Thoughtful Catholic: Recent Episodes
Chuck White
The Thoughtful Catholic Podcast is a short form podcast that vigorously seeks the True, the Good and the Beautiful, making full use the two wings of the human spirit - faith and reason, and gifts drawn from the treasure house of the patrimony of the Catholic Church, including, but are not limited to, the Sacred Scriptures, the teachings of the Church Fathers, and examples from the Lives of the Saints.
Gideon, Jonathan and David had a profound sense of God's providence, especially when confronted with Israel's enemies. What could this have to do with us? Stay tuned.
We’re back to our march through the Old Testament and in this episode we’ll linger at the oasis that is the Book of Ruth and see how it points to the coming of the King.
During the pandemic we often heard talk of actions taken for “the common good.” Just what is this “common good?” How does the Church define it?
On this Feast of Pentecost, it’s appropriate to talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Let’s do that.
In this episode we’ll continue our discussion of the flawed heroes of the Book of Judges by relating the troubling story of Jephthah and his daughter.
This episode will begin a series on several of the heroes of the Book of Judges. We’ll start with Gideon.
Why should all men, Christian or not, be subject to a final judgment at the end of the world and upon being resurrected if they were already judged once before?
Happy Easter! What will our resurrected bodies be like? In this episode we’ll get some insight into this from St. Paul and St. Thomas Aquinas.
In this episode we’ll learn about five of the false gods of Israel’s neighbors in the Promised Land and what they might mean for us. Spoiler alert: it’s time to repent!
The holy season of Lent is well underway, and in this episode we’ll review several instances of 40-day periods in the Bible and see what insights they may give us.
In this episode we’ll hear about St. Thomas Aquinas’s intriguing interpretation of the six days of creation described in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis.
Is the Bible a science book? How should we react when we read things in the Bible that seem to contradict well established scientific facts? In this episode we’ll hear what St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas had to say about the matter.
In this episode I’ll relate a disturbing story from the Book of Joshua that’s reminiscent of the story of Annanias and Saphira in the Book of Acts of the Apostles. It’s a story of a Israelite soldier named Achan who made a terrible mistake. What I say may not make the story any less disturbing, we will hear a great spiritual lesson related to it from St. John of the Cross.
In this episode we’ll relate the story of the biblical heroine Rahab and discuss a certain moral dilemma it presents.
In this episode we’ll discuss four helpful perspectives on the violence involved in the Israelite’s conquest of Canaan, violence which is often cited by those who attack the validity of the Scriptures.
Hear the reflections St. Peter Damian, a Doctor of the Church, who made a seemingly boring passage of the Old Testament come alive by applying to it one of the spiritual senses of scripture that we discussed in the last episode.
In this episode we’ll open up the Church’s treasury and bring out the four senses of Sacred Scripture that are four ways to appropriate the spiritual gifts of the Scriptures to our lives.
In this episode we’ll discuss the startling implications of Jesus’s use of the phrase “I AM” in the Gospel of John.
In this episode we’ll see how three provisions of the Mosaic law prefigure or are an allegory for a key principle of the Church’s Social Teaching, the Universal Destination of Goods.
In this episode we’ll talk about the Magi and the Star of Bethlehem and an ancient prophecy that circulated among the gentiles long before Jesus was born.
The Hilasterion (hil-ah-STAY-ree-on), or Mercy Seat. In this episode I'll share an example of how study of the worship and sacrifice of the Old Testament can enrich our understanding of Jesus Christ and our redemption.
In this episode I’ll continue the discussion from the last episode and present a few thoughts to ponder from Robert Cardinal Sarah on priestly celibacy from the book he co-authored with Pope Benedict entitled, “From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy, and the Crisis of the Catholic Church”. This will not in any way be an exhaustive treatment of Cardinal Sarah’s words on the subject, but rather just some food for thought.
Why does the Catholic Church require most of its priests to live a celibate life? In this episode I’ll present a few thoughts to ponder from Pope Benedict on this subject from the book “From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy, and the Crisis of the Catholic Church” by Pope Benedict and Robert Cardinal Sarah. Another episode will reflect on Cardinal Sarah's reflection on the same topic.
In this episode we will take a look at the story of Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Moses, and discover who she might prefigure.
In this episode we’ll talk about the Song of the Ark, the song sung by Moses and the Israelites when they broke or pitched camp in the wilderness. The Church Fathers had a startling insight into it, an insight that has everything to do with the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Advent season we are just beginning.
In this episode we’ll continue to linger in the Sinai desert, just as the Israelites did, and consider one of the oldest blessings in the Bible, one which we still use today.
In this episode we’ll return to the scene of the last episode, at the base of Mt. Sinai with Israelites during their journey in the desert, and hear God say something even more startling than last time.
As God was leading the Israelites through the desert, He stopped them at the base of Mount Sinai and made a few startling promises. What might these promises mean for us?
At least four passages of the Old Testament talk about God punishing the descendants of evil men down to the third and fourth generation. How could a loving God do this?
I argued against the notion of Sola Scriptura in the last episode. In this episode, I’ll discuss apostolic tradition a bit more and discover St. Paul’s perspective on it.
Did God intend the Bible to be our only rule of faith? In this episode, we’ll begin a discussion on the Protestant notion on “Sola Scriptura”, or "the Bible Alone".
In this episode we’ll unpack that long list of biblical names found in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. They seem so boring, but are they? And what could those boring names possibly mean for us?
In the last episode, I briefly broached the problem of suffering. In this episode we’ll dig a bit into the biblical Book of Job and look at some of its insights into this topic.
If God is good, why does He allow us to suffer? In this episode we’ll start what I hope turns out to be a continuing discussion on this topic.
In this episode we’ll consider Pharaoh’s hardened heart in the Book of Exodus. Did God harden Pharaoh's heart in such a way that he didn’t really have free will? Does this mean that Pharaoh was predestined to be evil?
In this episode we’ll investigate an intriguing, but infrequently used Old Testament title for God, "the Terror of Isaac." What could it possibly mean for us?
The Song of the Sword. In this episode, we’ll meet the Bible’s first polygamist, and hear the song he sang to his wives. What on earth could this have to do with us?