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What does God's voice actually sounds like? A thought arrives in prayer, clear and strong, and you can't tell whether it came from God or from your own mind. When the decision matters, that uncertainty can feel daunting, and the fear of getting it wrong can leave you anxious and second-guessing every step. Here's the hopeful part: hearing God's voice is a skill you can learn.

In this episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS draws on the ancient wisdom of Anthony of the Desert and Ignatius of Loyola, along with modern anthropological research from Stanford, to help you hone that skill. You'll be able to tell true intuition apart from fear and wishful thinking, and feel more peace and confidence in the choices you make. Nina also shares her own experience of that inner pull: a time she talked herself out of it and a time she said yes, and how she learned to tell the difference. You'll find out what each moment taught her, and you'll leave with five questions to ask any inner voice before you trust it.

Registration is now open for the May 2027 Ignatian Camino, two weeks walking the route Ignatius himself walked through northern Spain, learning one of his Rules for Discernment each morning.

Your Next Steps:

• Register to Walk The Ignatian Camino >>
• Take the Quiz: Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? >>

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Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
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Your prayer is distracted. Your mind wanders to your grocery list. And you're quietly wondering if you're doing it wrong. Here's the good news: Teresa of Ávila, the first woman Doctor of the Church, spent twenty years struggling through distracted prayer, and she became the greatest teacher of contemplative prayer the Western mystical tradition has ever produced.

In this episode, Nina Hirlaender OFS introduces the real Teresa of Ávila: the charming nun torn between the convent parlor and the chapel, whose honesty about her own messy prayer life makes her the patron of every distracted pray-er alive. You'll discover Teresa's masterpiece map of the soul, the Interior Castle: a crystal castle with God dwelling at the center, which means the spiritual journey is in, not up. Nina walks you through the rooms at the level of what they feel like, so you can locate yourself on the map today, and shows you how to tell the spiritual feelings you manufacture from the ones God actually gives.

Nina also shares practical steps for seasons of spiritual dryness, tells the story of her own 40-day silent retreat, from compulsive boredom games to a moment of overwhelming joy in a snow-covered field, and leads two full minutes of real, guided silence on air: your first step through the castle door. The episode closes with Teresa's beloved prayer: Let nothing disturb you. Plus, find out whether Teresa is your mystic mentor with Nina's free two-minute quiz.

What You'll Learn:

• The Interior Castle explained room by room, and how to find where you are on Teresa's map of the soul
• The four waters of prayer, and why prayer gets easier the longer you stay with it
• How to recognize real consolations in prayer, and Teresa's warning about chasing spiritual feelings
• Practical steps for when prayer feels dry or dead, including Teresa's "determined determination"
• Nina's story of a 40-day silent retreat, plus two minutes of guided silence you can pray along with
• Vocal prayer vs. contemplative prayer: the difference between talking at God and being with God, and which one your soul is craving right now

Your Next Steps:

• Take the Quiz: Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? >>
• Explore the brand new Mystical Spirituality website >>
• Connect with Nina on Instagram >>

Support the show

Rate, Review & Follow

If Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.

Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:
“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”

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Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
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Eight hundred years ago this week, St. Francis of Assisi died happily, singing, owning nothing. This year, people stood in line for hours just to see his bones. Why does the world still belong to this barefoot man?

In this episode, released during the Church's Jubilee Year of St. Francis marking the 800th anniversary of his death, Nina Hirlaender OFS traces the astonishing legacy of history's most beloved saint: the Canticle of the Creatures that gave Pope Francis's Laudato Si' its name, the science journal that proposed him as the patron saint of ecology, the unarmed walk across Crusade battle lines that made Assisi the world's address for peace, the first nativity scene, and the first stigmata.

You'll also find out why Nina became a Franciscan Sister, meet eighteen-year-old Clare of Assisi, who gave up everything to rewrite what was possible for women, and walk through Assisi itself: San Damiano, the Porziuncola, and dinner with the joyful Franciscan Friars.

Then the episode turns to you. What has power over you right now: money, status, other people's priorities? Why do you keep saying yes to things your heart already said no to? And why do your best intentions keep losing? Nina asks the question at the center of Francis's revolution and reveals where the honest answer has been hiding all along: somewhere much closer than your thoughts. Plus, registration is now open for the spring 2028 Assisi pilgrimage, and the new Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? Quiz reveals whether Francis is the teacher meant to guide your season.

What You'll Learn:

• How to take your power back from money, status, and other people's priorities, and reconnect with the purpose that actually energizes you (Francis's specialty)
• How one poor friar shaped 800 years: ecology, interfaith peace, the nativity scene, and a pope's name
• The story of St. Clare of Assisi, the teenage noblewoman who rewrote what was possible for women
• Why willpower fails every time you try to change your life, and what actually works instead
• How to read your inner compass of consolation and desolation, the built-in guidance system that never lies

Your Next Steps:

• Take the Quiz: Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? >>
• Explore the brand new Mystical Spirituality website >>
• Watch the full interview 'Living Your Purpose: Nina Hirlaender's Mystical Path Towards Flourishing' >>

Support the show

Rate, Review & Follow

If Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.

Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:
“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”

And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.

Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
Connect: Instagram | Facebook