Mountains Made Low

In this episode, Dennis and Christine continue and wrap up their deep dive into the Beatitudes by looking at what the final four Beatitudes demand of us in regard to loving our neighbor, and their implications for us as we strive to live Gospel values and as intentional disciples of Christ Jesus in the modern world.  (Christine is ecstatic that Dennis got the podcast description down to a single sentence!  He'll let her have her moment.)

Can you name all eight Beatitudes?  The Beatitudes are more than ideals, they are the way of life for disciples of Jesus Christ, and more importantly the way to eternal life, but what exactly are the Beatitudes asking of us and how do we live them in our daily life? Join Dennis and Christine as they break open the Beatitudes in this first of a two part series that does a deep dive into the most profound and detailed teaching that Jesus gave to his disciples. 

Glamorized in Hollywood and viewed as a "boogieman" of sorts by contemporary society, Satan is often dismissed as a figment of the religious imagination, but therein lies the greatest of lies crafted by the Father of Lies!  Make no mistake, the Devil is real.  In this episode, Dennis and Christine expose the reality of the Devil, and wade into the many and varied names he is known by so that the Christian can come to know the enemy, recognize his hand, and prepare for spiritual battle in their fight against sin and temptation.  What resources and tools are available to help us resist temptation, weather skirmishes with the enemy, and live well in the modern world?  Listen and find out!

It seems like being kind is en vogue today, but what society means when it calls for someone to be kind is very different from the kindness that the Christian is called to live.  In this episode Christine and Dennis challenge our secular understanding of kindness and present kindness as the Christian virtue and gift of the Holy Spirit that it truly is.  (Christine told Dennis that his podcast descriptions need to be shorter, so that's all folks.  Listen to find out more!)

Dennis and Christine continue to break open the Mass from the perspective of God's love and how God is loving us through the various parts of the Mass.  In this episode, we delve into the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Communion Rite, and the Concluding Rite, hoping to once again lead listeners to a new perspective on the Mass that will open their hearts and minds to the profound love God desires them to experience through the Mass and in particular the Eucharist.  

Continuing on the heels of the previous episode, where Dennis and Christine presented the Eucharist as the supreme and most intimate encounter of God's love that we can experience this side of heaven, they now break open the Mass from the perspective of God's love and how God is loving us through the various parts of the Mass.  In this, the first of two episodes, we delve into the Introductory Rites of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Word, hoping to leading listeners to a new perspective on the Mass that will open their hearts and minds to the profound love God desires them to experience through the Mass and in particular the Eucharist.  

Who in your life, past or present, is in need of your forgiveness?  Who in your life have you trespassed against and need to seek forgiveness from?  Forgiveness is hard, but holding on to our hurts and the wrong done to us by another enslaves us to those trespasses and creates a hardness of heart that actually prevents us from experiencing the mercy of God when we trespass against him!  The justice sought in our current cancel culture has no room for mercy or forgiveness, and if we’re honest, we’d have to admit that there is likely someone in our life who we have “cancelled” because of some trespass committed against us.  What is the path forward that leads to true healing and true reconciliation and frees us from the prison we’ve created for ourselves?  Yes, forgiveness is hard, but we must forgive anyway because forgiveness is a key component of Christ’s mission of redemption and salvation for at the heart of forgiveness is mercy, and that mercy is merely another word for God’s love.  In this episode, Christine and Dennis address the nature and importance of forgiveness in living a life of discipleship, and provide some ways for listeners to soften their hearts so that forgiveness is possible and the healing they long for becomes a reality.   

The Holy Spirit is a mighty advocate, helper, and guide in achieving the goal of becoming the saint God created each of us to be, but who is the Holy Spirit and how can we relate to Him?  Often referred to as the "Forgotten Person of the Blessed Trinity," the Holy Spirit can seem somewhat nebulous and abstract in comparison to the Father and the Son.  In this episode, we look at the evidence for the existence of the Holy Spirit found in Sacred Scripture, and delve into the Holy Spirit's relationship to the Father and the Son.  More importantly, we break open the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a disciple in order to help listeners come to better know this Person of the Blessed Trinity in the hope that they will be able to develop a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, and embrace the Holy Spirit as the advocate who works in earnest within them to help them grow in holiness. 

Those who claim to be spiritual but not religious are one of the fastest growing "religions" in America and across the world, but can one truly be spiritual without being religious?  Are they mutually exclusive?  Delving into the issue, Dennis and Christine look at this spiritual path and offer some perspectives on why this path is not optimal for those who are genuinely seeking something deeper and more personal in their relationship with God, how the human person is created to be both spiritual and religious by nature, and why our relationship with God is meant to be not just personal and private, but also public and communal.  We provide some guidance for family members on how to have conversations with a loved one who has chosen this path, as well as some insights for those walking this path to consider.  In the end, we hope listeners will come to see how God desires so much for us in our relationship with him than what we limit ourselves to, and how being spiritual and religious offers us the "more" that we truly long to experience.