What God is Not
A Byzantine Catholic Podcast about Divine Mystery WhatGodIsNotPodcast@gmail.com
Episodes
228 episodes
Accepting the Mess You Are
This week Mother Natalia uses this episode to prepare for a talk she's giving. She talks about accepting the state in which you find yourself. She uses some quotes from St. Faustina to help illustrate the point of keeping close to God in the mi...
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58:01
God's Work in Others
This week Fr. Michael talks about some of the hidden sacrifices of parents. Fr. Michael talks about the hermeneutics of moms and dads with two separate stories of parents he knows who are living out their ordinary vocation.There's also ...
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1:05:38
Picard and Parts Work: Make it So with Dr. Gerry Crete
This week we're joined by special guest Dr. Gerry Crete. Dr. Gerry and Mother Natalia talk about some of their favorite Star Trek episodes and how they relate to parts work.References:
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1:24:51
Impoverished and Insecure Freedom
This week Mother Natalia reflects on two listener emails. One talks about welcoming people at church and the ways we can be stretched. Another talks about recognizing the humanity in Fr. Michael and Mother Natalia in the beginning episode bante...
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59:05
How Jesus Heals, Judges and Teaches
This week Fr. Michael talks about the various aspects of Jesus we can encounter in confession. He highlights Jesus as healer, teacher, and judge. Fr. Michael talks about how we can naturally limit our understanding of Jesus to just those three ...
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59:06
What are You Worth?
This week Mother Natalia reflects on self-worth despite no visible evidence of contribution to the greater good. This comes after she got COVID and struggled with fatigue, which impacted her day-to-day operations at the monastery.Ref...
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29:03
Truly Helping
This week Fr. Michael takes inspiration from a parishioner who asked for grace from his family as he was going to have a difficult week. Fr. Michael talks about the need for patience and grace that we all should be giving to our family members,...
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30:50
Attachment and Identity
This week Mother Natalia takes a mini-topic suggestion from one of our Patreon supporters and talks about it for a full episode! She talks about attachments to people, including family and celebrities, and how those can be wrongly ordered. She ...
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54:45
Authenticity and Feeling Safe with Ivy Gates
Today we're joined by special guest Ivy Gates. Ivy and Fr. Michael met each other on the #redbusbestbus during a Holy Land pilgrimage.Ivy talks about authenticity and it's importance in her life. Fr. Michael shares some examples of Ivy ...
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1:07:07
Weakness as Wisdom or Weapon
This week Fr. Michael talks about an encounter he had in Rome, and how that encounter led him to consider his weaknesses and other people's wisdom. He talks about how we sometimes weaponize other people's weaknesses instead of recognizing their...
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1:02:20
Signs of the Resurrection
This week Mother Natalia continues her topic on discernment, talking about what not to do but also what to do. She also talks about ways that we see the resurrection in our lives, and the way that St. John saw it, not with the physical presence...
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1:14:01
What Discernment is Not
This week Mother Natalia uses this episode to prep for a recording she's doing over at Pints! She talks about discernment and what not to do as you're discerning.Follow and Contact Us!Follow us on
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1:04:03
Co-Authoring My Life
This week Fr. Michael responds to a correction from a listener, and uses that as inspiration for this week's topic. We talk about letting God work through us and using the gifts He's given us. We talk about how the authors of scripture were so ...
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1:06:58
Rupture and Relationship with Fr. Boniface Hicks
This week we're joined by special guest Fr. Boniface Hicks. Mother Natalia talks about the importance of repairing relationships which have suffered a rupture, regardless of the type of relationship. They give some examples of where ruptures ha...
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1:04:28
The Hermeneutic of Moms
This week Fr. Michael continues his discussion from several episodes ago on living out the gospel as a mom. Fr. Michael and Mother Natalia respond to some reflections that listeners passed along about life as a mom and creative almsgiving.<...
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55:42
The Inmost Self with Dr. Gerry Crete
This week we're joined by special guest Dr. Gerry Crete. We talk about some of the concepts from his book, Litanies of the Heart. We talk about the studies and prayer he's had over the years which led throughout his work. We talk about the inne...
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1:12:21
Practical Suggestions for Daily Prayer
This week Fr. Michael walks through some of the prayers of the church which can be incorporated into your daily prayer life. These are everything from prayers before and after meals to a daily examination of conscience.A special shoutou...
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1:04:46
An Undivided Heart
This week Fr. Michael talks about scripture readings in Acts and John, and links them together to talk about division and having an undivided heart. He talks about the need for full attention to be given to God, and how it's hard to live this o...
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56:56
Searching the Depths
This week Mother Natalia talks about self-reflection on sin, recognizing where we've stumbled, how that has impacted others, and where we've grown. She uses a recent example of something that happened in community life to show us how this works...
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49:16
Letting Jesus be Jesus
This week Fr. Michael unpacks a theme he sees in the post-Pascha Sunday readings around people saying yes to Jesus immediately vs qualifying the yes or asking follow-up questions before saying yes. He talks about the reasons why we might not sa...
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1:02:24
Word from a Poustinik: Rest
This week Mother Natalia talks about her recent poustinia, where she reflected on rest. Mother Natalia talks about taking to-do lists to pray while also trying to remember that prayer is relational and not something to fulfill check-boxes.<...
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58:56
Knights of Poustinia with Br. Simeon Miriam
This week we’re joined by special guest Brother Simeon Miriam from the CFRs. Brother Simeon was imminently about to start an 8-day poustinia, so in this episode we talk a bit about poustinia, the nights of poustinia he helped start in NYC, a bi...
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1:10:20
Word from a Poustinik: Imperfection
This week Mother Natalia talks about imperfection and recognizing that we will always be imperfect, following a retreat she gave at Wyoming Catholic College. She and Fr. Michael talk about the externals of our prayer practice, both personal pra...
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1:06:34