The Pilgrim Soul

Giuli, Sofia and Adrianna have a conversation about creation. What does it mean that everything is a sign of the Mystery of Being? What personal experiences have taught us to look at creation this way? Amid the fallenness of creation, what ethical demands follow from this ontological reality? // This conversation was inspired by the 2022 Fall Conference of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Cultu...

Adrianna, Giuli and Sofi discuss the Church, the continued presence of Jesus Christ on earth. What does it mean to belong to and depend on the Church? How can we verify in our lives that the Church really is Christ? And what do we do when faced with the sins and brokenness of her members? // Our media recommendation is a playlist of songs that remind us of the Church. You can find it at this link:...

Giuli, Sofia and Adrianna have a conversation about Sunday, the day of the Lord. What does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy? How is it a sign of our origin and destiny? Which practices of rest and worship have we found most fruitful? // Our media recommendation is the film Mostly Martha, which you can stream on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, or YouTube. And our monthly challenge is to choose one way to a...

Sofia, Giuli and Adrianna discuss division. In our personal lives and in the world, what generates conflict? What solution does the world offer, and how does this fail to satisfy our hearts? How can we taste the impossible peace that Christ came to bring? // Our media recommendation is Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” ( www.tinyurl.com/y8k4ff9u ). And our monthly challe...

Adrianna, Giuli and Sofia talk about the search for joy. How does it differ from happiness? What is the relationship between joy and poverty, sacrifice, and suffering? How does our joy grow - and what threatens to take it away? // Our media recommendation is Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. And our monthly challenge is to think back on the times of greatest joy in your life, and p...

Giuli and Sofia discuss hope, a certainty in the future that arises from recognizing the presence of Christ today. What are “schools” for learning and practicing hope? What is the relationship between hope and faith? Is Christian hope individualistic? Who in our lives shows us what it means to live in hope? // Our media recommendation is Charles Peguy’s poem The Portal of the Mystery of Hope (of w...

Sofia and Adrianna have a conversation about the third (and most often neglected) person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Who is the Spirit? How can we objectively know that the Spirit is at work? In what ways have we personally grown in relationship with Him - and how has this changed our lives? // Our media recommendation is Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lJyVy...

Sofia and Adrianna talk about friendship. Is friendship an essential kind of love? How is it a paradox of acceptance and conversion? What sets apart the most meaningful friendships? And what can we do if we are in a season of loneliness? // Our media recommendation is the HBO show “Band of Brothers.” And our weekly challenge is to meet up with a friend (old or new) and ask about what’s happening i...

Join Sofia, Giuliana, and Adrianna for a conversation about the journey of conversion that we live during the season of Lent. What does it mean to enter into the desert? How do we experience God’s mercy in our weakness? What helps us keep purity of heart in our prayer, fasting, and fraternal love? // Our media recommendation is Sofia’s Lenten music playlist, which you can find at www.tinyurl.com/y...

Join all three hosts for a conversation inspired by questions from our listeners. It centers around the charism of Communion and Liberation, our experience of life in the movement, and our hopes for the season of Advent. // Our media recommendation is Generating Traces in the History of the Wolrd (which was previously freely available as an audiobook) https://www.clonline.org/en/publications/books...

Sofia and Giuliana have a conversation about becoming fully human, through the lens of the lives of the saints. What does a fulfilled humanity look like? What does it mean that the saints were fully human? And how can their prayers and example help us become more truly ourselves? // Our weekly challenge is to get to know a new saint - whether it’s your confirmation saint, a saint who shares your n...

Mental health counselor Beth Hlabse joins Adrianna on the podcast to discuss her journey into Catholic counseling and her experience of God as a counselor. They discuss Beth’s form of therapy that she primarily practices, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and the journey towards mind-body healing. Beth shares her own experience as a person who has both experienced tremendous he...

Giuliana and Adrianna talk about discerning the will of God. What are the essential steps in the journey of becoming more aware of God’s voice? Which fears can impede our progress? How can we lay the foundation for saying “yes” to our calling in life? And how do we discover what that calling is? // Our weekly challenge is to pray for holy indifference (a complete openness to God’s will) in a decis...

Giuliana and Sofia have a conversation about mercy, “love’s second name.” How does God’s mercy reach us in our everyday lives, particularly in our sins and failings? What do our experiences of God’s mercy mean for our relationships with others? What are the fruits of seeking and extending forgiveness? // Our weekly challenge is to apologize to someone you have wronged. And our media recommendation...

Maggie Verhiley and Tierney Vrdolyak are new postulants with the Sisters of Life. But before entering the convent, they sat down with Sofia to talk about the charism of life. What makes life sacred, and how can we celebrate and uphold its dignity? What does spiritual motherhood have to do with it? And which mysteries of the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary show us the way forward? // Our weekly cha...

Sofia and Adrianna have a conversation about freedom, the foundational value of our culture. When we search for freedom, why do we often end up bored, dissatisfied, and afraid? What is the true source of freedom? How, personally, have we discovered freedom in our lives? What are practical steps for growing in freedom? // Our weekly challenge is to pray about the times in your life when you felt mo...

Adrianna and Sofia discuss wounds, both spiritual and psychological, through the lenses of their own journeys of healing and Sofia’s research. What is woundedness and how is it a sign of our history and our destiny? How can we discover our own core wounds? What are steps that we can take toward healing - and why should we want to do so? We finish with a reflection on Christ as the Wounded Healer....

Theoretical physicist Dr. Steve Barr joins Sofia on the podcast for a conversation about faith and science. What is the unique vocation of the scientist? What can scientific work teach us about community, wonder, and tradition? What is the origin of the (false) narrative of conflict between science and religion--and what should we do about it? // Our weekly challenge is to visit Astronomy Picture...

Sofia and Adrianna have a conversation about the virtues of a childlike heart, from their respective perspectives as developmental neuroscientist and mother of two. How does a child face reality? What can children teach us about freedom, prayer, and gladness? What helps us, personally, as we try to grow in childlikeness? // Our weekly challenge is to pay attention to the children around you and ob...

We are delighted to be back with a second season of The Pilgrim Soul! Join Adrianna, Giuliana, and Sofia for a conversation about the journey of faith in light of Christina Rossetti’s poem “Up-Hill" : www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45002/up-hill . // We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ or find us on Instagram at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pilgrimsoulpodc...

Join all three hosts -- Adrianna, Giuliana, and Sofia -- as we answer questions submitted by our listeners. This is the final episode of our first season. If you want to be notified when our next season starts, be sure to subscribe to The Pilgrim Soul! Thank you all for your accompaniment on this journey. // We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Damian Bacich joins Giuliana on the podcast to discuss education. What does it mean that education is introducing someone to reality, and not just teaching information? What can we do when someone rejects or refuses the truth that we offer? Have we learned something from the pandemic that can help us take the risk of education in a more human way? // Our weekly challenge is to reflect on your day...

Join all three hosts -- Adrianna, Giuliana, and Sofia -- for a Holy Week episode in which we reflect on Mary Oliver’s poem “Gethsemane.” // Pray with us during the Triduum by listening to the Stabat Mater (links below) and asking that Mary might help us remain at the foot of Christ’s Cross. // And if you’d like to participate in our listener Q&A in our upcoming season finale, please submit any...

Sofia and Giuliana discuss subsidiarity, a principle of Catholic Social Teaching. What is subsidiarity and how is it commonly misunderstood? Can Catholic Social Teaching free us from ideology and partisan politics? What invitation does the principle of subsidiarity pose to each one of us? What gifts come from obeying it, both personally and socially? // Our weekly challenge is to donate to a local...

Adrianna and Sofia confront existential nihilism, the experience of the emptiness and meaninglessness of life. How is our society afflicted by nihilism? What symptoms in our culture point to this loss of meaning? In our own lives, what does the battle against nihilism look like -- and in the end, what saves each of us from the abyss of nothingness? // Our weekly challenge is to ask yourself, when...