Podcast Episodes Archive - Redeemed Online

#62- Satan and the Spiritual Battle

August 16, 2018 by Andy Lesnefsky 2 Comments

Spiritual Warfare is not an analogy. Spiritual Warfare is the Christian life.

Pope Francis writes “The Christian life is a constant battle. We need strength and courage to withstand the temptations of the devil and to proclaim the Gospel. This battle is sweet, for it allows us to rejoice each time the Lord triumphs in our lives.

Reminders:

Devil isn’t a myth
Be Alert
Need for discernment

The opposite danger of making the devil a myth is making him equal to God. He’s not God’s rival. He’s a created being. He’s an angel who made the ultimate choice to turn against God.

This week’s featured saint is Saint Francis Borgia

Highlighted quotes:

“Conclusions of confusion. I have been made out of nothing. I have been brought to nothing. I do not know what I am. If I know anything, this only do I know, that Hell would be my proper abode. Of myself I do nothing.”
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam “Everyone–whether kings, nobles, tradesmen, or peasants–must do all things for the glory of God and under the inspiration of Christ’s example…”
Love of Mary “I have great doubts about the salvation of those who do not have a special devotion to Mary.”

I would love to know what you think of this episode. Share a comment on our website or shoot us me an email at andy@redeemedonline.com.

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You can be holy. You can be a saint. Be a hero.

#61 – Humility, Meekness, and St. Edmund Campion

July 9, 2018 by Andy Lesnefsky 2 Comments

The root of humility is not looking down upon oneself but choosing to love others and putting them first. Humility is necessary to be holy, but humility is also so difficult because being selfish is so easy.

Saint John of the Cross proposed a different path: “Always prefer to be taught by all, rather than to desire teaching even the least of all” and “Rejoice in the good of others as if it were your own, and desire that they be given precedence over you in all things; this you should do wholeheartedly. You will thereby overcome evil with good, banish the devil, and possess a happy heart. Try to practice this all the more with those who least attract you. Realize that if you do not train yourself in this way, you will not attain real charity or make any progress in it.”

Pope Francis “Humility can only take root in the heart through humiliations. Without them, there is no humility or holiness. If you are unable to suffer and offer up a few humiliations, you are not humble and you are not on the path to holiness.”

Featured Saint of this episode is Saint Edmund Campion, S.J., He was an English Roman Catholic Jesuit priest and martyr. His feast is celebrated on 1 December.

I would love to know what you think of this episode. Share a comment on our website or shoot us me an email at andy@redeemedonline.com.

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You can be holy. You can be a saint. Be a hero.

#60 – Politics, Money, and Holiness

June 24, 2018 by Andy Lesnefsky Leave a Comment

How in the world can politics and money have anything to do with holiness? In this episode, we discuss the Beatitudes as reflected upon by Pope Francis in “Rejoice and Be Glad” and look at St. Thomas Moore.

“There can be any number of theories about what constitutes holiness, with various explanations and distinctions. Such reflection may be useful, but nothing is more enlightening than turning to Jesus’ words and seeing his way of teaching the truth” Pope Francis (GE 63)

More staunchly opposed the Protestant Reformation and opposed King Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic Church which ultimately led to his death. He was a scholar, a statesman, and politician. Pope John Paul II declared him the “heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians.”

Selected quotes from St. Thomas More:

“If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes.”
“One of the greatest problems of our time is that many are schooled but few are educated.”
“I die the King’s good servant, and God’s first.”

I would love to know what you think of this episode. Share a comment on our website or shoot us me an email at andy@redeemedonline.com.

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You can be holy. You can be a saint. Be a hero.

#59 – Heresies, Holiness, and St. Irenaeus

June 15, 2018 by Andy Lesnefsky Leave a Comment

“You don’t need to steal the free soda.” Salvation is a free gift. We can’t earn it.

In this episode of the Catholic Heroes Podcast, we continue our discussion of Gaudete et Exsultate, Pope Francis’s most apostolic exhortation on holiness. In Chapter Two, he looks at two great enemies of holiness: Gnosticism and Pelegianism.

What in the world are these heresies and what do they have to do with you, me, and the call to holiness? Listen and learn more. Our featured saint of this episode is St. Irenaeus.

Quote from Gaudete et Exsultate:

“Here I would like to mention two false forms of holiness that can lead us astray: gnosticism and pelagianism. They are two heresies from early Christian times, yet they continue to plague us. In our times too, many Christians, perhaps without realizing it, can be seduced by these deceptive ideas, which reflect an anthropocentric immanentism disguised as Catholic truth.[33] Let us take a look at these two forms of doctrinal or disciplinary security that give rise “to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others”

Quotes from St. Irenaeus

“The glory of God is man fully alive.”
“One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life.”
“The business of the Christian is nothing else but to be ever preparing for death.”
“He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man … might become the son of God.”
“Just as bread from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread but the Eucharist, made up of two elements, one earthly and one heavenly, so also our bodies, in receiving the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, for they have the hope of resurrection.”

I would love to know what you think of this episode. Share a comment on our website or shoot us me an email at andy@redeemedonline.com.

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You can be holy. You can be a saint. Be a hero.

#58 – Rejoice and Be Glad & Edith Stein

June 7, 2018 by Andy Lesnefsky 1 Comment

The Catholic Heroes Podcast is all about the call to holiness and that each of us can be saints, “Catholic Heroes.” I was beyond thrilled to read and study Pope Francis’s most recent Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, “Rejoice and Be Glad.”

We are going to take several episodes to take a deep dive in the exhortation. It’s an impressive study on what the call to holiness means for each of us today.

This episode focuses on the first chapter of the exhortation. You can find the exhortation here.

The featured Saint of this episode is St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Key Quotes:

“We bow down before the testimony of the life and death of Edith Stein, an outstanding daughter of Israel and at the same time a daughter of the Carmelite Order, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a personality who united within her rich life a dramatic synthesis of our century. It was the synthesis of a history full of deep wounds that are still hurting … and also the synthesis of the full truth about man. All this came together in a single heart that remained restless and unfulfilled until it finally found rest in God.” Pope John Paul II at St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross’s beatification in Cologne on 1 May 1987.
“This was something totally new to me. In the synagogues and Protestant churches, I had visited people simply went to the services. Here, however, I saw someone coming straight from the busy marketplace into this empty church, as if she was going to have an intimate conversation.”
“For by doing what God demands of us with total surrender of our innermost being, we cause the divine life to become our own inner life. Entering into ourselves, we find God in our own selves.”
“There is a state of resting in God, an absolute break from all intellectual activity when one forms no plans, makes no decisions and for the first time really ceases to act, when one simply hands over the future to God’s will and ‘surrenders himself to fate’.”
“One cannot desire freedom from the cross when one is specially chosen for the cross.”

I would love to know what you think of this episode. Share a comment on our website or shoot us me an email at andy@redeemedonline.com.

Support our work. Become a monthly patron at patreon.com/redeemedonline

You can be holy. You can be a saint. Be a hero.

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