Ep93 Navigating Division and Seeking Peace in Difficult Times

“In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world."
~ John 16:33

What do I do when I feel like giving up?
Is God present even when things feel hopeless?
Is it up to me to solve the problems in the world around me?

In Episode 93 of This Whole Life, Pat and Kenna tackle the challenge of staying sane and spiritually grounded in a world that feels increasingly divided, chaotic, and hopeless. The episode delves into the heavy realities facing our local communities and the broader world—addressing violence, division, and the toll of recent tragedies. Drawing on their backgrounds in faith, therapy, and family life, Pat and Kenna explore the tension between seeking justice and maintaining inner peace, as well as the struggle to trust and engage one another amid strong differences. They offer practical reflections on discerning what is in our control, the importance of empathy, and finding peace rooted in relationship with God rather than public approval. Join them for honest conversation, vulnerability, and encouragement to anchor your sanity—and search for sanctity—in turbulent times.

Episode 93 Show Notes

Reflection Questions

Chapters: 

0:00: Introduction & Olympic game
13:11: Highs & Hards
21:07: Why are things so hard?
30:09: Peace lies between resentment & disengaging
37:23: What is in my control and what isn't?
45:48: Rejecting the pull to seek others' approval
53:07: Challenge By Choice

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction & Olympic game
• 12:12 Highs & Hards
• 20:08 Why are things so hard?
• 29:10 Peace lies between resentment & disengaging
• 36:24 What is in my control and what isn't?
• 44:49 Rejecting the pull to seek others' approval
• 52:08 Challenge By Choice

Transcript

Pat Millea [00:00:00]:
The Jesus who said, "Love your enemies," he meant your enemies. He means like your enemies, like the people who want your destruction. Yeah. The people who do want to destroy you, right? Like the people who want to embarrass and humiliate and kill your reputation and separate you from your friends. Like that— those are the people that we're called to love along with everybody else. But it includes those people.

Kenna Millea [00:00:28]:
Welcome to This Whole Life. A podcast for all of us seeking sanity and sanctity, and a place to find joy and meaning through the integration of faith and mental health. I'm Kenna Millea, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and I'm happy to bring you this podcast along with my husband, Pat Millea, a Catholic speaker, musician, and leader. We invite you to our kitchen table. Okay, not literally, but you're definitely invited into the conversations that we seem to keep having once the kids have scattered off to play and we're left doing the dishes. We're excited to share this podcast for educational purposes. It's not intended as therapy or as a substitute for mental health care. So let's get talking about This Whole Life.

Pat Millea [00:01:20]:
Welcome back to This Whole Life. Howdy, y'all. Hello, greetings. Ciao. Guten Tag. What are we doing? Hello, my dear.

Kenna Millea [00:01:29]:
Hi.

Pat Millea [00:01:30]:
How are you?

Kenna Millea [00:01:31]:
Good. You feeling international this morning?

Pat Millea [00:01:33]:
I, I, I'm going to be in a moment. We're gonna get to that in a second here.

Kenna Millea [00:01:37]:
Oh, that was a tease.

Pat Millea [00:01:40]:
Yes. It's really good to be with you. good you. It's to be with It has been kind of a brutal day so far.

Kenna Millea [00:01:46]:
If we're just jumping into highs and hards.

Pat Millea [00:01:48]:
We, we will. But I get to hang out with you, which is a highlight of my day already. So thank you for taking the time.

Kenna Millea [00:01:56]:
Yeah. And it's not just any day. Today is your birthday.

Pat Millea [00:02:01]:
Today is my birthday.

Kenna Millea [00:02:02]:
Happy birthday.

Pat Millea [00:02:03]:
As we record.

Kenna Millea [00:02:06]:
How many?

Pat Millea [00:02:06]:
28.

Kenna Millea [00:02:07]:
Okay. That's what you went for? I was like, happy.

Pat Millea [00:02:09]:
44th birthday.

Kenna Millea [00:02:10]:
Okay. We're going to be real here. Okay. Happy 44th birthday, my love.

Pat Millea [00:02:13]:
Thank you. I appreciate it.

Kenna Millea [00:02:14]:
This is about the time of year where I also just start telling everyone I'm also 44, just to keep things going.

Pat Millea [00:02:18]:
You sure do. Yep.

Kenna Millea [00:02:19]:
I'm not, but what I that's do.

Pat Millea [00:02:20]:
Or just because you, I don't know if you forget or you just want to be more like me. I don't know what. Yeah, on the journey together. Thank you.

Kenna Millea [00:02:27]:
Yeah, you'll spend your evening coaching basketball and eating Domino's pizza.

Pat Millea [00:02:31]:
That's right, every 44-year-old's dream.

Kenna Millea [00:02:34]:
I mean, it's kind of a great life.

Pat Millea [00:02:36]:
Oh man. Okay, so here's the deal. Our topic today can feel a little bit heavy and a little bit challenging. It's a bit of an intense one. I think there is definite hope and joy to be found in the midst of a topic like this. And in order to bear witness to that reality, I would like to just not really play a game, but just have like a fun-loving conversation off the bat. Because you and I have not had a chance to be super lighthearted and goofy in some of our more recent episodes. So I would just like to have fun with you.

Pat Millea [00:03:11]:
And if you, dear listener, appreciate it, hopefully that's a blessing to you too. Okay, so here's the deal. As we record in the year 2026, we are preparing for the Winter Olympics. In Milano Cortina, I believe, is the second word in Italy. They're really like scattered throughout the entire nation of Italy. But anyway, Milan is like the home base. Exactly. So I have 5 Olympic-based questions that I would like to get your opinion on, and I will offer my 2 cents as well.

Pat Millea [00:03:40]:
Okay. Okay. Throughout your lifetime, or maybe even before your lifetime, I don't know what kind of historian you are. Favorite all-time Olympic moment. For you?

Kenna Millea [00:03:50]:
Oh my goodness. Um, restricted just to the Winter Olympics?

Pat Millea [00:03:54]:
No, sorry, I should have clarified. This can be any Olympics. I know we're doing winter this year, but we can just do Olympics in the broad sense.

Kenna Millea [00:04:00]:
Okay. Oof. Um, I don't know. I mean, I think the reign of Usain Bolt stands really tall in my mind.

Pat Millea [00:04:12]:
Um, did you do that on purpose? Because he's infamously a very tall sprinter. Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:04:16]:
Um, Just to watch someone move that fast on his own God-given two legs is like kind of unreal. So that's mine. Yours?

Pat Millea [00:04:28]:
Okay, nice. Mine for sure is the, the Kerri Strug gymnastics moment from Atlanta. That's the '92, '96. I can't remember. The vault. The vault.

Kenna Millea [00:04:40]:
Bingo.

Pat Millea [00:04:40]:
Yeah. So the vault that U.S. was not supposed to be really a gold medal contender in the team event. They're down to the wire. They need this vault. And if they don't hit this vault, they have no gold medal. And I don't remember if it was bad enough that they maybe don't get a medal at all. I can't remember.

Pat Millea [00:04:56]:
She lands the first vault and terribly tears up her ankle, but she has to do it again. Like, she either does her second vault or they don't get the gold medal, period. So she does it, lands on essentially a broken ankle.

Kenna Millea [00:05:08]:
And this is the '92 Olympics.

Pat Millea [00:05:10]:
It's '92 or '96. I can't remember. It link it was— up.

Kenna Millea [00:05:13]:
'96 was Atlanta.

Pat Millea [00:05:14]:
'96 was?

Kenna Millea [00:05:15]:
Yeah.

Pat Millea [00:05:16]:
I'm pretty sure it was that one then.

Kenna Millea [00:05:17]:
It was at home.

Pat Millea [00:05:18]:
I have very strong memories of that. Like I was in high school, early in high school. That was Dominique Moceanu with her Devil Went Down to Georgia floor routine in Atlanta. You know what I mean? So there's just a lot of memories from that specific team. But Kerri Strug is like the go-to for me.

Kenna Millea [00:05:35]:
It was USA's year.

Pat Millea [00:05:36]:
Yep. And it kind of, I feel, I mean, there were great, Mary Lou Retton, there were great gymnasts before that. But I feel like that started off this like, kind of dominant dynasty of American women's gymnastics.

Kenna Millea [00:05:50]:
We broke through the Russian reign.

Pat Millea [00:05:52]:
Right, right, the Iron Curtain of gymnastics. Okay, next up. If you had to compete in the Olympics and it wasn't gonna be for Team USA, you can choose a country that you can be a citizen of and compete for that country, what would it be?

Kenna Millea [00:06:07]:
Huh, I don't know. No, um, I'm gonna— oh, okay, this is really goofy. Well, Australia. I don't know, they seem like they just have like such a good time. Like, they just seem like a well-connected— maybe they're like the most second, um, um, like publicized. Like, I feel like there's a lot of coverage of them.

Pat Millea [00:06:29]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:06:30]:
Um, they seem like they have a really good time. I want to be on the Summer Olympics Australian team.

Pat Millea [00:06:34]:
Gotcha. Okay, cool. Good times. Um, I have this weird desire. I don't know why. Maybe it's just because they don't get a lot of publicity. I would love to be an Irish Olympian.

Kenna Millea [00:06:46]:
Ah, and I mean, they are your people.

Pat Millea [00:06:48]:
I am mostly Irish. It's my people. That's right. But I feel like Ireland is like any time an Irish person shows up at an event, it's like, oh, look at them trying so hard. That's so sweet.

Kenna Millea [00:06:58]:
It's not known for their athleticism.

Pat Millea [00:07:00]:
Ireland is known for many things. Yes. The things that they are good at are not in the Olympics.

Kenna Millea [00:07:06]:
Most of them counterproductive to being an Olympic athlete.

Pat Millea [00:07:11]:
All right, here we go. Next up, of all the Olympic events, summer or winter, what is the very last event that you would ever even try?

Kenna Millea [00:07:20]:
Ever even try? I mean, we've, in our house, we have talked a lot about the dangers of skeleton lately. And I'm going to go with, it would be imprudent as a mother of 7 and a business owner to go barreling headfirst at what, like 40 miles an hour? Without.

Pat Millea [00:07:40]:
Oh, way more than that.

Kenna Millea [00:07:41]:
Okay, cool. Yeah, cool. 60 miles an hour without protection on my body, really, into a wall of ice. So I'm going to say skeleton.

Pat Millea [00:07:49]:
You've got a helmet.

Kenna Millea [00:07:50]:
Okay. My answer, skeleton.

Pat Millea [00:07:53]:
Here's an indication of the way I feel about physical exertion and dedication. I would rather do the skeleton knowing that I'm going to crash than train and run a marathon. Marathon is dead last for me. And I don't know how close it is to anything else. Maybe like the really long, like the marathon bike event in the Olympics. That's second.

Kenna Millea [00:08:17]:
How long is that? Do you know?

Pat Millea [00:08:18]:
It's so long. I don't know. I mean, it's not the Tour France, but it's— Days de and days?

Kenna Millea [00:08:21]:
No, it's a day. No.

Pat Millea [00:08:25]:
I don't know. I'm going to plead ignorance on that one. Okay, here we go. If you could be in the Olympics in any city in the world, where would you like to compete in the Olympics?

Kenna Millea [00:08:37]:
Let's see. So competing for Australia in the Summer Olympics.

Pat Millea [00:08:41]:
You could be with a different country now. It doesn't matter.

Kenna Millea [00:08:45]:
I want to go somewhere in South America.

Pat Millea [00:08:47]:
Oh.

Kenna Millea [00:08:48]:
Weren't they just in South America?

Pat Millea [00:08:50]:
They did Rio recently-ish.

Kenna Millea [00:08:52]:
So something like that. I don't know. I just, I just feel like there is a good mix of both coastline and ocean for some of the aquatic events. And then also mountains for the biking and the whatever. So I'm going to go somewhere, I don't know, in South America. Isn't that good enough?

Pat Millea [00:09:12]:
Name a city.

Kenna Millea [00:09:13]:
Oh, jeez. Now I'm thinking about like, what's the hotel? Is the city set up with the infrastructure to manage of people descending upon millions it?

Pat Millea [00:09:19]:
That is true.

Kenna Millea [00:09:20]:
That's tricky.

Pat Millea [00:09:21]:
Yep. Uh-huh. So just the city of South America.

Kenna Millea [00:09:25]:
Yeah, just one.

Pat Millea [00:09:26]:
Okay, sounds good. All right, great. I think I— this would obviously have to be Summer Olympics. I would probably go Africa.

Kenna Millea [00:09:34]:
Let's go— the city of Africa?

Pat Millea [00:09:36]:
The city of Africa?

Kenna Millea [00:09:37]:
Okay. No, we are ignorant on this.

Pat Millea [00:09:39]:
That.

Kenna Millea [00:09:40]:
Podcast.

Pat Millea [00:09:40]:
Was a geography test, right? No, somewhere like, you know, like the west coast of Africa, like Ghana, Nigeria, somewhere over there maybe. I could do South Africa. That would be cool. Just like beauty-wise, coastline, things like that. I don't know. I would be excited to go to a whole different part of the world and just like get a beautiful cultural experience in addition to winning gold for Ireland.

Kenna Millea [00:10:08]:
In the skeleton.

Pat Millea [00:10:10]:
In Africa, in the skeleton. Right. All right. Last one. One random activity that if it were an Olympic event, you would medal in that event? Oh, anything.

Kenna Millea [00:10:24]:
Meal planning, grocery shopping, organizing.

Pat Millea [00:10:29]:
Family structure.

Kenna Millea [00:10:30]:
Put me in, coach. Yeah, something along those lines. Being able to quickly scan the family calendar and come up with a menu that matches the activities and the amount of time I have to meal prep and execute and then get that into the cart, get it delivered to the door. Whatever that's called.

Pat Millea [00:10:46]:
The Olympic event of color coding.

Kenna Millea [00:10:48]:
I do that every Saturday.

Pat Millea [00:10:51]:
You've been training for years. This is your moment.

Kenna Millea [00:10:54]:
Almost 17 years. You?

Pat Millea [00:10:59]:
I would say either, not tennis, but Wii Tennis on the Nintendo Wii, which I I am, am elite at that one totally useless skill. Or, and we've talked about this before, the Olympic event of explaining a board game.

Kenna Millea [00:11:19]:
It's amazing.

Pat Millea [00:11:20]:
So that everyone knows what they're doing.

Kenna Millea [00:11:21]:
It's unreal. It's efficient, it's clear, it's brief.

Pat Millea [00:11:26]:
Right, right.

Kenna Millea [00:11:27]:
People are still interested by the end of it.

Pat Millea [00:11:28]:
Those are the 3 most important things about explaining a game because there are so many games, and you know, with all humility, there are some people who will explain a board game, by the time they're halfway through explaining it, everyone is gone. We have lost interest in anything to do with this game. I've been that person.

Kenna Millea [00:11:43]:
Every time actually someone tries to me, teach euchre. That's how I feel. There's like never— that would actually be a challenge. I don't think you've ever taught me euchre.

Pat Millea [00:11:49]:
I was just gonna say, we could.

Kenna Millea [00:11:50]:
Crown you the LeBron James of explaining games. Oh, that's a good title.

Pat Millea [00:11:54]:
If so, what you're telling me is I am John Candy, you are the Jamaican bobsled team, and it's my job to make you— way to bring it back to the Olympics— learn to love euchre.

Kenna Millea [00:12:04]:
Way to bring it back. Way to bring it back. Yes. So that is your new challenge. We'll report back next time, guys.

Pat Millea [00:12:09]:
We'll call you Cool euchre. That's going to be your name.

Kenna Millea [00:12:12]:
Yes.

Pat Millea [00:12:12]:
Um, thank you for playing along. That's great of you. So, uh, can you— would you mind kicking off our highs and hards, my dear?

Kenna Millea [00:12:18]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, I would say right now the hard in my life— and you alluded to this morning, it's just been a hard day, and I'd say coming off of like a hard couple days, um, and the— how quickly I lose sight of the grace and the blessings, and like how quickly I can go to this place of like, it's all doom and gloom, it's all just, you know, I'm just cursed. Um, like, that's the hard of like, like being able to recognize that that's happening and make a change and make a pivot. I was talking to our buddy Noel that we drive a little ways of his, uh, morning commute each morning, and we were just chatting and he's like, how you doing? And I'm like, you know, I'm just kind of in a blech place right now.

Pat Millea [00:13:04]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:13:04]:
And he's like, yeah, sometimes it's just like that. And, and so we just chatted about like, how do you get yourself out of that? Like, how do you just pick yourself up, shake yourself, you know, by the shoulders, and do it for.

Pat Millea [00:13:14]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:13:14]:
Yourself. Um, you know, no one— it's no one else's job around you to do that. So that's the hard. Um, and then I would say that the high lately is that, guys, it is almost Lent. And particularly when this episode debuts, we are going to be— I mean, we're going to be on the eve of Mardi Gras, which is the eve of Lent. And this is doorstep my time, people.

Pat Millea [00:13:40]:
Um, and Lent is your Olympic event, by the way.

Kenna Millea [00:13:42]:
Even more exciting, it just occurred to me, Pat, that we have— for reasons I absolutely do not understand— we have been asked by Ascension Press, who we greatly respect, um, in the world of, you know, creating Catholic media and publications and products and stuff. They've asked us to be one of the ambassadors for their Lent program. And I wonder, Pat, if what got us a foot in the door is because of all my years of trumpeting my love of Lent. Like, of all the different— I mean.

Pat Millea [00:14:14]:
Be encouraged by this right now.

Kenna Millea [00:14:16]:
There's 5 of us ambassadors. You and I count as one, so there's 6 technically. You and I count as one, right? But so these, these others, I don't know what their feelings are about Lent. I haven't been looking at their, their communications about Lent and Lenten's past, but I do know that my trumpeting my love of these 40 penitential days is so strong, and I'm so excited. So anyways, I am super pumped because by virtue of our jobs, for the first time ever, you and I are going to be more unified in our Lenten commitments as part Crux, the journey to surrender that is Lent. So welcome aboard. And also, if you— I did not mean to make this a plug, but I'm gonna make it a plug right now— but if you, my friend listening, have not come up with your Lenten commitments, might I recommend that Crux is free. It's easy to download the, the structure, and you can like jump right in and bada bing bada bang bada boom, there's your prayer, your fasting, your almsgiving, like right there.

Pat Millea [00:15:14]:
So you can do it along with us, and if you are going to be miserable during Lent, I will be right there with you. We can commiserate together and we can be dragged along by Kenna's energy and excitement.

Kenna Millea [00:15:27]:
Complementarity has never looked so good on us, right? Like my high, your hard.

Pat Millea [00:15:32]:
My hard is that it's almost Lent. That won't be my actual hard, but it is genuine hard. That's for real. Yeah, my hard is similar in the sense of just like lots of heavy things lately, and I was thinking about it more in terms of like, there have been some like practical kind of day-to-day difficulties over the past week or so. Some of it family stuff, some of it work stuff, and a lot of it community stuff. A lot of it. Well, that's what I was gonna say, it's like, so the, the, the day-to-day stuff, the content is not so overwhelming that it normally affects me in this kind of a way. But we had an episode a few episodes ago about the window of tolerance, and the thing about the window of tolerance, is if you're carrying enough of a burden, you might be right up against the edges of that window, and maybe something that would not set you off or put you off-kilter normally, it does in this situation because you're really bumping up against the edge of your threshold, you know.

Pat Millea [00:16:30]:
So I think there is some of that, and along with that comes just like the, the added struggle of my own human weakness. And part of the challenges have been because of my human limitations and my weakness. And then because it is putting me so off-kilter, that itself is a limitation and a weakness. So I have to navigate that. So the whole thing all adds up to me not being perfect and not being in heaven yet. And that's frustrating to me. So that's hard. Yeah.

Pat Millea [00:16:57]:
My high is that we've just been on a run of lots of really fun stuff the past few weeks. We, we take our kids out on birthday outings. I mean, we don't give birthday gifts. We've talked about that before. So I took our oldest daughter out to— on a date to a Russian restaurant here in the Twin Cities. And she loves the nation of Russia and Russian culture and literature for whatever reason. And since we've told her that traveling to Russia, probably not a great game plan in 2026.

Kenna Millea [00:17:30]:
She wants to study abroad there.

Pat Millea [00:17:31]:
So we're going to go to a Russian restaurant instead. It was great, mostly just to spend time with her, but to see her they were so excited about the food and the artwork and all that. It was great. We went on, it just happened to be that the following weekend, the kids' Catholic school had a father-daughter dance for all high school girls and their dads. And I didn't really know what it was gonna be like. Like, are we just gonna stand around and look at each other kind of? But it was super fun and it was great. And got to spend lots of time with her and just like be goofy dance in hilarious, fun, wild ways, and it was just, it was super sweet. And then had some friends over on Sunday night to watch football and do like an early birthday party.

Pat Millea [00:18:13]:
Thanks to you for organizing that and getting pounds and pounds of barbecue lined up for me and my friends, and it was, it was wonderful. So lots of highlights lately.

Kenna Millea [00:18:22]:
Good.

Pat Millea [00:18:22]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:18:23]:
For some reason, when you were sharing your hard, it reminded me that our oldest daughter and I were in the front seat of a car recently and both started busting out laughing at this bumper sticker that was in front of us. Yeah, at the same time. And it said, well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my decisions. We just— she turns to me and she's like, it's so true, Mom. And I was like, that is such a hallmark of your maturity. Now that she doesn't have moments of like, you know, teenage angst and irrationality, but I was like, the fact that, that like you find that funny, totally right, speaks to the development and the.

Pat Millea [00:19:00]:
Maturation of your brain that relates it to you in a very specific way.

Kenna Millea [00:19:03]:
That you're like, yeah, you know, a lot of the things that are hard in my life are connected to choices that I had to make and things that I chose.

Pat Millea [00:19:11]:
It's one of my favorite, like, things that I laugh about with sports sometimes is when coaches, but especially players, they'll throw around the word adversity all the time. Overcoming adversity. You have to be tough in the face of adversity. I've been through a lot of adversity this year. And sometimes some of that stuff is like, genuine adversity, like their, their dad got sick and died, or they tore their ACL and they had this huge long rehab process. That's right. But what cracks me up is when somebody says, oh, I've been through so much adversity this year, and what they mean by adversity is their 2 DUIs, you know what I mean? Or like, yeah, I've been through so much adversity because I slammed the equipment on the bench and I got suspended for 2 games, you know what I mean? Or I skipped a practice. Like, it just adversity sometimes is code for I actually don't want to own up to the accountability that I in this have situation.

Kenna Millea [00:20:01]:
I'd like to scapegoat this on somebody else, please. Thank you very much. Yes. Not on that bumper sticker. Not in that vehicle.

Pat Millea [00:20:06]:
Hilarious.

Kenna Millea [00:20:07]:
Or ours apparently.

Pat Millea [00:20:08]:
Oh my gosh. Well, so here's the deal, friends. As we hinted at earlier, the topic that we are excited, if I can use that term, to talk about today, really because it just matters so much and it's so relevant at all times, but maybe, you know, I don't know if it's more relevant now than ever before, but it certainly seems to be relevant in this time, is, um, the idea of holding on to our peace and staying, um, self-possessed in a, in a sane and sanctified way in a world that has fallen, broken, and can be just so discouraging sometimes when You watch the news and you scroll through your feed and you see the things that are happening in your community or in our country or in our world. Um, I referenced this when we, um, spoke with Catherine DiNuzzo a few weeks ago, um, that in, in the wake of this most recent string of, um, ICE and immigration-related, uh, violence and issues here in the Twin Cities, I texted my buddies How is it always Minneapolis? And when I I you was, was, know, thinking through this exact topic, I was going through even just the like, you past, know, 7, 8 years. There was a shooting of a man here in the Twin Cities named Philando Castile, and lots of dissension and disagreement about the way that that shooting by a police officer went down. I was not there. I don't know the truth of the matter, but I know that a man died, and that's a great tragedy no matter the circumstances. And it really kind of tore the community apart, as these things tend to do in any city that it takes place.

Pat Millea [00:21:54]:
Um, the whole world had the COVID pandemic in 2020 and beyond, and in the middle of that, we in the Twin Cities had the death of George Floyd and the riots and the violence that took place after that. As a nation, we felt kind of the racial tensions bubble up again in the middle of this pandemic where we were all stuck at home. More recently here in the Twin Cities, we had the murder, the assassination of Melissa Hortman, who was a state politician here in Minnesota, and her husband as well, and an attack on another state politician in that same evening. We had the Annunciation shooting here in the Twin Cities in the fall. And then most recently this winter, there have been the ICE enforcement efforts here in the Twin Cities, the, the real pain and suffering that it's caused to so many Immigrants, regardless of their status, many of them legal citizens, honestly. There's been the shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the two citizens here in the United— in the Twin Cities who were protesting, and the real struggle and the heartache in the wake of their deaths. There's just been so much going on.

Kenna Millea [00:23:03]:
So I think it's actually really helpful, Pat, for you to catalog those for me and kind of set them on this, you know, proverbial coffee table between us. Because as I listen, I'm like, what is actually so hard about that? Everything you named became an instant divisive, hot-button, polarizing issue. Like, none of those things that you named have we as a community, as a nation, been able to link arms around and, and really come together around. And so it was like this secondary grief. Like, those, those events are heavy and difficult to carry in and of themselves, right? Right. Death of someone, the pandemic and the confusion and the uncertainty and the insecurity that that brings to the globe. But then it's this feeling of, where am I safe? Like, even with my words, with my relationships, with my feet, you know, sharing my feelings. Like, where am I safe? And I've got to be honest, like, coming into this this episode, um, I don't feel like 100% able to show up here authentically because I know someone's going to disagree with something that I say.

Kenna Millea [00:24:13]:
And maybe they disagree with things I say all the time, but it feels like I'm really opening myself up to criticism and feedback and, you know, being canceled. And so if that's your feeling right now, even just with us bringing this up, I want to ask you— if you're still listening— I want to ask you to consider staying with us and coming to the end, and, and then you do have knowledge to engage us in a dialogue. Um, but yeah, so that's the first thing that, that strikes me is, yeah, is that there is this, yes, lack of peace, as you referenced, in a physical way for sure, right? But even more than that, there's this relational and internal tension that comes with all of these things that we're all living maybe kind of looking over our shoulder and not sure, you know, trying to suss out and vet out, like, are you a person that I can really talk to right now? Are you someone— I mean, I'm hearing it about spouses with spouses, like, I can't really talk to my husband or my wife about this, or I can't really talk to my adult child about this. And it's creating these tensions and elephants in rooms on many different levels.

Pat Millea [00:25:24]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think, um, It's a valuable place to start in the wake of that reflection that you just offered to kind of set the tone, at least in some way spiritually, for what is happening in our world. And I mean that in the broad sense. I'm not talking about the spiritual causes of any one individual event per se. I don't know that I am qualified to discern that exactly, but what I do know is that we as Christians were promised trouble, not peace, at least in in the, the tangible, material, physical sense like you were talking about. Jesus, John chapter 16, verse 33, he very specifically says, I've told you this so that you might have peace in me. So he's saying, I want you to have peace in me. And that's the kind of internal peace that you were referencing.

Pat Millea [00:26:15]:
We'll talk about that more in a minute. But then immediately after that, he says, in this world, You will have trouble, but take heart, take courage, because I have overcome the world. So I think a lot of times for myself, I think for a lot of us, a lot of the distress that we feel when things are so broken and frankly evil in our world is because at least to a certain degree, we have maybe forgotten this reality and maybe we we have, maybe have expectations of our world that God himself has told us are not realistic. In a fallen world, we will not experience the kind of peace outside of us that we desire that is only going to be fulfilled in heaven. So, um, we should never tolerate evil, but we also should never be surprised by evil.

Kenna Millea [00:27:04]:
Yeah, I mean, I think it reminds me of like, um, Peter Kreeft, who I love, often will talk about like, don't be scandalized by your own sin. Like, to be scandalized by your own sin is such an indictment of your pride that you thought you were above ever sinning. And so it feels like a parallel, right? Like, how can we be more resilient when these things come up, um, less likely to break both internally but also relationally, right? And I think the tricky thing is though, is, but how do we not become callous and desensitized to these things that, that should upset us, that do make us aware of where God's kingdom is not yet brought about to reign. Um, so it is this balancing act, and, and that is the Christian life, which is exhausting. Yeah. Like, if you think about it in marriage, like, there are times when I feel like you and I are coasting, and then we'll hit a pat— you know, people talk about the rough patch— we'll hit a patch where we're not seeing eye to eye, where I'm just annoyed by everything you do, and you're probably, you know, annoyed by everything I do. And I'm like, why did think that we at, you know, 15, 16, 17 years of marriage in, that we were going to hit this place of coasting. And like, why would I want that? You know, sure that this struggle to bring about God's reign, that is our work.

Kenna Millea [00:28:24]:
Like, that is what we're called to. And right now it's a heck of a lot messier and a lot nastier than we ever thought it could be. And yet he's like, yeah, I told you, as you said, like, I told you this would happen. And it It also reminds me a lot of the concept of content and process, right? Like, the content maybe looks different here in the United States than maybe it does in another country where there's persecution of Christians right now or something. But this idea, the process remains the same, of like, how can I remain tender to the Lord and therefore have a softened heart toward my neighbor? Yeah, um, especially the neighbor I don't agree with, um, all while like doing my part and pursuing the good. Yeah, that's the Christian life. Yeah, that's really hard.

Pat Millea [00:29:10]:
And it's so— I would imagine, because I've tried it the other ways too, I would imagine it's so much harder than the other two extremes. There are two extremes I would propose on this spectrum that give me the illusion of peace on the inside. One of them is having so much anger that maybe started out righteous but has bled over into resentment and at the limit violence, that I feel at peace because I think my actions are going to solve the problem, that I can fix all this evil that's happening in the world. And there's, again, there's a degree to that that's really appropriate and good. Like we are called and even obligated to respond to evil and to seek justice in this world. But if we take it too far, I can start to look for peace in my own action and not in God's action in me, you know? And on the other side, you have the illusion of peace that comes from saying, well, it's just the way it is. Nothing we can do about it.

Kenna Millea [00:30:11]:
Burying your head in the sand or.

Pat Millea [00:30:12]:
Putting your head in the sand. Right, exactly. So you either ignore the information and you step away from reality, or you step away from the reality of a legitimate response. By saying, I can't fix it anyway, why do anything? You know? So I think both of those are illusions of peace. Those are both temptations. What ironically, I think the path to true interior peace is something in the middle that, that I understand that evil exists. I'm not surprised by it, but I'm ready and able to respond to it within the limits of my own control of my own situation.

Kenna Millea [00:30:46]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm just I was thinking about how it's, it's because of Jesus's nearness to us that we have clarity about how to respond to begin with. And it's only when we stay close to the Lord that I can, I can see my limits and not be frustrated by them, despairing as a result of them, you know, mad that the next guy isn't doing it exactly the way that I could. Because here's the other thing, right? Like, again, because all of this comes out of relationship with God, the call for each of us is going to look different. Even within our marriage, yeah, the call and how we're each going to respond is just slightly nuanced because you are a different soul than me.

Pat Millea [00:31:31]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:31:32]:
And his call and what he's placed upon you and the gifts he's given you and how he wants you to react and how he wants you to care for, you know, the neighbor, for the community, for his kingdom, it's going to be a little bit different. And so how can that not be a threat for me? Um, how can I resist the temptation to feel like I'm alone if you aren't responding exactly the same way that I am? And obviously that goes out, you know, beyond marriages into extended families and friendships and communities and, you know, what have you. Um.

Pat Millea [00:32:00]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:32:00]:
Yeah, there's, there's a real lack of trust that each of us are discerning well with the Lord and, and staying near to him so that we can rightfully, correctly respond. Like, I don't know where we lost that trust. Maybe in the garden. I don't know. But there's that lack of trust and it's creating, I think, a lot of resentment within relationship again, which is where that division, I think, comes in.

Pat Millea [00:32:24]:
Yeah. Yeah. And that, that idea, I think there's probably always been something in human nature that just wants to destroy that, that if I sense that there's disagreement or even more so opposition, there's probably this thing inside every human being that I just want to— I want to take down. I want to— I want to destroy this perceived enemy.

Kenna Millea [00:32:46]:
Well, can we just like bring in the psychological, right? What are you saying? You're saying there's something in us that lives in fight, flight, freeze. Yes. When I am feeling threatened, right? When my equivalent of the 2026 version of a saber-toothed tiger is prowling about me, or I sense that they are, whether that's in the presence of a federal agent, whether that is in the presence of a neighbor who I know disagrees with my position on something, whatever that is, I am going to be in a place of self-protection, which can look like fight, which can come off as aggression. So when you say something that looks like destroy, but it's always with a purpose. Yeah, it's always with this sense of self-preservation It sounds so very base, but at the end of the day, it's like, duh. Like, I mean, like, if you are worried about you, like, if that doesn't activate, right, bad things happen when that system isn't ringing its bells. So just, just to add some reality of like what's going on in us psychologically and therefore physiologically. Yeah, yeah, we are, we are living in a state of, to your point of the window of tolerance, pushing up against our windows right now.

Pat Millea [00:33:55]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:33:56]:
Sorry, I totally cut you off.

Pat Millea [00:33:57]:
No, that's okay. It goes back to what you were saying earlier of like, I think there's this very legitimate fear for a lot of people in 2026 of being afraid of watching what you say around whom, who you're talking to. And a lot of it, I think, comes from this fear. A lot of it, I really think, starts with social media and the ability for people to retweet, repost, and make one comment go viral and literally destroy someone's life, right? Destroy their reputation. Their career. If someone says one thing wrong, it's not enough to correct them online. They have to be fired. They have to lose their family.

Pat Millea [00:34:35]:
They have to lose their livelihood. They have to lose their sense of identity, right? We have have to— we to destroy this person. And I think that shows up in small ways, even in relationships, you know, that in friendships, in families, being really walking on eggshells, because if I say the wrong thing around the wrong person, there's going to be this, this instinct to take down, you know.

Kenna Millea [00:34:57]:
Well, and what you're pointing to as I listen to you is like, there isn't this assurance that, that because we are each bearing peace, even conflict could be managed, or disagreement could be handled in a way that doesn't have to mean cut off and division and, you know, the end of a relationship. Like, the stakes feel so high, which is why there's this hypervigilance of walking on the eggshells, like you Yeah, said. um, that, yeah, there isn't this confidence in, in our communities, in certainly in the online Yeah, platform. um, that we can, that we can make a misstep even, or be open to correction. I mean, one of the most— you know, we can dog social media for sure, but one of the things that I've seen lately that I thought was so beautiful is a few different influencers from around the Twin Cities saying, like, we just, we just want you to show up and to support us, like, to hear where we're coming from and to support us, like, to be present with us, to not leave us alone on this island. And one of them went so far as to say, and even if it's, even if you don't totally agree with me, or if you just want to understand why I feel the way I do about some of the things that are happening in my community, like, that let me know that I'm not alone. And so this this fear of saying the wrong thing creates another kind of wound that then really puts the relationship on rocky territory.

Pat Millea [00:36:24]:
Right. And I think it's worth moving into an idea around considering what is in my control and what is not in my control. And we've talked about this many different ways in many different episodes, but I think a significant factor in losing my peace is trying to control things that are outside of my control. Yeah. Or imagining that I have control that I don't. And I also would propose that another way that I can lose my peace is not using my agency in an area that is in my control. So not taking the steps that are valid and even crucial for me to take. There are, you know, a few things that have come to mind for me.

Pat Millea [00:37:06]:
One of them is When we talked to Father Angelus on an episode a few years back or so now, he talked about the conversations they have with their, their postulants and you their, know, kind of discerning CFRs on the way to becoming vowed, especially living in a place like the Bronx where there's— they're surrounded by homelessness, poverty, addiction, violence, like all these very human forms of suffering and evil. And really reassuring these guys, it is not your job to solve homelessness. You have the great privilege of helping that guy have dinner. That's it, right? Just loving one person at a time. And just the sanity of that, like, you can only control what's in your control, you know? Mother Teresa is often misquoted as saying, if you want to solve If you want world peace, go home and love your family. That's not actually what she said. But when she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, what she did say was, my prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and the fruit of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor it is Christ. And if we really believe, we will begin to love.

Pat Millea [00:38:19]:
And if we love, naturally we will try to do something, first in our own home, our next-door neighbor, in the country we live, in the whole world. So she's flipping that desire on its head. You start at home, and the love from your home needs to bleed out to your neighborhood, and you need to spread that love out there. And then you can find other areas where you do have control to love others and to extend justice out further, you know. And what it all adds up to, you and I in Advent this past year, read through and prayed through Searching for and Maintaining Peace by Father Jacques Philippe with our two oldest kids. And this like stark, jarring, kind of difficult sentence in that book is really the crux of the whole book. And I would propose the crux of this whole episode. Father Jacques Philippe says the reasons why we lose our peace are always bad reasons.

Kenna Millea [00:39:12]:
Yeah. Yeah. And we say that to our kids so often. Yeah, we will. We say like are you going to permit this to rob you of your peace? You know, like, that brother is acting that way, that sister took that thing. Like, yeah, you can absolutely correct her. You can absolutely talk to her about how you don't want her to take that again while you're at basketball practice, and she went into your room, you know, whatever, whatever. Like, yeah, absolutely.

Kenna Millea [00:39:35]:
And you can do it with peace. Like, there's a way that we can correct. There is a way that we can pursue justice. There is a way that we can disagree while still having peace. Um, while still— because what I mean, what is peace at the end of the day? Um, is it having this undergirding sense of confidence that like the Lord has this? Yeah, like his providence is real and his desire for our good is real and it's alive and it's as active as it has ever been. Like, so then whatever I'm facing, you know, whether whether it's breaking up a fight between my kids or dealing with something that I think is a real injustice in my community. And people feel that way on either side of this immigration argument, for example, by the way. That either way I can do it with this confidence of like, I am going to expend myself.

Kenna Millea [00:40:33]:
I'm going to give of my human efforts and my intellect and my will toward this thing, because it is what I'm called to do as a disciple. And then when I meet those limits, I'm going to accept those limits, like in deep humility. I'm going to accept that I have done what I can.

Pat Millea [00:40:50]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:40:50]:
And, um, a couple weeks ago, when— when it must have been right after Renee Good's death, that I was in therapy, and my therapist, you know, was talking to me about just how to balance, you know, and particularly because we do lead this clinic of 20-something clinicians, and we're trying to support them individually, personally. They have their own stuff going on in their own neighborhoods, their own opinions about things, and there are variances within the group. And then they receive from their clients who are coming in with their stuff, with their opinions and their ideas of where they're at, again, this theme of division. And one of our clinicians so beautifully asked in a conversation as a group, I'm so confused, like, about my opinion because I don't know what is true. Like, the news is so confusing, and when I listen to this network, they tell me one thing. When I listen to this one, they tell me another. And, you know, what am I supposed to believe? And it was so lovely— again, I'm just gonna, like, ring the bell of, like, process over content— yeah, that we were able to say we may not know. Like, we may not know with any certainty about some of these questions that are floating around, some of these, you know, things where people say, if you look at this camera angle, what really.

Pat Millea [00:42:03]:
Happened, whose fault was it? Yeah, exactly.

Kenna Millea [00:42:05]:
We may not know. And what we do know is that the call is actually still the same, right? That, that if someone comes in with an opinion that's different than yours, or a perspective or a vantage point that's different than yours, like, the call is the same to receive them and to understand, like, where are you coming from?

Pat Millea [00:42:21]:
Yeah, okay.

Kenna Millea [00:42:22]:
Yeah, yeah. Why, why might you be seeing it that way? What is helpful for you about taking that perspective or taking that, you know, active next step. That's actually the call. And that's obviously in a, in a therapy setting, like how we talk about it. But I don't know that there's that much difference between where we're at as therapists and how we're trying to receive our clients, right? And how maybe a posture that I'm proposing that, that we can greet one another in community, in family, in marriage, like right now. I don't know that there's a lot different.

Pat Millea [00:42:55]:
Yeah. What would it look like to, you know, if, if one of the things in my control— there's a thousand things that are not in my control— if one of the things in my control is to act as if, and to even communicate to other people that this is true— I don't agree with you, but I love you. Yeah, right. I feel like that, it's so simple. And I think most of us really do feel that way deep down in not every relationship, but in a lot of relationships with, with friends, with family members, with parents, with siblings, children. I think it's hard for us to, to come to terms with that, and it may be even harder to communicate it because sometimes it's just— it's hard to say really intimate, vulnerable things out loud, especially when it doesn't feel like a very safe kind of— you're pushing.

Kenna Millea [00:43:42]:
Up against your window.

Pat Millea [00:43:43]:
Correct. Right, exactly. So I think there's great value in And just processing that type of empathy that comes from the depth of our Christian love, that even when we disagree, I can still choose to love you and seek what's best for you. I mean, the, the Jesus who said love your enemies, he meant your enemies, right? Like he didn't mean the people that you kind of find annoying when they walk too slow at the grocery store, right down the middle of the aisle. Like he means like your enemies, like the people who want your destruction. Yeah, the people who do want to destroy you, right? Like the people who want to embarrass and humiliate and kill your reputation and separate you from your friends like that. Those are the people that we're called to love along with everybody else, but it includes those people. So what does it look like to choose what is best for them? Even if I might choose not to spend so much time with them, even if I have to pick my spots of, of what conversations we have in what setting.

Kenna Millea [00:44:44]:
Or where to press in.

Pat Millea [00:44:45]:
Or where to press in. Right, right, exactly. Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:44:49]:
Well, and I think too, with this, like, what's in my control, I think about the reality that, I don't know, again, in this social media world, we are so used to getting the validation and the confirmation that we're doing the right thing.

Pat Millea [00:45:07]:
Sure.

Kenna Millea [00:45:08]:
Right, by popular opinion, right? By the likes, by the retweets, as you mentioned. And that, that is, I think, sometimes something that can rob us of our peace as well. Number one, because we're placing our peace in a place that it doesn't belong, right? In, in the public, right? Not in, not in my God. But secondly, because it gets away from really holding us to live by our values and to let those be the litmus test of whether we are making solid choices and choices that I can be at peace with. And so one of the hard things for us is like, we are not like social media influencers by any means, but like we have a social media presence, right? We have an Instagram account and a Facebook account.

Pat Millea [00:45:50]:
Sure.

Kenna Millea [00:45:50]:
Let's call it that.

Pat Millea [00:45:51]:
Some people follow it.

Kenna Millea [00:45:52]:
Yes, some people follow it. And even still, I feel this pressure of like, you got to say enough so that, you know, you don't piss anybody off, but you can't say too much because you don't want to piss people off, but you can't say too much in this direction. And it's like, you know what, kind of at the end of the day, You have to be accountable for what you say. You have to be accountable for what you think and what you do, whether it's public or not. And what we are doing in private, nobody needs to know. Nobody needs to know what we— what neighbor we are or are not helping, or what cause we are or are not supporting. I mean, I guess people want to know, but they don't actually have a right, and I don't actually have to give that to them.

Pat Millea [00:46:29]:
Sure.

Kenna Millea [00:46:29]:
And I feel like I do. I feel like I have to, when I want their approval. And so it actually is on me, right? If it's in my control to decide, I, I am going to abdicate this throne of popular opinion, of wanting to be the princess of the general populace, and to say screw it. Like, what it comes down to is my conscience given by my God and the things that I decide to do with that, and whether I heed that and listen to that at the end of the day.

Pat Millea [00:46:57]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:46:58]:
And I just, yeah, I feel convicted about this because earlier today I saw an actual influencer who had finally like come out and posted something around immigration and kind of shared her heart, and you know, with her 200,000 followers, just got lambasted, as you can imagine, of course, right? And she posted two direct messages that she got back from folks, or responses, whatever you call those messages back, and one was someone lauding her, like, we're so grateful you spoke up, and the other person was like, 'So disgusted by your silence. Unfollow.' Like, and, and she was like, 'I can't win. Like, I'm done. I'm done trying. I'm gonna go back to talking about vintage interior design. Like, you know, like, that's what I came on here to do to begin with.' And so I just really appreciated that of like— but here's the thing, and it falls in this category of what's in my control. It's in my control whether I am seeking the approval of the outsiders, whether after-school pickup conversation or something more public like what I post on Instagram. And like, yeah, that is a choice I get to make.

Kenna Millea [00:48:02]:
Okay, I'm done with my soapbox. I will get down now.

Pat Millea [00:48:04]:
I love when you get fired up about this stuff. That's great.

Kenna Millea [00:48:06]:
But I just— I'm fired up at myself, right? I'm, I'm like, I'm admonishing myself of like, yes, this robbed you of your peace because you were seeking this in the wrong— the Lord never said you will find your peace on Instagram. Like, he never said that. No chapter, no verse. Yeah, I strayed. I let something else become my God, and it's the natural consequence of my choices.

Pat Millea [00:48:30]:
Well, and the last kind of like practical thing that I think you mentioned it earlier, and we've talked a lot about it. I think one of the ways that is very easy for us, myself included, to lose our peace is influenced by news and information and how we seek and find and process information that we've been given. Unfortunately, we live in a world where trust has really been eroded in a lot of media. Frankly, there it seems like any of you know, the, the 24-hour news networks, you, you know, before you turn on the TV what they are going to say about this particular event. Right. And the fact is, I don't want— don't I like to get too conspiracy theory on it, but I really enjoy some of it. These are just businesses, right? And they're making money.

Kenna Millea [00:49:16]:
Their job is to get your eyeballs on them.

Pat Millea [00:49:18]:
They know the way to make money and the way to make money is to either get people nodding their heads along with what they're saying or to make people so angry that they will respond and bring up their— the name of their network. Right.

Kenna Millea [00:49:30]:
And they benefit from our polarization.

Pat Millea [00:49:32]:
Exactly right. And I would say a lot of social media kind of news feeds tend to be the same way. What feeds do you follow? The ones that you have strong feelings about, positive or negative. Right. So I think they're in my life and everyone, you know, you listening, you get to discern this for yourself. Everyone has a healthy relationship with news and information that is going to help them maintain their peace, but not put their head in the sand and not avoid reality because it's just easier for them. And I do think there there is, is too little news where we really aren't being attentive to, to what we can pray for and what we can do actively for the people in our world. But I also think there is absolutely a risk of too much information or seeking out the information that is just an echo chamber and it's going to prove to me how right I am and how evil all those people are that disagree with me.

Pat Millea [00:50:21]:
I think that's a real space of discernment for all of us to really get into a place of peace.

Kenna Millea [00:50:26]:
Yeah. And again, one of those controllables. I can control how much I consume.

Pat Millea [00:50:30]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:50:31]:
Yeah. No, that's beautiful. I— yeah, I'm thinking about— and I'll maybe close with this, Pat, if it's okay with you— thinking about one of the visits we made to the papal enclosure of Poor Clares in Kokomo, Indiana. And literally, these women do not have access to any kind of news feeds. There is an extern nun who— her job is to, you know, read the news, receive the news, and then deliver to the sisters, you know, what's important and necessary for their prayer, right? Again, to bring to the Lord, right? And I remember one of the teens we were with asked them like, okay, your whole life is about prayer and yet you don't read the news. How on earth do you know what to pray for? And they said, well, people write to us, real people with real stories. And she said You know, recently a mom mailed me a letter and asked me to pray for her son who is a soldier who was just sent to Afghanistan. And she said, that tells me there is something going on in Afghanistan and the US is involved and I need to pray.

Kenna Millea [00:51:28]:
And she's like, that's all I needed to know. I don't need to know the nitty-gritty. I don't need to know who's right, who's wrong, what the, you know, what it's about, whatever. I just need to know that there are people who need my prayers. And so just that question of like, in my station in life, in my role, How much do I need to know? What is it that I— do I need to know who was at fault? Do I need to know that there are people on both sides who need prayer and who need to activate their consciences and make choices so that they can be right with their God? Yeah, yeah, probably. It's probably all I really need to know right now.

Pat Millea [00:51:57]:
Yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:51:58]:
So thank you, Sister. I don't remember your name, but you made an impression.

Pat Millea [00:52:02]:
Seriously. Yeah. And thank you for your prayers, even more Yeah, important. yeah, yeah.

Kenna Millea [00:52:05]:
I still do write to her when I have important Thanks.

Pat Millea [00:52:06]:
Uh, how about a challenge by choice, my love?

Kenna Millea [00:52:08]:
Okay, challenge by choice is, yeah, just that kind of— I'm gonna reference my soapbox, I will not get back on it— but that consideration of like, with all that's going on in communities, right, in kind of the civic sphere right now, how do I feel? Like, where is my conscience at with my involvement? And, and can I feel at peace in conversation with the Lord when he's like, so what you been up to? You know, how have you been engaged or not engaged And, and can I be at rest with that? We call that interior validation, of, of going with him into that quiet spot in our own hearts and not doing it for public approval or praise, right, or likes or retweets, but to really be in a place of like, yeah, Lord, because this is what you've called me to, because of the roles and responsibilities that I have, because of my station in life, because of where I'm positioned in the world, whatever the experiences I've had, you know, all those things go into the um, hopper, and, and to seek peace with him. And if he highlights areas where he's asking you to, to shift, to have a heart that's open to that. So that's all, that's all I'm asking.

Pat Millea [00:53:12]:
That's easy. Yeah, simple. We better pray for that and for everything going on in our world.

Kenna Millea [00:53:17]:
Let's do it.

Pat Millea [00:53:18]:
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Lord, and be with us. Lord, you know the suffering that is happening in our world today and in every day, that there's, there's nothing new under the sun, and that we humans are fallen and broken, and we bring sin and suffering into this world. And Lord, we pray for your healing to be with us. We pray for all those who are hurting in any way in each of our own communities, in our country, in our world. We pray for their consolation, both by your providence and also with our help, Lord.

Pat Millea [00:54:02]:
And we pray as well, Lord, that your peace might be increased in us, that we can stay close to you in all things so that we can never lose our peace and never depart from our trust in your divine care. So Lord, be with us. Help us to be people of empathy, of joy, and of hope, even in the midst of suffering and pain, and help us to be people after your heart most of all. We ask all this, Jesus, in your name. Amen. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Kenna Millea [00:54:34]:
Well, thank you, my darling, and thank you, dear listeners. We do hope you stayed till the end of that, and we would love to hear from you, thiswholifepodcast.com. And as much as I've said about social media, @thiswholelifepodcast on Facebook and Instagram God bless you.

Pat Millea [00:54:55]:
This Whole Life is a production of the Martin Center for Integration. Visit us online at thiswholifepodcast.com. Can you say that again real quick, please?

Kenna Millea [00:55:18]:
Don't know what you're talking about, sir. I plead the Fifth.

Pat Millea [00:55:24]:
Plead the what?