Roar Like The Lamb

We learned some new things about our genetics (and Duke's!) this week. But more importantly, we dive into some of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius without ever actually quoting from them. The exercises are a powerful way to make progress in the spiritual life, find healing, and make lasting life-changes in favor of virtue and in favor of a Christ-centered life.   

The Monastic Community of Bethlehem, of the Assumption of the Virgin, and of St. Bruno, where Fr. Sam likes to go on retreat.

One of our shortest episodes ever, we're talking about prayer and degrees of separation from Ken Burns. Prayer, whether rote or spontaneous is so important, and the more prayer takes root in our life and heart, the more that foundation supports us in time of need. Special shout out to Sr. Laura Marie Meskill, RSM, who is Fr. Sam's great-aunt and just celebrated 75 years of religious life! In your charity, say a prayer for her!

So often we hear that the Church has too many rules. But what if we understood why rules and laws exist? What if we saw obligation as something more than a burden? What if the law united us, both as a community and with God? That's the whole point!   

Show notes  

Check out the Canon Law Made Easy blog

 A multi-part podcast that dives into the Church's approach to law

We're joined by real-life college student and Fairfield Life Teen alumna Caroline Taylor. She's a pretty amazing woman of faith who has experienced the challenge of going away to college and struggling to live the Catholic faith. On campus, Caroline discovered a newfound appreciation for her relationship with God. Listen in for her phenomenal testimony!  

Get more about living your faith on campus! 

https://www.focus.org 

https://newmansociety.org

Weird dreams and Spanish radio. Incredible highlighters that don't destroy your books. Inspiration from the Holy Spirit to speak the Gospel. All this and more in this week's Roar Like the Lamb. Check out the links for some of the references we made in this episode,  and most of all, don't be afraid to get close to Jesus and invite others to do the same!  

Steve Harvey Introduces Jesus

Youth Pastor Decides to get onions

Besides a breakdown of Fr. Sam's fishing trip, we're talking about the desire for communion present in the human heart and all its different manifestations. We want Communion - the Eucharist. We want communion - to share the unity of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. We want communion - to be part of a community. And yes, the brilliant podcasters over at Catching Foxes did in fact talk about this recently and you should listen to their take, too. 

Romans 12

While Fr. Sam is away fly fishing in Montana, join Paola as she interviews Liam and Nora Finneran about their summer of encounter with God. Liam and Nora are part of Student Ministry here at St. Pius X and participated in their first summer trips with Damascus and Catholic Heart Workcamp. 

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So exciting to have Renzo and Monica Ortega on the podcast this week! They are an amazing married couple, parents to five kids, youth ministers, coaches, bloggers, authors, and so much more. They established Two Become Family to share some of their story of Catholic marriage and parenting. You can find them on social media @twobecomefamily.

 If that's not enough, Renzo recently published "Go to Joseph: 10 Day Preparation for Consecration to St. Joseph" and you can find it on Amazon! Finally, Renzo and Monica were asked to be part of a special new series put out by the Knights of Columbus that will air on ABC affiliates nationwide beginning Oct. 10, 2021.

Watch the entire conversation here.

All the links for this episode:

Knights of Columbus special: https://www.kofc.org/en/news-room/st-joseph/index.html

Renzo's book: https://www.amazon.com/Go-Joseph-Day-Preparation-Consecration-ebook/dp/B096Y71TXG/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=renzo+ortega&qid=1628901263&sr=8-1

Paola's running from the police, and Fr. Sam is watching the Olympics. Let's talk about the spiritual lessons of the Olympic Games and the teaching of St. Paul.

Heaven is for real, but how often do we think of it? Do we contemplate our eternity? In this episode, we talk about what heaven is, what our we hope eternity to look like, our misunderstandings about the afterlife, and the confidence we have in Christ for the gift of eternal life.

Check out this great talk by Sr. Josephine Garrett, that was part of the inspiration for this episode!

You might also enjoy Francis Thompson's poem "The Hound of Heaven."

Check out this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1aRwpBQISDU