A Word from Our Outpost, with Joseph and Crystal Gruber

If you have the feeling that the modern world has everything upside-down, this episode will give that feeling the teeth of thought. Pope Benedict XVI has been famously quoted as saying "The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness." And he was right on all counts.  We reference the four cardinal virtues, which can be found explicated at length in a...

The active life is supposed to be the overflow from the interior life... and yet here we are, trying to do things without swift recourse to a life of prayer. We talk through what has helped us to remember to put prayer first, as well as that sense of dis-integration we have when we don't first pray.  We reference The Soul of the Apostolate, which can be found here.  We also reference the podcast T...

While it seems a matter of course to many that college should last approximately four years, it's worth wondering if there is something more to the degree than 8 semesters (or 12 quarters) worth of classes. The inherent inequality of seniors and their accummulated experience rubbing shoulders with freshman who have the disadvantage of less experience gives the opportunity for the handing on of kno...

Clubs: we paid part of our tuition so that they would exist and be funded. What good are they, and how ought a Catholic approach them? We definitely didn't and definitely could have talked about Chesterton's take on the differences between clubs and neighbors, but that doesn't have to stop you from googling it and finding out his thoughts. As always, feel free to drop us a line at ouroutpost@gmail...

Wherein we discuss the role of the dorm in forming communities and humans, and how we might lean into such institutions to become holy. Other than some Chesterton quotes and a Newman quote (which I now looked up. It is: "In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often" and is apparently from Newman's Development of Christ...

Wherein we discuss the opportunities for Christian charity in the college dining hall, and the importance of meals with people in general. While we usually reference worthwhile works to read to bolster your experience, today's episode is brought to you in large part through our experience of this reality. If and when Joseph publishes a book on the topic of the college campus, you'll be some of the...

Wherein we discuss the role of the college classroom in meeting people and beginning relationships. As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly marriage membership here ! join our email newsletter list here ! catch our other podcast, Love Your Marriage, by clicking here: https://ouroutpost.org/podcasts/ see what we have upcoming in terms of events here: https://ouroutpost.or...

Wherein we discuss the command to be fruitful and multiply, the prophetic utterance of the coming of the Messiah in the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15, and how Eve gets things wrong. And how Mary and Joseph got it right. And how we're supposed to get it right, too. References: The Book of Genesis, chapters 1-6 As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly marriage membership...

Wherein we go more deeply into the third pillar of apostolic formation, which is intellectual formation, and specifically talk about growing in our understanding of ethics, philosophy, and theology. Joseph also addresses a few of the issues people brought up with the apologetics classes... Works we reference: C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics , esp. the Hillsdale cours...

Wherein Joseph will present on how Christians can maintain that Jesus is Who He said He is, which means the Church is who He said she is. Chesterton is referenced a bit-- I always recommend starting with Orthodoxy with him. Brant Pitre's The Case for Jesus is an excellent reference as well. I also recommend being familiar with all of salvation history-- at some point, I'd like to write a good refe...

Wherein Joseph originally presented some arguments for the existence of God for the training of missionaries, and thus now presents it to you, the listener, as additional training for you. A book that is obliquely referenced is Frank Sheed's "Theology and Sanity," as well as the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas. As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly mar...

Wherein Joseph gives a presentation to missionaries about relativism, and arguments against it. Books referenced: "Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power," by Josef Pieper, and "The Abolition of Man," by C.S. Lewis. Both are very short, and the Pieper book, believe it or not, is a little more readable. The work of Jean Vanier is also mentioned-- he has a number of books extant as we...

Wherein we discuss the four senses of Scripture. The relevant section from catechism is this: The senses of Scripture 115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. the profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the l...

Wherein we finish up the Decree of the Lay Apostolate's chapter on formation for the apostolate. We talk about resources for training, of which there are just a ton, as well as the feeling that there is a ton, and the feeling that we don't know what we don't know so we don't know what to do next. We really recommend the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Code of Canon Law, Rerum Nova...

Wherein we discuss the three areas within which Apostolicam Actuositatem (Decree on the Lay Apostolate) recommends receiving especial formation. The whole document from Vatican II can be found here: http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651118_apostolicam-actuositatem_en.html And the paragraph we discuss is paragraph 31: 31. Various types of the a...

Continuing our look at Chapter 6 of Apostolicam Actuositatem, we go through paragraph 30 of the document, which outlines a lifetime of formation for the apostolate. We also mention family life, schools, lay groups, discipleship, and the Trapp Family Singers. Check out Maria Augusta von Trapp's book, "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers", here: https://www.amazon.com/Story-Trapp-Family-...

The Vatican II document Apostolicam Actuositatem lays out the main categories lay people need for their formation for the apostolate. Human, Spiritual, Intellectual, and Apostolic formation-- these are four pillars of formation lay people need. We spend a bit of time going through them-- it's all there in paragraph 29 of Apostolicam Actuositatem-- check it out here: http://www.vatican.va/archive/h...

We get nerdy about the document called Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (AKA Aostolicam Actuositatem). We summarize chapter 6 of the document which is called “formation for the Apostolate”, talk with a bit more depth about the introduction to this chapter, and reveal our plans to discuss the subsequent paragraphs in the next few podcasts! The document can be found online here: http://www.vati...

Wherein we reflect on the urgency of the Christian mission, especially in light of death. We also discuss one of the insights from the book "Leadership and Self-Deception", and link it to the notion of simplicity. We look too to the example of Christ, Whose urgency is expressed in doing the right thing at the right time. As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly...

The episode where talking about sharing the gospel, and actually sharing the gospel with each other goes a little differently than expected. Joseph and Crystal get real about encountering Jesus... for real. Also, just fyi, we usually edit out the silences, and the average podcast we edit loses about 5 minutes of dead air. This one had over 20 minutes of silence sprinkled throughout that we cut. A...

Wherein we discuss how we can fall prey to contraceptive thinking in our daily lives and in our relationship with God. Not just for married people, we discuss what barriers are to bearing fruit for the Lord, and how to remove those barriers. As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly marriage membership here ! join our email newsletter list here ! catch our other podcast, L...

Stories are powerful things...most of the time. Sometimes, people get off track, and tell stories that didn't go anywhere, or didn't take the conversation anywhere. Joseph and Crystal talk a bit about what to do when this happens, and why stories are so important. As always,  support our work by going here ! join the monthly marriage membership here ! join our email newsletter list here ! cat...

Wherein we discuss simplicity with Keith and Tracy Gatzke. Besides being a fad right now and a desire in our hearts, simplicity may also be integral to the Christian life. More than that, it may in fact be the integrating factor, as well as a gauge of our souls and a path to evangelization. Whether it is or not, we had a great time talking about it with friends. Of things referenced, we do bring u...

Wherein we discuss the practice of fasting. As one of the three practices associated with Lent, and the one that most people talk about when Ash Wednesday rolls around, it still seems to need some more unpacking. Or maybe, we still needed to unpack it some more for ourselves.. As usual, spending some time talking through the topic was enlightening for us, the podcasters-- we hope that the episode...

We talk about the Our Father and the Lenten practice of prayer. The cornerstone of the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus' counsels on piety: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; the cornerstone of those counsels is prayer; the cornerstone of prayer is the Our Father. It's a prayer that teaches us what to ask of God, in what order, and in so doing, makes us into children who relate to God and the world righ...