What does the spiritual life of a ninja blackbelt surfer look like? The answer might surprise you. (The dude quotes Aquinas, for crying out loud.) Join me for the conclusion of my conversation with adventurer and EWTN radio host Bear Woznick. We're getting deeper into the practicalities of meditative prayer and the overall trajectory of the spiritual path for Catholics. But that's not all. A big part of the discussion centers around what it means to actually "let go and let God," and what happens when you do. (You'll even hear how in the world I ended up on a mountain in Guatemala three months after leaving the corporate world.) We'll also dissect something a lot of Catholics have never heard of, called penal substitution. It's the theory of salvation that Bear and I used to hold as Protestants, but makes no sense of the Cross or human suffering. God bless and enjoy! Matt P.S. Don't let Lent just slide by. Grab it by the horns! Click the link to get a free, short chapter from my book Louder Than Words. It's called Beer, Chocolate & Value-Added Suffering and it will transform your perspective on Lent and the whole spiritual life!

I meet a lot of people in my line of work...none like this guy. Have you ever talked prayer with a guy who is a World Surfing Champ? Ever discussed the spiritual life with a bona fide ninja blackbelt? How about chatting virtue with anyone who rode their bike (i.e. bicycle) from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean? Me, neither. That is, until I met Bear Woznick. (Yes, that's actually his legal name.) Bear Woznick is unlike anyone else I know. I met him recently at a men's conference in Florida where we were both speakers. His life, I quickly discovered, is like a movie. That doesn't mean it's perfect. Simply that it's a bit more "exciting" than most of ours. (Seriously, have you ever repelled off the 25th floor of your beachfront condo? He has.) Bear is an author, speaker, and EWTN radio host and who loves the Church and expresses it in a very unique way. You're going to find his story and his message truly inspirational. Blessings, Matthew P.S. Don't let Lent just slide by. Grab it by the horns! Click the link to get a free, short chapter from my book Louder Than Words. It's called Beer, Chocolate & Value-Added Suffering and it will transform your perspective on Lent and the whole spiritual life!

I already know the answer, but I'm going to ask anyway: Have you ever been fully satisfied? How about completely free? For how long? How long until you want a new smartphone? How far into the woods do you need to hike to "get away from it all"? How long before the new car smell wears off? (Approximately 3 1/2 minutes for those with children.) Most of us discovered a long time ago that nothing here can satisfy us for very long. It just can't. And it's not only satisfaction we crave. We want freedom. (Why else do people try to fly without a plane or deep sea dive hundreds of feet without an oxygen tank?) We want to crush the barriers in life that hem us in and quench that thirst that comes from deep inside. It's a constant gnawing - a constant struggle. Why? Because we were created for true freedom! We were designed to be fully satisfied! But there's only one way you can achieve it. So in this episode of the The Art of Catholic, I'm going to provide some keys to help you redirect and quench the spiritual angst you have for more...because that's your destiny! God bless! Matthew P.S. Don't let Lent just slide by. Grab it by the horns! Click the link to get a free, short chapter from my book Louder Than Words. It's called Beer, Chocolate & Value-Added Suffering and it will transform your perspective on Lent and the whole spiritual life!

I told you it was good. Part one of my interview with Mike Aquilina about his book Keeping Mary Close: Devotion to Our Lady Through the Ages was awesome. The conclusion is even better. You've got to hear Mike because he really gets fired up showing how even heretics and atheists understood early Christian devotion to the Mother of God, and mocked them for it. He also discusses how love of Mary is channeled to God using a very sweet example from his own life. Our discussion also gets into how the motif of the family life of God is a key to understanding Mary. At one point, he even invokes the Odd Couple! (You're not going to hear that on any other podcast!) Some of the other questions we discuss: They may not have had rosaries, but did early Christians have physical ornaments that expressed their devotion to Our Lady? Given it's intensity, was there ever a danger of Mary eclipsing Christ in devotion in the early days? (Ever heard of the Collyridians? Me, neither!) Do Muslims really venerate Mary? Who were some of the hardcore "Marian" Church Fathers? (Cue Cyril of Alexandria and the heresy of Nestorianism.) All that and more in this episode of The Art of Catholic. God bless and enjoy! Matt P.S. Make Lent count this year! Grab a FREE chapter called "Beer, Chocolate & Value-Added Suffering" from my book "Louder Than Words: The Art of Living as a Catholic". It will totally explain redemptive suffering and transform how you live every moment of every day!

I sure wish I'd known this 18 years ago. I'd probably have become Catholic a lot faster. In this episode of The Art of Catholic, I've got one of my favorite people, Mike Aquilina, ready to lay down some serious Early Church knowledge. But we're not just interested in history. We're going to dig into what the Early Church believed and practiced with regard to the Virgin Mary. Adding to the already legendary stack of books he's written is "Keeping Mary Close: Devotion To Our Lady Through The Ages"...and it's awesome. I read a lot of Marian literature when working on The Bible and the Virgin Mary series for the St. Paul Center. What sets this book apart from others is that its focus is upon the Early Church. Speaking as a convert who had serious issues with Mary, this book would have helped me immensely when I was dealing with who she is and what the Church has taught about her through the ages. In fact, I'm a little hacked off that he waited so long to write this. But since this is the Year of Mercy, I'm going to set that aside and turn him loose so that all of you can experience the incredible knowledge bomb he's about to drop. Some of the questions I ask are: When did devotion to Our Lady begin? (The answer is going to surprise you.) What did ancient extra-biblical sources say about Mary? (Ever heard of The Ascension of Isaiah or the Infancy Gospel of James? How about the Gospel of Thomas?) How does ancient devotion to Mary differ from what we do today? (They weren't praying rosaries, after all!) All that and much, much more! Enjoy! Matt P.S. You can't have a relationship with Jesus or His Mother without prayer. Prayer is the relationship, for crying out loud! So grab my FREE cheat sheet on how to develop a life of deep prayer called 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life. It can change everything!  

Admit it. Just like everybody else, your 2016 New Year's resolutions are already in the toidy. (That's a technical term.) And for most of us,  those resolutions dealt with habits we've acquired and want to get rid of like smoking, drinking, or Jazzercise. Then there are those virtuous habits we want to acquire. Virtuous habits will get their own podcast at a later date. Since most of us remain in the "I've got to stop this or it's going to kill me!" or "I'm tired of confessing this same thing over and over" mode, I want to give you 5 key ideas to help you overcome sinful habits so you can spiritually grow and rocket your way to God. Enjoy! Matt Click here to grab a copy of my free pdf 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life. It's not too late to make a new, New Year's resolution that really change your life!

I've made no bones about the fact that Mary was easily the most difficult issue I faced in becoming Catholic. This show is about the scriptural argument that got me over the hump. In the last two episodes (23 & 24), we dealt with the Immaculate Conception. This time, we're going to fill in some background on the Ark of the Covenant from the Old Testament, and then explore the stunning parallels laid out by the Gospel of Luke between that original Ark and the Virgin Mary. Like I said, the dots I'm about to connect are one major reason I fully embraced Church teaching on Our Lady. It's pretty powerful stuff. But as they say on infomercials...That's not all!" I'm also going to drop a really cool insight from Pope Benedict XVI about Mary's Visitation to Elizabeth that I recently heard at Mass. It literally made me "oooh" out loud. (Trust me when I say there are very few things I ever hear in the cry room that make me say "ooooh"...unless you're referring to every time a one-year-old licks the mirror on the door.) I pray the rest of your Advent is blessed and you have a very Merry Christmas! Matthew P.S. New Year's resolution! Pray more effectively! But don't wait for January 1st. Start now! Grab 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life! right now!

The more you understand it, the more you realize the Immaculate Conception is a fundamental part of the Gospel message. And, yes, it's in the Bible...big time. This is part 2 of what I started in Episode 23. This episode is going to focus on the Angel Gabriel's encounter with Mary in the Annunciation scene from Luke chapter 1. Far more than just a classic scene in every school's Christmas play, it's a necessary scene in the drama of salvation. And it demonstrates the fact that Mary was conceived without sin. Of course, there are always people who will object. St. Thomas Aquinas himself declared that Mary was conceived with original sin in his famous Summa Theologica. So I'm also going to answer some of the common objections to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and show why objectors shouldn't be so quick to use Thomas for their position of dissent. I promise this is a very, very interesting and informative show. You're going to walk away with a greater appreciation for the amazing role Our Lady plays in getting us to heaven! Hope your Advent is full of joy! Matthew   "All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray." St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God!   Don't miss a show! Subscribe to The Art of Catholic by clicking this link and then clicking "View in iTunes" under the picture and then "Subscribe"!  (I listen to my podcasts on using Overcast. It's free and works better than the Apple Podcast player. Get it here.) Walk in the footsteps of Jesus! Check out the new video about my Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in March 2018!  It's the trip of a lifetime! Click here for trip details.    

You may love Mary, but can you explain the Immaculate Conception? Better yet, can you explain it from the pages of the Bible? The dogma that Mary was preserved from the moment of her conception from the effects of Original Sin is one of the most important, yet misunderstood Catholic teachings. Many Catholics, not to mention Protestants, don't realize the vital role played by this dogma, much less understand that the roots of the Immaculate Conception are deep in Sacred Scripture. It's totally in there. So this episode of The Art of Catholic is all about beginning to illuminate how the Mother of God is part of the divine thread that God has woven into the fabric of salvation history. How the biblical role she plays in the drama of our salvation actually demands the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. We'll also see how Our Lady's first "appearance" in the opening book of the Bible (Genesis), helps make sense of some of the crazy stuff in the last book of the Bible (Revelation). In other words, Mary's role helps shed light on traditionally difficult passages. So let's get started! Matthew   "All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray." St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God!   Don't miss a show! Subscribe to The Art of Catholic by clicking this link and then clicking "View in iTunes" under the picture and then "Subscribe"!  (I listen to my podcasts on using Overcast. It's free and works better than the Apple Podcast player. Get it here.) Walk in the footsteps of Jesus! Check out the new video about my Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in March 2018!  It's the trip of a lifetime! Click here for trip details.      

It's not just because we want to look cool or think bigger is better. Catholic Bibles are simply bigger than Protestant Bibles. (And I don't mean they're printed in a larger font. I mean ours have more books than theirs.) The question is "Why?" It's a huge issue...one of, dare I say, biblical proportions. One of the fundamental principles of Protestantism is the doctrine of sola scriptura - the Bible alone. In other words, it teaches that the only sure authority upon which we can base our lives is the Bible because it alone is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. Of course, this belief raises obvious questions. For example, if the Bible is the only authority, then who has the right to interpret it? You? Your pastor? Your mechanic? It's a problem. In fact, the issue of authority was the original impetus behind my eventual move to Catholicism some eighteen years ago. But the problem of authority doesn't just come into play with regard to interpreting Scripture. It has a colossal impact on the book itself. In other words, who decides what books are actually inspired and which are just wise sayings? How did we get the canon of Scripture in the form we now possess? And why are Catholic Bibles different than those of our Protestant brothers? That's what this show is all about. As you're going to see, I've brought in an expert on this topic. His name is Rob Corzine, a friend, and one of the vice presidents of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He's a very smart cookie. (Someone please get me the etymology of that phrase.) And it's a pretty fair bet that you're going to come away from this episode with whole lot more understanding about the important and fascinating history of Sacred Scripture than before. Enjoy! Matthew "All who have been lost were lost because they did not pray." St. Alphonsus Liguori. Don't be lost! Grab your FREE copy of my quick guide to deeper prayer 8 Ways To Jumpstart Your Prayer Life!  It's an easy step-by-step summary of the spiritual giants of the Church designed to help you rocket to God!