From a recent article noting the attraction of young men to Orthodox Christianity, we dive into the theme of liturgy and how the rightly ordered celebration of the Church's worship not only attracts people, but also reminds us that we are human. And not only human, but human beings who are in relationship with God.
Read the article that got us started here.
Merry Christmas, from all of us at St. Pius X Catholic Church and Roar Like the Lamb!
This one starts with a lot of banter. But it's fun. So enjoy that part. Then we get into In Sinu Jesu and need for priests to be rooted in prayer.
Jesus needs His priests to pray! But not just priests...all of us need to find refuge in the Eucharistic heart of our Lord.
"In Sinu Jesu" has some beautiful spiritual reading if you're looking for your next good meditation reading.
Check out Two Become Family - it's a great podcast!
Why is everyone shouting? Because they have good questions! Asking those questions helps us get to a deeper place in our relationship with God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church # 239 says: "By calling God "Father", the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father."
While there's a bit of a joke in that title, there's also some truth. If we're going to worship God, we need to know the disposition of our own hearts. Just as Christ gave Himself for us, offered His body in sacrifice for us, so we are called to make a sacrifice of ourselves whenever we worship. This might mean putting aside our own stylistic preferences, or being obedient when it would be easier to do our own thing, or simply setting aside the time required to attend Mass. No matter what, we all have a sacrifice that we can make for God's glory!
Sabbatical is over and we're back. So good to be able to record an episode again. We're excited to get back on a regular schedule. Thanks for listening!
This is our last episode for a little while, but we had a good time talking about a bunch of stuff.
Fr. Sam sincerely regrets not having the name Mark Schultz in his brain, but if you'd like to check out the interview with Mark that aired on The Tangent, you should give it a listen here. And check out his amazing song "Walking Her Home" here.
Sabbatical starts soon - Roar Like the Lamb will return in September!
As we confront our mortality as very elderly millenials, our conversation meanders today. As a result, we cover some good ground, but it's hard to nail down a single theme. Anyway, it was good to record again, as our ability to actually get studio time has been limited.
Did you know that "I Can See Clearly Now" talks about obstacles? Fr. Sam sure didn't. Listen in as we talk about clarity and the gift that brings to ministry, and the way God uses consolations and desolations to help us navigate the spiritual life.
Sometimes Catholics or parishes are described as "frozen and chosen," and we have some thoughts on how this might apply in real life, how it might be just a stereotype, and why we need to do some work if we're going to do the hard work of evangelization and growing in holiness.
Show Notes:
Did you miss the last episode? The One That Got Away? We had the video, but the audio didn't seem to work super well. Here's the link to the YouTube https://youtu.be/dPze_ywQ0J0 - check it out!
As we recognize more and more just how little we actually know, we're learning that the answers are usually found when we stop trying to figure it out all by ourselves. Take a step back, look up, and most of all, look to God.
Also... Epiphany is January 6 and should be celebrated as such. The name "Ordinary Time" should be abolished.
We are big fans of Ruuthai's Kitchen. If you're in the greater-Bridgeport area, please support them and enjoy!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Roar Like the Lamb! We're talking about Christmas prep and Christmas recovery. Asking God's blessings on you for 2024!
As we're getting close to Christmas, the season can get overwhelming. Today we're talking about allowing Jesus to really shepherd us through the season so that we can pray and enter in to the most important aspects of Advent and Christmas.
SHOW NOTES
Fr. Dwight Longenecker's "The Secret of the Bethlehem Shepherds" is out now by Sophia Institute Press. Check it out!
This is a delayed release episode...coming out today for no other reason than schedules got hectic and getting it ready for release kept getting put on the back burner. Sorry it's late!
Anyway, we're talking about keeping an eternal perspective in a chaotic world, keeping Jesus front and center, and not running away from our feelings and experiences.
So it's not spooky or anything crazy, but we get lots of questions about Halloween and this seemed as good a time as any to talk about it. Trick or treat and all that.
Oh, and Fr. Sam recently interviewed an exorcist, so you might be interested to check out the episode on The Tangent.
Starting with an excerpt from "In Conversation with God," Paola takes us into a conversation about Mary's silence and how silence in the spiritual life, and Mary's in particular, can help us in our daily walk with the Lord. You should get yourself a copy of these meditation books, they're really good. Link below.
SHOW NOTES
In Conversation with God - https://scepterpublishers.org/collections/in-conversation-with-god
Check out The Tangent episode w/Fr. Basil Nortz on holy silence: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-tkwaz-147f361
It's not easy to preach about justice issues - you'll be accused of being too political, not political enough, focused on earthly things rather than spiritual, and on and on. Still, if we preach the Gospel in fullness, we're going to have to talk about a lot of things. We talk about that sometimes treacherous walk in this episode.
We...well, Fr Sam at least...almost forgot about our scheduled recording time for this episode. But we had fun anyway. Enjoy our almost forgotten conversation!
Oh, and we referenced "Acts 23" and completely butchered the name. Sorry about that! In fact, it is called Acts XXIX (Acts 29). Please see the link below to learn more.
Show Notes
We are never a finished product. Continuing to grow, to learn, and to be formed is a need for all of us, especially in the life of the Church.
Today we're talking about reaching parishioners and the challenges attendant therein. It is very important to communicate well, and good tools like Flocknote are tremendous aids for parishes. At the same time, we need healthy staffing for our parishes (both clergy and lay staff), and a healthy engagement of lay people in the life and ministry of parishes. This was a fun conversation to have, and even though we haven't figured out all the answers, it's a blessing to be able to try to figure it out together!
SHOW NOTES
Catholic Young Adults in Fairfield County
Word on Fire podcast - Why Parishes Fail to Engage 93% of Parishioners
"Why They Follow" - by Matthew Warner
Roar Like the Lamb is produced by Chris McHugh - McQ Marketing Group
