Ep. 31: The Cause of Causes – Faith, Science, and the Gift of Being (Sr. Mary Elizabeth, O.P.)
What if the very fact that you exist right now is an act of God's love? Sr. Mary Elizabeth, O.P. sits down with Sr. Miriam, O.P. to explore one of the most beautiful and overlooked truths of the faith: causality. A Rochester native with a PhD in electrical engineering, Sr. Mary Elizabeth once designed the next generation of cochlear implants at the University of Michigan before Catholic radio and a growing love for the Blessed Sacrament drew her toward religious life (a journey she describes, true to form, as a "sinusoidal function" trending steadily upward). Together she and Sr. Miriam walk through Catechism 301, unpacking how God not only creates us but "at every moment upholds and sustains" us in being, enabling us to act and drawing us to our final end. Along the way they sort the true picture from the false ones (God as distant Watchmaker, as magician, as tinkerer filling the gaps) and arrive at something far more personal: a Creator who holds each of us in existence out of sheer love. Download the Torch AppTake the Virtue Survey Join the Openlight Media Community:TikTokInstagramFacebookYouTubeTwitter/XWebsiteDownload the Torch AppTeachers Pay TeachersPinterestLinktree
Ep. 30: A Tale of Two Sisters – Family to Convent (Sr. James Karol, O.P. & Sr. Joseph Lucia, O.P.)
Two sisters, one family, two vocations. In a first for the podcast, Sr. Miriam, O.P. welcomes not one but two guests: Sr. James Karol, O.P. and Sr. Joseph Lucia, O.P., blood sisters who each found their way to the convent by very different roads. They grew up in a faith-filled home of family rosaries, the Gospel read at the dinner table, and pilgrimages to a nearby shrine, but neither planned to end up here. Sr. James Karol chased something bigger than herself all the way into the Air Force, running a "really long detour" while God ran right alongside her. Sr. Joseph Lucia quietly offered God her yes at her eighth-grade confirmation, never dreaming He'd take her up on it. Along the way there's the sisterly surprise of discovering they were both discerning ("we're a Catholic family, but we're not weird, like two would be a little weird"), and the joy of realizing home was calling them both. Warm, funny, and full of heart, it's a story of one family, two vocations, and a God who calls each of us by name.Download the Torch AppTake the Virtue SurveyJoin the Openlight Media Community:TikTokInstagramFacebookYouTubeTwitter/XWebsiteDownload the Torch AppTeachers Pay TeachersPinterestLinktree
Ep. 29: From Wheeling and Dealing to Kneeling – The Bronx Bride of Christ (Sr. Maria, O.P.)
What happens when the good life isn't the best one? Sr. Maria, O.P. sits down with Sr. Miriam, O.P. to tell a story you won't forget: a Bronx-raised daughter of Portuguese and Brazilian immigrants who set out to make a lot of money, sell a lot of cars, and take care of everyone she loved. And she did. She was living the good life: the lake house in Carmel overlooking the water, a new demo car every three months, Saturday-night parties, and a circle of friends who'd meet her at either the pub or the church, whichever the day called for. So why did God want more for her? With her signature humor and warmth, Sr. Maria traces the winding road from wheeling and dealing to kneeling, and the moment in the motherhouse chapel when she realized home was where her heart was: in the Tabernacle. At the center of it all is a truth she can't stop preaching: God isn't looking for cookie-cutter saints. He's calling each of us to become the saint only we can be.Download the Torch AppTake the Virtue SurveyJoin the Openlight Media Community:TikTokInstagramFacebookYouTubeTwitter/XWebsiteDownload the Torch AppTeachers Pay TeachersPinterestLinktree
Ep. 28: Setting the World on Fire – St. Dominic and the Torch of Truth (Sr. Hyacinth, O.P.)
What does it mean to be set on fire for souls? Sr. Hyacinth, O.P. sits down with Sr. Miriam, O.P. to introduce the man at the very heart of the Dominican family: St. Dominic himself. A fellow Canadian who once dreamed of political life before God rewrote her story, Sr. Hyacinth traces Dominic's journey from a canon in Osma to the founder of the Order of Preachers, born in the crucible of the Albigensian crisis. Along the way we meet the famous dream of a torch-bearing hound "set to light the world on fire" (yes, the very image behind the Torch app), Dominic's radical insistence on freedom in the rule, and the gentleness, purity, and joy that made him so magnetic to everyone he met. At its core, this is the Dominican mission in miniature: to preach the truth of Jesus Christ, and to remind a restless world that we were made not for rules, but for happiness, freedom, and the glory of heaven.Download the Torch AppTake the Virtue SurveyJoin the Openlight Media Community:TikTokInstagramFacebookYouTubeTwitter/XWebsiteTeachers Pay TeachersPinterestLinktree
Ep. 27: Ask the Sisters – Q&A #1 (Sr. Louis Marie, O.P. & Sr. Elizabeth John, O.P.)
You asked, and the Sisters answered! In the first-ever Open Mic Q&A, Sr. Louis Marie, O.P. and Sr. Elizabeth John, O.P. join Sr. Miriam, O.P. to take on the questions listeners have been sending in, from the theological to the wonderfully everyday. What's the actual difference between a Sister and a nun? How can Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints without worshipping them? And the ones you've always wondered about: are Sisters allowed to stay in bed all day when they're sick, and when in the world do they find time to exercise? With warmth, laughter, and plenty of straight answers, the Sisters open a window into the life behind the habit, and remind us that no question is too big or too small to bring to the conversation.Join the Openlight Media Community:TikTokInstagramFacebookYouTubeTwitter/XWebsiteDownload the Torch AppTeachers Pay TeachersPinterestLinktree