🔥 Episode 7

 

Holy Sass & Sanctified Sarcasm: When the Devil Crashes Your Bathroom Break

 

What if holiness isn’t about becoming quieter, smaller, or less yourself?

 

In this episode of Choppin’ Wood, Kristen reflects on one of the most infamous (and unexpectedly theological) saint stories of all time: St. Teresa of Ávila’s bathroom encounter with the devil — and what her joyful, unapologetic response teaches us about holiness, humor, and spiritual freedom.

 

Through stories from motherhood, reflections on Catholic theology, and examples from the lives of the saints, this episode explores why joy belongs in holiness, why grace doesn’t erase personality, and how sanctity looks wildly different depending on the person God created you to be.

 

This conversation gently dismantles the false binary between reverence and joy, seriousness and humanity, holiness and humor — and reminds us that the saints weren’t dull. They were dazzling.

 

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🪵 In this episode, we talk about:

•St. Teresa of Ávila and the holiest bathroom story ever told

•Why joy disarms accusation and reveals spiritual authority

•“Grace perfects nature” — not replaces it

•Why holiness doesn’t flatten personality, it redeems it

•The four classical temperaments and how sanctity looks different for different people

•Saints with strong personalities: St. Philip Neri, St. Lawrence, St. John Bosco, St. Joseph, and St. Thomas More

•How virtue disciplines temperament without erasing it

•Humor as resilience, humility, and freedom

•Staying human in the pursuit of holiness

 

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🌿 Key takeaway:

 

Holiness doesn’t require losing your personality.

It requires letting God shine through it.

 

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🪓 Your Turn to Chop (Reflection Questions):

•Where have I assumed holiness requires me to become less of who I am?

•Which parts of my personality do I tend to shrink or second-guess in spiritual spaces?

•Do I confuse seriousness with reverence? Why?

•Where might God be inviting me to let joy — not fear — have the final word?

•How could humor help me stay human in a place where I’m tempted to shut down?

 

Ask God this week:

“What part of me are You not trying to erase — but redeem?”

 

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🎧 Listen & Subscribe

 

New episodes of Choppin’ Wood drop weekly.

Follow the podcast so you don’t miss what’s next — and if this episode resonated, consider sharing it with someone who might need the reminder that holiness and joy belong together.

 

Until next time —

keep choppin’ wood. 🪵🔥