The SEEK Podcast
Welcome to the SEEK Podcast – we're so glad you’re here. This podcast is a place of community, collaboration, and inspiration, created to invite and encourage you deeper into a relationship with Jesus. Join these podcasters and many others as we encounter Jesus at SEEK25, Jan 1st-5th. For more information and to register, visit seek.focus.org.
The SEEK Podcast
It Takes Courage to be Catholic: Ever Be x SEEK
Join Mari Wagner on the SEEK podcast as she dives into her profound faith journey and the lifestyle shifts that deepened her commitment to Christ-centered living. Mari shares her transformative experiences with FOCUS internships and her first SEEK conference. She highlights the influence of community and virtues like sobriety and chastity on her spiritual growth. Inspired by St. Joan of Arc, this year’s patron saint at SEEK, Mari discusses living counterculturally and emphasizes the importance of daily prayer, Mass, and Bible study in maintaining a robust faith life.
Discover how engagement in these practices offers hope for anyone seeking to align their life with Christ. Hear how the electrifying energy of being alongside thousands of people at SEEK reinforced her commitment to a bold Catholic life.
Register for SEEK: seek.focus.org
Welcome to the Seek Podcast, where we explore faith, inspire hope and build community. My name is John Michael Lucido and I'm excited to invite you to join us this season as we dive into topics about the faith with people from all over the Catholic world. Thank you for listening to today's episode.
Speaker 2:Know that we are praying for you hey, I'm your host, mari wagner, and you're listening to the ever be podcast, where faith meets lifestyle. I'm so excited you're here. Whether you're a new listener or a longtime follower, I know there's something here for you. Pull up a chair and listen in for insightful real-life conversations and actionable steps on how to claim the full life God created you for. If you're a woman desiring to live a Christ-centered life in today's modern world, then this is for you. Welcome to Ever Be. Hey everybody, hi friends, it's Mari Wagner here. I am thrilled to be your guest host today on this Focus Seek podcast. This is a fun little collab with Everbee podcast. If you're not sure who I am, well nice to meet you. I'll give you a little bit of an introduction.
Speaker 2:I am a young wife. I am the host of the Ever Be podcast, which is a faith and lifestyle podcast. I am a Catholic content creator. On Instagram you can find me at at maricwagner Been doing that for like the past six years. What else? I'm also the founder of the popular Catholic lifestyle brand West Coast Catholic Co-founder. Actually, I started it with my husband, trey, so shout out to the hubs there Could not be doing anything without him. So I wear a lot of hats, but it's super fun and basically in everything that I do, the whole reason why I do everything is to help people live Christ-centered lives. That's it. That's my mission in life. That's my goal to help people live Christ-centered lives. And I do this because I grew up feeling pretty alone in my faith and, even though I grew up Catholic, I didn't really know what it meant to live out your Catholic faith or to really like follow Jesus. Besides going to mass on Sundays, that's all I really knew growing up.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't really until I did a college summer internship, actually with Focus back in 2018, where this all really changed for me and I began to be introduced to this like whole new perspective of what it meant to follow Jesus, so much more than just going to mass once a week. And that summer was completely transformational for me because, for the first time ever, I met other women my age and men of course, there's both men and women that were on this internship. But I grew in friendship with other women my age who were actively seeking Christ and actively trying to live a Christ-centered life. And, honestly, you guys, if I'm being completely honest, when I started this summer out as an intern in this internship, I remember like hearing you know these other like college students talk about like how they prayed every day or how they lived virtue, or how they didn't, you know, sleep with their boyfriend or go get drunk on the weekend or whatever, like all these things you commonly find on a college campus. I remember them talking about like just the ways they were just trying to like actively pursue christ in their life. Do you remember thinking like, yeah, they thought I'd like kind of be like stretching this, like just to like get the internship, like maybe they said this all in the interview because they're trying to get a job at the catholic organization, but I'm gonna figure it out. You know like, let's be real here. There's no way college students out here are like actually practicing sobriety and chastity and excellence and prayer and faith and like all these different things. And I kind of remember like chatting with, uh, some of the women interns at the beginning and just being like no, seriously, you can tell me like I'm not gonna tell anybody like seriously, like is this actually like the way you live on a day-to-day basis? Like actually do you not do these other things? Like actually, are you, are you actually like making time to pray every day? And are you actually going to daily mass, you know, during the week, and do you go to adoration and all these other things? Are you in a bible study? And and the answer was yes.
Speaker 2:Like these, these women, you know, bless their hearts. They were so patient with me and I was very fresh in my reversion and they were just so gentle with me and they're like yeah, mari, I'm actively trying to live a Christ-centered life as a young 20-something in college and it's the best and life has never been so fulfilling or whatever, so joyful. They didn't regret it, they had no complaints about the way they were living and really encountering these women was what began to transform me from the inside out, and seeing their courage and how they lived a Christ-centered life began to give me the courage to change my life as well, began to give me the courage to change my life as well. And these women are so sweet, I love them dearly to this day and they basically discipled me all summer. They taught me how to pray, they encouraged me to live a life of virtue. They taught me just different truths about the Catholic faith that I didn't know. I mean, there's so much richness, so much beauty, so much to learn in our Catholic faith, and I just didn't know a lot. You guys.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I grew up on the West Coast in Washington. It's not a very like religious state and so I felt lonely in my faith a lot of the time, and so being in community with other young Catholics was what I needed to kind of light a fire within me and then give me the courage to live it out. And I think that's part of the reason why SEEK was one of those super pivotal moments in my life where I felt a deeper call to follow Christ life, where I felt a deeper call to follow Christ because so this whole reversion started happening my sophomore year of college. Summer after sophomore year was when I did this internship and I met these you know this community of young Catholics that were also interning with me at focus. That completely like encouraged me to transform my life and then went back to college, actually studied abroad the semester after that internship, which was amazing, not because I was in Europe, but because actually I think the Lord is so intentional I went abroad without any of my friends I didn't really have a lot of like people that I knew in my study abroad program and it gave me the opportunity to kind of start anew, to kind of just like start this new life that I was living over the summer of prayer and virtue and seeking the Lord in a much more intentional way in my life.
Speaker 2:I think that I would have gone to college, like back onto campus, right after that summer. It might've been really hard to do so because I would have just gone back to my normal ways and I think the Lord intentionally gave me like four months right after this internship, away from my normal day-to-day on campus, to just give me a whole new fresh start and an opportunity to live into this, not even new Mari, but this like more Mari, right, like more of myself, more of the daughter God created me to be on this. Yeah, this semester that I was abroad because I didn't have people around me that already really knew me and expected me to be a certain way or to act a certain way it was just a whole new, fresh start. And then, after that semester, right, you've got Christmas break and then it's January, which means it's Sikh season, and this was my very first Sikh that I went to. So just, let me just take you back. Okay, let me take you back to my very first Sikh experience back in 2019.
Speaker 2:I was a junior in college at the time and I was still very new to this amazing Catholic world like I'm, you know, sharing and I really had just started diving into my faith as my own, really began practicing all these you know good habits as a Catholic and putting Christ at the center of my life and really just learning what it meant to live for Christ as an adult, what it meant to be Catholic and to have my life reflect that. And so I was going into this conference like pretty jazzed to have another experience where I could be encouraged in my faith, kind of like that summer before. But I also was kind of unsure of what to expect because I'd never been to like a big conference like this and I'll never forget that first day, like walking into the convention center seeing all the people and like checking just kind of nervously like what is going on. There's so many people, I don't know what to expect, and then walking into the arena and just seeing like literally tens of thousands of people mostly all college students like me at the time, for the same reason. They were all there for the same reason to be set on fire for their faith and to follow Christ more closely. It was amazing. I mean it was truly one of the most pivotal moments in my life and it gave me a renewed sense of courage to follow Christ in a deeper way.
Speaker 2:Because going to SEE seek made me realize that I wasn't alone in my walk of faith, specifically in the Catholic faith too, because I had other Christian friends, even though they weren't super practicing, like I feel like it was more normal to hear about, you know, people being non-denominational in some way, but I didn't have a lot of like boldly Catholic people in my life and to know that Sikh was Catholic and that there were tens of thousands of people there who were there to be set on fire, who were there to be encouraged in a radical, counter-cultural way of living and to just like be with Jesus, to worship Jesus, to follow Jesus, was amazing.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was truly. I look back on it and it was one of the most inspiring times of my life and I mean since then I've been to seek every year. Actually, I think there was one year I missed it, but I was in the Holy Land, so it was a pretty good excuse. But other than that, I've been to Sikh every year. I think I've been like five or six times, but nothing compares to that very first Sikh I mean every Sikh, you guys, I kid you not is so hype and I'm recording this right now, in November, and I'm so giddy for Seek to come around this January. I think after you go your first couple times and you know what to expect, it's just awesome because it's kind of like a little reunion of heaven. It's like you start to see people in the Catholic world that you've known from different groups or maybe different retreats or organizations or whatever.
Speaker 2:And it's just like this big communion of heaven and even if you don't know a lot of people, it kind of feels that way. It kind of feels like you're just like stepping into heaven and just like you're just surrounded by the body of Christ. You're just surrounded by people trying to be saints. Like what other environment gives you that uh, like culture, that feel? You know? Um, but nothing compares to that verse, zeke Like you're just like a sponge, just like soaking it all up and so giddy. And I mean I remember in every talk I had my journal and pen and I would furiously take notes at every single talk to try and soak up all the goodness and hang on to every single word that Father Mike Schmidt said, and all the other speakers, of course, they were all amazing and I remember I felt like I left that first seek feeling like I wasn't following Jesus alone and that was everything to me at the time, wasn't alone in this fight, in this battle, in this walk to give my life to Christ was so encouraging and maybe it felt like I was alone sometimes, even after Sikh. You know, maybe you encounter hardship or obstacles in the journey, but I knew deep inside, like I now knew of this entire generation of young Catholics that were also fighting to make Jesus the center of their lives and fighting to live counter-culturally and live out Christian values of sobriety, chastity, excellence, you know, virtue, prayer, piety like. Being Catholic is brave, you guys. Living counter-culturally in this way is brave. In today's modern world, being Catholic is brave. It takes courage. Like being boldly Catholic and outwardly standing up for your faith and actually living out Jesus's teachings is brave, which is why I freaking love that this year the patron saint of Sikh is Saint Joan of Arc. I couldn't think of a more fitting example of somebody who courageously answered Christ's call to follow him, regardless of what came her way. If you don't know a lot about this incredible saint, I will gladly fill you in, because it's pretty amazing what the Lord did in her life and just her story. Honestly, just life, um, and just her story, honestly, just, yeah, just who she is. So, basically, saint jenna bark, um.
Speaker 2:At the age of 13, she began experiencing mystical visions pretty crazy and hearing the voices of none other than saint michael the archangel, saint catherine of alexandria and saint margaret, catherine of Alexandria and Saint Margaret yeah, pretty casual. They told her that God had chosen her to save France. So she's like this French teenage girl and God's literally like you're going to save your country and basically like the mission was to support Charles VII as the rightful king during that time period. And I just like I mean I read her story and it literally sounds fake to me. I think that, like, I often think of Saint Joan of Arc as this, like amazing saint, but I don't think of her being like a real human being in the way that I think of, like Saint Therese. You know Saint Therese, know Saint Therese, just like she's so sweet, she talks about all her littleness and ways that she needs Christ and everything, and I think both saints are incredibly amazing examples for us in different ways. But I hear of Saint Joan of Arc's story and I'm like for reals, like was this girl real Right? Like at the age of 17, saint Joan of Arc led her troops to several victories for France and eventually led to the crowning of this king, charles VII, which fulfilled her divine-inspired mission that God gave her, and it's just insane to think of a teenage girl doing this Like at 17,. I was not doing stuff like this, okay, I bet you weren't either. In battle, actually, she carried a banner that had the names of Jesus and Mary on it. Okay, I mean, homegirl was full, sending it with such faith that it gave others courage to do the same thing and they freaking won right. They like won the victory. And what is what's, you know, the most impactful part of her story is not just that right.
Speaker 2:Even though she got the victories in war, sadly her story didn't end in glory on Earth. She was captured and put on trial for heresy and then, unfortunately, was burned at the stake. So she was a martyr at just 19 years old, which is a pretty harsh yet holy end there. But as she faced her death and was burned at the stake, her final request was to see a cross raised high. So she literally wanted to see Jesus on the crucifix through the flames while she was being burned alive. And her famous quote is raise high the cross so I may see it through the flames. Like, are you kidding me? Raise high the cross so I may see it through the flames. Like I'm sorry, but like even jesus right, uh, in the agony of the garden was like god, why did, why is this the plan? Like, even on the cross, god, why has you forsake. Why have you forsaken me? And St June of Arc was given the grace and the courage to be in her cross right and say let me see Jesus through the flames so that I can die with courage and with faith.
Speaker 2:St Joan of Arc's story is extraordinary. It's extraordinary, but I just love that. Her courage can inspire us in big ways. But we can also take this courage to inspire us just in our everyday lives. I'm all about right. Christ-centered living is all about bringing the faith into every part of our life, and just these different things that we can learn about the saints, these different ways that we can model our lives after them, can be implemented in small ways in our everyday life, because the reality is most of us won't be called to lead an army or die as martyrs, but we will face moments where we're called to stand up for our faith right.
Speaker 2:We will face moments where God is calling us to follow him more deeply and maybe to stand out in front of you know the crowd. So maybe it's speaking truth in a difficult conversation with your friends. Maybe it's choosing to live counterculturally on your campus. Maybe it's simply sharing your faith with somebody who needs it, who has never heard the gospel Inviting someone to mass. Maybe being brave and telling your friends where you're actually going on a Tuesday night to Bible study. Maybe it's choosing to stop getting drunk or stop sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe standing up and being pro-life is what the Lord's calling you to do.
Speaker 2:There are just so many opportunities we have to courageously live our faith in today's world, because being Catholic in today's world is not the status quo. But we can learn a lot from Saint Joan of Arc. She teaches us that courage isn't about being fearless, right, because living this way, like living boldly Catholic in today's world, especially on a college campus or maybe in the workplace, can be really intimidating, and so it's not necessarily about like having no fear. St Joan of Arc teaches us that courage is about trusting God enough to follow him, even when we're afraid. Right, trusting that, after all, we're not just following a religion for the sake of following a religion. We're following a person. We are following Jesus Christ and his.
Speaker 2:In his wisdom, you guys, in his like fatherhood and in just this gift, right, in wanting to gift us with goodness, he gave us the church to be able to do so well, he gave us the church to be able to follow him well, and we are proud of that. We are proud to be Catholic, we are proud of our religion and that's why I feel like this year's theme of Seek, follow Me resonates so deeply with St Joan of Arc's story, because she said yes to God to follow him in whatever he called her to do, not knowing where it would lead, in whatever he called her to do, not knowing where it would lead, but ultimately just trusting that he had a plan, ultimately just trusting in who he is and saying yes because he is God. So just take that as your encouragement to say yes to God in whatever he's calling you to in your life right now. Right, even if that starts with a little yes to follow Christ, those little yeses add up and turn into big yeses, because the more we give the Lord our hearts, our lives, our choices, our everything, the more he's going to invite us to follow him more deeply, which usually means, like taking a little bit of a bigger step next to it.
Speaker 2:It'll require a little bit of a bigger yes in some ways, but it'll start small first, right? Like don't be afraid to start small. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, like God might just be asking you to take, maybe, a next step in your faith life. Maybe it's going to adoration like for the first time, or maybe it's like going to adoration once a month or once a week, if you can. Maybe it's committing to a few minutes of daily prayer, to spend time with him in prayer every single day, maybe just five or ten minutes a day first, and then you build up. Or maybe it's inviting Jesus into a part of your life that you've kept closed off, that you've sort of just kept hidden from him. Maybe there's fear of what will happen if you let him in. Maybe it's going to confession for the first time in a while. Whatever it is, you know what it is that the Lord is putting on your heart, like right now, in this moment. If you were to think about it, is there anything that's like slightly like burning on your heart? Maybe that's what God's calling you to say yes to you right now. Or maybe that's what God's calling you to let go of so that you can say yes to more amazing things that lead you to him.
Speaker 2:Saint Joan of Arc reminds us that saying yes to Jesus transforms our lives. It's no small things. It's transformational, and it not only transforms our lives, but it also gives others the courage to follow him as well and to transform their lives. It's a ripple effect. You guys, it's a ripple effect. You guys, it's a ripple effect.
Speaker 2:I mean the fact that Catholicism started with Jesus and 12 guys and we are here now. I mean, like a bajillion people are Catholic. Sorry, I don't know the real numbers, but, like you know, millions of people. Okay, fine, I'll look it up on Google. How many people are Catholic in the world as of okay? It says as of 2022, 1.3 billion baptized Catholics in the world. That's a lot of freaking people. And it started with Jesus and 12 guys that followed him.
Speaker 2:So that just shows us the power of how our yeses can transform our lives, set us aflame, and that flame is contagious and brings other people into the fold. Like brings other people into this, like amazing journey of following Jesus and gives them the courage to shed their old life and accept Jesus as the center of their life as well. And we want to reach the whole world. There are so many of our brothers and sisters that don't know Christ yet, or maybe that are lost or distant from their faith, and you don't know the impact you could have in other people's lives just by you changing yours, just by you making Jesus the center of your life. And if you're listening to this and you're like, yep, mari, I am with you, I want to do this Like I'm all in.
Speaker 2:Maybe you've said that before and you just like continually find yourself like not actually going all in. Maybe you've said that before and you just like continually find yourself like not actually going all in. Let this be the time when you go all in. Okay, let this be the push that you need to go all in. I'm all about new beginnings, you guys. Okay, I'm a Monday girl. I'm a start a new habit in a new month kind of girl. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And so something I love about Zeke is that it's in January, it's the start of a new year, and it feels like a fresh start, like a new beginning, clean slate. So if you, for some reason, just like need an excuse to start over, if you're like I can't just start over on a Wednesday, fine, although I'll tell you you can, okay, and I'm talking to myself as well. But if, for some reason, you're like, no, I just, I just need a fresh new start. January seek 2025. Let that be your new start. As we approach the new year, prepare yourself Okay. Start asking the Lord right now how do you want to change my life in this coming year? What do you want me to let go of? How can I follow you more closely? How can I make you the center of my life? Start praying about it now. If you're not ready to do it now, start praying about it now so the Lord can speak into your life this next month and a half.
Speaker 2:I'm recording this in, you know, end of mid to end of November, so that, as we approach the new year and as you get into seek, you can kick off the year following Christ more fiercely. Whether you're going to seek or not, this message is for you okay. Even if you're not going to seek, let this be a time to start a new chapter where Jesus is truly Lord of your life. Like what does it mean for Jesus to be Lord of your life? It means that he comes first over everything. There is not a single thing in your life that takes priority over Christ and his teachings. Let this be the time where you allow him to be Lord of your life. And just take a second to ask yourself what is one way I can say yes to Jesus right now. Not in January right, but right now, today or this week. Maybe it's spending more time in prayer. Maybe it's finally joining that Catholic Bible study or small group. Maybe it's stripping your life of a sin that just is keeping you enslaved and away from Christ. Or maybe it's just being more intentional about living out your faith in small, everyday ways or just noticing how God is actively blessing you in your day-to-day life and actually acknowledging his presence in your life more, wherever you are in your journey. I want to encourage you following Jesus is the most courageous, fulfilling and beautiful decision you will ever make, and that's just a fact. And that's what I've experienced in my life. That's what I experienced back when I did that internship and I completely you know leaned into this Catholic life that these girls and these Catholic men and women that were interns with me were showing me. That's what I experienced when I went to seek for the first time in 2019. That's what I experienced in 2020, when I became a focused missionary and began to dedicate my life to leading others to Christ. And that's what I experienced today, right In 2024, as someone who, in every part of her life, is striving to bring people to him and to root my own life in Christ and to live a God-centered marriage. Like I experience the most courageous, fulfilling, beautiful, joyful and freeing life that I could ever have, and it's all thanks to Jesus, it's all thanks to the grace he has given me to follow him and the bold decision to put him first in my life.
Speaker 2:Friends, we could talk all day, because this is like my favorite conversation, but, to wrap it up, I hope to see you at SEEK and just thank you so much for tuning in today. If this episode inspired you, I'd love to hear from you. You can connect with me on Instagram, like I said at mariecwagner, or, if you want to hear more of my voice, you can listen in on the EverBe podcast, spotify, apple. You know, wherever you listen to podcasts, we also have an Instagram for that, at EverBe podcast. So give that a follow.
Speaker 2:And before I go, I'd like to just close in prayer and just let the Lord completely cover you in prayer as we close out this conversation In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen, come, holy Spirit. I thank you for your son and daughter. I thank you for your sons and daughters that are listening in today. I thank you for the work that you're doing in their heart to inspire them to live a more Christ-centered life, to follow you more deeply.
Speaker 2:Lord, I just pray that you give us the courage to follow you, just as St Joan of Arc did. May we be bold in our faith, unwavering in our trust and just, relentless in our pursuit of you, and we pray that you give us the grace to do so even in the face of hardship, even in the face of feeling like we are the only one doing so, you know, in loneliness, in our faith, even in the face of our society and our culture that is so different from the way that you called us to live. God, just give us courage to follow you and to be brave like St Jonah of Arctur. Amen, in the name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit. Amen, until next time, friends, and I cannot wait to see you at ever be podcast, and if you want more content like this and you don't already follow me, you can also follow me on Instagram at Mari dot C dot Wagner. And may his praise ever be on our lips, god bless.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for this episode. We hope you learned something and encountered Christ in some way. If you enjoy what we do, please subscribe and share this podcast with a friend. This helps us reach more people with and for Christ. Until next time, this is John Michael Peace.
