Before St. Augustine became one of the most influential theologians of the Catholic Faith, he spent a period of time running from God. During this period, his mother prayed continuously for his conversion – and God answered her prayers! We celebrate her feast today and talk with Patti Maguire Armstrong about how she is a hope for any parent who is praying for their child.

Further Reading

What Would Monica Do?

Guest Info

Patti Maguire Armstrong hosts the TV talk show Ladies of Another View. Her books include What Would Monica Do and Holy Hacks. Patti also writes for the National Catholic Register and other publications. In 2019, she received first place for blogging from the National Catholic Press Association. Patti and her husband, Mark, raised their ten children in North Dakota.

Today is the Feast of St Monica. And on this day last year, his nephew was born with serious complications and passed away. Marcus and the baby’s parents prayed fervently for a miracle, but the miracle they desired did not come to pass. But Christians have every reason to hope. We have a Lord who conquered the grave. Marcus has more.

When Fr. Patrick Gonyeau was 27, he felt like his life had hit a dead end. He was struggling with addiction, felt like life had no meaning, and began plotting his suicide. He shares how he encountered the love of God and found a new life in the Spirit.

Further Reading

Into the Fire: Intimacy, Mission, and Miracles: The Life of Adventure in the Holy Spirit

Guest Info

Fr. Patrick Gonyeau is the author of Into the Fire: Intimacy, Mission, and Miracles: The Life of Adventure in the Holy Spirit. He is a missionary of the Precious Blood living and serving in the US province.

Daniel Ortega has told Nicaragua to forget about elections. Nobody who has watched his regime work should be surprised. What should alarm Americans more is what Ortega and his wife, co-president Rosario Murillo, have already done to the one institution in Nicaragua they cannot fully control: the Catholic Church. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer has more.

Further Reading

Ortega’s War on the Church Reveals the Limits of Political Power

Guest Info

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is a legal analyst for EWTN News. She also directs the Conscience Project. Follow her on Twitter @bayerpicciotti and visit conscience-project.org.

The First Reading today comes from the end of Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians and includes the passage about if anyone is unwilling to work, they should not eat. It’s become a heavily politicized passage – how can we balance this with our need to care for the poor? We talk with Dr. Charlie Self.

Guest Info

Dr. Charlie Self is an author, adviser, pastor and professor with more than 40 years of experience connecting Faith and the Common Good. He is the author of several works including Flourishing Churches and Communities (published by Acton) and his new co-authored work, Life in 5-D: A New Vision of Wholeness. He is the visiting professor of church history at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Visit him at drcharlieself.com

The internet, and especially TikTok, has been at the root of one social contagion after another. The Lindsay Clancy case, however, has resulted in the most depraved version yet. Across TikTok, thousands of women around the world are posting videos in which they claim that they, too, could have killed their own children. Hundreds of women have rallied in support outside the courthouse. In the end, the Clancy tragedy shows how quickly an online community can turn a vicious crime into a shared emotional narrative. Dr. Anne Hendershott has more.

Further Reading

Erasing Lindsay Clancy’s Children by Sacralizing the Mother Who Killed Them

The Politics of Envy

Guest Info

Anne Hendershott is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH. She is the author of The Politics of Envy.

Today is the birthday of St. Teresa of Calcutta. In a world bereft of wisdom, she offers another anthropology. She warned that the hunger for love can prove more difficult to satisfy than physical hunger. She met people in the poorest parts of the world who had a satisfaction that people who had everything they thought they wanted longed for. Marcus has more.

Meta has settled in a lawsuit alleging its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, were designed to be addictive to kids. Smartphones are not a morally good or morally bad thing – they are a morally neutral tool, and it is up to us to decide how we use them. But we must be cautious with a device that has the potential for so much misuse, lest we be unable to break free of the digital leash. Marcus has more.

Who was this man named Jesus? A prophet, maybe—or a fraud? Some say he was only a “wise teacher” whose followers later deified him. Still others think his very existence is a myth. For Christians, he is the true Messiah: the one sent by God to fulfill Jewish prophecy and save the world from sin and death. But how do we know He is? Jimmy Akin joins us.

Further Reading

Book: Evidence for Christ- How We Know That Jesus is the Messiah

Guest Info

Jimmy Akin is an internationally known author and speaker. As the senior apologist at Catholic Answers, he has more than thirty years of experience defending and explaining the Faith. Jimmy has an extensive background in the Bible, theology, the Church Fathers, philosophy, canon law, and liturgy. He is a weekly guest on the national radio program Catholic Answers Live and a popular blogger and podcaster. He is best known for Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World and The Jimmy Akin Podcast. His personal website is JimmyAkin.com.Jimmy Akin is an internationally known author and speaker. As the senior apologist at Catholic Answers, he has more than thirty years of experience defending and explaining the Faith. Jimmy has an extensive background in the Bible, theology, the Church Fathers, philosophy, canon law, and liturgy. He is a weekly guest on the national radio program Catholic Answers Live and a popular blogger and podcaster. He is best known for Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World and The Jimmy Akin Podcast. His personal website is JimmyAkin.com.

In today’s First Reading, St Paul instructs the Thessalonians to ”stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.” Marcus unpacks today’s readings.