All Things Catholic with Dr. Edward Sri

"Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass." What did Jesus mean by this prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Was he trying to back out of the cross at the last minute? This prayer actually offers a window into Jesus' soul, revealing how he gives it all in the garden. Jesus goes on to say, "...not my will, but yours be done." And in so doing, he shows us the model of perfect love.

What did Jesus mean when he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Did Jesus really think he was abandoned by the Father? Far from a cry of despair, Jesus' words are a prayer of great hope in the midst of great darkness. Jesus quotes Psalm 22, fulfills prophecy and models for us how to turn to the Lord amid the crosses we face.  Episode Notes: For the YouTube video of Edward S...

Finding silence in a house with 8 kids and a busy apostolic life is not easy. But Beth and I both felt drawn this Lent to turn off the noise, be more unplugged and more tuned in to God in silent stillness. In the silence, we encounter our true selves at a deeper level. And we also have the interior space to encounter God and others more.  Why do we tend to fill the spaces in our day with so m...

Right now there's a battle going on for your mind - for how you look at reality. What is love? What brings happiness? What is a successful life? The secular world is doing everything it can to get you to look at these fundamental questions a certain way. But Jesus offers an alternative view. How can you make sure you are not conformed to this world but are transformed by a renewal of your mind? Ep...

The words "Lent" and "Romance" typically don't go together. Lent brings to mind drudgery, sacrifice and slogging through the dreary days of February without your favorite treats. What's romantic about that? At its essence, however, Lent is all about love. It's about creating more space in our hearts to encounter God. Edward Sri offers practical ideas for starting Lent well as he unpacks how the th...

A crucial moment in the spiritual life comes when we hit the wall: when we experience our weaknesses and sins and fear that we'll never get better - we'll never change. In those low moments, we might be tempted to give up trying and settle for mediocrity.  But when we dare to come to Jesus in our weakness, as we really are, in the valley of humility, God does the most profound work of healing...

The Feast of the Presentation (Feb 2) commemorates a significant turning point in the history of the world: God's glory returning to the temple. Edward Sri unpacks the prophecies fulfilled in this scene to help prepare our hearts for this great feast. Recorded on location in Jerusalem on the Southern Steps of the Temple. Episode Notes: For more on the Biblical background of the Presentation, see E...

We like to pray when we feel we're getting something out of it. But what do we do when the feelings fade, when we're "too busy" or prayer is dry? Will we still show up? Faithfulness to Jesus in prayer is more important than the feelings we might receive in prayer. And sometimes God withdraws the feelings of His closeness in order to test our hearts - to test whether we'll still come to Him for Him...

Nothing can fully prepare you for the real challenges of married life. Edward Sri hosts his first guest, his wife Beth, as they share three things they wish they did before they were married...and they continue to work on today.

Many say, "What I do in my private life doesn't matter - as long as I'm not hurting anyone." But there are many ways we hurt people simply by failing to be the best we can be. In this week's episode, Edward Sri helps us respond to this objection and talk about moral truth, underscoring how what we do in our 'private lives' greatly impacts other people - for better or for worse.   Episode...

Our choices matter. They lead us either to becoming the kind of person we most deeply desire to be or to falling short of the greatness to which God calls us. In this episode, Edward Sri helps us engage the culture of moral relativism with a Catholic moral worldview. Episode Notes Rationalizing Anything: Should he go to her room?  The Top Moral Issues We Face "Ethikos": All About Character Mo...

What was Mary thinking and going through on that first Christmas night? Recorded on location in Bethlehem, Edward Sri helps us enter into Mary's experience: The joy of giving birth to her son, the messiah, and the bewilderment and sorrow over watching him enter the world in such poverty, humility and rejection. 

What if we had never heard the Christmas story before? What if we were first-century Jews encountering the story of Jesus' birth for the very first time? In this week's podcast, Edward Sri takes us back into the world of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and unpacks for us the prophecies, historical context and Jewish hopes that come to fulfillment in Luke's account of Christ's birth (Luke 2:1-7).   Epi...

Christians are called to rejoice, especially in the Advent season. But can we experience joy even in the midst of difficulties and trials? Edward Sri unpacks what true joy is and how we can radiate it more, even in the face of life's daily challenges.

Don't miss out on Advent this year. Edward Sri helps us stay focused on the special graces that await us in this liturgical season - if we understand its meaning and key practices.  Episode Notes Staying Focused in December: Preparing Spiritually Act of Love/Devotion Sacrifice: A Small Gift for Baby Jesus Like Mary: "In Haste" after what's most important The Message of Advent Hymns (mentioned...

The Sign of the Cross is not just the way Catholics begin their prayers. It is itself a powerful prayer—one that’s rooted in Scripture and one that the earliest Christians often turned to for strength in spiritual battle and protection from all harm and evil.  In fact, Christians in the first centuries of the Church prayed the sign of the cross throughout their days, when the rose in the morn...

If you’re at Thanksgiving dinner and the topic of life after death comes up, how confident would you be in articulating the Catholic position? Is there really a hell? If God is so merciful, would he really send people to hell? And what’s purgatory all about? Does God really bake us for a few hundred years in purgatory before letting us into heaven? Where is that in the Bible? The Church has rich t...

Why does Jesus sometimes seem to push Mary away? For example: When people inform Jesus that his mother has arrived in Capernaum to see him, he says, “Who is my mother?” (My. 12:48). What does he mean by that? Far from disrespecting his mother, Jesus is honoring her – for he goes on to say “Whoever does the will of my Father is mother to me?” And Mary is the first to do the will of the Father. Inde...

Imagine waking up along the Sea of Galilee, walking out your door and seeing the place where Jesus calmed the storm, walked on water and called his first disciples. You pinch yourself and ask, “Am I really here?”  By seeing the very places where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, healed many people of their illnesses, and taught the parables, suddenly makes the Biblical stories more real.&nb...

“Why do you Catholics give so much attention to the saints? Shouldn’t we just focus on God?” Indeed, Catholic devotion to the saints is quite puzzling to some Christians. The whole idea of kneeling before a statue of Mary, doing a nine-day novena to St. Therese or asking St. Anthony to help you find your lost keys seems scandalous.  After all, these are just human beings who died a long time...

Along the Sea of Galilee some 2,000 years ago, Peter was stunned when the Risen Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?” It was the word for “love” that got to him. Jesus didn’t speak of ordinary human affection. Another Greek word, phileo, describes that kind of love.  Jesus instead uses the word agape, which describes a total, self-giving, sacrificial love. And that is what’s so troubling for Pet...

Before you say you’re pro-life, you might want to consider themes from JP2’s hard-hitting encyclical “The Gospel of Life.” It’s like an examination of conscience. It not only challenges us to take a deeper look at what’s really happening in “the culture of death.” It also invites us to consider the ways we Christians might be contributing to it through our own individualistic tendencies in our fam...

Are you too busy to pray the rosary? Get distracted? Get bored? Prefer shorter prayers? For many, the rosary is the marathon of all Catholic devotions. “I prefer shorter prayers like the Divine Mercy chaplet.” Who has time for 50 plus beads of prayers? But what if I were to tell you the rosary is not beyond you. That you don’t have to pray it all at once. And that there are creative ways to incorp...

Imagine a non-Christian friend asking you to explain the Trinity: “How does 3=1? Do you believe in three Gods? Or is it just like three different names for the same one God?” How would you respond? And does it really matter? Does it really make a difference whether we believe in just a solitary divine being or a God who exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Absolutely! In fact, understanding the...

Ed Sheeran’s recent popular song repeatedly boasts, “I’m in love with your body.” But will that kind of love satisfy the depths of the human heart? We long to be loved for who we are, not just for our bodies. But in our over-sexualized world, many young people think, “I’ll never find someone who will love me for who I am, as a person…The best I can do to focus on my physical appearance, dress a ce...