Rooted in the Really Real

Listen to Fr. Steve's homily from 4/3/24. Thanks for listening! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! You can email ashley@rootedinthereallyreal.com with any questions or suggestions. God bless.

In the episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley discuss the beauty, joy, and peace of Easter. After experiencing Lent and entering into Easter, are we changed? Does the reality of Jesus dying and rising from the dead change our lives? How can we experience true joy? Thank you so much for listening to our podcast! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! You can emai...

On Thursday 2/1/24 Fr. Steve gave a talk to the Fishers of Men group from Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville regarding what it means to "be a man" vs. the false masculinity the world teaches us. We must go into the breach in order to bring the light of Christ to others.  Thanks for listening! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a fri...

In Fr. Steve's homily, he speaks of how when we allow the Lord to purify our hearts, our parishes are healthier and more people can hear the Lord call them to their vocation.  Listen to hear more!  Thanks for listening! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! You can email ashley@rootedinthereallyreal.com with any questions or suggestions. God bless...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about our new series we will be diving into- marriage and family life! The richness and beauty of marriage and family life is essential to the Church, but we realize that not everyone's experience is perfect- we all come from broken families to some degree. We also talk about some fun new changes to the podcast, including lots of new upcoming episode...

For the first time on our podcast, we're posting one of Fr. Steve's recent talks! On Saturday 2/17/24 Fr. Steve gave a talk to the Knights of Columbus from various nearby parishes regarding how to encourage vocations. By modeling conversion, refusing to keep our faith hidden, sharing our testimony, and inspiring others, we each help to encourage vocations to the priesthood, religious lif...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about diving deeper and leaning into experiencing more in the sacraments, especially the Mass, adoration, confession, and our baptism. What if we tried to give the Lord more of our hearts? What if he showed us a new way to enter into the sacraments?  Thank you so much for listening to our podcast! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on socia...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley discuss the fast-approaching season of Lent. They go over the meaning and purpose of Lent, the three dimensions of Lent (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving), and how to approach Lent differently this year to have it truly contribute to genuine growth in our healing and relationship with the Lord. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast! Please leave us a r...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley discuss specific examples of ways we can incorporate living a liturgical life into our home. Whether it be celebrating our baptism day or name day, intentionally having days of fasting and penance, or creating a space of prayer in the home, the Lord is waiting to invite us deeper into relationship with Him through a liturgical approach to life.  Thank you so m...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about the beautiful gift we are given in the Christmas season, focusing much on the Holy Family.  Thank you so much for listening to our podcast! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! You can email ashley@rootedinthereallyreal.com with any questions or suggestions. God bless. 

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley discuss preparing our hearts for the upcoming season of Advent. We prepare for receiving Jesus as as little baby in the manger, but also anticipate his glorious Second Coming. How can we give Jesus everything and have a fruitful Advent? Thank you so much for listening to our podcast! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a f...

Thanks for listening! In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about sacramental living and liturgical living. What are we bringing to the table when we enter into the Mass? How much intentionality are we bringing to prayer? There are so many ways to order our life, but what happens when we order it according to the liturgical seasons of the Church? Thank you so much for listening to our podcast...

We're back from an extended break!  In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley catch up on their lives over the last few months, focusing on trying to slow down and listen more clearly to what the Lord is asking.  Thank you so much for listening to our podcast! Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! You can email ashley@rootedinthereallyreal.com with an...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about listening to the promptings of the Lord and being docile to those promptings. Sometimes we're quick to judge ourselves or we're afraid to do what the Lord asks because of fear, but it helps to turn towards Him and say, "Lord, how do YOU see me?" Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please leave us a rating and/or review, and s...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about the various seasons of life we can find ourselves in and how it's okay for our prayer to change during these times. We aren't always being asked to go back to how our prayer used to be, but to enter into our current transition or season with the Lord and see what He has for us.  Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please leave us a rat...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley take a short break from the current series on virtue to talk about sanctifying the ordinariness of our everyday life, specifically that of motherhood. Fr. Steve recently gave a talk to the moms group at Ashley's parish, in which this topic was discussed. In this episode, they discuss some of the main points and point to room for more discussion here.  Tha...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley continue to use Romano Guardini's book, Learning the Virtues That Lead You To God , this time looking at his chapters on the virtues of  Justice and Reverence. Our hearts are made for both!  Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! You can email ashley@rootedinthereallyreal...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about the virtue of acceptance, and how growing in acceptance leads to a growth in patience. In order to be patient with ourselves and others, we must first accept the circumstances we find ourselves in. If we do not accept reality before us, it is impossible to interact with that reality and receive the graces the Lord wishes to bestow upon us. We can al...

In this 50th episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley talk about the virtue of Truthfulness, as mentioned by Romano Guardini in his book, Learning the Virtues That Lead You To God .  We have an obligation as Christians to speak the truth always, while recognizing that truthfulness needs also the virtues of courage and love for the person with whom we are speaking with to aid in its fruitfulness. Thank you fo...

In this episode, we continue talking about living a virtuous life, this time looking at the three Theological Virtues.  Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! God bless. 

In this episode, we continue talking about living a virtuous life, this time looking at the four Cardinal virtues.  Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please leave us a rating and/or review, and share on social media or with a friend! God bless. 

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley continue talking about living the life of virtue. Virtues show the potential of man and what he is destined for.  Like we spoke about in our last episode, we are created for freedom and virtues help us attain that freedom, but they also help provide order. True order is understanding that God alone is God. Disorder comes when we leave virtue in pursuit of our...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley are back with a new series on the virtues.  First, we look at the reason for pursuing virtue and remind ourselves to focus on our mission of attaining radical holiness through surrendering everything to the Lord. If we really want to grow in holiness, He will be with us and provide us with the grace to do so.  In order to pursue virtue, we need to have an accu...

We are back from our summer break! In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley take a step back and regroup before heading into a new series. Do we believe God is who He says He is? Do we believe He is bigger than the mess we find ourselves in? Let us give Him our YES.    Email us at ashley@rootedinthereallyreal.com with questions or prayer intentions. Please also subscribe to our podcast and leave us a...

In this episode, Fr. Steve and Ashley conclude the series on Ralph Martin's The Fulfillment of All Desire , talking about the Unitive Way of the spiritual life. We talk about the progression from spiritual betrothal to spiritual marriage, as well as recognizing that there's always more that the Lord invites us to experience with Him.  Email us at ashley@rootedinthereallyreal.com with que...