Avoiding Babylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A cloud on Sinai, bread in the desert, and three days in the heart of the earth: today’s journey moves from spectacle to substance, asking what truly builds a life aflame with God. We read Exodus as Moses steps into the cloud for forty days, follow Elijah from exhaustion to angelic strength on the road to Horeb, and listen to Jesus refuse showy signs while pointing to Jonah and to the deeper family formed by doing the Father’s will. These texts sketch a path through fatigue and doubt toward fidelity, where zeal is not noise but a steady yes.From there, we open Divine Intimacy and face a hard kindness: venial sin does not kill love, but it cools it. We explore how deliberate small faults chip away at fervor, how habitual concessions breed spiritual lethargy, and why the saints insist on sorrow even for slight offenses. At the same time, we draw hope from the distinction between frailty and willfulness. Stumbles borne of weakness, met with quick contrition and humility, can become doorways to deeper trust, a lived discovery that without Christ we can do nothing.We end with the Lenten Ember Days, those seasonal waypoints that knit prayer, fasting, and intercession to the rhythm of the year. You’ll hear practical ways to abstain and simplify meals, offer reparation, and pray for priests and vocations, not as box‑checking but as a way to refill the “swept house” with grace. If you’ve felt your zeal thinning, this conversation offers a clear, concrete plan: hate even small sins because you love greatly, confess promptly, repair generously, and let simple practices warm the heart. If it helps, share this with a friend on the road and leave a quick review—then tell us what Ember practice you’re embracing this week.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A century speaks when you can hear it. Rob opens his family archive to share a carefully restored 2002 interview with his grandparents—two voices that carry Minnesota farm grit, German cadence, and the quiet strength of a marriage begun at sixteen. What starts as a personal memorial becomes a living piece of oral history: Depression-era setbacks, threshing crews and one-room schoolhouses, a boy who learned English after first grade, and a medic shipped through Texas deserts to India on Christmas Eve.You’ll hear how work stitched life together—textile mills turning rags into wipers, long shifts at Armor’s, and the steady math that bought and paid off two homes. The war years come alive through field hospitals, penicillin lessons learned the hard way, and a Himalayan rest camp where cool air and careful roads offered relief. Then the light shifts to St. Paul: a wedding day with tough fried hens and a missing lipstick, two rooms with a shared bath when housing was scarce, and the hand-painted nativity set that became the heart of every Christmas. Faith isn’t abstract here; it’s a crib built by hand, a pew filled every Sunday, vows taken seriously, and affection practiced more openly with the next generation.We move through the tenderness and the hard parts—sectarian jabs in a mill yard, the discipline that shaped character, a grandson’s death that still breaks the voice, and the fierce pride that spills over when grandkids serve Mass, finish college, or skate under winter moonlight. There are cabins and cocoa suppers, moon-bright sled hills, and the crunch of horse hooves on snow drifting across memory. There’s even a strange echo of history when our granddaughter works in India decades after her grandpa served there, set against the grounded skies of 9/11.If you’ve ever wished you could bottle a voice before it’s gone, this is your nudge. Press play, meet our family, and think about the stories you want to save. If this moved you, subscribe, share it with someone you love, and leave a review with the one memory you’d record first.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A city trembles at Jesus entering Jerusalem, money changers scatter, and prayer reclaims the Temple—then Isaiah reminds us that God’s word never returns empty. That collision of images frames a hard truth we often dodge: we grieve material losses faster than we grieve the loss of grace. We walk through Isaiah 55 and Matthew 21 before opening Divine Intimacy to explore how charity unites us to God while sin unravels that union, not as theory but as lived reality that shapes how we react, choose, and love.We talk candidly about why our instincts are upside down—why a totaled car or a hospital scare can feel bigger than mortal sin—and how to retrain the heart. Monthly confession even without grave sin, a nightly examen that names patterns and near occasions, and a daily act of contrition begin the reset. From there, charity becomes fire: it purifies faster and deeper than fear, and it makes our sacrifices mysteriously fruitful for others. The saints understood this solidarity; their burning love helped convert souls because love destroys sin more effectively than punishment alone.Formation spreads outward. Parents can build a home that hates sin more than loss by tying small fasts to real intercession and by teaching kids that reconciliation restores friendship with God. With Ember Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday upon us, we offer simple, concrete steps: abstain from meat, add a fast you can keep, and pray for priests, seminarians, and future vocations. Along the way there’s a quick behind-the-scenes note about fixing the mic and asking you to flag audio issues—because details matter when the goal is clearer prayer and deeper attention to the Word that always bears fruit.If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs a nudge back to confession, and leave a review telling us one practice that helps you love God more and hate sin better.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Judgment that looks like mercy, a Shepherd who refuses to lose a single sheep, and the honest truth about what happens to our good habits after Easter—this conversation brings Scripture and daily life into the same room. We open with Ezekiel 34’s promise that God Himself will seek, gather, and feed His people, then let Matthew 25 confront us with a standard that is both simple and searching: feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, visit the sick and imprisoned. If love is real, it takes a shape; if faith is alive, it meets a face.We talk candidly about conversion as a daily reorientation rather than a one-time burst of zeal. Drawing on classic spiritual wisdom, we explore why aiming high matters—“no limits” not in noise or burnout, but in a steady refusal to settle. Sanctity grows where grace meets generous cooperation. That looks like motives purified by prayer, small promises kept on dull days, and a weekly work of mercy that grounds piety in service. The judgment scene stops being a threat and becomes a map for a life that recognizes Christ in the least.Then we address the cycle many of us know too well: Lent focuses us, Easter delights us, and within weeks we drift. The goal is not to maintain Lenten intensity forever, but to keep conversion continuous and real.If you’re longing for a Lent that doesn’t evaporate when the alleluias return, this one’s for you. Listen, take a note or two, and choose one habit to carry into the bright weeks ahead. If it helps, share this with a friend and make your rule together. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s the one practice you’ll keep after Easter?Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The desert exposes what we truly love. We open Lent’s first Sunday by sitting with Saint Paul’s urgency—now is the day of salvation—and then step beside Jesus as he refuses the devil’s plausible shortcuts: bread without trust, spectacle without obedience, power without worship. Each scene becomes a mirror for our lives, where comfort, image, and control tug at the heart. Instead of rules alone, we explore how confidence in the Father reframes fasting, how humility undercuts pride’s hunger to be seen, and how true worship breaks the spell of more.From there, we draw on Divine Intimacy to map the great combat against the triple concupiscence of flesh, pride, and avarice. Temptations are not signs of failure but invitations to rely on actual grace, given right at the edge of our limits. We talk frankly about how to answer in real time: short prayers that steady the will, simple acts of penance that teach the body to wait, and a habit of trust that keeps us from negotiating with shadows. The goal is not stoic toughness; it is attachment to God that makes lesser loves lose their grip.We also share a personal journey of leaving the sacraments, tasting what the world promises, and returning through the sobering call of fatherhood. That honesty shapes how we speak to a generation raised on noise and nihilism. Beauty—cathedrals, chant, the traditional liturgy—cuts through cynicism, not as aesthetic escape but as a sign of the real. Yet beauty must be paired with truth about the Church’s wounds, or seekers feel betrayed. We hold both: the spotless Bride and our imperfect pilgrimage. The way forward is dependence, not self-sufficiency—letting God reorder desire so Lent becomes training in freedom.If this conversation helps you face your own desert with courage, share it with a friend, subscribe for the full Lent series, and leave a review to tell us what practice keeps you grounded right now.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Want a Lent that actually changes you? We walk through Isaiah’s fierce call to mercy and the Gospel scene of Jesus striding over the waves, then pivot to the quiet battlefield where most of us either grow or stall: the daily opportunities for mortification we didn’t plan. Instead of chasing dramatic sacrifices, we look at the humbler path of accepting illness, fatigue, awkward conversations, and inconvenient liturgies as God’s hand at work. That shift—from designing penance to receiving providence—turns theory into transformation.We share personal ground-level moments that test the will: reaching for painkillers versus offering up a headache, driving long miles for Mass, and showing up to a family funeral that may feel messy yet demands love. Along the way, we wrestle with motives. Are we guarding real goods with prudence, or slipping into avoidance dressed up as discernment? The spiritual classic Divine Intimacy helps us name the deeper work: mortifying pride, surrendering opinions, and refusing the subtle self-importance that can hollow out religious practice. When the storm rises, Christ’s words—take heart; it is I; do not be afraid—reframe hardship as a meeting place with Him, not a detour.By the end, you’ll have a practical lens for your Lenten resolutions: keep your chosen practices, but learn to notice and accept the penances God already laid in your path today. Try a simple nightly examen to spot where you dodged the cross and where you carried it with grace. If you’re longing for a Lent that waters dry ground rather than adds spiritual clutter, this conversation offers clarity, courage, and a next step you can take before the day ends.If this resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who could use a steadier Lent, and leave a short review to help others find the show.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The Three Amigos reunite tonight as Nick Cavazos joins us as we all discuss our own struggles staying faithful Catholics during this crisis in the Church.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Struggling with what fasting is really for? We open Isaiah 58 and Matthew 5–6 and discover a sharper vision: fasting that loosens chains, almsgiving that hides from applause, and love that dares to bless enemies. It’s not about spiritual theatrics; it’s about training the heart to choose God over self—and letting that choice spill into justice for our neighbors.We walk through the day’s readings, then sit with Divine Intimacy on the Cross as the ultimate proof of love. From there, we explore how small, intentional sacrifices—skipping meat on Friday, turning down a treat, biting back a sharp word—become daily “I love yous” to God when offered with charity. The saints show the way: Teresa Margaret’s steady mortification and Thérèse’s “scattering flowers” reveal that sincerity beats severity. A tiny sacrifice done with burning love can outweigh a grand penance done for show.Along the way, we tackle a common question from non-Catholic friends: Why give up chocolate? We frame it in the language of everyday love—we already surrender comforts for the people we cherish. Lent simply extends that logic toward God. Tie abstinence to mercy by redirecting saved time and resources to the poor. Keep your giving quiet, your heart honest, and your gaze on the Crucified, who transforms hidden acts into deep change.If this reflection helps your Lent, share it with someone who needs encouragement, subscribe for daily readings, and leave a review so others can find us. What small sacrifice will you offer today—and for whom?Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Start with a simple truth: remembering death can make your life burn brighter. We open Day Two of Lent by reading the daily Mass texts—Hezekiah’s plea in Isaiah 38 and the Centurion’s daring humility in Matthew 8—and let their honesty shape how we face fear, illness, and the limits we’d rather ignore. Those passages become the doorway into Divine Intimacy’s memento mori: not a fixation on endings, but a clear-eyed way to live ready, lamp lit, heart unlocked to grace.From there, we lean into the hard question many believers carry: how do you love God’s will when it hurts, and how do you prepare your family for a faith that will be tested? Drawing on John of the Cross, we explore the startling idea of “dying of love,” where a lifetime of small surrenders ripens into a final yes. Francis de Sales’ image of becoming breadworthy through tribulation gives us language for real pain without losing hope. We talk frankly about anxiety as a spouse and parent, the ache that comes from wounds inside the Church, and why fidelity matters even when trust is strained.This conversation stays practical. We suggest anchoring Lent with the Sorrowful Mysteries, walking the Stations of the Cross, and reading Scripture so often that its cadence steadies you. We won’t shield our kids or converts from the truth; we’ll form them to expect trials and to meet them with courage rooted in sacrament, prayer, and community. If you’re seeking a Lent that is more than good intentions—one that shapes how you love, suffer, and lead at home—this is for you.If this resonated, share it with someone who needs courage today, subscribe for the full Lent series, and leave a review with the one practice that grounds your heart right now. Let’s walk these forty days together.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Looking for a Lent that actually forms you, not just a box to check? We sit down with Fr. Amato—pastor of a single parish spread across three churches—for a frank, hopeful look at priestly life, spiritual fatherhood, and the kind of habits that turn belief into muscle. He doesn’t sell shortcuts. He shares the daily grind: preaching every Mass like it’s the first, earning trust in new assignments, and crafting penances that fit the person, not the template.We dive into a classic but timely distinction: marriage as a natural good elevated by grace versus priesthood as a supernatural vocation. Far from downgrading marriage, that clarity helps men choose with eyes open, accepting the crosses built into any faithful life. Discernment here is concrete—twenty minutes of silent prayer, the Divine Office, honest attention to what stirs when you picture hearing confessions or leading a home. If peace grows, walk toward it. If fear shouts, ask which loves you must mourn to make room for a greater one.Along the way, we get practical about Lent. Forget vague sacrifices. Identify one vice to mortify and one virtue to build. Fast for a person you love to anchor effort in charity. Write a simple rule of life and let the rule keep you when zeal fades. We also confront the drip catechesis of culture—shows that mock fathers, language that profanes, and feeds that numb. The remedy isn’t panic; it’s formation. Make your home a place of reverence and better stories. Shut off the noise, open the Gospels, and reclaim attention.The surprise thread tying it all together is stability. Young men are showing up, hungry for challenge, and conversions are deep because they are chosen. Parish life flourishes when we stop doomscrolling and build what’s in front of us: family, friends, and the church down the street. That’s where grace grips, and where Lent becomes less about restriction and more about freedom. If you’re ready to trade performative penance for practices that change you, press play—and then tell us the one habit you’re owning for the next 40 days. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs the challenge, and leave a review to help others find the show.Support the showNeed seafood for Lent? Check out https://shoplobster.com/ and use code AB10 to get 10% from Maine's ONLY Catholic lobster company.Check out our new sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise:  https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps:  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss