Today we’re bringing you the first half of a conversation that Bishop Barron had with Brenden Thompson during a trip to London. Brenden is Programme Manager of the Word On Fire Institute in the United Kingdom where he works to promote the faith in a deeply secularized culture. In this conversation, they explore Bishop Barron’s unique methods for public speaking and preaching, among other related topics. Enjoy!

• Brenden Thompson interview: https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/meet-uk-program-director-brenden-thompson/
• Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

Here is the eleventh lesson of Bishop Barron’s lecture series on one of the most important and influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Han Urs von Balthasar. As we journey through these lectures, we will come to understand his life, his theology, and his ongoing impact on the Church and our work to evangelize the culture. Enjoy!

• Full lecture series available at the Word on Fire Institute:  https://institute.wordonfire.org/
• Podcast: WOF 149: Who Was Hans Urs von Balthasar?
• More Resources: https://www.wordonfire.org/topics/hans-urs-von-balthasar/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

Are Christians required to love everyone equally? This question has recently become a matter of public and even political debate. So how should we answer? It seems necessary to ask what “loving thy neighbor” means in practice; for example is the love between friends, the love between spouses, the love within a family, the love among compatriots, and even the love of an enemy all the same kind of love? Do these relationships all entail the same kinds of moral responsibilities? Might it be reasonable to say, for example, that we have a greater obligation to care for our own children over others’ children, our own friends over strangers, and our own country over other countries? If so, however, how can Christians coherently claim that we love all people equally?

A listener asks how to forgive and let go of bitterness. I help my kids return to church?

00:00 | Introduction 01:43 | Bishop Barron’s recent trip to London 02:08 | Understanding love in the great commandments 03:50 | Love for specific relationships 06:13 | Properly framing love of self 06:58 | Love your enemies 08:03 | Critiquing love as granting another’s desires 09:07 | The distinct love for God 11:17 | Who is my neighbor? 12:55 | Ordo amoris: the order of love 17:52 | Equal regard vs. equal treatment 20:36 | Is it ever okay to circumvent ordo amoris? 22:20 | Does the Good Samaritan counter ordo amoris? 23:40 | Does Luke 9:60 counter ordo amoris? 26:52 | The evangelical impact of understanding love 27:43 | Listener question 29:54 | Join the Word on Fire Institute

• Ordo amoris article: https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/first-love-locally-jd-vance-and-ordo-amoris/
• Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

We bring you the tenth lesson of Bishop Barron’s lecture series on one of the most important and influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Han Urs von Balthasar. We will come to understand his life, his theology, and his ongoing impact on the Church and our work to evangelize the culture. Enjoy!

• Full lecture series available at the Word on Fire Institute:  https://institute.wordonfire.org/
• Podcast: WOF 149: Who Was Hans Urs von Balthasar?
• More Resources: https://www.wordonfire.org/topics/hans-urs-von-balthasar/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

Today we continue with lesson nine on our walk through Bishop Barron’s lecture series on one of the most important and influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Han Urs von Balthasar. We will come to understand his life, his theology, and his ongoing impact on the Church and our work to evangelize the culture. Enjoy!

• Full lecture series available at the Word on Fire Institute:  https://institute.wordonfire.org/
• Podcast: WOF 149: Who Was Hans Urs von Balthasar?
• More Resources: https://www.wordonfire.org/topics/hans-urs-von-balthasar/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

Depression and anxiety have exploded in the past decade in the United States, especially, though not exclusively, among young people. Tragically, anxiety and depression frequently contribute to suicide and suicide attempts, with young men in particular taking much of the brunt of this epidemic of self-harm. Many suffer in silence, with neither family members nor friends aware of their mental, spiritual, and sometimes even physical anguish. What can we do to reintroduce hope, purpose, peace, and perhaps even joy into the lives of those who are feeling lost? What can both Catholic belief and practice offer in particular?  

A listener asks: How can I help my kids return to church?

00:00 | Introduction 01:51 | Bishop Barron visits Catholic schools 02:56 | Addressing the US depression epidemic 07:57 | The insufficiency of non-spiritual tools for depression 14:02 | Secularism’s role in depression 17:32 | 1) Faith frees us from the illusion of control 19:09 | 2) Faith offers us metaphysical hope 20:38 | A Christian response to hopeless feelings 21:46 | 3) Faith moves us to focus on the here and now, not on future worries 25:25 | 4) Faith helps us live for the good of the other 28:07 | 5) Faith liberates us from fear of death and the insignificance of labors 30:18 | Distinguishing dark nights of the soul from depression 32:37 | Practical advice for those in the dark 34:33 | Listener question 37:20 | Join the Word on Fire Institute

• Anxiety and depression stats: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr213.pdf
• Suicide stats: https://wisqars.cdc.gov/fatal-injury-trends/
• Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

We continue our walk through Bishop Barron’s lecture series with lesson eight on one of the most important and influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Han Urs von Balthasar. We will come to understand his life, his theology, and his ongoing impact on the Church and our work to evangelize the culture. Enjoy!

• Full lecture series available at the Word on Fire Institute:  https://institute.wordonfire.org/
• Podcast: WOF 149: Who Was Hans Urs von Balthasar?
• More Resources: https://www.wordonfire.org/topics/hans-urs-von-balthasar/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

A debate has been raging on social media recently about the role work should play both in our individual and communal lives. One side argues that Americans are not only spending too few hours at work, but at a deeper cultural level, they believe the United States and much of the West has become lazy and prone to immediate gratification that undermines efficiency, personal wealth, and national power and prosperity. The other side maintains that, although work is good and necessary for individual and societal wellbeing, time spent at work also compromises individuals’ creativity and ingenuity. This debate is not only rhetorical; how we conceive of the relationship between work and leisure has very real cultural, economic, and even political consequences. What principles should we appeal to to get the balance right?

A listener asks: Does Jesus have a last name?

00:00 | Introduction 01:36 | Word on Fire turns 25! 02:54 | What is work? 04:53 | Understanding work within a fallen world 09:46 | Connecting human dignity and the dignity of work 12:59 | Prosperity vs. the prosperity gospel 15:28 | Is intellectual work better than manual, or vice versa? 17:37 | What if I’m unwilling to work? 20:50 | What if I’m unable to work? 21:35 | Understanding leisure 25:38 | How the Mass relates to play 29:57 | Relating work to leisure 32:24 | Listener question: Does Jesus have a last name? 33:50 | Join the Word on Fire Institute

• Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

Today we present the seventh lesson of Bishop Barron’s lecture series on one of the most important and influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, Han Urs von Balthasar. We will come to understand his life, his theology, and his ongoing impact on the Church and our work to evangelize the culture. Enjoy!

• Full lecture series available at the Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/
• Podcast: WOF 149: Who Was Hans Urs von Balthasar?
• More Resources: https://www.wordonfire.org/topics/hans-urs-von-balthasar/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

What is the nature and purpose of prayer? The question may sound simple, but it unearths some complex philosophical and theological issues. If God is omniscient, what is the point of speaking with him, either out loud or in our thoughts if he already knows what we have to say? If God is all good and all powerful, why does it sometimes appear that our prayers go unanswered? More practically, what are we to make of the great diversity of prayers—liturgical prayer, petitionary prayer, worship prayer, the Rosary? Are some forms of prayer more efficacious than others? Here are some tips on how we can understand and grow in our prayer life. 

A listener asks why Catholics pray for the dead and if we should pray for the souls of non-Catholics too.

00:00 | Intro 01:34 | Bishop Barron’s holiday season recap 02:45 | What prompted the publication of An Introduction to Prayer? 03:37 | What does it mean to pray? 05:31 | If God knows everything, why do we pray? 07:38 | If God is unchanging, how does prayer change things? 15:53 | If God is all-good, why do prayers go unanswered? 18:40 | How is prayer different for the Christian? 21:56 | The importance of liturgical prayer 23:47 | Understanding contemplative prayer 28:24 | Properly understanding the intercession of the saints 31:25 | Practical principles for growing in prayer 33:41 | Forgiveness as a prerequisite for answered prayers 35:07 | Listener question 37:31 | Join the Word on Fire Institute

• An Introduction to Prayer by Bishop Robert Barron: https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/an-introduction-to-prayer
• Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.