In this episode, Adam and David welcome back longtime friend and mentor Matthew Christoff of EveryCatholicMan.com to talk about what it really means to become a happier Catholic man.

Matthew shares the story behind his new devotional, “Becoming a Happier Catholic Man 2026,” and why he believes every man can be happier by drawing closer to Jesus, embracing suffering, and living a zealous Catholic life.

Topics discussed:

• Why God actually wills our true and lasting happiness
• The difference between fleeting pleasure and beatitude
• Practicing the presence of God in ordinary daily life
• Using “triggers” like sirens, cemeteries, and churches to turn the mind to God
• How technology, curiosity, and pornography are devastating modern manhood
• Homeostasis of the soul: breaking habits and building new spiritual baselines
• Why pornography and AI-generated lust are a major assault on men and women
• Confession, near occasions of sin, and forming a real battle plan
• The need for a “penance revival” to accompany the Eucharistic Revival
• Why evangelizing men is decisive for families, parishes, and culture
• How awe of Jesus, not just information about him, is the foundation of conversion
• The structure of the book: weekly Gospel commentary, awe-of-Jesus focus, maxims, and prayers
• Using the devotional as a couple and in the domestic church

Resources mentioned:

• Becoming a Happier Catholic Man 2026 – devotional for Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year
• EveryCatholicMan.com – Matthew Christoff’s apostolate and resources for men
• Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church (references used throughout the book)

Learn more and get the book:

Visit EveryCatholicMan.com or search “Becoming a Happier Catholic Man 2026” on Amazon.

Support The Catholic Man Show and get access to extra content and community at:

TheCatholicManShow.com

This episode is packed — saints, miracles, Marian devotion, vocations, fatherhood, fasting, silence, and the rise of a new generation of men hungry for God.

Fr. Charbel, a Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate, joins Adam and David in Tulsa along with first-class relics of St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Charbel, sharing powerful stories of faith, mission, intercession, and what young Catholic men are longing for today.

Fr. Charbel introduces the Franciscans of the Immaculate, an order founded to continue the Marian mission of St. Maximilian Kolbe:

• Total consecration to Mary as a fourth vow
• A spirituality built on St. Francis + St. Maximilian
• Missionary availability (“Send me anywhere in the world”)
• Heavy emphasis on prayer, poverty, obedience, and Marian devotion

He explains how Our Lady’s presence has shaped every major moment in salvation history — from Nazareth to the Cross — and why consecration gives Mary “permission” to form us the way she formed Christ.

As the newly appointed vocations director, Fr. Charbel reveals something astonishing:

40+ serious vocation inquiries in just two months.

Why the sudden surge?

• Men want something real
• They crave mission and purpose
• They want orthodoxy and reverence
• They want a spirituality that demands something of them
• Marian devotion draws them in a unique way

“It’s inspiring,” he says. “Young men want authenticity.”

The guys talk about:

• The Franciscan blend of active + contemplative
• The thrill of trusting God with everything
• Poverty that becomes a doorway to providence
• Why Franciscans never seem to fundraise (“God just provides”)

Religious life, he says, is more adventurous than most men realize.

St. Charbel Makhlouf, a Lebanese hermit, is becoming one of the most beloved saints of the century.

Father explains why:

• Lived a hidden, humble, ascetic life
• 23 years in community + 23 years as a hermit
• Entire life centered on the Holy Eucharist
• Body discovered incorrupt with supernatural light rising from his tomb
• Over 29,000 documented miracles since 1950
• Miracles among Muslims, Druze, Orthodox, and nonbelievers
• Global pilgrims: 2 million+ per year

One stunning story:

A Muslim sheikh publicly visited St. Charbel’s shrine to thank him for healing his mother of cancer.

“Why would God confirm the life of a hermit who spent his life before the Eucharist,” Father asks, “unless the Eucharist is truly what the Church says it is?”

What does a hermit from Lebanon have to teach us? A lot.

Fr. Charbel lays out practical takeaways:

• Faithfulness in the small things
• Silence — making space for God’s voice
• Daily prayer even without consolations
• Obedience and humility
• Eucharistic devotion
• Marian devotion as a way of being formed
• Asceticism and fasting: dying to self in small ways
• Doing your duty with...

This episode starts with an apology and an update. It’s been a wild stretch—hospital visits, birthday mishaps, broken teeth, truck trouble, cows and pigs headed to the processor—but also a lot of grace and gratitude.

Adam shares about Lady Haylee's recent medical scare during pregnancy, the prayers from patrons, and what it’s like to walk through real uncertainty as a husband and father. The guys reflect on how quickly life can tilt from “normal” to “barely holding it together,” and yet how God can still anchor everything in hope and gratitude.

Over whiskey (a Pseudo Sue malt from Iowa), Adam and David shift into the main topic: spiritual blindness—how easy it is for men to be convinced we’re right, standing for the truth, and yet be totally off the mark.

Drawing from Scripture, the lives of the apostles, St. John of the Cross, Aquinas, and even Dante, they explore:

In This Episode:

• Real-life trials and gratitude
• Haley’s hospitalization and recovery
• Kids’ birthdays, chipped teeth, and car trouble
• How chaos at home can either crush us or deepen our trust in God
• Miracles, doubt, and the desire for “proof”
• “If God would just give us a miracle, evangelization would be easy”
• The everyday miracles we ignore: the Eucharist, confession, conversions
• Why even those who saw Jesus’ miracles still doubted and fled
• Spiritual blindness in the apostles and in us
• Peter’s “I’ll never deny you” moment—and the fall that followed
• The apostles missing who Jesus really is, even after years of walking with Him
• Looking back on friendships and seasons of life and realizing, “I was blind to how unhealthy that really was”
• How our culture and attachments distort our judgment
• Bringing politics into our faith and letting ideology outrank the Gospel
• The overworking dad: when “providing” becomes an excuse to avoid the harder work of fatherhood
• Attachment to success, busyness, and being “the guy” who makes everything happen
• The “theology guy” who knows tons about the faith but never actually prays or serves
• St. John of the Cross and Aquinas on blindness of mind
• Disordered attachments as a cause of spiritual blindness
• Misapplying first principles and deforming prudence
• Why ignorance isn’t always innocent—especially when it’s chosen
• Dante, betrayal, and why some wounds cut so deep
• Why Dante places traitors and betrayers at the bottom of hell
• The pain of realizing someone you trusted was not who you thought
• How misplaced trust in people can tempt us to distrust God
• Practical ways to grow in spiritual clarity
• Daily (or even twice-daily) examination of conscience
• Honest fraternal correction and asking your friends to tell you the truth
• Living a real ascetical life: fasting, temperance, and taming appetites
• Submitting your judgment to the Church instead of making yourself the standard
• Turning to the sacraments—especially confession and the Eucharist—for renewed vision

Along the way, you’ll also hear:

• A story about accidentally using cardamom instead of cinnamon on a first date
• The strangely satisfying joy of a perfectly vacuumed game room
• The quiet fulfillment of husbandry—raising animals, caring for land, and stewarding what God has given

This episode is an invitation to ask hard questions:

• Where am I convinced I’m right, but might be deeply wrong?
• What am I attached to that clouds my judgment?
• Who do I trust enough to tell me what I don’t see about myself?

If you’ve ever looked back on a season of life and thought, “How did I not see