31. How do we pray? And how can we sanctify Social Media? A conversation on the Power of Digital Prayer with Cassandre Verhelst of the Hozana Prayer App

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

Chapters

• 0:00 Saints Come in Squads
• 16:40 Revival and Restoration in France
• 32:04 The Power of Community Prayer
• 37:23 Strengthening Faith Through Group Prayer

Transcript

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 0:00

I think that it's incredible because we were talking, Sheila, about the fact that saints come in squads and you become saints by surrounding yourself with other people that are also trying to achieve that goal in holiness and striving to be closer to the Lord, and I think that being faithful in your prayer can be absolutely helped by the fact that you have friends that are also faithful in their prayer, and so someone's habit can also become your habit, and you have this kind of positive cycle of pulling each other up towards the Lord, and so this idea of saints come in squads is something that we're encouraging on Rosario is to create you r Rosary group and invite four other people that you know from near or far, from recently, or that you've always known, and invite them to pray the Rosary with you.

Sheila Nonato: 0:41

Invite them to pray the rosary with you. Hello and welcome to the Veil and Armour Podcast. This is your host, Sheila Nonato. I'm a stay-at-home mom and a freelance Catholic journalist. Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of Our Lady. I strive to tell stories that inspire, illuminate and enrich the lives of Catholic women, to help them in living out our vocation of raising the next generation of leaders and saints.

Co-Hosts: 1:09

Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour podcast, where stories come alive through a journalist's lens and mother's heart.

Sheila Nonato: 1:17

Social media and the internet can be tools for good to evangelize across borders, yet 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 choose to produce online? How do we fight the dark side of the web pornography websites, human trafficking, online podcasts on the occult? How do we arm ourselves in the spiritual battle against the dark forces of the world and on 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 win hearts and souls for Christ. Welcome, Cassandre, welcome back. We are happy to have you.

Sheila Nonato: 2:31

You are in Paris, France, and just wanted to re-introduce you. You've been here already a couple of times already, so I'm sure people know you very well. You are the head of the Anglophone edition of the Hozana Association, which has two apps. One is Hozanaa, hosanna. org and Rosario app, and these apps help people to pray and they show the diversity of the church, the Catholic church, where religious communities, priests, lay people can all join to pray together in communion with 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 App: 3:09

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Dear Lord, enlighten our conversations, and the Virgin Mary, please guide us in our discussion.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 3:21

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, pray for us poor sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 3:37

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sheila Nonato: 3:41

Thank you very much for that prayer. Thank you very much for that prayer. Yeah, so we are when I'm talking to you right now, so I think I will try to edit this before Christmas. But as I'm talking to you right now, we have about a week before the beautiful most holy day aside from Easter of Christmas, and everybody's busy. It's always a busy time, planning get-togethers, gifts, all the things, and sometimes we might forget about our spiritual life, preparing our own hearts for Jesus. But I'm sure a lot of our listeners that is top of mind in their hearts, but they're also overwhelmed with the busyness. So can you give us some tips? How do we pray in a busy season? Can we pray?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 4:32

Of course, and maybe more than tips, just my personal testimony, because I'm no one to give lessons, but I found that there are a few things that have really helped me out recently is the first of all, understanding that prayer isn't something that needs to be done in one block of time, at one given moment during the day, but that it's something that can accompany us along the whole day. As religious people, as monks and sisters. In their monasteries, they pray several 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 down from my bed, I do a sign of the cross and say Lord, open my lips and my and I don't know how to say it in English, but in French it's Seigneur, ouvre mes lèvres et ma bouche chantera ta, and I don't know how you'd say it in English, but in French it's and my mouth will speak of your glory and um and worship you. Uh. And so that's the first thing I do, and I think it's it's a a beautiful way to actually mark the fact that I'm going to start off my day by praying, um, and by just talking to the Lord, um, because he, he wants to hear everything that we have to say. And in the same vein of dividing up my prayer time, when I finally, when I arrive at work, before I, after I just opened my PC, my laptop, and before opening my mails, and all of that, I say one decade, the one I've been attributed on Rosario. I'm part of a living rosary group on the Rosario app with my colleagues, and so we all say our decade before or at the moment, during our day, so that's when I start mine. And when I go home, I also say one on my bike, because transportation is a good moment to 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 I could say, ok, gosh, well, now it's 9 pm, I want to go to bed and I still have to pray, but actually I've already spoken to the Lord throughout my day, which is a great feeling. And then the last time I pray is actually just before going to bed.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 6:55

And again, I opened my Rosario app and something that struck me was the fact that I'm very addicted to my phone, or at least I don't have much willpower to say'm I'm very addicted to my phone, or at least I'm I. I don't have much, um, willpower to say, okay, I'm stopping now, I've I've had enough of, uh, of of useless content. Um, and I, I noticed that when I, when I first opened my Rosario app and I first pray when I, when I'm about to go to bed, um I I put myself in this, this mood of um of union with God, and um and I do my, my, the remaining 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't need to be on on my screen anymore, and so I think that was a pretty nice revelation. To think, okay, well, I can use this technology for good and it doesn't have to be master of me, I can be master of it.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 8:06

And that works well for me is scheduling my meetings with the Lord. I try and go to adoration one time per week, and that's something I decide on Sunday evening. I look at my schedule and I think, okay, when is a good time? And then I stick to it. It's not. Oh, I'll go to mass if I have time this week, because there's always something to do. But if you're in another mindset and you think, okay, well, wednesday I have a meeting at 7 pm and that meeting is with the Lord, well, I have to be there, and so I think that was really a nice revelation for me to think, okay, well, it's not when I have time, it's I have time, or I make the time to go to adoration, because you don't always have to be in a prayer space in a church or in oratory to pray with the Lord. You can do that all the way throughout your day. But it's also nice to be able to go to that place at least once per week, and so that's what I try and do.

Sheila Nonato: 9:03

Yes, and when you're saying about how you're using your phone with intentionality, I think, with purpose, I think that's what helps focus, right? I have the same problem, to be honest, and I was speaking to a therapist saying, yeah, the phones are, they're addictive for a reason, like the social media. They want you to go there because that's how they make money. Right, it's a dopamine hit that. Yeah, a lot of people. I see people walking crossing the street on their phone, so I pray they get across the street safely. But, yeah, people walking down the street just on the phone. It's one of those things that we are all trying to, I guess, detach from, but it's difficult to do. But, like you were saying, if there's intentionality, that there's a purpose, I'm going on the phone to go to the Hosanna app and I'm going to say a decade Um instead of yeah. I mean, it's fine if people want to relax that way, right, um, 10 minutes or whatever. Like we could take an example from Blessed Carlo Acutis, who his mother said he played video games, but he limited himself for an hour, I think about an hour, and that's truly amazing because you know video games are also 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. So I'm gonna limit myself to it'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 website to showcase the Eucharistic miracles, to bring people to Jesus, and I feel like every Christmas and even Easter, I guess and nothing disparaging about Christmas and Easter coming home campaigns, right, but it's always like come home Catholics, come home Anybody.

Sheila Nonato: 10:56

If you're not even part of a religion, 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 to church, like you were talking about going to Adoration, scheduling that in which is so important? Because, yeah, how do we build a relationship if with someone we don't know and that's one way to do it right Like, and he's right there, jesus is in, jesus is there in the Eucharist, that's what he promised us and we can just sit there in silence with him.

Sheila Nonato: 11:30

But for people who have been away from the church or who don't even have a church and maybe they feel a calling or maybe they have been invited because 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 what to do, right, they don't know. Let's say, they don't know how to pray. What is the first step for them? How do? How do we make it less intimidating, less of a burden? How do you?

Sheila Nonato: 11:57

do you have any tips?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 11:58

Yeah, you, you lead by, or what comes to mind is you lead by example and you explain, because following without understanding is just the worst thing, I think. And so if you're bringing back someone to church, I think it's worth. I mean, you might be talking a little bit during Mass, but explaining what's going on and or, you know, giving a booklet of what's happening on, giving a booklet of what's happening and what's going on during the celebration is something that's maybe super useful for the person that you're accompanying. And then, if it's on your heart to help someone grow closer to the Lord, I think helping and being there and showing that you're going to you're, you're going to accompany them is super precious.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 12:52

And I'm trying preaching to the choir, but I think, and at least pitching the people I work for, but at the what I, what I find super beautiful about the Rosario app is that it is and basically the idea is that you're praying one rosary with four other people, so everybody says a decade per day, and there's really the social aspect of prayer is that everybody, for the rosary to be complete, everybody has to pray their decade.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 13:24

And so there's this idea of if you do it, I'll do it. And so, if you're trying to accompany 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 easy like praying together and not saying I'm going to pray for you, but saying let's pray together, and there's this really simple prayer. It's called the Hail Mary, and it's literally I don't know, I don't know if it's one sentence or two sentences, but it's pretty, it's pretty easy and if and it's pretty repetitive, so it gets stuck in your mind pretty quickly, and showing a person that we're going to do this together, um is is really powerful, and so I think that that's something that is. You know, if you're trying to get someone back to the faith, praying with them and not just for their conversion, is something that can be interesting to try.

Sheila Nonato: 14:25

Yes, and yeah, I'm definitely leading by example. That is the invitation to, you know, for somebody who may feel lost, to be honest, right, like they 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 for communion, what do I do? I guess that's another invitation that they can look into the sacraments, right, the one 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 a shower, 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 and yeah, so, if a person hasn't been to church, they might want to look into that. Going to confession.

Sheila Nonato: 15:17

And, to be honest, I just share with 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 was nervous, as most people are. And as soon as I said I was nervous, as most people are, and as soon as I said the sins, I felt I don't know what happened, like I just felt this overwhelming grace, love, like I don't know. I just started crying, to be honest, and the priest said your tears are making Jesus happy, something like this. And I thought, wow, and ever since then I do go.

Sheila Nonato: 15:55

I mean, sometimes it's scary because you're like, oh, I don't want to tell somebody else why, but once I do it, it's like a release. It's like the priest is there in Jesus' place. He's saying to you your sins are forgiven and you're truly free now. You're free again to love, to be yourself, to be who God created you to be. And I think that's a wonderful thing. That, yeah, at Christmas time, I know people, you know, they do the church kind of routine. They see it as a routine, but it's. It's actually a beautiful sort of invitation to other people as well who haven't been, who haven't been to church.

Sheila Nonato: 16:40

And speaking of church invitation and opening of doors, I'm thinking about not notre dame and how it was a big to do. It was. It was all over social media in the news that it reopened after the fire and it's gorgeous. The interior is gorgeous. All the world leaders, many of the world leaders, were there and the focus was on the church again. Can you tell me what was the excitement in France. Were they excited? Can you tell us, and the young people, how did they see this?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 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 of the Berlin wall. It's something that everyone was talking about. Super exciting. Gosh, do I go, do I not go? Uh, do I cancel my plans just to be able to to be there. And so it was. It was pretty, it was as if it was a big um, you know, a worldwide event, because it was through, it was um, shown on all the medias across the world.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 17:43

I mean just this, this church that Parisians, you know, go by all the time, because it's really 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 of the of paris, when you go from east to west, from north to south, you, you cross, you pass by notre dame, notre dame, and. And so there was a real big excitement. They were looking for volunteers. So I have quite a few friends that just decided to take a day off of work to go and volunteer for the reopening, um and um, and some were invited by the priest that had married them to go and volunteer for the reopening Um and um, and some were invited by the priest that had married them to go to the uh, one of the reopening masses, which was it's as if you got the golden ticket in Willy Wonka, because the places were so rare, um and so. So, personally, I haven't been able to go yet, because to visit um you need a ticket, and so the tickets are all sold out. But you can attend Mass and so, um, and so one lady from my prayer group told us that she had been and that she encouraged us strongly to go as well. It's mass at 8 am, so you have to be ready to be there, um.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 18:49

But I think what was interesting was the fact that it's not our parish, because there are a lot of churches in Paris, and so Notre Dame is not the parish of many people, but it was something that we're all attached to, because it's really the emblem of the French church. It's the emblem of the or at least we see it as the seat of the bishops, and the heart of, and the heart of Paris. I mean, if, if the world is falling down, where you go? Okay, quick church, big church, okay, notre Dame.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 19:21

And so I think that that logic and that way of thinking is the same for a lot of, for a lot of Catholics, and it's and it was also really nice to have a religious symbol and a religious building be at the heart of discussion for so long, because, I mean, we've been talking about it for five years. For five years it's interested people around the world. Every now and then there was a news segment on the television about how the works were advancing in in the cathedral, so everyone's been talking about it. And so how nice is it that you're talking about a church and you're not talking about war or you're not talking about politics. You're talking about a symbol of a faith, even though we're not talking about it as if it was, you know, a place of worship, but it's still, de facto, 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 was your reaction?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 20:29

Well, it was interesting because we had seen pictures of the church very bare, without the chairs in it yet, and very white. It kind of reminds me of the St John the Baptist Cathedral in Lyon, France, which is another church that was renovated recently, very grandiose, very big, very grandiose, very big. And when we saw the pictures that our friends sent indeed it's clean, it's bright, it's white, and how lucky are we to have this beautiful building just free of access to us, and I think there's just so much love that was put into the reconstruction of this. And then it was so.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 21:17

The friend that shared with us shared a few pictures, and then the last picture was a statue of the Virgin holding her son, which honestly, isn't the most beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary I've ever seen, but it's a symbol of. I don't know if you know this, but the statue was intact when the cathedral burned down and it really goes to show that Our Mother is there and things may be falling apart and crumbling down around us, but she's there, she's holding her son, she's protecting her son and amidst the rubble they're there. So it was really a touching testimony of her presence, and seeing her back in the cathedral through images is also very nice.

Sheila Nonato: 22:10

Yes, that's wonderful that you brought that up. Amidst the rubble she is intact and the church is named after her right, Notre Dame, Our Lady, and France, the eldest daughter of the church. You were mentioning a little bit about the revival. Is it still happening? Can we see this? Can we see this sometime in the future?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 22:33

I hope so. I mean, I know that I evolve in a very Catholic environment. I'm lucky to be friends with many young people that have the faith, also lucky to be in a country where a lot of people have um religious education, um it's not foreign to them, and so I think that's something that's very something that we can rejoice for. And there are a lot of initiatives um that are that are um building up about, um trying to have an integral education centered around the christ. So all these little um kind of off 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 of society to create your own new society centered around the Christ, and I think it's called the Benedictine challenge or the Benedictine bet. But I mean, things are happening and people are talking about it. So that's always interesting and knowing that people are still having their children go to First Communion and people are still signing the children up for catechism classes at their parish if they don't have them at school, which many schools don't have, and I was impressed.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 24:06

A short story is that I don't know if you also have Rorate Masses during Advent, so Masses with candles early in the morning, at dawn, and I was really impressed because the children from my catechism class last year went without me inviting them. I saw them at Mass at 7 am. But I mean, how many 14-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 and it's just a question of being able to see the positive and see the little lights that the Lord is putting in our relationships. But I mean per se, where's the spiritual 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 are responsible ones. But you know, yeah, that's amazing. And when you're just talking about the I don't think I've ever been, I feel like Easter vigil is when I've seen the candles at mass, but Rarate candles, you said yeah, I mean, I don't know if that's very big in the US and Canada, but it's here in Paris and in France.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 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's gonna come, and it's early in the morning, but it's because they're asking you to make a little sacrifice and to um, to really be ready at dawn, to um 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, but there is that little candle to give you hope. And actually in the Philippines we also have this, I think. Well, it starts also early, like 5 a. m. dawn. It's called Simbang Gabi, which is a very early mass basically, and a lot of people do it because we do have a lot, there's a lot of, there are a lot of Catholics in the Philippines, but, yeah, like you get 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 and once you get out of mass, obviously but you know, know, there's, it's it's the philippines starts, to be honest, to prepare for christmas in september. Okay, so it's, it's just a thing. 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, I guess I'm thinking about, like, when I was mentioning people who are going to be invited to church, um, they might say no, I don't want to go, or they might feel obligated I got to go Cause my mom is making me go. Um, sometimes it's also not.

Sheila Nonato: 27:01

It's not such a happy, happy, hopeful time for some people. They're going through, they're going to you know cause. Christmas kind of sometimes magnifies what people don't have. I know, a loss. Perhaps they don't have a parent or parents, a child who is who they lost, or just it's. It's not a, that's not a happy time. How do they, how do they approach prayer when prayer is difficult? How do we, in general, how do we also approach prayer when we're going through a hard time, when we're, you know Christmas is happy, you're supposed to be happy. Well, what if you, you, you, you're trying to find the joy in the Lord? How do you, how do?

Sheila Nonato: 27:42

you do this when you you feel lost.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 27:44

Yeah, I understand my grandmother was telling me about the fact that it's it's always hard to be at Christmas without my grandpa and 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 is making it, so it doesn't matter if your prayer is 15, 20, an hour long, if it's even 30 seconds, when it's hard, it's already that. So I think that's something that 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'm making an effort and at least I'm there, and maybe the prayer is not rich, but at least it's being done.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 28:34

And also, when you have no inspiration, I think what the beauty of the Hail Mary and the Our Father is that they're easy prayers that can be repeated endlessly. And there's also, I mean, just saying a Hail Mary is a prayer. The sign of the cross is the shortest prayer you can do, and so just crossing yourself is praying already. So you know, repeating things that are easy to say and easy to remember and making it short, I think it's pretty something we can recommend. When it's hard to pray, it's easy to say, less easy to say to someone. But yeah.

Sheila Nonato: 29:18

Yeah, I feel like yeah, sometimes also because in our culture there's a lot of in our world really there's a lot of distraction, noise and all that and people actually have a hard time in silence. So when you were talking, uh to me earlier about, um, when you bike, riding your bike, you're praying, um, maybe that might make it easier for somebody. Do you think that you know, when they're doing something, it doesn't have to be like you're in 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're praying a decade. Can you encourage us to do that? If we feel like it's too intimidating, is this something we can do?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 30:06

Well, I think that one sentence that really marked me was if you start doing something while you're praying, it's probably that you're distracted, but if you're doing something and then all of a sudden you start to pray, it means that your mind is drawn to the Lord, and I thought that was so. It was eyeopening, because sometimes I realized I'm washing my dishes and I'm and I'm singing um a worship song and then I'm like, oh yeah, I could have just been singing um secular songs, but I'm singing something for the Lord and so I'm thinking about him and so I'm praying to him. Um, or when I'm brushing my teeth and all of a sudden I'm like, oh, I haven't said my Hail Mary yet, I'm going to do it now. Or my, my decade, I'm going to do it now. I'm I'm taking my distraction distraction or what I'm doing and axing it and um, bringing it to the Lord rather than the other way around, and I think that's, um, that's that's pretty um powerful as well.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 31:07

And I mean, if you can't go to a silent place, if you don't have a monastery at the end of the road, anything can be. I mean, prayer can be all the time. Prayer can be just saying hello. And I think it took me a long time to realize that, to realize that looking at someone and not judging but saying, oh okay, I have this thing in my head that's not really nice to say about them. But just canceling that out and saying Lord, bless this person, or this person is blessed by you, 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't know if you completely agree with that, but at least that's what gets me through and that's what motivates me in my prayer when I can't, when I find it hard to sit in front of my prayer 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 sit down quiet and but I guess also there are different. You know, if we're trying to pray like Padre Pio, like that's not happening, right, there are different levels of prayer. You can start like a child, right, you can start there. You can even start with the prayers that we all know the Our Father, the Hail Mary, if it's too intimidating to, because, yeah, silence can be very hard. For somebody who is used to so much activity going on, it's hard to keep, to be quiet. But, yeah, I think we sort of have to let go of, you know, perfectionism in prayer, that we everyone has a different level in their spiritual journey. So, if we can't pray like Padre Pio, it's okay.

Sheila Nonato: 32:55

You can start with, like you were saying, uh, sign of the cross, or hail Mary, our father. You can just start there and don't, don't worry about it, like God. God hears you, god knows, god knows your situation and what you're trying to say, even if you cannot express it in words. You can just sit there even and cry Like I've done that, I've done that before, just crying your heart out, and he knows, and whatever you've done doesn't matter, just come, just come. Don't let that be a barrier and I'm just reminded of in the Bible. It says for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them, and sometimes prayer can feel like a solitary exercise, right, or a solitary habit or practice. But you were mentioning to me before this call that Hosanna has this community of saints, that we're actually not alone and through Hosanna we can also pray for other people or we can pray with other people. Can you tell us how does this work? How can we do this?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 33:49

Yeah, I was. I don't know if I shared this before already, but I got engaged last summer and I wrote on the so on the Hosanna application. On Hosannaorg there's a whole page where it's called prayer intentions and people can entrust their intentions and it'll appear in on other people's Hosanna pages as kind of a feed that people can click and choose three intentions to pray on. And so when you decide to pray for Joan, sheila and Mark maybe one has cancer, the other one is looking for a job and the other one has exams you decide, ok, I don't know who this person is, but they're asking for this grace or help for this or this challenge. I'm going to ask the Lord to listen to their call and to bless them. And so you click on a little button, pray, and after 48 hours the person that has entrusted that intention receives if they put that, if they wanted to receive feedback the amount of people that have prayed for them. And so I had entrusted my engagements a few months ago and I was so impressed because I didn't expect anyone to pray for that. I just wanted to entrust that to the Lord and I got a mail saying 18 people prayed for you and I thought, wow, it means that 18 people across the world that I don't know said okay, lord bless Cassandra and Paul Adrien and their engagement, and I thought that was so powerful.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 35:22

And something that someone shared with us just two days ago on the app store was shared with us just two days ago on the app store was so for Rosario, that also has this idea of sharing prayer intentions and praying for others.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 35:36

In your little rosary group, you can entrust an intention and the lady had just lost her sister and she wasn't able to continue, or she took a few days off and so she didn't pray her decade. And she said it was so powerful to know that people were praying for me, these four ladies that I don't know but that I pray with every day, that they were praying for me through this hard time, and I thought that was so beautiful, to concretize this communion of saints praying for each other. It's a real blessing. I mean, we have that grace and that gift in the Catholic Church to be able to pray for each other, and I think that having the tools that allow us to pray for each other is just incredible. And so, on the Hosanna application and on the website, you can entrust your intentions and 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 tech savvy, so I go on the website or do I download the app.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 36:41

Either, but going on the website is maybe easier if you're not very tech savvy, okay, hosannaorg. Hosannaorg and then Hosanna with a Z, h-o-z-a-n-a.

Sheila Nonato: 36:51

Zed, okay, okay, or Zed for Canadian viewers.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 36:54

It's Zed for Canadian viewers, it's like the Europeans. And then on the top you've got a little icon that says intentions, with a little person holding up a flame, an icon that says community intentions, with a little person holding up a flame. And on that you're you're brought to a page with tons of intentions and you can lay down your own and submit it, and that way you will have, you'll be able to go into that loop of people that are praying for each other. And so, as I'm speaking to you, I see that there's Emily asking for healing, for her treatment and for a job, and Humberto that has just joined Hosanna, and Maria, who's asking to pray for the homeless.

Sheila Nonato: 37:43

Beautiful. So for Hozana and then for Rosario. Those are two different apps, correct? Yeah? Or can you go to Rosario through Hozana? No, you cannot. Those are two different apps, correct? Yeah? Or can you go to Rosario through Hozana?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 37:52

No, you cannot, because they're two different ones.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 37:56

So, basically, rosario is an app to help you get started and be faithful in your prayer of the rosary, and we were talking about how do we bring someone to prayer.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 38:06

I think it's a pretty powerful tool because the idea is that each person receives one of the five decades, and so when you're in a group of five people, everybody says their own decade and it allows you to together pray to the Virgin Mary, and you can either join a private group if you have four other people that you know, or a public group and you have people that are praying for the same intentions.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 38:31

For example, I'm praying for the conversion of a loved one with four ladies that I don't know one in france, um, one in asia and um, and two in the united states and um. Hozana is a, an application that allows you to follow the retreats, a spiritual retreats created by different people from the church, so monasteries, religious communities, priests, lay people, shrines, associations, people that are just there to help you pray for this or that with Mary, Untier of Knots, or with St. Michael, or how to deepen your prayer, pray with the saints, and so that's all for free, because we're an association. So if you're feeling generous at this Christmas time. You can help us out with a donation to help the mission grow and to be able to reach more 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 many languages?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 39:39

Well, it's worldwide, so we have four editions on Hozana Spanish, french, English and Portuguese, and then on Rosario, we also have Italian and Polish, and so the idea is that we're trying to cover the whole world so that people can pray together wherever they are, and what's pretty neat is on your Rosario app, you can be praying with people that are in different parts of the world, that are connected on a different language.

Sheila Nonato: 40:11

And for Rosario, you can also create a prayer group with is it five people?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 40:16

Yeah.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 40:17

So, you can invite four of your friends and family, or people from your prayer group or from your parish, or people that you've been on a pilgrimage with that you want to continue praying with. The way I use it is that in high school I was in a prayer group and I met some of my best friends on there, and so every Friday, when we met in this prayer group, we had the habit of praying together and we thought, okay, well, now we don't live in the same city anymore. Some of us are married, some are studying to become priests, some live abroad, and so how can we continue to, to grow in our faith, but together? Because it was, um that what started our friendship, and so we have, um, we have a rosary group on rosario, and we're actually more than uh, we're more than five, so we have two linked rosaries, which is pretty neat, and so every day, we each say our decade and we know that the others are praying at the same time.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 41:18

And if we have a prayer intention, well, we just share it in the group and we know that all the others are also praying for that intention, and so that's one of my prayer groups, so that's one of my prayer groups, and I think that it's incredible because we were talking, sheila, about the fact that saints come in squads and you become saints by surrounding yourself with other people that are also trying to achieve that goal and holiness and striving to be closer to the Lord, and I think that being faithful in your prayer can be absolutely helped by the fact that you have friends that are also faithful in their prayer, and so someone's habit can also become your habit, and you have this kind of positive cycle of pulling each other up towards the Lord, and so this idea of Saints Come in Squads is something that we're encouraging in January, on Rosario, is to create your rosary group and invite four other people that you know from near or far, from recently, or that you've always known, and invite them to pray the rosary with you, and you'll see that being faithful in your prayer is something that is so rich, and we were talking about, you know, about being intentional about your screen time and about being intentional about how you use your phone and technology.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 42:36

Well, I think there's a lot of bad on the Internet, but there's also a lot of good, and so being able to pray together is something that we can take advantage of yes, definitely.

Sheila Nonato: 42:50

And when you mentioned squad, I'm just thinking Taylor Swift has her squad. Now you have the Saints squad. You have your own squad. And how was it, Blessed Carlo Acutis ... He was God's influencer.

Sheila Nonato: 43:03

And how do you positively influence people, your friends, and wouldn't this be a great start to your new year? Yeah, you kind of keep yourself accountable and you have these people who are with you in prayer, encouraging you, and you know, I mean sometimes, yeah, god, you know, when we ask God for something, sometimes the answer is no or not yet. But in the not yet, in the waiting, we sometimes feel impatient. But if we have some people with us on that journey of trying to find out what is God's will for my life, or what does God want me to do in this situation, will for my life, or what does God want me to do in this situation, having those people, those positive influencers, the real influencers, I would say, is really going to be helpful to make a transformational change, especially when we're looking now like there's Christmas and then we're looking to New Year, and every time it's New Year, people always want to change something, transform, become better than what we used to be, and I think this is a great opportunity. Can you tell me more?

Sheila Nonato: 44:17

What did you call it again, the communion of saints squad? What was it?

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 44:23

Yeah, saints come in squads and to really use that communion of saints 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 in your friend group you have someone that's maybe struggling a bit and you're on a roll, well, use your role to get that other person praying again. And then you know, in two months if it'll, if the roles will be changed up and you might need that hand, and so, if you've started and you've, if you've gotten the ball rolling, well it's going to be a virtuous cycle that's going to bring you up towards the lord, you with your friends, and so um. So that's what we're really encouraging on uh, on rosario. This this year is to, or for 2025, is to really start and start praying together, um, because together you achieve more things. I think there's this um, this african saying is that uh, alone you'll go faster, but together you'll go further. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but I think it.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 45:24

No, I haven't heard it's half my beautiful 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 yes and 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's get to know God better and, yeah, sort of answer that invitation from God to come home. Come home to him. And also, yeah, I know that, like we were mentioning, hosanna app is free. So how, friends, is anything really free, right, if you have in your heart, you know, if you are able to, to give, to help this ministry, this apostolate of spreading prayer, spreading the good news, encouraging others and spreading positivity, and also God's word, of course, above all else, and hope and encouragement and inspiration in our world, where we, many times, we do need that.

Sheila Nonato: 46:26

It's like the candle, you know, the one lone candle in a dark church, a dark room. 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 all help each other, that we can be all Christ's hands and feet to each other. And this is one way, friends, if you, like me, are addicted to your phone or you need help to make better use of your time on tech, why not look into whatever you want to do? But if you want, you're welcome to look into Hozana and Rosario and see how this can help you in your prayer life, how we can increase our become more adept at prayer and, I guess, 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 close better and we will see that transformation in ourselves as well, so that we can help others, that we can become who God created us to be, and yeah, thank you, cassandra.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 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 to together grow closer to the Lord in 2025. Amen and thank you, merry Christmas. Have a blessed, blessed Christmas 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.

Sheila Nonato: 48:04

We'll be praying for your preparation. If you care to let us know. But um, yeah, and have a beautiful new year, beautiful new start. You're going to be starting something new with your fiance, your, your husband, in August, so we will play pray at friends. I, I encourage you to please pray for cassandra and her fiance, and hosanna and rosario and the ministry. So thank you again, Cassandre, God bless. Thank you again, Cassandre, God bless.

Cassandre Verhelst, Hozana App: 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 with another Catholic mom today. Please subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel, and please spread the word. Let's Be Brave, let's Be Bold and Be Blessed together.