In this episode, Father Luigi Gioia reflects on the creation narrative in Genesis and what it reveals about the nature of love. He asks what it means that God creates human beings in his own image, free and independent, rather than as beings under total control. Drawing on the story of creation, the idea of rest, and the challenge of evil and suffering, he explores how real love, and real leadership, means giving everything you have and then making room for others to become their own person, while remaining ready to help if needed.

Fr Luigi Gioia, Theologian in Residence at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, introduces this new podcast built from homilies preached throughout the liturgical year.

In this first meditation, he turns to the fox and the little prince from Antoine de Saint Exupery's classic, and asks what actually creates a lasting tie between two people. Not love, he argues, but trust, the slow, patient work of learning we can rely on someone. He traces that same pattern in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus asks his disciples to trust him long before he asks them to love him.

A reflection on faith, doubt, and the ordinary patience it takes to let God, and each other, come a little closer.

In this introductory episode, Fr. Luigi Gioia, Theologian in Residence at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, welcomes listeners to A Little Closer, a podcast built from homilies preached throughout the liturgical year. He explains the idea behind the show: faith does not require having everything figured out, and questions or doubts are not obstacles to a relationship with God. Each episode will explore Scripture, prayer, hope, anxiety, forgiveness, and the ordinary moments where faith becomes real, with no easy answers, just the ancient Word spoken into daily life.