The God Search: Recent Episodes
Fr. Brian Phelps and Heather Dunn
The Podcast hopes to answer the questions that Catholic teens and young adults have about the faith. The questions can cover anything that has to do with the faith (sacraments theology, devotions, prayer, the Mass, etc.). Heather and I would love to answer them for you. Please send me your questions to pastor@sfacc.orgSpecial thanks to Dr. Matt Phelps for the piano recording. The artwork is a picture that comes from https://pixabay.com/en/cross-sunset-humility-devotion-1448946/This is not an official publication of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
This weekend is Corpus Christi Sunday. The Eucharist is the most central sacrament to our faith since we are receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. We look at where we see it in Scripture and how we are to understand through faith and our theological understanding.
Today we continue our apologetic series by understanding who is Mary from both Scripture and Doctrinal sources.
This week begins a Battery of episodes on what apologetics is and why being able to defend our faith is important. We will take different topics and talk about why they are important and central to our faith in the coming episodes. This one in particular addresses what apologetics is and how we live it in love for those we come into contact with everyday.
This week we look at the letter of Flannery O’ Connor to a college student on how to keep his faith with many trials around him. She talks of what actions to take and how to discern what is true.
This year is a different type of Holy Week. We can still walk with Christ this week and have a blessed Holy Week. This week we talk about some strategies to keep Holy Week in your home.
This week we look at what we can do from home during our time of quarantine. What are the ways we can still do outreach to people during this time.
We find ourselves in a time of uncertainty, fear, and sadness. We look at how we can make the best of lent considering the circumstances.
Hey we are back after 10 months. Sorry for the long hiatus. Today we will look at why is Lent 40 days even though we count 46 calendar days. In the midst of this we also talk about how we can do Lent well with giving something up and/or doing something more. Have a blessed week.
We continue our look at the book fire liked my father Jaques Philippe. He speaks the Blessed mother and her role in our life. You also realize how our prayer has to fit our life today. And Father Jacque then gives a great example from a woman who died during the holocaust. Come and listen refinish or look at his book.
This week we do something a little different, we look at a book called Fire and Light: Receiving The Gift of God. It is written by Fr. Jacques Philippe. He looks to help us see how we can receive God in a greater way in our life. We take a look at what he says and present what that means to receive God and especially the third person truly Holy Spirit into our life in a deeper way
As we get back to walking through the mass, we look at the liturgy of the Eucharist and it’s different parts.
We continue our journey as we talk about how to prepare for mass and what happens at the beginning of Mass and during the Liturgy of the Word.
Over the next three weeks we are showing what and why we do the things we do at mass. The first week is understanding how long we have had the Mass, the cycle of readings, and can we change things during mass.
These are the questions we couldn’t fit it any other episode we are dealing with them now,
This week we look at how the church is called to serve and buoy society according to Christian ethics and morals.
Many people wonder the question who is allowed to receive the Eucharist. So we had many questions about why are some people allowed or not allowed to receive Eucharist. The more important question really is am I in the proper disposition to receive the Eucharist.
We celebrate the Baptism of the Lord as a feast day. Just like all things, Jesus went through the whole human experience. We now go through baptism so that we can be brought into the love of God. This week we look at why baptism is important for our salvation.
God has no beginning or end. He lives in the eternal now, but we do not. God is able to know what we will choose because He knows us better than we know ourselves. It goes back to would God know if Adam and Eve would eat from the tree. Free will has consequences. God wants us to always choose Him.
Today, we take some time to look at some questions about the mass. There are times when we can think mass drags on too long. Yet when we look at it, mass is not longer than things that we do in our every day life. We look at things that way, mass becomes something that we also put our heart and mind into just as we would with our things in our life. The difference is that we go to mass we come in contact with something greater we can ever imagine. We come into contact with Christ in the Eucharist.
Recently we received a lot of questions asking about life in heaven. Where one of the questions was will we lose our free will in heaven. These are all very insightful questions. And I think we look at things like that you realize sending us and had a great quote he said we sing the song of heaven here on earth. We sing them in hope it’s people hoping to get to heaven but in heaven those they’re saying the song of heaven as those living in their own country. Today we will look at How are intention to be with God will always carry us in this life cooperating with him and will not lose that intention in heaven.
This week one of the teens asked why the church does not use some of the newer translations of scripture that are more like the way we talk today. Today we look at why the church uses the translations that it does.
The our father is a prayer we pray at every mass. Today we look at what are we praying when we pray this prayer. We also look at what are the ways we should hold our hands while praying it at mass.
That means we do a lot of different postures, today we look at why we do these different things at mass. We also look at why we don’t have things like coffee in our church is during mass. So please let’s set alarm if you’re free to email u we also look at why we don’t have things like coffee in our church is during mass. So please listen along and feel free to email any questions to pastor@sfacc.org.
This week we got a great question asking us how you really know that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Catholic Church was started by the apostles. This week we will look into how the early church knew that Jesus was both human and divine and that the Catholic Church is a church started by the apostles.
The grief process is a hard process that we go through in our life. Today we look at what it means to go through grief and how we can help others and ourselves in the midst of it.
The Church has very strong stances that promote the flourishing of life. Based on the 5th Commandment the Church then helps us to see what actions would go against God’s law and design for humans to live.
The church scandals bring anger, disillusionment, hurt, and skepticism. Our response is one of renewed vigor and striving to faithfulness in the midst of darkness.
Many people ask the question if their wedding can be on a beach somewhere. Today we look at why mass is celebrated in a church and under what conditions could mass be outside of a church. Although that is a different answer of why all Catholic weddings are in a church.
The hardest part of being human is being ok with who we are. We all struggle with something or many things? How do we know we are worthy of the love of God is the question we tackle today. The key is not what we do, but what God does for us.
This week we continue our look at how God wants to have a relationship with us. We answer the question by using philosophy and theology to show that we need both faith and reason in our life.
We all want to feel God close to us. There are times when we may have mountain top experiences of faith, also known as the retreat experience, and some may not have these experiences. We look at how we can understand how to love our faith by discerning God’s call for us and how not to only look to the strong mountain top experiences as our guide for faith.
We celebrate the Assumption of Mary on August 15th as a Holy Day of Obligation. Today we try to describe what the assumption of Mary is, why she was taken up into heaven different than the rest of humanity, and what it means to do a consecration to Mary.
This week we look at chapter 5 of the apostolic exhortation Of Pope Francis. He reminds us that the devil is real. We must keep that understanding in our spiritual life to discern temptations. We must trust God and consecrate all things to the Blessed Mother.
Today we look a at Chapter 4 Of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation. Holiness is something we can see concretely in the world. The saints truly embody this fact. Pope Francis shows us a path of holiness to live like Christ.
This week we look at chapter 3 of Pope Francis‘ latest Apostolic exhortation. He shows that the beatitudes are the real way we are to live our life here an earth. Come and listen as we delve deeper into the chapter.
Pope Francis discuses how the heresies of Gnosticism and Pelagianism are the enemies to holiness. One states that I have a secret knowledge that nobody else has so I become enclosed upon myself and the other states that I can will myself to heaven without the grace of God. Come and listen to see how Pope Francis frames these issues for us.
We return looking at the latest apostolic exhortation Of Pope Francis. It calls us to seek holiness and become saints. Over the next 5 weeks we will go through each chapter discussing some main points.
Our Easter gospel reading was Mary magdalen finding the empty tomb and reporting back to the apostles. How should we see this action? We can see that the apostles still hold an important place even after we saw what happened at the death of Jesus. His plan for his church goes deeper. Also we transition from lent to Easter, how do we do this without turning back to our old ways.
This week we celebrate the Holy Triduum, let’s take time this week to walk with Jesus on his passion, death, and resurrection. Grow closer to him as we finish our Lenten observance and attach more to Christ and live his Passion more closely.
Today we look at how we see God creating in the book of Genesis and why we see two different creation stories. How we do reconcile that? At the same time we see the serpent tempting Eve into eating from the tree, so do we blame Eve for the fall? Lastly in today’s modern science how do we view the creation story and how it is different form modern scientific theories how how things came to be.
This week we discuss how relationships should be viewed, practiced, and understand how we know if we are ready for dating. This involves proper boundaries, moral understanding of life, and respect for ourselves and thr other person.
We are all called to follow God in the way He calls us to follow. It is easy for us to be look at others and wish we had their gifts and talents, but God calls us to be the faithful saints wherever we are. He gives us gifts to carry these things out and be the saints that we are called to be.
Today we look at the Catholic teaching of angels. What they are, their purpose, and thier spot in the order of creation. We also look at how angels are different than humans and what happens to humans when they die?
Lent began on Wednesday and it starts with Ash Wednesday. It is also one of the most attended masses of the year. The question is why. The cynical side says it’s becuase people get something and they take it home with them, but we could say the same with Palm Sunday. There is something deeper and how it helps us to live a better Lent.
Pope St. John Paul II taught the world Theology of the Body snowing all humanity that the human person is eternally linked to God as we are made in His image and likeness. This means that my life is ordered to live according to the Law of God in my every day life.
The True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is one of the central beliefs as Catholics. It sets us apart from other Christian denominations. We look at what we really mean when we say the True Presence Of Christ is the Eucharist.
Last week was the March For Life in Washington DC. We look at the reasons why the March For Life takes, place, what it means to peacefully protest, and what it means to be pro-life.
The religious and consecrated life vocations offer different ways we are called to bring God to the world. The Nun and the Sister as well as the Bother and the Monk all have specific vocations that aid the world coming to know God and foster a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Priest lives out this vocation different to these other vocations as well.
Today Heather and Fr. Brian discuss the importance of sacramentals and what their purpose are in our faith life. We also discuss why a priest blesses these articles. Lastly we discuss why we have relics and how that is compatible with our understanding of the dignity of the human body.
We see athletes make the sign if the cross all the time, what should young athletes take away from watching them. It shows us why we pray the sign of the cross and the power it has for us as a prayer.
This is our Christmas Episode. Take time to listen Why December 25th is an important date. We also discuss St. Nicholas the Bishop as well as Christmas music and why Fr. Brian is a humbug when it comes to Christmas music on the radio.
This episode Heather and I discuss how we should dialogue with somebody who asks us if we are saved. We look at what that means and why we need to understand the difference between redemption and salvation. We also discuss how we can learn from our Protestant brethren how we can take Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Heather and Fr. Brian discuss why we celebrate this day as a Holy Day of Obligation, what it really means and how we can say Yes to God as Mary said yes.
Since this week is Thanksgiving, Heather and I discuss the Eucharist. We discuss why bread and wine is important and the roots of it in Scripture and Jewish Worship. We then turn the discussion to what Eucharistic Adoration is and how we are to pray with the silence we experience while at adoaration.
The National Catholic Youth Conference is coming up very soon. Many youth go on the retreat, like many retreats, and have a great experience. This is not only for youth, many who go on retreats have life changing experiences. This episode delves into what happens when we come back to our normal life. We hope to give an insight for you in this episode.
This week is the Solemnity of All Saints. We also celebrate All Souls Day and Halloween. We look at what the church teaching is on ghosts and how that consists with our teaching of the after life. We also look at why we celebrate All Saints and All Souls Day. Finally for fun, what was our favorite Halloween costume as a kid?
Sports are prevalent in our culture today, at times we can put too much stock into sports. At the same time they provide great lessons and growth in our life. In this episdoe we look at how we should pray before games and competitions.
This week we look at why we can cremate our bodies and how we can be there for those who have lost a loved one.
Faith are reason are both gifts given to us by God. God gives us the means to have faith and belief in things we have not seen yet, at the same time we can unlock the mysteries of the created world that God created.
This week Heather and I discuss why the Church has beautiful art, chalices, statues and at the same time it does not sell them for the poor. It looks at why we have these things and then why they are important. We also discuss the best way to give to the poor and how we put our trust in the people what we give money.
Many people still think we worship Mary, where we put her on a pedestal as the Mother Of God. Today Heather and I look at how we can explain why we venerate her so highly and how the Rosary can help us in our spiritual life. We also discuss how to foster that relationship with Mary.
As a note: I made a small error when talking about Jesus and Mary. I said "her mother" when speaking about Jesus. I obviously meant to say "His Mother." I missed it in editing. My apologies.
Heather and Fr. Brian discuss how God engaged the world from when He first revealed Himself to Abraham. We see how God brought the world closer to Him in preparation for the coming of Christ. We also see how the Church discerned which books were inspired.
Heather and I discuss what prayer is and how we can pray better. We look at how our prayer deepens our relationship with God since prayer truly is our seeking God.
What we consume forms our minds, actions, and life. The more we consume things that are immoral, the more we are numbed to them. This can directly effect our life. The more we watch or listen to them, the more we give them exposure. Holy things will lead our lives to more holy things.
Going to confession can be scary. We have to acknowledge our sinfulness, but we also see how loving and merciful God is to us. This episode discusses how we can go to confession with less stress and anxiety.
This week's episode looks at the love and sacrifice inherent in the vocations that God calls us to live out. They become the pearl of great price that when we find them, we sell everything else and go after that pearl. The vocation to the priesthood is a life of service to the people of God. The vocation that husband and wives live are to each other and their children as a sign of God's love for the Church in their sacrifice to each other.
A local youth minister, Heather Dunn, brings questions from her experience from youth ministry. We look at how to explain why we are not able to receive communion at a non Catholic Church and how to enter into the Mass knowing we may have distractions. Listen as we explore the answers to these tough questions.
God is a very good, loving, and merciful God. He forgives our sins, yet the question why we confess our sins to a priest is a different question. It has to do with the mission of Christ, and what he has passed on to the Church.
The God Search has now using a new format. The format is answering questions posed to me. The first question has to do with why we must use wheat in the unleavened bread for the Eucharist. Please send me your questions. I would love to answer them,
Sin is boring, there is no two ways around it. There is nothing new about it, Fr. Dwight Longenecker reflects upon this in his article "Sin is sooo Boring! (http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/spiritual-life/sin-is-soooo-boring.html)". God truly is life giving, sin takes away joy, love, and fun.
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. His heart speaks to our heart so that we can be drawn deeper into his life. This is not an academic search, but a growth in love and friendship with Jesus.
Loss and grief are a part of our life. Where is God and Jesus Christ in the midst of all the grief and loss in our life.
This podcast is a continuation of the youth retreat but is open to anyone who is searching for God in their life. The hope is that we may draw on every day encounters in our life see how God is working as we also look at how God has revealed Himself to us through scripture and the Church. Specials thanks to Dr. Matt Phelps for the piano recording of "Amazing Grace."