This month, to celebrate the end of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, we have a conversation with our friend Amanda Achtman about her mission. Amanda is the founder of Dying to Meet You, a project of cultural renewal to prevent euthanasia and encourage hope. How did she arrive at this mission? What needs, desires, and forms of suffering has she discovered in the hearts of others–and her own? Where can any of us derive hope in the face of death? //

Our media recommendation is Fr. Alfred Delp’s book of sermons Advent of the Heart. And our monthly challenge is to light a candle and ponder Pope Benedict XVI’s words that “dying is the way a candle gives light.” //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ or find us on Instagram at ⁠⁠@pilgrimsoulpodcast⁠⁠. Our website is ⁠⁠www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com⁠⁠.

Amanda’s website is DyingtoMeetYou.com. You can also find her on X-formerly-known-as-Twitter @AmandaAchtman, and read her writing in a variety of places including Public Discourse. //

Other resources we mention:

• St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross’ meditation “The Hidden Life and Epiphany”

• A talk by Luigi Giussani to a group of students in 1976

• Pope Francis’ audience on August 27, 2022 

• Mother Teresa’s book “Heart of Joy”

• Amanda’s video vignettes of lives affected by euthanasia

• Pope Benedict XVI’s homily from the 2009 Easter Vigil 

• Caryll Houselander’s work “The Way of the Cross”

• Pope Benedict XVI’s book “Introduction to Christianity” // 

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks.”