In a final "Building Our Shire" episode, Stacy and Ross put a final flourish on this project with some reflections, sharing memories, and a look to the future. A sincere thank-you to those who shared this project with us as we created it, and to those who might pick it up in the future.

-Lifting the brush from the canvas

-The future of family and our creative projects

-"I've thought of an ending for my book- 'and [they] lived happily ever after...to the end of [their] days.'"

Music by Gregory S.

The exploding of Spring upon the world brings about reflections on our relationship to nature, and nature's relationship to God.

-It's finals week. What did you expect?

-The sneeze/riot/explosion of Spring brings life and power to bear.

-Matthew 5:24-35 is what we were talking about.

Tom Bombadil is one of the most enigmatic characters in all of Middle Earth. What was Tolkien trying to teach us by including this character? What does he have to tell us about ourselves?

-A (probably poor) retelling of the story of Bombadil

-Mystery is just fine

-Who does Tom Bombadil point to for you?

Reflections on the sanctifying nature of parenthood, how its joys and sorrows draw us toward salvation, and what it has to do with Frodo's vision of the Undying Lands.

-Redemptive suffering as a parent

-When God enters into our lives, we also enter into His

-Love in this life is a glimpse of Heaven, a reading of Tolkien's vision of the Hereafter

And all will turn to silver glass

A light on the water all souls pass

Into the West

Music by Gregory S.

Ross and Stacy are starting to look at how to bring some of the concepts of Building Your Shire to life in the parish. This is where the rubber meets the road (which goes ever on and on).

-What the heck has this podcast taught us?

-Pizza Hut longs for community

-Why, How, and What to do to build community

Music by Gregory S.

Take a trip down memory lane with us as we take a look back at our first set of Building Your Shire episodes!

-Ross & Stacy give a short overview of each episode's main ideas, plus any new insights we might have stumbled across.

Music by Gregory S.

Reflecting back on this Lenten season, we close in on how our fasting, prayer, and almsgiving affected us, and how we can better approach suffering in our own lives.

-The rise, fall, and hopeful return of "Lenten MSG"

-What is fasting for?

-A sword, a stone, and suffering

Music by Gregory S.

The crisis-upon-crisis pace of LOTR mirrors the everyday experience of life's tough moments. The Fellowship of the Nine shows us how to handle it with companions. We also cover a medley of other shorter, related topics.

-The trap of "just getting through" the difficult stuff and living between delusion and despair

-Reflections on the Agony in the Garden

-Lent just keeps on coming

Music by Gregory S.

Truth, Goodness, and Beauty are the foundations of reality. What does Beauty actually have to do with anything, and why is it just as important as the others?

-How much cod fish is too much?

-Beauty leads us towards Truth and Goodness

-Spirit made visible in LOTR

Music by Gregory S.

It's a tall order to distill any of St. Thomas Aquinas's ideas down into a 30 minute podcast, but that doesn't mean we won't give it a try! We discuss the Four Human Goods put forth by great scholar, and of course, how it tracks with Tolkien's Middle Earth.

-A Homily Revisited

-Natural Law and the good things we can access through it

-Augustinian evil in The Lord of the Rings

Music by Gregory S.