Today Fr. Vigoa & Michelle Lopez are joined by guest Pam Giganti-Bunge

We reflect on the Lateran feast to show why the Church lives in people, not stone, and share a vivid Cuba relief story that reveals faith in action. We talk about the domestic church, small groups, Emmaus retreats, and the daily work of repairing cracks with grace.

• meaning of the Lateran dedication for modern believers
• Church as living stones rather than buildings
• Cuba hurricane relief and coordinated parish action
• domestic church habits that anchor faith
• Emmaus retreats as catalysts for service and renewal
• moving from consumer to contributor in parish life
• dealing with scrupulosity, excuses and control
• practical rhythms: confession, adoration, small groups
• adding beauty versus widening the cracks

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

I returned from Santiago de Cuba shaken by the damage of the storm and inspired by the courage we saw, sharing how 43,000 pounds of food became a living sign of the Gospel. A woman with a broom and the feast of the Lateran Basilica teach us that the Church is people who rebuild on Christ.

• scenes of loss in Cuba and lines for water
• 43,000 pounds of aid delivered and distributed
• El Cobre visit and prayer for rebuilding
• the woman sweeping the foundation as witness
• Lateran Basilica feast and living stones
• conversion over complaint and blame
• Christ as the only foundation that holds
• practical calls to rebuild at home and parish

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We reflect on All Souls landing on a Sunday and how facing death changes how we live, grieve, and love. Stories, scripture, and lived experience show why Christians mourn with hope and measure life by love, not length.

• All Souls Day on a Sunday and its penitential lens
• Steve Jobs on mortality meeting the Christian horizon of hope
• Smartphones and distraction versus attention to what lasts
• Grief as experience and mourning as chosen path
• Prayer for the dead as a love language across the grave
• Building faith before crisis to stand when loss hits
• Death as threshold and the promise of resurrection
• Living on mission with an eternal perspective

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We hold grief and hope together on All Souls Day, confronting death with the promise that love outlasts the grave. We explore prayer for the dead, the communion of saints, and how living for eternity reshapes forgiveness, mercy and daily choices.

• why remembering death clarifies what matters
• death as threshold in Christ, not the end
• love made tangible in cross, baptism and Eucharist
• prayer for the dead as love’s language beyond the grave
• communion of saints as living exchange of grace
• grieving with hope, not hiding sorrow
• forgiveness, mercy and sacrifice as urgent choices
• Eucharist as foretaste of the eternal banquet
• practical steps to reconcile and live faithfully

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We read Luke 18:9–14 and confront the gap between outward virtue and interior truth. We share how humility opens space for grace, why comparison starves identity, and how an honest confession heals at the root.

• the parable as a mirror for our prayer and life
• dangers of comparison, pride and image management
• God fills an empty, porous and honest heart
• adult preparation for confession and examen
• pride vs false humility and a balanced path
• integrity in small things shaping daily life
• mercy over perfectionism restoring identity

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We read the Pharisee and the tax collector as a mirror for the inner life, moving from performance to surrender. We share why honest prayer and confession open space for grace, and how humility frees us from comparison and shame.

• The parable as a psychological mirror of prayer 
• Vanity in religious clothes versus true holiness 
• The tax collector’s simple plea and why it works 
• Confession as honesty, not performance 
• Clay hearts versus marble hearts as images of grace 
• Two faces of pride and the invitation to look up 
• Humility as liberation and the promise of reversal 
• A practical prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We explore Exodus 17 to show why prayer is relationship, not magic, and how perseverance matures faith. Moses’ raised arms become a living image of the Church at prayer, calling us to identify our “Amaleks,” lift one another, and never give in.

• choosing Exodus 17 as the focus and reading the passage
• prayer as fidelity and relationship rather than results
• Churchill’s persistence as a mirror for Christian resilience
• naming the inner battlefield and identifying personal Amaleks
• maturing beyond childhood prayer and avoiding quick fixes
• community intercession and the unseen network of prayer
• mission of prayer for the elderly, sick and homebound
• practical takeaways: identify, pray, support, persevere
• hope that when the dust settles the fruit will be seen
• parish formation, prayer groups and ongoing support

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Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

Churchill’s three-word charge meets Moses’ raised arms to reveal why the fiercest battles are fought in the heart and won through persevering prayer. We trace Amalek’s modern faces, the power of intercession, and how community keeps our tired hands lifted.

• Amalek as a symbol of resistance to God
• The heart as the primary battlefield
• Moses, Aaron and Hur as a model of intercession
• The church at prayer across the world
• How community sustains perseverance
• “Never give up” reframed as “never give up praying”
• Practical ways to keep praying when tired

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

Gratitude and faith move together as we unpack Luke 17, Naaman’s healing, and why the Eucharist is a weekly school of thanksgiving. We share how simple obedience “on the way” opens space for healing, and we offer practical ways to practice daily gratitude that deepens belief.

• Gratitude completes the miracle in Luke 17
• Naaman’s pride, simple obedience, and renewal
• The scandal of simplicity in mercy and penance
• Healing “on the way” and obedience before evidence
• Eucharist as thanksgiving and weekly gratitude practice
• St Paul’s joy in chains and unchained Word of God
• Daily examen and concrete habits of thankfulness
• Why nine didn’t return and the risk of forgetting the giver
• Faith and gratitude as inseparable dispositions

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org

We explore how gratitude and faith form a living cycle that turns requests into worship and blessings into a life of return. Naaman, the healed Samaritan, and Paul in chains reveal why thanksgiving completes the miracle and matures trust.

• Naaman’s pride confronted by simple obedience
• Healing of the ten lepers and one returning
• Gratitude completing the miracle into salvation
• Faith, gratitude, and worship as a single movement
• Paul’s chains contrasted with an unchained word
• Eucharist as thanksgiving and a school of memory
• Practical call to return with thanks after answers
• Gratitude turning fear into trust and pain into purpose

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.saintaugustinechurch.org