Show Archive
Each episode, we propose a book, film, or song that relates to our topic and a "challenge" on which
Our media recommendation is Brideshead Revisited, a novel by Evelyn Waugh. Our monthly challenge is to renew your baptismal promises, and reflecting on what has been given to you in your baptism. Finally, a PDF of the pages on baptism in Generating Traces can be found here.
Healing Wounds, with Bishop Erik Varden [episode transcript]
Bishop Varden's media recommendation is Dieterich Buxtehude’s cycle of cantatas Membra Jesu Nostri, specifically as conducted by René Jacobs with the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (YouTube). And his monthly challenge is to pray with the story of the healing of the man at the Sheep Gate (John 5:2-9), dwelling on Christ’s question “Do you want to be healed?” and reflecting on our implicit and explicit responses in various areas of our lives.
Our media recommendation is Antonín Dvořák’s arrangement of the Stabat Mater, as conducted by Philippe Herreweghe--especially the verse that begins Fac ut ardeat cor meum. You can listen on Spotify or YouTube, and can read the text and translation here. And our monthly challenge is to pray with Peter’s denial of Christ (Matthew 26:69-75) and subsequent reconciliation on the shore of Galilee (John 21), asking for the gift of compunction.
Our media recommendation is an excerpt of Charles Peguy’s poem The Portal of the Mystery of Hope, entitled ‘Finding the Eternal in Our Daily Toil’. And our monthly challenge is to spend a day repeating the prayer, “Lord, I am not worthy,” as you go about your daily tasks.
Our media recommendation is the novel By What Authority? by Robert Hugh Benson. And our monthly challenge is to think back to the last five people you spoke to or texted, and ask yourself how they might be a gift to you.
Our media recommendation is the film The Taste of Things (or ‘La passion de Dodin Bouffant’ in the original French). And our monthly challenge is to pray with the Eucharistic prayers, which you can find on iBreviary.
Our media recommendation is Arvo Pärt’s setting of St. Patrick’s Breastplate, “The Deer’s Cry," which you can find on YouTube or on Spotify. And our monthly challenge is to choose a line from scripture in the morning to keep in mind throughout the day, possibly by writing it down.
Our media recommendation is C.S. Lewis' novel The Great Divorce. Our monthly challenge is to pray with Psalm 22 and unite it to your own experience of the incompleteness of your desire. This episode was based on an article by Francesco Botturi in the magazine Traces (PDF of the text; audio recording on Apple or Spotify).
Our media recommendation is Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection Symphony” (No. 2), as conducted by Leonard Bernstein. You can find a helpful program here. Our monthly challenge is to pray with the canticle of the three young men in the furnace from the Book of Daniel, specifically the section that invokes all creation in a litany of praise to God.
The Starting Point: The Religious Sense
Our media recommendations are the poems Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America by Matthew Olzmann and Staying Power by Jeanne Walker Murray. And the monthly challenge is to pray a nightly examen, possibly with the help of the Reimagining the Examen App, seeking to find the meaning of what you are living now and how the Mystery may be speaking to you through reality.
The Impact of Morality on Knowing: The Religious Sense
Our media recommendation is the play Twelve Angry Men. And the monthly challenge is to identify someone in your life who lives with vivacity: who is moved by what they encounter, forming judgments about things, but orders these ideas to a love of truth.
Reasonableness: The Religious Sense
Our media recommendation is the film The Holdovers. And the monthly challenge is to examine your life, especially in your relationships and your faith, and ask whether you are applying a false standard of logic or rational deduction instead of following the method of moral certainty.
Our media recommendation is the film The Truman Show. And the monthly challenge is to ask yourself why you live the vocation you live.
Our media recommendation is a page from Julian of Norwich’s Showings: the 10th revelation of the 24th chapter. In the spirit of accepting the gratuity of salvation, this episode doesn’t have a monthly challenge.
Our monthly challenge is to consider how you can participate in the National Eucharistic Revival, which concludes in the summer of 2024. And our media recommendation is the film Babette’s Feast. You can also find Sofi’s Advent playlist for The Pilgrim Soul here or by searching “eternity in the rags of time” on Spotify.
Our media recommendation is the song Beyond the Blue by Josh Garrels. And our monthly challenge is to identify a relationship in which you are being invited to greater purity of love, and to join this sacrifice to that of the Lord at the Mass.
The Christian Presence on Campus
This was a talk that Sofia gave at the inaugural CLU Conference at Benedictine College. You can read more about the event here.
Our media recommendations are the writings of Servant of God Takashi Nagai, including The Bells of Nagasaki and Thoughts from Nyokodo (or, if you read Italian, Ciò che non muore mai). And our monthly challenge is to do lectio divina with Matthew 14:22-33, in which Jesus invites Peter to walk on water.
Our media recommendation is Marc Chagall’s White Crucifixion. And our monthly challenge is to meditate on the 9th Station of the Cross, which commemorates Jesus falling a third time on the way to Calvary.
The Neuroscience of Ruptured Relationships and Restoring Communion
This month, we are sharing with you a talk that Sofi gave to the Catholic Chaplaincy of the University of Cambridge. It was inspired by Pope Francis' urgent and insistent call for Christians to work for peace throughout the world. Drawing on her background in developmental neuroscience, she exposes the wounds inflicted by violence and proposes ways for us to collaborate in Christ's victory over sin and death.
Journalism, featuring JD Flynn
Our media recommendation is the novel Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly. And our monthly challenge is to check out The Pillar, offer a prayer for their work, and consider subscribing.
Memory and Desire, featuring Fr. Mike Cairnes
Our media recommendations are Terrence Malick’s film The Tree of Life, Joseph Roth’s novella The Legend of the Holy Drinker, and Walker Percy’s novel Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book. And our monthly challenge is to think back through your life year by year and try to identify how God has romanced you.
Our media recommendation is Caravaggio’s painting Madonna di Loreto, also known as Pilgrims’ Madonna. And our monthly challenge is to pray Fr. de Grandmaison’s "Prayer to Mary" throughout the month of May.
Our media recommendation is the dystopian novel The Children of Men by P.D. James. And our monthly challenge is to learn to sing the Regina Caeli (which you can find on YouTube here).
Our media recommendation is Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture The Ecstasy of St Teresa. And our monthly challenge is to pray in gratitude for the gift of your body.
Our media recommendation is the novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and its most recent film adaptation (which is currently available on Netflix). And our monthly challenge is to both recall someone who has been an authentic authority of the tradition for you, and to consider that you are called to propose this tradition to the freedom of another.
Our media recommendation is Josh Garrels’ song Ulysses, which you can find on YouTube or Spotify. And our monthly challenge is to meet up with a friend to share your experiences of restlessness, past and present, and to discuss how you might befriend your restlessness.
Our media recommendation is Graham Greene’s novel The End of the Affair. And our monthly challenge is to start your days with a morning offering.
Our media recommendation is Morten Lauridsen’s Lux aeterna, which you can find on Spotify or on YouTube. And our monthly challenge is to choose one form of practicing good stewardship or “dominion” in your environment.
Our media recommendation is a Spotify playlist called “mater et magistra”, made up of songs that remind us of the Church. You can also find our translation of Carlo Carretto's poem here. And our monthly challenge is to read Lumen Gentium with a friend.
Our media recommendation is the film Mostly Martha, which you can stream on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, or YouTube. And our monthly challenge is to choose one way to allow another person to live the Sabbath more fully.
Our media recommendation is Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. And our monthly challenge is to fast and pray for unity in the Body of Christ.
Our media recommendation is Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. And our monthly challenge is to think back on the times of greatest joy in your life, and pray to the Holy Spirit to show you how God is at work through that joy.
Our media recommendation is Charles Peguy’s poem The Portal of the Mystery of Hope (find an excerpt here!). And our monthly challenge is to pray the rosary, begging Our Lady to give you her own hope.
Our media recommendation is Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor. And our monthly challenge is to pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit.
Our media recommendation is the HBO show Band of Brothers. And our monthly challenge is to meet up with a friend (old or new) and ask about what’s happening in his or her life.
Our media recommendation is a Lenten playlist, which you can find on Spotify here. And our monthly challenge is to pray the Stations of the Cross using this reflection by Luigi Giussani.
Season Finale - The Charism of Communion & Liberation
Our media recommendation is the audiobook of Generating Traces, which is freely available online on the CL website. Sofia also made you a playlist of choral music for Advent, which you can find on Spotify. This is the final episode of Season 2, tune in again soon for Season 3.
Our weekly challenge is to get to know a new Saint - whether it’s your confirmation Saint, a Saint who shares your name or birthday, or Servant of God Luigi Giussani ;) And our media recommendation is the film The Lives of Others.
Therapy and Embodied Healing, featuring Beth Hlabse
Our weekly challenge is to engage in the three-step process of Awareness, Acceptance, and Discernment as a way of being with and processing emotions. And our media recommendation is to check out soulsandhearts.com for resources on Catholic therapy.
Discerning the Will of God
Our weekly challenge is to pray for holy indifference (a complete openness to God’s will) in a decision you are currently discerning. And our media recommendation is the song Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford & Sons.
Encountering Mercy
Our weekly challenge is to apologize to someone you have wronged. And our media recommendation is the song Fire of Time by David Ramirez.
The Charism of Life, featuring Maggie Verhiley and Tierney Vrdolyak
Our weekly challenge is a morning routine: make your bed as soon as you get up, offering this small act for a soul in need, and pray part of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-7). And our media recommendations are the books Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacques Philippe and the fiction of C.S. Lewis.
Freedom
Our weekly challenge is to pray about the times in your life when you felt most free and identify why. And our media recommendation is the film Of Gods and Men.
Wounds and Healing
Our weekly challenge is to take the list of core wounds to Adoration, allow the Holy Spirit to draw your attention to one in particular, and pray for healing in that place. And our media recommendation is The Incredulity of St. Thomas, a painting by Caravaggio.
Science as a Vocation, featuring Dr. Steve Barr
Our weekly challenge is to visit Astronomy Picture of the Day and pray in praise of God the Creator. And our media recommendation is the memoir Lab Girl by Hope Jahren.
Unless You Become Like Children
Our weekly challenge is to pay attention to the children around you and observe how they engage reality with wonder, openness, and dependence. And our media recommendation is the movie Groundhog Day.
Season Two Intro
Our media recommendations are the novel Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander, and The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Season One Finale (with listener Q&A!)
Enjoy the summer! We'll be back in the fall with another season of The Pilgrim Soul.
The Risk of Education, featuring Damian Bacich
Our weekly challenge is to reflect on your day using the Examen. And our media recommendation is the poem Hope by Alexis Valdés.
A Holy Week Reflection
Pray with us during the Triduum by listening to the Stabat Mater and asking that Mary might help us remain at the foot of Christ’s Cross. You can find the translation here, and various arrangements on YouTube by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Antonio Vivaldi, and Francis Poulenc.
Subsidiarity and Local Living
Our weekly challenge is to donate to a local organization. And our media recommendation is the book Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry.
What Saves us from Nothingness
Our weekly challenge is to ask yourself, when you get out of bed each morning this week, “What saves me from nothingness?” And our media recommendation is Jean-Paul Sartre’s novel Nausea.
Difficulties in Prayer: Distraction and Desolation
Our weekly challenge is to go for a walk in silence. And our media recommendation is East Coker, the second poem from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets.
Sharing the Gospel, featuring Father Colin Parrish
Our weekly challenge is to ask God (1) how He is going to answer a persistent need of your own heart, and (2) how He wants to respond to the needs of someone else through you. And our media recommendations are the songs Pontiac 87 by Protomartyr and This Must be the Place by The Talking Heads.
Poverty and Detachment
Our weekly challenge is to engage in some form of fasting. And our media recommendations are the book The Long Loneliness and the film Life Is Beautiful.
Mortality and Mourning, featuring Father Chase Pepper
Our weekly challenge is to visit and pray at a cemetery. And our media recommendation is the collection of poetry “Love Poems from God,” compiled by Daniel Ladinsky.
Ancient Heresies Today
Our weekly challenge is to meditate on the story of the prodigal son, Luke 15:11-32. And our media recommendation is the film The Painted Veil.
Prayer
Our weekly challenge is to download the prayer app Hallow. And our media recommendation is the Galician song Lela.
Redemptive Suffering
Our weekly challenge is to commemorate 3PM on Friday—the time Jesus died. And our media recommendation is the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
Radical Christian Hospitality
Our weekly challenge is to make a home-cooked meal and share it with someone. And our media recommendation is the film Babette’s Feast.
Sanctity in Work
Our weekly challenge is to add a visual reminder of God (like a holy card or scripture verse) to your workspace. And our media recommendation is Ian McEwan’s novel Saturday.
Introduction to The Pilgrim Soul
Our media recommendation is W.B. Yeats poem from which our podcast takes its name.