Find The Faith: A Catholic Podcast

Today, we begin our discussion on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 56–58: "God's Covenant with Noah." We discuss the terms "revelation" and "covenant." We examine Noah's place within the context of Genesis. And we answer the question: "Did Noah really exist?"

In this episode, I review the first one-and-a-half seasons of the podcast for two reasons: first, to refresh all our memories on what we have covered, and second, to place previous material within the framework of the Catechism.

I am rebooting this podcast! Listen to learn what has changed in my life to make this possible and to find out what changes are coming to this podcast/apostolate.

Today, I explain why I'm putting this podcast on an indefinite hiatus.

Today, we spend our time studying the story of Adam found in Genesis 2-3. Our focus is on the first sin and God's first promise of salvation. 

Today, we study how God has revealed himself through creation. We talk extensively about Genesis 1: who wrote it, when it was written, and why it was written. Then, using this background material, we delve into an interpretation of Genesis 1 that shows us how God created all things with a purpose.

In this episode, we discuss both the content of God's divine revelation and God's plan of revelation. We will discuss the essence of what God has revealed -- namely, that he made us to share in his own divine nature, to become his adoptive children through grace. And then we will walk through the seven stages of divine revelation, from creation to Christ.

In today's episode, we ask, "Why do we need revelation?" To help us answer this question, we turn to the work of St Thomas Aquinas. St Thomas teaches us that we need God's revelation for three reasons. First, it shows us the divine goal God has planned for us. Second, it teaches us how we must order our lives to reach that goal. And third, it's a corrective to our natural human knowledge. In a phrase, without divine revelation, salvation would be impossible!

Today, we look at how the Church and Catholic theology understand revelation. By "revelation," we are not referring to the Book of Revelation, but, rather, how God makes himself known in history. We will see that God "speaks" through a series of intermediaries: through creation, then the prophets, and finally through Jesus Christ. And we will also make a necessary distinction between "natural" revelation and "supernatural" revelation.

This episode builds the bridge between who we are and God's revelation. It explains the relationship between the kind of creatures God made us (in his image, called to transcendence and contemplation of him) and why we need God's revelation in order to reach human perfection and happiness. We will see how we are religious beings both by nature (because God made) and by vocation (because God calls us). 

Today, we discuss our thirst for God. That is, we meditate upon our natural desire for God. To help us, we engage in a close reading of the story of creation, and we see that even though God created us on the sixth day, he created us for the seventh day.

That God does not need us might sound like a strange way to start a twenty-two episode season about God's revelation and our response in faith and prayer, but there is a rationale for this decision. We ask: Did God revealed himself for his own sake, or for our sake? The answer, of course, is that he revealed himself for our sake. In this episode, we explore the philosophical and theological truths that allow us to proclaim that God's revelation is an act pure and unconditional love for us.

In this episode, we launch the much awaited Season 2: God Speaks, We Listen: Revelation, Faith, and Prayer.We begin with some basic administrative details. Then we examine Season 2 and its relation to Season 1 as well as how it fits into the Find the Faith project as a whole. Finally, we engage in a quick bird's-eye view of the season, looking at the key topics of Catholic theology we shall cover. Saint Teresa of Avail, pray for us.

In today's mini-catechetical episode (which clocks in at nearly 40 minutes!), we discuss one of the most important spiritual activities today's Catholics can do -- spiritual reading. We talk about why it is so important for the modern-day disciple, and then I offer some tips about how to engage in spiritual reading.

At every Sunday Mass, when we pray the Nicene Creed, we are supposed to bow during the phrase, "by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man." But why? In this mini-catechetical episode, we explore the theological reason for bowing in general and at this moment in particular.

In today's episode, I explain what the term "mini-catechesis" means and how I plan to use this format within the context of Find the Faith. Then, we will delve into the philosophical underpinnings and theological meaning of the most basic of all Catholic prayers -- the Sign of the Cross.

In this last episode of Season 1, we revisit our overarching goal—to build solid foundations for our faith in God, in Christ, and in the Church. To do this, we review all of the topics covered in the previous twenty episodes: faith and reason, our natural knowledge of God through creation, the reliability of the New Testament, the resurrection of Christ, the primacy of Peter, and apostolic succession.

Drawing from the wisdom of Blessed John Henry Newman, we examine why it is logical to believe that God would have given us an authority who has the grace to teach the gospel of Christ and interpret God’s revelation without error.

Did the apostles have successors? Was the authority Christ gave to the apostles handed down to their successors? Was Peter’s authority? This week, we answer these questions by looking at four early Christian writers: Saints Luke, Clement of Rome, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Cyprian of Carthage. We see that the apostles did have successors and that the most important of all successors was the successor of Saint Peter.

In today’s episode, we study the third Gospel passage in which Jesus gives Peter a singular mission, and we see, once again, how the Lord made Peter his vicar (representative) here on earth.