What is the difference between thinking and praying? Between dieting and fasting? Between spending and almsgiving? David Bonagura joins us.

Further Reading

Lent: Intention makes the sacrifice

Guest Info

https://avemariapm.substack.coDavid G. Bonagura, Jr. is the author, most recently, of 100 Tough Questions for Catholics: Common Obstacles to Faith Today, and the translator of and the translator of Jerome’s Tears: Letters to Friends in Mourning. An adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary and Catholic International University, he serves as the religion editor of The University Bookman, a review of books founded in 1960 by Russell Kirk.

Most people know that Lent lasts 40 days to unite with Jesus’ 40 days fasting in the desert. But why did Jesus fast for 40 days, instead of a different period of time? We’ll talk with Gary Michuta.

Guest Info

Gary Michuta is the author of several books, most recently The Gospel Truth: How We Can Know what Christ Taught and Revolt Against Reality: Fighting the Enemies of Sanity and Truth.

It’s almost undeniable that God is working miracles of healing in evangelization today. For theologians, pastors, and evangelists some questions arise: What is the relationship between physical healing and the message of salvation? How can we take advantage of Lent as a special time of healing? Fr Mathias Thelen joins us.

Guest Info

Fr. Mathias Thelen is Co-Founder and President of Encounter Ministries. He is also the Pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Parish in Brighton.

If you ask St. Benedict of Nursia, he’d say that Lent shouldn’t be necessary – because the Christian life by its very nature should be a life of penance and renewal. Lent offers us the chance to pick up our spiritual slack and return with renewed vigor to the core practices of the spiritual life. We talk more with Jared Staudt.

Further Reading

Why We Need Lent: Advice from St. Benedict

Guest Info

R. Jared Staudt PhD, serves as Director of Content for Exodus 90 and as an instructor for the lay division of St. John Vianney Seminary. He is author of Words Made Flesh: The Sacramental Mission of Catholic Education (CUA Press, 2024), How the Eucharist Can Save Civilization (TAN), Restoring Humanity: Essays on the Evangelization of Culture (Divine Providence Press) and The Beer Option (Angelico Press), as well as editor of Renewing Catholic Schools: How to Regain a Catholic Vision in a Secular Age (Catholic Education Press). He and his wife Anne have six children and he is a Benedictine oblate.

The ashes placed on our foreheads today remind us that we will die, but if we repent and believe in the Gospel we will have new life. Marcus has more on the meaning of ashes and how they appear throughout scripture.

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Last week, human rights activist Jimmy Lai was sentenced by a Chinese court to twenty years in prison – essentially a life sentence for the 78-year-old. Tragically, Lai’s fate comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed the CCP. Ben Rogers has more.

Further Reading

Book: The China Nexus Thirty Years in and Around the Chinese Communist Party’s Tyranny

Hong Kong Watch

Jimmy Lai’s Sentence Is a Stark Symbol of Authoritarian Overreach

Guest Info

Benedict Rogers is a British human rights activist and journalist based in London. His work focuses on Asia, specialising particularly on Burma, North Korea and Indonesia. He is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Huffington Post and has appeared on BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and other many others.Rogers is the co-founder and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party’s human rights commission and the co-founder of the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea. He is also the East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the founder of Hong Kong Watch and a member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and an advisor to the World Uyghur Congress.

Mardi Gras gets treated like a civic right to behave badly with a liturgical permission slip, and plenty of Catholics smile politely at the noise while quietly hoping Ash Wednesday will come along and disinfect the calendar. Marcus looks at the Catholic roots of Fat Tuesday and how we can faithfully celebrate it.

Further Reading

Fat Tuesday Is Deeply Catholic

Arguments are an inevitable part of any marriage. But when we invite God into our conflicts, He challenges us to approach them in a different way. Greg Popcak has more.

Further Reading

Catholic Households on Mission

Guest Info

Dr Greg Popcak is the founder and director of CatholicCounselors.com, a group pastoral telecounseling practice providing faithful help to Catholics dealing with personal, emotional and relationship problems. He is also the former chair of the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies program at Holy Apostles College and Seminary and an adjunct professor of psychology and graduate theology at Franciscan. Together with his wife, Lisa, he is the author of over 20 books integrating insights from counseling psychology and the timeless wisdom of our Catholic faith. They are also the developers of the CatholicHOM app, a resource helping Catholic families thrive.

Dr. Greg and Lisa are the hosts of More2Life, a call in advice program airing weekdays at 10am E and produced by Ave Maria Radio and carried across the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network.

The next presidential election will feature a new Republican candidate for the first time in 12 years. Because pro-lifers constitute a large and important bloc of Republican presidential primary voters, the candidates will have to consider how they approach pro-life policy. We discuss goals for the pro-life movement with Michael New.

Further Reading

Pro-Lifers Should Push for These Realistic Policy Goals

Guest Info

Michael J. New is an assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

“Was Jesus in reality a liberal rabbi—a forerunner of Christian liberalism? Is the Christ of faith, and therefore the whole faith of the Church, just one big mistake?” Benedict XVI explored these critical questions in his book Jesus of Nazareth. We look at the answers with Carl Olson.

Further Reading

Jesus: Liberal rabbi or incarnate Messiah?

Guest Info

Carl E. Olson is editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. He is the author of Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?, Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”?, co-editor/contributor to Called To Be the Children of God, co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax (Ignatius), and author of the “Catholicism” and “Priest Prophet King” Study Guides for Bishop Robert Barron/Word on Fire. His recent books on Lent and Advent—Praying the Our Father in Lent (2021) and Prepare the Way of the Lord (2021)—are published by Catholic Truth Society. The Most Asked Questions about Faith, Reason, Jesus, and the Bible, co-authored with Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., will be published by Ignatius Press in Spring 2026. He is also a contributor to “Our Sunday Visitor” newspaper, “The Catholic Answer” magazine, “The Imaginative Conservative”, “The Catholic Herald”, “National Catholic Register”, “Chronicles”, and other publications. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @carleolson.