We're baaaaaaaack

From a recent article noting the attraction of young men to Orthodox Christianity, we dive into the theme of liturgy and how the rightly ordered celebration of the Church's worship not only attracts people, but also reminds us that we are human. And not only human, but human beings who are in relationship with God. Read the article that got us started here.

Merry Christmas, from all of us at St. Pius X Catholic Church and Roar Like the Lamb!

This one starts with a lot of banter. But it's fun. So enjoy that part. Then we get into In Sinu Jesu and need for priests to be rooted in prayer. Jesus needs His priests to pray! But not just priests...all of us need to find refuge in the Eucharistic heart of our Lord. "In Sinu Jesu" has some beautiful spiritual reading if you're looking for your next good meditation reading. Check out Two Become Family - it's a great podcast!

Why is everyone shouting? Because they have good questions! Asking those questions helps us get to a deeper place in our relationship with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church # 239 says: "By calling God "Father", the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father."

While there's a bit of a joke in that title, there's also some truth. If we're going to worship God, we need to know the disposition of our own hearts. Just as Christ gave Himself for us, offered His body in sacrifice for us, so we are called to make a sacrifice of ourselves whenever we worship. This might mean putting aside our own stylistic preferences, or being obedient when it would be easier to do our own thing, or simply setting aside the time required to attend Mass. No matter what, we all have a sacrifice that we can make for God's glory!

Sabbatical is over and we're back. So good to be able to record an episode again. We're excited to get back on a regular schedule. Thanks for listening!

This is our last episode for a little while, but we had a good time talking about a bunch of stuff. Fr. Sam sincerely regrets not having the name Mark Schultz in his brain, but if you'd like to check out the interview with Mark that aired on The Tangent, you should give it a listen here. And check out his amazing song "Walking Her Home" here. Sabbatical starts soon - Roar Like the Lamb will return in September!

As we confront our mortality as very elderly millenials, our conversation meanders today. As a result, we cover some good ground, but it's hard to nail down a single theme. Anyway, it was good to record again, as our ability to actually get studio time has been limited.

Did you know that "I Can See Clearly Now" talks about obstacles? Fr. Sam sure didn't. Listen in as we talk about clarity and the gift that brings to ministry, and the way God uses consolations and desolations to help us navigate the spiritual life.

Sometimes Catholics or parishes are described as "frozen and chosen," and we have some thoughts on how this might apply in real life, how it might be just a stereotype, and why we need to do some work if we're going to do the hard work of evangelization and growing in holiness. Show Notes: Did you miss the last episode? The One That Got Away? We had the video, but the audio didn't seem to work super well. Here's the link to the YouTube https://youtu.be/dPze_ywQ0J0 - check it out!