Podcast appearances and mentions of John Chrysostom

Dave came to Adam's house to record and brought a host, a co-host, a topic, and a bottle of whiskey. No laptop. No microphones. No headphones. No headphone amp. Second time he has pulled that off. In his defense, he already hauled a computer over there for a permanent setup so he would not have to schlep gear across town every week, and in Adam's defense, that computer is still sitting there unplugged. So they went home, came back the next night, and recorded anyway. Second night in a row. For such a time as this.Sponsor: Select International Tours When Adam and Dave went looking for help leading their first pilgrimage, every person they asked gave them the same name. Having used Select now, they can vouch for it. Wherever in the world you want to go, whether you are leading a pilgrimage or joining one, go to selectinternationaltours.com and look at what they have ready for you.First, the Wiffle Ball tournament. There is a tradition in the Catholic Tulsa community on Labor Day, admittedly a niche corner of it, where the Hanisch family turns their entire backyard into a real Wiffle Ball field. Scoreboard. Foul poles. Pitching mound. Dirt. Bases. Bleachers. Concession stand. Instant replay. A bubble machine that fires when somebody goes deep. Eight teams, double elimination. Adam and Dave play with Adam's brother-in-law Holden, Mark Gabriel, and Brandon Bargus under the name Wiffle While You Work. Roughly ten years of this, and they had never won it. This year they made the championship game and lost by a run, 6 to 5. Ten years ago the wives played and it was a hang. Now teams recruit former ballplayers, one of whom had a family thing come up, which Adam called lucky out loud. Shout out to Chris and Carrie Hanisch, who carry the whole ordeal, and to Mark Gabriel, who sponsored it this year. This is what it looks like when a family says we have something to offer and then offers it, every year, on purpose.Which got Dave onto something he has been chewing on since they were all at Brandon Sheard's place for a rock put. Heaviest rock, longest throw, get the men in a line. Everybody looked at the guy who was obviously going to win, and he won, and it did not matter. The women and kids watched the men compete, and Dave watched what it did to the community. So here is the idea: whenever your friends gather, have a men's competition. Every time. Croquet, a heavy rock, flipping a quarter closest to a line, it does not matter what it is. What matters is that it is only for men, because the boys need to see it. A boy needs to look at that line and understand that he is a boy and those are men, and then he needs to be summoned across. Not by his own father. By another man in the community who calls him up and gives him the right to stand and compete. That is a rite of passage, and American culture has almost none left. It is also cheap, easy, and a lot more fun than standing around. There were zero women in the Wiffle Ball tournament this year, and there were young boys playing next to the men, faster than the men, and considerably less sore the next day.The campout is in a couple of weeks, last weekend of September like always, and it is more than full. Brandon Sheard will be there. Tomas from Ultimo Cigar will be there. Get away, pray with the monks, see all the men. If you missed it, put next year on the calendar now.The pour is Octomore 16.2 from Bruichladdich, a super peated Islay scotch aged five years in wine and sherry casks at 58.1 percent. A 2025 limited release. If you like peat, start with Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg, then understand that Octomore was the first distillery to put out something genuinely insane on the peat scale. Others have since gone higher in parts per million, and most of those were gimmicks that came and went. Dave's honest rule on expensive bottles is that a $200 bottle is almost never $100 better than a $100 bottle. Octomore was the first time he thought it actually was. A whiskey after his own heart.Then the topic: the universal destination of goods, Catechism 2402, which sits under the Seventh Commandment. Thou shalt not steal. That placement tells you something. God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common stewardship of mankind, to care for it, master it by labor, and enjoy its fruits, and the goods of creation are destined for the whole human race. Not for you specifically. All of it, the oceans on planets nobody has found yet down to the bacteria underfoot, aimed at the good of mankind.Adam gave the line the whole episode hangs on. The five acres you own are truly yours. But not merely yours.So why private property at all? Aquinas gives three reasons, and they hold up. Industriousness, because a man tends his own garden harder than he tends the community garden, not from selfishness but because shared duty spreads thin and nobody owns the outcome. Order, because affairs run more smoothly when each man is responsible for a specific thing. And peace, because quarrels multiply when property is held in common without distinction. Buy a boat with four families and find out. Somebody leaves trash in it, somebody scrapes the hull, somebody drives it hard and it breaks down, and now you are all negotiating who pays. Adam gave the other side its due: shared ownership lowers the cost of entry, and if every man is limited to a suburban backyard there is simply no beef, because a cow needs more land than that. Four families together can afford ground that feeds all four. There is a place for each. Every community has to find the order.The two ditches are individualism and collectivism, and this is the road between them. Private property is not a concession to greed. It flows out of what a family is. Sacred means set apart, and a family is set apart from the community by its nature, so it makes sense that a piece of creation gets set apart to match. A man needs somewhere he can say what is inside here is exclusive to my family, because the family itself is exclusive by nature. Raising your children on your own ground is not a detour from the good of mankind. It is how you serve it. Dave put it plainly: he is raising four daughters and three boys, and he needs the Minihan family raising strong holy young men, and Adam needs the same from him. Families are not sufficient to themselves. That is the debt.All of which is stewardship. This is God's house and you are managing it, and the King is coming back to see how it was kept, and eventually He wants all of it back. Your children most of all. Their souls were handed to you to tend so that they flourish into who they were made to be, and the fruit of that gets shared with everybody.St. John Chrysostom says surplus has to be counted as stolen goods when the wealthy ignore the destitute in front of them. Dave admitted the part that is actually hard. When he has extra eggs, he knows it instantly and gives them away gladly, no friction. Natural goods are easy to read. Man made goods are not. He cannot tell when he has a surplus of the things he bought, and he is worse at parting with them, even though they are of a lower order than food. He has too many T-shirts. He knows he has too many T-shirts. He pulls one out that has not been worn in fifteen years and hears himself say but what if. He is also fair about the old quotes on the unworn shoes in your closet belonging to the barefoot, which come from a world where a man owned one pair of shoes, not work boots and dress shoes and tennis shoes. Owning a few pairs is not theft. But if you can afford the next pair and cannot afford to give in proportion to your station, that is worth an honest look, because self love is pernicious and easy to feed.Adam brought it back to the ground. Haylee was in Oklahoma City, he finally got the kids down, he was not feeling well, and he was in bed when he remembered the chickens were not up and the pigs had no water. He laid there a long time talking himself out of it. What he learned about himself is how easily he can do that, and how good the excuses sound. Six months ago these were the responsibilities he was praying for. Everybody does this. You want the promotion, you get the promotion, and then you resent the people and problems that came with it, when the problems were the thing you asked for. That is where virtue lives: doing the thing when nobody is watching and your appetites are voting against it. Protect what you were given. Provide for it. Establish your children so they can stand without you, because you do not want to be a helicopter dad when they are 28. And the man who buries his talent in the yard was not evil. He was just tired.Francis de Sales, in Introduction to the Devout Life, lands it. A man may possess wealth. He must not let wealth possess his heart. Detachment is what keeps money a servant to the family first and then to the poor, in that order, because subsidiarity is real and you do not take food off your children's plates to be generous elsewhere. God does call men to wealth. The virtue of magnificence needs them. St. Peter's does not get built without them, and neither does your parish church. The question to keep asking is whether a thing gives you comfort or gives you happiness, because those are not the same and one of them will quietly own you.Truly yours. Not merely yours. Raise your glass.TOPICS COVEREDShowing up to record a podcast with a topic, a bottle of whiskey, and none of the recording equipmentThe permanently installed computer that nobody has plugged inThe Labor Day Wiffle Ball tournament in the Catholic Tulsa community, and the Hanisch backyard field with foul poles, instant replay, and a bubble machineTen years of Wiffle While You Work, a...

This week Fr. Michael walks through the Thanksgiving Prayers the congregation is invited to pray after Divine Liturgy.References:The Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great - Responses and Hymns - the prayers start on Page 95Follow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us Fan MailSupport the show

St. John Chrysostom, the "golden-mouthed" preacher, was exiled by an empress for telling the truth — and died still praising God. As archbishop of Constantinople, John's preaching demanded that wealthy Christians actually care for the poor outside their own church doors, which won him ordinary crowds and powerful enemies alike. Exiled for criticizing the empress, he died on the road in 407, his last words full of peace rather than bitterness. "Glory be to God for all things." Want to keep living John's story after the episode ends? Grab our free Family Pack — a saint calendar with daily challenges, feast-day activities, family discussion questions, and more — free for email subscribers, so your family can follow along together: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/pages/every-days-a-feast-day-follow-along    

Trinity Anglican Seminary is built on the same daily prayer rhythms you practice every time you hit play. Morning Prayer. Evening Prayer. Weekly Eucharist. Chapel and classroom aren't two separate worlds at Trinity. Whether you're pursuing a degree or exploring a certificate in Anglican studies, Trinity is a place to be formed in community, through study and prayer. Learn more at tas.edu/dailyoffice.Morning Prayer for Sunday, September 13, 2026 (Proper 19; John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople and Teacher of the Faith, 407).Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter):Psalms 32, 361 Kings 5Hebrews 4:1-13Click here to support The Daily Office Podcast with a one-time gift or a recurring donation.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to access the text for the Daily Office at DailyOffice2019.com.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Trinity Anglican Seminary is built on the same daily prayer rhythms you practice every time you hit play. Morning Prayer. Evening Prayer. Weekly Eucharist. Chapel and classroom aren't two separate worlds at Trinity. Whether you're pursuing a degree or exploring a certificate in Anglican studies, Trinity is a place to be formed in community, through study and prayer. Learn more at tas.edu/dailyoffice.Evening Prayer for Sunday, September 13, 2026 (Proper 19; Eve of Holy Cross Day; John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople and Teacher of the Faith, 407).Psalm and Scripture readings (60-day Psalter):Psalm 38Habakkuk 1Matthew 11Click here to support The Daily Office Podcast with a one-time gift or a recurring donation.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to access the text for the Daily Office at DailyOffice2019.com.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

9-12-26: St. John Chrysostom by

This week Fr. Michael picks up where he left off on last week's episode and continues walking through some of the prayers that the congregation are invited to say before Divine Liturgy begins. This week we start on Prayer 3 which begins on Page 9 of the book.References:Preparing for the Diving Liturgy Part IThe Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great - Responses and Hymns - the prayers start on Page 4. This week we pick up on Page 9Follow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us Fan MailSupport the show

Send us Fan MailThis episode originally aired at 1pm on Wednesday Sept 9 on SiriusXM 129 The Catholic ChannelFrontiers of Faith is now broadcast weekly on SiriusXM and uploaded here immediately after! This week we reflect on the Pope's intentions of safe water throughout the world and how to understand that request from a mission perspective.  We also remember those lost on Sept 11 and the legacy they left including Msgr's reflections from The National Catholic Register which can be found here.  Last we look at the life and preaching of St. John Chrysostom, which Katie struggles to pronounce. Click here to learn more about supporting the Pontifical Missions Societies:https://pontificalmissions.orgFollow us on socials!https://x.com/tpms_usahttps://www.youtube.com/@tpms_usa

Today is day 250 and we are studying A Rule of Prayer: Corporate Worship. 250. How is the Daily Office observed? The Daily Office is primarily designed for corporate prayer. It may also be used by individuals or families, in public or in private, in whole or in part. (Psalm 22:22–27; Acts 10:9–16; Hebrews 10:24–25; Revelation 7:9–12) We will conclude today with A Prayer of St. John Chrysostom found on page 26 of the Book of Common Prayer (2019). If you would like to buy or download To Be a Christian, head to anglicanchurch.net/catechism. Produced by Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Madison, MS. Original music from Matthew Clark. Daily collects and Psalms are taken from Book of Common Prayer (2019), created by the Anglican Church in North America and published by the Anglican Liturgical Press. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Catechism readings are taken from To Be a Christian - An Anglican Catechism Approved Edition, copyright © 2020 by The Anglican Church in North America by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This week Fr. Michael walks through some of the prayers that the congregation are invited to say before Divine Liturgy begins. References:The Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great - Responses and Hymns - the prayers start on Page 4Follow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us Fan MailSupport the show

Pray the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, for Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary TimePsalm 10Psalm 12Reading 1: Jeremiah 1Reading 2: From a homily by St. John Chrysostom, bishopSt. Helena Ministries is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Your donations may be tax-deductibleSupport us at: sthelenaministries.com/supportPresentation of the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) from The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) © 1975, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. The texts of Biblical readings are reproduced from the New American Bible © 1975

Pray the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, for Feast of St. Bartholomew, ApostlePsalm 19APsalm 64Psalm 97Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 4Reading 2: From a homily on the first letter to the Corinthians by St. John Chrysostom, bishopSt. Helena Ministries is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Your donations may be tax-deductibleSupport us at: sthelenaministries.com/supportPresentation of the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) from The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) © 1975, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. The texts of Biblical readings are reproduced from the New American Bible © 1975

Fr. Michael Copenhagen is a Melkite (Eastern Catholic) priest, husband, and father at St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Melkite Catholic Church in Gates, New York. He holds a Bachelor's of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. In Today's Show: Our Lord tells us to forgive. How much can we forgive without becoming a doormat? What is the difference between being gullible and being forgiving? What commandment does ingratitude towards God break? If a criminal dies right after baptism, and doesn't commit any other sins, will they enter directly into heaven or spend some time in purgatory? What's Father Copenhagen's advice on the epidemic of MGTOW men going their own way and avoiding marriage and children? They claim they want to live in peace and tranquility without getting fleeced in divorce court. ​​What's up with the Oriental Orthodox Churches? They seem suspicious… are their practices acceptable? It seems Kabbalistic. A priest in town has a very thick accent that makes his sermon hard to understand. His sermons sound very Lutheran, saying that we should only pray to Jesus and to not pray to the saints or the rosary. Should I say something about this? I want to write my thesis on some aspect of St. John Chrysostom's thought, but I can't think of anything. I know that in his time there was no systematic theology, so I wanted to ask for your opinion to give me some ideas. I read in one book that your Guardian Angel is assigned at the moment of conception, while in another book I read that it happens at the moment of birth. In the latter case, the book said the baby is under the protection of the mother's Guardian Angel from conception to birth. So which is correct? Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!

This reflection by Layperson Lisa explores the theme of perseverance in faith and prayer, using the story of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28) to offer comfort for those feeling spiritually dry or distracted.Key Takeaways:Addressing Prayer Struggles: Lisa acknowledges that she has been struggling with focus and feeling "blah" during her prayer life recently (0:06-0:54). She reminds viewers that even when prayer feels dry, sterile, or unfruitful, all prayer is inherently fruitful. (4:03-4:43).Lessons from the Canaanite Woman:The apostles initially wanted to dismiss the woman out of annoyance, whereas Jesus ultimately honors her persistence (1:15-2:10).Lisa shares a powerful insight from St. John Chrysostom: just as we will do anything to heal a physical ailment, we should be equally diligent about healing our souls (3:02-4:03).She highlights a common misunderstanding: when Jesus mentions "dogs," he uses a word referring to a pet dog rather than a stray. This suggests a more playful, interactive dialogue between Jesus and the woman, demonstrating her great faith and endurance (4:47-6:20).A Call to Action: The video concludes by asking viewers to reflect on where God is calling them to be faithful, endure, and persevere, even if they cannot immediately see the fruits of their efforts (6:38-6:59).

A fifth amendment may help in an earthly court, but not before Christ the righteous Judge. In this episode Father Genard Lazar opens the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22: the invitation is our present life, the wedding hall is the Church, and the King will examine every guest at the final judgment. Merely coming to church — even being baptized — does not mean the verdict is already in our favor. The man without a wedding garment was speechless. There is no counsel, no village patron, and no excuse that will stand.Drawing on St. John Chrysostom and the teaching of the Church, this episode calls us to wake up, repent (not merely admit), and put on the garment of virtue before that day.Key takeaways:• The wedding garment is the life of virtue and good deeds that reveal the quality of our faith• We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ — including those saved by grace (Matthew 25:31-46; Hebrews 9:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10)• “The devil made me do it,” “I didn't know,” and “I didn't have time” will not answer• Repentance is turning and returning — as the Church of the East prays — not a one-line “forgive me”• Prepare now: be reconciled (Matthew 5:25-26), keep oil in the lamp (Matthew 25:1-13), and repent (Luke 13:1-5)Listen, share, and let the double-edged sword do its work in you today. Rate and review the podcast so more people encounter the living Word.

In this episode of Catholic Girl on the Radio, we study Mark 1:40-45 — the healing of the leper — reflecting on Christ's authority and compassion through the wisdom of the Church Fathers, Bede the Venerable and St. John Chrysostom, and what this Gospel means for our lives today.

Send us Fan Mail

In this solo teaching episode, Joe Stopulos tackles a topic many Catholic men avoid discussing openly: money. Drawing on two books by finance writer Morgan Housel — The Psychology of Money (2020) and The Art of Spending Money (2025) — Joe walks through the core lessons of both and reframes them through a Catholic lens of stewardship, humility, and contentment. Highlights from this episode: Why doing well with money is about behavior, not intelligence — and how habits shape financial peace The "benchwarmer on a Major League team" analogy that reframes comparison and contentment Why real wealth is what you don't spend, not what you show How money's highest dividend is control over your time — spending it on the people you love Why finances are one of the top three pillars of a healthy marriage, and how Joe addresses this in the marriage prep he leads A nod to Dave Ramsey's budgeting framework — where Joe agrees, and where he doesn't The story of Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, and the billionaire who had everything except "enough" The quiet millionaire janitor who left $8 million to charity — and what it says about humility A closing quote from St. John Chrysostom on wealth, stewardship, and caring for the poor This episode is a call for Catholic men to examine their relationship with money — not as an end in itself, but as a tool for building a life centered on faith, family, and generosity. This episode is brought to you by: Construction Professionals — CPCustomHomes.com https://cpcustomhomes.com/ #CatholicMen #ManUpPodcast #IowaCatholicRadio #CatholicFatherhood #CatholicDadLife #CatholicStewardship #FaithAndFinance #PsychologyOfMoney #MorganHousel #CatholicMarriage #CatholicPodcast #DesMoinesIowa #IowaCatholic #HeroicVirtue Listen Live · Program Schedule · Our StationsLINKSYou can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok! More on our website.If you would like to support Iowa Catholic Radio you can donate Here! More from Iowa Catholic Radio:Sunday Dive with Katie PatrizioMan Up! with Joe StopulosCatholic Women Now with Chris Magruder and Julie NelsonThe Uncommon Good with Bo Bonner and Dr. Bud MarrBe Not Afraid with Fr. Fabian Moncada and Fr. Bruce RiebeBe Not Afraid en Español con el P. Fabián MoncadaMaking it Personal with Bishop William JoensenFaith and Family Finance with Gregory WaddleThe Great Men of the Bible with Joe Stopulos Liturgy & DevotionsThe Daily Gospel Reflection with Fr. Nick SmithThe Daily Mass from St. Francis of AssisiThe Daily Mass from St. Pius XThe Daily Mass from St. TheresaSunday Mass from the Basilica of Saint JohnWant to support your favorite show? Click Here Iowa Catholic Radio - Connecting People to Christ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pray the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, for Sunday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary TimePsalm 24Psalm 66Reading 1: Isaiah 6Reading 2: From a homily on Matthew by St. John Chrysostom, bishopSt. Helena Ministries is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Your donations may be tax-deductibleSupport us at: sthelenaministries.com/supportPresentation of the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) from The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) © 1975, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. The texts of Biblical readings are reproduced from the New American Bible © 1975

The psalmist says his soul treasures God's testimonies. What does that mean? This devotion is basically brought to you by the late fourth century preacher, John Chrysostom.

Dave's summer vacation got cut from three months down to two, and Adam has a theory. New baby, plus he hasn't been working near as hard. Dave tried to get a second opinion from Anthony Fauci, who invoked the Fifth on advice of counsel, so we're left with the ruling as it stands. Either way, the new van is getting loaded and the Niles family is headed to a cabin in Michigan for two weeks. Fifties at night, fires in the morning and the evening, which means chopping enough firewood to replace what you burn. Golf, swimming, and a little aluminum fishing boat that Davey gets to ride in. Joseph and Joshua stay on shore. Joseph has a big knot on his head at the moment anyway.Sponsor: Amen app (from the Augustine Institute) Sunday morning in a Catholic family is not easy like Sunday morning. It's kids in the van, beat Father down the aisle, get to the pew. The Amen app is how the guys prepare their kids to receive the Gospel before Mass even starts, plus free access to Divine Mercy in My Soul and True Devotion to Mary. Since 2021 it's hit 950,000 downloads. Let's get them to a million. No paywall, no subscription, no upfront cost. Download the Amen app right now.Sponsor: Select International Tours When Adam and Dave went looking for help leading their first pilgrimage, every single person pointed them to Select International Tours. Having used them, the guys can vouch. Wherever in the world you want to go, head to selectinternationaltours.com and see what they have ready.On the drive back from Lady Pamela's family reunion in Arkansas, Dave counted three mopeds inside 45 minutes, which would be unremarkable in Portland and is deeply strange here. A moped gang remains unconfirmed but would be extremely cool. His reading time is going to Plato's Republic with the group at Deacon Harrison's house, book 10 now, while Adam has missed it all year and is on record that he'll haunt them if they kick him out.Dave also saw the new Odyssey movie, alongside Dr. Frank Grabowski, Juan in a dog onesie as Argos, and Deacon Harrison Garlick, who announced in the group text beforehand: "I have filled my heart with hate." Verdict, 7.5 for entertainment. They shouldn't have tried to cram the whole epic into one film, they changed the ending, which you can't do, and they folded the lotus eaters into Calypso's island. That last one guts the most important choice in the story. Odysseus rejects immortality for his family. That's the whole thing.The pour is Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, the flagship, from a bottle the distiller sent the guys when the show started and that has sat on the shelf about ten years since. The label reads: Warning, contains high levels of manliness. No age statement, and no, ten years in your house doesn't count. Whiskey only ages in the barrel. Small batch, four barleys, virgin charred American white oak. Not bourbon, not 51% corn. Made in the style of Scotch, right here in America.Then the topic: the five precepts of the Church, Catechism 2041, page 548 if you've got the classic 90s edition. This is the Church flexing authority, which she rarely does. Most of what she does is defensive. Papal infallibility is a negative power, not a positive one. The precepts are different. They bind, and they're the floor, not the ceiling.Attend Mass on Sundays and holy days, and rest from servile labor. Everybody knows the first half. The second half is the one that stings, because going out to eat after Mass means you're compelling somebody else to work. Nurses show up, gas stations stay open, and nobody needs to be demolished by guilt over a trip to the store. Don't be a Pharisee about it. Do take it seriously.Confess your sins at least once a year, meaning your mortal sins. Go monthly anyway, and do a daily examination of conscience, because you can't remember what you ate two days ago, much less where you lost your temper 28 days ago. Dave prays to Our Lady on the way in: help me make this confession as if it were my last. Adam leaves his phone outside, because it's listening, and that's not a conspiracy. And if you deliberately hold a mortal sin back, the confession is invalid and you've just added to the pile. Compound interest is powerful. Compound sin is worse.Receive the Eucharist at least during the Easter season. Observe the days of fasting and abstinence, which used to be far heavier, and nothing is stopping you from going heavier now. Adam has never once enjoyed fasting. Dave eats nothing until dinner and swears he thinks more clearly for it. Both of them fast every Wednesday with a group of men and offer it up for their wives and their families. That's the domestic priesthood doing what it's for.And help provide for the needs of the Church. Notice it doesn't say if you can afford it. Money is the easy part. Time is the sacrifice, especially in the seasons of fatherhood when there isn't any. Fr. Brian O'Brien's answer when somebody says the church really ought to do this: "I totally agree. You should do it." Your kids need to see you make some of your time sacred, not because nothing else was asking for it, but because you told everything else no.It all lands on stewardship. You don't owe God 10%. You owe Him 100%. The house, the money, the hours, and most of all the kids were never yours, and He's going to want all of it back. Adam is honest about where that gets hard: leaving work drained, walking in the door, wanting to shut down instead of engage. The fix isn't willpower. It's routine. A liturgy of the home. Because those minutes belong to Him too, and at judgment there won't be a single moment that goes unjudged.One housekeeping note. The Camp Out is always the last weekend of September, so put it on the calendar now. Sign-ups open at the end of August, late on purpose, because opening early means people sign up and don't come, and space is limited. Patrons still come free. This year the guys will be asking for donations on site, because Patreon numbers are down and 100% of what comes in goes straight back into the show. Neither of them takes an income from it.Protect what you were given. Provide more than the minimum. Establish a house that looks like the King is coming back for it. Raise your glass.TOPICS COVEREDDave's summer vacation demoted from three months to two, with Fauci pleading the Fifth on the scienceTwo weeks at a Michigan cabin, chopping firewood to replace what you burn, and a little aluminum fishing boat15,000 miles on a brand new van because Oklahoma City is a multiple-times-a-week tripThree mopeds in 45 minutes in Arkansas, and the unconfirmed existence of a moped gangReading Plato's Republic with the group at Deacon Harrison's, book 10, and Adam's threat to haunt them if he gets kicked outThe new Odyssey movie reviewed: Juan in a dog onesie as Argos and Harrison Garlick arriving with his heart pre-filled with hateWhy folding the lotus eaters into Calypso's island wrecks the most important choice in the storyWhiskey of the week: Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, on the shelf ten years, "warning, contains high levels of manliness"Why an age statement stops the day it's bottled, because whiskey only ages in the barrelWhat makes Stranahan's American whiskey and not bourbon: four barleys, virgin charred American white oak, made in the style of ScotchBringing back the old show warning, sporadically and without noticeThe five precepts of the Church, Catechism 2041, and why they're the floor and not the ceilingPapal infallibility as a negative, defensive power versus the precepts as the Church flexing positive authorityWhy the Church legislates as little as possible and prefers freedom from the law over obedience to itResting from servile labor: the case against going out to eat after Mass, and why nurses and gas stations are fineSt. John Chrysostom on why you cannot pray at home the way you pray in churchConfessing mortal sins at least once a year, and why monthly confession is the better habitThe daily examination of conscience as the thing that makes confession possible at allDave's prayer to Our Lady walking into the confessional: make this confession as if it were my lastWhy Adam leaves his phone outside the confessionalSt. Alphonsus Liguori on concealing sin, and why an intentionally incomplete confession is invalid and grave matterThe Easter duty and St. Thomas Aquinas on why the Eucharist completes what baptism beginsAquinas's threefold purpose of fasting, and why the second reason is the most interesting oneSt. Basil the Great: fasting as a weapon for the valiant and a gymnasium for athletesFasting every Wednesday with a group of men and offering it up for your wife and familyProviding for the needs of the Church with time, not just money, and Fr. Brian O'Brien's "you should do it"Why churches were built with a piazza out front, and what that says about communityStewardship: you don't owe God 10%, you owe Him 100%, and He wants your kids back"It's the King's house" as a reason to actually take care of what you haveComing home mentally exhausted and shutting down instead of engaging, and why routine beats willpowerThe liturgy of the home: building routines so a weak will has somewhere to fallCatholic Man Show Camp Out: always the last weekend of September, sign-ups open at the end of AugustREFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEBooks &...

The Timing of the Gog and Magog War by Chris White on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Timing-Gog-Magog-War-Revelation/dp/B0HBN1X1RB False Christ by Chris White on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/False-Christ-Antichrist-Jewish-Messiah/dp/0991232925 Did the earliest Christians believe the Antichrist would present himself as Israel's long-awaited Messiah? In this episode, we examine the writings of the earliest church fathers—including Hippolytus, Irenaeus, John Chrysostom, John Damascene, Tertullian, Victorinus, and … Continue reading "Did the Earliest Christians Believe the Antichrist Would Be the Jewish Messiah?"

Saint Paul reminds us that the Church is God's building, founded on Jesus Christ alone, and that each of us is called to build our lives with materials that will endure. Drawing on St. John Chrysostom's homilies on this reading, this sermon explores how small acts of faithfulness—or neglect—shape the kind of people we are becoming. God's goal is not merely that we obey His commandments, but that, stone by stone, we become His holy temple, a dwelling place for His presence. Enjoy the show! --- Gold or Straw? Building a Life That Lasts I Corinthians 3:9-17 In today's Epistle, Saint Paul gives us two images. First, he says that we are God's building. Then he says something even more astonishing: we are God's temple. Those two images belong together. Buildings are not assembled all at once. They are built stone by stone, beam by beam, choice by choice. That is the Christian life. Notice that St. Paul does not say, "You are Paul's building," or "You are Apollos's building." He says, "You are God's building." Paul planted. Apollos watered. Others continued the work. But the Church belongs to God. That means the Church was never meant to gather around personalities, no matter how charismatic, convincing, or popular. It gathers around Christ. Then St. Paul says something even stronger: "No one can lay any other foundation than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." Chrysostom piles image upon image from Scripture. Christ is the Head, and we are the Body. Christ is the Vine, and we are the branches. Christ is the Bridegroom, and we are the Bride. Christ is the Foundation, and we are the building. Every one of those images teaches the same thing: there can be no gap between Christ and us. Because he is remembered as such a great theologian, it is easy to forget that St. John Chrysostom was also a pastor who understood the daily struggles of his flock. In his homily on this Epistle, he shares a piece of deeply practical wisdom. We often think the greatest danger comes from great sins, but he warns us about little ones. Going back to the image of the building, a tiny crack in a wall becomes a collapsing building. A small tear in a garment becomes a ruined cloak. A branch cut off only a little while from the vine quickly withers. Small acts of neglect, if ignored, soon become great ones. That is why the spiritual life requires attention—not because God is keeping score, but because love is either growing or shrinking. Then Paul changes the image. Now he says every one of us is building with different materials. Some build with gold, silver, and precious stones. Others build with wood, hay, and straw. What does that mean? Chrysostom says he is talking about the life we build. Some habits endure forever—we carry both them and their fruits into the age to come. Others prove empty. They cannot withstand the testing fire. Patience, mercy, faithfulness, prayer, and truthfulness become like gold. Resentment, vanity, bitterness, and self-indulgence are straw. They may seem substantial now, but they cannot sustain us in this life, and they have no place in the life of the Kingdom. That raises an important question: what are we building today? Because we are always building something. Every conversation, every decision, every act of forgiveness, every refusal to forgive, every prayer, every excuse, every generous act, every selfish act—another stone is being laid, or another bundle of straw. Finally, Paul says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple?" Notice the progression. We begin as a building. We end as a temple. God is not constructing a monument. He is preparing a dwelling place. His purpose is not merely that we behave better. His purpose is that He Himself may dwell within us. That is why holiness matters—not because God needs better rule-keepers, but because God desires a home in the human heart. And that changes everything. We do not practice patience simply because patience is a rule. We practice patience because it prepares the heart to receive Christ. We forgive because resentment has no place in God's temple. We pray because prayer is how the living God is welcomed into His temple. We come to church week after week because God is still building us—stone by stone, prayer by prayer, act of repentance by act of repentance—until the building truly becomes what it was always intended to be: the dwelling place of the living God.  

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

Pray the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, for Sunday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary TimePsalm 1Psalm 2Psalm 3Reading 1: 2 Corinthians 7Reading 2: From a homily on the second letter to the Corinthians by St. John Chrysostom, bishopSt. Helena Ministries is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Your donations may be tax-deductibleSupport us at: sthelenaministries.com/supportPresentation of the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) from The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) © 1975, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. The texts of Biblical readings are reproduced from the New American Bible © 1975

Pray the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, for Feast of St. James, ApostlePsalm 19APsalm 64Psalm 97Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 4Reading 2: From a homily on Matthew by St. John Chrysostom, bishopSt. Helena Ministries is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Your donations may be tax-deductibleSupport us at: sthelenaministries.com/supportPresentation of the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) from The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) © 1975, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. The texts of Biblical readings are reproduced from the New American Bible © 1975

The Christian life can seem difficult at first, but Christ does more than command holiness—He heals the heart. Reflecting on St. John Chrysostom's homily on Matthew 5, this sermon shows how the Holy Spirit gradually reshapes our desires so that virtue becomes joyful and love becomes natural. Christ fulfills the Law not only in Himself but also, by His grace, in us.  Enjoy the show! --- The Sunday of the Fourth Ecumenical Council Matthew 5:14-19; Titus 3:8-15 In today's Gospel, our Lord says something that must have surprised His listeners. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." Now, at first glance, that almost seems unnecessary. Nobody listening to the Beatitudes would naturally conclude that Jesus was attacking Moses. After all, He had been teaching humility, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and love. Nothing about that sounds like rebellion against God's Law. So why does He stop to say this? Saint John Chrysostom says it is because Jesus knows what He is about to do. He's about to say things that sound startling. "You have heard it said, 'Do not murder.' But I say to you, do not even harbor hatred." "You have heard it said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I say to you, do not even cultivate lust." He isn't lowering the standard. He's raising it. The people might naturally think, "Wait a minute. Is He replacing Moses? Is He setting aside everything God gave us?" So before He says another word, He reassures them. "I have not come to abolish. I have come to fulfill." That word fulfill is important. Christ doesn't erase the Law. He reveals and connects us with what it was always pointing toward. The commandment against murder was never just about keeping blood off your hands. It was always meant to teach us to love our neighbor. Christ simply carries it all the way into the heart. The commandment against adultery was never merely about outward behavior. It was always about purity of heart and faithfulness. Christ carries it into our thoughts, our desires, our imagination. Every commandment moves in the same direction—from external obedience toward inward transformation. That's what fulfillment means. Saint John Chrysostom points out something else that is beautiful. Christ fulfills the Law in three ways. First, He fulfills it Himself. He alone keeps it perfectly. He can honestly ask, "Which one of you convicts Me of sin?" Every commandment finds its perfect expression in Him. Second, He fulfills the prophecies. Everything the prophets had spoken—His birth, His ministry, His suffering, His kingdom—comes true in Him. But then Chrysostom gives a third fulfillment, and I think this is the one we often forget. Christ fulfills the Law in us. And that was necessary, because the Law could teach righteousness, but it could not communicate the life by which righteousness is fulfilled. The Law could show us the good. It could expose our failures. But it could not heal the heart. Christ does what the Law by itself could never do. Through His death, resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, He actually begins making us into the kind of people the Law always envisioned.   Not merely people who avoid murder... but people who love. Not merely people who avoid adultery... but people who become pure. Not merely people who tell the truth... but people whose whole lives become truthful. That's why Christianity isn't about lowering expectations. Neither is it about adding more rules. It's about becoming a new creation. This is why Orthodoxy speaks so much about theosis. God's purpose is not simply to forgive sinners, but to make them partakers of the divine life.God is not merely interested in better behavior. He is forming saints. The commandments are not arbitrary rules meant to restrict life. They are a portrait of fully human life—life as it looks when it is filled with the life of God. So when Christ says, "You have heard... but I say to you..." He is not correcting Moses. He is revealing the deepest meaning Moses had been pointing toward all along. And there is one more thing that Saint John Chrysostom says that I find deeply encouraging. He reminds us that at first the Christian life can seem difficult. Forgiveness feels hard. Patience feels unnatural. Humility feels costly. We imagine that holiness means spending our whole lives forcing ourselves to do things we don't really want to do. But that's only true at the beginning. As Christ heals the heart, He also heals our desires. The things that once seemed impossible slowly become natural. The sins that once looked attractive begin to lose their appeal. The virtues that once felt burdensome become a source of joy. That is what spiritual formation is. God is not simply teaching us to behave differently. He is teaching us to love differently. That is why we return to the Church week after week. Why we pray the same prayers. Why we fast. Why we confess. Why we receive the Holy Mysteries. These are not religious chores. They are the ordinary means by which the Holy Spirit reshapes the heart. Little by little, almost without noticing it, Christ is teaching us to desire what He desires and to love what He loves.  The [lost] likeness is gradually restored. But that encouragement also comes with a warning: It's possible to keep the rules while missing their purpose. The Pharisees became experts at outward observance while neglecting mercy, humility, forgiveness, and love. That temptation hasn't disappeared.   It's possible to be outwardly Orthodox—to fast, attend services, know the prayers, defend the faith—and still carry resentment, pride, envy, or contempt in the heart. Christ loves us too much to let us settle for appearances. He always leads us deeper. From actions... to desires. From behavior... to character. From keeping commandments... to becoming people who naturally love what is good. So let us not become discouraged if the road sometimes seems steep. Let us simply keep taking the next faithful step. As Saint Paul says, "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, let us press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." That is the Christian life—not perfection overnight, but faithful formation day after day, until the commandments are no longer something imposed upon us from the outside, but fulfilled within us by Christ Himself. That is what He came to do—not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, in Himself, and by His grace, in us. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Who was John Chrysostom? Why was John Chrysostom nicknamed 'golden-mouthed'? How did John Chrysostom become archbishop of Constantinople?

Morning Offering, July 13, 2026 is brought to you by https://bit.ly/4vbIPgAIsaiah and St. John Chrysostom remind us that authentic worship is proven not only at the altar but also in how we love and serve our neighbors.Every morning, join Father Brad as he begins the day with prayer and reflection. In a few short minutes, Father Brad guides you in prayer, shares a brief reflection grounding your day in the Church's rhythm of feast days and liturgy, and provides you with the encouragement necessary to go forward with peace and strength. Disclaimer: The ads shown before, during, or after this video have no affiliation with Morning Offering and are controlled by YouTubeLet us do as the saints urge and begin our days in prayer together so as a community of believers we may join the Psalmist in saying, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3-4)________________

Send us Fan MailIf one drop of Christ's Precious Blood was enough to redeem the world, why did Jesus shed every last drop?Drawing from the wisdom of St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. John Chrysostom, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bernard, and St. Bridget of Sweden, Ken explores the profound mystery of Christ's Precious Blood and what it reveals about the immeasurable love of God.Discover the connection between the Passover, the Eucharist, Calvary, and the birth of the Church—and why every drop of Christ's Blood continues to speak to us today.Support the showSupport this show and get all future episodes by email atwww.kenandjanelle.com

From Grace to Greater Grace Romans 12:6-14 Every Christian has received gifts from God, but discernment begins not with extraordinary revelations, but with a quiet heart that learns to recognize where God is already at work. Drawing on St. John Chrysostom's image of the vessel, this homily explores how repentance, prayer, humility, and faithful cooperation with God's grace enlarge our capacity to receive His life. The goal of the Christian life is not to envy another's calling but to become fully ourselves in Christ, growing "from grace to greater grace, from love to deeper love."  Enjoy the show! --- In today's Epistle, Saint Paul says something both wonderfully encouraging and deeply challenging. He reminds us that every one of us has received gifts from God. No one here has been overlooked. No one is unnecessary. The Holy Spirit has given each of us something through which He intends to build up the Body of Christ. But that immediately raises a question. How do we know what our gift is? Sometimes we imagine that discernment means waiting for a lightning bolt from heaven. We think that one day God will suddenly reveal exactly what He wants us to do. Usually, that's not how it works. More often, discernment grows out of a life that has already become quiet enough to hear God. Part of your discernment is simply paying attention. What has God placed in your life? What opportunities has He given you? What needs has He placed before you? What abilities has He entrusted to you? Those are often the first clues to discovering your vocation. Discernment isn't first about discovering a career or even a ministry. It is learning to recognize where God is already at work and joining Him there. Saint John Chrysostom has a beautiful insight here. He says that Saint Paul is careful to preserve two truths at the same time. First, every gift is truly a gift. If someone has the gift of teaching, or leadership, or generosity, or mercy, there is no room for pride because none of us manufactured these gifts ourselves. They have all been entrusted to us by God. But Chrysostom also says there is no room for laziness. He uses the image of a vessel. God pours out His grace generously, but the amount a vessel can receive depends upon its capacity. The larger the vessel, the more it can hold. The more the vessel has been enlarged through faith and repentance, the more room there is for God's grace to work. That means our task is not to envy someone else's gift. Our task is to enlarge the vessel. Notice what Paul doesn't say. He doesn't tell us to manufacture the grace. He tells us to become capable of receiving it. I was reminded of that recently while traveling in Italy. Everywhere we went, coffee was served in those little espresso cups. Perfectly fine for espresso—but after a few days I found myself missing my big American coffee mug! A larger vessel simply holds more. But then it occurred to me that size isn't the only thing that matters. A large cup that is full of old coffee grounds, grime, or yesterday's leftovers still can't receive fresh coffee. Before it can be filled, it has to be cleaned. The same is true of us. God is always pouring out His grace. The question isn't whether He is willing to give it. The question is whether we have made room to receive it. Repentance cleans out the vessel, and the spiritual life enlarges it. How do we do that? By repentance. By prayer. By worship. By humility. By learning to quiet the passions that so often drown out the voice of God. This is why the spiritual life is so important. Before we can use our gifts well, we must become the kind of people who can receive and exercise them wisely. And that requires stillness. We live in a noisy world. There are constant opinions, constant distractions, constant arguments, constant anxieties. Every day someone tells us what we should fear, what we should desire, what we should be angry about. It becomes very difficult to hear God when every other voice is shouting. One of the greatest acts of spiritual discipline is simply learning to become quiet. Not merely quiet on the outside. Quiet on the inside. Quiet enough that we stop reacting to every impulse. Quiet enough that we stop needing to prove ourselves. Quiet enough that we can finally listen. Only a quiet heart can recognize the gentle movements of the Holy Spirit. There is another temptation, and it's a subtle one. Because we rightly confess God's grace, we can begin to think that our role is simply to wait. "If God wants me to become holy," we tell ourselves, "He'll make it happen." But Saint John Chrysostom won't let us think that way. Grace is always God's gift. But he reminds us that the beginning lies with us. We enlarge the vessel. We exercise the gift. We practice the virtues. We pray. We repent. We forgive. We become faithful in the little things. God supplies the grace, but He does not bypass our freedom. He invites our cooperation. And our cooperation is required because the command is to love God and our neighbor, and love requires action. This is what the Fathers mean when they speak of synergy—not that we earn God's grace, but that we freely cooperate with it. And that finally brings us to trust. So much of our anxiety comes from believing that everything depends on us. What if I make the wrong decision? What if I miss my calling? What if I should be doing something else? But those are the wrong questions. The right questions are much simpler. Am I becoming faithful? Am I becoming humble? Am I becoming the kind of person who can receive what God wants to give? Because if the answer to those questions is yes, then God is perfectly capable of directing your life. As we look through the Scriptures, one thing becomes obvious. God has never had trouble finding capable people. Egypt had capable people. Babylon had capable people. Rome had capable people. Finding competent men and women has never been God's problem. What God delights in finding are hearts that are willing to trust Him. Hearts humble enough to learn. Hearts faithful in the little things, day after day. Hearts open to receiving His grace. That's why comparing ourselves with other people is such a waste of time. God isn't asking you to become someone else. He's asking you to become fully yourself in Christ. So don't spend your life wishing you had someone else's gift or someone else's job. Don't imagine that if only you could preach like this person, sing like that person, organize like someone else, then God could finally use you. That isn't His question. His question is: What have I already entrusted to you? And what kind of vessel are you becoming? Are you enlarging it through prayer? Through repentance? Through trust? Through love? The saints were not people who received different grace from us. They simply spent a lifetime enlarging the vessel because God delights in filling every vessel that is offered to Him. God has already given you everything you need for today's obedience. Just look around you. There is no shortage of opportunities to love. There is no shortage of people who need encouragement. No shortage of burdens to help carry. No shortage of prayers to offer. No shortage of forgiveness to extend. The opportunities to love are already waiting for us. And here's the beautiful thing: as we are faithful in these little things, God enlarges the vessel. He entrusts us with more—not because He needs more accomplished, but because He is teaching us to love more deeply. That's the joy of the Christian life. God is not merely giving us work to do. He is forming us into the kind of people who can love as Christ loves. Every act of obedience, every quiet prayer, every burden we help carry, every hidden act of mercy is one more way that the Holy Spirit shapes us, little by little, into the likeness of Christ. And that is the greatest gift and the highest calling of all. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

One commentator has said that a parable is “storytelling with a message,” that also declares a truth, and that also asks for a response. So, when Jesus is telling a parable, it's not just a literary exercise or a brain teaser. He's using a story to call His listeners into some kind of transformation. But whether it ends up being an "ah-hah" moment for the listener depends upon their heart. Maybe parables are the ultimate heart detectors. Art credit: "Heart and Soul" by Jan Camerone. Other photos Pastor Chris referred to in this sermon: Model of a working first century Judean fishing boat. Model of the “Jesus Boat” they found at the Sea of Galilee in 1986. The actual “Jesus Boat” on display. The Sea of Galilee from Capernaum. Farther up the hill looking down toward Capernaum. “The Sower” by Millet (1850). “The Sower” by Van Gogh (1888). “The Sower” by Melani Pyke (contemporary).

Friends of the Rosary,Today's Gospel (Matthew 10:1-7) shows Jesus summoning the Twelve and giving them authority to drive out demons and cure every disease."As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"Discipleship is an invitation to all of us. Christ calls, names, equips, and sends. And the mission begins close to home: “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”Meanwhile, the first reading of the Gospel warns against a fruitful life that becomes divided from God. Israel grows prosperous, but the prosperity feeds false altars. The Catholic lesson is sharp: blessings are meant to deepen worship, not replace it. The Lord asks us to “sow justice” and “seek the Lord” while there is time.Saints Aquila and Priscilla, the saints of the day, fit this Gospel beautifully. They were a married couple, coworkers of St. Paul, and their home became a place where the Church could gather and grow. Their witness reminds us that mission is not only for priests, apostles, or public preachers. A household can become a domestic church.St. John Chrysostom wrote, “The home is a little church.”Let Christ's authority enter ordinary rooms, ordinary conversations, ordinary duties. The Kingdom is proclaimed not only by words, but by the shape of a faithful life.Ave Maria!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• July 8, 2026, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

There's a new Niles in the world. Joshua Benedict Rex was born this week, and Dave wants you to know how stressful it all was. For the dad, that is. The pressure. The anxiety. All those things. None of which come to mind right now. Joke's on Dave, though, because Lady Pamela got to the birth center, the midwife offered to break her water, and Joshua arrived eleven minutes later. That's boy number three, bringing the count to three boys and four girls. Adam got the "we're going in" text at the hospital, stopped to pray, and barely beat the birth. The baby's a content little guy. A stereotypical Niles baby, the spitting image of baby Davy. Baptism's in a couple weeks with Uncle Father Sean, godparents are Sarah and Drew, and somewhere in there is a real theology question the guys throw to the priests who listen: can you name godparents after the fact for a baby baptized in a rush? Asking for a Mary.That birth set the whole table. Every time a baby comes into this circle of friends, the men pull their money, buy one nicer bottle of whiskey, sign it with the kid's name, and drink it together. They call it the "baby bottles" tradition. It blends friends into family. And it's exactly the kind of gift that makes you grateful, which is what this whole episode is about.They're recording on a Friday, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, the same day the bishops of America consecrated the entire country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The pour is Glendalough, a pot still Irish whiskey the guys actually visited on pilgrimage. Triple distilled by law, smooth, no burn, and oddly cheap. The bottle shows St. Kevin in cruciform, a bird nesting in his open hand. The pious legend says he held that prayer posture so long the eggs hatched. Jim's scale (Irish edition): 3.96 out of 6.Then the meat: gratitude. Not the bumper-sticker kind. Gratitude is a virtue, a sub-virtue of justice, because it renders to another what's due, first to God who gave us everything. Aquinas lays out three degrees: recognition, expression, repayment. Most of us fail at the first one. We take the morning, the clothes, the breath for granted. St. Bernard calls ingratitude a scorching wind that dries up the streams of grace. God pours, the man doesn't return thanks, the flow stops.The hardest, most masculine turn in the episode is receiving. Men hate it. I don't need your charity. I can carry this cross. But refusing a gift graciously offered isn't humility. It's a wall. Adam's lived on the receiving end through Mary's time in the NICU, and he's learned the Christian paradox: the more graciously indebted you are, the richer your life, because the score is never even. That's not a debt to clear. That's a brotherhood.And the punchline ties it all together. Eucharist means thanksgiving. A man of gratitude is a Eucharistic man. You can't repay God for creating you, so He came down, became one of us, and offered Himself on your behalf. All you have to do is show up. Protect, provide, establish, and give thanks. Raise your glass.TOPICS COVEREDJoshua Benedict Rex Niles is born, baby boy number three, bringing the Niles count to three boys and four girlsDave's tongue-in-cheek case that the dad has it hardest in childbirthLady Pamela's eleven-minute birth at the birth center after the midwife broke her waterThe "kingship" theme running through the Niles boys' names: David, Joseph, and now Joshua Benedict RexWhy every Niles baby is a "cookie cutter" content baby, and Joshua looking just like baby DavyThe wonder that a child somehow looks like both mom and dad, "only God could make a baby look like both"Baptism plans with Uncle Father Sean and godparents Sarah and DrewThe open question for the priests who listen: can you name godparents after the fact for a baby baptized in a rush?The "baby bottles" tradition, the men pooling money for a signed bottle of whiskey to honor each new babyWhy this kind of tradition blends friends into familyRecording on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, and the U.S. bishops consecrating the country to the Sacred Heart of JesusWhiskey of the week: Glendalough pot still Irish whiskey, triple distilled and smoothThe legend of St. Kevin of Glendalough, the bird's nest in his hand and his love of all God's creaturesWhy Irish whiskey is the most approachable place to start, and surprisingly cheapJim's scale (Irish edition): 3.96 out of 6"Better than I deserve, I'm sure," Adam's go-to answer to "how are you?"The man at the pharmacy who'd just lost his wife, and never knowing what people are carryingGratitude as a virtue, and specifically a sub-virtue of justiceThe book of Job as the model of gratitude to the core: "the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away"Why a member of the Body of Christ is doing well no matter what else is going wrongAquinas's three degrees of gratitude: recognition, expression, repaymentWhy recognition is the weak spot for most people, the habit of taking things for grantedThe internal act of the will toward the benefactor as the heart of repaymentThe humility it takes to receive a gift, and why most men refuse charityHow receiving a gift graciously multiplies joy and binds a community togetherThe Christian paradox of being "graciously indebted," and why the score is never evenSt. Bernard of Clairvaux on ingratitude as a burning wind that dries up the streams of graceDeacon Garlick's prayer of thanks as a model for opening prayerMeditating on the magnitude of the Incarnation, the worm-and-the-man analogyWhy real men don't complain or "vent," and complaining as carrying the cross while griping about its weightDying for your family is easy; living for your family is hard, the little deathsAre you willing to get up, eat right, moderate your drinking, and put the phone down for your family?The Malcolm Gladwell mentorship lesson and the hidden cost of remote work, tribal knowledge not getting passed downWhy none of our best fatherhood or business "hacks" are original, and the duty to pass them onSt. John Chrysostom and St. Thérèse of Lisieux: gratitude as the superpower of the soulWhy you won't become holy without the habit of gratitude"People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed"Keeping the right perspective so you don't live in a false reality the devil wants for youEucharist means thanksgiving, a man of gratitude is a Eucharistic manREFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEBooks & Writings:The Book of Job (the model of gratitude through suffering)The Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas, Second Part of the Second Part (the three degrees of gratitude; ingratitude as sin)Malcolm Gladwell's work on mentorship and learning a craft (referenced by Adam)Saints & Church Fathers:St. Thomas Aquinas (the three degrees of gratitude; gratitude as a sub-virtue of justice)St. Bernard of Clairvaux (the "leaky vessel"; ingratitude as a burning wind that dries up the streams of grace)St. Kevin of Glendalough (the bird's-nest legend; love of God's creatures)St. John Chrysostom ("gratitude is the superpower of the soul")St. Thérèse of Lisieux (gratitude and the spiritual life)Simon of Cyrene (carrying the cross with Christ)People:Adam Minihan (host; founder of M6 Marketing; writes The Grounded Builder on Substack)Jim (in studio, keeper of the yummy scale)Lady Pamela Niles (delivered baby number seven)Joshua Benedict Rex Niles (newborn), David Jr., and Joseph Niles (the "kingship" names)Baby Mary Minihan (still in the NICU, the gifts and prayers received)Uncle Father Sean (baptizing Joshua); Sarah and Drew (godparents)Deacon Garlick (his prayer of thanks)Programs & Institutions:The Catholic Man Show pilgrimage (where the guys visited Glendalough)Glendalough Distillery, IrelandSPONSOR BLOCKSponsor: Select International Tours: selectinternationaltours.comWhen Adam and Dave decided to lead their first pilgrimage, one name kept coming up: Select International Tours. They're the best. Having used them, the guys can vouch for it. No matter where in the world you want to go, Select has a tour ready for you. Whether you want to lead a pilgrimage or attend one, head to selectinternationaltours.com and take a look at everything they offer. You won't regret it.

6-20-26: St. John Chrysostom by

St. John Chrysostom (c. 349 - c. 407)Translated by Gross Alexander (1852 - 1915)St. Chrysostom's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians is continuous, according to chapter and verse, instead of being arranged in Homilies, with a moral or practical application at their close, as in his exposition of other Epistles. It was written in Antioch, as Montfaucon infers from a reference which the Author, makes upon Chap. i., ver. 16 to other of his writings, which certainly were written about the same time in that city. (Introduction from the preface by John Henry Newman)Genre(s): Christianity - CommentaryLanguage: EnglishKeyword(s): religion (744), bible (494), Christianity (382), commentary (61), Galatians (8)

PARENTAL ADVISORY: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS CONTENT THAT MAY BE UPSETTING FOR CHILDREN. Orthodox Christians admire St. John Chrysostom, but many others view him negatively and accuse him of harboring hatred toward Jews and women. Are those fair accusations? We will discuss this, his relationship with his congregation and his life as a bishop in his own words. Music attribution: "Galway" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

"There is nothing colder than a Christian who does not seek the salvation of others."--St. John Chrysostom. 

Friends of the Rosary,Today, the Feast day of St. Norbert, Bishop, Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time, and the eve of the Solemnity of the Corpus Christi, we see in the Gospel (Mark 12:38-44), the contrast between the religious show and the hidden, total self-gift of the poor widow who gives everything by love.“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in morethan all the other contributors to the treasury.For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,her whole livelihood.”St. Ambrose said, "No one gives more than she who has left nothing for herself."St. John Chrysostom, "Almsgiving is that of the Widow who emptied out all her living."St. Bede, "God does not weigh the property but the conscience of those who offer."Ave Maria!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• June 6, 2026, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

If you enjoy this episode, we're sure you will enjoy more content like this on The Occult Rejects.  In fact, we have curated playlists on occult topics like grimoires, esoteric concepts and phenomena, occult history, analyzing true crime and cults with an occult lens, Para politics, and occultism in music. Whether you enjoy consuming your content visually or via audio, we've got you covered - and it will always be provided free of charge.  So, if you enjoy what we do and want to support our work of providing accessible, free content on various platforms, please consider making a donation to the links provided below.  Thank you and enjoy the episode!Links For The Occult Rejectshttps://linktr.ee/theoccultrejectsOccult Research Institutehttps://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/Substackhttps://substack.com/@theoccultrejects?r=7auau0&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-pageCash Apphttps://cash.app/$theoccultrejectsVenmo@TheOccultRejectsBuy Me A Coffeebuymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejectsPatreonhttps://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejectsFull BibliographyAdler, Yonatan. The Archaeology of Purity: Archaeological Evidence for the Observance of Ritual Purity in Ereẓ-Israel from the Hasmonean Period until the End of the Talmudic Era. PhD diss., Bar-Ilan University, 2011.Adler, Yonatan. The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022.Ambrose of Milan. On the Mysteries.Ambrose of Milan. On the Sacraments.Augustine of Hippo. On Baptism, Against the Donatists.Augustine of Hippo. On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants.Bradshaw, Paul F. The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.Bradshaw, Paul F., Maxwell E. Johnson, and L. Edward Phillips. The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechetical Lectures.Davies, J. G. The Architectural Setting of Baptism. London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1962.Dölger, Franz Joseph. The Sun of Justice: The Christian Cult of the Sun and the Baptismal Orientation. Relevant for eastward prayer, solar symbolism, and baptismal orientation.Ferguson, Everett. Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.Finn, Thomas M. Early Christian Baptism and the Catechumenate: Italy, North Africa, and Egypt. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992.Finn, Thomas M. Early Christian Baptism and the Catechumenate: West and East Syria. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992.Hippolytus. The Apostolic Tradition. Attribution debated, but still important for reconstructing early baptismal practice.Jensen, Robin M. Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012.Johnson, Maxwell E. The Rites of Christian Initiation: Their Evolution and Interpretation. 2nd ed. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2007.Josephus. Jewish Antiquities, Book 18.Justin Martyr. First Apology.Kavanagh, Aidan. The Shape of Baptism: The Rite of Christian Initiation. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1978.Kazen, Thomas. Studies on John the Baptist, ritual immersion, and purity in early Judaism.Klawans, Jonathan. Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Klawans, Jonathan. Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.Lawrence, Jonathan David. Washing in Water: Trajectories of Ritual Bathing in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006.Lietzmann, Hans. Mass and Lord's Supper: A Study in the History of the Liturgy. Relevant for early worship, initiation, and Eucharistic entry.Meeks, Wayne A. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.Regev, Eyal. Studies on Qumran, ritual purity, and Jewish sectarian practice.Riley, Hugh M. Christian Initiation: A Comparative Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Ambrose of Milan. Catholic University of America Press, 1974.Schmemann, Alexander. Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974.Spinks, Bryan D. Early and Medieval Rituals and Theologies of Baptism: From the New Testament to the Council of Trent. Ashgate, 2006.Spinks, Bryan D. Reformation and Modern Rituals and Theologies of Baptism: From Luther to Contemporary Practices. Ashgate, 2006.Tertullian. On Baptism.The Didache.Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Useful for liminality and rites of passage, though not baptism-specific.Van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Useful for initiation structure, separation, liminality, and incorporation.Whitaker, E. C. Documents of the Baptismal Liturgy. SPCK, 1970.Yarnold, Edward. The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation: Baptismal Homilies of the Fourth Century. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1994.Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball. A

Despite the mystique of allegory, many Christians disagreed with the arbitrary character of Alexandrian biblical interpretation. A different style arose and became popular in Antioch. It eventually prevailed, largely due to its most famous proponent: St. John Chrysostom. Music attribution: "Galway" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11; St. John 7:37-52; 8:12 Pentecost reveals the God who never ceases to act for our salvation, giving His people exactly what they need—from the Law at Sinai, to the Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection, and finally the gift of the Holy Spirit. The kneeling prayers for the departed flow naturally from Christ's descent into Hades, for if Christ sought those held by death, His Incarnate Body, the Church, continues to seek them through prayer and love. We pray for the departed not because we possess a detailed map of the afterlife, but because Christians imitate Christ, whose love always seeks healing, relief, and salvation for all.  Enjoy the show! --- Today we celebrate Holy Pentecost. And when we celebrate Pentecost, we are celebrating much more than a single event in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago. We are celebrating the God who never ceases to act for our salvation. When Moses encountered God in the burning bush and asked His name, God answered: "I AM WHO I AM." This is not merely a statement about existence. It is a revelation of who God is. He is not distant. He is not passive. He is not absent. He is the living God who is always present and always acting. Throughout the history of salvation, whenever humanity has been in need, God has provided exactly what was needed for our healing and salvation. When the children of Israel were enslaved, He delivered them. When they wandered in the wilderness, He fed them. When they thirsted, He gave them water. When they were attacked, He defended them. When they were lost, He guided them. And when they needed protection from the worst effects of sin and chaos, He gave them the Law. The first Pentecost was the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. And we should remember who it was who appeared there. It was God who spoke to Moses, who appeared in fire and cloud, who gave the Law to Israel, was the pre-incarnate Word of God—the same Christ whom we know from the Gospel. St. Paul tells us that the Law was a guardian and tutor. It restrained evil. It taught obedience. It preserved Israel until the fullness of time should come. The Law was not the final gift. It was the gift God's people needed at that moment. But humanity's deepest problem could not be solved by commandments alone. We needed more than instruction. We needed healing. We needed forgiveness. We needed life. So the same Christ who gave the Law came among us in the flesh. He taught. He healed. He cast out demons. He suffered. He died. He descended into Hades. He rose again. At every stage He was giving humanity what humanity needed. And then, after His Resurrection, He ascended into heaven. At first glance, that seems strange. Would it not have been better if Christ had simply remained visibly among us? Yet He Himself tells the disciples: "It is to your advantage that I go away." Why? Because humanity now needed another gift. The Law had been given. The Incarnation had taken place. The Cross had been accomplished. Death had been trampled down. Now Christ would send the Holy Spirit. At Sinai, the Law was written on tablets of stone. At Pentecost, the Spirit is written upon human hearts. At Sinai, God formed a people. At Pentecost, He fills that people with His own life. At Sinai, God instructed His people from without. At Pentecost, He begins transforming them from within. The Holy Spirit is not an optional addition to the Christian life. He is the very life of the Church. He is the One who unites us to Christ, who makes us temples of God, who heals what is broken, who perfects what is lacking, and who leads us into all truth. Christ ascended so that He might send us exactly what we needed. As St. Nikolai Velimirović loved to remind us, there is no corner of creation into which Christ has not carried His saving love—not Sinai, not Bethlehem, not Golgotha, not the Upper Room, not even Hades itself. And today we celebrate yet another gift that flows from all of this. This afternoon we will kneel for the first time since Pascha. And in the kneeling prayers we pray not only for ourselves. We pray for the departed. To some Christians this seems strange. Why pray for the dead? What can our prayers accomplish? But the answer begins with Christ Himself. Because Christ did not merely die. He descended into Hades. He entered the realm of death itself. As we sing at Pascha: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life." The Harrowing of Hades was not a symbolic gesture. It was an act of divine love. The Lord entered the place of darkness to bring light. He entered the place of bondage to bring freedom. He entered the place of death to bring life. As St. John Chrysostom proclaims in his Paschal Homily: "Hell was embittered when it encountered Thee below." Death thought it had gained a victim. Instead, it encountered Life Himself. Hades thought it had secured its prisoners. Instead, it found its gates shattered and its captives being led forth into freedom. If Christ Himself went to those held by death, why would we not pray for them? If Christ sought those in Hades, why would His Incarnate Body—the Church—cease to seek them? The prayers for the departed are not an embarrassment or an afterthought. They are one of the most natural consequences of Pascha. They are a continuation of Christ's own work. The Scriptures show us that death does not sever the bonds of love within the Body of Christ. Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And those who belong to Him remain alive in Him. We do not claim to know every detail of how God's mercy operates beyond the grave. The Orthodox Church has never attempted to construct a detailed system like the doctrine of Purgatory. We know less than some would like. But we know enough. We know that Christ conquered death. We know that He descended into Hades. We know that love never fails. We know that the Church has always prayed for the departed. We know that the Church's liturgical life—from the ancient Liturgies to the kneeling prayers of Pentecost—bears witness to that practice. And we know that Christians are called to imitate Christ. Ultimately, that is the deepest reason we pray for the dead. Not because we possess a detailed map of the intermediate state. Not because we can explain every mechanism. But because this is what love does. Love intercedes. Love seeks healing. Love seeks relief. Love seeks salvation. Love refuses to abandon those who suffer. This is what Christ does. And therefore it is what Christians do. The same Lord who gave the Law at Sinai, who became incarnate, who died and rose again, who descended into Hades, and who poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Church, continues even now to seek the salvation of all. And He calls us to join Him in that work: to pray, to love, to intercede, to hope, and to trust that the God who has always given His people exactly what they needed continues to pour out His mercy upon the living and the departed alike.

In this sermon for Ascensiontide, the faithful are reminded that Christ's Ascension is not His departure from humanity but the exaltation of human nature itself, as Jesus ascends bodily to the right hand of the Father and prepares His Church for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Drawing from Scripture and the teachings of St. John Chrysostom and St. Seraphim of Sarov, the sermon presents Pentecost as the fulfillment of Christ's promise to baptize His people with the Holy Spirit and fire, establishing the Church as the living Body of Christ. Through Chrismation, every Christian experiences a personal Pentecost and is called to pursue “the acquisition of the Holy Spirit” through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and every good work done purely for Christ's sake. Rejecting mere moralism and worldly recognition, the sermon calls believers to live in communion with God despite misunderstanding or opposition from the world, preparing their hearts during Ascensiontide to receive the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who has overcome the world and invites His people to reign with Him in the age to come.

In this episode, we sit down with educator Adina Medina to explore what it truly means to build a strong foundation in education—for students, teachers, and school communities. Quotables **All quotes are from the interviewee** "Teachers who hang on the idea that we're always learning and we can always do better are the teachers that develop into leaders.""Being reflective in every moment has been really helpful.""It's important to help foster the teachers." About Adina Medina Adina Medina was born and raised in the Bronx, NY, when she became a lifelong learner. The teachers and administrators at St. John Chrysostom loved on her and pushed her to excel academically even when her outside life became unstable. After living in New Jersey for a few years and graduating from High School in Queens, NY, Adina attended SUNY New Paltz, where she majored in English with a minor in Black Studies. After graduating with her BA, she started her career as a Magazine Editor in the Dental Field and shifted focus to education when her first child, Melanie, was born. Adina served as a High School English teacher at a small Christian school in her first year and STUNK IT UP. With no mentor in place, it was really the hardest year ever, and she was ready (and told!) to give up. Instead of giving up, she landed in a small all-girl's Catholic High School in Hoboken, NJ, and it was there that her administrators suggested she attend Seton Hall's EPICS (Educational Partners in Catholic Schools) program. Adina earned her Master's in Education, with a focus on Curriculum Development while raising her toddler, and that program launched her passion and drive for fostering rigorous, engaging academics first within her classroom and then schoolwide. Adina served as a High School English teacher in Elizabeth NJ for ten years and, after having observed that her students who struggled least with the rigors of AP level content were those who came into high school with a strong foundation, she decided to shift her focus to Middle School ELA. Adina joined the Hoboken Dual Language Charter School (HoLa) in 2013 and served as a founding 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade English teacher for five years. The school was only in its third year of operation and Adina was able to play a major role in developing the Dual Language Curriculum that is currently used today. In 2017, Adina attended Relay's National Principal Academy Fellowship and began her training as an Educational Coach. After serving as a coach for two years, Adina shifted into the Instructional Lead position and then into a full Principalship while earning her certification at Rutgers University. She is currently the Middle School Principal at HoLa, where she is beyond privileged to guide her students in becoming bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural individuals with a firm academic foundation who are going to make this world a better, more inclusive place one step at a time. Resources from this Episode www.holahoboken.org Join the Always A Lesson Newsletter Join here and grab a freebie! Connect with Gretchen Email: gretchen@alwaysalesson.comBlog: Always A LessonFacebook: Always A LessonTwitter: @gschultekInstagram: Always.A.LessonLinkedin: Gretchen Schultek BridgersBook: Elementary EDUC 101: What They Didn't Teach You in College Gretchen's latest book, Always a Lesson: Teacher Essentials for Classroom and Career Success, is now available on Amazon. Leave a Rating and Review: This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long-lasting effect on our future. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2 Search for my show on iTunes or Stitcher.Click on ‘Ratings and Reviews.'Under ‘Customer Reviews,' click on “Write a Review.”Sign in with your iTunes or Stitcher log-in infoLeave a Rating: Tap the greyed out stars (5 being the best)Leave a Review: Type in a Title and Description of your thoughts on my podcastClick ‘Send'

We are launching a brand new series on how Protestants misunderstand Paul. In this first episode, we cover Romans 1–3 and one of the most misunderstood phrases in Pauline theology: “works of the law.” Many modern Christians read Paul as though he were condemning all forms of obedience, good works, or cooperation with grace, but is that actually what Paul meant in his first-century Jewish context?In this episode, we examine Romans 1–3 in context, the meaning of “works of the law” (ἔργα νόμου), the Dead Sea Scroll document 4QMMT, covenant identity and Torah observance, boasting and justification, and the relationship between Jew and Gentile in Romans. We also look at how the early Church Fathers interpreted Paul, including Irenaeus and John Chrysostom. Was Paul opposing obedience itself, or was he opposing boasting in the Law apart from Christ? This episode challenges many modern assumptions about justification, grace, faith, and the Law.If you'd like to donate to our ministry or be a monthly partner that receives newsletters and one on one discussions with Dr. Stephen Boyce, here's a link: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=6381a2ee-b82f-42a7-809e-6b733cec05a7#Romans #Paul #BibleStudy #ChurchHistory #Catholic #Protestant #DeadSeaScrolls #Justification #FACTSPodcast

On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, this homily reflects on the encounter between Christ and Saint Photini, focusing on the deeper moral psychology of repentance. It explores how we instinctively justify our sins and construct explanations to protect ourselves, even in the presence of divine truth. Drawing on Scripture and the witness of the saints, it shows how true healing comes not through self-defense, but through humility, repentance, and stepping fully into the light of Christ.  Enjoy the show! --- From Justification to Repentance: The Samaritan Woman St. John 4:5–42 "He told me all that I ever did." (John 4:29) There is nothing new in the idea that God knows everything about us. The Prophet David proclaimed it long ago: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Hades, Thou art there… The darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day." (Psalm 138/139:7–12) The question, then, is not whether God knows our deeds. The question is: what do we make of that knowledge? What does it mean that we cannot hide from Him? First, we must remember something essential: God's omniscience is not cold or distant. The One who knows all things is also the One who is quick to save. There is nowhere we can go that is beyond His love. Nowhere we can fall that is outside His reach. But there is also a harder truth here. The only way to experience His mercy, the only way to receive His salvation, is through humble repentance. The Samaritan woman—whom the Church honors as Saint Photini—stood before Christ and heard Him reveal her life: "You have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband." Imagine the temptation she must have felt in that moment. To defend herself. To explain. To justify. Her life—what we might call "serial monogamy"—is exactly the kind of brokenness that our culture normalizes and even celebrates. And the human mind is very good at protecting such patterns. As we have said before: our fallen moral reasoning often works like this—first we decide instinctively what we want to be true, and then the advocate in our mind builds a case to defend it. We become our own lawyers, our own spokesmen, our own cheerleaders. We can justify almost anything. We may even convince others. But this is not real justification. Because we are sinners, the only true justification is in the blood of Jesus Christ—who offers Himself "on behalf of all and for all." And yet the fruit of that offering can only be received through repentance. This is why we celebrate Saint Photini. Not because of her past. But because of her response. St. John Chrysostom points out that Christ does not begin by exposing her sin. He draws her in gently. He speaks first of water, then of living water, then of worship—only gradually revealing the deeper truth. He does not crush her. He heals her. And when the truth finally comes, she does something extraordinary. She does not argue. She does not justify. She does not run away. She receives it. And in receiving the truth, she is freed. St. Nikolai Velimirovic notes the striking contrast: the woman who once avoided others out of shame becomes the one who runs into the city proclaiming Christ. The one who came to the well alone now becomes an apostle to her people. What changed? Not the facts of her past. But her relationship to the truth. She encountered the All-Seeing Eye of Christ—and instead of hiding, she stepped into the light. She saw the truth of her life, repented, and changed. From that moment on, the presence of God was no longer a source of fear, but of illumination: a light in the darkness, a refuge in chaos, and a guide to perfection. For this reason, she is called Photini—"the Enlightened One." But her story could have ended differently. She could have done what we so often do: she could have listened to the clever voice within her mind, the one that explains everything, defends everything, justifies everything. She could have held onto her sense of her own righteousness, her own goodness, her own narrative. God would not have left her. He never leaves anyone. But instead of bringing comfort, His presence would have brought pain. Because God does not lie. And those who live in lies cannot be at peace in His presence. The light of Christ illumines all—both good and evil. If we let go of our illusions, that light becomes joy. It becomes healing. It becomes life. But if we cling to our illusions, that same light becomes painful. It exposes what we refuse to surrender. God's light does not change. We do. "The truth of the Lord endureth forever" (Psalm 116:2). And so does His mercy. And so does His patience. The question is: how will we respond to that truth? Will we defend ourselves? Or will we repent? Will we hide in explanation? Or will we step into the light? Saint Photini shows us The Way. She heard the truth. She accepted it. She repented. And she was transformed. In Christ, let us do the same. Let us choose repentance. Let us choose the light. Let us choose salvation.

On the Sunday of the Paralytic, this homily explores Christ's piercing question: "Do you want to be made well?" It examines our tendency to respond not with repentance, but with explanation—justifying our condition rather than opening ourselves to healing. Grounded in the Church's therapeutic vision of salvation, it calls us to move beyond self-justification and into obedience, where Christ's command becomes the source of our transformation.  Enjoy the show!  --- Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic John 5:1–15; Acts 9 Christ is risen! What effect do you have on others? Is it like St. Peter's? Do you walk in the midst of broken people, bringing them healing? Do others, recognizing the peace within you, go out of their way just to be near you? Have you attained even a small measure of the purity and goodness—the peaceful spirit—that, as St. Seraphim of Sarov teaches, becomes the salvation of thousands? These are important indicators—ways to examine how we are doing in this walk of salvation. Some of them are internal and relatively easy to observe: How do I react to praise? How do I respond to criticism? How quick am I to anger, to despondency, to lust? But here is another indicator—an external one: How do people react to us? Do they find peace when we enter the room, or when we leave it? We need to be honest about this. When it comes to the things that truly matter—in our lives, in our families, in this parish, and in the great story of our salvation—we are always moving in one of two directions: either we are cooperating with grace, with healing, or we are cooperating with corruption. St. Peter, glory to God, became a man who cooperated fully with healing. But that was not always the case. There was a time when he was driven by pride, fear, and the expectations of others. By the time we meet him in Acts, however, he is no longer just occasionally doing what is right. He has been transformed. He has become the kind of person through whom Christ works. In today's Gospel, we see the beginning of such a transformation. The paralytic had been suffering for thirty-eight years—thirty-eight years of waiting, hoping, and being unable to heal himself. We can hardly imagine the weight of that suffering. And what does Christ ask him? "Do you want to be made well?" It is a strange question. In some ways, it is obvious—he is lying by the pool, waiting for healing. And yet we must name the desire. Not everyone who is sick truly wants to be healed. Notice how the paralytic responds. He does not answer the question directly. Instead, he explains his situation. He explains why he has not been healed. "I have no man… When the water is stirred, someone else steps down before me…" We recognize this, don't we? This is how we often respond to God—not with repentance, not with surrender, but with explanation. We explain why we are the way we are. We explain why change is so difficult. We explain why our situation is unique. Much of what we say is not wrong. But it is not healing. It does not open us to grace. St. John Chrysostom, reflecting on this passage, notes that Christ does not wait for a perfect answer, nor does He require a full confession before acting. But neither does He accept the man's explanations as sufficient. Instead, He goes directly to what is needed—not explanation, but transformation. Christ commands the man to do what he cannot do, and in the command itself, He gives the power to obey. This is where we must be careful. When the soul is disordered, it does not remain neutral. It becomes a source of distortion—not only for ourselves, but for others. The problem is not simply "out there." The problem begins within. And the great difficulty of living in this world is that it teaches us to normalize this condition. It calls distortion authenticity. It calls self-justification wisdom. But the Church is not here to affirm our condition. The Church is here to heal it. The Church is a hospital. But what good is a hospital if those within it refuse to be healed? What kind of peace can we offer if we are at war within ourselves—and with one another? It is very easy to remain in this disordered state. Our instincts are not neutral; they are wounded. And our minds—brilliant as they are—often serve those instincts rather than correcting them. We use our intelligence to justify our condition instead of correcting it. The mind becomes a kind of spokesman, explaining why we are the way we are and why it is acceptable. We justify our anger. We excuse our selfishness. We baptize our pride. Scripture gives us clear examples. Ananias and Sapphira likely thought themselves generous. Simon Magus likely convinced himself that he wanted spiritual power for good reasons. But their self-justifications did not save them. The truth exposed them. The same danger exists for us. We are always moving—toward healing or toward corruption. And over time, we will become more of one than the other. I know you. I love you. You want to be part of the solution. That is why you are here. But wanting to be healed is not the same as being healed. Wanting to be good is not enough. The paralytic had desire—but he still could not heal himself. You were created good, and you are called to become more fully what you were created to be. But you are not there yet. Neither am I. So how are we healed? There is only One who heals. Christ does not argue with the man. He does not analyze his situation. He does not accept or refute his explanations. He commands: "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." And in that command, there is power. This is the heart of the matter: Healing does not come from explanation. Healing comes from obedience. So how do we learn from the living Christ? The answer is not new. We give our lives—our bodies, our minds, our souls—to Him and to His Church. We pray. We enter into the Liturgy. We love our neighbors sacrificially. We learn from the Fathers. We seek wise counsel. We quiet ourselves so that we can hear. Not because Orthodoxy is simply a system, but because this is where Christ is—healing, teaching, restoring. The paralytic could not heal himself. Neither can we. But Christ can. And He does. If we stop explaining, stop justifying, and begin obeying, then—and only then—will we become not part of the problem, but part of the healing. Christ is risen!

CULTIVATING SAINTS, SAGES, AND STATESMEN THROUGH THE GREAT TRADITION OF CHRISTENDOMIn this latest Papal Snapshot, we cover the extraordinary descriptions of St. Peter and his preeminent authority among the Apostles by St. John Chrysostom, one of the greatest 4th century Church Fathers. His words have extraordinary implications for papal authority, and come from his "Homily on the Holy Martyr, St. Ignatius of Antioch."VISIT OUR WEBSITEhttps://eternalchristendom.com/BECOME A PATRON OF THE GREAT TRADITIONAs a non-profit, you can support our mission with a tax-deductible gift. Help us continue to dig into the Great Tradition; produce beautiful, substantive content; and gift these treasures to cultural orphans around the world for free: https://eternalchristendom.com/become-a-patron/CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIAX: https://twitter.com/JoshuaTCharlesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshuatcharles/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuatcharles/DIVE DEEPERCheck out our “Becoming Catholic” resources, where you'll find 1 million+ words of free content (bigger than the Bible!) in the form of Articles, Quote Archives, and Study Banks to help you become, remain, and deepen your life as a Catholic: https://eternalchristendom.com/becoming-catholic/SUBSTACKSubscribe to our Substack to get regular updates on our content, and other premium content: https://eternalchristendom.substack.com/EXCLUSIVE BOOKSTORE DISCOUNTShttps://eternalchristendom.com/bookstore/CHAPTERS00:00 - Introduction03:14 - Historical Context03:55 - Chrysostom's Homily on St. Ignatius of Antioch10:51 - ConclusionThis podcast can also be heard on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.

This special bonus content episode features the continuation of the conversation between John, Conrad, Matt, and Jack in Part 2 of the Young Men series. The first half of this conversation is available in your Wild at Heart podcast feed.Show Notes: Walking with God by John Eldredge and On Living Simply: The Golden Voice of John Chrysostom are available wherever you buy books.Keywords: Young Men, Young Adults, Christianity, Finances, Career, Prayer, Marriage_______________________________________________There is more.Got a question you want answered on the podcast? Ask us at Questions@WildatHeart.orgSupport the mission or find more on our website: WildAtHeart.org  or on our app.Apple: Wild At Heart AppAndroid: Wild At Heart AppWatch on YouTubeThe stock music used in the Wild at Heart podcast is titled “When Laid to Rest” by Patrick Rundblad and available here.More pauses available in the One Minute Pause app for Apple iOS and Android.Apple: One Minute Pause AppAndroid: One Minute Pause App

What are young men struggling with in this particular cultural moment—and how is God meeting them there? This three-part series continues as John and Conrad invite Matt and Jack into the studio to ask about the longings, questions, opportunities and pain points of men in their twenties. The second half of this conversation is available as Bonus Content in your Wild at Heart podcast feed.Show Notes: Part 1 of this series is available here. Walking with God by John Eldredge and On Living Simply: The Golden Voice of John Chrysostom are available wherever you buy books.Keywords: Young Men, Young Adults, Christianity, Finances, Career, Prayer, Marriage_______________________________________________There is more.Got a question you want answered on the podcast? Ask us at Questions@WildatHeart.orgSupport the mission or find more on our website:WildAtHeart.org  or on our app.Apple: Wild At Heart AppAndroid: Wild At Heart AppWatch on YouTubeThe stock music used in the Wild at Heart podcast is titled “When Laid to Rest” by Patrick Rundblad and available here.More pauses available in the One Minute Pause app for Apple iOS and Android.Apple: One Minute Pause AppAndroid: One Minute Pause App