Do we see the world as gift? Do we see each other as gift? Do we see ourselves as a gift? 

Joseph and Crystal talk about the element of the Christian worldview that suffuses everyone and everything with wonder and should inspire gratitude. 

"You can't give what you don't have" and you can't have anything unless you accept the world as gift. We talk about why receive people and things as gift, and what the other options are as far as basic attitudes toward reality. Then we talk about the Giver of all gifts, and how we can receive from Him more of what He wants to give.

Then we talk about the quality of givenness in other relationships. We get a little hung up on the question of how we have choice in regard to our relationships, but I think we got to a clearer point by the end.

If you'd like to read more, there's a meditation on givenness by St. John Paul II, called "A Meditation on Givenness": https://www.communio-icr.com/files/jpii41-4.pdf

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
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Sometimes sacraments just aren't available-- e.g., being deployed in the military, being too sick to go to Mass, having to take care of someone who is ill,  having to keep enough people not-sick so that we don't overwhelm hospitals, or some other lack (St. John of the Cross was imprisoned by his own religious order for nine months!). 

When these times of physical distance come up, we can use them to grow in intimacy with Jesus, rather than grow apart. 

In romantic relationships, there are many times when physical intimacy is not an option (e.g., being deployed in the military, being too sick, taking care of a spouse who is sick, or some other lack), but that doesn't mean that couples can't grow closer together in other dimensions of life. We talk about how the four basic dimensions of intimacy in romantic love-- the physical, the intellectual, the emotional, and the spiritual-- have a correspondence with the dimensions of our relationship with Jesus.

We reference Acts 2:42 and 1 Corinthians 7:5.

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
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We invited Bill and Angela Schnieders on to talk to us about their stories and how they have been pursuing their dreams. Bill left a stress-filled job in the tech industry to live on productive land, and Angela has pursued ongoing formation and her dreams for years...and then they met and got married!

I don't think we reference as many works in this episode, but here are some things to check out:

Bill and Angela are Catholic speakers, and here is their website: http://billandangela.com/

Angela is also very involved with the Woman School: https://thewomanschool.teachable.com/

If you'd like to read a super-short book about the power of dreams and connecting what we're doing now to the dreams we have, check out Matthew Kelly's book The Dream Manager: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401303706/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_zF1NEbEJFYKK3

As a final note, we talk a lot about 'desire' in the podcast, and we talked with Bill and Angela after we finished recording how a lot of people are uncomfortable with the language of entertaining our desires. Perhaps the better word would be 'hopes', as a hope is a desire that will take effort/risk, and that's the category of desire that I think we're talking about. There is some equivocation on the word 'desire', as both a generic word for something that moves us to action, and a particular word for what our passions produce in us. Clearly, we were talking about desires that move us, and the process of discerning what is worth submitting to our intellectual appetite, i.e. our will.

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
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We talk about St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body, and then more particularly how things of this world are meant to be icons, not idols. We talk especially about marriage and parenting as icons that sometimes become idols, and about the fall of the Israelites at Mt. Sinai as they worshiped an idol instead of God. 

At some point, Joseph references a podcast from Joseph Pearce, called Faith and Culture, and this particular episode of it: https://www.faithandculture.com/home/2020/03/16-the-heros-quest-with-father-longenecker

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
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• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

Wherein we discuss the topic of fatherhood, especially in light of the many cultural portrayals ancient and modern of less-than-admirable fathers, and the role of the Judeo-Christian conception of God as Father in shaping our expectations.

Joseph just finished reading John W. Miller's book, Calling God 'Father': Essays on the Bible, Fatherhood, and Culture, so we decided to talk about it. In a Christian bubble, it's easy to take fatherhood for granted. Outside of that bubble (and even in some parts of that bubble), the conditions for fatherhood are dissipating. We talk about what those conditions are (and reference the as-of-yet-incomplete trilogy The Kingkiller Chronicles to do so, though the reference is in book 2...). 

Joseph begins by referencing Hesiod's Theogony-- it's been around long enough you can find public domain translations, but you may want to find a bound copy...It's usually one of the first books listed in most 100-greatest-books-of-western-civilization, so it might be worth having...

Big picture idea-- fatherhood is a pretty vulnerable cultural feature, and one that we don't often get right. Our modern ideas of fatherhood, and the kind of expectations we have for fathers, can be linked to the influence of Judaism and Christianity, and while they raise the bar for men, they also reassure us that God is the best of all fathers, and He makes up for what is lacking.

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
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Usually, when something in the Bible is filled with a bunch of names and places we don't recognize, we're tempted to skip ahead to more familiar parts. We take a few minutes to break down what happens in a particularly name-thick chapter, chapter 14 of Genesis, and unpack what it means and how it relates to our lives. Some themes we touch on are fatherhood, salvation, thanksgiving, the Eucharist, Mass, friendship, rebellion, being bound by sin, and the difficulty of admitting we need help from others.

In Genesis 14, then-Abram has to rise to meet a large military force to rescue his misguided nephew Lot. It culminates in the sacrifice of bread and wine by Melchizedek, which many know of without realizing the fullness of the context of that moment. This chapter also gives more context for how Sodom and Gomorrah get to be so bad later in Genesis.

For more about the thanksgiving sacrifice of bread and wine, check out this article by Tim Gray: https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/apologetics/from-jewish-passover-to-christian-eucharist-the-story-of-the-todah.html

For some maps of what was happening, check out this site: https://www.casualenglishbible.com/genesis-14/

Also, this is by far the longest name we've given a podcast. We maybe should have trimmed it down...

Also also, please do leave a review and rate the podcast, if you have a chance. In this current era of pandemic and people sheltering, if this is worth sharing, please share!

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

There's a lot to the topic of education, and we talk a bit about what C.S. Lewis thought of as one of the goals of education, a different way to consider what a school is, and how the home is, ideally, also a school of sorts.

We reference an essay by C.S. Lewis, and I think the ideas are found in a collection of his essays by the name of Education and History. But if it's not in there, I've sent you on a wild ride of exploring ideas with C.S. Lewis, and for that, I am not sad.

We also reference a fellow named John Senior, who wrote both The Death of Christian Culture and The Restoration of Christian Culture. The distinction we reference is in neither of those works, however; as I recall, it may be found in one of his unpublished manuscripts, which helps you, our listener, not much at all...

We're also joined by our friend Kathryn! 

We'll be praying for you all!

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

On January 18, 2020, Joseph took our 4-year-old daughter, Gisela, to the ER on account of labored/painful breathing and lethargy, only to discover that she would need emergency surgery for what turned out to be a necrotic and perforated stomach. Since then, we've been bouncing between the pediatric ICU, the Ronald McDonald House (a free housing service for families with kiddos in the hospital), and occasionally home. But we made some time to record another podcast! And this is that podcast! We talk about having gratitude when suffering comes. As Catholics, gratitude is the best option we can choose when reality is presented to us, even if it seems quixotic or too difficult.

We talk about Crystal's blog, wherein more details on Gisela may be found (the link is to the first entry on her medical emergency-- you can then read on from there...): https://mydaughtersdignity.wordpress.com/2020/01/24/on-the-mend-from-a-really-bad-medical-emergency/

Joseph wrote a couple of entries as well, notably one on some lesser-discussed reasons of why we ought not do hard drugs, which we mention in the episode. He thinks it's revelatory and relevant. And he's the one writing this episode description...

https://mydaughtersdignity.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/guest-post-dont-do-drugs/

We also used a quote, "Comparison is the thief of joy"-- and as Joseph said in the podcast, he heard someone attribute it to C.S. Lewis. But it turns out it's a Teddy Roosevelt quote. Who knew? Google knew. 

C.S. Lewis has become like Augustine-- when in doubt, say [famous Christian writer] said it. If they've written enough (like St. Augustine and C.S. Lewis), they probably said something like that, somewhere...

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

We have on a special guest, Rich Budd, who is the Director of Marriage and Family Life in the Lansing diocese, talking to us about one of his favorite topics, the domestic church.  You may know Rich Budd as one of the hosts of The Armchair Catholic!

We live in an odd era-- when the Church was new, St. Paul used the image of the family to help understand what the Church is; now, we work backwards from what the Church is to see what the family is supposed to be. Listen in as Rich Budd unpacks for us ways in which the Church and the home are analogous.

Rich breaks it down to show how the Church and the domestic church have similar natures, similar structures, and similar missions. 

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph

Hospitality is a very Christian virtue, especially in this Advent season, when we remember the welcome Mary gives to Jesus, and the lack of welcome the Holy Family received in Bethlehem. In this episode, we don't talk about the Holy Family at all; instead, we just talk about how we've been approaching hospitality as a less-holy family. We know people who are better than us at hospitality, and we are hoping to interview some of them in the future. In the meanwhile, we offer the best that we have!

And feel free to subscribe to this podcast as well as share it with others. Our goal is to produce faithful, formative, and conversation-starting content for Catholic disciples of Jesus who are wrestling to be missionary-minded in their normal, everyday lives-- so if that applies to you or a friend of yours, we're hoping to serve you as best as we're able!

As always, 

• check out our work, and join our email list, at https://ouroutpost.org/
• join our free resource library platform here
• catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/
• see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.org/events/
• send us an email at [email protected]
• and please rate, review, and share!
• If you're a Catholic husband, feel free to sign up for some time to chat with Joseph! https://bookme.name/ouroutpost/45-minutes-with-joseph