EPISODE OVERVIEW

In this first installment of our Lenten series on The Seven Deadly Sins, Deacon Chris explores the spiritual roots of gluttony and greed. Through the lens of Genesis and the Temptation of Jesus in the desert, we discover that the real battle is not about food or money — it is about trust.

Temptation begins when we believe God is small. From there, we grasp for substitutes.

This episode challenges us to examine:

How we use comfort to numb deeper hunger

How we cling to control instead of trusting the Father

How Lent can enlarge our desire for God

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Hunger is not sinful — it can be holy.

Gluttony is the refusal to be empty.

Greed is the fear of dependence.

The devil tempts us to live as orphans.

Jesus overcomes temptation by remaining the Son.

Freedom begins with a pause and a simple prayer.

PRACTICAL CHALLENGE

Before reaching for your default comfort, pray:

“Jesus, what am I really hungry for?”

Wait five minutes.

Reclaim your freedom.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

Genesis 3:1–7
Romans 5:12–19
Matthew 4:1–11

Ash Wednesday always contains a striking tension.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.”

And yet, today, we receive ashes on our foreheads — visible to everyone.

So what is happening?

In this homily, Fr. Will explains that ashes are not a display of righteousness. They are a confession of weakness. Ashes are what remains after something has been burned. They remind us of our mortality, our dependence upon God, and our need for repentance.

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Ash Wednesday confronts us with reality: death is coming. Pride is real. Sin wounds us. And we need a Savior.

Lent is not about self-improvement or spiritual performance. It is about reconciliation. As St. Paul pleads: “Be reconciled to God.”

Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we take up battle against pride — the root of all sin — and learn again how to receive grace rather than trying to control everything ourselves.

Now is the acceptable time.
Now is the day of salvation.

In Part 3 of our Sermon on the Mount series, Fr. Will uses a ninth grade geometry story—an exam covered in red ink—to unpack what Jesus is doing in today’s Gospel.

Christ, the Master Teacher, tells the truth about the human heart. He fulfills the law and then presses deeper, revealing that God desires more than outward compliance—he desires interior conversion.

When we face the “reality check” of our weakness and sin, we usually fall into one of two traps: denial (“I’ll decide what’s right for me”) or despair (“I can’t do this, so why try?”). Jesus offers a third way: humility—admitting we need to change and asking him for help.

The good news is that God doesn’t demand holiness from a distance. The Lord comes close, teaches us, and gives grace to live what he commands. As Jesus promises later in the Sermon on the Mount: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.

Readings: Sirach 15:15–20; 1 Corinthians 2:6–10; Matthew 5:17–37

In this session, we turn to Christian morality through the lens of the Ten Commandments—always interpreted in light of Jesus Christ who “came not to abolish but to fulfill” the Law (Matthew 5:17–20). We review the foundations: beatitude as our common end, the call to repentance, and the way law and grace work together. Then we walk through the First Table of the Decalogue (Commandments 1–3) and begin the Fourth Commandment, covering practical questions like the occult/mediums, superstition, reverence for God’s name, keeping Sunday holy, holy days of obligation, and the precepts of the Church. We conclude with Q&A about livestream/TV Mass and the Sunday obligation, then close in prayer.

• Matthew 5:17–20 — Christ fulfills the Law
• Luke 10:27; 1 John — Love of God and neighbor together

• Why the Ten Commandments must be read through Christ
• Beatitude and the moral choices it demands
• Law and grace: the “fence around the playground”
• Commandment 1: no other gods; idolatry; divination/occult; superstition; simony; sacrilege
• Q&A: “mediums,” charisms, discernment, and why Christians should not seek occult power
• Commandment 2: reverence for God’s name; blasphemy; perjury; habitual flippant speech; profanity and speech discipline
• Commandment 3: Sunday worship; rest; culture of Sunday; holy days; precepts; fasting/abstinence; Fridays as penance
• Commandment 4 (beginning): link between love of God and love of neighbor; honoring parents; family as domestic church; duties of children and parents

• Ask: What “idols” compete with God in my life right now?
• Treat God as Father, not a vending machine—avoid superstition in devotional life
• Make Sunday visibly different when possible (worship, rest, joy)
• Recover Friday penance/charity as a quiet, countercultural witness

• Miss Nancy Glover: Catholic Social Teaching (next week)
• Then return to continue Commandments 4–10

In this second homily of our Sermon on the Mount series, Deacon Chris reflects on one of Jesus’ most direct and challenging teachings: “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”

Jesus does not offer these words as a future goal or an abstract ideal. He speaks them as a statement of reality. Because we are baptized into Christ, this is already our identity. The question, then, is not whether we are salt and light—but whether our lives actually taste of Christ and shine with His presence.

Using a vivid and memorable image from a college geology class, Deacon Chris explores how salt can lose its savor—not by trying to fail, but by becoming diluted. In the same way, our discipleship is often weakened not by rejection of faith, but by comfort, fear, distraction, exhaustion, or the desire to stay “polite” and unnoticed.

Drawing from Isaiah, St. Paul, and the Gospel of Matthew, this homily makes the call to holiness concrete. Light breaks into the world when we feed the hungry, shelter the vulnerable, refuse to turn away from those in need, and allow our lives to make God visible—not ourselves impressive.

This episode also offers a practical spiritual response: consecration. Rather than trying to design holiness on our own, we are invited to place our lives under the care of those who already belonged completely to Christ.

St. Joseph Consecration (33 Days)
A powerful path for men—and for anyone drawn to St. Joseph’s hidden fidelity, strength, and obedience.
Learn more and begin here:
https://consecrationtostjoseph.org/

Daily prayers PDF:
https://uploads.weconnect.com/mce/c3cf396907a036a9172fc9fcf77650c279dd98b9/33-Days-of-Prayers-and-Daily-Challenge%20ENGLISH.pdf

Marian Consecration (33 Days to Morning Glory)
A beautiful way to learn from Our Lady how to receive Christ, stand firm in love, and reflect His light to the world.
Text available here:
https://nanoten.com/religious/texts/33DMG/index-en.html

As you listen, consider praying with these questions this week:
Where has my discipleship been diluted?
Where have I covered the light God has placed in me?
Who in my life am I being invited to love more concretely?

Jesus does not name us salt and light to shame us—but to reveal who we truly are and to restore what has been hidden or weakened. May this homily help you uncover the lamp, recover the savor, and live in such a way that others glorify our Heavenly Father.

In this homily for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we begin a three-part series on The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ longest and most profound teaching in the Gospel.

Jesus is not merely offering moral advice or spiritual ideals. As the Master Teacher, He invites His disciples to see reality from His perspective. In the Beatitudes, Christ overturns our assumptions about happiness, strength, and success, revealing what truly leads to human flourishing.

This first homily focuses on how Jesus teaches us to see the world as it truly is—and how learning to see through His eyes is essential for authentic discipleship.

Why is it so difficult to be good?

In Part 3 of That They May Have Life, we move deeper into the heart of Christian morality. Because of original sin, our intellect is darkened, our will is weakened, and our passions are disordered. Yet Christ does not leave us there. He gives us grace.

This session explores how virtue forms us from within, how conscience guides our moral decisions, and how law and grace work together to transform us into the image of Christ.

Christian morality is not about “white-knuckling” holiness. It is about becoming the kind of person who can choose what is good quickly, joyfully, and with ease.

• Original sin and concupiscence
• How conscience works (and how it can be malformed)
• The definition of virtue as a firm, habitual disposition
• The cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance
• The theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity
• The role of the passions (love, joy, hope, anger, sorrow)
• Vice, virtue, continence, and moral struggle
• Natural law, the Old Law, and the New Law
• Sanctifying grace vs. actual grace

• Virtue perfects freedom.
• Law trains us toward the good.
• Grace transforms us from within.
• Holiness requires cooperation with God.

In Part 3 of the Called By Name series, Fr. Will reflects on the call of the first disciples in Matthew 4. While the Gospel can make it seem like the disciples followed Jesus instantly, the wider witness of Scripture shows that Jesus had already been drawing them into relationship over time.

This homily explores vocation as a twofold call: first into relationship—“Come after me”—and then into mission—“I will make you fishers of men.” Every baptized person shares in the universal call to holiness, while each of us also receives a particular vocation, most often lived through marriage, priesthood, or consecrated life.

The challenge is simple but demanding: like the disciples, we are asked to drop our nets, to let go of what we think will make us happy, and to trust that Jesus truly knows the way to our flourishing.