JOSh Friends

She didn't download Roblox because she was into gaming. She downloaded it because she had just lost her cat and needed somewhere to put her grief for a while.Millie Buen was just trying to get through the day without thinking too much. What she didn't expect was that in the middle of that ordinary, unremarkable evening, someone would find her there.In this episode of JOSh Friends, Millie reflects on the Individually Loved chapter of Finding God in the Mess by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds — a chapter about an old tree, tired and covered in vines, that still carries an identity tag. Still known. Still marked. Still loved by the one who tends to it.A friend sent her a line from the book during that season. Not with a long explanation. Just — I thought of you when I read this."We may be tired. We may feel useless. We may be messy and living messy lives. But God knows each one of us and has marked each one of us."She read it a few times. And then she just sat with it.Millie's story isn't really about Roblox. It's about what happens when you log on looking for a distraction and discover that you were never as invisible as you felt. That grief doesn't disqualify you from being found. That sometimes the most unexpected places hold the most unexpected people — and the most unexpected grace.She met her boyfriend on the Philippine Roblox server in December 2024. They started as friends. They're still building something real across the distance, one routine at a time.For anyone who has ever turned to something small just to get through something big — this episode is for you.Because you don't have to announce yourself to be found. You just have to show up.Finding God in the Mess by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds is available through JesCom Exclusives at jescom.ph/josh.And this August, let Mahal Naming Ina by Fruto Ramirez SJ accompany your month — available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms.

She has lost a baby. She has lost her mother. And every morning, Rachel Villanueva-Cruz still chooses Victor.Not because the pain is gone. Because choosing him is how she keeps going.Rachel is a millennial wife and HR professional who has learned, slowly and not always gracefully, that grief and joy are not opposites. They are neighbors. And sometimes they share the same room.Her marriage to Victor isn't a highlight reel. It's food trips and anime nights and dog watching on lazy afternoons. It's the quiet presence of someone who can't fix everything but shows up anyway. It's the daily, deliberate choice to say — still you. Still this.In this episode of JOSh Friends, Rachel reflects on the Dark Night chapter of Finding God in the Mess by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds, a book a friend quietly passed to her during one of the heavier seasons. A chapter that didn't offer easy answers. Just an honest acknowledgment that darkness is real, that light returns, and that God doesn't wait on the other side of the mess to meet you.For millennial wives, for grieving mothers and daughters, for anyone navigating a season where loss and ordinary joy exist in the same week, the same day, sometimes the same hour — this episode is for you.Because moving forward doesn't mean forgetting. It means learning to carry the people you've lost into a life that still has room for love.Finding God in the Mess by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds is available through JesCom Exclusives at jescom.ph/josh.And this August, let Mahal Naming Ina by Fruto Ramirez SJ accompany your month — available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms.

He's the one who filed the liquidation report before anyone noticed it was due. The one who buys food for his brothers, washes the dishes after, takes out the trash, runs errands for his mother's printing business — and still gets told he spends too much on himself.Lucky Agbalo is a Communication student at Trinity University of Asia, an auditor, a research head, and a quiet operator who has spent most of his life learning to hold things by himself. Not because he wanted to. Because reaching out usually ended in indifference.It was during his internship at JesCom that he came across Finding God in the Mess by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds. He wasn't looking for it. But sometimes the things you need find you in the right place rather than the right moment.In this episode of JOSh Friends, Lucky reflects on a book that didn't give him answers so much as permission. Permission to stop punishing himself for the mess. Permission to believe that God isn't waiting for everything to be sorted before showing up. Permission to receive the same care he quietly gives to everyone else.This Thursday, August 6, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration — the moment the disciples saw what had always been there. The light wasn't new. It was just finally visible.For Lucky, that's the question this week is asking. What has always been there in him that he hasn't let himself see yet?For students carrying more than their coursework, for the dependable ones nobody thinks to check on, for anyone who has gotten very good at holding things alone — this episode is for you.Because God doesn't wait for the mess to clear. He's already in it. With you.Finding God in the Mess by Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds is available through JesCom Exclusives at jescom.ph/josh.And this August, let Mahal Naming Ina by Fruto Ramirez SJ accompany your month — available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms.

He grew up on stories of knights and heroes. Characters who went against the grain to do what was right, even when it cost them. He didn't realize that was going to become his actual life.True Boo is the founding president of Knights, a Historical European Martial Arts club built around the study and practice of medieval sword fighting. Yes, there are actual swords. But what he was really building had nothing to do with blades.After years of joining organizations that fell short, treating people as lesser than, running on inefficiency and poor leadership, he decided to stop waiting for someone else to do it right. He drafted a constitution, gathered people he trusted, and built the community he wished he had always been a part of. A home for the nerdy, the creative, the geeks who grew up dreaming of something bigger.In this episode of JOSh Friends, True Boo reflects on Take and Receive by Bukas Palad Music Ministry, from the St. Ignatius of Loyola playlist on Spotify. A prayer rooted in the Suscipe of St. Ignatius of Loyola, asking God to take everything, liberty, will, mind, memory, and trusting that His grace alone is enough.What True Boo found in that prayer was the thing nobody warns you about when you build something from nothing. The moment you create it, you have to start letting it go. Delegating. Trusting. Accepting that the vision you carried will one day be carried by hands that aren't yours.He won't get to fully enjoy what he built. By the time Knights becomes what he knows it can be, he'll have graduated and passed it on. And somehow, that's the part that makes him most proud.For founders, leaders, builders, and anyone who has ever poured themselves into something bigger than themselves, this episode is for you.Because the truest form of leadership isn't holding everything together. It's building something strong enough to stand without you.Stream Take and Receive by Bukas Palad Music Ministry on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms.Journey with us through the St. Ignatius of Loyola playlist on Spotify this Ignatian Month: open.spotify.com/playlist/3IyOsXuqJO6pNHqXdjk19PSupport the ministry and explore more at jescom.ph/josh.

She designs film sets, manages campaigns, and leads creative teams in school. But if you ask Jazmine Bon what really drives all of it, the answer has nothing to do with grades or portfolios.It's the thought of one day looking at her parents and saying — ako naman po.Jazmine M. Bon is a Communication student at Trinity University of Asia, a production designer, social media manager, and creative leader who tells stories through visuals, design, and production. Behind every project she takes on is a motivation that runs deeper than any output she's ever submitted.Her papa works as a captain waiter. On top of that, he drives for Grab. Two jobs. No complaints. And he never finished college — but he made sure his daughters would.In this episode of JOSh Friends, Jazmine reflects on the Prayer for Generosity by St. Ignatius of Loyola, performed by Hangad, from the St. Ignatius of Loyola playlist on Spotify. A prayer asking God for the grace to give without counting the cost, to labor without asking for reward, to serve without seeking recognition.She didn't find this prayer in a retreat or a homily. It found her. And when it did, she heard her father's whole life in it.This Ignatian Month, as we journey toward the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola on July 31, this episode is for every student carrying more than their coursework. For every child of a parent who gave quietly and without complaint. For anyone still figuring out what generosity actually looks like when it's lived and not just prayed.Because sometimes the most generous people in your life never used that word to describe themselves. They just showed up. Every day. Without counting the cost.Stream the Prayer for Generosity by Hangad on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms.Journey with us through the St. Ignatius of Loyola playlist on Spotify this Ignatian Month: open.spotify.com/playlist/3IyOsXuqJO6pNHqXdjk19PSupport the ministry and explore more at jescom.ph/josh.