think that that logicand that way of thinking is the
same for a lot of, for a lot ofCatholics, and it's and it was
also really nice to have areligious symbol and a religious
building be at the heart ofdiscussion for so long, because,
I mean, we've been talkingabout it for five years.
For five years it's interestedpeople around the world.
(19:43):
Every now and then there was anews segment on the television
about how the works wereadvancing in in the cathedral,
so everyone's been talking aboutit.
And so how nice is it thatyou're talking about a church
and you're not talking about waror you're not talking about
(20:04):
politics.
You're talking about a symbolof a faith, even though we're
not talking about it as if itwas, you know, a place of
worship, but it's still, defacto, a place of worship.
Sheila Nonato (20:20):
Beautiful and you had mentioned earlier to me
that your friend had some photos.
When you saw them, what wasyour reaction?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (20:29):
Well , it was interesting because we
had seen pictures of the churchvery bare, without the chairs in
it yet, and very white.
It kind of reminds me of the StJohn the Baptist Cathedral in
Lyon, France, which is anotherchurch that was renovated
recently, very grandiose, verybig, very grandiose, very big.
(20:49):
And when we saw the picturesthat our friends sent indeed
it's clean, it's bright, it'swhite, and how lucky are we to
have this beautiful buildingjust free of access to us, and I
think there's just so much lovethat was put into the
(21:11):
reconstruction of this.
And then it was so.
The friend that shared with usshared a few pictures, and then
the last picture was a statue ofthe Virgin holding her son,
which honestly, isn't the mostbeautiful statue of the Virgin
Mary I've ever seen, but it's asymbol of.
(21:32):
I don't know if you know this,but the statue was intact when
the cathedral burned down and itreally goes to show that Our
Mother is there and things maybe falling apart and crumbling
down around us, but she's there,she's holding her son, she's
protecting her son and amidstthe rubble they're there.
(21:55):
So it was really a touchingtestimony of her presence, and
seeing her back in the cathedralthrough images is also very
nice.
Sheila Nonato (22:10):
Yes, that's wonderful that you brought that
up.
Amidst the rubble she is intactand the church is named after
her right, Notre Dame, Our Lady,and France, the eldest daughter
of the church.
You were mentioning a littlebit about the revival.
Is it still happening?
Can we see this?
Can we see this sometime in thefuture?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana Ap (22:33):
I hope so.
I mean, I know that I evolve ina very Catholic environment.
I'm lucky to be friends withmany young people that have the
faith, also lucky to be in acountry where a lot of people
(22:54):
have um religious education, umit's not foreign to them, and so
I think that's something that'svery something that we can
rejoice for.
And there are a lot ofinitiatives um that are that are
um building up about, um tryingto have an integral education
(23:17):
centered around the christ.
So all these little um kind ofoff the grid schools uh popping
up um where it's christ-centered, um it's, you know, one could
say it's kind of going out ofsociety to create your own new
society centered around theChrist, and I think it's called
(23:38):
the Benedictine challenge or theBenedictine bet.
But I mean, things arehappening and people are talking
about it.
So that's always interestingand knowing that people are
still having their children goto First Communion and people
are still signing the childrenup for catechism classes at
(23:59):
their parish if they don't havethem at school, which many
schools don't have, and I wasimpressed.
A short story is that I don'tknow if you also have Rorate
Masses during Advent, so Masseswith candles early in the
morning, at dawn, and I wasreally impressed because the
(24:24):
children from my catechism classlast year went without me
inviting them.
I saw them at Mass at 7 am.
But I mean, how many14-year-olds get up at 6.30 to
be ready to go to Mass at 7?
I don't think many.
So there's always lights andit's just a question of being
able to see the positive and seethe little lights that the Lord
(24:48):
is putting in our relationships.
But I mean per se, where's thespiritual revival?
It's coming, sheila, I hope.
Sheila Nonato (24:58):
Yes, well, that's yeah, I mean 14-year-olds, can
you get them to do anything?
But I mean, there areresponsible ones.
But you know, yeah, that'samazing.
And when you're just talkingabout the I don't think I've
ever been, I feel like Eastervigil is when I've seen the
candles at mass, but Raratecandles, you said yeah, I mean,
I don't know if that's very bigin the US and Canada, but it's
(25:23):
here in Paris and in France.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozan (25:25):
There are a lot of Rorate Masses
where it's to symbolize them,the fact that you're hoping and
you're, you're waiting at uh,with, with little light for the,
the light that jesus is that'sgonna come, and it's early in
the morning, but it's becausethey're asking you to make a
little sacrifice and to um, toreally be ready at dawn, to um
(25:46):
to greet and meet the lord.
Sheila Nonato (25:49):
That's a beautiful symbol.
I mean a light in the darkness,right, sometimes as Christians,
you feel like you're alone, butthere is that little candle to
give you hope.
And actually in the Philippineswe also have this, I think.
Well, it starts also early,like 5 a.
m.
dawn.
It's called Simbang Gabi, whichis a very early mass basically,
(26:12):
and a lot of people do itbecause we do have a lot,
there's a lot of, there are alot of Catholics in the
Philippines, but, yeah, like youget up early and it's a big,
it's a big celebration actually,it's very joyful and all the
vendors are out with food andonce you get out of mass,
obviously but you know, know,there's, it's it's the
(26:33):
philippines starts, to be honest, to prepare for christmas in
september.
Okay, so it's, it's just athing.
We just that's what they do um,they call it the "ber months.
So september, october, november, december four months to
rejoice, but, um, but I mean, Iguess I'm thinking about, like,
when I was mentioning people whoare going to be invited to
church, um, they might say no, Idon't want to go, or they might
(26:54):
feel obligated I got to goCause my mom is making me go.
Um, sometimes it's also not.
It's not such a happy, happy,hopeful time for some people.
They're going through, they'regoing to you know cause.
Christmas kind of sometimesmagnifies what people don't have
.
I know, a loss.
Perhaps they don't have aparent or parents, a child who
(27:16):
is who they lost, or just it's.
It's not a, that's not a happytime.
How do they, how do theyapproach prayer when prayer is
difficult?
How do we, in general, how dowe also approach prayer when
we're going through a hard time,when we're, you know Christmas
is happy, you're supposed to behappy.
Well, what if you, you, you,you're trying to find the joy in
(27:37):
the Lord?
How do you, how do?
you do this when you you feellost.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (27:44):
Yeah , I understand my grandmother
was telling me about the factthat it's it's always hard to be
at Christmas without my grandpaand it really touched me.
But I think when your prayer,life is hard and dry, you just
have to remember that.
Or I mean, making it short ismaking it, so it doesn't matter
(28:07):
if your prayer is 15, 20, anhour long, if it's even 30
seconds, when it's hard, it'salready that.
So I think that's somethingthat helped me out when it was
hard for me to pray, say okay,well, I don't feel much, I don't
know much, but at least I'mmaking an effort and at least
I'm there, and maybe the prayeris not rich, but at least it's
(28:31):
being done.
And also, when you have noinspiration, I think what the
beauty of the Hail Mary and theOur Father is that they're easy
prayers that can be repeatedendlessly.
And there's also, I mean, justsaying a Hail Mary is a prayer.
The sign of the cross is theshortest prayer you can do, and
(28:53):
so just crossing yourself ispraying already.
So you know, repeating thingsthat are easy to say and easy to
remember and making it short, Ithink it's pretty something we
can recommend.
When it's hard to pray, it'seasy to say, less easy to say to
(29:13):
someone.
But yeah.
Sheila Nonato (29:18):
Yeah, I feel like yeah, sometimes also because in
our culture there's a lot of inour world really there's a lot
of distraction, noise and allthat and people actually have a
hard time in silence.
So when you were talking, uh tome earlier about, um, when you
bike, riding your bike, you'repraying, um, maybe that might
(29:38):
make it easier for somebody.
Do you think that you know,when they're doing something, it
doesn't have to be like you'rein the, you're sitting in a
monastery and uh for two hours,right like you can just be right
like you.
You were riding your bike,going to work or going
throughout the city and you'repraying a decade.
Can you encourage us to do that?
(29:59):
If we feel like it's toointimidating, is this something
we can do?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (30:06):
Well , I think that one sentence that
really marked me was if youstart doing something while
you're praying, it's probablythat you're distracted, but if
you're doing something and thenall of a sudden you start to
pray, it means that your mind isdrawn to the Lord, and I
(30:27):
thought that was so.
It was eyeopening, becausesometimes I realized I'm washing
my dishes and I'm and I'msinging um a worship song and
then I'm like, oh yeah, I couldhave just been singing um
secular songs, but I'm singingsomething for the Lord and so
I'm thinking about him and soI'm praying to him.
Um, or when I'm brushing myteeth and all of a sudden I'm
(30:48):
like, oh, I haven't said my HailMary yet, I'm going to do it
now.
Or my, my decade, I'm going todo it now.
I'm I'm taking my distractiondistraction or what I'm doing
and axing it and um, bringing itto the Lord rather than the
other way around, and I thinkthat's, um, that's that's pretty
um powerful as well.
And I mean, if you can't go to asilent place, if you don't have
(31:14):
a monastery at the end of theroad, anything can be.
I mean, prayer can be all thetime.
Prayer can be just saying hello.
And I think it took me a longtime to realize that, to realize
that looking at someone and notjudging but saying, oh okay, I
have this thing in my headthat's not really nice to say
about them.
But just canceling that out andsaying Lord, bless this person,
(31:38):
or this person is blessed byyou, help me see that it's
changing the way I'm thinking,but it's changing it towards the
Lord.
So I'm praying, and I don'tknow if you completely agree
with that, but at least that'swhat gets me through and that's
what motivates me in my prayerwhen I can't, when I find it
hard to sit in front of myprayer corner for half an hour.
Sheila Nonato (32:04):
Yes, and I think some of us have this image of
prayer like, yeah, we got to sitdown quiet and but I guess also
there are different.
You know, if we're trying topray like Padre Pio, like that's
not happening, right, there aredifferent levels of prayer.
You can start like a child,right, you can start there.
You can even start with theprayers that we all know the Our
(32:25):
Father, the Hail Mary, if it'stoo intimidating to, because,
yeah, silence can be very hard.
For somebody who is used to somuch activity going on, it's
hard to keep, to be quiet.
But, yeah, I think we sort ofhave to let go of, you know,
perfectionism in prayer, that weeveryone has a different level
in their spiritual journey.
(32:45):
So, if we can't pray like PadrePio, it's okay.
You can start with, like youwere saying, uh, sign of the
cross, or hail Mary, our father.
You can just start there anddon't, don't worry about it,
like God.
God hears you, god knows, godknows your situation and what
you're trying to say, even ifyou cannot express it in words.
You can just sit there even andcry Like I've done that, I've
(33:07):
done that before, just cryingyour heart out, and he knows,
and whatever you've done doesn'tmatter, just come, just come.
Don't let that be a barrier andI'm just reminded of in the
Bible.
It says for where two or threeare gathered together in my name
, I am there among them, andsometimes prayer can feel like a
(33:28):
solitary exercise, right, or asolitary habit or practice.
But you were mentioning to mebefore this call that Hosanna
has this community of saints,that we're actually not alone
and through Hosanna we can alsopray for other people or we can
pray with other people.
Can you tell us how does thiswork?
How can we do this?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (33:49):
Yeah , I was.
I don't know if I shared thisbefore already, but I got
engaged last summer and I wroteon the so on the Hosanna
application.
On Hosannaorg there's a wholepage where it's called prayer
intentions and people canentrust their intentions and
it'll appear in on otherpeople's Hosanna pages as kind
of a feed that people can clickand choose three intentions to
(34:13):
pray on.
And so when you decide to prayfor Joan, sheila and Mark maybe
one has cancer, the other one islooking for a job and the other
one has exams you decide, ok, Idon't know who this person is,
but they're asking for thisgrace or help for this or this
challenge.
(34:33):
I'm going to ask the Lord tolisten to their call and to
bless them.
And so you click on a littlebutton, pray, and after 48 hours
the person that has entrustedthat intention receives if they
put that, if they wanted toreceive feedback the amount of
(34:53):
people that have prayed for them.
And so I had entrusted myengagements a few months ago and
I was so impressed because Ididn't expect anyone to pray for
that.
I just wanted to entrust thatto the Lord and I got a mail
saying 18 people prayed for youand I thought, wow, it means
that 18 people across the worldthat I don't know said okay,
(35:14):
lord bless Cassandra and PaulAdrien and their engagement, and
I thought that was so powerful.
And something that someoneshared with us just two days ago
on the app store was sharedwith us just two days ago on the
app store was so for Rosario,that also has this idea of
sharing prayer intentions andpraying for others.
(35:36):
In your little rosary group, youcan entrust an intention and
the lady had just lost hersister and she wasn't able to
continue, or she took a few daysoff and so she didn't pray her
decade.
And she said it was so powerfulto know that people were
praying for me, these fourladies that I don't know but
that I pray with every day, thatthey were praying for me
(35:58):
through this hard time, and Ithought that was so beautiful,
to concretize this communion ofsaints praying for each other.
It's a real blessing.
I mean, we have that grace andthat gift in the Catholic Church
to be able to pray for eachother, and I think that having
(36:19):
the tools that allow us to prayfor each other is just
incredible.
And so, on the Hosannaapplication and on the website,
you can entrust your intentionsand they're preyed on by other
people.
Sheila Nonato (36:33):
And so, for those who might not be as tech savvy
like, I'm actually not techsavvy, so I go on the website or
do I download the app.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hoza (36:41):
Either , but going on the website is
maybe easier if you're not verytech savvy, okay, hosannaorg.
Hosannaorg and then Hosannawith a Z, h-o-z-a-n-a.
Sheila Nonato (36:51):
Zed, okay, okay, or Zed for Canadian viewers.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (36:54):
It's Zed for Canadian viewers, it's
like the Europeans.
And then on the top you've gota little icon that says
intentions, with a little personholding up a flame, an icon
that says community intentions,with a little person holding up
a flame.
And on that you're you'rebrought to a page with tons of
(37:15):
intentions and you can lay downyour own and submit it, and that
way you will have, you'll beable to go into that loop of
people that are praying for eachother.
And so, as I'm speaking to you,I see that there's Emily asking
for healing, for her treatmentand for a job, and Humberto that
has just joined Hosanna, andMaria, who's asking to pray for
(37:38):
the homeless.
Sheila Nonato (37:43):
Beautiful.
So for Hozana and then forRosario.
Those are two different apps,correct?
Yeah?
Or can you go to Rosariothrough Hozana?
No, you cannot.
Those are two different apps,correct?
Yeah?
Or can you go to Rosariothrough Hozana?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana A (37:52):
No , you cannot, because they're
two different ones.
So, basically, rosario is an appto help you get started and be
faithful in your prayer of therosary, and we were talking
about how do we bring someone toprayer.
I think it's a pretty powerfultool because the idea is that
each person receives one of thefive decades, and so when you're
(38:14):
in a group of five people,everybody says their own decade
and it allows you to togetherpray to the Virgin Mary, and you
can either join a private groupif you have four other people
that you know, or a public groupand you have people that are
praying for the same intentions.
For example, I'm praying for theconversion of a loved one with
four ladies that I don't knowone in france, um, one in asia
(38:37):
and um, and two in the unitedstates and um.
Hozana is a, an applicationthat allows you to follow the
retreats, a spiritual retreatscreated by different people from
the church, so monasteries,religious communities, priests,
lay people, shrines,associations, people that are
(39:00):
just there to help you pray forthis or that with Mary, Untier
of Knots, or with St.
Michael, or how to deepen yourprayer, pray with the saints,
and so that's all for free,because we're an association.
So if you're feeling generousat this Christmas time.
You can help us out with adonation to help the mission
(39:23):
grow and to be able to reachmore people.
Sheila Nonato (39:27):
So, am I correct?
Is it 1.9 users?
How many users?
Again, yeah, 1.9 million users.
9 million, yes.
And how many countries?
Which countries and how manylanguages?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (39:39):
Well , it's worldwide, so we have
four editions on Hozana Spanish,french, English and Portuguese,
and then on Rosario, we alsohave Italian and Polish, and so
the idea is that we're trying tocover the whole world so that
people can pray togetherwherever they are, and what's
(40:01):
pretty neat is on your Rosarioapp, you can be praying with
people that are in differentparts of the world, that are
connected on a differentlanguage.
Sheila Nonato (40:11):
And for Rosario, you can also create a prayer
group with is it five people?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (40:16):
Yeah .
So, you can invite four of yourfriends and family, or people
from your prayer group or fromyour parish, or people that
you've been on a pilgrimage withthat you want to continue
praying with.
The way I use it is that inhigh school I was in a prayer
group and I met some of my bestfriends on there, and so every
(40:42):
Friday, when we met in thisprayer group, we had the habit
of praying together and wethought, okay, well, now we
don't live in the same cityanymore.
Some of us are married, someare studying to become priests,
some live abroad, and so how canwe continue to, to grow in our
faith, but together?
Because it was, um that whatstarted our friendship, and so
we have, um, we have a rosarygroup on rosario, and we're
(41:05):
actually more than uh, we'remore than five, so we have two
linked rosaries, which is prettyneat, and so every day, we each
say our decade and we know thatthe others are praying at the
same time.
And if we have a prayerintention, well, we just share
it in the group and we know thatall the others are also praying
for that intention, and sothat's one of my prayer groups,
(41:27):
so that's one of my prayergroups, and I think that it's
incredible because we weretalking, sheila, about the fact
that saints come in squads andyou become saints by surrounding
yourself with other people thatare also trying to achieve that
goal and holiness and strivingto be closer to the Lord, and I
think that being faithful inyour prayer can be absolutely
(41:48):
helped by the fact that you havefriends that are also faithful
in their prayer, and sosomeone's habit can also become
your habit, and you have thiskind of positive cycle of
pulling each other up towardsthe Lord, and so this idea of
Saints Come in Squads issomething that we're encouraging
in January, on Rosario, is tocreate your rosary group and
(42:08):
invite four other people thatyou know from near or far, from
recently, or that you've alwaysknown, and invite them to pray
the rosary with you, and you'llsee that being faithful in your
prayer is something that is sorich, and we were talking about,
you know, about beingintentional about your screen
(42:30):
time and about being intentionalabout how you use your phone
and technology.
Well, I think there's a lot ofbad on the Internet, but there's
also a lot of good, and sobeing able to pray together is
something that we can takeadvantage of yes, definitely.
Sheila Nonato (42:50):
And when you mentioned squad, I'm just
thinking Taylor Swift has hersquad.
Now you have the Saints squad.
You have your own squad.
And how was it, Blessed CarloAcutis .
.
.
He was God's influencer.
And how do you positivelyinfluence people, your friends,
and wouldn't this be a greatstart to your new year?
(43:12):
Yeah, you kind of keep yourselfaccountable and you have these
people who are with you inprayer, encouraging you, and you
know, I mean sometimes, yeah,god, you know, when we ask God
for something, sometimes theanswer is no or not yet.
But in the not yet, in thewaiting, we sometimes feel
(43:38):
impatient.
But if we have some people withus on that journey of trying to
find out what is God's will formy life, or what does God want
me to do in this situation, willfor my life, or what does God
want me to do in this situation,having those people, those
positive influencers, the realinfluencers, I would say, is
really going to be helpful tomake a transformational change,
(43:59):
especially when we're lookingnow like there's Christmas and
then we're looking to New Year,and every time it's New Year,
people always want to changesomething, transform, become
better than what we used to be,and I think this is a great
opportunity.
Can you tell me more?
What did you call it again, thecommunion of saints squad?
(44:20):
What was it?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (44:23):
Yeah , saints come in squads and to
really use that communion ofsaints and the fact that
together, um can be stronger, uh, and absolutely to positively
influence and to use your um.
You know, if you know that inyour friend group you have
someone that's maybe strugglinga bit and you're on a roll, well
, use your role to get thatother person praying again.
(44:45):
And then you know, in twomonths if it'll, if the roles
will be changed up and you mightneed that hand, and so, if
you've started and you've, ifyou've gotten the ball rolling,
well it's going to be a virtuouscycle that's going to bring you
up towards the lord, you withyour friends, and so um.
So that's what we're reallyencouraging on uh, on rosario.
This this year is to, or for2025, is to really start and
(45:10):
start praying together, um,because together you achieve
more things.
I think there's this um, thisafrican saying is that uh, alone
you'll go faster, but togetheryou'll go further.
I don't know if you're familiarwith that, but I think it.
No, I haven't heard it's half mybeautiful above my desk for
quite some time yeah.
Sheila Nonato (45:30):
Well, I I'm very honored to have you again and
thank you for always saying yesand I ask if you would like to
come.
And, as you were mentioning,it's Christmas time and the new
year coming up.
Let's prioritize prayer, let'sget to know God better and, yeah
, sort of answer that invitationfrom God to come home.
(45:50):
Come home to him.
And also, yeah, I know that,like we were mentioning, hosanna
app is free.
So how, friends, is anythingreally free, right, if you have
in your heart, you know, if youare able to, to give, to help
this ministry, this apostolateof spreading prayer, spreading
(46:11):
the good news, encouragingothers and spreading positivity,
and also God's word, of course,above all else, and hope and
encouragement and inspiration inour world, where we, many times
, we do need that.
It's like the candle, you know,the one lone candle in a dark
church, a dark room.
(46:32):
But there is that candle.
We need God.
He is our light, he is our hope, he is our salvation.
And we do need others.
He created others so we can allhelp each other, that we can be
all Christ's hands and feet toeach other.
And this is one way, friends,if you, like me, are addicted to
(46:54):
your phone or you need help tomake better use of your time on
tech, why not look into whateveryou want to do?
But if you want, you're welcometo look into Hozana and Rosario
and see how this can help youin your prayer life, how we can
increase our become more adeptat prayer and, I guess,
(47:19):
jumpstart our spiritual life.
Let's aim for that in 2025,that we'll get to know God close
better.
We'll get to know God closebetter and we will see that
transformation in ourselves aswell, so that we can help others
, that we can become who Godcreated us to be, and yeah,
(47:40):
thank you, cassandra.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (47:41):
Was there anything else you wanted
to add?
I know you have to go.
No, thank you.
Sheila Nonato (47:48):
It's exactly that how to be intentional and how
to lift other people up and totogether grow closer to the Lord
in 2025.
Amen and thank you, merryChristmas.
Have a blessed, blessedChristmas with your fiance.
Are you getting married soon?
I'm sorry, I'm being noisy.
No, no, that's fine, oh okay,not yet, not yet, okay Okay.
All right Well we'll.
We'll be praying for yourpreparation.
If you care to let us know.
But um, yeah, and have abeautiful new year, beautiful
(48:13):
new start.
You're going to be startingsomething new with your fiance,
your, your husband, in August,so we will play pray at friends.
I, I encourage you to pleasepray for cassandra and her
fiance, and hosanna and rosarioand the ministry.
So thank you again, Cassandre,God bless.
Thank you again, Cassandre, Godbless.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozan (48:30):
Thank You Sheila.
Co-Hosts (48:51):
Thank you for listening to the Veil and Armour
podcast.
I invite you to share this withanother Catholic mom today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel, and please
spread the word.
Let's Be Brave, let's Be Boldand Be Blessed together.
I think that it's incredible
because we were talking, Sheila,about the fact that saints come
in squads and you become saintsby surrounding yourself with
other people that are alsotrying to achieve that goal in
holiness and striving to becloser to the Lord, and I think
that being faithful in yourprayer can be absolutely helped
by the fact that you havefriends that are also faithful
in their prayer, and sosomeone's habit can also become
(00:23):
your habit, and you have thiskind of positive cycle of
pulling each other up towardsthe Lord, and so this idea of
saints come in squads issomething that we're encouraging
on Rosario is to create you rRosary group and invite four
other people that you know fromnear or far, from recently, or
that you've always known, andinvite them to pray the Rosary
with you.
Sheila Nonato (00:41):
Invite them to pray the rosary with you.
Hello and welcome to the Veiland Armour Podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist.
Seeking the guidance of theHoly Spirit and the inspiration
of Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
(01:01):
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
.
Co-Hosts (01:09):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Sheila Nonato (01:17):
Social media and the internet can be tools for
good to evangelize acrossborders, yet it can also point
to the dark side of humanity.
How do we sanctify social mediaWith careful and purposeful
intentionality in what weconsume on social media and, for
(01:38):
Christian content creators,what we choose to produce online
?
How do we fight the dark sideof the web pornography websites,
human trafficking, onlinepodcasts on the occult?
How do we arm ourselves in thespiritual battle against the
dark forces of the world and onthe web Through the armour of
(02:00):
faith, through the power ofprayer?
Let's listen to CassandraVerhelst of the Hozana and
Rosario App speak of how we canjoin our prayers together to win
hearts and souls for Christ.
Welcome, Cassandre, welcomeback.
(02:29):
We are happy to have you.
You are in Paris, France, andjust wanted to re-introduce you.
You've been here already acouple of times already, so I'm
sure people know you very well.
You are the head of theAnglophone edition of the Hozana
Association, which has two apps.
One is Hozanaa, hosanna.
(02:53):
org and Rosario app, and theseapps help people to pray and
they show the diversity of thechurch, the Catholic church,
where religious communities,priests, lay people can all join
to pray together in communionwith the saints.
So let's start with a prayer,since we're going to be
discussing prayer, so if you can, please lead us.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana A (03:09):
In the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Dear Lord, enlighten ourconversations, and the Virgin
Mary, please guide us in ourdiscussion.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among all women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb.
Holy Mary, mother of God, prayfor us poor sinners, now and at
(03:33):
the hour of our death, Amen.
In the name of the Father andthe Son and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Sheila Nonato (03:41):
Thank you very much for that prayer.
Thank you very much for thatprayer.
Yeah, so we are when I'mtalking to you right now, so I
think I will try to edit thisbefore Christmas.
But as I'm talking to you rightnow, we have about a week
before the beautiful most holyday aside from Easter of
Christmas, and everybody's busy.
(04:01):
It's always a busy time,planning get-togethers, gifts,
all the things, and sometimes wemight forget about our
spiritual life, preparing ourown hearts for Jesus.
But I'm sure a lot of ourlisteners that is top of mind in
their hearts, but they're alsooverwhelmed with the busyness.
(04:22):
So can you give us some tips?
How do we pray in a busy season?
Can we pray?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana A (04:32):
Of course, and maybe more than
tips, just my personal testimony, because I'm no one to give
lessons, but I found that thereare a few things that have
really helped me out recently isthe first of all, understanding
that prayer isn't somethingthat needs to be done in one
block of time, at one givenmoment during the day, but that
(04:53):
it's something that canaccompany us along the whole day
.
As religious people, as monksand sisters.
In their monasteries, they prayseveral times a day, and so we
can do that too.
And so, concretely, for me,what that means is that I start
my day as I put my feet downfrom my bed, I do a sign of the
(05:14):
cross and say Lord, open my lipsand my and I don't know how to
say it in English, but in Frenchit's Seigneur, ouvre mes lèvres
et ma bouche chantera ta, and Idon't know how you'd say it in
English, but in French it's andmy mouth will speak of your
glory and um and worship you.
Uh.
And so that's the first thing Ido, and I think it's it's a a
(05:36):
beautiful way to actually markthe fact that I'm going to start
off my day by praying, um, andby just talking to the Lord, um,
because he, he wants to heareverything that we have to say.
And in the same vein ofdividing up my prayer time, when
I finally, when I arrive atwork, before I, after I just
(05:56):
opened my PC, my laptop, andbefore opening my mails, and all
of that, I say one decade, theone I've been attributed on
Rosario.
I'm part of a living rosarygroup on the Rosario app with my
colleagues, and so we all sayour decade before or at the
moment, during our day, sothat's when I start mine.
And when I go home, I also sayone on my bike, because
(06:23):
transportation is a good momentto meditate and think and to
speak with the Lord.
And by the time I get home,I've already prayed three times,
which is pretty nice because Icould say, ok, gosh, well, now
it's 9 pm, I want to go to bedand I still have to pray, but
actually I've already spoken tothe Lord throughout my day,
(06:43):
which is a great feeling.
And then the last time I prayis actually just before going to
bed.
And again, I opened my Rosarioapp and something that struck me
was the fact that I'm veryaddicted to my phone, or at
(07:04):
least I don't have muchwillpower to say'm I'm very
addicted to my phone, or atleast I'm I.
I don't have much, um,willpower to say, okay, I'm
stopping now, I've I've hadenough of, uh, of of useless
content.
Um, and I, I noticed that whenI, when I first opened my
Rosario app and I first praywhen I, when I'm about to go to
bed, um I I put myself in this,this mood of um of union with
(07:27):
God, and um and I do my, my, theremaining decades of my rosary.
And then, by the time I'm done,I realize that I can let go of
this phone and I mean I don'tneed to be on on my screen
anymore, and so I think that wasa pretty nice revelation.
To think, okay, well, I can usethis technology for good and it
(07:50):
doesn't have to be master of me, I can be master of it.
And that works well for me isscheduling my meetings with the
(08:10):
Lord.
I try and go to adoration onetime per week, and that's
something I decide on Sundayevening.
I look at my schedule and Ithink, okay, when is a good time
?
And then I stick to it.
It's not.
Oh, I'll go to mass if I havetime this week, because there's
always something to do.
But if you're in anothermindset and you think, okay,
(08:30):
well, wednesday I have a meetingat 7 pm and that meeting is
with the Lord, well, I have tobe there, and so I think that
was really a nice revelation forme to think, okay, well, it's
not when I have time, it's Ihave time, or I make the time to
go to adoration, because youdon't always have to be in a
prayer space in a church or inoratory to pray with the Lord.
(08:52):
You can do that all the waythroughout your day.
But it's also nice to be ableto go to that place at least
once per week, and so that'swhat I try and do.
Sheila Nonato (09:03):
Yes, and when you're saying about how you're
using your phone withintentionality, I think, with
purpose, I think that's whathelps focus, right?
I have the same problem, to behonest, and I was speaking to a
therapist saying, yeah, thephones are, they're addictive
for a reason, like the socialmedia.
(09:23):
They want you to go therebecause that's how they make
money.
Right, it's a dopamine hit that.
Yeah, a lot of people.
I see people walking crossingthe street on their phone, so I
pray they get across the streetsafely.
But, yeah, people walking downthe street just on the phone.
It's one of those things thatwe are all trying to, I guess,
(09:47):
detach from, but it's difficultto do.
But, like you were saying, ifthere's intentionality, that
there's a purpose, I'm going onthe phone to go to the Hosanna
app and I'm going to say adecade Um instead of yeah.
I mean, it's fine if peoplewant to relax that way, right,
um, 10 minutes or whatever.
Like we could take an examplefrom Blessed Carlo Acutis, who
(10:10):
his mother said he played videogames, but he limited himself
for an hour, I think about anhour, and that's truly amazing
because you know video games arealso addictive, right, but he,
yeah, he, he sort of he realized, yeah, I like to do this, but
my main, I guess my main love,my greatest love, is God.
(10:31):
So I'm gonna limit myself toit's only an hour a day, and
then I'm gonna do other things,like what he was doing with his
website building up this websiteto showcase the Eucharistic
miracles, to bring people toJesus, and I feel like every
Christmas and even Easter, Iguess and nothing disparaging
about Christmas and Eastercoming home campaigns, right,
(10:52):
but it's always like come homeCatholics, come home Anybody.
If you're not even part of areligion, is that there's, you
know, you're welcome the door,the door is open.
And what, what if people, yeah,they're in that, that situation
that they haven't been tochurch, like you were talking
about going to Adoration,scheduling that in which is so
(11:13):
important?
Because, yeah, how do we builda relationship if with someone
we don't know and that's one wayto do it right Like, and he's
right there, jesus is in, jesusis there in the Eucharist,
that's what he promised us andwe can just sit there in silence
with him.
But for people who have beenaway from the church or who
(11:33):
don't even have a church andmaybe they feel a calling or
maybe they have been invitedbecause it's Christmas or it's
New Year's, hey, come to church.
So they come.
Now they don't know what to do,right, they don't know.
Let now, they don't know whatto do, right, they don't know.
Let's say, they don't know howto pray.
What is the first step for them?
How do?
How do we make it lessintimidating, less of a burden?
How do you?
(11:57):
do you have any tips?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (11:58):
Yeah , you, you lead by, or what
comes to mind is you lead byexample and you explain, because
following without understandingis just the worst thing, I
think.
And so if you're bringing backsomeone to church, I think it's
worth.
I mean, you might be talking alittle bit during Mass, but
explaining what's going on andor, you know, giving a booklet
(12:21):
of what's happening on, giving abooklet of what's happening and
what's going on during thecelebration is something that's
maybe super useful for theperson that you're accompanying.
And then, if it's on your heartto help someone grow closer to
the Lord, I think helping andbeing there and showing that
(12:46):
you're going to you're, you'regoing to accompany them is super
precious.
And I'm trying preaching to thechoir, but I think, and at least
pitching the people I work for,but at the what I, what I find
super beautiful about theRosario app is that it is and
(13:07):
basically the idea is thatyou're praying one rosary with
four other people, so everybodysays a decade per day, and
there's really the social aspectof prayer is that everybody,
for the rosary to be complete,everybody has to pray their
decade.
And so there's this idea of ifyou do it, I'll do it.
(13:27):
And so, if you're trying toaccompany someone back to prayer
and back to the Lord, well,they need to be kind of guided
and you need to hold their hand.
And so, by doing something easylike praying together and not
saying I'm going to pray for you, but saying let's pray together
, and there's this really simpleprayer.
It's called the Hail Mary, andit's literally I don't know, I
(13:54):
don't know if it's one sentenceor two sentences, but it's
pretty, it's pretty easy and ifand it's pretty repetitive, so
it gets stuck in your mindpretty quickly, and showing a
person that we're going to dothis together, um is is really
powerful, and so I think thatthat's something that is.
You know, if you're trying toget someone back to the faith,
(14:18):
praying with them and not justfor their conversion, is
something that can beinteresting to try.
Sheila Nonato (14:25):
Yes, and yeah, I'm definitely leading by
example.
That is the invitation to, youknow, for somebody who may feel
lost, to be honest, right, likethey haven't been to church in a
while and perhaps, let's say,they're baptized and now they're
wondering do I go out forcommunion, what do I do?
I guess that's anotherinvitation that they can look
(14:48):
into the sacraments, right, theone of the sacrament of
confession which, to be honest,I try to go weekly because you
know, I really need.
It's kind of like taking ashower, right, like you, you
need, you need to be washed of,yeah, of whatever's burgeoning
you, what's, what's not keep,what's keeping you from being
truly free in Christ, and andyeah, so, if a person hasn't
(15:13):
been to church, they might wantto look into that.
Going to confession.
And, to be honest, I just sharewith you briefly my first
confession.
I remember, I mean, I was.
I forget now how old I was,maybe 10, 9 or 10.
And as soon as I said I wasnervous, as most people are.
And as soon as I said I wasnervous, as most people are, and
as soon as I said the sins, Ifelt I don't know what happened,
(15:37):
like I just felt thisoverwhelming grace, love, like I
don't know.
I just started crying, to behonest, and the priest said your
tears are making Jesus happy,something like this.
And I thought, wow, and eversince then I do go.
I mean, sometimes it's scarybecause you're like, oh, I don't
(15:59):
want to tell somebody else why,but once I do it, it's like a
release.
It's like the priest is therein Jesus' place.
He's saying to you your sinsare forgiven and you're truly
free now.
You're free again to love, tobe yourself, to be who God
(16:21):
created you to be.
And I think that's a wonderfulthing.
That, yeah, at Christmas time,I know people, you know, they do
the church kind of routine.
They see it as a routine, butit's.
It's actually a beautiful sortof invitation to other people as
well who haven't been, whohaven't been to church.
And speaking of churchinvitation and opening of doors,
(16:43):
I'm thinking about not notredame and how it was a big to do.
It was.
It was all over social media inthe news that it reopened after
the fire and it's gorgeous.
The interior is gorgeous.
All the world leaders, many ofthe world leaders, were there
and the focus was on the churchagain.
(17:04):
Can you tell me what was theexcitement in France.
Were they excited?
Can you tell us, and the youngpeople, how did they see this?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (17:14):
Yeah , um, I don't know if it's
really comparable, but um, I, I,I kind of felt like it was um,
the same as the um, the fall ofthe Berlin wall.
It's something that everyonewas talking about.
Super exciting.
Gosh, do I go, do I not go?
Uh, do I cancel my plans justto be able to to be there.
And so it was.
It was pretty, it was as if itwas a big um, you know, a
(17:37):
worldwide event, because it wasthrough, it was um, shown on all
the medias across the world.
I mean just this, this churchthat Parisians, you know, go by
all the time, because it'sreally in the cross or at the
crossroads of the of paris.
When you go from east to west,from north to really in the
cross or at the crossroads ofthe of paris, when you go from
east to west, from north tosouth, you, you cross, you pass
by notre dame, notre dame, and.
(17:58):
And so there was a real bigexcitement.
They were looking forvolunteers.
So I have quite a few friendsthat just decided to take a day
off of work to go and volunteerfor the reopening, um and um,
and some were invited by thepriest that had married them to
go and volunteer for thereopening Um and um, and some
were invited by the priest thathad married them to go to the uh
, one of the reopening masses,which was it's as if you got the
(18:18):
golden ticket in Willy Wonka,because the places were so rare,
um and so.
So, personally, I haven't beenable to go yet, because to visit
um you need a ticket, and sothe tickets are all sold out.
But you can attend Mass and so,um, and so one lady from my
(18:38):
prayer group told us that shehad been and that she encouraged
us strongly to go as well.
It's mass at 8 am, so you haveto be ready to be there, um.
But I think what was interestingwas the fact that it's not our
parish, because there are a lotof churches in Paris, and so
Notre Dame is not the parish ofmany people, but it was
(19:00):
something that we're allattached to, because it's really
the emblem of the French church.
It's the emblem of the or atleast we see it as the seat of
the bishops, and the heart of,and the heart of Paris.
I mean, if, if the world isfalling down, where you go?
Okay, quick church, big church,okay, notre Dame.
(19:21):
And so I think that that logicand that way of thinking is the
same for a lot of, for a lot ofCatholics, and it's and it was
also really nice to have areligious symbol and a religious
building be at the heart ofdiscussion for so long, because,
I mean, we've been talkingabout it for five years.
For five years it's interestedpeople around the world.
(19:43):
Every now and then there was anews segment on the television
about how the works wereadvancing in in the cathedral,
so everyone's been talking aboutit.
And so how nice is it thatyou're talking about a church
and you're not talking about waror you're not talking about
(20:04):
politics.
You're talking about a symbolof a faith, even though we're
not talking about it as if itwas, you know, a place of
worship, but it's still, defacto, a place of worship.
Sheila Nonato (20:20):
Beautiful and you had mentioned earlier to me
that your friend had some photos.
When you saw them, what wasyour reaction?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (20:29):
Well , it was interesting because we
had seen pictures of the churchvery bare, without the chairs in
it yet, and very white.
It kind of reminds me of the StJohn the Baptist Cathedral in
Lyon, France, which is anotherchurch that was renovated
recently, very grandiose, verybig, very grandiose, very big.
(20:49):
And when we saw the picturesthat our friends sent indeed
it's clean, it's bright, it'swhite, and how lucky are we to
have this beautiful buildingjust free of access to us, and I
think there's just so much lovethat was put into the
(21:11):
reconstruction of this.
And then it was so.
The friend that shared with usshared a few pictures, and then
the last picture was a statue ofthe Virgin holding her son,
which honestly, isn't the mostbeautiful statue of the Virgin
Mary I've ever seen, but it's asymbol of.
(21:32):
I don't know if you know this,but the statue was intact when
the cathedral burned down and itreally goes to show that Our
Mother is there and things maybe falling apart and crumbling
down around us, but she's there,she's holding her son, she's
protecting her son and amidstthe rubble they're there.
(21:55):
So it was really a touchingtestimony of her presence, and
seeing her back in the cathedralthrough images is also very
nice.
Sheila Nonato (22:10):
Yes, that's wonderful that you brought that
up.
Amidst the rubble she is intactand the church is named after
her right, Notre Dame, Our Lady,and France, the eldest daughter
of the church.
You were mentioning a littlebit about the revival.
Is it still happening?
Can we see this?
Can we see this sometime in thefuture?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana Ap (22:33):
I hope so.
I mean, I know that I evolve ina very Catholic environment.
I'm lucky to be friends withmany young people that have the
faith, also lucky to be in acountry where a lot of people
(22:54):
have um religious education, umit's not foreign to them, and so
I think that's something that'svery something that we can
rejoice for.
And there are a lot ofinitiatives um that are that are
um building up about, um tryingto have an integral education
(23:17):
centered around the christ.
So all these little um kind ofoff the grid schools uh popping
up um where it's christ-centered, um it's, you know, one could
say it's kind of going out ofsociety to create your own new
society centered around theChrist, and I think it's called
(23:38):
the Benedictine challenge or theBenedictine bet.
But I mean, things arehappening and people are talking
about it.
So that's always interestingand knowing that people are
still having their children goto First Communion and people
are still signing the childrenup for catechism classes at
(23:59):
their parish if they don't havethem at school, which many
schools don't have, and I wasimpressed.
A short story is that I don'tknow if you also have Rorate
Masses during Advent, so Masseswith candles early in the
morning, at dawn, and I wasreally impressed because the
(24:24):
children from my catechism classlast year went without me
inviting them.
I saw them at Mass at 7 am.
But I mean, how many14-year-olds get up at 6.30 to
be ready to go to Mass at 7?
I don't think many.
So there's always lights andit's just a question of being
able to see the positive and seethe little lights that the Lord
(24:48):
is putting in our relationships.
But I mean per se, where's thespiritual revival?
It's coming, sheila, I hope.
Sheila Nonato (24:58):
Yes, well, that's yeah, I mean 14-year-olds, can
you get them to do anything?
But I mean, there areresponsible ones.
But you know, yeah, that'samazing.
And when you're just talkingabout the I don't think I've
ever been, I feel like Eastervigil is when I've seen the
candles at mass, but Raratecandles, you said yeah, I mean,
I don't know if that's very bigin the US and Canada, but it's
(25:23):
here in Paris and in France.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozan (25:25):
There are a lot of Rorate Masses
where it's to symbolize them,the fact that you're hoping and
you're, you're waiting at uh,with, with little light for the,
the light that jesus is that'sgonna come, and it's early in
the morning, but it's becausethey're asking you to make a
little sacrifice and to um, toreally be ready at dawn, to um
(25:46):
to greet and meet the lord.
Sheila Nonato (25:49):
That's a beautiful symbol.
I mean a light in the darkness,right, sometimes as Christians,
you feel like you're alone, butthere is that little candle to
give you hope.
And actually in the Philippineswe also have this, I think.
Well, it starts also early,like 5 a.
m.
dawn.
It's called Simbang Gabi, whichis a very early mass basically,
(26:12):
and a lot of people do itbecause we do have a lot,
there's a lot of, there are alot of Catholics in the
Philippines, but, yeah, like youget up early and it's a big,
it's a big celebration actually,it's very joyful and all the
vendors are out with food andonce you get out of mass,
obviously but you know, know,there's, it's it's the
(26:33):
philippines starts, to be honest, to prepare for christmas in
september.
Okay, so it's, it's just athing.
We just that's what they do um,they call it the "ber months.
So september, october, november, december four months to
rejoice, but, um, but I mean, Iguess I'm thinking about, like,
when I was mentioning people whoare going to be invited to
church, um, they might say no, Idon't want to go, or they might
(26:54):
feel obligated I got to goCause my mom is making me go.
Um, sometimes it's also not.
It's not such a happy, happy,hopeful time for some people.
They're going through, they'regoing to you know cause.
Christmas kind of sometimesmagnifies what people don't have
.
I know, a loss.
Perhaps they don't have aparent or parents, a child who
(27:16):
is who they lost, or just it's.
It's not a, that's not a happytime.
How do they, how do theyapproach prayer when prayer is
difficult?
How do we, in general, how dowe also approach prayer when
we're going through a hard time,when we're, you know Christmas
is happy, you're supposed to behappy.
Well, what if you, you, you,you're trying to find the joy in
(27:37):
the Lord?
How do you, how do?
you do this when you you feellost.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (27:44):
Yeah , I understand my grandmother
was telling me about the factthat it's it's always hard to be
at Christmas without my grandpaand it really touched me.
But I think when your prayer,life is hard and dry, you just
have to remember that.
Or I mean, making it short ismaking it, so it doesn't matter
(28:07):
if your prayer is 15, 20, anhour long, if it's even 30
seconds, when it's hard, it'salready that.
So I think that's somethingthat helped me out when it was
hard for me to pray, say okay,well, I don't feel much, I don't
know much, but at least I'mmaking an effort and at least
I'm there, and maybe the prayeris not rich, but at least it's
(28:31):
being done.
And also, when you have noinspiration, I think what the
beauty of the Hail Mary and theOur Father is that they're easy
prayers that can be repeatedendlessly.
And there's also, I mean, justsaying a Hail Mary is a prayer.
The sign of the cross is theshortest prayer you can do, and
(28:53):
so just crossing yourself ispraying already.
So you know, repeating thingsthat are easy to say and easy to
remember and making it short, Ithink it's pretty something we
can recommend.
When it's hard to pray, it'seasy to say, less easy to say to
(29:13):
someone.
But yeah.
Sheila Nonato (29:18):
Yeah, I feel like yeah, sometimes also because in
our culture there's a lot of inour world really there's a lot
of distraction, noise and allthat and people actually have a
hard time in silence.
So when you were talking, uh tome earlier about, um, when you
bike, riding your bike, you'repraying, um, maybe that might
(29:38):
make it easier for somebody.
Do you think that you know,when they're doing something, it
doesn't have to be like you'rein the, you're sitting in a
monastery and uh for two hours,right like you can just be right
like you.
You were riding your bike,going to work or going
throughout the city and you'repraying a decade.
Can you encourage us to do that?
(29:59):
If we feel like it's toointimidating, is this something
we can do?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (30:06):
Well , I think that one sentence that
really marked me was if youstart doing something while
you're praying, it's probablythat you're distracted, but if
you're doing something and thenall of a sudden you start to
pray, it means that your mind isdrawn to the Lord, and I
(30:27):
thought that was so.
It was eyeopening, becausesometimes I realized I'm washing
my dishes and I'm and I'msinging um a worship song and
then I'm like, oh yeah, I couldhave just been singing um
secular songs, but I'm singingsomething for the Lord and so
I'm thinking about him and soI'm praying to him.
Um, or when I'm brushing myteeth and all of a sudden I'm
(30:48):
like, oh, I haven't said my HailMary yet, I'm going to do it
now.
Or my, my decade, I'm going todo it now.
I'm I'm taking my distractiondistraction or what I'm doing
and axing it and um, bringing itto the Lord rather than the
other way around, and I thinkthat's, um, that's that's pretty
um powerful as well.
And I mean, if you can't go to asilent place, if you don't have
(31:14):
a monastery at the end of theroad, anything can be.
I mean, prayer can be all thetime.
Prayer can be just saying hello.
And I think it took me a longtime to realize that, to realize
that looking at someone and notjudging but saying, oh okay, I
have this thing in my headthat's not really nice to say
about them.
But just canceling that out andsaying Lord, bless this person,
(31:38):
or this person is blessed byyou, help me see that it's
changing the way I'm thinking,but it's changing it towards the
Lord.
So I'm praying, and I don'tknow if you completely agree
with that, but at least that'swhat gets me through and that's
what motivates me in my prayerwhen I can't, when I find it
hard to sit in front of myprayer corner for half an hour.
Sheila Nonato (32:04):
Yes, and I think some of us have this image of
prayer like, yeah, we got to sitdown quiet and but I guess also
there are different.
You know, if we're trying topray like Padre Pio, like that's
not happening, right, there aredifferent levels of prayer.
You can start like a child,right, you can start there.
You can even start with theprayers that we all know the Our
(32:25):
Father, the Hail Mary, if it'stoo intimidating to, because,
yeah, silence can be very hard.
For somebody who is used to somuch activity going on, it's
hard to keep, to be quiet.
But, yeah, I think we sort ofhave to let go of, you know,
perfectionism in prayer, that weeveryone has a different level
in their spiritual journey.
(32:45):
So, if we can't pray like PadrePio, it's okay.
You can start with, like youwere saying, uh, sign of the
cross, or hail Mary, our father.
You can just start there anddon't, don't worry about it,
like God.
God hears you, god knows, godknows your situation and what
you're trying to say, even ifyou cannot express it in words.
You can just sit there even andcry Like I've done that, I've
(33:07):
done that before, just cryingyour heart out, and he knows,
and whatever you've done doesn'tmatter, just come, just come.
Don't let that be a barrier andI'm just reminded of in the
Bible.
It says for where two or threeare gathered together in my name
, I am there among them, andsometimes prayer can feel like a
(33:28):
solitary exercise, right, or asolitary habit or practice.
But you were mentioning to mebefore this call that Hosanna
has this community of saints,that we're actually not alone
and through Hosanna we can alsopray for other people or we can
pray with other people.
Can you tell us how does thiswork?
How can we do this?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (33:49):
Yeah , I was.
I don't know if I shared thisbefore already, but I got
engaged last summer and I wroteon the so on the Hosanna
application.
On Hosannaorg there's a wholepage where it's called prayer
intentions and people canentrust their intentions and
it'll appear in on otherpeople's Hosanna pages as kind
of a feed that people can clickand choose three intentions to
(34:13):
pray on.
And so when you decide to prayfor Joan, sheila and Mark maybe
one has cancer, the other one islooking for a job and the other
one has exams you decide, ok, Idon't know who this person is,
but they're asking for thisgrace or help for this or this
challenge.
(34:33):
I'm going to ask the Lord tolisten to their call and to
bless them.
And so you click on a littlebutton, pray, and after 48 hours
the person that has entrustedthat intention receives if they
put that, if they wanted toreceive feedback the amount of
(34:53):
people that have prayed for them.
And so I had entrusted myengagements a few months ago and
I was so impressed because Ididn't expect anyone to pray for
that.
I just wanted to entrust thatto the Lord and I got a mail
saying 18 people prayed for youand I thought, wow, it means
that 18 people across the worldthat I don't know said okay,
(35:14):
lord bless Cassandra and PaulAdrien and their engagement, and
I thought that was so powerful.
And something that someoneshared with us just two days ago
on the app store was sharedwith us just two days ago on the
app store was so for Rosario,that also has this idea of
sharing prayer intentions andpraying for others.
(35:36):
In your little rosary group, youcan entrust an intention and
the lady had just lost hersister and she wasn't able to
continue, or she took a few daysoff and so she didn't pray her
decade.
And she said it was so powerfulto know that people were
praying for me, these fourladies that I don't know but
that I pray with every day, thatthey were praying for me
(35:58):
through this hard time, and Ithought that was so beautiful,
to concretize this communion ofsaints praying for each other.
It's a real blessing.
I mean, we have that grace andthat gift in the Catholic Church
to be able to pray for eachother, and I think that having
(36:19):
the tools that allow us to prayfor each other is just
incredible.
And so, on the Hosannaapplication and on the website,
you can entrust your intentionsand they're preyed on by other
people.
Sheila Nonato (36:33):
And so, for those who might not be as tech savvy
like, I'm actually not techsavvy, so I go on the website or
do I download the app.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hoza (36:41):
Either , but going on the website is
maybe easier if you're not verytech savvy, okay, hosannaorg.
Hosannaorg and then Hosannawith a Z, h-o-z-a-n-a.
Sheila Nonato (36:51):
Zed, okay, okay, or Zed for Canadian viewers.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (36:54):
It's Zed for Canadian viewers, it's
like the Europeans.
And then on the top you've gota little icon that says
intentions, with a little personholding up a flame, an icon
that says community intentions,with a little person holding up
a flame.
And on that you're you'rebrought to a page with tons of
(37:15):
intentions and you can lay downyour own and submit it, and that
way you will have, you'll beable to go into that loop of
people that are praying for eachother.
And so, as I'm speaking to you,I see that there's Emily asking
for healing, for her treatmentand for a job, and Humberto that
has just joined Hosanna, andMaria, who's asking to pray for
(37:38):
the homeless.
Sheila Nonato (37:43):
Beautiful.
So for Hozana and then forRosario.
Those are two different apps,correct?
Yeah?
Or can you go to Rosariothrough Hozana?
No, you cannot.
Those are two different apps,correct?
Yeah?
Or can you go to Rosariothrough Hozana?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana A (37:52):
No , you cannot, because they're
two different ones.
So, basically, rosario is an appto help you get started and be
faithful in your prayer of therosary, and we were talking
about how do we bring someone toprayer.
I think it's a pretty powerfultool because the idea is that
each person receives one of thefive decades, and so when you're
(38:14):
in a group of five people,everybody says their own decade
and it allows you to togetherpray to the Virgin Mary, and you
can either join a private groupif you have four other people
that you know, or a public groupand you have people that are
praying for the same intentions.
For example, I'm praying for theconversion of a loved one with
four ladies that I don't knowone in france, um, one in asia
(38:37):
and um, and two in the unitedstates and um.
Hozana is a, an applicationthat allows you to follow the
retreats, a spiritual retreatscreated by different people from
the church, so monasteries,religious communities, priests,
lay people, shrines,associations, people that are
(39:00):
just there to help you pray forthis or that with Mary, Untier
of Knots, or with St.
Michael, or how to deepen yourprayer, pray with the saints,
and so that's all for free,because we're an association.
So if you're feeling generousat this Christmas time.
You can help us out with adonation to help the mission
(39:23):
grow and to be able to reachmore people.
Sheila Nonato (39:27):
So, am I correct?
Is it 1.9 users?
How many users?
Again, yeah, 1.9 million users.
9 million, yes.
And how many countries?
Which countries and how manylanguages?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (39:39):
Well , it's worldwide, so we have
four editions on Hozana Spanish,french, English and Portuguese,
and then on Rosario, we alsohave Italian and Polish, and so
the idea is that we're trying tocover the whole world so that
people can pray togetherwherever they are, and what's
(40:01):
pretty neat is on your Rosarioapp, you can be praying with
people that are in differentparts of the world, that are
connected on a differentlanguage.
Sheila Nonato (40:11):
And for Rosario, you can also create a prayer
group with is it five people?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (40:16):
Yeah .
So, you can invite four of yourfriends and family, or people
from your prayer group or fromyour parish, or people that
you've been on a pilgrimage withthat you want to continue
praying with.
The way I use it is that inhigh school I was in a prayer
group and I met some of my bestfriends on there, and so every
(40:42):
Friday, when we met in thisprayer group, we had the habit
of praying together and wethought, okay, well, now we
don't live in the same cityanymore.
Some of us are married, someare studying to become priests,
some live abroad, and so how canwe continue to, to grow in our
faith, but together?
Because it was, um that whatstarted our friendship, and so
we have, um, we have a rosarygroup on rosario, and we're
(41:05):
actually more than uh, we'remore than five, so we have two
linked rosaries, which is prettyneat, and so every day, we each
say our decade and we know thatthe others are praying at the
same time.
And if we have a prayerintention, well, we just share
it in the group and we know thatall the others are also praying
for that intention, and sothat's one of my prayer groups,
(41:27):
so that's one of my prayergroups, and I think that it's
incredible because we weretalking, sheila, about the fact
that saints come in squads andyou become saints by surrounding
yourself with other people thatare also trying to achieve that
goal and holiness and strivingto be closer to the Lord, and I
think that being faithful inyour prayer can be absolutely
(41:48):
helped by the fact that you havefriends that are also faithful
in their prayer, and sosomeone's habit can also become
your habit, and you have thiskind of positive cycle of
pulling each other up towardsthe Lord, and so this idea of
Saints Come in Squads issomething that we're encouraging
in January, on Rosario, is tocreate your rosary group and
(42:08):
invite four other people thatyou know from near or far, from
recently, or that you've alwaysknown, and invite them to pray
the rosary with you, and you'llsee that being faithful in your
prayer is something that is sorich, and we were talking about,
you know, about beingintentional about your screen
(42:30):
time and about being intentionalabout how you use your phone
and technology.
Well, I think there's a lot ofbad on the Internet, but there's
also a lot of good, and sobeing able to pray together is
something that we can takeadvantage of yes, definitely.
Sheila Nonato (42:50):
And when you mentioned squad, I'm just
thinking Taylor Swift has hersquad.
Now you have the Saints squad.
You have your own squad.
And how was it, Blessed CarloAcutis .
.
.
He was God's influencer.
And how do you positivelyinfluence people, your friends,
and wouldn't this be a greatstart to your new year?
(43:12):
Yeah, you kind of keep yourselfaccountable and you have these
people who are with you inprayer, encouraging you, and you
know, I mean sometimes, yeah,god, you know, when we ask God
for something, sometimes theanswer is no or not yet.
But in the not yet, in thewaiting, we sometimes feel
(43:38):
impatient.
But if we have some people withus on that journey of trying to
find out what is God's will formy life, or what does God want
me to do in this situation, willfor my life, or what does God
want me to do in this situation,having those people, those
positive influencers, the realinfluencers, I would say, is
really going to be helpful tomake a transformational change,
(43:59):
especially when we're lookingnow like there's Christmas and
then we're looking to New Year,and every time it's New Year,
people always want to changesomething, transform, become
better than what we used to be,and I think this is a great
opportunity.
Can you tell me more?
What did you call it again, thecommunion of saints squad?
(44:20):
What was it?
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (44:23):
Yeah , saints come in squads and to
really use that communion ofsaints and the fact that
together, um can be stronger, uh, and absolutely to positively
influence and to use your um.
You know, if you know that inyour friend group you have
someone that's maybe strugglinga bit and you're on a roll, well
, use your role to get thatother person praying again.
(44:45):
And then you know, in twomonths if it'll, if the roles
will be changed up and you mightneed that hand, and so, if
you've started and you've, ifyou've gotten the ball rolling,
well it's going to be a virtuouscycle that's going to bring you
up towards the lord, you withyour friends, and so um.
So that's what we're reallyencouraging on uh, on rosario.
This this year is to, or for2025, is to really start and
(45:10):
start praying together, um,because together you achieve
more things.
I think there's this um, thisafrican saying is that uh, alone
you'll go faster, but togetheryou'll go further.
I don't know if you're familiarwith that, but I think it.
No, I haven't heard it's half mybeautiful above my desk for
quite some time yeah.
Sheila Nonato (45:30):
Well, I I'm very honored to have you again and
thank you for always saying yesand I ask if you would like to
come.
And, as you were mentioning,it's Christmas time and the new
year coming up.
Let's prioritize prayer, let'sget to know God better and, yeah
, sort of answer that invitationfrom God to come home.
(45:50):
Come home to him.
And also, yeah, I know that,like we were mentioning, hosanna
app is free.
So how, friends, is anythingreally free, right, if you have
in your heart, you know, if youare able to, to give, to help
this ministry, this apostolateof spreading prayer, spreading
(46:11):
the good news, encouragingothers and spreading positivity,
and also God's word, of course,above all else, and hope and
encouragement and inspiration inour world, where we, many times
, we do need that.
It's like the candle, you know,the one lone candle in a dark
church, a dark room.
(46:32):
But there is that candle.
We need God.
He is our light, he is our hope, he is our salvation.
And we do need others.
He created others so we can allhelp each other, that we can be
all Christ's hands and feet toeach other.
And this is one way, friends,if you, like me, are addicted to
(46:54):
your phone or you need help tomake better use of your time on
tech, why not look into whateveryou want to do?
But if you want, you're welcometo look into Hozana and Rosario
and see how this can help youin your prayer life, how we can
increase our become more adeptat prayer and, I guess,
(47:19):
jumpstart our spiritual life.
Let's aim for that in 2025,that we'll get to know God close
better.
We'll get to know God closebetter and we will see that
transformation in ourselves aswell, so that we can help others
, that we can become who Godcreated us to be, and yeah,
(47:40):
thank you, cassandra.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana (47:41):
Was there anything else you wanted
to add?
I know you have to go.
No, thank you.
Sheila Nonato (47:48):
It's exactly that how to be intentional and how
to lift other people up and totogether grow closer to the Lord
in 2025.
Amen and thank you, merryChristmas.
Have a blessed, blessedChristmas with your fiance.
Are you getting married soon?
I'm sorry, I'm being noisy.
No, no, that's fine, oh okay,not yet, not yet, okay Okay.
All right Well we'll.
We'll be praying for yourpreparation.
If you care to let us know.
But um, yeah, and have abeautiful new year, beautiful
(48:13):
new start.
You're going to be startingsomething new with your fiance,
your, your husband, in August,so we will play pray at friends.
I, I encourage you to pleasepray for cassandra and her
fiance, and hosanna and rosarioand the ministry.
So thank you again, Cassandre,God bless.
Thank you again, Cassandre, Godbless.
Cassandre Verhelst, Hozan (48:30):
Thank You Sheila.
Co-Hosts (48:51):
Thank you for listening to the Veil and Armour
podcast.
I invite you to share this withanother Catholic mom today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel, and please
spread the word.
Let's Be Brave, let's Be Boldand Be Blessed together.
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