Podcast
Claymore: Become Who You Are
Hosted by Jack · EN
What’s the meaning and purpose of my life? What is my true identity? Why were we created male and female? How do I find happiness, joy and peace? How do I find love that lasts, forever? These are the timeless questions of the human heart. Join Jack Rigert and his guests for lively insights, reading the signs of our times through the lens of Catholic Teaching and the insights of Saint John Paul ll to guide us.
Saint Catherine of Siena said "Become who you are and you would set the world on fire".
54episodes
Episodes
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#735 A Personal Witness, Seeking Answers—And Why Living His Faith Truly Changed Everything
3d ago00:38:09Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”A single question can dismantle years of certainty: who decides what counts as Scripture in the first place? That’s where Cooper White’s journey gets gripping, because it wasn’t powered by rebellion or a bad church experience. He and his wife were raised in loving evangelical families, deeply involved in ministry, and genuinely devoted to Jesus. But while serving in youth ministry and later studying theology at Wheaton, Cooper kept running into a problem that would not go away: authority. If Christians disagree on core doctrines, if interpretations multiply endlessly, and if even the biblical canon requires a decision, what holds the Church together in Truth?Suffering brought the questions down to the heart. When Cooper’s wife faced Lyme disease, Catholic teaching on redemptive suffering, alongside voices like Relevant Radio and real Catholic families living the faith, made the Church feel not like a system of restrictions but a home with sacraments, confession, and a liturgical rhythm strong enough to carry a family when life breaks. If you’re wrestling with unity, truth, the Eucharist, or the fear that one hard question could unravel everything, this conversation gives you a clearer path forward. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s searching, and leave a review with the question you’re still trying to answer.Join us! ClaymoremilitesChristi.comEmail us at info@jp2renew.orgSupport the show
Transcribe →#734 The Truth Behind the Contraceptive Mentality: And How It Reshaped Marriage and the Culture
1w ago00:44:56Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”A single document from 1968 somehow describes the world we’re living in right now. We pick up Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae and ask a blunt question: if contraception was supposed to make sex safer, marriage easier, and society calmer, why are we surrounded by divorce, pornography, fatherlessness, hookup culture, and a deep confusion about identity and meaning?Linda Piper walks with us through the “contraceptive mentality” and why it doesn’t stay limited to the bedroom. We unpack Paul VI’s four warnings: how contraception makes infidelity easier, lowers sexual morality across the culture, reduces respect for women, and invites governments and institutions to treat fertility like a problem to manage. From there we connect the dots to modern claims about contraception rights, abortion, and the feeling many young people carry that something is off even if they can’t yet name it.If this conversation helps you see your relationships and your choices with new clarity, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s searching, and leave a review so more people can find it.Read Linda's article on X at John Paul II Renewal or on Substack "The World Changes When We Pass On What is True, Good and Beautiful" Visit Claymore and Get a copy of the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook! Support the show
Transcribe →#733 The Sacred Romance: Redirecting Your Passions and Desires
2w ago00:21:37Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”In a world that often feels disconnected from the divine, many of us grapple with profound questions about identity, purpose, and love. Saint Catherine of Siena once said that if you become who you truly are, you would light the world on fire. This echoes the sentiments of John Paul II and Saint Athanasius, who spoke of the deep yearning inscribed in each human heart—a longing for a divine connection that can transform our lives. In this Episode we delve into these themes, particularly through the lens of Saint Augustine's journey and the insights from the Claymore Battle Plan.To start, we must recognize that our hearts are filled with desires to love and be loved. Yet, they can also be confused and hurt, struggling to find coherence in our experiences. In *Act 26* from the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook, we explore how the gospel intersects with our lived experiences. This interaction leads us to our "aha moment," where we encounter Jesus Christ and begin to understand our true purpose."The World Changes When We Pass On What is True, Good and Beautiful" Visit Claymore and Get a copy of the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook! Support the show
Transcribe →#732 "See No Evil" The Disappeared: Children, Trafficking, and Institutional Failure
2w ago00:33:47Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”330,000 missing kids is not a talking point. It’s a flashing red warning that something is broken in how the U.S. Deep State handles unaccompanied migrant children, child welfare, and immigration enforcement. We walk through the story of a young teen released from federal custody who ends up working punishing overnight shifts, then widen the lens to the numbers, the incentives, and the institutions that move children through the system.Tom Hampson, a crime investigator and reporter, joins us to explain what he found while investigating ORR placements, trafficking risk, and the role of NGOs that present as “charities” while being funded almost entirely by taxpayer dollars. We talk about what it means when the government acts in loco parentis, why fractured bureaucracy makes responsibility disappear, and how stonewalled FOIA requests keep the public from seeing where the money and the paperwork actually lead.We also put the moral argument on the table, including Catholic social teaching on immigration: welcome where possible, protect the common good, enforce just laws, and never treat vulnerable people as objects in a pipeline. The conversation touches media narratives, church leadership, and the uncomfortable truth that “compassion” can become cover for negligence when no one is forced to answer for outcomes. If you care about border security, human rights, child protection, and government accountability, this one will challenge you.Visit Tom Hampsons Substack: https://thomasrhampson.substack.com/Evangelizing Gen Z!! Join the movement of young men! Claymore milites Christi (Soldiers for Christ) Subscribe for more, share this episode with someone who thinks they already understand the issue, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.Support the show
Transcribe →#731 To Pope Leo: Sexual Matters Matter; The Integrated Vision of Chastity and Justice
3w ago00:48:27Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”The claim that issues surrounding sexuality should take secondary priority behind concerns like justice, equality, or freedom reflects a distinction that unfortunately many modern Catholics increasingly make.In truth It is a False Separation Between Sexual Morality and Justice.The Catholic tradition—has consistently rejected this division.John Paul II for one never treated chastity and justice as competing priorities.He taught instead that they arise from the same truth about the human person.This was the core of his personalist vision that each person is an individual created in the image and likeness of God...and that each person must be loved and never used as a pawn in some political game as is done in Socialism. The crisis is therefore not merely political.It is anthropological. Anthropology is the study of human beings...and so It concerns the meaning of the human person himself.When sexuality is detached from truth, from procreation, from covenant, and from self-giving love, the effects do not remain private. They radiate outward into the culture.The consequences become visible everywhereVisit Claymore Milites Christi to learn more about the Battle Plan! Watch Video: https://youtu.be/RUkRwYl25g4Support the show
Transcribe →#730 Sean's Same-Sex Attraction, Marriage in the Beginning and Where Christ Points Us: We Discuss ACT Six
3w ago00:36:07Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”If you’ve ever felt like you got dropped into the middle of a movie and missed the first half, you know the quiet anxiety that follows. We start with a deceptively simple question from Stephen Covey: are you building your life with the end in mind, or just reacting to whatever hits you next?We pull from Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and his “triptych” view of the human story: what love was meant to be, how the fall distorts desire, and where we’re actually going. That bigger horizon changes how we talk about same-sex attraction, lust, marriage, and even the daily grind of work and family life. We also get very practical: the Claymore 10-minute morning ritual (before you touch your phone), why temptation isn’t automatically sin, and how “praying with temptation” becomes the difference between repression and real healing.Visit Claymore Milites Christi to learn more about the Battle Plan for Young Men! Then we go deeper into the end goal: heaven. Jesus’ words about the resurrection reshape what we think marriage is for, why love can’t be reduced to sex, and how confession and mercy rebuild a distorted view of love into something true and joyful. If you’re tired of grayscale spirituality and want a Catholic worldview that actually makes sense of your body, your desires, and your destiny, hit play.Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.Email Jack with questions and comments to answer and discuss on future episodes! jack@ClaymoreMilitesChristi.com. Visit https://claymoremiliteschristi.com/Support the show
Transcribe →#729 When Science Hits The Wall: Piety, Father Georges Lemaitre, and the Big Bang
3w ago00:47:42Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”A universe with a beginning is a strange kind of good news and it’s not just for physicists. We sit down with historian and prolific author Russell Lawson to follow a 2,500-year thread most people never hear: for centuries, doing science was often understood as a pious act, a way of reading creation with awe, patience, and humility. When that older posture fades, we don’t just lose “religion” we lose meaning, purpose, and the courage to ask the biggest questions. We dig into the cultural turn Lawson calls modernization: the move from rural life to industrial cities, from silence to constant noise, and from “God’s providence is real” to “humans can fix everything.” That modern mindset can feel powerful, but it can also leave people stuck in cognitive dissonance...resulting in anxiety, and spiritual exhaustion... especially when the heart is searching for love and the mind is still searching for truth. Then we get concrete with science and the Big Bang. Father Georges Lemaitre, a Catholic priest and mathematician, helps introduce the idea of an expanding universe and a real beginning. The more astronomy pushes toward the singularity, the clearer the limit becomes: science can trace physical evidence back to a start, but it cannot answer what came before time. That boundary doesn’t destroy science; it invites humility and opens a sane conversation about God. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves science or struggles with meaning!More on Russell Lawson! The Limit of Piety: Georges Lemaître and the Big BangThe Catholic ExchangeRussell's Blog https://theamericanplutarch.com/Visit Claymore Milites Christi! Support the show
Transcribe →#728 Christ Appeals to the Resurrection: ACT Six
3w ago00:20:43Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”Your desires are not random, and they are not meant to be medicated into silence or fed with whatever the culture is selling. We slow down and take a hard, hopeful look at what the heart is really reaching for, using Acts Six of the Claymore Battle Plan and Jesus’ blunt words to the Sadducees about the resurrection. When you see the story in “three panels” creation, fall, and fulfillment you start to understand why marriage, sexuality, and longing can’t be explained in flat, two-dimensional terms. We also get personal and pastoral. After a talk, a young man shares his anxiety about attraction and whether he is still welcome in the Church. We answer with clarity and compassion: your deepest identity is not your temptations, your labels, or your fears, but beloved child of God. From there we widen the lens through Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, where marriage is a real gift and a real sign, ordered toward something eternal rather than trapped in the temporary. Everything comes to a head in the Eucharist, the supreme spousal sign of Christ’s self-gift: “This is my body given for you.” We talk about wounded desire after the fall, the courage to seek truth, and the concrete “knees before phone” Claymore 10-minute morning ritual from the Claymore Battle Plan Outline, and the simple practice of reading an ACT a day from the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook and sharing it with a friend. If you’ve been stuck trying to fill infinite desire with finite fixes, this is your invitation to start living in 3D. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review telling us what desire you’re learning to trust.Email Jack with questions and comments to answer and discuss on future episodes! jack@ClaymoreMilitesChristi.com. Visit https://claymoremiliteschristi.com/Support the show
Transcribe →#728 The Border and More: A Battle For The Soul of a Nation
4w ago00:29:56Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”The most disturbing stories at the border aren’t numbers, they’re names we never learn. We respond to a clip of reporter Ben Bergquam stepping outside a church to face protesters head-on, and the exchange becomes a window into something bigger: what happens to a culture when it trades truth for slogans and formation for outrage.We talk through the border crisis in human terms, focusing on the vulnerability of innocents and the ways cartels profit when order breaks down. The conversation raises hard questions about illegal immigration, border security, ICE enforcement, and the role of NGOs that receive public funding while facilitating movement across the border. We also unpack the mindset behind easy answers like “tax the billionaires,” and why that kind of thinking spreads faster in a society that has lost shared moral ground.From there, we zoom out to the deeper framework that drives the whole show: the Claymore three-step battle plan. We argue that lasting renewal starts in the human heart, strengthens marriage and the family, and then rebuilds culture through truth, virtue, sacrifice, and love. You’ll hear practical next steps, including the Claymore handbook and a simple 10-minute morning ritual designed to pull you out of the spirit of the age and back into prayer, clarity, and courageous action.Visit Claymore Milites Christi to learn more about the Battle Plan for Young Men! Email Jack with questions and comments to answer and discuss on future episodes! jack@ClaymoreMilitesChristi.com. If this conversation challenges you, share it with someone who needs a better framework than outrage. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us your take: what’s one concrete step you’re willing to take this week?Support the show
Transcribe →#727 Discussing ACT Five: "The Fall and the Call to Be a Man of God" Marriage and the Family under attack
4w ago00:35:54Tap to summarizeLove to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”A child can be treated like a purchase, and a pregnancy can be treated like a contract dispute. When that happens, we are not just arguing policy, we are watching the meaning of human dignity collapse in real time. I take you straight into the heart of Act Five, The Fall and the Call to Be a Man of God, and I name what I believe is the central conflict of our age: an all-out attack on marriage, the family, and the most innocent among us.I break down two disturbing surrogacy stories that show how quickly children can become commodities: one involving a legal loophole that allows surrogacy where adoption would be restricted, and another involving a third-trimester abortion demanded because a baby was missing fingers. Check out this episode on Video: https://www.youtube.com/@johnpauliirenewalcenter4023From there, I widen the lens to spiritual warfare, using Ephesians 6 to explain why the cultural pressure feels relentless and why confusion spreads when sin becomes “normal.”Then I anchor the response in Pope Saint John Paul II’s Letter to Families (1994) and the Theology of the Body. We talk about the “sincere gift of self,” why the family is a communion of persons, how fatherhood and motherhood reflect God’s creative love, and why every person’s identity is tied to a real genealogy that begins with a mother and a father. I also lay out the Claymore three-step battle plan: get your own heart and house in order on Christ, rebuild a true vision of marriage and family, and then work so our culture and laws reflect the beauty of authentic love.If you want a clear Catholic framework for marriage, family, the culture of life, and what faithful men can do right now, listen through to the end. Subscribe, share the show, and leave a review so more people can join the fight for truth, goodness, and beauty.Support the show
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