The Pilgrim Soul

This month Giuli, Adrianna, and Sofia had the pleasure of interviewing Bishop Erik Varden. Bishop Varden is a Cistercian monk and, since 2019, the bishop of Trondheim in Norway. We met with him to discuss his latest book, Healing Wounds, which is a prayerful exploration of the wounds of the crucified Christ. Bishop Varden invites a contemplation of the vulnerability of God in Christ—which leads to growth in compassion for Christ’s ...

This month, Giuli, Sofi and Adrianna discuss compunction–a state of abiding sorrow for our sins. How can we distinguish compunction from what St. Paul calls “worldly grief”? What role does compunction play in our relationship with Christ? Have we seen this bear fruit, especially in hope and joy, in our lives? What practices help us beg for this gift from God? //

Our media recommendation is Antonín Dvořák’s arrangement of the Stabat ...

Join Giuli, Sofi and Adrianna for an episode on work. What is work, beyond our 9-to-5 job? How do instinctive and cultural approaches to work enslave us to our circumstances? Is it possible to instead start from friendship with Christ and obedience to the Father? What helps us approach work in this way? And what are the fruits? //

Adrianna, Giuli, and Sofi discuss givenness, or God’s gift and entrustment of men and women to each other. What profound truth about God and the cosmos does this givenness reveal? How can a loving preference, or predilection, for one person help us discover the givenness of all others? In the face of the fallenness of our hearts, why does Pope St. John Paul II exhort us not to be afraid to receive this gift? //

Join all three hosts for a discussion of the invocation of the Holy Spirit, which takes place at Mass through the prayer called “epiclesis.” What does the Church beg of God at this moment, and why do we need this? Have we seen the epiclesis transform the way we live the rest of our daily lives? Who are models for us of living in the posture of a beggar? //

Sofi, Adrianna, and Giuli have a conversation about Christian memory–or anamnesis. What is the difference between the secular and Christian conceptions of memory? How does the prayer of anamnesis in the Eucharistic liturgy take up the whole of the Christian life? What changes about our days when we are given the grace to live in the awareness of the continued presence of Christ? //

Giuli, Sofi and Adrianna have a conversation about the relationship between suffering and desire. The central claim we discuss is that suffering presents us with an alternative: either my desire is for something impossible and thus life is meaningless, or my desire is undergoing a positive test of its meaning. The Christian proposal is that suffering can be a privileged place of encounter with God.

Join all three hosts for an episode on unity. What does it look like to experience unity in our selves, our lives, our families, and the Church? What can generate and sustain unity? How are we tempted to reduce it to a work of our own hands—and what is our calling instead? //

Adrianna, Giuli, and Sofi are joined by Paolo again for a final conversation about The Religious Sense. What does it mean to observe the “I” in action? Why does Giussani exhort us to live in the present moment as we seek answers to our ultimate questions? And how does this follow from his methodological premises about reason?

We’re back with a third episode on The Religious Sense. This time, we are covering “the impact of morality on the dynamic of knowing.” By this phrase, Don Giussani means that the embodied feelings that objects provoke in us condition our reason’s access to the truth. He suggests that the proper response is not to eliminate our feelings, but to order them to a love of truth.

Join Adrianna and Sofi for a second episode on The Religious Sense. This time we’re discussing Chapter 2, in which Don Giussani introduces the idea of “reasonableness.”

In this episode, Giuli, Adrianna, and Sofi talk about “realism,” a concept from Luigi Giussani’s book The Religious Sense. We are joined by a special guest, Sofi and Giuli’s father Paolo! If you’re following along with the text, we’re on Chapter 1. //

In today’s episode Adrianna, Giuliana and Sofia consider simplicity. What is the simple truth of the Christian life? How can we discover every circumstance as a good for us? Where are we experiencing new life through cultivating simplicity of heart? //

This episode concludes a three-part mini-series in which we put some of you, our listeners, behind the mic. The episode was inspired by our gratitude for the rich friendship and Christian witness that the podcast has brought into our lives.

This episode continues a three-part mini-series in which we put some of you, our listeners, behind the mic. The episode was inspired by our gratitude for the rich friendship and Christian witness that the podcast has brought into our lives.

This episode kicks off a three-part mini-series in which we put some of you, our listeners, behind the mic. The episode was inspired by our gratitude for the rich friendship and Christian witness that the podcast has brought into our lives.

Join Giuli, Sofi and Adrianna for a conversation about the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life. How does the Eucharist reveal God’s method? What helps us overcome our sense of unworthiness to receive Christ’s love in this intimate way? How has the Eucharist changed us— especially as we face the crosses of life? //

Adrianna, Giuli and Sofi discuss the concept of “virginity” as a way of loving others according to their destiny: Christ. How does this account of virginity differ from others in the Church and the world? Where in our lives have we experienced the joy of virginal purity and integrity in our relationships? What helps us live the sacrifices demanded by this kind of love? //