A Catholic Life

This is Episode 158 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss customs and traditions surrounding the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul which we celebrate on June 29.  This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers in the sacred language. Learn your basic prayers in Latin conveniently on the go. Practice your pronunciatio...

This is Episode 157 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss devotion to St. John the Baptist and liturgical customs surrounding his feastdays. This episode of A Catholic Life is brought to you by the Sanctifica app . If you're looking for a practical tool to help you live the liturgical year to the fullest, this is one of the best apps out there: Daily Mass readings, the...

This is Episode 156 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss the authority of uncanonized saints such as blesseds and venerables. What authority do these holy men and women have even though they have not yet been canonized? I would like to thank CatechismClass.com for sponsoring this episode.  CatechismClass.com , the leader in online Catholic catechism classes, has everything...

This is Episode 155 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss why worship is not optional but rather is a moral duty required by the virtue of justice. This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers in the sacred language. Learn your basic prayers in Latin conveniently on the go. Practice your pronunciation with ea...

This is Episode 154 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss Predestination and Free Will. What is the actual understanding of this? Is Predestination taught in Catholicism and if so, how is it radically different from protestant, Calvinist views? I would like to thank CatechismClass.com for sponsoring this episode.  CatechismClass.com , the leader in online Catholic catechism...

This is Episode 153 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss the Theology of Rogation Days and Sacred Processions. This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers in the sacred language. Learn your basic prayers in Latin conveniently on the go. Practice your pronunciation with easy-to-follow English phonetic render...

This is Episode 152 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss the difference between dogma and theological opinion. This is a topic few Catholics have ever heard explained but the distinction is quite important. This topic builds upon whether the ordinary Magisterium can err .  I would like to thank CatechismClass.com for sponsoring this episode.  CatechismClass.com , the leader...

This is Episode 151 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss why Our Lady’s role at the Particular Judgment. The Particular Judgment is separate from the General Judgment at the end of the world . Let us also prepare for the great customs for May, the month of Mary. This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers i...

This is Episode 150 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss actual grace and how actual grace is the beginning of all conversions. I also discuss the different types of actual grace and how actual grace is distinct from sanctifying grace and sacramental grace. I would like to thank MyCatholicWill.com for sponsoring this episode. My Catholic Will provides simple and effective t...

This is Episode 149 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss why The Resurrection of the Flesh and the Degrees of Glory in Heaven. The Resurrection of Christ reveals both the reality and the nature of our future resurrection. It shows us that the body is not destined for destruction but for transformation. I would like to thank CatechismClass.com for sponsoring this episode.  C...

This is Episode 148 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss why The Resurrection Is Not the End: Why Easter Begins the Fight for Your Soul. Most Catholics treat Easter as: “Christ is risen, now we celebrate, and that’s it.” But traditionally Easter is the beginning of the Christian life renewed. The Resurrection demands transformation. For past Episodes published on Easter add...

This is Episode 147 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode for Passion Sunday I discuss the Passion of the Church in our times. I would like to thank CatechismClass.com for sponsoring this episode.  CatechismClass.com , the leader in online Catholic catechism classes, has everything from online K-12 programs, RCIA classes, adult continuing education, marriage preparation, baptism prepa...

This is Episode 146 of the A Catholic Life Podcast.  In today’s episode I discuss despair, the virtue of hope, and the indefectibility of the Church.   The modern world may appear filled with confusion and decline, but Christian hope rests upon divine promise.  This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers in the sacred language. Le...

This is Episode 145 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss the traditional Catholic view of Just War Theory and the Morality of Nuclear Weapons .  The Catholic Church has long upheld a doctrine of just war, providing moral criteria by which the use of force by nations may be judged. Rooted in Sacred Scripture, clarified by the Scholastics—especially St. Thomas Aquinas—and cod...

This is Episode 144 of the A Catholic Life Podcast.  In today’s episode I discuss the traditional Catholic approach to hospitality and the corporal works of mercy, among them the need to visit the imprisoned and to reject cremation .  This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers in the sacred language. Learn your basic prayers in L...

This is Episode 143 of the A Catholic Life Podcast.  In today’s episode I discuss Catholic approaches to the care of the dying and the Euthanasia debate.  I would like to thank CatechismClass.com for sponsoring this episode.  CatechismClass.com , the leader in online Catholic catechism classes, has everything from online K-12 programs, RCIA classes, adult continuing education, marriage preparation...

This is Episode 142 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss developing a Lenten regiment built on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. I also cover the importance of the 40 Hours Devotion at the beginning of Lent. As we prepare to enter into the holy season of Lent, we should prepare to observe a strict routine of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Below are 14 articles worth readin...

This is Episode 141 of the A Catholic Life Podcast.  In today’s episode I discuss the sin of scandal. Among the many sins condemned by Sacred Scripture and the perennial teaching of the Church, few are treated with such gravity as the sin of scandal. This can be a source of inspiration as we prepare ourselves for Lent and begin the observance of Septuagesima today.  For more on Septuagesima, see E...

This is Episode 140 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I address the morning offering. Among the many traditional Catholic devotions that have quietly faded from daily practice, few are as powerful—or as neglected—as the Morning Offering. This brief prayer, once taught universally to Catholic children and faithfully practiced by clergy and laity alike, ordered the entire day toward...

This is Episode 139 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I discuss Catholic etiquette in our churches and in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Restoring Catholic etiquette is not nostalgia – it is an act of fidelity. It protects faith, fosters devotion, and honors Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Every genuflection, silence, kneeling posture, and modest garment declares a single...

This is Episode 138 of the A Catholic Life Podcast.  In today’s episode I discuss the immemorial practice of Wednesday and Friday abstinence and how we can restore Wednesday abstinence to our lives while also keeping Friday abstinence which remains obligatory. See the following resources for more information: ·          The Definitive Guide to Catholic Fasting and Abstinence ·          The Fellows...

This is Episode 137 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I address the importance of praying the Divine Office specifically Matins and Compline as a layperson. For the traditional breviary readings in multiple languages, see Divinum Officium . This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers in the sacred language. Learn...

This is Episode 136 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I address Spanish, Hispanic, and Filipino Advent Traditions . Remarkably, while Advent’s traditional discipline weakened or disappeared in much of the West, it was preserved with striking fidelity in Spanish, Hispanic, and Filipino Catholic cultures. These traditions are not cultural curiosities. They are living witnesses to th...

In today’s episode, on the 1st Sunday of Advent, I address the following: What is Advent? Advent: The Beginning of the Liturgical Year & Source of Rich Meditations Advent and Christmas Traditions The Rorate Mass: A Dawn Mass Said Only By Candlelight This episode is sponsored by PrayLatin.com . PrayLatin.com offers Latin prayer cards to learn and share prayers in the sacred language. Learn your...

This is Episode 132 of the A Catholic Life Podcast. In today’s episode I address the timely observation this week of Thanksgiving – Let Advent be Advent. When we can start decorating for Christmas is an often-debated item. In a world where the Christmas Tree in secular or protestant homes is up around Thanksgiving, the Catholic world is seen as an outlier. So when should a traditional Catholic dec...