Podcasts about fathers

From not wanting kids, to loving being a mother to one, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes joins The Mom Room this week to talk about motherhood and her new standup comedy special Ugly Baby. She shares her experience going through IVF, getting pregnant at 41, and how her purpose has shifted after having her child. Renee and Anjelah discuss the early stages of motherhood, intrusive thoughts, and share their theories on why postpartum rage towards the father happens. They also relate on wishing that they had done a better job being a support system for their friends and family who have gone through childbirth, now knowing how hard that postpartum stage really is. In addition to touring her standup comedy and recording her new special, Anjelah has her own podcast called Funjelah where she dives deep with her guests, creating a safe space for them to open up about the things they are grateful for in their life. Check out her podcast and special down below!FOLLOW ANJELAH@anjelahjohnsonanjelah.comTHANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!Bellesa - Today's episode is sponsored by Bellesa Boutique! Sign up to win a free WhisperVibe™ or free Rose toy with any Whisper™ order!

He was put on child support at just 12 years old.By the time Lionel “TJ” Tillman learned what had happened, he says he was already $24,000 in debt—despite the court determining that he had not reached puberty when the child was conceived.After fighting the case for more than two decades, proving that the process involved extrinsic fraud, and eventually recovering his money, TJ is no longer focused solely on his personal battle.Now, he is taking the system to Congress.In this powerful episode of Inside the Vault with Ash Cash, TJ introduces the proposed Bringing Families Back Together and Child Support Equity Act of 2027—a bill created to promote equal parenting, due process, financial fairness, transparency, and healthier relationships between children and both fit and present parents.Ash and TJ examine some of the most controversial questions surrounding family court and child support:Can someone be held financially responsible without being the biological father?Why are some parents learning about child-support orders only after their wages are garnished?Are government incentives helping families—or rewarding separation?And why should a parent who is actively fighting to be present automatically be treated like an absent parent?TJ also makes one thing clear: this is not a “get out of responsibility” movement. He believes parents who refuse to support their children should be held accountable.His fight is for fairness, equal parenting, proper notice, due process, and a system that puts the well-being of children ahead of conflict between adults.This is not about mothers versus fathers.It is about choosing the children.Watch until the end to learn how you can support the petition, help bring the proposed legislation before Congress, and become part of a national movement to strengthen families.Sign the petition: change.org/childrenneedbothChapters00:00 – He was put on child support at 12 years old 01:08 – Message for entrepreneurs, coaches and business owners 02:05 – Protecting the family is a generational investment 03:04 – The Bringing Families Back Together and Child Support Equity Act 03:55 – “Take care of your children—this is not a free pass” 05:21 – Who is Lionel “TJ” Tillman? 05:38 – Put on child support at 12 and $24,000 in debt 06:32 – Could he have biologically fathered the child? 07:15 – Declared the legal father despite the court's findings 08:53 – Why outdated policies need to change 09:34 – Why TJ is taking the system to Congress 10:12 – Education, policy and prevention 11:18 – Does due process apply in family court? 11:51 – Equal parenting should begin at birth 12:53 – Georgia's legitimation process explained 14:11 – The $755 million child-support incentive claim 15:11 – Why TJ is pursuing federal reform 15:45 – Incentivizing families to stay together 17:25 – No parent should have to fight for their children 17:46 – Fathers ask for joint legal and physical custody 18:34 – How public assistance affected the family structure 19:35 – Who determines whether a parent is fit? 21:18 – Why must parents fight for more time with their children? 22:00 – “You want support, but you don't want support” 22:29 – TJ announces The Family Code podcast 22:39 – The hidden trauma families refuse to discuss 24:02 – Why TJ challenges the child-support system 24:17 – The Fourteenth Amendment and parental rights 26:47 – How claims can be presumed valid until challenged 27:43 – Proper notice before enforcement actions 28:17 – Discovering child support through wage garnishment 30:00 – Finding out on payday that half his check was gone 32:10 – Personal service versus substitute service 33:13 – Vindication after a 22-year fight 34:00 – The forged signature and vacant-house service 35:00 – Paying child support for 11 years 37:26 – Filing an insurance claim against Los Angeles County 38:30 – How TJ finally recovered his money 39:20 – Helping parents challenge their cases 40:15 – Why he refuses to assist irresponsible parents 41:41 – Raising his daughter as a single father 43:00 – Why children may need both parents 44:40 – The child-support-to-prison pipeline 46:47 – Are urban communities being disproportionately targeted? 48:14 – Is TJ trying to weaken child-support laws? 48:34 – Child support should apply to absent parents 49:22 – Equal parental rights and the “noncustodial” label 50:00 – Handling difficult co-parenting and parental alienation 51:10 – Support beyond money: emotional and physical presence 52:00 – Parenting education, therapy and conflict resolution 54:00 – What America could look like if the bill passes 56:47 – How viewers can support the proposed legislation 57:17 – TJ's direct appeal to Congress 58:25 – This is not men versus women 58:36 – Putting children ahead of pride and conflict 59:41 – “This is not an attack on women, men or child support” 1:00:04 – How to connect with TJ and the foundation 1:00:32 – Closing the VaultAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Name Above Every Name Conference Four Becoming Prayer When the Name Becomes Our Life “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” — Galatians 2:20 Over these past conferences we have spoken of receiving the holy Name, guarding the heart, and learning to stand before God with a broken spirit. All of these are necessary. Yet none of them is the destination. The Jesus Prayer is not an achievement. It is not even the highest form of prayer. It is a road. It leads somewhere. Or rather, it leads to Someone. Its purpose is not that we should become occupied with prayer. Its purpose is that we should become occupied with Christ. Everything else is secondary. ⸻⸻⸻ When the Fathers speak of unceasing prayer, they do not imagine a person anxiously repeating words every moment of the day. Such an understanding would quickly become exhausting. Rather, they speak of a heart that has learned never to depart from Christ. The words remain precious. They accompany us throughout our life. Yet gradually the relationship they express becomes more important than the words themselves. The prayer begins on our lips. It descends into the mind. It finds rest in the heart. Finally, it becomes the atmosphere in which we live. Not because we are continually conscious of it. But because Christ has quietly become the center of everything. ⸻⸻⸻ This is why Archimandrite Zacharias insists that the measure of prayer is not extraordinary experiences. The measure is love. Has the heart become more patient? More forgiving? More merciful? More truthful? More humble? If not, then no matter how many prayers have been recited, the purpose has been missed. The true miracle of the Jesus Prayer is not mystical phenomena. It is the slow transformation of a human being into the likeness of Christ. ⸻⸻⸻ 2 There is a temptation that comes even in the spiritual life. We begin to love prayer more than we love God. We become attached to certain feelings. Certain consolations. Certain moments of peace. When they disappear, we imagine we have lost everything. The Fathers quietly remind us that God sometimes removes sensible consolation so that we may seek Him alone. The Bride must learn to love the Bridegroom more than His gifts. Only then does love become pure. ⸻⸻⸻ One of the most beautiful teachings of St. Silouan, so often repeated by Elder Sophrony and Archimandrite Zacharias, is that the heart gradually becomes capable of embracing the whole Adam. At first we pray for ourselves. Then for those closest to us. Then for those we love. Eventually, grace begins to enlarge the heart. We discover ourselves praying for strangers. For enemies. For those who have forgotten God. For those who have wounded us. For those who have never known love. 3 The circle widens until there are no longer any outsiders. This is not something we accomplish. It is something Christ accomplishes within us. His own love begins to beat within the human heart. ⸻⸻⸻ The Jesus Prayer therefore has a profoundly priestly character. Every baptized Christian is called to stand before God on behalf of the world. We bring before Him those who cannot pray. Those who no longer believe. Those crushed by despair. Those trapped in addiction. Those overwhelmed by grief. Those who have forgotten even their own dignity. We carry them quietly within our hearts. Not because we are strong enough. But because Christ carries them within His. Prayer becomes participation in His own intercession before the Father. ⸻⸻⸻ There is another fruit that often goes unnoticed. The heart becomes grateful. Not merely thankful when life is pleasant. 4 Grateful always. The one who continually invokes the Name slowly discovers that every breath is gift. Every sunrise. Every meal. Every encounter. Every sorrow. Even suffering becomes a place where Christ may be found. Thanksgiving begins to permeate ordinary life. The Eucharist extends into every hour of the day. ⸻⸻⸻ The Fathers speak often of stillness. Many misunderstand this word. Stillness is not merely external silence. Nor is it freedom from activity. Stillness is the quiet confidence that Christ is present. A person may live in a monastery or in a crowded city. He may spend his days alone or surrounded by people. Stillness is possible wherever the heart has learned to remain with Christ. The Jesus Prayer becomes the guardian of this hidden peace. ⸻⸻⸻ As years pass, the prayer itself often becomes simpler. Sometimes the full prayer is spoken. 5 Sometimes only the holy Name. Sometimes no words at all. Only the silent awareness of His presence. The Fathers do not prescribe these movements. Grace teaches each soul according to its need. The important thing is never to abandon humility. The closer we draw to Christ, the more clearly we perceive that everything is gift. Nothing has been earned. Everything has been received. ⸻⸻⸻ Perhaps this explains why the greatest saints seem so ordinary. They do not appear remarkable. They seldom speak about themselves. They rarely attract attention. Having forgotten themselves, they have become transparent to Christ. People leave their presence remembering Him rather than them. This is the hidden victory of the Jesus Prayer. Not that we become known as holy. But that Christ alone becomes visible. ⸻⸻⸻ When we first began this retreat, we asked a simple question. 6 Why this Name? Now perhaps we may answer it. Because within this Name dwells the whole mystery of our salvation. The humility of Bethlehem. The obedience of Nazareth. The compassion shown to sinners. The tears shed over Jerusalem. The Cross. The silence of Holy Saturday. The glory of the Resurrection. The fire of Pentecost. Everything is contained within the Person whose Name we invoke. Each time we whisper, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” we stand before the whole mystery of the Gospel. Nothing essential is absent. ⸻⸻⸻ Soon this retreat will end. We shall return to our homes. To our families. To our work. To our responsibilities. 7 The hidden battle will continue. Distractions will return. Weakness will remain. But now the holy Name goes with us. It accompanies every step. It enters every conversation. It sanctifies every sorrow. It illumines every joy. Little by little, almost unnoticed, Christ Himself begins to gather the scattered fragments of our lives into a single offering to the Father. This is the true work of the Jesus Prayer. Not escape from the world. But the transfiguration of the heart within the world. ⸻⸻⸻ Let us therefore ask for no extraordinary gifts. Let us ask only for faithfulness. May the Name of Jesus remain upon our lips in times of joy and in times of grief. May it guard us in temptation. Strengthen us in weakness. Console us in loneliness. Humble us in success. Sustain us in suffering. 8 And at the hour of our death, when every earthly support has fallen away, may the holy Name still be found within our hearts—not as a formula we have mastered, but as the living presence of the Friend who has walked beside us all our lives. For in the end, the greatest fruit of the Jesus Prayer is not that we have learned to repeat the Name of Christ. It is that, through His infinite mercy, the Name of Christ has slowly written itself upon our hearts. And when that has happened, prayer has become life, and life itself has become an unending hymn of love to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Amen. 9

The Fathers never speak of the spiritual life as though it were merely the acquisition of virtues or the mastery of disciplines. At its heart, it is the slow awakening of a human being who learns once again to see. The battlefield is not first the world around us but the hidden kingdom within us. It is there, in the silence of the heart, that every thought seeks entrance, every desire asks for consent, and every movement of the soul quietly bends either toward God or away from Him. It is therefore no accident that this section of the Evergetinos begins with the conscience. The Fathers do not present conscience as a private opinion, nor as a passing feeling of guilt or innocence. They speak of it as “nature's book,” a living text written by the Creator Himself within the human heart. Before there were libraries, before there were theological treatises, before there were even spiritual fathers to guide us, God had already inscribed His law upon the depths of our being. The conscience remains that quiet witness which never ceases to speak, even when every other voice has fallen silent. St. Maximos therefore urges us not to despise it. Every time we ignore that gentle movement toward truth, every time we silence its warnings because they are inconvenient or uncomfortable, we do not simply reject an inner feeling. We reject a gift through which God Himself seeks to lead us. Yet the Fathers also understand that conscience is not formed automatically. Like every faculty of the soul, it can become clouded through neglect, distorted through the passions, or nearly inaudible beneath the constant noise of our own thoughts. Thus prayer and conscience belong together. A purified conscience gives birth to pure prayer, while genuine prayer steadily purifies the conscience. Each heals and strengthens the other until the heart gradually becomes transparent before God. This is why the Fathers place such extraordinary emphasis upon vigilance. The ascetic life is not one of anxious self-analysis but of loving attentiveness. One learns to ask, “From where has this thought arisen? Toward whom does it lead me? Does it draw me toward Christ, toward humility, toward peace, toward love, or does it leave me agitated, suspicious, self-absorbed, fearful, or filled with hidden resentment?” Such questions are not psychological exercises. They are acts of spiritual discernment. How beautiful that the Evergetinos allows us here to hear the voice of St. Synkletike. Her presence reminds us that the wisdom of the desert is not confined to the fathers alone. The mothers stand beside them as equal witnesses to the Gospel lived with radical seriousness. Their lives reveal dimensions of spiritual perception that enrich the whole Church. To hear Synkletike is to hear a mother whose authority has been forged in prayer, suffering, and long experience of the hidden warfare of the heart. Her image of the ship is unforgettable. Storms from without may batter the vessel, yet the greater danger often lies beneath the surface, where unnoticed water slowly fills the hold while everyone sleeps. So too the Christian is often preoccupied with visible temptations, external conflicts, and the sins of the world, while paying little attention to the quiet accumulation of interior movements that slowly weigh down the soul. A single grievance carefully preserved, a subtle spirit of self-importance, an unnoticed judgment against another, a conversation endlessly replayed within the imagination—these may appear insignificant, yet left unattended they become the hidden water that eventually sinks the ship. The modern elders speak with precisely the same realism. St. Sophrony taught that every thought should first be brought before Christ before it is welcomed into the heart. Elder Aimilianos describes the spiritual life as learning to stand watch over the entrance of the heart with peaceful sobriety. Elder Thaddeus reminds us that “our thoughts determine our lives,” not because thoughts possess magical power, but because every thought eventually shapes the disposition of the heart from which all our actions flow. The enemy rarely begins by demanding great sins. He is content to suggest one small thought that is entertained rather than examined, one interior conversation that slowly becomes an identity, one fear that quietly replaces trust in God. The Desert Fathers therefore become extraordinary physicians of attention. They teach us that the first victory is often not found in dramatic acts of asceticism but in recognizing a thought before it becomes a passion. The battle is won while the spark is still small, before it has become a consuming fire. Yet all of this vigilance must be understood correctly. It is never a turning inward born of fear. The goal is not endless introspection. The Fathers are not asking us to become preoccupied with ourselves but to become increasingly available to Christ. We guard the heart because it has become His dwelling place. We examine our thoughts because we desire that His voice, rather than every competing voice, might become the one we recognize most readily. Perhaps this is why Abba Bessarion's final words were that the monk should become “all eyes.” He was not describing suspicion but wakefulness. He envisioned a heart so illumined by grace that nothing enters unnoticed and nothing is judged apart from the light of Christ. In our own age, this teaching may be more urgent than ever. Never has the human heart been so relentlessly surrounded by competing voices, endless images, constant information, and unceasing commentary. Discernment has become one of the greatest ascetical tasks of our generation. We must learn once again to distinguish between the voice of conscience and the voice of shame, between the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the agitation of fear, between divine conviction and the endless accusations of the evil one. Only a heart that has grown quiet through prayer can make such distinctions. And perhaps that is where the Evergetinos gently leaves us. Not with fear of the battle, but with hope. God has not abandoned us to navigate these waters alone. He has placed within us the witness of conscience. He has given us the wisdom of the Fathers and Mothers. He has surrounded us with the prayers of the saints. Above all, He has given us His own Spirit, who patiently teaches us to recognize His voice amid every other voice. The vigilant heart is not merely watchful. It is a heart that has learned whom it is listening for. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:11 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 52 saying 5 00:07:28 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/coming-soon-the-name-above-every-name 00:08:08 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 52 saying 5 00:12:59 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/coming-soon-the-name-above-every-name 00:15:22 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 52 saying 5 00:16:17 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/coming-soon-the-name-above-every-name 00:28:30 Una: Can you give an example? 00:28:44 Una: Of acting with conscience in a difficult situation. 00:32:01 Janine:

This is Part 6 of my deep dive into David McGowan's Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream.In this episode, the story shifts from the bands themselves to the strange father figures of Laurel Canyon.We get into John Phillips, The Mamas & The Papas, Frank Zappa, and the question of who was really guiding the scene once the counterculture became more than a few kids with guitars and a dream of escaping the world they came from.John Phillips helped sell one of the most powerful versions of the California myth: sunshine, harmonies, longing, sex, beauty, and the flower-power dream. Frank Zappa stood in the middle of the same world while mocking it, shaping it, and hosting part of it from the famous Log Cabin.So this episode is really about a bigger question:What happens when a movement that claims it is escaping authority starts building new authority figures of its own?This series is not about pretending every connection proves one giant conspiracy. Some of this is documented history, some of it is McGowan's interpretation, and some of it is part of the larger pattern he is trying to map.Website: https://idiotmystic.comBlog: https://idiotmystic.com/blogDiscord: https://discord.gg/dXKjhZrZmMInstagram: https://instagram.com/idiotmysticTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@idiotmystic

Most men carry a deep drive to provide, to accomplish, and to be productive — and that is not a bad thing. But Psalm 112 holds out a vision of what a father's life looks like when it is rooted in something deeper than hard work: a fear of the Lord, a delight in His commandments, and a trust that God is the ultimate provider. The man who seeks the Lord in this way is called blessed — and so are his children after him. This is not a passage about quick wealth. It is a picture of the generational fruit that grows when a father leads his family by orienting his own life around God first. More than teaching children how to work hard or use their gifts, a father who fears the Lord and hungers for His Word gives his children one of the greatest treasures they will ever receive. Praying for the fathers in our lives — for their rest, their walk with God, their wisdom and strength — is one of the most powerful things we can do for our families. Today's Bible Verse "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed."— Psalm 112:1-2, ESV Ponder Today A father who fears the Lord gives his children one of the greatest gifts imaginable. More than work ethic, provision, or even good values, a dad whose life is genuinely oriented around God gives his children a model worth imitating and a legacy worth inheriting. The blessings of Psalm 112 flow from the fear of the Lord, not from hard work alone. A man who delights in God's commandments and trusts in His Word positions his family to receive both spiritual and material blessing — not as a formula, but as a fruit of a life surrendered to God. The drive to provide is good — but balance between work and rest matters. God Himself rested on the seventh day. A father who cannot slow down risks running on empty in the very areas his family needs him most: presence, patience, and spiritual leadership. Apart from God's grace, every father is limited. The wisest thing any man can do is lean on the Lord for wisdom and strength in everything he puts his hand to, rather than relying on his own capacity alone. Praying for the fathers in our lives is one of the most powerful things we can do for our families. Whether a father knows the Lord deeply or is still far from faith, interceding for his walk with God, his rest, and his leadership has eternal significance for generations to come. A Prayer for You Today Heavenly Father, we pray for the men in our lives. If the father of our children does not yet know You, we pray that You would draw him to Yourself and give him a hunger for Your Word. We pray that he will learn the importance of rest so that he can be restored. We ask that he would lean upon Your grace in all that You have called him to do. Thank You for being a faithful Father who always provides for our needs. We pray that the father of our children always looks to You first for wisdom and strength as he learns to walk in Your righteous ways and leads his children in the knowledge and love of You. In Jesus' name, Amen. Don't Miss an Episode If today's prayer stirred intercession in your heart for the father or fathers in your life, we'd love to stay connected. Subscribe to the LifeAudio newsletter at LifeAudio.com for daily prayers, devotionals, and more content to strengthen your faith and the families God has placed in your care. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Let me know your thoughts on the show and what topic you would like me to discuss next.Most men don't blow up their lives with one loud mistake. They just stop noticing the space between who they said they would be and who they've quietly become. Today we put a name to that space and then we do the part most people avoid: we treat it like an equation, a running ledger, a cost that keeps accumulating whether you feel ready or not.We focus on what is still here, not as comfort, but as a moving window. Your kids are the ages they are right now, and that season of proximity has a closing date that won't come with an announcement. Your marriage is still workable, but it's the marriage that exists between two real people carrying real weight, and drift compounds the longer it stays unedited. We also talk about credibility: the window where change still “registers” before the people closest to you recalibrate their expectations downward.Then we make the key turn: understanding the cost is not the same as accepting responsibility for it. The decision is not the moment of insight while you're listening. It's the hour after, when your day pushes back. And we name why so many capable, high performing men stall: trying to close a gap with the same private self-sufficiency that helped create it. Changing the outcome means changing the environment and adding real accountability.If this hit home, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more men find the work.Key moments in this episode:01:45 What Still Here Means01:52 Kids and Marriage Openings03:45 Measure the Closing Speed05:03 Compounding Drift and Credibility06:40 Running Cost Not Warning07:55 Understanding vs Responsibility09:52 Change Needs Environment10:44 Full Accounting and Choice12:19 Decide Now and Next Steps13:00 Band of Brothers InvitationSupport the showThanks for listening to the Revolutionary Man Podcast.  For more information about our programs, please use the links below to learn more about us. It could be the step that changes your life. 

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Sermon Title: The Faith of the Fathers Core Theme: Understanding, valuing, and walking in the biblical technology of faith by following the examples, characteristics, and unwavering faith of the patriarchs of old. Part I: Foundations of Faith & The Apostolic Gathering 1. Introduction & The Apostolic Context The Nature of an Apostolic Gathering: In an apostolic gathering, God delivers assigned or sent messages designed to bring transformation, position the church for an unusual manifestation of power, heal sicknesses, and deliver people from oppressions. The Danger of Distraction: Many believers miss out on their breakthroughs because of distractions (e.g., admiring outfits, side conversations, checking phones). Just as God put Adam into a deep sleep to form Eve without distraction, God requires deep attentiveness so believers do not miss the specific, life-altering words designed for them. Biblical Example: In Acts 3, Peter and John told the lame man, "Look on us." Attention is required to receive a miracle; distraction robs people of their blessings. 2. The Supremacy and Vital Importance of Faith Foundation of Christianity: There is no Christianity without faith. Salvation, experiences of God, pleasing God, and receiving inheritance are all accessed through faith. Guarding Against End-Time Obsolete Elements: Loss of Genuine Love for God: Revelation 2:4-5 warns against leaving one's first love. Matthew 24:12 notes that in the end times, iniquity will abound and the love of many will wax cold, causing people to love pleasure more than God. Loss of Faith: Luke 18:8 asks, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Hebrews 10:23 commands believers to hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering and to assemble together to safeguard it. Contending for the Faith: Jude 1:3 urges believers to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Faith is a fight; believers must learn how to fight to maintain it (Hebrews 6:12). 3. The Faith of the Fathers (The Patriarchs) Definition of the Fathers: This refers to the biblical characters, apostles, and prophets from the Old and New Testaments (e.g., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Elijah, Elisha, Apostle Paul, Jesus) who walked with God by faith. Hebrews 11 Overview (The Hall of Faith): Hebrews 11:1: Faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:2: "For by it the elders obtained a good report." The patriarchs obtained divine testimonies and good report cards of life through faith, not human effort. Why We Must Follow Their Faith: It is the established pattern and lifestyle of the Kingdom (Habakkuk 2:4: "The just shall live by his faith"). It is a guarantee of receiving the promises (Hebrews 6:12). It protects believers from self-glorification and self-dependence. 4. Faith vs. Works & Self-Glory The Error of Self-Justification: Romans 4:2-4 explains that if Abraham was justified by works, he would have something to boast about, but not before God. Human effort, self-confidence, and fleshly works always fail before God. When people rely on their own wealth, degrees, or abilities, it leads to pride and abomination before God (e.g., the rich fool in Luke 12, King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel). The DNA of Faith: Faith completely negates self-glory. True faith is anchored entirely on the goodness and grace of God, meaning God gets all the glory when breakthroughs happen. The Inclusion of the Uncircumcised: Romans 4:9-12 clarifies that Abraham's righteousness was accounted to him while he was uncircumcised. Circumcision was merely a sign/seal. This proves that both Jews and Gentiles can access this justification and inherit the promises simply by believing, regardless of background. Part II: Characteristics and Evidence of the Faith of the Fathers 1. Key Characteristics of the Faith of the Fathers To walk effectively in this dimension, believers must emulate the core characteristics displayed by the patriarchs: (1) Born Out of Intimacy: Real faith is birthed out of personal encounters and deep fellowship with God, not just copied principles (Romans 10:17: "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"). Biblical Examples: Moses spoke with God face-to-face, "as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had life-altering personal encounters with God. Without intimacy, faith becomes weak. (2) Unwaving Trust in God's Abilities and Promises: The faith of the fathers maintains absolute confidence in God that does not shake under pressure or opposing circumstances (Romans 4:18-21 regarding Abraham; Hebrews 11:32-34). (3) Uncontested Obedience Despite the Cost: True faith obeys God completely, regardless of human logic or personal sacrifice. Biblical Example: Abraham demonstrated uncontested obedience when asked to offer Isaac (Genesis 22), calling his act of surrender "worship" (Genesis 22:5). (4) Persistence and Perseverance through Trials: James 1:2-4 encourages believers to count it all joy when facing trials because testing produces endurance. Biblical Example: David remained steadfast when facing Goliath (1 Samuel 17), viewing trials as stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. Job maintained his trust through extreme suffering (Job 2:10, 42:10). (5) Willingness to Act Out Their Faith (Violent/Audacious Faith): Faith requires action and boldness. The fathers acted out their convictions with holy audacity—whether it was shutting mouths of lions, quenching fires, or stepping into impossible waters (Hebrews 11:33-34). 2. The Ultimate Benefits of Following Their Faith Nothing Shall Be Impossible: When operating in this realm of faith, impossibilities are eradicated (Mark 9:23). Pleasing God: Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Divine Positioning & Generational Legacy: Faith transfers blessings, changes family lineages (shifting families from poverty to abundance, or from obscurity to leadership like Joseph and David), and leaves a permanent mark of victory across generations. 3. Conclusion & Call to Action Stand Your Ground: Refuse to be moved by negative circumstances, family history, economic hardships, or medical reports. Make the Decision: Shift your focus from self-dependence and social media distractions to deep spiritual intimacy with God. The Final Declaration: As the year progresses toward its close, anchor your life on unwavering, unshakeable faith, and step boldly into the supernatural manifestations prepared for you in Christ.

Sermon Title: The Faith of the Fathers Core Theme: Understanding, valuing, and walking in the biblical technology of faith by following the examples, characteristics, and unwavering faith of the patriarchs of old. Part I: Foundations of Faith & The Apostolic Gathering 1. Introduction & The Apostolic Context The Nature of an Apostolic Gathering: In an apostolic gathering, God delivers assigned or sent messages designed to bring transformation, position the church for an unusual manifestation of power, heal sicknesses, and deliver people from oppressions. The Danger of Distraction: Many believers miss out on their breakthroughs because of distractions (e.g., admiring outfits, side conversations, checking phones). Just as God put Adam into a deep sleep to form Eve without distraction, God requires deep attentiveness so believers do not miss the specific, life-altering words designed for them. Biblical Example: In Acts 3, Peter and John told the lame man, "Look on us." Attention is required to receive a miracle; distraction robs people of their blessings. 2. The Supremacy and Vital Importance of Faith Foundation of Christianity: There is no Christianity without faith. Salvation, experiences of God, pleasing God, and receiving inheritance are all accessed through faith. Guarding Against End-Time Obsolete Elements: Loss of Genuine Love for God: Revelation 2:4-5 warns against leaving one's first love. Matthew 24:12 notes that in the end times, iniquity will abound and the love of many will wax cold, causing people to love pleasure more than God. Loss of Faith: Luke 18:8 asks, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Hebrews 10:23 commands believers to hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering and to assemble together to safeguard it. Contending for the Faith: Jude 1:3 urges believers to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Faith is a fight; believers must learn how to fight to maintain it (Hebrews 6:12). 3. The Faith of the Fathers (The Patriarchs) Definition of the Fathers: This refers to the biblical characters, apostles, and prophets from the Old and New Testaments (e.g., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Elijah, Elisha, Apostle Paul, Jesus) who walked with God by faith. Hebrews 11 Overview (The Hall of Faith): Hebrews 11:1: Faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:2: "For by it the elders obtained a good report." The patriarchs obtained divine testimonies and good report cards of life through faith, not human effort. Why We Must Follow Their Faith: It is the established pattern and lifestyle of the Kingdom (Habakkuk 2:4: "The just shall live by his faith"). It is a guarantee of receiving the promises (Hebrews 6:12). It protects believers from self-glorification and self-dependence. 4. Faith vs. Works & Self-Glory The Error of Self-Justification: Romans 4:2-4 explains that if Abraham was justified by works, he would have something to boast about, but not before God. Human effort, self-confidence, and fleshly works always fail before God. When people rely on their own wealth, degrees, or abilities, it leads to pride and abomination before God (e.g., the rich fool in Luke 12, King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel). The DNA of Faith: Faith completely negates self-glory. True faith is anchored entirely on the goodness and grace of God, meaning God gets all the glory when breakthroughs happen. The Inclusion of the Uncircumcised: Romans 4:9-12 clarifies that Abraham's righteousness was accounted to him while he was uncircumcised. Circumcision was merely a sign/seal. This proves that both Jews and Gentiles can access this justification and inherit the promises simply by believing, regardless of background. Part II: Characteristics and Evidence of the Faith of the Fathers 1. Key Characteristics of the Faith of the Fathers To walk effectively in this dimension, believers must emulate the core characteristics displayed by the patriarchs: (1) Born Out of Intimacy: Real faith is birthed out of personal encounters and deep fellowship with God, not just copied principles (Romans 10:17: "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"). Biblical Examples: Moses spoke with God face-to-face, "as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had life-altering personal encounters with God. Without intimacy, faith becomes weak. (2) Unwaving Trust in God's Abilities and Promises: The faith of the fathers maintains absolute confidence in God that does not shake under pressure or opposing circumstances (Romans 4:18-21 regarding Abraham; Hebrews 11:32-34). (3) Uncontested Obedience Despite the Cost: True faith obeys God completely, regardless of human logic or personal sacrifice. Biblical Example: Abraham demonstrated uncontested obedience when asked to offer Isaac (Genesis 22), calling his act of surrender "worship" (Genesis 22:5). (4) Persistence and Perseverance through Trials: James 1:2-4 encourages believers to count it all joy when facing trials because testing produces endurance. Biblical Example: David remained steadfast when facing Goliath (1 Samuel 17), viewing trials as stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. Job maintained his trust through extreme suffering (Job 2:10, 42:10). (5) Willingness to Act Out Their Faith (Violent/Audacious Faith): Faith requires action and boldness. The fathers acted out their convictions with holy audacity—whether it was shutting mouths of lions, quenching fires, or stepping into impossible waters (Hebrews 11:33-34). 2. The Ultimate Benefits of Following Their Faith Nothing Shall Be Impossible: When operating in this realm of faith, impossibilities are eradicated (Mark 9:23). Pleasing God: Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Divine Positioning & Generational Legacy: Faith transfers blessings, changes family lineages (shifting families from poverty to abundance, or from obscurity to leadership like Joseph and David), and leaves a permanent mark of victory across generations. 3. Conclusion & Call to Action Stand Your Ground: Refuse to be moved by negative circumstances, family history, economic hardships, or medical reports. Make the Decision: Shift your focus from self-dependence and social media distractions to deep spiritual intimacy with God. The Final Declaration: As the year progresses toward its close, anchor your life on unwavering, unshakeable faith, and step boldly into the supernatural manifestations prepared for you in Christ.

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In this episode, Amazing Larry slings some great questions at Dr. Jay Christianson about a selection of scriptures. Yup, it's time for “Stump the Truth Barista!” Frothy Thoughts with the Truth Barista Visit HighBeam Ministry, The Truth Barista Check out the Frothy Thoughts Blog! Check out The Truth Barista Books! Check out The Truth Barista YouTube Channel!

The Name Above Every Name Conference Three The Broken Heart and the Descent into the Heart Learning to Stand Before God “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” — Psalm 51:17 There comes a moment in every authentic spiritual life when we discover that we cannot pray as we imagined we would. We begin with generous resolutions. We set aside time. We struggle to be faithful. We seek recollection. Yet gradually another discovery is made. The deepest obstacle to prayer is not distraction. It is ourselves. Not because we are evil. But because our hearts have become divided. Part of us longs for God. Another part clings to the world. Part of us desires silence. Another part fears it. Part of us seeks Christ. Another part still wishes to preserve itself. Prayer slowly uncovers this division. Not to discourage us. But to heal us. ⸻⸻⸻ Archimandrite Zacharias often says that the purpose of the spiritual life is not simply to become moral. It is to acquire a heart capable of standing before the living God. That is a very different thing. Many people imagine holiness as flawless behavior. The saints speak instead of relationship. A man may appear outwardly blameless while never allowing God near his heart. Another may come before God in tears, unable even to lift up his eyes, and return home justified. The difference is not perfection. It is truth. God can only fill the heart that has ceased pretending. ⸻⸻⸻ This is why repentance occupies such a central place in the Jesus Prayer. “Have mercy on me.” These words are not born of self-hatred. Nor are they the cry of someone obsessed with guilt. They are the language of love. 2 Only someone who has glimpsed the beauty of Christ can grieve over the ways he has turned from Him. Repentance is therefore not primarily looking at ourselves. It is looking at Christ. His light reveals everything. Not harshly. Tenderly. Like the rising sun that slowly illumines a valley still covered in morning mist. Nothing is forced. Everything is revealed in love. ⸻⸻⸻ The Fathers distinguish between remorse and repentance. Remorse circles endlessly around itself. Repentance turns toward God. Remorse says, “I have failed.” Repentance says, “Lord, have mercy.” Remorse ends in discouragement. Repentance opens the door to hope. This distinction is essential. Many sincere Christians carry burdens Christ never asked them to carry. 3 They believe continual self-accusation is humility. It is not. True humility forgets itself because it has become absorbed in Christ. The humble man knows his poverty. But he knows God's mercy even more. ⸻⸻⸻ Archimandrite Zacharias writes often about standing before God. This expression appears again and again. It is wonderfully simple. Prayer is not first speaking. Nor thinking. Nor even feeling. Prayer is standing. Standing before the Face of Christ. Standing in truth. Standing in poverty. Standing in hope. Everything else gradually unfolds from this. Sometimes words disappear. Sometimes thoughts become quiet. Sometimes only tears remain. 4 The Fathers are not disturbed by this. The heart has begun to speak. ⸻⸻⸻ One of the greatest gifts God grants us is the knowledge of our own weakness. Strangely, we usually resist this gift. We prefer strength. Competence. Success. Spiritual progress. God often gives something different. He allows us to encounter ourselves. Not to humiliate us. But to make us truthful. Without this knowledge, compassion remains shallow. We judge others because we have never seen ourselves. Once we have stood honestly before God, judgment becomes almost impossible. We recognize the same poverty within ourselves. And mercy begins to flow naturally. ⸻⸻⸻ The publican in the Temple becomes the icon of this prayer. He possesses nothing. No arguments. 5 No achievements. No excuses. He simply stands. “God, be merciful to me.” Nothing more. The Fathers never tire of returning to this image because it reveals the true posture of prayer. The Kingdom belongs to those who have nothing left except God. ⸻⸻⸻ There is another mystery hidden here. As repentance deepens, the heart begins to enlarge. This seems impossible. One might imagine continual repentance making a person smaller. The opposite occurs. Pride narrows the heart. Humility expands it. The more we stand honestly before Christ, the more room He creates within us. We begin to carry others. Their grief no longer feels foreign. Their wounds become our concern. Prayer quietly widens until it embraces the whole Adam. This is why the saints wept. 6 Not because they despaired. But because their hearts had become vast. ⸻⸻⸻ Archimandrite Zacharias frequently speaks of bearing shame. This language can trouble modern ears. Yet he uses it with profound care. The shame he describes is not humiliation inflicted by others. Nor is it psychological self-contempt. It is the willingness to stand before God without hiding. Adam covered himself. The saints uncover themselves before Christ. Nothing remains concealed. Nothing defended. Nothing explained away. And because everything is brought into the light, everything becomes capable of healing. The heart finally stops fleeing. It remains. ⸻⸻⸻ This is perhaps the deepest work of the Jesus Prayer. Not continual repetition. Continual return. 7 Every invocation is another act of trust. Another refusal to hide. Another opening of the heart. The prayer slowly becomes the place where Christ and the soul meet. No visions are required. No extraordinary experiences. Only faithfulness. Day after day. Year after year. Until standing before Christ becomes more natural than standing before ourselves. ⸻⸻⸻ There comes a point when prayer grows wonderfully simple. The words become fewer. The heart quieter. Silence itself begins to speak. This is not emptiness. It is fullness. The Presence for which words were preparing us has quietly arrived. The Fathers never encourage us to seek such moments. They teach us simply to remain faithful. Grace knows its own time. The flower does not open because we command it. 8 It opens because spring has come. So too the heart. ⸻⸻⸻ Perhaps this is the greatest lesson Archimandrite Zacharias offers us. The Jesus Prayer is not given so that we may become experts in prayer. It is given so that we may become truthful before God. The heart that continually cries, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” gradually loses the need to defend itself. It no longer fears weakness. It no longer hides failure. It no longer seeks admiration. It desires only to remain before Christ. And this is already the beginning of heaven. For heaven is nothing other than the soul standing unveiled before the Face of the One who has loved it from all eternity. As we leave this conference, let us ask for only one grace. Not extraordinary prayer. Not lofty experiences. Simply the courage to remain before Christ without masks. To allow His light to reveal us. To allow His mercy to heal us. 9 To allow His love to enlarge our hearts until they become capable of bearing both our own poverty and the suffering of the whole world. For this is the hidden work of the holy Name. It leads us, not away from ourselves, but through the truth of ourselves into the inexhaustible mercy of God. 10

There is a temptation when reading the closing section of Homily 17 to see it as little more than a long list of prohibitions. Do not quarrel. Do not lie. Speak little. Avoid pride. Flee idle disputes. Endure injustice. Keep away from the powerful. Be moderate. At first glance, it can seem as though Isaac is describing a life of relentless restraint. Yet nothing could be further from his intention. The asceticism Isaac describes is never an end in itself. It is not a spiritual achievement, nor a demonstration of discipline. It is medicine. Every command is given for one purpose alone: to heal the heart until it can see again. The passions do not simply lead us into sin; they cloud our vision. Anger, pride, gluttony, argumentativeness, ambition, and constant speech scatter the soul. They fragment our attention until we can no longer perceive the quiet movements of grace. We remain busy with ourselves while becoming strangers to the Kingdom already present within us. This is why Isaac warns so carefully about seemingly ordinary things. Much talk extinguishes the noetic movements of the heart. Pride drives away the gentle energy of the Holy Spirit. Endless disputes over doctrine can become more about victory than truth. Even legitimate concerns can consume the heart until it loses its capacity for wonder. Asceticism, then, is not primarily about saying no. It is about making room for a greater yes. As the heart is purified, something extraordinary begins to emerge. Desire awakens—not the restless desire that seeks to possess, but the deep longing placed within us by God from the beginning. Wonder returns. The world ceases to be merely useful or threatening and becomes transparent to divine love. We begin to recognize that every act of humility, every silence embraced, every injury patiently endured is quietly removing another veil from the eyes of the heart. Then Isaac arrives at the astonishing conclusion toward which the entire homily has been moving: “Your soul will see the light of Christ in herself.” This is not poetic exaggeration. Nor is it a mystical privilege reserved for a few extraordinary souls. It is the destiny of every human being. The One whom we have sought in prayer, in Scripture, in the sacraments, and in the wilderness is discovered dwelling within the heart itself. The ascetical life has not brought Christ near; it has healed our blindness so that we may finally behold the One who has never departed. Here desire reaches its fulfillment. Wonder is no longer merely a response to creation but to the Creator living within His creature. Love recognizes Love. The heart discovers that beneath all its restless searching there has always been an eternal Presence waiting in silence. The Desert Fathers never practiced asceticism because they despised the world. They practiced it because they longed to see. Every fast, every vigil, every hidden act of humility was an act of hope that the eyes of the heart might become clear enough to behold Christ shining from within. Perhaps this is why Isaac ends not with another command but with a promise. The goal is not a perfectly disciplined life. The goal is a luminous heart. For when the heart is healed, it does not merely believe that Christ dwells within. It begins to see Him there. And in that vision, desire finds its home, wonder becomes ceaseless, and the soul enters even now into the eternal light that can never again be overcome by darkness. --- Text of chat during the group:   00:02:13 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-summer-retreat 00:10:02 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/where-silence-learns-to-speak   00:11:13 Larry Ruggiero: Can you send the ISBN# of the book you are reading from. I'm having a difficult time following in my book translated by Nun Christina   00:11:35 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Above link is the Charter for City a Desert Press   00:13:17 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 216 para 7 mid paragraph   00:15:34 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/where-silence-learns-to-speak   00:29:23 James Hickman: Father, no disagreement here, but could you please share a few concrete examples of what Saint Isaac means by “something pertaining to the soul”? I can see why we don't want to hurt the soul. What does Isaac have in mind that pertains to the soul though?   00:33:23 James Hickman: Thank you   00:46:01 Maureen Cunningham: I put an icon in my car when get urge for fries I look at the Icon of the Holy Face of Jesus   00:46:57 paul g.: ✔️   00:47:42 James Hickman: The Thomistic Institue just released a podcast recording of a retreat talk on forgiveness by Fr. Andrew Hofer, OP, where he reminds us of the patristic interpretation of the fatted calf as Christ. The saints denied themselves of delicious food because they've tasted and seen how good and sweet the Lord is. Far tastier than any food made by human hands is the Fatted Calf.   00:52:57 Maureen Cunningham: Not passed by FDA only baby product   00:53:49 Rebecca Thérèse: Is the supplement research conducted by pharmaceutical companies?   01:04:38 Erick Chastain: this set of passages seems to make the argument you should not often be on social media   01:17:09 John ‘Jack': They sanctify us   01:20:59 Joan Chakonas: I used to seek truth in economics and current events back in my secular days- but upon finding my faith I know Seeking truth with the help of the desert fathers is all i ever needed   01:21:07 Julie: Thank you Father

There is a temptation to read St. Isaac's description of the ascetic life as though he were outlining a ladder by which we ascend to God through effort. Nothing could be further from his mind. The ascetical life is not an achievement but a preparation. It removes what clouds the eyes of the heart so that grace may reveal what has always been present: the inexhaustible love of God. Isaac begins with struggle. The soul embraces fasting, watchfulness, vigil, prayer, reading, prostrations, and stillness with determination. Yet these labors are never an end in themselves. They are medicine. They quiet the tyranny of the passions and gather together the scattered powers of the soul. Little by little the heart becomes still enough to receive what no human effort can produce. Then grace begins to act in a new way. The mind is granted what Isaac calls the faculty of sight—not physical vision, nor intellectual understanding, but a purified perception of reality. The eyes of the heart begin to open. One starts to see as God sees. The mysteries of faith are no longer merely believed; they begin to be tasted. Scripture becomes transparent with divine life. Every created thing becomes luminous with the presence of the Creator. This is the healing of sight. What is seen first is not extraordinary visions but the overwhelming depth of God's love. The soul discovers that grace has always preceded it, surrounded it, and carried it. What once appeared ordinary now becomes radiant with mercy. Every remembrance of Christ reveals a love deeper than previously imagined. Every prayer uncovers a tenderness that had always been waiting. From this vision arises what Isaac calls fervor. But this is not emotional excitement or religious intensity. It is the heart set ablaze because it has finally glimpsed something infinitely beautiful. One cannot behold divine love without being drawn toward it. And here wonder is born. Wonder is the soul's astonishment before a Love that continually exceeds every expectation. It is the childlike gaze restored after years of blindness. The more one sees, the more one realizes how little has yet been seen. Every new glimpse enlarges the heart's capacity for awe. Wonder, in turn, gives birth to desire. This desire is no longer restless striving for spiritual experiences. It is the quiet longing to remain forever with the One whose beauty has captivated the heart. Desire has been healed because sight has been healed. One seeks God not from fear or obligation but because Love has become irresistible. The tears Isaac describes arise naturally from this transformation. They are the language of a heart becoming transparent before God. As tears deepen into abiding peace, the warfare of thoughts gradually subsides. From this peace comes purity. From purity comes clearer vision. From clearer vision comes still greater wonder. From wonder comes deeper desire. Thus the soul moves, as St. Paul says, “from glory to glory,” or, as the Fathers loved to say, from grace to grace. Even the ascetical practices themselves are transformed. Vigils, fasting, prostrations, and prayer are no longer burdens to be endured but expressions of love. One remains in prayer because one has discovered the Beloved there. Whether prayer multiplies into countless prostrations or becomes gathered into a single wordless contemplation, both are gifts of the same grace working according to the measure God gives. For Isaac, the entire spiritual life is nothing other than the gradual restoration of vision. We do not become different people so much as truly human. The veil over the heart is lifted. We begin to behold the Kingdom already present. We discover that God has loved us long before we learned to seek Him. Every genuine ascetical labor serves this one purpose: that our sight may be healed, our wonder awakened, our desire purified, and our hearts transformed ever more deeply into the likeness of Christ. The journey never ends, for the love that is revealed is infinite. Each grace prepares the soul for another grace. Each glimpse opens onto a greater horizon. And so the heart continues its pilgrimage—not driven by fear, but drawn onward forever by the inexhaustible beauty of Divine Love. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:00 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 217 Homily 18 00:04:21 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/a-new-book-from-city-a-desert-press 00:04:57 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.amazon.com/Monastic-Heart-Future-Church-Fragmentation-ebook/dp/B0H83PJB6R/ref=sr_1_2?crid=CA7O6MNLKS2B&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.UxrtdZ72KKP0IBe2nG2QKWoekj-tDWub-JRHV70F3o_9D8FKLwu3XJQwvaPRSOwXyoLeEkoM3pnCnEfXghYaecmDIjPMYikocLL4oOyECpNa633QwCLIRNEvGeBomRANfezyyKgZUNE_8KLrXsTDyDINbIELyJ_JDlSyMQ366ADfOF8Ko7V9c8zpgjxI-NXGJ8OXoZir32kRKTRw1hzIvS79rq-XnDOglQHeZ3C0ypk.jSo9ogtwHZA38QhTVKjumOyVWU5SWx0imIAZKw7pOPU&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+monastic+heart&qid=1785019600&sprefix=%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-2 00:06:15 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-monastic-heart-and-the-future-of-the-church-charbel-abernethy/1150670922?ean=9798996766413 00:08:19 Aaron: Good evening everyone. Hope you're all well 00:32:02 Maureen Cunningham: When you see your lack, how do you not have self hate for what you see with in yourself 00:44:45 Ryan Ngeve: Father regarding the last line from the previous paragraph, what purposes does it serve for the tears the overcome a man, leave him, and the come again unceasingly? 00:45:48 James Hickman: Re: the prodigal son, the Father's fatted calf was always there for either son to enjoy, the fatted calf being the sweet Christ. 00:45:57 Kathryn Rose: Myrrhic tears 00:46:53 James Hickman: The slaughtered fatted calf is like that peace from warfare 00:48:57 Erick Chastain: page #? 01:00:25 David Swiderski: The veil between heaven and earth is thinnest at night. I can't remember the Saint but learned this from someone in Spain in the Picos de Europa looking at the milky way and the sea of Biscay in the distance. I still like to do a vigil looking out a window or outside (in summer) 01:04:19 Aaron: How can one recognise their own limits in spiritual practice so they don't push themselves beyond what their body can bear? 01:05:07 David Swiderski: I will try. It was a comment from a friend I was so caught up in the moment I cant remember 01:05:19 Julie: Reacted to "I will try. It was a comment from a friend I was so caught up in the moment I cant remember" with

What does it mean when Isaiah 49:23 calls kings "nursing fathers" to God's people? In this episode of The Magistrate, Josh Howard and James Baird examine one of the most debated passages in Christian political theology. Looking at Isaiah 49, Numbers 11, and the historic Reformed tradition, they explain why civil rulers are called to protect, nourish, and support the church—not as replacements for Christ or the church's spiritual authority, but as ministers of God for the good of His people.Watch all of our videos and subscribe to our channel for the latest content >HereHere

Can the devil be saved?While many Christians assume the answer is obvious, the Eastern Church Fathers offer a far more nuanced discussion than most people realize. In​ this episode, Nathan Jacobs explores the five major positions found within the Christian East on whether Satan and the fallen angels can ultimately be​ redeemed—and what these views reveal about God's goodness, providence, and the nature of salvation.Rather than focusing on speculation, this conversation examines how the Fathers reasoned through the question and why their answers consistently​ point back to the infinite love of God.======================================Timestamps00:00 Introduction00:00:50 Theology vs. Theological Opinion00:01:32 Five Views on the Devil's Salvation00:03:04 Why Most Fathers Say No00:03:19 St. Paisios and Praying for the Devil00:04:37 St. Ammonios on God's Will00:06:21 St. John Chrysostom and the Unpardonable Sin00:07:21 St. Maximus the Confessor00:08:54 St. Symeon the New Theologian00:10:19 Why John of Damascus Says It's Impossible00:11:23 Death as Mercy00:16:46 Why Angels Cannot Be "Remade"00:19:53 Can the Devil Be Saved?00:20:18 Pseudo-Dionysius on Corruption00:22:55 Origen and Universal Salvation00:26:51 Gregory of Nyssa and St. Isaac the Syrian00:28:26 The Five Positions Summarized00:30:25 What the Fathers Agree On00:31:09 God's Providence and Love00:35:29 The Common Thread00:36:13 A Final Story from St. Sophronius======================================Do you like this content? Join Jacobs Premium to get exclusive access to essays, lecture series, monthly Q&A Zoom calls, and ourbook club. Use code: LEWIS to get a discount: https://www.thenathanjacobspodcast.com/Support the East West Series: http://theeastwestseries.com/======================================Relevant Links:​God's Omnipotence Explained: Can God Really Do Anything? https://youtu.be/qEYzy1Wbjcg​On Apokatastasis and Universal Salvation​: https://open.substack.com/pub/nathanajacobs/p/on-apokatastasis-and-universal-salvation?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webAll links:The Theological Letters (Substack): https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcastX: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathanandrewjacobsAcademia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobsListen and please review the podcast elsewhere:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QSApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast

In this thought-provoking episode, we thank the Lord for the gifts of discernment and spiritual maturity as we examine the times we are living in. As society increasingly embraces adulting while neglecting true adulthood, we explore the difference between temporary independence and genuine character, responsibility, and godly wisdom.Why are so many struggling with life skills, accountability, and spiritual growth? Has worldliness quietly infiltrated the Church and weakened our walk with Christ? Scripture reminds us that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." As believers, our faith, trust, and worldview are meant to be radically different from the culture around us.Join us as we discuss the biblical meaning of holiness, being set apart from the world, and the urgent need for spiritually mature men and women who can teach, mentor, and lead the next generation. In a time when discernment is desperately needed and spiritual maturity appears to be at an all-time low, this conversation will challenge you to evaluate your walk with Christ and embrace a deeper life of faith, obedience, and godly influence.Key Topics:Discernment in challenging timesAdulting vs. true adulthoodCharacter, responsibility, and life skillsFaith through God's WordBiblical holiness and being set apartOvercoming worldlinessGrowing in spiritual maturity and leadershipTune in and be encouraged to stand firm in God's truth while cultivating the spiritual maturity needed for today's world.The Voice in the Wilderness does not endorse any link or other material found at buzzsprout.More at https://www.thevoiceinthewilderness.org/

What was Vashti's “no” protecting and what does it teach us about the difference between patriarchal order and patriarchy? Dr. Barbara Morgan Gardner explores the book of Esther, unpacking divine timing, covenant-based leadership, and how a father's example shapes the way his daughters come to know God.YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/tvR7kyKdIkQALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIM.co FREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook WEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE0:00 - Part 1 - Dr. Barbara Morgan Gardner3:40 Welcome Dr. Gardner5:51 Women of Covenant Leadership nonprofit9:07 Come, Follow Me Manual10:58 The Amsterdam Airport story13:41 Tender mercies aren't random14:50 Faith is trust in the Lord's timing16:47 Why we record sacred experiences19:02 The king's feast and Vashti's refusal21:33 Adam and Eve and the pattern24:12 Defining patriarchal order vs. patriarchy27:19 Vashti refuses to be objectified29:28 “She showed moxie”31:38 Every man in his own home33:56 D&C 121 applies to women, too34:41 Dad: “That's my wife”38:23 The king remembers Vashti40:57 Confidence, virtue, and charity42:51 Why prophets speak differently to men and women44:34 Lead the world, don't be led by it46:49 What presiding really means49:46 Barb and Dustin's marriage52:33 Mordecai adopts Esther55:07 Adoption and birthright57:30 Esther becomes queen1:00:01 Daughters should listen to their fathers1:03:43 Fathers, daughters, and the nature of God1:06:17 Boundaries are love1:07:20 The trampoline date story1:10:50 The blind girl on the train1:12:52 End of Part 1 - Dr. Barbara Morgan GardnerThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Shukri reviews "The Sins of the Fathers" on this episode of Morse Code.

With special guest: Paul Ham… in conversation with Bill Kable Our topics do not come much bigger or more interesting than The Soul: A History of the Human Mind written by our guest today Paul Ham. Certain ideas come to mind when we mention the word “Soul”. Are we talking about soul music or the definition in the catechism or maybe the soul of America which was said to be lost during the Vietnam war? Paul tells us that the soul can mean all of these things and more. Paul has tackled a topic which is huge in breadth and also extended over the millennia to the beginnings of civilisation. His discovery is that what humans first called the soul was originally thought to be a part of all of us. The soul survived the death of the body and then ventured to an underworld which might be Heaven or Hell. Some Christians believed at one stage that there was also a halfway house called Purgatory but that has disappeared in more recent beliefs. In fact the soul itself disappeared mysteriously during the period called the enlightenment until we arrive where we are today and scientists tell us that the mind is a creation of the brain. In this book Paul Ham restores the idea of a soul to the human story but not as something that can be located as a separate organ or entity. Instead Paul shows us how belief in, and beliefs arising from the soul or mind, have animated and driven the history of our kind. Podcast (mp3)

Mr. Jaden Weatherly (one of our new seminarians) takes up the class, discussing the Song's initial themes of anxious longings, reciprocated longings, and the blossoming of the relationship. We end with a further discussion on the typology and allegory from the Fathers.

Presenting The Green Hornet in "Sins of the Fathers"

Fathers & Founders is back with another Walk & Talk through the Renosterveld fynbos of Cape Town.This time, Will is joined by Johan for a conversation between friends exploring AI, creativity and the future of storytelling.From building richer stories with AI tools like ChatGPT and MilaNote to unpacking what makes African founders unique, they reflect on the opportunities and trade-offs of the technology shaping our world.Together, they explore why walking sparks better thinking, the importance of boredom, balancing ambition with family and health, and why the best founders never lose sight of what matters most.If you're curious about AI but equally interested in the human stories behind innovation, this episode is well worth the walk. Enjoy!

Break glass for last-minute Fathers' Day gift

In this episode of Dismantling You, I sit down with Matthew Braman, LCSW, LCSW-C, PMH-C, a paternal perinatal mental health specialist and the Founder & CEO of VERVE Psychotherapy to explore a subject that too often goes unspoken: the grief men carry through fertility struggles, pregnancy loss, and the transition into fatherhood. Matthew shares how he found his way into this work, why men's emotional experiences in the perinatal period are so easily overlooked, and what happens when partners stop truly seeing each other. We talk honestly about the distance and resentment that build when grief has nowhere to go, and why real connection asks so much more of us than we expect.From there, Matthew and I dig into the four pillars of connection and what it takes for couples to move through reproductive grief together rather than apart. We explore why so many men wait for a crisis before seeking support, how the myth of the impenetrable man keeps them isolated, and the quiet power of doing the work before things fall apart. We also cover the invisible load in partnership, the guilt that surfaces around parenting, and the practice of building internal safety in the middle of hard seasons. It is a tender, grounding conversation about showing up, asking for help, and remembering that therapy, and honesty, are for everyone.__________________________________________________

Pastor Bryan shares the second half of a lesson from Psalm 78. Dr. Chapell shares the importance of fathers, and the example our Father in Heaven is to us. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1286/29?v=20251111

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." In this powerful episode, we examine where our confidence truly rests in troubled and uncertain times. As nations rage, economies fluctuate, leaders disappoint, and human strength proves unreliable, believers are called to put their trust in the Lord alone.What can the righteous do when the foundations seem shaken? Scripture gives a clear answer: follow the Lord, trust in the Lord, love the Lord, and cling to His righteousness. No matter what this fallen and fragile world may do, our hope is not found in earthly power, political systems, military might, financial prosperity, or human wisdom. Our hope is found in God.Join us as we explore the biblical call to pray in Jesus' name, walk by faith, and depend on the Lord's strength rather than our own. Though we are weak, the Lord is our refuge, our strength, and our salvation. The chariots and horses of this world will eventually fail, but the name of the Lord endures forever.Are you looking to chariots and horses for security? Or are you looking to the Lord? This episode is an encouraging reminder that while men may fall, fail, and disappoint us, those who trust in the Lord stand on an unshakable foundation. Let us remember the name of the Lord our God and place our faith where it belongs.The Voice in the Wilderness does not endorse any link or other material found at buzzsprout.More at https://www.thevoiceinthewilderness.org/

Pastor Bryan shares a lesson from Psalm 78. Dr. Chapell shares how our Father in Heaven can take the flaws in our lives, and make something beautiful To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1286/29?v=20251111

When You've Already Lost Control: Restoring Authority With a Rebellious Teen Many parents believe it's too late to restore authority once their child becomes a teenager. In this episode, Pastor Joseph explains why rebellion rarely happens overnight, how years of inconsistent parenting can gradually erode parental authority, and why there is still hope for families willing to make biblical changes. Through practical application and Scripture, this episode equips parents to begin rebuilding respect, consistency, and leadership in their homes. In This Episode 1. How Families Gradually Lose Authority Why rebellion is usually cultivated over years—not overnight. How small compromises become long-term patterns. The danger of inconsistent consequences. Why children learn from what parents consistently do more than what they occasionally say. The importance of beginning biblical parenting early. 2. The Lie Parents Believe "They're just going through a phase." Why children don't simply "grow out" of rebellion. The difference between personality and character. Why avoiding conflict today creates greater conflict tomorrow. Hebrews 12: God's loving discipline as the model for parents. 3. Is It Too Late? Why hope is never lost in Christ. Setting realistic expectations for rebuilding authority. Why consistency matters more than intensity. How to rebuild credibility one decision at a time. Starting with three clear, non-negotiable household rules. 4. Before Correcting Your Teenager, Examine Yourself The importance of parental humility and repentance. Modeling biblical repentance for your children. The difference between repentance and surrendering authority. Why integrity strengthens parental leadership. Fathers and mothers leading together with biblical unity. 5. Five Practical Steps to Restore Authority Stop making empty threats and start making firm decisions. Remove privileges—not necessities. Stop arguing and calmly enforce consequences. Get every adult in the home on the same page. Fight the spiritual battle through prayer and dependence on God. Key Scriptures Proverbs 22:6 Hebrews 12:5–11 Ephesians 6:1–4 Proverbs 22:15 James 1:22 James 4:6 Ephesians 6:10–18 Key Takeaways Authority is rarely lost overnight—it is surrendered over time. Consistency builds credibility. Teenagers often test boundaries before they trust them. Parents must model humility while maintaining biblical authority. Your role is to faithfully parent; God is responsible for changing hearts. The best time to establish authority was years ago. The second-best time is today. This Week's Challenge Choose three non-negotiable rules for your home. Write them down, establish clear consequences for breaking them, communicate them to your teenager, and follow through calmly and consistently every single time. Pray daily for wisdom, patience, and for God to transform your child's heart as you faithfully fulfill your role as their parent.

Crowley Clark joins No Limits: The Thriller Podcast for a non-spoiler conversation about Shadows of the Fathers, his debut thriller set inside Mexico's cartels — a novel brimming with suspense, passion, family drama, legacy, and a touch of the occult. Crowley also shares his process for crafting characters, writing dialogue, and marketing a first novel.“Crowley Clark delivers in this explosive Jack-Ryan-meets-James-Reece debut that won't stay in the shadows for long.” — ThrillerPod.com—

In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell interviews Christopher Emanuel, co-founder of Sky Is the Limit Foundation, during the National Shared Parenting Summit in Washington, D.C. Christopher's story is one of faith, fatherhood, pain, purpose, and perseverance. After his biological daughter became involved in what he describes as human trafficking through adoption, Christopher fought for her, gained full custody, and transformed that experience into a larger mission to serve families, youth, and fathers. In this conversation, Christopher talks about his daughter Skylar, the power of a child's voice, and the importance of helping young people discover their gifts, talents, and calling. He explains how Sky Is the Limit Foundation began as a community response to truancy, gang involvement, and the lack of father presence, and how it has grown into a safe, gender-specific, trauma-responsive space for youth and families. Kenneth and Christopher also discuss the shared parenting movement, responsible fatherhood, the Responsible Father Registry, adoption trafficking, community healing, and the need to create spaces where fathers feel seen, heard, supported, and equipped. This episode explores: • Christopher Emanuel's fatherhood journey • How pain can become passion and purpose • The story of Skylar and the power of a child's voice • Why fathers need safe spaces to be heard and seen • How Sky Is the Limit Foundation supports youth and families • The Responsible Father Registry and adoption trafficking concerns • Why shared parenting advocacy must reach more communities • How fathers can model healing, leadership, and purpose • Why awareness is one of the biggest challenges in shared parenting • The importance of bringing responsible fatherhood and shared parenting work together At the heart of Christopher's message is a powerful truth: fathers are not asking to replace mothers. Fathers are asking to be recognized, respected, and included in the lives of their children. This conversation is for fathers, mothers, advocates, practitioners, policymakers, youth leaders, and anyone committed to protecting children, strengthening families, and building communities where fathers are fully seen.

Today’s Topics: William Albrecht  joins Terry for Friday with the Fathers 1) Gospel – John 6:52-59 – The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For My Flesh is true food, and My Blood is true drink. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood remains in Me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will have life because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Memorial of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr Saint Fidelis, pray for us! Bishop Sheen quote of the day 2, 3, 4) Terry and William discuss Early Fathers of the Church and how they believed and taught the reality that the Holy Eucharist IS the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ

Father Connolly's homily from Father's Day 2026 encourages us as a Church community experiencing a priest shortage crisis to pray for the young men whom God is calling to share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ and serve the Church as spiritual fathers.

In a sinister triptych that mimics a hall of mirrors, Karl O'Neill's three masculine monologues draw parallel portraits – a suitor, a stalker, a spouse – of concave Man obsessed with the opposite sex.

How are you today? His works and blessings are marvellous! In this heartfelt episode, we reflect on the words of Psalm 139: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." As I celebrate my birthday, I share personal reflections on faith, life, and God's amazing creation.The discussion looks back at the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and its impact on America, as well as experiences from my years in government schools. We consider the value and preciousness of children, the importance of teaching them in the love and admonition of the Lord, and the biblical truth that "In the beginning God created."Join us as we celebrate the works of Almighty God and proclaim: "Marvellous are Thy Works."The Voice in the Wilderness does not endorse any link or other material found at buzzsprout.More at https://www.thevoiceinthewilderness.org/

In this episode of Personally Speaking, Msgr. Jim Lisante is joined by Fr. Jewel Aytona. Fr. Jewel is a missionary preacher with the Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy in Auburn, Kentucky. He travels throughout the country conducting missions and retreats and spreading the Good News. His brother, Fr. Joseph Aytona, is also a priest with the Fathers of Mercy. Fr. Jewel talks about his life, his family, his vocation journey and why he wanted to be a missionary priest.Support the show

Jim McCarthy talks to cancer survivor Evan Gear, associate pastor at Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, GA. Special thanks to Nathan Clark George for our opening and closing instrumental. Nathan serves as the Pastor of Worship alongside Kevin DeYoung at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC. You can access Nathan's fantastic catalog here.

Are moms tired? You bet! But they're not the only ones! In this encore episode in our summer series, Raising Them Well, we look at the other half of the parenting team who are also feeling the parenting pressure.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4vb94o8 Key Topics:Dad fatigue and self-careThe evolving role of dads in family lifeThe importance of vulnerability and emotional support in fatherhoodSound Bites:"I'm tired from this parenting journey, not of it.""Vulnerability is someone else's freedom.""Perspective of time passing changes everything."Chapters:00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction00:47 Jon Shares His Parenting Journey01:49 Balancing Busy Family Life and Fatigue02:59 The Concept of the Tired Dad and Its Significance03:50 Changing Family Dynamics and Dad Involvement06:10 Mental Load and Postpartum Experiences07:30 Communication and Vulnerability in Parenthood09:05 The Power of Vulnerability and Emotional Support11:03 Building Empathy and Shared Understanding12:10 Recognizing Overstimulation and Self-Care13:11 Accepting Chaos and Seasons of Parenting14:33 Teamwork and Flexibility in Family Roles16:22 The Shift to Emotional Provision in Fatherhood17:46 Responsibility and Presence in Parenting18:35 The Impact of Vulnerability on Family Relationships20:14 Self-Care Strategies for Dads21:35 Perspective and Seasons of Parenthood22:03 Cherished Family Moments in Chaos23:02 Approaching Difficult Conversations with Partners24:45 The Importance of Honest and Safe Communication26:03 The Role of Fathers in Emotional Support28:16 About the Book: The Tired Dad30:39 Connecting with Jon Gustin and ResourcesKeywords: fatherhood, dad fatigue, emotional provision, parenting, mental load, vulnerability, family dynamics, self-care, modern dads

Paul followed through on his promise to read Fathers and Sons by Turgenev, Paradise Lost, and Crime and Punishment to discuss with a former student. Some gleanings from his particular corner of the asylum.

✨ Ready to attract dream clients + sell in a way that feels natural, authentic + in service? Register for my free live workshop, Confidence That Converts: http://alyssanobriga.com/webinar-bashar   ====   What if humanity is closer to open contact than most of us realize?   This week on The Healing & Human Potential Podcast, I sit down with Darryl Anka, world-renowned channel for Bashar, to explore extraterrestrial contact, consciousness, and what may be unfolding over the next few years.   Darryl shares Bashar's latest perspective on UAP disclosure, why 2026 could be a pivotal year, and what open contact may look like. We also explore Darryl's own UFO sightings, parallel realities, telepathy, crop circles, AI, and humanity's connection to a larger galactic community.   Beyond the mystery, we discuss releasing fear-based beliefs, following your authentic path, and meeting the unknown with more curiosity, trust, and openness.   ==== Guest Bio:   Darryl has given seminars around the world for over 40 years on the subject of metaphysics via Bashar Communications, Inc. which is owned and operated by April Rochelle. Over 20 books, based on his seminars, have been published in the United States and Japan, with more books on the way. Recordings and additional information can be found at www.bashar.org.     In addition to his speaking career, Darryl has over 40 years of experience in miniature effects, storyboards, sets and designs on three Star Trek films, Iron Man, The Aviator, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End, I Robot, Live Free or Die Hard, and Flags of our Fathers among several others.    Darryl has made three films as writer-director-producer. The films "Dearly Departed," "First Contact," and "Alienated" are distributed internationally by Indie Rights Movies on Amazon, Vimeo, and Tubi TV among other platforms.   In addition to writing scripts, Darryl has written two published sci-fi novels in an ongoing series called "Shards of a Shattered Mirror," available at darrylanka.com.    Guest Links: boggledescaperooms.com darrylanka.com bashar.org ==== Website: alyssanobriga.com Instagram: @alyssanobriga TikTok - @alyssanobriga Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6b5s2xbA2d3pETSvYBZ9YR Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/healing-human-potential/id1705626495 ==== Alyssa Nobriga International, LLC - Disclaimer This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or any other qualified professional. We shall in no event be held liable to any party for any reason arising directly or indirectly for the use or interpretation of the information presented in this video. Copyright 2023, Alyssa Nobriga International, LLC - All rights reserved.

There's a quote in psychology I keep coming back to: the core of optimism is resilience. I've thought about that quote for years, and this week, sitting across from Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, I had a hunch that that very quote would resonate with him. So I did the only thing I do in these Y-Option podcasts: ask questions I don't know the answer to.I've known Coach Schiano for over 20 years. First as a wideout at Pitt, then these last couple years covering Big Ten football. This conversation, though, was different because I was embedded within the Scarlet Knights program for the day and what a day it was.I got to sit in on his team meeting, watch Coach Schiano look his players in the eyes and bridge a football lesson to a life lesson in the same breath. And at the end of an epic day with the team, staff and program he and I sat down, and Coach Schiano took me all the way back to where his leadership began: his kitchen table. And that is where today's Y-Option podcast, fueled by our founding sponsor 76, keeping you on the GO GO GO, begins.Coach Schiano grew up in an Italian household in Paterson, New Jersey, where his parents taught him and his three siblings one thing above all: you get up, you go to work, and some days it isn't pleasant but you keep showing up. The standard, even before it was ever spoken, was simple — no matter what, protect your family.That's not a throwaway line for him. It's the whole building now. “Family is everything to me in this building,” he said. And he means it literally, as he's now recruiting the sons of players he coached at Rutgers when they were in the Big East while currently coaching with his own three sons on this year's staff. Full circle doesn't begin to cover it.This is the line that stuck with me most: “You can have a goal and at the same time have a purpose.” Greg's goal is a national championship at Rutgers. His purpose is different.He is driven to make sure that the young men who walk into the Rutgers program leave as grown men. Husbands. Fathers. People who can figure it out when nobody's telling them what to do next. In this era of players getting paid, transferring and being told things from others that may not be accurate I have to say that watching Coach Schiano teach his players the realities of LIFE and how football can teach all of us how to navigate life was one of the most refreshing parts of my off-season.He didn't plan on coaching, by the way. He got cut playing in the CFL, came home, signed up for the LSAT, and was on his way to law school when his high school coach — practically a second father to him — talked him into helping out on the sideline instead. That coach later “fired” him, on purpose, so Greg would go be a graduate assistant and learn the business the right way. That GA year? 1989. At Rutgers. Where he told me, without blinking, that even back then, he was building his coaching staff for this program in his head.Chop.If you've followed this program at all, you know the word. Here's where it actually comes from: 1999, Miami, a sports psychologist named Dr. Kevin Elko telling the staff a story about a guy in the woods with nothing but an axe. It sat dormant for six years. Then in 2005, Rutgers blew a 28-7 fourth quarter lead at Illinois and lost in overtime. Greg couldn't sleep on the flight home. He remembered the story, upon landing he sent a GA to Home Depot for an axe, had it painted red, and walked it into the team meeting still wet with paint. We're all in the woods. We can lay down, or we pick a tree and chop until it falls. Rutgers went on a run and made a bowl game. The axe, and the word, never left.Finally, Rutgers has both hands free.For most of his 18 years split across two stints as head coach, Coach Schiano described competing “with one arm tied behind his back.” That's changing. He talked about vertical alignment: from president to athletic director to head coach, all pointed at the same goal, for the first time in his tenure. It's showing up in real terms: Rutgers retained all three of their must-keep players this offseason, including a receiver who very nearly left before Greg reminded him who he was and where he was from. “You're a difference maker. You're gonna leave a legacy,” he told him. He stayed. That conversation with KJ Duff is coming up later this week so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page.We also talked about his three coaching trees and biggest influences: Joe Paterno at Penn State, Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis out of the Jimmy Johnson lineage at Miami and Chicago, Dick Anderson at Rutgers. We talked about Pete Carroll and impact of our book, Win Forever, and the sabbatical Greg took in 2014 that reshaped how he leads now. Demanding, but flexible enough to let a coach leave for four hours for his daughter's recital. And we talked about his three sons, all working in the building, all grinding it out the long way.He just turned 60. Says he feels 30. And when I asked him about the word “legacy” landing on him after everything he's built here, he wouldn't take it yet. “I'm only comfortable with it because we haven't started yet,” he said. “The best times for Rutgers football are ahead of us.”I believe it.Much love and stay steady,YogiY-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth is a reader-supported publication. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.y-option.com/subscribe

The Fathers are extraordinarily subtle here because they know that the human heart is subtle. They refuse the comforting simplicity by which we divide the world into good people and bad people, good deeds and evil deeds, the righteous and the guilty. Not because such distinctions are meaningless, but because they do not yet reach deeply enough. Beneath the visible act lies the intention. Beneath the intention lies desire. And beneath desire there may be movements of the heart so quiet, so mixed, and so carefully concealed that we ourselves scarcely recognize them. A man praises his neighbor, yet his praise conceals envy. Another remains silent under reproach, and his silence appears humble, yet rancor is gathering within him. One speaks the truth, but uses truth as a weapon. Another defends his neighbor, yet secretly delights in appearing more merciful than those around him. The external act may be correct while the heart remains divided. This is why the Fathers speak so severely about guile. Guile is not simply telling a lie. It is the creation of a distance between what appears and what is. The lips move in one direction while the heart moves in another. We learn to present ourselves even to ourselves in ways that protect us from the truth. The terrifying possibility raised in these passages is that a person may fulfill a commandment and yet fail to acquire the virtue toward which the commandment was leading him. “Fulfilling a commandment is one thing and practicing a virtue is another.” This distinction is essential. I may refrain from speaking and still possess no meekness. I may give alms and still possess no mercy. I may defend the truth and yet have no love for the person whom I correct. I may rejoice publicly at another's success while inwardly grieving that the good was given to him rather than to me. The commandment has been observed outwardly. The heart has not yet become true. Yet the Fathers do not expose this complexity in order to drive us into endless introspection or suspicion of every motive. They are forming the conscience in relation to Christ. The Christian conscience is not meant to become a tribunal before which we endlessly prosecute ourselves. It is an organ of perception. Purified by grace, it learns to recognize what is consonant with Christ and what is alien to Him. It asks not merely, “Was this permitted?” or even, “Did I fulfill the commandment?” It begins to ask a more searching question: Was I living in conformity with the truth? And for the Christian, the Truth is not an abstraction. The Truth has a face. Christ becomes the measure of the heart. This is why intention matters so profoundly. God sees the deed from within. He sees the hidden resentment beneath the silence and the hidden mercy beneath the awkward word. He sees the desire to love when weakness prevents us from acting. He also sees the secret consent to evil before the body has carried it out. “The law of freedom exists in the mind prior to any action.” We live before the gaze of One from whom nothing is hidden. This could terrify us if God's gaze were merely forensic. But the Fathers understand His gaze as the gaze of the Physician. The heart is uncovered so that it may become whole. Christ brings into the light the envy concealed beneath praise, the vainglory concealed beneath humility, and the vengeance concealed beneath zeal for truth—not to humiliate us, but to free us from the exhausting necessity of pretending. Even the troubling account of St. Gregory the Wonderworker must be read within this severe spiritual world. The story is meant to awaken us to the gravity of making falsehood our habitation. The men who attempt to deceive the Saint are not simply performing a clever trick. They enact a lie with their bodies. One feigns death. The other feigns grief. Compassion itself is manipulated for gain. The entire scene is an inversion of reality. And suddenly the falsehood becomes terribly real. The story shocks us because the Fathers want to disturb our casual relationship with duplicity. We often imagine that what is hidden is therefore insignificant. They insist upon the opposite. What is hidden may be precisely where our deepest formation is taking place. The question, then, is not whether our hearts are perfectly pure. If that were the requirement, none of us could stand. The question is whether we are willing to live in the light. Can I acknowledge envy when I see it? Can I recognize that my righteous indignation contains wounded pride? Can I admit that my silence is not peace but resentment? Can I allow Christ to show me that even my virtues remain mixed with passions? This requires profound humility. But it also produces profound freedom. The Fathers give us a remarkably concrete remedy for envy: rejoice with the one whom you envy. Grieve with him when he grieves. Do not wait until your heart spontaneously becomes pure. Place yourself deliberately within the truth of communion. The one I envy is not my rival. His joy does not diminish me. His gifts are not accusations against my poverty. To rejoice with him is to begin teaching the heart the truth. This is how conscience is formed. Not by obsessively watching ourselves, but by repeatedly bringing the movements of the heart into the presence of Christ and allowing His life to become our measure. Slowly, painfully, the distance between appearance and reality begins to close. We become less interested in appearing humble and begin to desire humility. Less interested in appearing merciful and begin to desire mercy. Less interested in being seen as truthful and begin to desire the Truth. Perhaps this is what the Fathers mean by virtue. The commandment is no longer merely something I do. By grace, it begins to reveal what I am becoming. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:00:59 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 43 paragraph 3 00:03:28 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 43, first #3 00:13:19 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 43, first #3 00:18:27 Larry  Ruggiero: Christina Nun Part 5 Chapter 2 paragraph 3 ( page 401 in the 4 volume set). 00:19:58 Larry  Ruggiero: correction page 411 00:25:22 James Hickman: A question for Abba Mark paragraph 1: is the line “he is / will be punished more severely?” understood during, after, or a combination perhaps during and after life? 00:27:35 James Hickman: Thank you! 00:28:34 Maureen Cunningham: Page 44 it ends 00:33:45 Danny Moulton: Don't mess with St. Gregory! 00:34:26 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 47, # 4 00:37:14 Forrest: This story of St. Peter is in Acts of the Apostles chapter 5. 00:38:18 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 47, B 00:41:26 Forrest: And in this hypothesis, it is also shown that companionship with the wicked can be deadly. 00:44:25 Catherine Opie: I often have become very angry when people have taken advantage of my generous nature in the past and this made me hard hearted and reluctant to continue to be generous. Now, thanks to the grace of God and these sessions, I understand that I should continue to be generous, even more than before, pity anyone who takes advantage of that and pray for them begging the Lord to have mercy on them and me. I am slow to learn... 00:53:44 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 48, A 00:58:26 Rebecca Thérèse: I think Scripture can be understood at different levels. Using it symbolically to illustrate a spiritual point doesn't negate a more literalistic interpretation. St John of the Cross uses Scripture like this. 00:59:23 Catherine Opie: My footnote says this is not from St Gregory but an anonymous author 00:59:45 Forrest: The Greek says anonymous elder. 01:00:03 Kate: The footnote is on p 50 01:04:20 Forrest: ψυχικῶς - "at heart" 01:04:45 James Hickman: Gregory of Nyssa in The Life of Moses seems to interpret Moses's striking down the Egyptian as a struggle in prayer to guard his soul against the enemies of contemplation. The Egyptian here is not merely the guy who walked near Moses in Egypt…it's the war within. Paragraphs 310-312 in that book  www.newhumanityinstitute.org/pdf-articles/Gregory-of-Nyssa-The-Life-of-Moses.pdf 01:12:22 Forrest: I think this paragraph echoes paragraph 5 benefitting at heart ψυχικῶς without actually performing the good dead. 01:15:03 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You, always a Blessing 01:16:18 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:16:24 Danny Moulton: THank You! 01:16:30 Catherine Opie: God bless, its freezing here 01:16:33 John ‘Jack':

The Name Above Every Name Conference Two Guarding the Heart with the Name The Jesus Prayer and the Hidden Battle “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” — Proverbs 4:23 When we begin to pray the Jesus Prayer with any measure of faithfulness, we often encounter something unexpected. Rather than becoming peaceful, we become distracted. Rather than discovering silence, we discover noise. Rather than finding purity, we become painfully aware of the confusion within us. Many become discouraged at this point. They imagine they are failing. The Fathers tell us something very different. For the first time, we are beginning to see. The purpose of the Jesus Prayer is not merely to console us. It is to bring us into the light of Christ. And whenever light enters a darkened room, it reveals what has long been hidden. The heart is no different. The Jesus Prayer does not create our distractions. It uncovers them. It does not produce our passions. It reveals how deeply they have already taken root. This is why the beginning of prayer can feel more difficult than life before prayer. Grace has begun its work. ⸻⸻⸻ Archimandrite Zacharias often reminds us that God grants us His light gradually because He knows our weakness. If He were to reveal our heart all at once, we could not bear the sight. Instead, He teaches us gently. He uncovers one attachment. Then another. He exposes one fear. Then another. He reveals one hidden wound. Then another. Not to condemn us. But to heal us. This is the great difference between the accusation of the enemy and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. The enemy exposes in order to produce despair. Christ reveals in order to restore communion. The one drives us inward. The other draws us toward repentance. This distinction must never be forgotten. 2 ⸻⸻⸻ The Fathers speak constantly of watchfulness. This is not suspicion. It is not anxiety. It is not becoming preoccupied with ourselves. Watchfulness is simply the refusal to live asleep. Most of us spend our lives reacting. A word is spoken. A memory arises. An anxiety appears. A desire awakens. Without reflection we follow it. The Fathers ask us to pause. Not to analyze. Not to condemn. But to stand before Christ. The Jesus Prayer gradually creates this holy pause. Instead of immediately following every thought, we return to the Name. Again and again. Not violently. Not anxiously. Simply and quietly. 3 Like a child returning home. The Name becomes the place where the heart learns to remain. ⸻⸻⸻ One of the greatest misunderstandings of the Philokalia is the belief that thoughts themselves are the enemy. The Fathers never teach this. Thoughts come and go. Many arise without our consent. Temptation is not sin. Memories are not sin. Emotions are not sin. Even powerful images may arise without our choosing them. The hidden battle begins only when the heart gives consent. This is why the Fathers devote so much attention to freedom. Between the arising of a thought and our agreement with it there exists a sacred space. The Jesus Prayer enlarges that space. It restores our freedom. We are no longer carried wherever every thought wishes to lead us. We become capable of remaining with Christ. This is one of the greatest miracles of grace. ⸻⸻⸻ The enemy has always sought to scatter the human heart. 4 Our age makes this easier than ever. Never before have so many voices demanded our attention. Never before have we carried so much noise in our pockets. Never before have we been so easily distracted from the one thing necessary. The tragedy is not merely that we become distracted. It is that we gradually lose the capacity for recollection. We become strangers to our own hearts. The Jesus Prayer quietly gathers what has been scattered. Like a shepherd calling sheep from every hillside, the Name summons the fragments of our life back into unity. Thought by thought. Breath by breath. Day by day. The heart slowly becomes one. ⸻⸻⸻ This battle cannot be won by force. Many begin the spiritual life with enormous determination. They resolve to conquer every passion. To eliminate every distraction. To achieve uninterrupted prayer. Such zeal often ends in exhaustion. The Fathers counsel another way. 5 Humility. When distractions arise, we do not become angry. When thoughts return a hundred times, we return to Christ a hundred and one times. The victory lies less in never wandering than in always returning. The prayer itself teaches us this rhythm. Return. Remain. Return again. Eventually we discover that perseverance is stronger than intensity. ⸻⸻⸻ Archimandrite Zacharias repeatedly insists that humility attracts grace. This is why every sincere invocation of the Name weakens the dominion of pride. “Have mercy on me.” These words leave little room for self-sufficiency. They are the language of one who knows he cannot save himself. Strangely, this becomes the beginning of true freedom. Only the humble can receive help. Only the poor can receive riches. Only the empty can be filled. The Jesus Prayer continually places us in this blessed poverty. ⸻⸻⸻ 6 The hidden battle is therefore not primarily against demons. Nor is it first against thoughts. It is against forgetfulness. Adam forgot God. Israel forgot God. We forget God. Everything else follows from this forgetting. The Jesus Prayer becomes an act of remembrance. Not merely remembering a doctrine. But remembering a Person. The heart learns to live in His presence. As remembrance deepens, many passions lose their strength. Not because we have crushed them. But because Christ has become more beautiful than the things that once captivated us. Love quietly accomplishes what fear never could. ⸻⸻⸻ The Fathers speak of purity of heart. Our world often misunderstands this expression. Purity is not emotional perfection. Nor is it psychological simplicity. It is singleness. One heart. 7 One desire. One Lord. This is why Christ says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Only a unified heart can truly behold Him. The Jesus Prayer slowly gathers every divided affection into this one desire. Christ Himself becomes the center around which every thought, memory, sorrow, and joy begins to find its proper place. ⸻⸻⸻ Perhaps the greatest surprise of the spiritual life is that victory often feels like weakness. The proud imagine victory as mastery. The saints experience it as dependence. They become less confident in themselves. More confident in Christ. Less interested in their own progress. More attentive to His mercy. The Name accomplishes this quietly over many years. Not dramatically. Almost imperceptibly. Until one day we discover that we no longer rely upon our own strength. We instinctively turn toward Christ in every circumstance. The prayer has become the movement of the heart. 8 ⸻⸻⸻ As we continue this retreat, let us not become discouraged by the hidden battle. The very struggle is already a sign that grace is at work. If we now see distractions that once escaped our notice, give thanks. If we recognize passions that once ruled us unnoticed, give thanks. If we discover our weakness, give thanks. For Christ has not come to condemn what He reveals. He has come to heal it. Let us therefore guard the heart—not with fear, but with hope. Let us return again and again to the holy Name. For every sincere return, however small, is already a victory of grace. And slowly, often without our noticing, the heart that was once scattered among a thousand desires begins to rest in the One whose Name is above every name. 9

One of the striking features of the desert tradition is the extraordinary seriousness with which the Fathers speak about the conscience. Modern readers can easily mistake conscience for little more than an inner feeling, a private moral opinion, or an emotional sense of guilt. The Fathers know nothing of this reduction. For them, the conscience is something infinitely more profound. It is the hidden sanctuary where God quietly addresses the human heart. It is the place where divine love first encounters human freedom. This explains why they are far less interested in outward accomplishment than in the movements of the heart. God does not merely examine what we do. He examines why we do it. The Evergetinos reminds us that fasting, vigils, prayer, psalmody, almsgiving, and hospitality are all good by their very nature. Yet these same holy works can become empty when they spring from vanity, fear, ambition, or the longing to be admired. The act itself may appear beautiful before men while the heart quietly seeks itself rather than God. The Fathers understand something that remains deeply relevant in every age: the human heart possesses an astonishing ability to hide its motives even from itself. For this reason the spiritual life demands something more than discipline. It demands truthfulness. St. Isaac the Syrian brings the matter to its deepest point when he writes that virtue is not primarily found in many bodily labors but in “a heart rendered most wise by its hope in God.” Everything begins here. The body may perform countless good works, but unless the heart is slowly purified, those works cannot bear their full fruit. This is not because God is difficult to please. It is because God desires not our performance but our communion. Throughout these passages one senses that the conscience is not presented as an accuser waiting to condemn us but as a faithful companion seeking to preserve our freedom. St. Isaiah calls it our guardian. St. Mark tells us that whoever wishes to heal the soul must first learn to obey it. Abba Agathon goes so far as to say that the monk should never allow his conscience to accuse him in anything. Such words can easily be misunderstood. The Fathers are not asking us to become scrupulous or anxious. Nor are they inviting us into endless self-analysis. Rather, they are describing the gradual restoration of an inner harmony in which thought, desire, intention, and action become one. This harmony is one of the great signs of healing. The image preserved in the Gerontikon is especially beautiful. The conscience is compared to a spring. If one continually digs deeper, the water becomes clearer. If one fills it with earth, the spring is slowly destroyed. How often this happens almost unnoticed. The first compromise rarely appears serious. One ignores a small prompting toward kindness. One excuses an act of impatience. One refuses an invitation to forgiveness. One silences an uncomfortable truth because it interferes with a cherished attachment. None of these seems decisive. Yet every refusal places another handful of earth into the spring. Eventually the water grows cloudy. Not because God has withdrawn. But because we have gradually lost the ability to hear Him. The opposite is equally true. Every small act of obedience clears the water a little more. Every hidden act of honesty enlarges the heart. Every quiet surrender to truth makes the conscience more luminous and more peaceful. Here we begin to see why the Fathers connect conscience so closely with spiritual knowledge. Knowledge of God is not merely the accumulation of theological ideas. It is born from a heart that has become transparent enough to recognize His presence. This is where desire and conscience meet. Much of our suffering arises because our desires have become divided. We seek God while simultaneously clinging to lesser loves that promise security, recognition, or control. The conscience gently exposes this division. It does not shame us for having desires. Rather, it patiently teaches us which desires lead toward life and which quietly imprison us. The conscience is therefore one of God's greatest gifts to the wounded heart. It protects wonder. For wonder can only flourish where there is truth. A heart that continually ignores its deepest convictions gradually becomes cynical. It begins to distrust goodness because it has learned to distrust itself. But when a person begins again to live honestly before God—even imperfectly—a different kind of vision slowly emerges. Gratitude becomes possible. Simplicity returns. One discovers that obedience does not diminish freedom but restores it. The Fathers never separate conscience from hope. Even when it reproves us, its purpose is always restoration. Its voice is not that of an executioner but of a physician. It wounds only in order to heal. Perhaps this is why the saints possessed such extraordinary peace. They did not become holy because they never struggled. They became holy because they refused to make peace with falsehood. They listened to the quiet voice within before it became drowned out by louder voices. Little by little the conscience became not merely a judge of their actions but a window through which they learned to behold the face of Christ Himself. In an age filled with noise, distraction, and endless external judgments, the Fathers quietly invite us back to this hidden sanctuary. There, beneath all our fears and ambitions, God still speaks. And every time we answer that gentle voice with sincerity, the spring becomes clear again. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:19 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 49 paragraph 9 00:01:58 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-summer-retreat 00:02:37 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/a-new-book-from-city-a-desert-press 00:07:50 Bob Čihák, AZ: P 49, # 9 00:13:18 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 49 paragraph 9 00:16:01 Nancy Pagan: Hello  everyone. New here 00:16:25 Jacqulyn Dudasko: Reacted to "Hello  everyone. New here" with

Fatherhood is one of the most spiritually contested roles a person can hold, but God has fully equipped every believer for the fight. Drawing from Ephesians 6, the armor of God is not symbolic decoration. It is real spiritual equipment for real spiritual warfare. The enemy targets fathers and families because a disconnected or defeated father distorts the image of a Heavenly Father for children. Each piece of armor, from the belt of truth to the sword of the Spirit, speaks directly into how men lead, love, and parent. Fathers are called to make their homes places of grace, safety, and forgiveness. The war has already been won by Jesus, and our job is to enforce that victory in our homes and families. ★ Support this podcast ★

What happens when a poet who survived prison sits down with the world's oldest war story--and reads it in three sleepless, wandering days? In this second episode of the EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad, Dwayne Betts and EconTalk host Russ Roberts trade their impressions of the Iliad, discovering it's less about war than about fathers, friendship, and the stubborn dignity people find inside fates they can't escape. Betts connects Achilles's rage and grief to his own experience of incarceration and depression, while Roberts marvels at Homer's cinematic style and the strange tenderness between enemies. Together they unpack the shield of Achilles, the ransom of Hector's body, and how an ancient poem about war still cracks readers open today. It's a conversation about reading as communion--and how a 2,800-year-old story became, unexpectedly, a way of connecting to each other.

Today’s Topics: Joshua Charles joins Terry for Friday with the Fathers 1) Gospel – Matthew 12:1-8 – Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “See, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.” Bishop Sheen quote of the day 2, 3, 4) Terry and Joshua discuss Early Father of the Church: Saint Leo the Great and his Sermon 82 given on the Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul