90 episodes
Wrestling with God Show Wrestling with God Productions
-
- Religion & Spirituality
-
-
4.9 • 84 Ratings
-
Two fun-loving and God-fearing Irishmen, a Catholic priest and his good friend, grapple with the big questions about faith, religion, and life.
-
Ep90 Encore: Imagine a World without Jesus
Father Len explains how the radical ideas Jesus introduced 2000 years ago and the church he established to spread those ideas have changed the world forever.
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
“You’re talking about the single event that probably influenced civilization as we know it now. It’s created our laws and behavior. The knowledge of good and evil. It’s influenced art and literature. It’s affected every possible aspect of anyone’s life, whether they know it or not. It’s absolutely everything. If it wasn’t, what would there be? – Mel Gibson, producer/director, The Passion of the Christ
The Gospel of Luke describes how Jesus changed morality and remapped society around meals.
In Jesus’s time there were meal codes about how you eat and who you eat with. Jews ate with Jews, never with Gentiles. Jews ate as a family. Men, women, and children together. Gentiles, the Romans and the Greeks, ate with people of their own class and caste system. Rich and poor never ate together. Men and women didn’t eat together. Men ate first and then women because men were considered superior to women.
Jesus broke all the meal codes of his time drawing people together by a much different morality. He offered radical hospitality to everyone. He welcomed men and women, rich and poor to sit at table with him.
The one person who changed the world the most was not a king or an inventor. The greatest mark on history was made by a traveling preacher named Jesus who established a church community and gave it the responsibility to redraw the world according to hospitality.
“I am an historian. I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all of history. Is it any wonder that to this day, this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?” – HG Wells
Jesus broke all the rules on how to treat women. Prior to Jesus women were treated inhumanely. They were viewed as inferior to men and nothing more than property. In Jesus’s eyes, women and men are equally valuable. Jesus was friends and ministry partners with women. He treated them with dignity and respect.
The idea that all humans – men and women, rich and poor, rulers and peasants – are equally valuable and should be treated with dignity and respect was extremely rare before Christianity.
The church Jesus founded, the Catholic Church, started hospitals, universities, and food banks.
Jesus started an organized movement to care for the poor and the needy. Religion before Christianity, except for Judaism, wasn’t really concerned with morality or taking care of the poor.
The origins of science are rooted in Christian belief. All the early scientists were religious. They were inspired by their faith in Christ to do science. They all viewed science as a means of uncovering the traces of Christ’s handiwork in the universe.
The concepts of social justice, education, human rights, women’s rights, and freedom all fit into the idea of radical hospitality that Jesus introduced to the world.
Jesus has changed the personal lives of billions of people throughout the world by introducing the theology of the cross. Dying to yourself, dying to your ego, becoming a whole new person by living a life of sacrificial love.
Wisdom is path, not a door. The path of daily choices you make on how to live your life.
Wisdom is gained through daily small activities. Small choices that become the whole direction of your life.
The way of the cross is daily making moral choices, making small choices of virtue. Dying to your pettiness, anger, and selfishness.
We welcome your questions and comments: -
Ep89 Encore: The Real Christmas Story and Its True Meaning
Father Len reveals the real “reason for the season” is us.
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
“When I look at the world upside down, that’s when it seems right to me.” – Jeret "Speedy" Peterson
Father Len tells a story about geese to illustrate why God became a human being.
Christmas is a revelation of who we are meant to be.
To be good is to become a true human being.
Our true humanity is to live like Christ.
“Christianity is the attitude of amazement at the dignity of the human person.” – Pope John Paul II
“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” – Irenaeus
“Paradise Lost” by John Milton
“Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Sin is the temptation to stop being a true human being.
Evil is the no to human goodness. Evil is the no to all that is good.
Satan is not one who hates God. Satan is one who believes that God can’t love him or us.
The good news of Christmas is that God became one of us to show us how to become true human beings and discover the goodness of being a true human being.
Salvation is not the story of God rescuing us from an evil universe. Salvation is the story of God coming as one like us to teach us what true goodness looks like.
Absolute love will embrace death.
Absolute love cannot be contained by the tomb.
Sin is anything that deprives us of our full humanity.
Christmas is the beginning of the journey to our true humanity to love and to be connected.
We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/ -
Ep88 Sadness is a Blessing and Superpower
Father Len explains that sadness is our lot in life and how embracing it will bring us wisdom, love, a sense of purpose, and help guide our path to heaven.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
The pain of sadness wakes you up to be more tender and compassionate.
Sadness is a superpower that can transform you into being more creative.
Depression sucks all the life out of you.
Denying sadness can lead to self-absorption and a toxic life.
Father Len shares the story of how the sadness of prison life became a university for growth for Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Depression makes you listless and less concerned for action and the suffering of other people.
Depression is when you’re alone. Sadness is when you’re with other people.
Those who embrace sadness have a greater sense of purpose in their lives.
American society is obsessed with positivity and always being happy, happy, happy.
Studies have found Americans smile more than any other country, but test out to be more depressed.
Obsession with positive thinking is just a form of denial of sadness.
The more you repress something, the more likely you are to act on it.
America’s obsession with positivity and always having a positive attitude is a form of repression.
Sadness is hard, but it also gives birth to love.
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738 -
Ep87 Lying to Yourself
Father Len grapples with the tendency we all have of lying to ourselves about ourselves and the effect it has on us and those around us.
Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738 -
Ep86 Is empathy a solution to our societal problems?
Father Len makes a compelling case for empathy being the solution to most of our societal problems, including mass shootings.
-
Ep85 Irish’s Story: The Inspiration for the Wrestling with God Show
Irish shares the journey that led him to Father Len and the creation of the Wrestling with God Show. He also reveals plans for Wrestling with God Productions, the new association he’s founded to build bridges to faith, religion, and the Catholic Church.
Show Notes
Books & Publications Mentioned in this Episode:
“Crossing the Threshold of Hope” by Pope St. John Paul II
“One Bread One Body” published by Presentation Ministries, Cincinnati Ohio
“Divine Intimacy” by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. (published by Baronius Press)
Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions
Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/
Make a financial donation here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions
We welcome your questions and comments:
Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738
Customer Reviews
Father Len
Father Len has been my parish priest for 14 years. He’s been given a new assignment by Bishop Peter and will be transferring to his new parish in early July. Fr Len has left a quite an impression on me, our parish, our parish school which he was instrumental in building and our community. His love of RCIA and Adult Ed has transferred nicely to these podcasts. In 14 years I’ve learned more about my faith than the previous 47 combined. I’ll continue to listen even when he leaves so I can enjoy his intellect tinged with a bit of his prickliness. Thanks Irish for putting up with Father and getting these podcasts on.
Father Len will leave you speechless
So a priest is supposed to interpret the Bible in his way and relay that message to you….?…. Correct? What if that priest gets it wrong? I remember a story Father Len said how about doing a sermon at a different parish and he said that it translated men be submissive to your women. After the sermon the priest who taught the regularly ….. said you can’t say that to my parishioners because that’s not what I tell them. He said well it says what it says. I don’t want to be bald but I am. 😂. Father Len in all of his wisdom has maybe one of the most strongest relationships with God but he understands the Bible and he has taken it to A whole new level by educating himself through college courses/degrees. This is a man who is going to be missed beyond words. And Coeur d’Alene has no idea what kind of gift God is giving them. I hope they take full advantage of it. Because he will be missed beyond all of the tears in the words that consume this valley. He is truly a magnificent soul that will bring many people to a relationship with Christ. I am blessed to have had him baptize me, I am blessed for all of the knowledge that he shared with me and I have been able to pass on and I’m truly blessed for all those years that I was able to spend in his presence.
WWG- the Christmas Story
These PODCASTS are amazing and full of wisdom and a snippet of the joy in this journey we can experience. Totally new way fo appreciating Advent.