Mother’s Day is this Sunday.  We see all the commercials on TV, emphasizing the need to shower moms with love, gifts and attention this special day.  We should appreciate our mothers and all who stepped in as “mothers” in our lives. It is a great day to honor moms, especially the greatest of mothers, the Blessed Mother.

Mother’s Day can also be quite painful for some women.  There are many women who have no children of their own and whose mothers have passed on.  Other moms have strained or broken relationships with their children so Mother’s Day becomes an awkward event, or worse a forgotten occasion.  Now, with the pandemic, Mother’s Day celebrations may even be virtual this year.

So we are asking you on Friday’s show, do you look forward to Mother’s Day or not, and why?  Call in and share your joys or sadness when thinking about this upcoming holiday. 1-833-288-3986

As you have with many shows over the years, you had so much to say about Wednesday’s topic that we will be featuring a part two on Thursday. See the show synopsis below for details, and plan to join us for what promises to be another impactful conversation.

Guilt is a very powerful emotion. We can experience it both when we’ve done something wrong, and when we haven’t. How is that, you ask? Well, the former should be obvious. No one makes it through life without doing some form of harm to others. Guilt from those actions is very necessary, and it could be very helpful to a person’s maturation. But there are sometimes things for which we take the guilt upon ourselves, but we really didn’t do anything wrong:

• I should have said what I was thinking at the time
• If only I had been there for him/her
• It was my fault that my parents got a divorce
• My spouse left me because I wasn’t adequate

Give this some thought and prayer, and join Jerry and Debbie to discuss it on Wednesday. As always, we want to come away a little better, and a little closer to God.

Tragedies are an inevitable part of each of our lives. Rare is the individual who has not lived through his or her share of them. Life can be going along just fine, when all of a sudden:

• A child is killed in a car accident
• A seemingly healthy pregnancy turns into a miscarriage
• You or a loved one receive a devastating health diagnosis
• Your spouse, without explanation, leaves you for someone else

These are a few examples that are perhaps more general. Others may be less frequent, but they still impact many people:

• Someone you love died with Coronavirus
• You lost a loved on on 9/11
• A person dear to you perished in a plane crash or a train wreck

Everyone deals with these losses differently. Have you had to navigate life in the aftermath of these or any other type of tragedy? If so, let’s talk about it on Tuesday’s program.

On their website, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops state that, “Work is more than a way to  make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation.” The Catholic Church has always taught that a significant part of man’s dignity is to be found and protected in human labor. Join Jerry and Debbie on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker as we discuss:

• Are you satisfied with your job?
• Are you retired from a satisfying career?
• Is your employment more of a burden than a blessing?
• Are you currently unemployed, but longing to return?
• Do you feel that most companies respect the basic rights of workers, as the USCCB spells them out – to perform productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative?
• Do you have to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet?
• If you’re out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, are you confident that you’ll be able to resume your employment?

These questions and more – including your always great lived experiences – will be discussed on Friday. Join us!

As durable as the human psyche can be, it can also be very fragile in certain instances. We’re all formed to one degree or another by the things we experience in life, things that are said to us, the way we are treated by others, etc. It doesn’t take long to realize that some of us have a much higher self-image than others. The key to remember, however, is that no one is “better” or “worse” than anyone else when it comes to our intrinsic dignity and worth. Do you sometimes think things about yourself like:

• God couldn’t possibly have a special purpose for my life
• I know I won’t be able to finish what I’ve set out to do
• There’s no way I measure up to (name of someone you admire)
• All I do is fail whenever I try to accomplish something
• I’m just not a good person, that’s all
• I wish I were never born
• I’m never going to amount to anything

These and countless other thoughts run through many of our minds. How do we defeat them and discover our true self-worth? Reframing who we are, and whose we are, can go a long way toward doing just that. Inside of you is a person made just the way you are by a God who has from all eternity had a purpose that only you can fulfill. No one else! Let’s talk about the very rewarding exercise of learning to think of ourselves and act accordingly.

The United States was built upon the foundation of God and His ways. When questioned, many people would still say that we are a “Christian” nation. In many ways we are. But in some very important ways we are not. As you look out over our land, how do you see this?

• Are you hopeful that God is still woven into the fabric of our nation?
• Has your belief in that notion waned over the years?
• How do you evangelize in your own family, neighborhood and workplace?
• Do you see a trend in any particular direction?
• What is the typical response when you share your faith with others?
• Do most people even want to hear what you have to say about God and faith?

This will be another lively conversation. Please join us!

Authentic love involves willing the good of another. We’re all faced with opportunities each day to manifest this kind of love. Call in and share an instance when you acted selflessly out of love for another. This isn’t about bragging, it’s about inspiring and teaching the world that coming out of ourselves and putting our own needs on hold, and that we are all capable of doing this. Examples abound:

• Getting out of bed at all hours of the night to tend to the needs of your children
• Stopping to help at the scene of a traffic accident
• Running out into the rain to help your elderly neighbor carry in her groceries
• Saving up to pay for a child’s education, while putting off some dreams of your own
• Jumped in the water to save someone who was struggling or drowning
• Donating blood or an organ to someone in need
• etc.

This should be another inspiring episode of the program.

Our lives are often made happier and more fulfilled when we have pets. Sometimes, we do a kind deed and “rescue” an animal from a shelter or elsewhere. Many will even say that their animal “rescued” them (you’ve seen the bumper stickers). On Monday, let’s talk about this.

• Have you taken in a pet that may have faced a dire future?
• How has that gone for you and/or your family?
• What made you choose the animal you did?
• Do you have more than one rescue animal?
• Tell us how they have brought joy to your life.

Above is Debbie and Marty’s dog, Gracie.

Above is Jerry’s dog, Duc (pronounced like Duke)