Join us for the first-ever in-person episode of The Pilgrim Soul! During their vacation together in Idaho, Giuli, Sofi and Adrianna had a conversation about leisure. What is leisure? How are we tempted to distort it? What instead is its right relationship to prayer, work, and community? How are we educated in a true use of our free time? //

Our media recommendation is Louis Armstrong’s song What a Wonderful World, which you can find on Spotify or on YouTube. Our monthly challenge is to take a moment one evening to look at the stars. //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @pilgrimsoulpodcast. Our website is www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com. //

Other resources we mention:

• Josef Pieper’s book “Leisure, the Basis of Culture”
• Fr. Luigi Giussani’s book “The Religious Sense”
• The Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska
• An excerpt from The Portal of the Mystery of Hope, a poem by Charles Peguy \\

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks."

This month, Adrianna, Sofi, and Giuli are joined by their friend Fr. John Nepil for a conversation on how the encounter with Christ transforms the experience of the wilderness. Fr. John is a priest of the Archdiocese of Denver, a member of the Companions of Christ, and co-host of the podcast Catholic Stuff You Should Know. This conversation draws on his excellent book “To Heights and Unto Depths: Letters from the Colorado Trail” which was recently published by Ignatius Press and is also available on Amazon. //

Fr. John’s media recommendations are the writing of Wendell Berry, such as the novel Jayber Crow (or Sofi’s favorite is his book of sabbath poems, A Timbered Choir), and the music of Gregory Alan Isakov. His monthly challenge is to reread Chapters 1-2 of Genesis in a place of creation, whether the backcountry or your own backyard. //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @pilgrimsoulpodcast. Our website is www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com. We’d be happy to pass on any questions to Fr. John. //

Other resources we mention:

• Luigi Giussani’s book The Religious Sense
• Pope Benedict XVI’s address “The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty”
• Romano Guardini’s book The Essence of Christianity
• The testimony of Jone Echarri about her paralysis \\

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks.”

This month, we’re sharing a talk Sofi gave to the Word on Fire Institute on Our Lady as “The Certainty of Our Hope”. You can find a PDF of the paintings Sofi references on our website. //

The great desire of the human heart is for perfect happiness, total love, lasting fulfillment—for union with God. This destiny is possible in Jesus Christ. But we can lose hope, stumbling or growing discouraged over the ordinary challenges of life. Mary, the Mother of God, gives certainty to our hope. Mary stands at the heart of salvation history as the one through whom God fulfills his promises. Throughout her pilgrimage of faith, from the Annunciation to the Cross to her Assumption, her virginal surrender to the Mystery gives form to His presence in the world and strength to those who believe in Him. In her, each member of the Church discovers a mother who accompanies, educates, and sustains us on our path to our destiny. //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @pilgrimsoulpodcast. Our website is www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com. //

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks.”

Adrianna, Sofi, and Giuli have a conversation about mission. What is the communal task entrusted to the baptized? What does it look like to live our individual responsibility for the glory of Christ? How does God’s initiative of mercy enable us to embrace the slightest fragment of truth or goodness wherever we find it? //

Our media recommendation is The Universal Call to Holiness, a relief in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC (virtual tour). And our monthly challenge is to reflect on the apocryphal story of Jesus and the dead dog (cited on page 117 of this PDF), and to ask, in whatever situation of death or emptiness comes to mind, to recognize and embrace the good present there as Christ does. //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @pilgrimsoulpodcast. Our website is www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com. //

Other resources we mention:

• An excerpt from Generating Traces in the History of the World on mission and ecumenism
• The video The Faith of Fr. Giussani
• A speech by Pope Pius XII cited in Pope St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Christifidelis laici
• Bishop Erik Varden’s April 27 interview in The Pillar on the conclave
• Fr. Luigi Giussani’s letters to the first missionaries from Communion & Liberation to Brazil
• The Ways of the Cross organized by Communion & Liberation throughout the USA
• Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium
• Bishop Erik Varden’s recent talk on “Living with Wounds” at the University of Notre Dame
• The story of Elvira Parravicini’s work in neonatal palliative care
• Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church //

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks.”

Join Sofia and Adrianna in praying the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, guided by reflections from Father Luigi Giussani. We pray this Easter finds you "overcome with Paschal joy" at the presence of the Risen One.

Join Giuli, Sofi and Adrianna for an episode on baptism. Is it true that this is the defining event of our lives? How is baptism relevant to our every day? What are the marks of the new creature created in baptism, the one who belongs to the body of Christ? How can we grow in awareness of our baptism? //

Our media recommendation is Brideshead Revisited, a novel by Evelyn Waugh. And our monthly challenge is to renew your baptismal promises, and reflecting on what has been given to you in your baptism. //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @pilgrimsoulpodcast. Our website is www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com. //

Other resources we mention:

• Fr. Luigi Giussani’s book Generating Traces in the History of the World
• Fr. Luigi Giussani’s book The Religious Sense
• The Rite of Baptism of the Catholic Church //

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks.”

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 suffering, the wounds of others, and our own wounds. Through revealing the life that flows from Christ crucified, Bishop Varden challenges us to seek and receive the grace of healing. //

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. //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @pilgrimsoulpodcast. Our website is www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com. //

Other resources we mention:

• Bishop Varden’s blog, CoramFratribus
• A Fragment of Being, a conversation from the 2025 New York Encounter
• The Rule of St. Benedict
• Bach’s oratorio St. Matthew Passion //

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks.”

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 Mater, as conducted by Philippe Herreweghe. The verse we highlighted is the “Fac ut ardeat cor meum” (Spotify and YouTube). You can find 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. //

We’d love to hear from you! Write to us at pilgrimsoulpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at @pilgrimsoulpodcast. Our website is www.pilgrimsoulpodcast.com. //

Other resources we mention:

• Pope Francis’ homily for Holy Thursday 2024
• Irénée Hausherr’s work The Doctrine of Compunction in the Christian East
• Dietrich Von Hildebrand’s book The Heart
• A dialogue with Fr. Luigi Giussani from 1978 entitled “What is Christianity?”
• Luigi Giussani’s book The Religious Sense //

For Lent this year, we will be reading Bishop Erik Varden’s new book together. Please join us! You can order Healing Wounds now through Bloomsbury or Amazon. //

Our theme music is Nich Lampson’s “Dolphin Kicks.”