On The Road To Perfection

On The Road To Perfection Episode 82: Fasting During Lent Fasting during Lent is often not considered until someone asks us what we are giving up. Then, suddenly, without having thought of it prior, we say something like, “Chocolate” or “My favorite TV show.” In this episode presented a month before having to start fasting during Lent, we explore what it all means, to help...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 81: What Is Lent? What is Lent? Well, it certainly is not the definition we give at the beginning, when Kristofer does his best impression of Archie Bunker. TIMESTAMPS: 16:39 Grace Episode 20:05 Lenten Resources REFERENCES: Lent Resources Grace – Episode 12 On the surface, “What is Lent?” may seem a silly question. Doesn’t everybody know? I...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 80: The Gift of Creation The Gift of Creation is something we might take for granted or not comprehend completely. Certainly, the latter! Maybe you think that Pope Francis a couple of years ago came and turned everything upside down with his encyclical about our care of the environment and world around us, Laudato si’. What does it mean to be caretakers with...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 79: The Mass Dismissal More fun and laughs! The Mass dismissal is perhaps the most important part of the Mass after the source and summit, the Eucharist. It calls us to action, drives us to purpose, and requires of us dedication and commitment. Are we up to that task? Beth and Kristofer each reveal their favorite dismissal – and, more entertaining, their lea...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 78: Glory Good glory, this was a fun episode to do, and is a funny one to listen to! What’s in a word? Glory is one of those words that the English language has done a disservice to. It’s like “snow” compared to indigenous people in polar regions, or “love” translated from the Greek in the English Bible. We have consolidated man...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 77: Kerygma Kerygma is not something you hear every day – but you should! In this episode. Kristofer starts out with a definition and winds up in confusion. But you get the benefit of understanding when Beth sets the record straight. Faith Formation about the Kerygma is something we as Catholics should demand and expect from our clergy. Ultimately, it answer...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 76: Do Only Catholics Go to Heaven? The question of who goes to Heaven is a longstanding one we all want to know – and usually we are wondering if we are included in that group! Do Catholics go to Heaven? Do ONLY Catholics go to Heaven? Starting with what the Catholic Church says and teaches, which was promulgated through Vatican II, we dive in, answer the q...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 75: Discerning God’s Will – Part 2 From Discerning God’s Will – Part 1 : Discerning God’s Will is simple, but difficult. That’s a hard thing to swallow in and of itself. Why won’t God “give me a sign”? Why doesn’t God shout ? Is it really simple? There’s a process for discernment. We must discern tw...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 74: Discerning God’s Will – Part 1 Discerning God’s Will is simple, but difficult. That’s a hard thing to swallow in and of itself. Why won’t God “give me a sign”? Why doesn’t God shout ? Is it really simple? There’s a process for discernment. We must discern two things in our life: WHO does God want me to BE,...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 73: Laity What is our role as laity of the Catholic Church? As laity, we need to recognize how crucial we are to the family of the Catholic Church. This week we take a leisurely stroll on a beautiful day in the neighborhood, discussing what it means to be the family of The Church. More specifically, what it means to be The Church. As the laity – the common f...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 72: The Incarnation What is The Incarnation? More to the point, how do we approach it in our daily lives, particularly as we prepare The Way of The Lord during Advent? In this fast-paced walk and talk, we cover this deep subject with good humor and solid exploration, without going into the theology too much. It’s a fun and lighthearted twenty minutes while w...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 71: Family Happy Thanksgiving! What do we do about Family interactions during the holidays? In perhaps our most fun episode to date in terms of just rolling with it, Beth tries to make a point while Kristofer goes off into la la land. Music, movie, cartoon, disco, philosophy, sitcoms and saint references seem to come easily when one person comes from a solid famil...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 70: Celebrating Advent From Christmas Parties to the reason why one priest does not get invited to them anymore; to Prince Playing In The Sunshine; a sneak peek at Nick’s article about the meanings behind some of the traditions of the season ; and a gazillion resources created by Holy Owned And Operated designed to help you focus on the New Year and the coming of...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 69: It’s All In The Little Things With all due respect to Mother Teresa quoting The Little Flower, we don’t have that kind of wisdom, though we aspire to it in this episode! While Kristofer devolves into quoting and singing soundbites to alleviate his guilt at NOT enjoying the little things, Beth gives great wisdom in how to live our Catholic Faith on...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 68: Life In this fun and informative episode talking about living life to the fullest, appreciating the life that we are given, what does life mean to each of us, and the dignity of life, we walk and talk about life in the Catholic sense – what a gift we have received being created in the image and likeness of God! With a few fun soundbites (to mask Kristofe...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 67: Why Does the Catholic Church Have Saints Saints are awesome! The saints give us human beings something to aspire to. Saints show us that we can achieve heaven. I mean, Jesus was the perfect human, the New Adam; saints, on the other hand, led rough lives, Ignatius Loyola , Dominic Savio , and Simon Peter all had obvious and serious problems. Conquistadors, blac...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 66: Why Does The Catholic Church Not Believe In Cremation Let’s instead answer the question of why the Catholic Church discourages cremation. The title above is what most people type into a search engine, but it’s a bit convoluted. First answer: The Catholic Church does not forbid cremation. That may be your last question, too, but you should now some...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 65: Why Do Catholics Believe In Transubstantiation That’s a big word! You can’t make something like that up… In this episode we tackle the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, explaining why Ctholics believe in Transubstantiation. And, as promised, here’s the link to the Eucharist episode . A...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 64: Why Do Catholics Have the Pope The Pope is vary important. He is a leader by example. He is the first among equals. He is the captain who steers the ship. Without a designated leader on earth, the Catholic Church would split apart like many of the other religions in the world. The Pope and the rest of the magisterium are important parts of our faith. For more...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 60: Why Do Catholics Baptize Infants? We baptize infants because that is a part of the marriage vows Catholics take. Baptism is not a part of the choice people Catholics make to love, know, and serve God. We do not pick our parents, but we decide whether to obey them and love them. This is the same for baptism. Parents decide where their kids go to school, what th...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 60: Why Do Catholics Use Latin? Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus; Ave Maria; novus ordo. All of these Latin terms mean something to Catholics. They mean something in Latin, too. Due to its unchanging or dead, status as a language, Latin is a useful tool so we all know what we’re talking about. Even if we have to look up the meaning. Imagine if in a papal encyclical...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 60: Why Do Catholics Pray to Mary? Praying is good! We ask people to do something all the time (pray). Pray to Mary! It’s good to ask for help from people, so why not ask Mary? The awesome mother of GOD . Children ask their moms for help. We are the children of God, so why don’t we ask Mary to pray for us? Pretty simple in reality. If you still have do...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 60: Why Do Catholics Use Beeswax Candles? While this is a trivial question, there is some symbolism behind the use of beeswax candles. I wish I could offer more information on the topic, but I’m as clueless as Dad. I can give you some resources on the topic: Catholic.com has a blog on the topic, and our Why do Catholics use Incense podcast has more on the Sm...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 59: Why Do Catholics Use Unleavened Bread? All cultures have a form of unleavened bread. Tortillas, Naan, Pita, etc. Unleavened bread was what Jesus used at the Last Supper. It is no accident that God used the  Jewish feast of Passover as a symbol to let us know that Jesus cam to save us from our sins. When the priest holds up the the bread, he holds up the same t...

On The Road To Perfection Episode 58: Why Do Catholics Use Incense? Incense has been an important part of Judaeo-christian culture since Moses. The book of  Revelation gives an even better reason than “Because that’s what we’ve always done.” The physical image of our prayers rising to heaven reminds us that during mass we are as close to heaven as we can possibly be until o...