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Happy Blessed New Year, Sisters in Christ!

New Year, New You in Christ!

What if the most radical way to reclaim your soul this year is to look at one face and listen? We sit down with Allan Smith to explore the Holy Face of Jesus Devotion, the "Little Way" of St. Therese, and the deep Carmelite spirituality that shaped Venerable Fulton J. Sheen’s life and witness. Together we map a clear path through digital overload, family stress, and spiritual attack by returning to practices that are simple, embodied, and powerful.

Allan Smith unpacks how Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, the first Catholic bishop to win an Emmy Award, a master communicator, and tireless evangelist, rooted his strength in a hidden life of Eucharistic Adoration.

We trace the story of the Veil of Veronica and why the Church renewed devotion to Christ’s countenance after the 1849 illumination.

You’ll hear how St. Therese joined the Archconfraternity, prayed before the Holy Face, and united small sacrifices to the cross, transforming ordinary frustrations into love. We also offer practical ways to start “Holy FaceTime” at home: place a sacred image where you’ll see it, exchange one scroll for one glance and a short prayer, and teach children to sit in silence before the monstrance with a single posture of the heart: Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.

Spiritual warfare is not abstract. Allan Smith distills Sheen’s three reliable weapons against the demonic: the Holy Name of Jesus, confidence in the Precious Blood, and childlike trust in Mother Mary, who crushes the head of the serpent.

We also discuss how to talk to kids about good and evil without stoking fear, why fewer images and deeper attention heal fragmented minds, and how a daily Holy Hour formed Sheen’s humility for sixty-two unbroken years.

If you’ve been longing for a reset that is holy, hopeful, and do-able, this conversation offers a gentle but firm rule of life anchored in the Eucharist and the face of Christ.

If this stirred something in you, please subscribe, share this with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help more families find a way back to silence, courage, and prayer.

Allan Smith's ministry spreading the word about Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen can be found here:

https://bishopsheentodaycom

For the Holy Face devotion, please visit

https://holyfacemiracle.ca

Thank you + God bless!

How can we pray for you today?

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Merry Christmas Eve, Friends in Christ!

We sincerely appreciate your prayers! Every listen, like, comment or subscription is like an answered prayer that the Good News is being heard on the Internet - a space where the battle between good and evil is being fought every single day. Thank you for joining us in that battle, especially with your prayers!

This week, we continue our conversation with Carissa Douglas, homeschooling Mom of 15, author of The Little Douglings and Dougling Adventures series. Carissa also debuts her new baby board book!

The sound of a restless toddler in the pew isn’t a nuisance—it’s a sign of life. We sit down with Carissa Douglas, homeschooling mother of fifteen and creator of the Little Douglings books, to explore how a real prayer life grows in the middle of noise, laundry, and car seats, and why bringing kids to church is an act of hope that shapes souls for years!

Carissa opens up about building a daily rhythm that blends simple prayers with a constant, organic, authentic conversation with God. She shares how lighting candles, praying the Holy Rosary without pressure, and how Eucharistic Adoration with little ones turns doctrine into relationship. We dig into the surprising power of occasional daily Mass to train attention for Sundays, how to navigate discouraging looks with grace, and why praying for your priest changes the culture of a parish. Along the way, Carissa offers practical tips parents can use this week—everything from sippy-cup strategy to letting teens overhear your honest prayers when patience runs thin.

We also tackle homeschooling with nuance: initial fears, the role of community, and the fruit of a gentler schedule that still leads to academic success and real-world dialogue. Carissa explains how she adapts for different learners, including dyslexia, and why the home can foster virtue in a way schools often can’t.

Then we face the smartphone question head-on. Hear why their family chose a phone-free, creative play path, and what kids gain—focus, resilience, deeper friendships—by delaying devices in a culture built on instant scrolls.

Threaded through everything is Mother Mary: a living model of dignity and tenderness who protects purity, calms fears, and teaches daughters to be set apart without apology. Carissa’s newest baby board book, "Mother Mary’s Heart," flows from childhood images of Mary’s care that still steady her today. Come for the ideas, stay for the courage to try one small change. If this conversation strengthens your home or gives you a fresh start, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review to help other families find this hope.

To find Carissa's books, you can visit https://amazon.ca and https://scepterpublishers.org and search for "Carissa Douglas"

or visit https://littledouglings.com

In Canada: https://www.sunrisemarian.com Sunrise Marian Book Store in Waterloo, Ontario

https://primaryeducators.ca

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To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
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https://www.sheilanonato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@veilandarmour

What resonated with you the most about this episode? Feel free to email us and let us know!
Email: veilandarmour@gmail.com
If our podcast helped you in some way, or could help someone else, kindly share our podcast with a friend!

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As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, please join us in this conversation about Canadian author and children's book illustrator Carissa Douglas: It is a story of how turned a family tragedy into a calling to become a mother of a large family. How did Carissa embrace this noble vocation that's shrouded in much mystery, and sometimes confusion or derision from an anti-Christian world?

Start with a "Yes" and watch your world widen. That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with children’s author, illustrator, and homeschooling mom Carissa Douglas, whose fifteen children (and Carissa lets us in on a surprise in this conversation!) aren’t just a headline but a living testimony to courage, vocation, and trust. We explore how a childhood loss formed a family rooted in hope, how Mother Mary’s Fiat reframes modern fears around motherhood, and how creative work can flourish right in the middle of family life without sacrificing presence.

Carissa shares the origin of "The Little Douglings," a series designed to help children build a real friendship with Jesus in the Eucharist from an early age. As culture grows louder, she chose formation over panic: teaching kids to go directly to Christ so they can withstand the pressures of the culture to abandon faith. We talk about the creative process with toddlers underfoot, the surprising grace of detachment when a Sharpie hits a finished illustration, and how digital tools opened new ways to write and draw while staying close to her kids.

We also lean into big questions many families carry: Is a large family too expensive, too chaotic, too hard? Carissa answers with lived wisdom how it's all rooted in God's grace and His Divine Providence —prudence, a mentality of sharing God's blessings, generosity from our neighbours, and God’s quiet provision that shows up right on time. Beyond logistics, a large family becomes a school of virtue where generosity, work ethic, and other-centeredness take root. For teens, faith becomes adventure, not afterthought, with saints like Padre Pio guiding stories that rival any superhero arc and direct young hearts toward purpose.

If you’re discerning marriage, craving deeper meaning in motherhood, or searching for a way to form children who can withstand the cultural headwinds, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories of faith, family, and fearless yes.

Are you in search of faith-filled, Christian books for your teens, tweens or littel ones? You can find Carissa's books filled with beautiful illustrations that she designed and a story that was crafted from her lived experience in her family of 18 here on this website: https://littledouglings.com

They are also available at Sunrise Marian

https://sunrisemarian.com

https://scepterpublishers.org/products/copy-of-little-douglings-series?srsltid=AfmBOoqCZGzZ-PhSAHiQN0oOWHIQ7Wt3bb0ljrqiu7mnDH1FU8UqrkmP

Wishing you and your family a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! Please join us next time for the continuation of the conversation with Carissa Douglas about how to pass on the faith to our children, and continued exploration of the feminine genius of

Support the show

To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
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https://www.youtube.com/@veilandarmour
https://www.x.com/@sheilanonato
https://www.sheilanonato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@veilandarmour

What resonated with you the most about this episode? Feel free to email us and let us know!
Email: veilandarmour@gmail.com
If our podcast helped you in some way, or could help someone else, kindly share our podcast with a friend!

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Happy Third Week of Advent, Sisters in Christ!

Please allow us to re-introduce Day 7 of the Mother's Day Retreat, with a bit of a background story to accompany it. It's a busy time for everyone, especially mothers, and it would be a good time to slow down, reflect, and spend time with Our Lord in prayer.

This week, we share a mother’s path from grief to consolation through a family pilgrimage to Lourdes and a renewed Advent focus on peace, prayer, and quiet healing. Along the way, we pray the Immaculate Conception Novena and reflect on faith, hope, and love in the busiest season.

• Advent peace through simple daily prayer
• Novena to the Immaculate Conception
• Why contemplative prayer and communal prayer sustains mothers
• Offering sorrow and stress during Advent
• Lourdes pilgrimage after miscarriage and deployment
• Consolation versus physical cures
• Faith, hope, and love as a way of life
• Litany to Our Lady and closing blessing

Please subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel and please spread the word! Thank you + God bless!

00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Retreat
00:46 Welcome to the Veil and Armour Podcast
01:21 Advent and the Mother's Day Retreat
01:41 Novena to the Immaculate Conception
03:39 Continuing the Retreat and Community Prayer
05:18 Personal Pilgrimage to Lourdes
08:30 Reflection and Healing at Lourdes
10:33 Closing Prayers and Litany
12:16 Final Blessings and Farewell

The 9 Day Novena to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception:
https://www.praymorenovenas.com/immaculate-conception-novena

Hozana Prayer App (Free)
https://www.hozana.org

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To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
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https://www.youtube.com/@veilandarmour
https://www.x.com/@sheilanonato
https://www.sheilanonato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@veilandarmour

What resonated with you the most about this episode? Feel free to email us and let us know!
Email: veilandarmour@gmail.com
If our podcast helped you in some way, or could help someone else, kindly share our podcast with a friend!

Send us a text

A mother’s raw account of postpartum crisis turns into a story of God-inspired healing: spiritual, psychological, and physical. We trace the years-long birth of the Merciful Love Veil, why veiling expresses dignity and freedom, and what is the future for Lily at Veils by Lily, and does she have a new adventure waiting for her in this season of life?

• postpartum anxiety, depression, insomnia, and hospitalization
• parish and family support as lifelines
• therapy rooted in Catholic teaching and dignity
• St Elizabeth of the Trinity’s call to be loved
• medical roots: elevated copper and low vitamin D
• designing and launching the Merciful Love Veil
• veiling as sign of sacred identity and humility
• quality craft, ethical sourcing, lifetime warranty
• Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers and shipping deadlines
• practical veiling questions on length, fit, and discernment
• stepping back from leadership and sustaining the mission
• Advent hope, confession, Eucharist, daily conversion

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

To see Veils by Lily's veils and connect on social media:

https://veilsbylily.com

https://www.instagram.com/@veilsbylily

https://www.youtube.com/@veilsbylily

If this episode resonated with you, please share with a friend!

Thank you + God bless!

Support the show

To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
https://veilandarmour.com
https://www.youtube.com/@veilandarmour
https://www.x.com/@sheilanonato
https://www.sheilanonato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@veilandarmour

What resonated with you the most about this episode? Feel free to email us and let us know!
Email: veilandarmour@gmail.com
If our podcast helped you in some way, or could help someone else, kindly share our podcast with a friend!

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For this first week of Advent, let us reflect upon Hope, Hope in Christ.

We are honoured to welcome our next guest, Camille Mendoza, who is the designer of our podcast apostolate's logo!

She is a brand designer, and newly expectant mother! Congratulations, Camille!

Camille shares the beautiful, heartfelt story of her daughter Lilo a lived a radiant, albeit short life, and how grief reshaped Camille's faith, family, and creative work, purpose, motherhood and passion. From counselling and prayer to charity and branding, she shows how small projects can become instruments of hope.

• finding mission in motherhood and loss
• Craft and Being as a blend of craft and sanctity
• practical counsel for grieving parents
• Lilo Café fundraiser and community support
• using digital tools wisely for good
• accessible branding for mission-led creators
• discernment with spouse and seasons of family life
• Christus Vivit, Mary at the Cross, and hope

Please join us every week on the Veil in Armour Podcast, where stories come alive through a journalist’s lance and mother’s heart

Camille Mendoza's creative work can be found on: https://craftandbeing.com

She is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@craftandbeing

Camille's online course on Substack for business women is available here:https://camillemendoza.substack.com/

Support the show

To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
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https://www.youtube.com/@veilandarmour
https://www.x.com/@sheilanonato
https://www.sheilanonato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@veilandarmour

What resonated with you the most about this episode? Feel free to email us and let us know!
Email: veilandarmour@gmail.com
If our podcast helped you in some way, or could help someone else, kindly share our podcast with a friend!

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Parenting today can feel like being in a tornado or holding back a storm brewing in the background —graphic headlines on every feed, smartphones in every pocket, and a culture that treats faith as a long-lost relic of an age gone by. We invited Dr. Ray Guarendi—clinical psychologist, EWTN host, and father of ten adopted children—to help us navigate the chaos with clear judgment, deep faith, and steady authority. The result is a candid, practical roadmap for raising resilient kids in a world that tests every boundary.

We start with the hard question: how do we help children process violence they may see online, specifically news of recent school shooting at Annunciation Church in Minnesota and the targeted killing of prominent debater and podcaster Charlie Kirk? Dr. Ray shares age-specific guidance for shielding younger kids and engaging teens through thoughtful questions that surface doubts, fears, and assumptions. From there, we dismantle the “safety as a reason for smartphones" myth that may be used by some people, with the flip-phone test, then rebuild a practical path of parenthood: privileges earned through trustworthiness, strong filters, paired devices, and limited apps. You’ll hear why consistency matters more than speeches, and how to replace arguments with calm consequences that work—like the blackout method that ends endless negotiations.

We also confront the myth that high standards cause rebellion. Standards give direction; love must always be accompanied with discipline. Dr. Ray shows how authority, delivered with affection, keeps homes peaceful and frees room for joy and humour. (Dr. Ray's got jokes, folks, lol) He opens up about adopting without boundaries, relying on grace, and finding laughter in the mess.

We close with hope for parents whose older kids have drifted from the faith. Even Christ, perfect in love, was rejected by many; your job is to witness, pray, and keep the light on. The seeds you planted can still bear fruit when the world’s promises fall flat.

If you’re ready to parent with courage—setting firm boundaries, cultivating daily prayer, and guiding your kids through a noisy culture—this conversation will steady your steps. Listen, share with a friend who needs backup, and subscribe for more faith-filled, practical episodes. Your calm conviction is the compass your family needs.

A Big "Thank you" to Dr. Ray Guarendi and Taylor Wilson! Wishing you and our American sisters and brothers a Blessed Thanksgiving Week!!!

For Dr. Ray Guarendi's books, radio and TV episodes, and speaking engagements, please visit:

https://www.drray.com

He is also on social media:

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@dr.rayguarendi

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Dr.RayGuarendi/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/dr.rayguarendi/

X/Twitter:

https://x.com/drrayguarendi

Support the show

To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
https://veilandarmour.com
https://www.youtube.com/@veilandarmour
https://www.x.com/@sheilanonato
https://www.sheilanonato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@veilandarmour

What resonated with you the most about this episode? Feel free to email us and let us know!
Email: veilandarmour@gmail.com
If our podcast helped you in some way, or could help someone else, kindly share our podcast with a friend!

Send us a text

We trace a family’s roots from Holocaust survival and Bishop von Galen’s courage to a modern Canadian home shaped by saints’ names, a modern-day courtship (with the help of a Catholic dating website), and faith that guides marriage, parenting, and public service. Practical habits and clear principles show how love endures amid busyness, travel, and six kids.

• naming children after saints who are role models of today
• St. Carlo Acutis inspiring a child-led naming choice
• von Galen’s witness and a grandmother’s survival
• intentional dating, clear vocational alignment
• long-distance courtship with focused questions
• proposal story and early married life
• practical conflict-solving routines in marriage
• viewing love as a daily, chosen practice
• faith integrated into family culture and work
• gratitude for community and listeners

Have you named your kids after saints? Let us know by commenting below or sending us fan mail on BuzzSprout

Support the show

To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
https://veilandarmour.com
https://www.youtube.com/@veilandarmour
https://www.x.com/@sheilanonato
https://www.sheilanonato.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@veilandarmour

What resonated with you the most about this episode? Feel free to email us and let us know!
Email: veilandarmour@gmail.com
If our podcast helped you in some way, or could help someone else, kindly share our podcast with a friend!