Wrestling with God Show: Recent Episodes
Wrestling with God Productions
Two fun-loving Irishmen, a Catholic priest and his good friend, grapple with the big questions about faith, religion, and life.
Father Len reveals how and why great nations often die from within and what our country needs to survive and heal its divisions with love, unity, and solidarity.
Support Wrestling with God Productions here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
- We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
- Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
Father Len reveals some surprising and valuable knowledge and insight while exploring the pros and cons of athletes thanking and praising God after big victories.
Support Wrestling with God Productions here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
- We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
- Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
Father Len reveals the real “reason for the season” is us.
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- “When I look at the world upside down, that’s when it seems right to me.” – Jeret “Speedy” Peterson
- Father Len tells a story about geese to illustrate why God became a human being.
- Christmas is a revelation of who we are meant to be.
- To be good is to become a true human being.
- Our true humanity is to live like Christ.
- “Christianity is the attitude of amazement at the dignity of the human person.” – Pope John Paul II
- “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” – Irenaeus
- “Paradise Lost” by John Milton
- “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Sin is the temptation to stop being a true human being.
- Evil is the no to human goodness. Evil is the no to all that is good.
- Satan is not one who hates God. Satan is one who believes that God can’t love him or us.
- The good news of Christmas is that God became one of us to show us how to become true human beings and discover the goodness of being a true human being.
- Salvation is not the story of God rescuing us from an evil universe. Salvation is the story of God coming as one like us to teach us what true goodness looks like.
- Absolute love will embrace death.
- Absolute love cannot be contained by the tomb.
- Sin is anything that deprives us of our full humanity.
- Christmas is the beginning of the journey to our true humanity to love and to be connected.
- We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
- Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len explores the complex and uneasy relationships between politics, religion and the Kingdom of God.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len helps us grapple with tough times in our lives and understand the virtue of hope. What is it? Where does it come from? Why it’s essential for peace and joy in our lives.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- Paula D’Arcy Theologian of Hope
- “Gift of the Red Bird: The Story of a Divine Encounter” by Paula D’Arcy
- Faith, hope and love are different aspects of one spiritual reality.
- Hope is illogical. It’s not a matter of sitting down and rationalizing with people why they should have hope. If you have some rational reason for hope, that’s not hope. That’s logic.
- Fear is logical. Depressed people are not irrational. They’re just excessively logical and obsessed with their current state of life.
- “Notes from the Underground: The Original Unabridged and Complete Edition” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Wealth, comfort and safety don’t bring hope.
- Poverty and abuse don’t take away hope.
- Hope is a theological virtue. It comes from God alone, not the circumstances of your life.
- Hope obliterates the idea that life should be easy.
- Hope is uncertain, it believes in possibilities.
- Hope takes work to participate in. It comes from this relationship with divine love and life.
- The Book of Revelation reveals the struggles we have on earth and tells us how the story ends with a huge victory party in heaven.
- “Optimism and pessimism are twins. Both are blind to possibilities and lock you in to your current state of life. Optimism believes you will always be happy and beautiful, with a full head of hair. Pessimism believes life will always be crap.” – Father Len
- Hope is not optimism.
- We live better in the United States than any human beings in history. We live in such incredible comfort. Yet, our young people have the highest rate of suicide and the highest use of prescription pharmaceutical drugs to deal with depression. If circumstances give hope, our children should be thriving.
- “We live in a culture of hopelessness because we keep telling people, you need the right circumstances to be happy. Unless you’re a Kardashian, with tons of money and social media likes, unless the world treats you a certain way, you’re a victim.” – Father Len
- Hopelessness suffocates hope.
- “Why Young Men: Rage, Race and the Crisis of Identity” – Jamil Jivani
- It’s a myth to tell people if they have the right circumstances, they’ll be happy, they’ll be hopeful.
- A sense of meaning to your life is oxygen for hope.
- You have to suffocate the things that kill hope. Suffocate anger. Suffocate victim mentality. Suffocate the propaganda that circumstances give you happiness.
- Characteristics of people who have hope.
- They can endure higher levels of pain.
- They enjoy competition, win or lose.
- They believe life is good, no matter their circumstances.
- They can survive in humble circumstances.
- They turn out happier.
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len grapples with the alarming rate of depression and suicide among kids these days and the challenges and choices facing parents.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up by Abigail Shrier
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len exposes the scam of judgmentalism and reveals the value of critical and objective judgment of our own attitudes and behaviors.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- People are often harsh on other people for the very sins that they themselves commit.
- “In 33 years of priesthood, I’ve observed that those who love to condemn and love to be judgmental really are the worst sinners. The reason they are so judgmental is really a scam. It’s a shtick of misdirection to get a whole group of people to condemn others and to portray themselves as good and rigidly moral in hopes nobody examines them and discovers their sins.” – Father Len
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len explains how all the big problems in our nation are soul problems.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len helps us recognize and grapple with decisions we make that control the trajectory of our lives and determine our happiness.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- The Most Important Decision in Life – College commencement speech by Bishop Robert Baron that inspired this episode
- The most important question in this life is what kind of soul you will have.
- “To love is to be vulnerable.” – CS Lewis
- “What you do with your soul really is a map to your future.” – Father Len
- Your soul is not your mental ability or your psychological profile. It’s a thing that contains all the virtues of God and the spirit of God.
- The Old Testament describes heaven as a place of true relationship where people relate to each other soul to soul.
- From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur Brooks
- Happiness comes down to care of your soul, not success in the world.
- “Everybody worships something. Everybody adores something. Everybody has something that gives their life meaning and worth. Everyone lets something capture their imagination. That thing will control the direction of your life. If you worship money and things, then you’ll never feel like you have enough. If you worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, in time, you’ll be resentful because you’ll never be beautiful enough. You’ll feel ugly. And, as time and age starts to show, you will die a million deaths. If you worship power, you’ll end up feeling threatened and afraid. Read any biography of a dictator. You will need evermore power to numb you against the fear of being afraid. If you worship intellect, being seen as smart, you’ll end up feeling stupid and a fraud and on the verge of being found out. The most insidious thing is, that for most people, it will remain unconscious, but it’s their true religion.” – David Foster Wallace
- Whatever you worship shapes your soul and controls your life.
- Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body by Daniel Goleman
- Meditation is one of the best ways to care for your soul and good for your health.
- Not all worship is good. Worshiping or calling on the name of God can be a way of manipulating evil.
- Good worship is supposed to lead you to self-sacrificing love.
- What will what you worship do to your soul?
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len grapples with the causes, effects and solutions to the anger and division present in our country, our churches, and our families.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- Dividers are often inspired and motivated by their own psychological needs.
- Dividers are judgmental.
- People with a deep desire for division make up their own rules and condemn others for not following their made-up rules.
- In the Bible, the Pharisees made up hundreds and hundreds of rules. They condemn Jesus and others for not following the rules they made up. They love to proclaim how much more religious and holy they are than everyone else.
- People who seek division are the enemies of Christ and true religion.
- How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
- Father Len shares the story of a guy who lived much of his life as a divider though he was very religious. His sense of religion was very legalistic and judgmental, critical of everybody. Remarkably and unconsciously, at the age of 50, he experiences a remarkable deep conversion to his faith and becomes a disciple of love with a desire to unite everyone.
- Some people accidentally and unconsciously end up working for division in a community out of their own sense of anger, insecurity, or pain.
- Division or unity is a fundamental choice. At some point in life, we must decide between division and unity, hatred and love.
- Father Len tells the story of a woman who experienced an awful childhood of rape and incest, yet she devotes her life to helping the wounded and broken of the world to reject shame, heal their souls and feel loved.
- It’s not what happens to you in life that matters. It’s how you react to what happens that matters.
- Saint Paul warned people to keep away from those who cause division and put obstacles in their way because they don’t serve the Lord.
- Satan loves division. Satan loves to dress up as something good, but the only fruits he offers are not good, just more division.
- Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam
- Social capital is a sense of unity and solidarity, the need to take care of others and build up an entire community or nation.
- The United States was built on and succeeded because of social capital.
- Division is where injustice and hatred grow.
- Higher social capital tracks with more justice, more societal success, and more happiness.
- Societies that are more narcissistic, about me, me, me, are less happy and have more crime, corruption, and injustice.
- Social capital is connected with holiness.
- “Let’s move away from the current plague in our country and our church that we need to attack each other. We can build a great country and church with social solidarity. We can’t build anything putting each other down constantly.” – Father Len
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len helps us grapple with what it means to truly listen and why God calls us to be professional listeners.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- Shema Prayer: “Listen O Israel, the LORD your God is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your strength and your neighbor as yourself.”
- Shema means listen, but it really means pay attention.
- The Shema is the central prayer of Judaism and Catholicism.
- The Bible says, ears that Shema will discover God and what God has made known.
- Our society is not trained to listen, but to overpower each other with counter accusations.
- God meant us to become professional listeners, listening to the word of God and the voice of God in other people.
- Listening forms community.
- Not listening or paying full attention destroys community.
- Marriage is a type of community.
- The gift of hospitality is your full attention.
- We can become what we listen to so we must be careful what not to listen to.
- “First seek to understand, then to be understood.” – Stephen Covey
- “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R Covey
- “The only commandment I ever obeyed – ‘Consider the lilies.’” – Emily Dickinson
- “The number one sin that people are confessing these days is anger.” – Father Len
- “All morality comes down to attentiveness, attentiveness to God, attentiveness to other people. The essence of immorality is not to be attentive to others or God, not to see or hear other people.” – Iris Murdoch, Irish philosopher
- “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again” by Johann Hari
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len explains why we need a Savior now more than ever and why many of us don’t know it.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- “Now that we have science, we no longer need religion.” – Chris Hayes, MSNBC Host
- “God of the Gaps” theory: People invented God and religion began because there was a lack of scientific knowledge to explain things like lightning and wind.
- Science wouldn’t exist without the Catholic Church.
- For the Catholic Church science has always been a way of studying and understanding God.
- All early major scientists believed in God including Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Roger Bacon, Louis Pasteur, Nicholas Copernicus and Blaise Pascal. They came to God because of science. Many were Catholic priests.
- Religion began out of gratitude and awe for God.
- Those who believe there is no greater power in the universe than the human person must ignore humanity’s long history of ignorance, violence and shocking denials of the truth.
- Those who believe science can answer every question won’t be able to find God or recognize the need for a Savior because they have too much ego.
- Our country has a depression and suicide crisis.
- Our society has become narcissistic. Narcissism steals our joy. Narcissists believe they have no need for a Savior.
- Much of our country no longer trusts in God. It trusts in science, technology, and government programs.
- If God doesn’t exist and life on earth is all there is, why not cheat, be cruel, or commit suicide?
- There is a difference between joy and pleasure. Meth addicts have plenty of pleasure, but no joy.
- Even with all the knowledge of science and the power of technology, we do not have the power to overcome death.
- “Our country has the highest standard of living in human history and the greatest technological inventions. So, why do we have such high suicide and depression rates? That just proves humanity needs a Savior.” – Father Len
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len invites us to grapple with the virtues and character we value, permit, model and promote and the effect they have on us and those around us.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- Culture over time is the most important force in shaping our identity. When an entire community prizes certain things, these things just seep into our pores.
- Our emotions and values are very infectious. They move through a community faster than a virus.
- Change happens, for better or worse, when entire communities unite around virtues and character they value.
- There’s undeniable proof that an individual’s character and values effect all of society.
- We take on the values of the communities to which we belong.
- Virtues and character that are valued by a community are inherited by the community’s children.
- If we want to change the world, we have to change our hearts. We are the culture. We are the system.
- What impedes us empowers us.
- Failure and struggle cause the hero in every hero story to become a hero.
- Grit is frequently a greater predictor of success than talent.
- Grit or fortitude is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
- You need grit to become a spiritual person.
- It takes grit to forgive when you’ve been wounded.
- It takes grit to become prudent and know how and when to hold your tongue.
- It takes grit to become patient.
- We can lose our grit when life is good.
- Grit is like a muscle. You’re not born with it. You train yourself into it.
- “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth
- “Democracy in America” by Alexis De Tocqueville
- Beatrice Webb
- Patrick Lencioni
- What virtues and character do you value, permit, model and promote and how do they match up with the values of the communities to which you belong and, importantly, what are you going to do if they don’t?
- We all have a big stake in our community’s culture and the effect it has on us and those around us.
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len reveals that pride is damaging lies we tell ourselves about ourselves.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Pride is a cancer that often goes undetected until it’s too late. “The Truth Detector: an Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide for Getting People to Reveal the Truth” by Jack Schafer The moment you tell a lie about yourself you are owned by the lie. Happy people don’t need to feel superior. The fall of humanity began when Adam and Eve were enticed by pride to define for themselves what is moral. The prideful lie is always about portraying yourself as superior in some way. Pride produces a damaging ripple effect on us and everyone around us. Father Len compares Albert Einstein and Richard Dawkins to illustrate the damaging effects of pride and the positive effects of humility. “I am not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in a position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows somebody must’ve written those books.” – Albert Einstein The prideful are not open to truth because they feel compelled to defend the lies they tell about themselves. The prideful are always defensive and feel the need to posture, provoke, pick fights and bully because they fear wrestling with the truth. Confident and humble people don’t fear grappling with the truth and allow themselves to be challenged, probed, and questioned. The prideful can never be happy because they make their insecurities and flaws the center of their identities. The prideful don’t recognize or appreciate their self-worth. Lies about who you are, what you know, what you’re good at, and what you’re not good at are sure signs you have a pride problem.
We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to More Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len presents stunning evidence from hundreds of personal experiences that supports the reality of an afterlife.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Consciously or unconsciously, how we operate in this life has a lot to do with whether we believe there is an afterlife. Father Len reflects on hundreds of personal experiences with death and dying, during 30 years of priesthood, that offer compelling, inspiring and uplifting evidence that there is an afterlife. Catholics believe that nobody dies alone. The moment you die, the dead are there to welcome you to the afterlife. Father Len shares some amazing stories that totally support this belief. There is a thin veil between heaven and earth. Catholics believe the Holy Spirit creates this mysterious and unbreakable bond between the living, the dead, and God that is stronger than death. The dying process produces healing that can’t be accomplished during our ordinary lives. All the evidence that there’s far more to life than just the here and now begs us to be more attentive to the sacred and the mysteries of life. Heaven is a great feast of love. If there is a hint that all those who loved in this life go to heaven, why wouldn’t you want to be in that community? Why wouldn’t you change your behavior now? In one sense, death is always kind of ugly, but at the same time it produces great beauty. There’s very little evidence that death leads to oblivion. Being fully present while witnessing death and dying will almost always give you a sense of the afterlife.
We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
A high school listener asks, “Will I go to hell if I have sex before marriage?” Father Len offers some sober, surprising, and humorous answers and insight about passion, sex, and promiscuity.
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Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
There’s nothing wrong with sex. It’s so natural. Nothing could be more natural. It’s part of the drive of life that God gives us. Sexual passion is good. It drives us to seek each other out. It brings us together, but there’s something better. Augustine’s highly promiscuous life taught him what was missing in his life. Sometimes things are wrong, not because they’re evil, but because they’re not good enough. Promiscuity is wrong because it can train you to use and hurt other people and not be committed. Being sexual is part of what it means to be a human being, but the best part of being human is something greater. Commitment and love. Passion and pleasure can be blinding, but also be very enlightening. True passion opens you up for God.
We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len exposes the dangerous effects of trying to boost self-esteem with excessive or false praise and compliments.
Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom.
- “Self-esteem is like a four letter cuss word that when you say it you need to wash your mouth out” – Father Len
- Father Len illustrates the negative effects of self-esteem by sharing the story of his encounter with a young man and his big dog during his quest to rid the church grounds of dog poop.
- Our current culture promotes a competition to become the greatest victim.
- Religion is about becoming a better person, not making you feel good about yourself.
- Religion is about being in a relationship with God and others built upon the virtues of love, compassion, and justice.
- People with self-compassion gain grit and determination and are more likely to pick themselves up after a failure and try again.
- Attempts to boost self-esteem with excessive or false praise and compliments produces fake self-esteem that rejects critical or negative feedback capable of producing personal growth and success.
- Fake self-esteem based solely on feelings of “I’m special and smart and beautiful and people love me” is fragile and produces social comparison and constant anxiety.
- Kids become bullies to boost their own self-esteem.
- Fake self-esteem prepares you to become a victim.
- Real self-esteem based on achievements and making and keeping commitments is important for emotional and spiritual health.
- Real self-esteem embraces failure and believes everyone can improve.
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Reacting to why actor Seth Rogen says he and his wife don’t want kids, Father Len explains the relationship between making commitments, happiness, love, and having kids.
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Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- “It’s not an easy haul having kids. You can’t be narcissistic. You have to give yourself over to parenting. Kids have got to be the priority.” – Howard Stern
- God asks of us that our lives be life-giving.
- Living life for yourself, free from commitments, is an immature definition of happiness.
- Commitments lead to greater happiness. Lack of commitments lead to greater unhappiness.
- You’ll never find yourself through your feelings and aspirations. What defines you is your commitments.
- “Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocations.”-Hannah Arendt
- Being unable to settle on something means not being settled ever.
- People willing to commit to marriage and having children almost always test out happier than those who don’t.
- The world tells us self-fulfillment comes from being free of commitments. Truth says fulfillment comes after commitments.
- People who avoid commitments and constantly pursue pleasure in pursuit of an easy life tend to end up bitter and unhappy.
- Christ challenges us to not to choose the easy way, to make a sacrifice and give ourselves away.
- Life is not supposed to be easy, but rather a great adventure.
- Pursuing pleasure as happiness always ends up in unhappiness.
- Each year since 1972, there has been a gradual decline in people’s overall happiness in the United States. This despite the average person spending 22% more on eating out and entertainment, living in homes that have doubled in size, having huge screen TVs, access to the Internet, and social media.
- The moral question is not whether you should or should not have kids. The moral question is why you would not want to have children.
- Religion challenges us to look at everything in life and decide what kind of life we want to have.
- Once you fall in love, you can’t help but want to give yourself away. That’s what real love feels like.
- God’s perpetual command is to make an offering of our lives, to give ourselves away.
- Those who don’t know the power of commitment are yet to know what love is.
- God is a trickster who tricks people into falling in love and willing to sacrifice everything for those they love.
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len explains how the radical ideas Jesus introduced 2000 years ago and the church he established to spread those ideas have changed the world forever.
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- “You’re talking about the single event that probably influenced civilization as we know it now. It’s created our laws and behavior. The knowledge of good and evil. It’s influenced art and literature. It’s affected every possible aspect of anyone’s life, whether they know it or not. It’s absolutely everything. If it wasn’t, what would there be? – Mel Gibson, producer/director, The Passion of the Christ
- The Gospel of Luke describes how Jesus changed morality and remapped society around meals.
- In Jesus’s time there were meal codes about how you eat and who you eat with. Jews ate with Jews, never with Gentiles. Jews ate as a family. Men, women, and children together. Gentiles, the Romans and the Greeks, ate with people of their own class and caste system. Rich and poor never ate together. Men and women didn’t eat together. Men ate first and then women because men were considered superior to women.
- Jesus broke all the meal codes of his time drawing people together by a much different morality. He offered radical hospitality to everyone. He welcomed men and women, rich and poor to sit at table with him.
- The one person who changed the world the most was not a king or an inventor. The greatest mark on history was made by a traveling preacher named Jesus who established a church community and gave it the responsibility to redraw the world according to hospitality.
- “I am an historian. I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all of history. Is it any wonder that to this day, this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?” – HG Wells
- Jesus broke all the rules on how to treat women. Prior to Jesus women were treated inhumanely. They were viewed as inferior to men and nothing more than property. In Jesus’s eyes, women and men are equally valuable. Jesus was friends and ministry partners with women. He treated them with dignity and respect.
- The idea that all humans – men and women, rich and poor, rulers and peasants – are equally valuable and should be treated with dignity and respect was extremely rare before Christianity.
- The church Jesus founded, the Catholic Church, started hospitals, universities, and food banks.
- Jesus started an organized movement to care for the poor and the needy. Religion before Christianity, except for Judaism, wasn’t really concerned with morality or taking care of the poor.
- The origins of science are rooted in Christian belief. All the early scientists were religious. They were inspired by their faith in Christ to do science. They all viewed science as a means of uncovering the traces of Christ’s handiwork in the universe.
- The concepts of social justice, education, human rights, women’s rights, and freedom all fit into the idea of radical hospitality that Jesus introduced to the world.
- Jesus has changed the personal lives of billions of people throughout the world by introducing the theology of the cross. Dying to yourself, dying to your ego, becoming a whole new person by living a life of sacrificial love.
- Wisdom is path, not a door. The path of daily choices you make on how to live your life.
- Wisdom is gained through daily small activities. Small choices that become the whole direction of your life.
- The way of the cross is daily making moral choices, making small choices of virtue. Dying to your pettiness, anger, and selfishness.
We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len reveals the real “reason for the season” is us.
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
- “When I look at the world upside down, that’s when it seems right to me.” – Jeret “Speedy” Peterson
- Father Len tells a story about geese to illustrate why God became a human being.
- Christmas is a revelation of who we are meant to be.
- To be good is to become a true human being.
- Our true humanity is to live like Christ.
- “Christianity is the attitude of amazement at the dignity of the human person.” – Pope John Paul II
- “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” – Irenaeus
- “Paradise Lost” by John Milton
- “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Sin is the temptation to stop being a true human being.
- Evil is the no to human goodness. Evil is the no to all that is good.
- Satan is not one who hates God. Satan is one who believes that God can’t love him or us.
- The good news of Christmas is that God became one of us to show us how to become true human beings and discover the goodness of being a true human being.
- Salvation is not the story of God rescuing us from an evil universe. Salvation is the story of God coming as one like us to teach us what true goodness looks like.
- Absolute love will embrace death.
- Absolute love cannot be contained by the tomb.
- Sin is anything that deprives us of our full humanity.
- Christmas is the beginning of the journey to our true humanity to love and to be connected.
- We welcome your questions and comments:
- Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
- Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
- Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
- Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
- Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
- A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Father Len explains that sadness is our lot in life and how embracing it will bring us wisdom, love, a sense of purpose, and help guide our path to heaven.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The pain of sadness wakes you up to be more tender and compassionate. Sadness is a superpower that can transform you into being more creative. Depression sucks all the life out of you. Denying sadness can lead to self-absorption and a toxic life. Father Len shares the story of how the sadness of prison life became a university for growth for Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Depression makes you listless and less concerned for action and the suffering of other people. Depression is when you’re alone. Sadness is when you’re with other people. Those who embrace sadness have a greater sense of purpose in their lives. American society is obsessed with positivity and always being happy, happy, happy. Studies have found Americans smile more than any other country, but test out to be more depressed. Obsession with positive thinking is just a form of denial of sadness. The more you repress something, the more likely you are to act on it. America’s obsession with positivity and always having a positive attitude is a form of repression. Sadness is hard, but it also gives birth to love. Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Father Len grapples with the tendency we all have of lying to ourselves about ourselves and the effect it has on us and those around us.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Father Len makes a compelling case for empathy being the solution to most of our societal problems, including mass shootings.
Irish shares the journey that led him to Father Len and the creation of the Wrestling with God Show. He also reveals plans for Wrestling with God Productions, the new association he’s founded to build bridges to faith, religion, and the Catholic Church.
Show Notes
Books & Publications Mentioned in this Episode:
“Crossing the Threshold of Hope” by Pope St. John Paul II “One Bread One Body” published by Presentation Ministries, Cincinnati Ohio “Divine Intimacy” by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. (published by Baronius Press)
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
He’s back! Father Len returns to grapple with doubts expressed by Irish’s daughter about the legitimacy of priests and leadership in the Catholic Church. He reveals how it’s all part of God’s plan for Christ’s eternal priesthood.
Father Len explains why God allows evil in the world and how we choose to react to evil can cause bane or enlightenment.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
God gives us free will to choose our actions. It’s up to us to choose good or evil. If God took away our choices, we’d no longer be human beings. We’d be preprogrammed like toasters and robots. “It makes no sense to pray for somebody to do something. I pray that someone’s heart will be open to see the right choice.” – Father Len God loves us so much that he allows us to choose our own actions. God allows us to choose how we react to evil and evil doers. Will we choose the path to bane or enlightenment? “The Plague” by Albert Camus “The evil that is in the world comes out of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding.” – Albert Camus “A loveless world is a dead world.” – Albert Camus “All a man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories.” – Albert Camus Our choices are not predetermined. God exists outside of time and space. God’s view of our lives appears much like a painting does to us. God can see it all from beginning to end. All the choices we make in our lives are in full view to God. They are not predetermined by God. Throughout our lives, God will constantly urge, beg, and intervene to try to change our hearts to make the right choices. God allows us to choose light or darkness.
The effect of freedom depends on how you define it. Father Len reveals how God defines freedom and how other definitions can produce destructive consequences.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Freedom involves being free from something in order to be free to become something. The American Revolution was about becoming free from the tyranny of a king and the injustices and oppression of a political system. 70% of Americans say they are free or mostly free. Two thirds of Americans define freedom as being “free to do whatever I want.” Being “free to do whatever I want” is an immature definition of freedom and the least likely to lead to happiness. Being “free to do whatever I want” is a form of tyranny that allows you to intrude on the life and liberty of others. “The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos” by Sohrab Ahmari We create laws to set the parameters for a working society. To be free theologically means that we are always working on freedom. Working to become free from the tyranny of selfishness, oppression, and injustice. When the people of a country define freedom as selfishness, it will always be divided and destroyed. People who report the highest level of happiness tend to be religious and meditate regularly. People who report the most freedom from moral constraints tend to be the least happy. “Suicide, A Study in Sociology” by Emile Durkheim The really hard part of becoming freer is wrestling with our own egos and recognizing when we’re being selfish. “If your definition of freedom is, I get to do whatever I want, just historically, it ends terribly. If our country just believes, I’m free to just think about myself, that’s a loss of freedom. I think it destroys our country.” – Father Len Christians who believe giving up liberties for the sake of others makes them less free don’t understand the freedom of the cross of Christ. Support the work of Wrestling with God Productions by making a financial donation here: https://www.givesendgo.com/wwgproductions
Irish shares some good news about the return of the Wrestling with God Show and the new podcast from Wrestling with God Productions featuring Father Len.
Support the work of Wrestling with God Productions by making a financial donation here: https://www.givesendgo.com/wwgproductions Life Lessons from Jesus podcast website: https://www.lifelessonsfromjesus.org
Father Len explores two Bible stories about the purpose of prayer beginning with the time the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. This is a preview of episode 3 of the new podcast from Wrestling with God Productions, featuring Father Len, titled “Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded.”
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len shares a fun story about his experience with a Protestant minister and his wife who have a very different idea than Jesus about the purpose of prayer. The purpose of prayer is not to ask God for help getting something as if God is the big Santa Claus in the sky. We don’t pray to get something. We pray to become something. “If your definition of prayer is to get something you want, you better be careful. You may become a very self-absorbed person and then call it religion.” – Father Len We pray for the bread of life so that our lives become bread for other people. We hand on the bread of life to other people in the way that we live our lives. Becoming the bread of life for other people requires persistent prayer, day after day, year after year. The Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke refers to the forgiveness God gives us when our lives become a force of forgiveness and we free ourselves from all grudges and resentments. Becoming a constant force of forgiveness isn’t easy and takes a lifetime of prayer. Prayer is a type of hospitality. The prayer life of the prophet Abraham, the father of religion and hospitality, was all about welcoming and praying for the life of other people, not for himself. True prayer is not being concerned about yourself. True prayer is this hospitality where your prayer life feeds other people. “You have a choice. When you offer hospitality to other people, God grants you greater life. When you only care for your own life, God will take away the little life you have.” – Father Len Prayer is a constant lifelong dialogue with God about becoming holy. Bible stories explored in this episode:
Book of Genesis 18:20-32 Gospel According to Luke 11:1-13
Please prayerfully consider supporting the mission of Wrestling with God Productions by making a financial donation here: GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Father Len explores the Bible story of a wealthy and powerful man and a bankrupt and outcast old woman. Both seeking healing from Jesus. The story reveals the essence of the religion of Jesus and puts our personal beliefs about religion on trial. This is a preview of episode 2 of the new podcast from Wrestling with God Productions, featuring Father Len, titled “Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded.”
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Jesus pushes us to take religion beyond just believing that He is the Messiah and being a good person obeying moral laws. Jesus dismisses laws in the Book of Leviticus that reject or marginalize people. “If the best that you can say about your life is that you’re a good person who obeys all the moral laws, you’re boring and lack spiritual depth.” – Father Len The Book of Wisdom tells us that God is about love, life, and healing. God rejoices in welcoming and loving all people. Jesus gives us a test of religion. Do we want a religion that is about rules, regulations, and moral laws that causes us reject or marginalize some people? Or, do we want the religion of Jesus that accepts and loves all people unconditionally? “Let your heart be broken when people are marginalized, rejected, or treated as if they’re dead. Believe in the way of Christ. Believe in life and unconditional love for everybody.” – Father Len Bible stories explored in this episode:
Book of Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Gospel According to Mark 5:21-43
Please prayerfully consider supporting the mission of Wrestling with God Productions by making a financial donation here: GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions We welcome your questions and comments;
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Irish explains why there hasn’t been a new WWG Show episode lately and Father Len unpacks three Bible stories about love and illustrates the traits God will help us develop, and we’ll surely need, if we are to love like Christ. This a preview of episode 1 of a new podcast from Wrestling with God Productions, featuring Father Len, titled “Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded”.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
When Jesus began preaching love and pushing the boundaries of love to include loving all people unconditionally, the people didn’t like it. All they wanted to hear was God loves me and people like me. God tells the prophet Jeremiah, people “will fight against you” when you preach unconditional love, but I will “form you into a wall of brass, a pillar of iron, a fortified wall” so “they shall not prevail against you.” “If you call yourself a follower of God, you need to push yourself to try to love everyone.” – Father Len “Some religious people say they want to hear the word of God, but only if it agrees with everything they think and believe already.” – Father Len “When I die and stand before Christ, the question won’t be, does God love me? The question will be, did I love like Christ?” – Father Len Bible stories examined in this episode:
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 Luke 4:21-30
“Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded” is crafted from hundreds of hours of Father Len’s homilies and talks on faith, religion, and life recorded over the past eight years. “Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded” is the first new podcast produced by Wrestling with God Productions, the organization founded by Irish with the mission of identifying extraordinary teachers of the Catholic Faith, people like Father Len, and publishing their teachings far and wide. The new podcast delves into stories from the Bible. Stories that reveal God’s purpose for creating us and his intentions for our lives. Stories about God’s expectations for our relationship with him. Stories about what to worship and how to worship. The intention for the new podcast is to help listeners grapple with the true purpose of life and deal with the messiness and mysteries, challenges and difficulties that this crazy life seems to throw at us all. Please prayerfully consider supporting the mission of Wrestling with God Productions by making a financial donation here: GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions We welcome your questions and comments
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Irish shares a big decision about his future and the expansion of the work he and Father Len have begun with the Wrestling with God Show.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Irish looks back at what inspired the Wrestling with God Show, the effect he and Father Len hoped the podcast would have and how listeners have responded to the podcast during its first two years. Irish describes how producing the podcast, working with Father Len, and the success of the podcast has been the most meaningful and rewarding work he’s ever done and how it’s caused him to leap headlong into a completely new vocation. Irish introduces Wrestling with God Productions. The organization he’s forming to expand the work he and Father Len have begun with the Wrestling with God Show. The mission of Wrestling with God Productions is to identify extraordinary teachers of the Catholic Faith, like Father Len, and publish their teachings far and wide to promote the importance and value of faith and religion in life. The goal of Wrestling with God Productions is to create timeless content, like the Wrestling with God Show, which is available on demand to help people discover truth, meaning, and purpose in their lives. Irish describes what Wrestling with God Productions plans to do right away and the resources necessary get it done. Here is the place to send donations if you’d like to help launch Wrestling with God Productions: GiveSendGo.com/WWGproductions
Father Len wrestles with his lifelong fascination with near-death experiences and how what they reveal should challenge all of us to examine how we’re living our lives.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len shares Plato’s analogy of life as a cave where we experience only a dim reflection of true reality and the scientific and philosophical revolution it sparked. “The Republic” by Plato “Life after Life” by Raymond Moody Jr, MD “Near-death experiences are a type of evidence of heaven and gifts from God to color in the picture revealed by prophets and mystics.” – Father Len There have been thousands and thousands of near-death testimonies from adults and children in every country and culture in the world since the beginning of time. Father Len shares the stories of religious and nonreligious doctors who believed near-death experiences to be nonsense until they began to study the experiences of their own patients. “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife” by Eben Alexander, MD “Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation” by Michael Sabom, MD Modern medicine has increased the number of near-death experiences revealed because of its ability to bring back more people from apparent death. Strikingly similar near-death experiences have been reported by people of all ages who speak different languages, in all countries and cultures. Here are the similar patterns of near-death experiences reported everywhere:
Phase 1: All pain, anxiety, and fear are gone. There is just peace. Phase 2: People report popping out of their bodies and floating above themselves able to describe what was happening, where they went, what they did while apparently dead. Phase 3: People, both religious and nonreligious, describe complete darkness going through a tunnel. Phase 4: A light begins to shine accompanied by beautiful music or a feeling of unconditional love with beautiful colors all around. Suddenly a person’s entire life, from beginning to end, unfolds before them. They can not only see, but feel everything they caused other people. Joy, pain, anger, they feel it all. Half of the people in this last phase report being sent back to life because their mission in life was incomplete.
The most common denominator of near-death experiences is that life and life after death are all about love. Surprisingly, near-death experiences for the blind and sighted people are very similar. For the blind, the light speaks to them in just the right language and just the right tone. The light speaks at the speed of light. The blind feel the same love as the sighted and also see beautiful colors all around, many for the first time. The light experienced in near-death experiences frequently causes profound changes in people’s lives and religious beliefs. Religion becomes extremely important. The love, community, and joy they encounter in life after death inspires them to practice this life when they return to life. Knowledge of near-death experiences should challenge us all to wrestle with the truth about God and life. Emanuel Swedenborg visions of heaven.
Introducing a new podcast coming soon from Wrestling with God Productions. It features candid conversations with Catholic priests about their journeys to the priesthood, their experiences being a priest, and why those experiences are so meaningful and rewarding. The intention for the podcast is to create intrigue and interest in young men becoming Catholic priests. This preview episode explores Father Len’s story. It’s raw, revealing, deeply personal, brutally honest, and full of Father Len’s signature humor and wisdom.
Father Len presents stunning evidence that he’s experienced that supports the reality of an afterlife.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The WWG Show has been downloaded more than 38,000 times with regular listeners in 49 states and 11 countries. Thanks for listening to the podcast and sharing it with friends and family. Irish is forming “Wrestling with God Productions,” a nonprofit company, to expand and enhance what we’re doing with the WWG Show podcast. The intention is to build an interactive community where listeners can share experiences and ideas with us and each other. In addition, we want to publish hundreds of hours of talks given by Father Len about faith, religion, and life that have been recorded over the past few years. Bringing “Wrestling with God Productions” to life will require money and resources. If you or anyone you know would like to help and support our mission, please email Irish at questions@wwgshow.com We welcome your contributions big or small. Thanks in advance for anything you can do to help us. Consciously or unconsciously, how we operate in this life has a lot to do with whether we believe there is an afterlife. Father Len reflects on hundreds of personal experiences with death and dying, during 30 years of priesthood, that offer compelling, inspiring and uplifting evidence that there is an afterlife. Catholics believe that nobody dies alone. The moment you die, the dead are there to welcome you to the afterlife. Father Len shares some amazing stories that totally support this belief. There is a thin veil between heaven and earth. Catholics believe the Holy Spirit creates this mysterious and unbreakable bond between the living, the dead, and God that is stronger than death. The dying process produces healing that can’t be accomplished during our ordinary lives. All the evidence that there’s far more to life than just the here and now begs us to be more attentive to the sacred and the mysteries of life. Heaven is a great feast of love. In one sense, death is always kind of ugly, but at the same time it produces great beauty. There’s very little evidence that death leads to oblivion. Being fully present while witnessing death and dying will almost always give you a sense of the afterlife.
Father Len reveals the real “reason for the season” is us.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
“When I look at the world upside down, that’s when it seems right to me.” – Jeret "Speedy" Peterson Father Len tells a story about geese to illustrate why God became a human being. Christmas is a revelation of who we are meant to be. To be good is to become a true human being. Our true humanity is to live like Christ. “Christianity is the attitude of amazement at the dignity of the human person.” – Pope John Paul II “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” – Irenaeus “Paradise Lost” by John Milton “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Sin is the temptation to stop being a true human being. Evil is the no to human goodness. Evil is the no to all that is good. Satan is not one who hates God. Satan is one who believes that God can’t love him or us. The good news of Christmas is that God became one of us to show us how to become true human beings and discover the goodness of being a true human being. Salvation is not the story of God rescuing us from an evil universe. Salvation is the story of God coming as one like us to teach us what true goodness looks like. Absolute love will embrace death. Absolute love cannot be contained by the tomb. Sin is anything that deprives us of our full humanity. Christmas is the beginning of the journey to our true humanity to love and to be connected.
Father Len explains how the radical ideas Jesus introduced 2000 years ago and the church he established have changed the world forever.
Father Len explains how pride can poison everything in life from relationships, to religion, to marriages, to organizations and companies.
Highlights, Ideas, & Wisdom
Pride and its effects are often so subtle as to be unrecognizable. The easiest way to manipulate people is to use their pride against them. Father Len shares the story of how an FBI agent uses the pride of criminals to induce them to confess their crimes. “The Truth Detector: an Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide for Getting People to Reveal the Truth” by Jack Schafer Prideful people are always defensive because their professed self-worth and inner strength is a façade. Father Len reveals how pride causes him to “freak out and become defensive and disrespectful” when people don’t respect his time. Pride is seductive and addicting. Pride is like an animal that must be fed over and over. Pride is like a freeway off ramp that takes you off the path to God. Father Len tells the sad story of how pride caused Alexander the Great to kill his best friend. Father Len explains how Satan uses our pride to tempt us to sin. “Little Shop of Horrors” Movie Prideful people have a constant need for outward signs to demonstrate that they’re okay which ironically leads them to feeling less and less okay inside. The prideful are always armored up and defensive. “The ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling concentration upon self is the mark of Hell.” – CS Lewis Prideful people have difficulty laughing at themselves because of their constant need for input on how great they are. Great leaders share two qualities: selflessness and humility. Leaders with excessive pride bring nothing but destruction to their companies and organizations. “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't” by Jim Collins Father Len’s litmus test for a spiritual person: one who believes that pride poisons everything. Irish shares the story of how he’s been unwittingly sucked into a corrosive game of pride by a prideful friend. Humility and vulnerability are the antidotes to pride.
Father Len reveals that pride is damaging lies we tell ourselves about ourselves.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Pride is a cancer that often goes undetected until it’s too late. “The Truth Detector: an Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide for Getting People to Reveal the Truth” by Jack Schafer The moment you tell a lie about yourself you are owned by the lie. Happy people don’t need to feel superior. The fall of humanity began when Adam and Eve were enticed by pride to define for themselves what is moral. The prideful lie is always about portraying yourself as superior in some way. Pride produces a damaging ripple effect on us and everyone around us. Father Len compares Albert Einstein and Richard Dawkins to illustrate the damaging effects of pride and the positive effects of humility. “I am not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in a position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows somebody must’ve written those books.” – Albert Einstein The prideful are not open to truth because they feel compelled to defend the lies they tell about themselves. The prideful are always defensive and feel the need to posture, provoke, pick fights and bully because they fear wrestling with the truth. Confident and humble people don’t fear grappling with the truth and allow themselves to be challenged, probed, and questioned. The prideful can never be happy because they make their insecurities and flaws the center of their identities. The prideful don’t recognize or appreciate their self-worth. Lies about who you are, what you know, what you’re good at, and what you’re not good at are sure signs you have a pride problem.
Father Len explains what it takes to become truly free and how the common American understanding of freedom leads to selfishness and narcissism.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Freedom involves being free from something in order to be free to become something. The American Revolution was about becoming free from the tyranny of a king and the injustices and oppression of a political system. 70% of Americans say they are free or mostly free. Two thirds of Americans define freedom as being “free to do whatever I want.” Being “free to do whatever I want” is an immature definition of freedom and the least likely to lead to happiness. Being “free to do whatever I want” is a form of tyranny that allows you to intrude on the life and liberty of others. “The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos” by Sohrab Ahmari We create laws to set the parameters for a working society. To be free theologically means that we are always working on freedom. Working to become more free from the tyranny of selfishness, oppression, and injustice. When the people of a country define freedom as selfishness, it will always be divided and destroyed. People who report the highest level of happiness tend to be religious and meditate regularly. People who report the most freedom from moral constraints tend to be the least happy. “Suicide, A Study in Sociology” by Emile Durkheim The really hard part of becoming more free is wrestling with our own egos and recognizing when we’re being selfish. Christians who believe giving up liberties for the sake of others makes them less free don’t understand the freedom of the cross of Christ.
Reacting to why actor Seth Rogen says he and his wife don’t want kids, Father Len explains the relationship between making commitments, happiness, love, and having kids.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
“It’s not an easy haul having kids. You can’t be narcissistic. You have to give yourself over to parenting. Kids have got to be the priority.” – Howard Stern God asks of us that our lives be life-giving. Living life for yourself, free from commitments, is an immature definition of happiness. Commitments lead to greater happiness. Lack of commitments lead to greater unhappiness. You’ll never find yourself through your feelings and aspirations. What defines you is your commitments. "Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person's lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocations."-Hannah Arendt Being unable to settle on something means not being settled ever. People willing to commit to marriage and having children almost always test out happier than those who don’t. The world tells us self-fulfillment comes from being free of commitments. Truth says fulfillment comes after commitments. People who avoid commitments and constantly pursue pleasure in pursuit of an easy life tend to end up bitter and unhappy. Christ challenges us to not to choose the easy way, to make a sacrifice and give ourselves away. Life is not supposed to be easy, but rather a great adventure. Pursuing pleasure as happiness always ends up in unhappiness. Each year since 1972, there has been a gradual decline in people’s overall happiness in the United States. This despite the average person spending 22% more on eating out and entertainment, living in homes that have doubled in size, having huge screen TVs, access to the Internet, and social media. The moral question is not whether you should or should not have kids. The moral question is why you would not want to have children. Religion challenges us to look at everything in life and decide what kind of life we want to have. Once you fall in love, you can’t help but want to give yourself away. That’s what real love feels like. God’s perpetual command is to make an offering of our lives, to give ourselves away. Those who don’t know the power of commitment are yet to know what love is. God is a trickster who tricks people into falling in love and willing to sacrifice everything for those they love.
Father Len exposes the dangers of focusing on boosting self-esteem as a means to improve lives.
Father Len shares his favorite method for the difficult and necessary job of curing shame.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Shame can control you and make your life and the lives of those around you miserable. Shame is that voice inside your head that constantly tells you that you are worthless. Self-esteem programs are not effective for curing shame. You have to learn how to love yourself in order to cure shame. The practice of self-compassion is the antidote to shame. Father Len introduces his version of the St. Ignatius Daily Examen that he uses and recommends to cultivate self-compassion and conquer shame. People who are controlled by shame are usually less compassionate. People who are able to change the shaming voices in their heads are more likely to develop grit and determination and overcome failures. Father Len demonstrates how he used the St. Ignatius Daily Examen to avoid shame and produce self-compassion and personal growth after being a “jerk” to a homeless man and his dog. Father Len tells the story of Oprah Winfrey using a daily gratitude journal to help overcome the shame of being raped, having a child out of wedlock and to learn that it’s the simple things in life, not her money, that bring her joy. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou "What I Know for Sure" by Oprah Winfrey You can pray as much as you want, but it will be hard to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit if the loud voices of shame are playing in your head. Shame is connected with low grade physical pain. If you are controlled by shame, every failure reminds you what a piece of trash you are. If you are controlled by self-compassion, every failure says I’m going to get better and better.
Father Len explains why God wants one universal church that accepts everybody and why the church established by Christ has split into over 400,000 denominations.
Father Len introduces the process of deconstruction to help a listener detox her religious upbringing and purify her religious values, beliefs, and practices.
Father Len reveals how oils and their fragrances help fulfill God’s intention for religion and worship to be carnal and sensuous experiences.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Previous Bible symbols episodes: Ep45 Water, Ep56 Trees
Father Len reveals his 30 year battle with anger and explains why it’s like a cancer that can destroy you unless you learn how to respond to it.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len responds to an email from the mother of a 15-year-old daughter who became depressed and filled with rage over the death of George Floyd. Father Len reveals that anger has been one of his most common sins throughout his life. Research has shown that nothing rots your body like anger. “Anger is rottenness to your bones.” – Proverbs “Anger disintegrates community.” – Proverbs “A hot tempered man stirs up dissension.” – Proverbs Anger destroys wisdom and the ability to make wise choices. “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick tempered man displays foolishness, even after he cools down.” – Proverbs Anger is blinding. When you’re angry, you always think you’re completely right. Anger distorts your view of situations, yourself, your view of the world, and your view of your family. It can make you really stupid. “A hot tempered man must pay a penalty. If you rescue him, you’ll just have to do it again and again and again.” – Proverbs Anger is very addictive. It’s like the cocaine of emotions. Anger feeds on itself. Anger begets anger. Anger often obscures truth and leads to denial. COVID 19 has become an excuse for anger about almost everything. When you’re angry, it’s very difficult to recognize that you may be the problem. Sometimes anger is love in motion to a threat to someone you love. “Be angry, but sin not.” – St. Paul “He that is angry without cause, sins. He who is not angry when there is cause, sins.” – St. John Chrysostom The best response to anger is prayer, self-examination, self-discipline, and sacrifice. Unreasonable impatience is the hotbed of vices. Anger tends to focus you on the problem and obscures the solution. Studies have shown that compassionate people are better at defining boundaries of unacceptable behavior. “Compassion is the strong man’s tool. Anger is the weak man’s tool.” – Father Len
Father Len takes a deep and challenging dive into the nature of true friendship and its profound effects on us throughout our lives.
Highlights, Ideas and Wisdom
In Greek, the word friend or friendship is another word for love. The word love in English is just another word for sex, not friendship. Greeks believe there are four types of love. Love of one’s family, love of one’s friends, romantic love, and unconditional love. Catholics believe friendship love prepares us for heaven. Catholics believe all types of love speak about the great mystery of God. Father Len explains why he believes the United States has a crisis of friendship. Father Len describes much of the friendship present in the United States as what he calls cultural friendship. Relationships based not on reciprocal love, but on getting some sort of advantage, either economically or socially. “Amen with many companions comes to ruin, but there’s a friend who sticks closer to you than a brother.” – Book of Proverbs Today the word friend has been turned into a verb. We “friend” people we don’t really know on social media. Friendship brings something into your life that family and romance can’t. True friendship helps form us. We are formed by God and the community of our family and friends. “One can perish for lack of true friends or for making the wrong friends.” – Book of Proverbs True friendship has a foundation that you discover. Some common interest, love, passion, vision, or truth. Father Len explains the difference between friendship love and romantic love.
Father Len explores the history of marriage, our changing attitudes and expectations about it, God’s expectations for marriage, and what makes marriage so difficult yet so worthwhile.
Highlights, Ideas and Wisdom
Ancient marriages were rarely about love and had little to do with religion. Marriages were pragmatic contracts between families about such things as wealth, political alliances, childbearing, and, for poor and working-class families, acquiring a work partner. Christ revolutionized expectations for marriage. Declaring it to be about unity, love, and becoming a true human being, having nothing to do with legal rights. Modern expectations for marriage revolve around happiness. Finding the one person that’s going to make me happy until they don’t. Then, it’s time to find a new partner. Marriage is a pathway to becoming the image of God, the image of love. Marriage involves a death, dying to ego and selfishness. “True love doesn’t make up for all your faults. True love exposes all your faults.” – Dante Alighieri You can’t work on your faults until they’re exposed. True love demands constant sacrifice. Marriage is about sacrificing your ego and learning to think as two rather than one. Unmarried people often have difficulty thinking about other people because they don’t have to. Marriage is a way to holiness because it is about the way of self-sacrificing love. God can save you, but your spouse gets you in the best shape to be saved. Marriage gets you ready for heaven. Marriage is about sacrificing everything for the sake of love.
Responding to a listener’s question about whether God’s teachings are black and white, Father Len explains why it’s difficult for us to fully understand the language of God’s love.
Highlights, Ideas and Wisdom
God’s morality and teachings are black and white and pure because God is love, without ego and without corruption. Our interpretation of God’s morality and teachings is often wrong because it is viewed through the prisms of our egos and agendas. Father Len illustrates the dangers of interpreting God’s word through ego by pointing out how wrong the Jews were in their interpretations of the Bible’s prophecies about Christ’s purpose on earth. Jesus interprets morality and laws from the perspective of love. Father Len points out that Jesus welcomed prostitutes and adulterers in his life knowing that prostitution and adultery are wrong because that’s what love does. Love perfects us. The Bible tells us that anyone who does not love and proclaims that they know God is a liar. Our black and white view of morality often errs on the side of being harsh and judgmental, void of love. Black and white morality can be very seductive because we can proclaim it to be justice, but without compassion it can be very wrong. There are two kinds of moral extremes: black and white and relativism. Both are based a lot on ego. Moral relativism is morality based solely on personal feelings and choice usually driven by ego or agenda. Reacting to immoral behavior with love forces us to have empathy and compassion. Father Len uses the Bible’s various perspectives on slavery to illustrate how God is constantly trying to help us evolve in our morality understanding we can’t always accept the whole truth all at once. Fully understanding God’s language of love and morality is a lifelong process.
Father Len and Irish grapple with the mystery of the three big events that are the foundation of Christianity: God taking on human flesh and living among us, God being tortured and killed by us, and God’s miraculous resurrection from the dead.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len explains why we should view these events as a whole, as one. Father Len identifies three groups of Christians and their sensibilities: Christmas Christians, Good Friday Christians, and Easter Christians. Christmas Christians love the idea of God becoming a human being and the practice of giving and receiving gifts as a way of showing appreciation for the gift of people in their lives. God recognizes there’s a problem in creation and it’s us. We don’t realize that being a true human being means living a life of love. So God takes on human flesh to teach us the way of love. Good Friday Christians see the brokenness in the world. They have a deep awareness of sin in the world. They recognize the fight between goodness and corruption and injustice, even in ourselves. They see and understand the need to “die” for what is right. Atheists, like Richard Dawkins, believe that we can solve the problems of the world, on our own, with education and our intellect. Father Len explains why this is a big lie. We have to be able to see sin and corruption in the world and realize that it’s not the world that needs to change, it’s us. We’re the ones that have to change. Father Len uses the movie “The Help” to illustrate how Christ’s model for becoming a true human being and living a life of love actually works. The struggle against injustice and oppression and dying to our ego purifies the soul. It gets us ready to enter the kingdom of God here and now. Christ’s resurrection from the dead is not just a singular event. It represents a whole way of life that begins for us right here and now and is fulfilled in heaven when we die. If Christ didn’t die, he couldn’t have been resurrected. Resurrection for us is not returning back to our former life. That’s resuscitation. That’s continuing to live like zombies with half a conscience. The resurrection for us is a whole new life. It’s Christ putting his life in our hearts. It’s freedom from all the shame and darkness in the world. It’s so extreme that in the early church those who were resurrected were called “new persons.” Easter Christians live in the resurrection. Their hope is in them and beyond them. They live with love and joy inside them that can’t be taken away because they’ve died to anger and fear. “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn All our sins begin on the inside, in our hearts. Our modern culture tells us that the problems in the world are outside of us. Therapists believe this is the result of a generation raised with the idea that self-esteem is all important. A generation constantly told, “you’re smart, you’re good, you’re beautiful, you’re special, you’re a winner, you can’t be the problem.” If you’re not participating in the resurrection, right here and now, why do you think that you’ll be participating in it in heaven? If you spend your whole life denying your own brokenness, not becoming something new, better, and connected, what makes you think that you will be ready for heaven?
Father Len explains how a Roman citizen named Patrick became a great saint and hero to Ireland and the real reason we celebrate him and his life.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Patrick was the child of a very religious Roman family, but he had no use for religion until he was captured by pirates on a beach in England and sent to Ireland as a slave to care for sheep and dogs. Patrick discovered and fell in love with God while caring for sheep. A voice in St. Patrick’s head guided him to escape slavery and return to his homeland where he decided to become a priest. The same voice convinced him to accept an assignment as a missionary and return to Ireland though he knew most missionaries in Ireland were being killed at the time. Father Len explains how the Roman named Patrick, who had no interest in religion as a young man, goes on to use a special talent to help evangelize Ireland and become a great saint. Father Len muses about how our culture ends up taming religious celebrations into secular celebrations like Easter becoming about the Easter Bunny, Christmas becoming about Santa Claus, and Valentine’s Day becoming about chocolates and roses.
Father Len reveals that trees are symbols for God and human beings and trees represent the most important choices we make in life.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Trees are the third most common thing mentioned in the Bible. God loves trees and gives them a ring every year on their birthdays. Trees are places where human beings choose to worship or reject God. There is a tree present at every major event in the Bible. Every major character in the Bible is associated with a type of tree. The only thing Jesus ever harmed was a tree that produced no fruit. The Bible begins and ends with the “tree of life” and trees are present throughout the Bible. The story of human history is choosing between two trees: the tree of life and the tree of good and selfishness. There are two types of food. One gives us physical life. The other gives us spiritual life. If we eat the fruit of the tree of good and selfishness we are cut off from the covenant with God and disconnected from the source of life. The temptation to eat the fruit of the tree of good and selfishness is the promise of the power to define what is good and evil for ourselves rather than God. We don’t have to earn the fruit from the tree of life. God gives it freely to us. When anybody makes a commitment to God in the Bible there’s always a tree, an altar, and water present. The tree of good and selfishness often appears in the form of an Idol in the Bible. The Idol is a false tree we create to define our own version of morality. The Hebrews called idols “luxuriant trees” representing the pursuit of power, sex, and money for happiness. The Hebrew letters for “luxuriant tree” cleverly spell Garden of Eden backwards. Addictions always promise happiness, but in the end leave us destroyed. Trees in the Bible symbolize commitments and altars represent the rituals around the commitments. The spiritual life in the Bible is pictured as a tree that must push its roots down deep to find the water of life necessary to produce good fruit in all seasons of life. Jesus’ cross is called a tree in the Bible representing the tree of life. That’s why there is one cross next to or above the altar in every Catholic Church. It’s a reminder of the tree we should be eating from each day for eternal life.
Father Len reveals the meaning of the salvation God seeks for all of us.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Salvation is about freedom and belonging and being saved from harm. Freedom doesn’t mean doing whatever selfish thing you want to do. That’s merely a form of slavery to the ego. Salvation is freedom to be with and for others. It’s a whole lot of dying to your ego. Salvation is not just about me being free. It’s about me and everybody else becoming free. I’m not free unless you’re free. There is an unease in human beings, an innate desire to escape from freedom. Sometimes being confined is less fearful than being loosed. Being restricted can feel better than being free because freedom means choices and choices and choices. And, choices can be difficult. Human beings really want freedom and structure. Structure that makes it possible for us to be free and at the same time feel safe. “The Fear of Freedom” by Erich Fromm Freedom without structure is just chaos. It’s emptiness. The Catholic Mass is a prayer for the order in the kingdom of God, not the order created by human structures or capricious living. There’s always this tug-of-war in the human heart between freedom and safety, between freedom and structure, between chaos and order. Salvation is just another word for freedom, but it’s freedom with structure. Totalitarian lifestyles and their appeal are created by the fear of freedom without structure. God gives us the law to grant us freedom with structure that liberates our spirit for the service of love and community. The ultimate place of freedom and order is heaven where everyone is completely free, but not self-absorbed. Jesus came to show us the way to salvation; freedom from our ultimate enemies of hate, injustice, selfishness, and ego. There is no such thing as personal salvation. Salvation is always tied to belonging to a family and community and everyone in the family and community being free. Salvation is a mix of freedom, structure, responsibility, and belonging. Catholics believe three things are needed for salvation.
Repentance: leaving our old life and slavery to our sins behind. Trust and faith in God. Baptism and the new life it brings.
Nowhere in the Bible does God save an individual. God always saves a community.
Father Len explains why humility is the foundation for success in life.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
There is an epidemic of narcissism in our current culture fueled by social media. Humility is the cure for narcissism. Father Len discusses the dangers of ego and self-obsession by comparing the psyche of movie stars to people in prison. Father Len shares the story of three superstars, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, who joined the Miami Heat NBA basketball team thinking winning a championship would be easy with all their talent. Turns out it wasn’t so easy until humility became a key ingredient of the team. Human beings are very communal and emotions run through a community faster than a virus. Because of our communal nature, it turns out that when people see other people behaving morally or immorally, it’s likely they will mirror that behavior. Father Len shares the story of how tiny Butler University is able to compete and win against the much larger major powers in college basketball because of its team culture of humility. “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit” – sign on former president Ronald Reagan’s desk Ego destroys community because it traps people in a prison of self-obsession. Humility is not low self-esteem. It’s low self-preoccupation. The less we are preoccupied with thinking about ourselves the more room we have in our heads and hearts to think of others. Humility helps us connect emotionally with others. “Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age” by Edward D Hess & Katherine Ludwig Pride causes more problems than it solves. Humility is the gateway to an open mind because it allows us to process information without being defensive and reacting in fear. Humility allows us to see and accept reality. Humility inspires success. Success in life without humility can ruin you. The Bible is filled with stories about how God hates pride and arrogance and how and why humility makes us true human beings. The Bible says all those in heaven have humility written across their foreheads indicating the ultimate victory belongs to the humble. The proud want glory for themselves, not for the community, not for the business, not for the team, and not for God. Intelligence is not just being able to think and learn, but also the ability to unlearn and rethink. That requires humility. “Prayer is unlearning what the world has taught you.” – St. Bernard of Clairvaux We should feel as much joy in learning that we’re wrong as we felt in learning a truth. “I have this voice in my head telling me 20% of everything I think is right might be wrong.” – Father Len “Seek first to understand, then seek to be understood.” – Dr Stephen R Covey “Think Again: the Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam Grant
Father Len explains the Catholic tradition of Lent, an annual 40 day journey of recognizing and facing our flaws and weaknesses in order to become who we are meant to be.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
To illustrate the Lenten journey, Father Len shares the inspiring story of two childhood friends from Idaho who decide to go on a 500 mile pilgrimage in Italy with one pushing the other in a wheelchair the entire way. “I’ll Push You: A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair” by Patrick Gray & Justin Skeesuck The Way of St. James, Camino de Santiago Lent is a journey in the heart to becoming more loving and compassionate. Lent is a death process where we die to our old flawed selves in order to make room for different, changed, and better selves. Lent is about recognizing and giving up personal flaws and weaknesses like pride, anger, anxiety, addictions, and selfishness in order to grow in compassion, gratitude, love and holiness. The modern myth of following your bliss, doing only what makes you happy, and avoiding whatever makes you uncomfortable leads to self-destruction rather than happiness. Facing and entering our darkest part, our greatest weakness leads to enlightenment and discovering the divine. Running away from everything that makes you uncomfortable ensures that you will never discover who you are meant to be. Lent is a time to die to superficial faith and discover what real faith and religion is about. Lent is about self-examination and transformation. “You only get one crack at life. Why go for the comfortable? Why not become the best possible version of yourself?” – Father Len
Father Len reveals the path to a happy, healthy, and holy life involves multiple deaths and funerals.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len shares the story of an alcoholic to illustrate the consequences of denying death in life. The “gospel of prosperity,” which professes that if you’re good God will give you health and stuff throughout your life without sacrifice, is a hoax. To get to happy and holy requires doing a lot of funerals. Change is easy, transitions are hard. Every change in life involves a death. Every step forward involves a loss. Money can be like steroids for your worst vices. It is dangerous not to accept the many deaths and funerals required to get to a better life. People want change in their lives, but what they can’t stand is the transition to the change. The way of the cross means dying to your ego, selfishness, greed, and fears; dying to all those things that prevent the fullness of life. The opposite of the way of the cross is a constant need and desire for more – more wealth, more security, more stuff – and a constant fear of losing anything we have which actually makes us prisoners of fear and greed. The spiritual life is not about addition, but subtraction. The way of the cross is the way of subtraction. Christ shows us that the way of life is through the cross. “Litany of Humility” Prayer The spiritual life is this choice between death and life. It’s kind of a trick question. Those who choose a type of death, dying to things like hate, selfishness, fear, addictions, and their own agenda are choosing life. Those who choose life as it is right now will experience no change, no growth, no increase in love or compassion. What they’re really choosing is death. “If you die before you die, when you die, you will not die.” – Sign at the Monastery of St. Paul in Greece. TED Talk from Jia Jiang about conquering fear by dying to it: “What I learned from 100 days of rejection” Dying to fear sets us free. There are lots of funerals on the bridge to happiness.
Father Len reveals three reasons God created us with some illustrative and inspiring stories and a funny Twinkies analogy.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len reviews the two creation stories in the Bible. Everyone is born an Earthling and we only become true human beings when we can love to the point of death. We are meant to evolve into a relationship of unconditional love with God, other people, and creation itself. Pagan myths trace their creation to something grand and declare their superiority to other people and their origin. In Christianity, we have this idea of a Trinity. God is a Trinity: lover, beloved, and love itself. We are created by perfect loving relationship, a Trinity for relationship. God is pure unconditional, self-sacrificing, and self-giving love. Baltimore Catechism question: “Why did God make you?” Answer: “God made me to know him, to love him, to serve him in this world and be happy with him forever in heaven.” Heaven is a place of ultimate community and unconditional love. Where we’re all completely different, but united together. Hell is the opposite, to live by and for only one’s self. In Heaven, we’ll be together as one as grapes in wine. Shedding our selfishness like grapes shedding their skins. We’ll become one without losing our uniqueness, totally united, just as grapes in wine. Christ sums up all of his teachings this way: “love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and your neighbor as yourself.” God is not a rule keeper handing out punishment for misbehaving. We inflict our own punishment when we choose only to think of ourselves. We’re created for relationship and love, work and responsibility, worship and freedom. Our sin or our holiness affects creation and how we relate to each other. People who live in long and loving relationships live longer, are happier and healthier. It is better for your health to eat a Twinkie with friends than a salad by yourself. People who live life having a purpose beyond themselves live longer, happier and more satisfying lives.
It's not about chocolates and roses. Father Len shares the real story of St. Valentine's Day and its inspiring purpose.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
All the world’s great feasts have a religious beginning. This story is about a persecuted and jailed priest named Valentine. Miracles happen when Father Valentine is asked by his jailer to educate the jailer’s blind daughter and Father Valentine introduces them both to Christ. Who opened your eyes to love?
Father Len responds to Howard’s conflicted thoughts and feelings about faith and religion and his strong desire to figure out what he believes about the existence of God.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
“Howard Stern Comes Again” by Howard Stern Exploring the mysteries of life puts us on the road to wisdom. Curiosity is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Humanity tends to pervert most things like politics, nature, marriage, and religion. Religion is mandated to try to clean up the corrupting impulses of human beings. Spirituality is not an alternative to hypocrisy in religion. Spiritual integrity is dependent on what each individual declares it to be. Spirituality is accountable only to the individual. Religion is accountable to God. Spirituality is not a meaningful alternative to religion. Our brains are hardwired to seek meaning and connection with God. “Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science And the Biology of Belief” by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, Vince Rause The fact that there are sociopaths in religion and business and schools doesn’t invalidate religion any more than it does business and education. You don’t enter religion because you’re perfect. You enter religion as a way to become a better person. Howard wonders if all the hours he spent studying Scripture as a kid were a waste of time and why his parents, who weren’t living a spiritual life, would make him do that. Parents who preach religion to their kids, but don’t practice it, introduce their children to a life of hypocrisy. Howard struggles to understand the meaning of the Bible story of Abraham, Sarah and their “miracle” son Isaac. Mothers tend to be the teachers of faith to their children, but if they see their fathers not practicing religion, they probably won’t either. Wrestling with difficult to understand passages in the Bible helps develop the skill of looking at things differently and discovering their true meaning. Real faith and religion are often best demonstrated by the elderly. Howard wonders if logic will help him decide whether to believe in God. Human beings seldom make decisions based on logic. The Dunning-Kruger Effect states that "dumb" people think they are smarter than they are and truly smart people are awed by how much they need to learn. “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” – Confucius “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” – Charles Darwin “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare The greatest scientists in history used logic and faith to come to their belief in God. The greatest mystery of all is God. Even the Angels in the Bible, when seeing God, kept repeating, you are different, you are different, you are different. There is no way to adequately define God. Heaven is this community of unconditional love that narcissists are unlikely to understand because in their world everything is about them.
Father Len reveals how and why God uses loving trickery to expose truth and help us understand and live our purpose.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len explores the common theme in the religious mythologies presented in Joseph Campbell’s “Power of Myth” that first got him thinking about God as a trickster back when he was in junior high school. The trickster in every religious mythology is a rebel who is creative and helps humanity in unexpected, backwards and upside down ways. The theme of the trickster God, the God who turns things upside down, is also present in the Bible. Father Len shares the story of Moses, the coward with a stuttering problem who becomes the greatest prophet in the Old Testament to illustrate God’s unexpected, upside down, and backwards ways. The Bible tells us God’s ways and wisdom don’t necessarily follow straight lines or human logic with lines like: “Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard what God has in store for us.” Father Len shares his theory on why God loves to play the trickster. The mystery of God means we can never truly understand the infinite. The God of infinite love and infinite possibilities. Truth can be very tricky. Father Len shares a Native American religious myth to illustrate why God sends us tricksters in life. When God created the world, he gave every single creature a gift that must be shared for creation to work properly. We crave clarity. We demand things be either horizontal or vertical, hot or cold, black or white, right or wrong, good or bad. But, God provides ambiguity and less clear lines that must be fully explored with an open mind to be understood. God is willing to forgive what we consider unforgivable. Father Len uses stories about the “Feast of Fools” and the “Feast of the Ass” to illustrate the value of tricksters in religion and life. We need tricksters and fools to keep us from getting trapped in our orthodoxy and thinking we have the answer to everything in life. There is real danger in orthodoxy that boxes God into simple neat little answers. The heart of any civilization is its spirituality. God sends us people like Francis, Dorothy Day, and Catherine Doherty who seem foolish and silly at first, but in actuality they are tricksters sent by God to expose truth. Tricksters have this sacred role to help us laugh at ourselves, see the world from different perspectives and expose hypocrisy and foolishness and our spiritual rigor mortis. Christ is the ultimate trickster and holy fool. He does everything in unexpected ways. He destroys our enemies by making them our brothers and sisters. That’s a great trick. He destroys death by welcoming death. That’s unexpected. God is the trickster who’s always overturning our ways. Habits have a way of deadening the impressions from our experiences, causing even the holiest of things to become superficial or lost. When things happen in our lives appear to be silly or foolish, could it be the trickster God trying to help us see what is real and true?
Father Len traces the history of woman, her role and influence in the world and the church, from the present back to her creation.
Father Len reveals the obstacles to accurately interpreting and fully understanding the Bible and what it takes to overcome these hurdles.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len shares a fun study about how people rate their driving abilities to illustrate the effect of ego on how we see ourselves and view the world. Human beings believe their opinions and decisions are rational, but studies reveal they are most often based on personal desires. It takes great humility and freedom from ego for us to accurately see ourselves. In spite of more than 400 detailed prophecies in the Bible about the coming of the Christ, very few people showed up for the birth of Jesus. Father Len explains why shepherds and Zoroastrian priests were the only people to go to Bethlehem to honor and celebrate the birth of Christ. For all eternity, God desired to take on human form to teach us how to be true human beings. Ironically, the great desire of human beings is to become godlike, chasing power and wealth and distance from the problems of fellow humans. In spite of constant study of the Messiah prophecies and authoring a complicated compilation of these prophecies, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Essene monks missed the coming of Christ because they were highly judgmental and filled with hate. If you read the Bible through the lens of your own ego, prejudice and social position, you’re always going to come up with a wrong interpretation. Hatred, selfishness, and ego blind us from finding God even if we memorize and are able to quote the Bible. The Bible warns us of false prophets, those who interpret Scripture through their own agenda. The “Left Behind” series of books by Tim LaHaye is an example of false prophecies. Sincere desire to discover truth, humility, and love are essential to accurately interpreting the Bible. It takes years to gain humility and the self-awareness to recognize how often we interpret the world from our own perspective and we’re not always right. “Awareness” by Anthony De Mello
Father Len reveals what water symbolizes and why it shows up so often in the Bible.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The Bible contains many symbols that God repeats over and over again. The symbols help us understand what it means to be a human being. Many symbols in the Bible end up becoming part of the way Christians worship. In the Bible, water always symbolizes change, a change in consciousness as we are becoming who we’re meant to be. There’s always some sort of death associated with each change as we give up something of our old selves in the process. Father Len explains what Catholic Christian worship rituals involving water symbolize.
Father Len refutes the notion that the celebration of Christmas began as a pagan party.
Father Len reveals the origin of The Satan and why The Satan constantly misrepresents the words of God and tempts us to sin.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len Introduces “The Great Chain of Being,” the theory that describes the hierarchy of creation and reveals that heaven is populated by more than human beings. God created human beings to rule the earth and care for creation. When God created humanity, God charged the Angels he created with the responsibility to guide humanity. “The Satan” is a title given to angels who continue to worship God, but defy God and refuse to serve inferior humans. The word Satan means accuser. The Satan is bent on misguiding and destroying humanity. Father Len tells the Garden of Eden story to illustrate how The Satan induced Adam and Eve to commit humanity’s original sin. Following the sin of Adam and Eve, a recurring prophecy began predicting that a child of a woman would someday become “the snake crusher” to destroy evil and the Satan. That child turned out to be Jesus. Father Len tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar from the Bible Book of Daniel to illustrate the sin of pride and how the Satan is always trying to decrease our humanity. “The Lord of the Rings” by R.R. Tolkien The Satan, “the accuser,” is constantly pointing out our faults will trying to divide humanity and make us less human. Father Len relates the story of Job who actually becomes more human and a better human through suffering inflicted by the Satan. The Satan frequently tempts us to embrace evil in order to acquire power, glory, and the kingdom. We can’t blame the Satan or the devil for succumbing to evil and becoming less human. We always have a choice. Evil is present in the world, but a true human being is able to say no to it.
Father Len presents the solution to contention and division in our individual lives and in the world around us.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
“Secretaries rule the world. Never tick off a secretary because they control everything.” – Father Len Unity comes through Christ. The word Catholic means universal. Father Len shares the hope for unity found in the two creation stories in the Bible. We are meant to live in unity with other people, even when there is great diversity. The word devil means divider. The devil is constantly tempting us to be divided against each other and God. Humanity is forever attempting to come up with a source of unity outside of Christ. We end up more divided when we develop external things to bring us together. Ego will always tear us apart. The Bible chronicles humanity’s quest for unity. Father Len shares the Bible story of the Good Samaritan to reveal God’s most important laws. We cannot possibly love God without loving one another. The Catholic Church is the most ethnically diverse movement in human history. Father Len tells the story of what CS Lewis learned about the effect other people and community have on our personalities. Father Len explains why private personal relationships with God are not Christian and not spiritual. God is perfect loving community. The one thing God desires in the Bible is family; that all of us will look at each other as brothers and sisters. Unity is not brought about by conformity. Our relationship with other human beings should be founded on God. The only path to unity is the self-sacrificing love Christ came into the world to model for us.
Father Len reveals the real “reason for the season” is us.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
“When I look at the world upside down, that’s when it seems right to me.” – Jeret "Speedy" Peterson Father Len tells a story about geese to illustrate why God became a human being. Christmas is a revelation of who we are meant to be. To be good is to become a true human being. Our true humanity is to live like Christ. “Christianity is the attitude of amazement at the dignity of the human person.” – Pope John Paul II “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” – Irenaeus “Paradise Lost” by John Milton “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Sin is the temptation to stop being a true human being. Evil is the no to human goodness. Evil is the no to all that is good. Satan is not one who hates God. Satan is one who believes that God can’t love him or us. The good news of Christmas is that God became one of us to show us how to become true human beings and discover the goodness of being a true human being. Salvation is not the story of God rescuing us from an evil universe. Salvation is the story of God coming as one like us to teach us what true goodness looks like. Absolute love will embrace death. Absolute love cannot be contained by the tomb. Sin is anything that deprives us of our full humanity. Christmas is the beginning of the journey to our true humanity to love and to be connected.
Father Len reveals how doubts and questions about how God works in the world lead to wisdom and faith.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len explains the difference between doubt that is healthy and holy and doubt that is not healthy or holy. True faith is believing in a God of love and impossibilities. Doubt can be a blessing or a curse. Doubt about how God is working in your life and why is a blessing. Doubt about God’s love and your relationship with God is a curse. “Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.” – Paul Tillich “If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” – Francis Bacon Doubt can be a great friend of the truth. Real learning occurs when we allow doubts and questions to arise. The Greek word for doubt means two separate views. So, doubt is being torn apart by seeing two opposite things and trying to reconcile them. “Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.” – Khalil Gibran Jesus allows and encourages people to challenge and question him throughout the Bible. Jesus is comfortable with questions because he wants them to lead to wisdom and certainty. “People should question what’s going on in the world, question church authority, but not question that they’re in an unbreakable relationship with God.” – Father Len
Father Len explains the relationship between commitment and happiness.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len shares the story of NFL football player Bo Eason and what he learned about commitment from fellow Pro Jerry Rice. “There’s No Plan B for You’re A-Game” by Bo Eason Commitment breeds commitment. Indifference breeds indifference. There are two types of commitment: “even if” and “as long as.” Even if commitment never wavers even when there is trouble, hardship, sickness, sacrifice, and suffering. As long as commitment is always conditional on finding something easier and more pleasurable to do than keeping the commitment, like watching a favorite television show or going to a party. Father Len shares a favorite “even if” commitment story from the Book of Ruth in the Bible. Commitment leads simultaneously to suffering and happiness. Uncommitted people don’t suffer much pain, but surprisingly, it’s the committed people who are willing to suffer that end up happier. TED Talk: “The Surprising Science of Happiness” by Dan Gilbert Irish explains how commitment saved his marriage. Father Len embarrassingly explains how watching the Oprah Winfrey show helped him understand why couples who live together before marriage have double the divorce rate of those who don’t. “If you chase two rabbits… You will not catch either one.” – Russian proverb People who are low on commitment are also low on control over their egos. Bible symbolism: the number seven shows up frequently and is code for complete commitment. Happiness and suffering go together.
Father Len explains the relationship between science, history and the Bible and why dinosaurs aren’t present in the Bible.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len reveals that some Christians and members of a group known as “young earth creationists” believe that dinosaurs aren’t present in the Bible because they didn’t exist. They fear science is driving God out of the human experience and therefore they deny rigorous scientific evidence of such things as the age of the earth and the existence of dinosaurs. Demanding that belief in God requires rejecting scientific facts is committing intellectual suicide and damaging to religion and the image of God. When science challenges us, we should be grateful, discerning, and welcoming of scientific truths. There is an ancient belief in Catholicism that God gave us two books of Revelation. The Bible and the book of nature. Thomas Aquinas believed that if nature and scientific facts prove your interpretation of something in Scripture is wrong then clearly your interpretation of the Bible is wrong. The Catholic view is that religion supports science and science supports religion. “Science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind.” – Albert Einstein Galileo believed that scientific exploration is a noble endeavor of faith saying, “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” The first book of the Bible is not Genesis. It is the back story for the first book of the Bible which is Exodus. The purpose of Genesis is to explain that God created everything to be good. The Bible is not a science or history book. Its purpose is to explain what it means to be a human being. There is no mention of dinosaurs in the Bible because they are not relevant to becoming a free and loving human being.
Father Len reveals what fear of God really means and why it’s awesome.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len uses a story about Avalon the lion from the CS Lewis Chronicles of Narnia collection of books to begin to illustrate what fear of God is and isn’t. Fear of the Lord is one of the top seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Father Len explains the difference between terror and Fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is actually about awe and respect. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Father Len shares a fun personal story about swimming with Dolphins to illustrate what awe feels like. “Be not afraid” is a common greeting from Jesus because he does not take pleasure in people fearing him. God is definitely not a tyrant. Father Len exposes what narcissists fear to explain the difference between healthy and unhealthy fear. Father Len reveals how awe and intrigue helped famous scientists and philosophers like Albert Einstein and Socrates discover the existence of God. The book of Deuteronomy connects the Fear of God to the observance of morality. The real experience of God is unnameable because there is no thing in creation that is like God. Mystic Meister Eckhart would often pray, “God cleanse me of God,” which meant cleanse me of false notions of God.
Father Len offers perspective and advice to those who feel anger and fear after the recent national election or following any loss or disappointment in life.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len’s concerns about the effects of what he refers to as “post traumatic election syndrome” inspired this episode. Father Len shares a personal experience from a trip to Colombia to put election induced anger, fear, and anxiety in perspective. Father Len explains why joy, determination and patience, not anger, are the remedy for injustice. Jesus implores us to responsibly control the emotions in our hearts, without excuse. Anger clouds our hearts and minds. When you’re angry is not the time to figure out how to respond to what’s causing your anger. “When you’re angry or in a bad mood at work, just go home because you’re just gonna make everyone you work with miserable.” – Sage advice from Father Len’s former bookkeeper History is not logical. One of the best things that ever happened to Christianity was the fall of Rome. It actually helped Christianity spread. History’s greatest and most effective activists, like Martin Luther King Jr and Dorothy Day, turned their anger into steely determination based on prayer and peace. Anger often turns people away from your cause. We need to place our hopes in eternal truths:
Christ is our King, not a political group, political faction, or any nation. Faith and love, not anger will unite our country.
Father Len’s tips for calming anger:
Breathe deeply through your nose. Pray Place the source of your anger in a world 10 years from now and try to imagine if it will really be the big deal or emergency you think it is now. Stop or limit your “doom scrolling” (constantly checking the news for stories that will trigger your anger and anxiety) Focus on an upcoming joyful event in your life.
Father Len introduces his “St. Jolly Project” to add more fun and joy to life. It’s the little things in life that make a real difference. Like a song that suddenly puts you in a good mood. Prayer to Fast from Incivility
Father Len offers some hope and solutions for ending the anger and divisiveness we're experiencing in our politics and during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Father Len reveals that Halloween actually began as a Catholic Church holiday celebrating our mystical connection with all those who have died.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Most of our holidays have Catholic origins. There are exceptions like Columbus Day, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving. Halloween is the Catholic feast of All Saints who are in heaven and calling us to join them. Father Len shares his love of giving people a “little bit of a scare.” From the very beginning of Christianity it has been a custom to remember and celebrate the anniversary of the death of all Saints. The idea for Halloween costumes began in France where they would dress up as Saints to celebrate their virtues. Kids receiving treats on Halloween originated in England. Kids and poor people would go from house to house singing or “souling” and promising to go to church and pray for deceased family members of the household. In return, they’d receive either candied apples or “soul cakes.” Father Len shares the story of “Stingy Jack” to explain how Jack-o’-lanterns became part of Halloween. "Stations of the Sun" by Ronald Hutton Halloween as we know it today is a combination of various European customs that we’ve mixed together here in the United States. The modern world tries to unhinge the profound truth of the original celebration of Halloween and the feast of All Saints. That is our mystical connection with the dead who are trying to pull us into the great feast of love in heaven.
Father Len explores how grit helps us get through difficult times and succeed in life.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len explains why he is grateful for the COVID 19 pandemic. Father Len explains how the pandemic helps reveal the existence of God and why God allows suffering in the world. Father Len introduces the spiritual virtue of grit and illustrates how and why it helps us mature as human beings and succeed in life. Father Len explains the dangers of living life as a “perfect fragile.” Father Len explodes the myth of “talent” as the primary predictor of success in life. Grit in the religious world is fortitude. It’s one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Grit is learned and earned through sacrifice, pain, and a little bit of suffering. “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth Life is sacrifice. Father Len offers concrete ways to increase grit and determination. Father Len shares the moving story of Adm. James Stockdale and how grit helped him and his fellow prisoners survive years in a Vietnam War concentration camp. “The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero” by Timothy Egan "Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined" by Scott Barry Kaufman
Father Len shares some remarkable love stories to illustrate what true love is all about.
Father Len and Irish explore the life-changing benefits of death and funerals.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len shares his moving and powerful tradition for commemorating the victims and heroes of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and what it reveals about life and death. Father Len explains how funerals make us better human beings. Father Len spells out the difference between a funeral and a “celebration of life.” Father Len tells the story of how comedian Garry Shandling’s parent’s decision not to allow him to attend his older brother’s funeral screwed him up. Father Len shares the story of what comedian Stephen Colbert learned from his mother at his father’s funeral. Funerals are incredibly healthy because they provide closure, a sense of meaning, and a perspective on what’s really important and enduring in life. “Something about death makes us wise—we suddenly become high-minded, forgiving and focused on the best in people. How can we do better at seeing living people through the “eulogy lens”? – Tim Urban Twitter: @waitbutwhy Funerals reveal human connection and the value and importance of community. Father Len tells the story of a funeral for a young father’s dad that revealed what kind of dad he wanted to be for his three boys. Funerals are an essential tool for passing on important values from one generation to the next. Funeral rituals have been around for 10,000 years as a means to say goodbye, mourn what has been lost and to forgive.
Father Len explains why guilt is a good and shame is evil.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len reacts to the pain and suffering inflicted on Tarana Burke, founder of the “Me Too Movement,” by the shame she felt after being raped and sexually molested as a child. Shame is evil because it mars the image of our being made in the image of God and crushes our self-worth. Shame is dangerous and correlates to increased incidence of addiction, eating disorders depression, and suicide. Guilt is about amending our behavior and increasing our self-worth. Guilt is a tool for self-improvement; becoming more loving, more kind, more patient. Shame is a tool of oppression, racism, and sexism. Guilt is based on love and shame is based on evil. Father Len shares a fun story about catching kids stealing dark chocolate from him to illustrate why guilt is good and guilt and shame are not the same. Religion should be a force for inflicting guilt and healing shame. Both guilt and shame make us feel bad, but for different reasons. Guilt makes us feel bad because we realize we could have done something better. Shame makes us feel bad because some horrific event causes us to define ourselves as trash. Brené Brown’s podcast: “Unlocking Us” Brené Brown’s TED Talk: “The Power of Vulnerability” Shame loves to hide in the dark and doesn’t like being named. Privately and sadly, the lives of many people are controlled by shame. Healing shame is not easy, but working through the process brings wisdom, compassion, and joy. The Catholic Church is like a good mother who teaches her children guilt to help them grow and become better and more loving human beings.
Father Len explores the relationship between gratitude, happiness, and finding the presence of God in everyday life.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The custom of athletes and entertainers thanking Jesus after winning games and awards inspired this episode. Father Len uses the ancient Jewish feast that celebrates the birthdays of trees to reveal the importance and value of gratitude. Gratitude helps prevent narcissism and entitlement. Gratitude helps us grow and mature as true human beings. Gratitude makes us happy. Gratitude improves our health. Gratitude makes us more compassionate. “It’s impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.” – Naomi Williams Father Len introduces “The Daily Examen” gratitude exercise created by St. Ignatius.
Father Len and Irish grapple with the mystery of God’s intention for sickness and suffering in our lives.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Irish shares his gut wrenching experiences with his youngest son’s heart attack and multiple kidney failures. Father Len tells the story of his father finding joy late in life after contracting ALS. Health, wealth, and personal achievements aren’t necessarily what makes life beautiful. Father Len shares neurosurgeon Eben Alexander’s revelations from a rare illness and near death experience that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife” by Eben Alexander Father Len shares the stories of suffering and sickness that caused St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Julian of Norwich to become great Saints. “Revelations of Divine Love” by St. Julian of Norwich We discover God in our difficulties. “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed every day.” St. Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:16 Where did we get the idea that if we’re good, God is obligated to bring us health? “There’s this fear that if we don’t have health and wealth and popularity, somehow our life is cursed. Maybe, like my dad, life becomes blessed because of sickness.” – Father Len Sickness teaches us how precious and frail life really is. When someone dies, even though we know life is temporary, it’s always a shock. The fact that we’re shocked by death means there’s something in us that says life should be full and death is wrong. There’s something in us that says sickness is wrong because we are meant for a full life. Maybe we’re not going to have that life here. Heaven is where we’ll have the absolute fullness of life. Joy can exist alongside sickness and suffering. Happiness can’t. Happiness is external. It depends on things like how we look, what kind of car we drive, and how much money we have. Joy is internal. “In life, we have to trust in someone or something. We can’t go through life without trusting. Everybody has to trust in something, even in the midst of loss and suffering. I trust that the God of life will bring greater life.” – Father Len
Father Len shares the forgiveness method he uses along with his experiences learning to forgive.
Highlights, Ideas and Wisdom
Father Len confesses that he is “not great at forgiving,” but he’s working on it. Forgiveness is a skill that can be learned just like all the other virtues. Forgiving is like an exercise, the more you do it, the better you get. If you learn to forgive small things, you build up the forgiveness muscle so that later you can forgive other things. The LETGO forgiveness method Father Len uses has five steps:
L – Look deeply at what went wrong. E – Apply Empathy T – Tell a better story G – Give forgiveness O – One more day to remember choosing to forgive.
You may not be able to forgive immediately after an insult or injury because you need time to mourn. Anger prevents forgiveness. Prolonged anger can turn into bitterness. Anger is a reaction to a feeling. You can train yourself to replace anger with forgiveness. Forgetting the insult or injury is not the same as forgiveness. If you don’t give yourself time to really feel the pain of the injury or insult, it can become easy to hide behind anger. Quick compulsive forgiveness may actually be fake forgiveness and a form of denial of the insult or injury as well as a sign that you’re more comfortable being a doormat. Empathy is thinking about what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes and awareness of their pain. Stories change our opinions, not evidence. Stories with a message of hope cause the greatest change. Telling the same story to yourself over and over carves a deep rut in your memory. That can be good or bad. We must learn how to forgive ourselves for stupid things we’ve done. Praying that you’ll have a sincere desire for forgiveness, even if you don’t have the ability, God will answer that prayer. Releasing an expectation that is causing you to suffer is a significant element in the forgiveness process.
Father Len and Irish explore the frequently damaging temptation and tendency for humans to judge each other.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len responds to a listener’s perception that religious people are often judgmental and see themselves as better than others. Father Len explains the difference between damaging judgment of behavior and attitudes and needed, useful and inspiring criticism. The ability to honestly and critically assess our own behaviors and attitudes is healthy and important to personal growth and maturity. Judging often has a damaging moral quality of shaming and denigrating. For some people, judging others is a big smokescreen to hide the garbage in their own lives. Presented with necessary criticism and helpful suggestions about their attitudes, decisions and behavior, insecure people tend to get angry, defensive, feel judged and dismiss it all. Father Len offers some sage advice to fathers of daughters about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Recognizing the difference between judgmental and critical thinking requires a lot of personal reflection and humility.
Father Len takes us on a tour of hell exploring its origin and history providing glimpses of heaven along the way.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Hell can be hot and cold. Hell is complete separation from God. Heaven is complete union with God. God is the source of life, love, community, justice, and compassion. Hell is being separated from life, love, and community. God offers life and love to all people as a free gift, but that doesn’t mean all people accept the gift. Hell is often associated with fire, but in the Bible it is also depicted as a cold and lonely place. The image of fire is also connected to heaven in the Bible. Could it be that the fire of heaven and hell is the same, the fire of God’s love? Life is a matter of preparing to live in the fire of God’s love or forever rejecting it. If you live your life with hatred and selfishness, maybe pure love is something that you can’t stand. People can create their own hell right here on earth. It’s not just an imaginary place where we might end up. You separate yourself from God when you fail to live a life of love. God wants everybody united in heaven, but that doesn’t mean everybody will be in heaven. “The gates of hell are locked from the inside” – CS Lewis Hell is something we create by our own choices, not something created by God. God permits those who reject community, justice, compassion, and love, which is God, to live in the hell they create. The images of heaven and hell help point our lives in the right direction. Hell is a choice of selfishness and cruelty over love. The gates of heaven are always open for those who love.
Father Len explains why God doesn’t send anybody to hell.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len answers the question why a loving God creates human beings he knows will go to hell. Free will is one of God’s greatest gifts to each of us. Free will defines human beings. We are free to choose heaven or hell. Heaven’s gate is always open for us to walk in. “The Great Divorce” by CS Lewis tells the story of people in hell who have the opportunity to look into heaven and choose not to walk in. Father Len shares the Bible story of the rich man and Lazarus to illustrate how and why some people surprisingly choose hell over the love, unity, and community that is heaven. Heaven is a place where everybody loves everybody else. Even Minnesota Vikings fans love Green Bay Packers fans. God’s not going to force anybody into heaven. He’ll beg, he’ll plead, but if you want hell, you can choose it. God will respect your choice. Father Len explains the big difference between God knowing someone will go to hell and causing someone to go to hell.
Father Len explains why freedom is a virtue and what it takes to achieve real freedom.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Real freedom is achieved when we become free to live a life of love and community, free from selfishness, ego, anger, hatred, and revenge. Father Len tells the story of how Congressman John Lewis's faith gave him the freedom to love his enemies. Father Len illustrates the opposite of freedom with the story of a very wealthy and brilliant Englishman. He had all the money and time to do whatever he wanted to do in this world, but became imprisoned by his ego, selfishness, anger, and insecurity. We all wear some sort of psychological mask at times to make us appear to be shiny and happy people able to do whatever we want. Religion can free us from our psychological masks. Father Len shares the story of a millionaire Hollywood producer who traded his huge mansion, fancy cars, and extremely unhappy life for a tiny house, a bike to ride to work, and a happy life. The constant need to get whatever we want in this world is a type of slavery or idolatry. An Idol is something that promises fulfillment, but leaves us empty. Religion doesn’t satisfy all our wants. It frees us from them. Real freedom requires sacrifice. “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Chocolat – The movie WALL-E – The movie
Father Len explains why the wisdom contained in the Bible about what makes for a good life is timeless.
Highlights, Ideas and Wisdom
“There is nothing new under the sun” – Qoheleth, Ecclesiastes 1:9 People have forever struggled with the same problems, made the same mistakes, and needed the same solutions to solve their problems and the same remedies for their mistakes. The Bible stories are always challenging our tribalism, addictions, use of money, our sense of justice, our compassion, and even our sense of religion. “Faith and evidence are inseparable. Indeed, faith is a response to evidence, not a rejoicing in the absence of evidence.” – John C Lennox Technology does not make us evolve. It adds conveniences to our lives. What really makes us evolve is religion. We are hardwired for religion. “Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief” by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, and Vince Rause Every experiment in atheism has led to massive slaughter. If we get rid of religion, we just replace it with something else. We always end up worshiping something. “In the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff. It’s the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.” – David Foster Wallace Religion is only outdated for those who are unconscious that they’re worshiping something. Whatever controls your life is what you’re worshiping. What people resist when they say the Bible is outdated, is not the Bible. It’s their interpretation of the Bible. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley “Great Expectations” a movie about “gods” that control us.
Father Len reveals how distancing yourself from “crazy” and “annoying” people in your life can separate you from parts of yourself that need attention.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
There are multiple stories in the Bible that reveal how distancing yourself from people in your life causes you to lose part of yourself. Father Len explains the “sin of distancing” and how it affects us. The problems we have with people in our lives often reveal problems we have within ourselves. When we build walls around ourselves to avoid problems, we pay a price. It’s easy to hate people from a distance. Arguments and disagreements with people in our lives can be incredibly healthy because they can help us recognize and force us to deal with our own issues. Life is supposed to break our hearts at times. When we experience pain and frustration we develop humility and the ability to love. A whole heart is a broken heart. Distancing ourselves from “crazy” and “annoying” people will keep us safe, but we won’t have whole hearts.
Father Len explains why defining and fully understanding good and evil is pretty much beyond our ability as humans.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The only wise reaction to evil is faith in God. The mystery of what seems like evil to us may actually be something used by God for our good. Father Len explains why we shouldn’t settle for cheap and easy answers for why evil and suffering exist in the world and instead humbly ask questions and more questions. We will not understand evil until we can have the same perspective as God. There might not be answers about good and evil that we can see and understand until we get to heaven and can look back in time. Real wisdom is acquired through intimate experience with suffering. What we proclaim as good may actually be bad for us. What we proclaim as evil may actually be good for us.
Father Len explains that we’re all born in the image and likeness of God with gifts, defects, and work to do to become mature human beings and find our way to Christ and each other.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The Hebrew word for image is the same word as Idol. There was a time when a King was perceived to be the image of God. We’re all made in the image of God regardless of the color of our skin. God is pure loving community so the image of God is all of humanity not a singular human being. Jews and Catholics believe we storm the Gates of heaven together, not alone. Father Len explains the difference between the image of God and the likeness of God. Every human is given gifts to make the world a better place. God created us pure with work to do to become mature. Father Len explains how and why God created man and woman. Once we know self-sacrificing love, we become true human beings. God creates every human being with a fault that is not a defect in the eyes of God. The defect helps us find our way to Christ and each other. If we were all created perfect, we’d all be the same. We’d be just like every other human. “Revelations of Divine Love” by Julian of Norwich
Father Len and Irish grapple with the difficulty of having a spiritual, moral, and meaningful conversation about the slogan “black lives matter.”
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len explains why he is reticent to make statements about political slogans. It’s cowardice for religious leaders not to lead and speak out about spiritual and moral issues. People have to come to the truth by themselves, but religious leaders can and should help lead them there. “We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.” – Blaise Pascal We have become so politically rigid, polarized, and hell-bent on winning in the United States that the search for truth gets lost. There are good people and evil people. The line between good and evil cuts through every human heart. Father Len is reading “Black like Me” by John Howard Griffin to become more compassionate and feel the pain and suffering that can come from discrimination and being a minority.
Father Len reveals why Jesus came into the world as a Jew and why God created multiple races and cultures.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
God chose an enslaved, weak, and hated people to show God’s strength and bring love into the world. Father Len reveals his joke about every Jewish feast. The Bible constantly wrestles with racism. There is just one race in the Bible. That’s humanity. There are many different nations, but they’re all part of one family. Humanity is united by the language of love not rules, regulations, politics and technology. Father Len tells his favorite racism story where God’s punishment for a Middle Eastern woman’s racism is to make her skin white as snow. The Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, has made dozens of appearances around the world over time. Always appearing as a person of the nation in which she appears. This to signify that Christ is present in all of us no matter what the color of our skin or our country of origin. If Jesus came into the world today he might well have black skin and be of African descent.
Father Len explains what forgiveness is and isn’t and the powerful positive effects it has on us and those around us.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
We live in an age of anger. It defines our politics, the way we drive, our Facebook posts, and even our religion. A lot of religious people baptize anger and make excuses for it by calling it righteous. Nowhere in the Bible does it mention God’s having righteous anger. There is no righteous anger. Anger is anger. There is a joke about Irish Alzheimer’s. It’s when you forget everything, but those you’re mad at. People often confuse forgiveness with reconciliation. Forgiveness doesn’t require reconciliation. Everything is forgivable, but not all things can be reconciled. Forgiveness means you’re not going to be trapped in a prison of anger, bitterness, and resentment. It’s a source of freedom. Attempts to reconcile with the sociopath can be problematic. An invitation to get hurt again and again. Forgiveness that skips over justice and doesn’t hold the offender accountable is fake forgiveness. Its amnesty and submission to the wrong. It turns forgiveness into the way of the weak and not the strong. Why should we forgive? First and foremost because God said so. Father Len describes how forgiveness gave Nelson Mandela freedom. Father Len tells the amazing story of a young actress whose career was ruined by Alfred Hitchcock, but she was able to forgive him and later attend his funeral free of anger, bitterness, and resentment. Bitterness has a long-term effect on the brain. It makes you dumber. Anger contributes to bad decision-making. Wounded people wound others. If you hold on to anger and a really deep hurt, you’re likely to hurt other people. Forgiveness silences the voice of the offender that keeps telling you you’re a victim and you have no dignity. Forgiveness contributes to better health and a longer life. Dr. Robert Enright’s “International Forgiveness Institute” “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” – CS Lewis The book, “A 1000 Acres” by Jane Smiley is a great story about the power of forgiveness. People who’ve been able to forgive a deep hurt have a much greater capacity to love.
Father Len shares his love of prayer. He explains what prayer is and isn’t and the purpose of prayer. He also offers some ideas for developing your own personal prayer life.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
True prayer is listening. It’s about being totally mindful of God and being in the presence of God. Prayer is not about providing God with frequent intelligence briefings about stuff we want because God is the “big candy machine.” Father Len shares a fun story about a very kind and well-meaning minister and his wife that were concerned about the inadequacies of the car he was driving at the time and volunteered to “pray him up a new truck” to illustrate what prayer shouldn’t be. Prayer is about being in the presence of love and wanting it to control you. Father Len shares a favorite type of prayer he uses called “The Daily Examen” created by St. Ignatius 500 years ago. Meditation on virtues like joy and love is an effective type of prayer that can help us find God in the fingerprints of our day while providing a sense of calm and peace. Our whole life should be a love affair with the divine that inspires us to regularly spend time with God. Some of us confuse entertainment that is self-gratifying with prayer. Father Len explains why golf is not prayer.
Father Len explains what causes a loss of faith and gives listener Jennifer some ideas for finding her lost faith.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len explains the difference between faith and belief. Faith is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, it will atrophy and you’ll lose it. Faith is like a seed. It’s a gift from God. We must prepare the soil in which it grows. The soil is our hearts. The best means for preparing the soil is prayer and reflection. Faith is like water. It needs a path to flow. Prayer and reflection dig the “trench” that allows faith to flow. Prayer and reflection are habits that give birth to faith. Father Len introduces one of his favorite tools for feeding and deepening his faith, “The Daily Examen” created by St. Ignatius. The daily practice of gratitude will make you a happier person and deepen your faith. “Feeling Good: the New Mood Therapy” by David D Burns M.D. Life is a matter of negotiating problems. Troubles in life do not cause faith to evaporate. Quite the opposite. We can find the presence of Christ in all of our problems. “God whispers to us in our good times, but shouts to us in our pain.” – CS Lewis
Father Len reveals two primary impulses God gives us and how we can use them for good or evil. This episode was recorded before the murder of George Floyd, but it couldn’t be more relevant.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Human evil is the most difficult kind of evil to grapple with because it’s what we do to ourselves. Human evil is never part of God’s plan. God created human beings with two primary impulses. One is rooted in self-interest or self-protection. The other an inner sense that alerts us when we’re violating God’s law and urges us to live lives of generous care for other people. "The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart." – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Father Len explains what’s missing in spirituality without religion in answer to a listener who asks: “Why do I need organized religion? I’m spiritual and I have a personal relationship with God.”
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
What is a “personal” relationship with God? What does it mean? Father Len explores the difference between an intimate relationship with God and a private relationship with God. Father Len explains how religion satisfies the natural human need and desire for being social and how that makes an essential contribution to a spiritual life. The very definition of what it means to be human is to be connected to other people. We survive and thrive not only because of our intelligence, but also because we live and work as a group. Religion and spirituality should make you a better human being. We are more of who we are and who we are meant to be in community with other people. Father Len shares an inspiring story of enemies protecting enemies during the Serbian Croatian war to illustrate the meaning, power and importance of true community. Spirituality should lead you into the very essence of community. Private spirituality can lead to becoming your own God. Religion is like a marriage, a marriage between us and God. “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni Father Len explains how conflict is an important element in strong marriages and good religion. Being spiritual but not religious means there is likely no one to challenge your ideas and beliefs. "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Father Len explains how religion helps us recognize who we are meant to be and helps us become our best selves.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Religion is to spirituality what tea is to water. Religion adds flavor and extracts the essence of spirituality. Practicing religion makes people happier, healthier, and live longer. It reduces depression, lowers blood pressure, crime, and the divorce rate. “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community” by Robert Putnam Religion brings people together and helps them recognize who they’re meant to be. We all need a community that cares about values and way of life to bring out our full and best selves. Working together with a common purpose, we begin to share each other’s story and become more concerned about other people’s stories than our own. Human beings have always searched for the divine. The common translation of the word shalom is peace, but it really means unity. This unity has four parts. Unity between us and God. Unity between each other. Unity within ourselves. Unity with creation. When you have all four, you have shalom and a great analogy for religion. We all need connection with a goal and purpose in life that is greater than us. Father Len reveals what he believes is missing in our Facebook “connections” and why he believes the “Facebook life” is likely contributing to rampant depression and the rise in suicide, cynicism, and mocking in our society. Research has shown that worship produces a Spike in the love hormone oxytocin that helps bind us together. Worship helps us discover our personal worth, other people’s worth, and the worth of God. Father Len shares a little fun “family trash” to illustrate the relationships, values, and commitments that flow from religion and help us improve ourselves and our lives. Religion is about a sacrifice and an offering of that part of us that thinks only of ourselves in hopes that part of us will eventually die.
Religion has been with us since the beginning of human history. Father Len explains what it is and what it always has been.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Religion is a binding of a relationship and commitment to God and other people. Religion can be traced all the way back to the Stone Age, Paleolithic and Neolithic times. Early religion was a mix of storytelling, music, art, architecture, astrology, and ritual that brought people together, unified them and tied them to a common purpose. Stone Age caves were like churches often containing the same 32 symbols that are believed to be a hieroglyphic response to God. Religion is not a monologue from God. Religion is a dialogue between us and God with us responding to God. There’s good religion and bad religion. Good religion is one that binds us together and to God. Bad religion is just a structural form for coercion that often divides us. Good religion is both educational and unifying. It helps us discover the presence of God in our daily lives. Human beings have forever been trying to answer this call from a mysterious thing we call God that binds us together and directs our lives. There have been cultural experiments without God in countries like Soviet Russia and Communist China. These experiments in atheism haven’t gone so well and led to lots of bloodshed and millions of deaths. Atheism’s failures can be traced to the lack of a higher moral code beyond human reasoning. We like to proclaim ourselves as rational, but we’re not. We’re really good at coming up with excuses to justify our behavior. Atheism says there is no source of justice beyond “how I view things.” In religion, we say God is the source of justice and our behavior will be judged by God. Atheism is a type of religion. It may take more faith to believe that “I am the measure of morality” than the faith it takes to believe in God. Taking the Lord’s name in vain is to misuse religion for power, wealth, or violence. To commit evil in the name of God. There’s good Scripture and bad Scripture. When you think God is telling you to do something that is not in the Bible, that’s bad Scripture. Father Len explains how to choose a religion and why not to choose a religion. Love is not just an emotion. Love is also a type of reasoning. Father Len shares a fun MacMillan family dinner table conversation to answer the question, "should you choose a religion for your child?" Religion is incredibly human because it’s constantly seeking the deep connections we all crave and need in this life.
Father Len explains what the Bible is, where it came from, why it matters and how to use it.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The Bible is a collection of books of sacred stories that span thousands of years. The Bible is not a rule book. There are rules in the Bible, but they only make sense in the context of the stories in which they are contained. The stories in the Bible give meaning to why we’re here and help us understand the purpose of our lives. Bible stories are stories of a community written by a community explaining sacred reality from many viewpoints, different viewpoints, and even opposing viewpoints.
The wisdom contained in the “Book of Proverbs” is innocent and sweet like a young teenage girl. The “Book of Ecclesiastes” critiques everything in the “Book of Proverbs.” Imagine a 40-year-old guy with a cigarette in one hand and a tumbler of whiskey in the other sitting down to share his perspective on life with the innocent and sweet teenage girl.
The Bible tests our ideas about life and reveals truth from many different angles. It offers the wisdom of generations and generations. Wisdom grows over time. Wisdom at one part of your life may not work at another. Your truth at age 18 might be true, but it’s a limited truth. Your truth at 50 is another type of truth and it might be true. When you get to 90, you’ll see the world much differently than you did at 18 or 50. The Bible uses many genres to reveal truth. It contains large amounts of poetry, historical facts, myths, and fiction. All are sacred stories. The Bible is inspired by God and directed by God, but written by human beings for human beings. The Bible should be used as stories. Complete stories. Isolating and quoting individual chapters and verses from Bible stories can be problematic. Even though the words are correct, their meaning can easily be misunderstood or misinterpreted when removed from the context of the overall story and its meaning. The Bible disagrees with itself at certain points, and it’s meant to, because then you have to change your thinking. If you’re going to study the Bible, read it regularly in a community with a community’s perspective. Read it slow. Let it challenge you.
Father Len reveals that evidence of God is always present in us and around us, in all aspects of our lives. He explains why some of us recognize and accept this evidence and others don’t.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
What evidence are you looking for? What evidence are you willing to accept? CS Lewis was head of the atheists in England until a walk through nature made him begin to realize he did believe in God. He then came to recognize lots of other evidence of God in his life that he hadn’t permitted to affect him. People see only what they want to see. They don’t see the world as it is. They see the world as they are. All of life is evidence of God. There’s something quantitatively different about life itself versus inanimate life. Love, joy, pain, suffering, it’s all evidence of God. Father Len uses a monopoly game analogy to explain the difficulty people have recognizing and accepting evidence of the presence of God. “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief” by Francis S Collins Dorothy Day was a confirmed atheist until she held her baby daughter for the first time and instantaneously felt an overpowering sense of love and joy.
Father Len explains that we don’t have the words or understanding to accurately define God, but our brains are hardwired to seek the divine.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Some notion of the divine has existed in every culture since the beginning of time. Brain studies have shown that human beings are hardwired to think about God. “Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief” by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, Vince Rause Accurately defining God is impossible for human beings. No description of God is ever perfect. We try to describe God in human terms like God is love, God is like a father, and God is like a Shepherd. God is all these things, but way more. Mystics over time have described God this way: “You are different, you are different, you are different. No thing in creation is an accurate image of God.” In the Bible, when angels go to heaven they describe God like this: “You are holy, you are holy, you are holy.” In this case, the word holy means different. God is always speaking to us. Human beings long to reply to this divine thing. God is among us and through us, but not part of creation. Creation is not God. The Bible says God is neither male nor female. The reference to “God the Father” does not mean God is a man. It describes God’s relationship with us likening it to the relationship between a loving parent and their child. Augustine described God as “the lover, the beloved, and love itself” and alternately “the giver of the gift, the receiver of the gift, and the gift itself.” Julian of Norwich described God this way: “God is creator, redeemer, and sanctifier.” All of life has an element of mystery and surprise. Studies have shown that even couples married for 50 years, who know each other so well they can communicate through grunts, whistles, and glares, are surprised and mystified 15% of the time by something they learn about their spouse. We Human beings are meant for relationship. Relationship with each other, creation, and God. No human being can satisfy all our relationship needs. Only God can fulfill these needs. “In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since.” – Voltaire
Father Len helps listener Sarah grapple with her relationship with her money and how much of it to give to charity.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Father Len introduces the biblical concept of “poor in spirit” from the Gospel of Matthew 5:3. “Poor in spirit” doesn’t mean that you’re actually poor. It does mean money has no control over you and it’s not your primary source of joy and self-worth. Father Len shares the story of an elderly couple with a net worth of $50 million to illustrate the effect of being “poor in spirit.” Father Len describes the relationship Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates have with their money and their charitable giving to help listener Sarah grapple with how much she should give to charity. Father Len explains why he loves the image he saw as a kid of a tiny box containing all of Mahatma Gandhi’s material possessions when he died. It’s irresponsible not to save money for retirement. Otherwise, you can become a burden to other people. Morally, you don’t have that right. Assessing your real relationship with money is about honestly recognizing why you do what you do with it. There isn’t a mathematical formula for how much money to give to charity. It’s living a life of “poverty in spirit.” It’s balancing the responsibilities we have of taking care of ourselves and making the world a better place.
Father Len helps us wrestle with evil. What is it? Why is there evil in the world? How can the consequences of evil help us mature and become better and more complete human beings?
Highlights, Ideas, & Wisdom
Father Len explains why the Corona virus crisis demands that we wrestle with God about what is evil and why there is evil in the world in hopes that this pandemic will become a species changing event. Father Len introduces us to theodicy, the theology that grapples with evil and why an all good and loving God permits evil in our world. Father Len shares “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” The story of a man whose pain, suffering and loss from the death of his best friend cause him to look deep into the purpose of life and how to become a complete human being. Father Len explores the theology of St. Irenaeus that looks at evil to find the ultimate goodness of God. Humanity is born innocent, but immature. We have work to do to become mature and complete human beings. We don’t get to define goodness for ourselves. Only God can define what is good. Maturing is a complex process. It requires that we experience the pain we inflict upon ourselves by going after the wrong things to make us happy. We must come to understand what is evil, evil’s consequences and die to our selfishness. God did not cause the Corona virus, but God can use it to make us better people. The coronavirus demonstrates how interconnected we are in this world. What happens in China affects us no matter where we are in the world. A problem in one part of the world becomes a problem for all of us. We’re waking up to the fact that either we survive together or we fall apart. There are two types of evil. Moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is the things we do to each other. Often, without knowing or thinking about it. A good example is texting while driving. We’ve trained ourselves not to care about the accident it might cause and the pain, suffering, and loss it can inflict on other people. Natural evils are things like the coronavirus, earthquakes, and floods. St. Irenaeus would say the coronavirus itself is not evil. What is evil is the way we respond to it. If we deny its danger and existence, think only of our own well-being, endanger others, or be unwilling to come together as a community to battle the virus, that’s evil. The coronavirus offers us a source of bane and enlightenment. For some of us it will be a source of spiritual enlightenment and help us to become more mature human beings. For others, the experience will be dismissed or quickly forgotten.
Father Len uses an interesting analogy comparing a toaster to being human as part of his explanation for why a loving God permits school shootings and other evils.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
God gives us free will to choose our actions. It’s up to us to choose good or evil. If God took away our choices, we’d no longer be human beings. We’d be preprogrammed like toasters and robots. “It makes no sense to pray for somebody to do something. I pray that someone’s heart will be open to see the right choice.” – Father Len God loves us so much that he allows us to choose our own actions. “The Plague” by Albert Camus “The evil that is in the world comes out of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding.” – Albert Camus “A loveless world is a dead world.” – Albert Camus “All a man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories.” – Albert Camus Our choices are not predetermined. God exists outside of time and space. God’s view of our lives appears much like a painting does to us. God can see it all from beginning to end. All the choices we make in our lives are in full view to God. They are not predetermined by God. Throughout our lives, God will constantly urge, beg, and intervene to try to change our hearts to make the right choices. God allows us to choose light or darkness.
Green Bay Packers’ star quarterback Aaron Rodgers shares his bumpy spiritual journey. Irish and Father Len react to his experiences – good and bad – that caused him to walk away from organized religion and ask some tough questions about God and church.
One of our high school listeners asks, “Will I go to hell if I have sex before marriage?” Father Len offers some sober, surprising, and humorous answers and insight about passion, sex, and promiscuity.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
There’s nothing wrong with sex. It’s so natural. Nothing could be more natural. It’s part of the drive of life that God gives us. Sexual passion is good. It drives us to seek each other out. It brings us together, but there’s something better. St. Augustine’s highly promiscuous life taught him what was missing in his life. Sometimes things are wrong, not because they’re evil, but because they’re not good enough. Promiscuity is wrong because it can train you to use other people and not be committed. Being sexual is part of what it means to be a human being, but the best part of being human is something greater. Commitment and love. Passion and pleasure can be blinding, but also be very enlightening. True passion opens you up for God.
Meet Irish and Father Len as they reveal what it means to “wrestle with God” and why we all should do it. They also manage to poke a little fun at each other while unveiling the specific stuff they’re likely to grapple with God about in future episodes.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The troubling trend that inspired the “Wrestling with God Show.” The surprising similarity between atheists and people who describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.” Life is full of mystery that we can’t ever explain in human terms so we can completely understand it. Religion is not supposed to give us absolute certainty about life. It’s supposed to give us mystery and cause us to question everything in our lives. Good religion causes us to ask more and better questions. God is life. Wrestling with God is wrestling with life. God wants us to wrestle with him about meaningful things in life – the existence of God, faith, hope, love including sex, children, belonging, identity, authenticity, death, the afterlife. God made us and we try to return the compliment by making God in our image. Humanlike. Doing that is refusing to wrestle with God. It turns God into an idol that we can control rather than trying to understand what God really is. It’s very human for us to struggle with our identity because we’re always deceiving ourselves. Our identities are always evolving, hopefully for the better. That’s a choice. We should be willing to challenge our ideas and beliefs. If we don’t, how do we know if our thinking is clear? Life is a constant journey of discovery, the search for truth, meaning and purpose. Our hope for the “Wrestling with God Show” is to find peace in the chaos of life and discover who we’re really meant to be.