Podcast
On The Road To Perfection
Hosted by Beth and Kristofer Cowles · ENGLISH
Holy Owned and Operated presents “On The Road To Perfection,” a weekly discussion between Beth and Kristofer Cowles focused on living the Catholic Faith as they take their evening walk.
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Episodes
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Life Is Advent – Episode 172
Dec 21, 202300:26:51Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 172: Life Is Advent We dive into this sometimes confusing and dismissed time of the liturgical calendar by exploring how life is Advent. Life is a series of endings, and to have endings, we must have beginnings. Our traditions pepper this discussion, along with the big things in our life and your life, and we offer some sanity to the confusing schedule of Masses you may be dealing with going into the Fourth Week of Advent, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. Yes, the Fourth Week of Advent this year is only a few hours! If Life Is Advent, this should give us pause to think about what we are preparing for, and rejoicing in. There are life events to prepare for, certainly, and they can cause us joy regardless of their emotional impact if we see we are in Great Preparation for the Second Coming. Whether it is the shortest Advent possible, like this year, or the Longest Advent possible, preparing for Our Lord’s birth, celebrating our New year. during this liturgical season should be a reminder that every day is preparation for the Big Day? That’s why Life Is Advent. We share with you the HOO numbers – from number of donors and total raised this year, to the number of listeners we have. We share our joys and anxieties of a particularly significant life event we are experiencing, and we revisit the joy of the birth of our own children. We are glad that you are part of our Advent, part of our Life. Life is Advent, reminding us that it is a series of goodbyes to get us to the Great Hello, when Jesus comes again. We have to journey through this Plan, participate in it. And participating with you is a grand adventure. It has been said that “Life is a daring, bold adventure, or it is nothing at all.” Adventure roots itself in Advent: Beginning. Life is Adventure. Life is Advent. Thank you for being on this journey with us. You help us remember, to prepare, to rejoice. You help us to constantly be in Advent mode. You remind us that Life Is Advent, leading to that Final Advent where there will be no more endings. Enjoy the anticipation; prepare and rejoice! Merry Christmas! Some items on our site that will help in Life Is Advent, or at least get you started: Page: Advent Resources TWMWU: Prepare The Way Of The Lord – Year C TWMWU: Second Week of Advent – Prepare! – Year B TWMWU: Second Sunday of Advent – Preparing the Way of the Lord – Year A TWMWU: Fourth Week of Advent – Promises Fulfilled! – Year B TWMWU: Christmas Day – Year B Podcast Episode: Celebrating Advent – Episode 70 Podcast Episode: What Is Lent – Episode 81 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Podcast Episode: Walking In The Catholic Faith – Episode 167 Search results for Advent on HOO Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic with Life Is Advent.
Transcribe →(Re)Building Trust With Our Children – Episode 171
Dec 14, 202300:28:53Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 171: (Re)Building Trust With Our Children Controversial out of the gate – but honest as always! – we jump right into trust between parents and their children by talking about a BIG reason parents need to rebuild trust with their children. This is not a marriage counseling session, but we talk straight-up about divorce from personal experience before we get into the meat of the matter, and this was a question a listener asked. Of course, there are many reasons for having to rebuild trust with our children, and there are great ways to build trust with our children. It’s a packed episode, so jump down off the curb and walk with us! Our episode last week was {Re}Building Trust With Our Spouse, and that was by design. Building trust with our children begins with trust between Husband and Wife. Children learn by example and imitation, and the parents are the first educators. Without that trust between spouses, building trust with our children is next to impossible – and we don’t really know how it can be done fully. We can’t give what we ain’t got. Once we get past that reality, we dive right into how to build trust with our children and how to rebuild trust with our children when we break it – and when they break it. Children need to know that we’ve got their back. They need to know that nothing is unforgivable. Nothing. Absolutely nothing is unforgivable. We lead up to the key to building and rebuilding trust with our children by sharing many examples that have worked and continue to support the trusting relationship we build daily. And yes, as we did last week, we share the key specifically. This episode is a couple of minutes longer than our usual length. But it is worth it – we are talking about a primary reason for Jesus coming to earth, and that takes some extra time to explain – and understand. Some items on our site that will help in (Re)Building Trust With Our Children, or at least get you started: TWMWU: The Virtue of Humility TWMWU: Jesus Died For Us Video: Fruits of the Spirit: Love Podcast Episode: How Do I Listen To And Hear The LORD? Episode 145 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Podcast Episode: Because I Said So – Episode 161 Podcast Episode: Walking In The Catholic Faith – Episode 167 Podcast Episode: (Re)Building Trust With Our Spouse – Episode 170 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic with (Re)Building Trust With Our Children.      
Transcribe →(Re)Building Trust With Our Spouse – Episode 170
Dec 7, 202300:25:44Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 170: (Re)Building Trust With Our Spouse Answering a question from a listener, we chat about building trust with our spouse, and rebuilding trust with our spouse, no matter the circumstance. Seriously – no broken trust is too broken, and we discuss that. We acknowledge difficulty in various situations, but get to the core pretty quickly. We share our deepest breach that we recovered from – yep, that one – and explore in-depth how you can recover, too. We give two very specific practices that will start working for you immediately! After we briefly shill about our new Catholic store because, oh, no – donations have dropped 30%! But we have a fun solution lots of folks have been asking about. So that’s the first moment or two before we dive into trust in marriage. Once we visit with our little friend Orson, we delve into Love, Honor, Respect, and building on that when first engaged and married. We go into communication and unintended and intended breaches of trust. First, the unintended. This can be simple calumny and competition with like-minded peers who start putting down their spouses – oftentimes when the spouse is not present. Even in these situations, trust is broken internally, intimately. Kristofer spills the beans on the solution to all of this before we delve into the intended breaches of trust, so you do not have to wait until the end! It is very hard to rebuild trust with our spouse when the breach was intentional. But rebuilding trust with our spouse after unintentional breaches with the key we give helps tremendously in the rebuilding of trust with our spouse after an intentional breaking of the trust. Intentional trust-breaking? In a marriage? Yep – and Kristofer shares a revealing incident in our marriage that bares the truth about our experience in rebuilding trust with our spouse. We expand upon infidelity, spite, disobeying an agreed upon action, and more. We cover solutions that help from outside the marriage, continually surrounded by the key that we share as core to rebuilding trust with our spouse. We do not talk about abuse in this episode. Abuse requires a special and specific path we are not qualified to discuss. We do share thoughts on the foundations of why we get married, and how the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony solidifies a bond of trust. With one final practice, we share the secret to building trust with our spouse, mutually, during Mass with a beautiful practice you can turn into a tradition with your spouse. It works! There is no breach that does not allow for rebuilding trust with our spouse. We learn this from Our Lord, and He overs perfect solutions, if we only take advantage of them. And we hope this episode helps you build trust with your spouse, and rebuild trust with your spouse when the inevitable breaches happen. Some items on our site that will help in (Re)Building Trust With Our Spouse, or at least get you started: FIRST: We have hundreds of resources for marriage and family to help in many situation. Additional specific items are below. TWMWU:The Virtue of Humility TWMWU:Jesus Died For Us TWMWU:Third Week of Advent – Rejoice! Podcast Episode: Praying With Your Spouse, Part II – Episode5 Podcast Episode: Marriage Preparation – Episode 40 Podcast Episode: Because I Said So – Episode 161 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic with (Re)Building Trust With Our Spouse.    
Transcribe →We Are Consuming Flesh And Blood – Episode 169
Nov 2, 202300:23:40Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 169: We Are Consuming Flesh And Blood We cover the facts in the first thirty seconds, making this the easiest and fastest podcast listen one might every have. We are consuming flesh and blood, soul and divinity when we receive the Eucharist; and we thought it important to discuss that and proclaim it. After reading an article in a Catholic magazine, this topic seems important. We doubt some of the claims by the author concerning the True Presence – the flesh and blood – of Our Lord being the Eucharist, and we explore that a bit which should be useful for parents. Remembering that we are the first educators of our children, parents need to be able to articulate, in the proper context for the age of the listener, that the Eucharist is the flesh and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic Faith. We cannot assume that when we teach it once, those who are ignorant will suddenly understand it; they may not even hear it the way we are saying it. Flesh and blood are hard to see in what appears, feels, and tastes like bread and wine. Faith reveals that reality to us, and we are called to pass along that faith to others. Children and inquirers may believe it is flesh and blood, but not know why it is flesh and blood, or how it becomes so. In this episode we talk about all things regarding the Great gift, and how to believe – and pass on that belief! After all, believing in reality is pretty simple. Some items on our site that will help in We Are Consuming Flesh and Blood, or at least get you started: TWMWU: Jesus Saves: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ TWMWU: Pentecost Sunday – Receive the Holy Spirit TWMWU: What is Marriage?(Opens in a new browser tab) Podcast Episode: The Sacrament of The Eucharist- Episode 109 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Podcast Episode: Walking In The Catholic Faith – Episode 167 Podcast Episode: Asking The Dead To Pray For Us – Episode 168 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic with We Are Consuming Flesh and Blood.  
Transcribe →Asking The Dead To Pray For Us – Episode 168
Oct 26, 202300:22:26Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 168: Asking The Dead To Pray For Us Asking the dead to pray for us can be a bit discomforting. It can seem blasphemous, useless, or silly superstition. But asking the dead to pray for us makes absolute perfect sense when we consider the belief that “we are all one body” and that body does not have separate, disparate parts that exist away from each other. Except for those who purposefully choose to separate themselves from the body and are committed of their own free will to the perils of eternal existence in Hell, the Church Militant – the body here on earth – can pray for the Church Suffering – those in Purgatory – and to the Church Triumphant – the Saints. And just as we can pray for others, we can ask them to pray for us. Asking the dead to pray for us in an efficacious pursuit for all involved. It helps us remember those who influenced us and emulate the way they lived that God wants us to take from their lives and not only make our lives better because of it, but the lives of those around us, too. It is easier to relate to the dead we know. Most declared saints we do not know, but those who have died whom we know are more relatable, and asking the dead to pray for us is more intimate, personal, and allows us to continue the relationship with them Asking the dead to pray for us leads us to reconciliation and forgiveness with, for, and from the dead. And that’s a good thing. Some items on our site that will help in Asking The Dead To Pray For Us, or at least get you started: TWMWU: God of the Living TWMWU: We Believe In The Resurrection TWMWU: The Glory of God: If You Believe You Will See It TWMWU: One Body in Christ TWMWU: A Thousand Generations Podcast Episode: The Perils of Halloween – Episode 117 Podcast Episode: All Saints Day – Episode 118 Podcast Episode: All Souls Day – Episode 119 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Podcast Episode: Walking In The Catholic Faith – Episode 167 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic with Asking The Dead To Pray For Us.  
Transcribe →Walking In The Catholic Faith – Episode 167
Sep 29, 202300:24:13Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 167: Walking In The Catholic Faith Walking in the Catholic Faith is an important part of Being Perfect and Being On The Road To perfection.In this episode, we focus on that walk, and what it means. How do we start walking in the Catholic Faith? How do we keep doing it, and encourage others to do it? Are we all walking the same path? The answer to that last question is “no.” But the paths we are walking, if we are walking in the Catholic Faith, are our individual ways to heaven. And by walking in the Faith, we are continuing our formation in the faith and seeking what the Catholic Church teaches. Hint: It’s not about fundraising or whether we like the priest or not. We discuss the other questions and more, in-depth. And give a pretty succinct answer to what it means to be walking in the Catholic Faith. Some items on our site that will help while you are walking: TWMWU: Perfection TWMWU: He Was Made Perfect Podcast Episode: Perfection – OTRTP0000 Podcast Episode: Family Prayer: What and How – OTRTP0008 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Podcast Episode: Being Perfect – Episode 165 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic this week.  
Transcribe →Being On The Road To Perfection – Episode 166
Sep 21, 202300:24:32Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 166: Being On The Road To Perfection We are called to be perfect, as we discussed last week. So, what does being on the road to perfection look like? If Jesus was “finished” and his ministry was “completed,” as it means when He said, “It is done,” by saying, “It is perfected” just before He died on the Cross, He must have walked a road to perfection. And so must we. In this episode we discuss that concept, in terms of what we are doing and how we respond to the call for our life. It’s a simple concept, and a difficult task, but we have the example of Our Lord which, from the proper perspective, is not an impossible example to follow and exemplify. How we endure the sufferings of life – how we take up our Cross – is paramount to walking on the road to perfection. Do we respond with faith, hope, and charity? Do we accept our cross that we must bear, or do we spend our entire life trying to change the cross – our being? Spending time understanding and discerning that the cross we must bear is there for our perfection, instead of deciding we are going to ignore it or refuse to acknowledge it, allows us to see more clearly the road to perfection for us. Our being is who God created us to be. God does not make mistakes. If we are debilitated by a chronic illness, have permanent attractions that are contrary to marital procreation, are feeling trapped within a sex with which we do not identify, or any of a myriad of states of being, we have to discern the why so we can understand the being, and not spend our entire lives denying that which God has ordained. Instead, we should discern what He ordains us to DO with that being. Are we so distracted by changing our being that we do not do what we should be doing? How many diseases are un-eradicated because talent that God gave someone was not realized as they were distracted by something they were changing about the being that God called them to be? Kristofer provides explicit example about his own being on the road to perfection and the extreme cognitive dissonance he encountered in his early forties as he finally discerned his true being. A being that he did not like, fought against, and even told his family he hated it – but he DID like it because it is The Lord’s will. Being on the road to perfection brings peace, and this episode covers how to do – and be – that! Some items on our site that will help in Being On The Road To Perfection, or at least get you started: Here is the Maxed Out Man interview that Kristofer gave and referenced. TWMWU:Take Up Our Cross!(Opens in a new browser tab) Podcast Episode: Perfection – Episode 0 Podcast Episode: Family Prayer: What and How – Episode 8 Podcast Episode: Family Prayer: Why – Episode 9 Podcast Episode: The Sign of the Cross – Episode 49 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Podcast Episode: Being Perfect – Episode 165 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic with Being On The Road To Perfection.  
Transcribe →Being Perfect – Episode 165
Sep 14, 202300:23:33Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 165: Being Perfect Being Perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect is a daunting idea! Starting from the beginning, when we first launched the podcast, we talk about Jesus’ use of the word “perfect” in Matthew 5:48, its Greek etymology, and His use of the same word only one other place in His ministry – when He is dying on the Cross. Being Perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect is to be who we are supposed to be, just as God is Who He is supposed to be. So how do we BE perfect? Glad you asked. The answer is here! We talk extensively about the peace and freedom that come with being perfect. Life is simpler, though probably not easier, when we are being who we are supposed to be. Going through life telling God who we are, instead of aligning our lives with His will, is a constant struggle. So, we break down what being perfect is for each of us, and how we can make that come about. Kristofer gives a concrete example of his discernment of who he is supposed to be when he was in his early 40s. It is never too late! Remember, being perfect is not doing perfect. Perfection in its doing is difficult, though only attainable if we are who we are supposed to be. The saints were perfected and perfected themselves throughout their lives – the perfect they were supposed to be – but it would be difficult to claim that they always did things perfectly. That’s the nature of our fallen world and our fallen nature. The Church does not declare a person in Heaven immediately after death – we can presume there was still some purgation necessary! Discernment of being who we are supposed to be is the only path to being perfect – we do not just fall into it and, in fact, get in our own way – and God’s – if we are constantly telling God who we are supposed to be (or not even having that conversation with Him) instead of letting Him tell us who we are supposed to be…and following through with being that! This episode is a summary of our teachings throughout the last three years, since we launched the podcast. Being perfect is a state of being, of course, and it is a way of life. God does not make mistakes, so the way we live our lives and who we are is what creates our imperfections. If that is the case, then we can also correct those and be perfect – be who we are supposed to be. We use examples from our own lives that were mid-course corrections Some items on our site that will help in exploring this topic, or at least get you started: TWMWU:He Was Made Perfect(Opens in a new browser tab) TWMWU:Perfection(Opens in a new browser tab) Podcast Episode: Ordinary Time – Episode 46 Podcast Episode: Discerning God’s Will – Part 1 – Episode 74 Podcast Episode: Discerning God’s Will – Part 2 – Episode 75 Podcast Episode: Jesus In The Desert – Episode 85 Podcast Episode: God The Father – Episode 104 Podcast Episode: Making Time For Prayer – Episode 146 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Podcast Episode: God’s Time Is Not Our Time – Episode 164 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic.  
Transcribe →God’s Time Is Not Our Time – Episode 164
Sep 7, 202300:15:30Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 164: God’s Time Is Not Our Time God’s time is not our time. Well, duh! In this episode that is short on time – possibly our shortest episode ever – we discuss the intricacies of life complicated by our concept of timing and how our own blindness to the Plan of The Lord makes us impatient as He works for our good with His Goodness, Beauty, and Truth. When we do not think God is responding to our prayers, it does not mean He isn’t involved and not doing things. When we are kids, we try to get God to do things, to fit him into our expectations. Do we still do that as adults? When we are non-believers, does some of that lack of faith come from not getting, having, or experiencing what we think should be happening? God’s Plan for us and His timing for us is better than ours, and we need the virtue of Patience to understand that. “Wait on The Lord,” says the psalmist. (Ps. 27:14) The psalmist knows that God’s timing is not our timing, and we need to allow it to be what it is: His. We cannot fall into superstition, putting God into a box. Kristofer expresses his doubts about novenas because of his expectation of them, as well as his concerns about the Rosary. God’s timing is not our timing, which means we cannot fall into the trap of the Prosperity Gospel or thinking we can bend God to our will with prayer. We get stuck in the perspective of this physical life that we are living that we do not recognize that we are eternal beings – life does not end at death. Whatever constraints we put on The Lord are miniscule to the big picture of The Lord’s. Our timing is not our neighbor’s timing, either, so we have no right to expect our time or timing to be paramount: God’s time is not our time. If He is present, our timing does not matter. Some items on our site that will help in exploring God’s Time Is Not Our Time, or at least get you started: TWMWU:Second Week of Advent – Prepare! TWMWU:What Does Ephphatha Mean? Be Opened! Article:We Are Here to Help Podcast Episode:Ordinary Time – Episode 46 Podcast Episode: Prayer During Lent – Episode 83 Podcast Episode: Making Time For Prayer – Episode 146 Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic.
Transcribe →The Love Of Money – Episode 163
Aug 31, 202300:26:02Tap to summarizeOn The Road To Perfection Episode 163: The Love Of Money 1 Timothy 6:10 is our source for this topic (not Proverbs, as we erroneously say!). We discuss the love of money in the context of the Mass reading recently about the rich young man asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. We look at the idea of a camel fitting through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich person might enter heaven, and explore what that actually means. Does God hate rich people? No. Does the Church tell us not to be rich? No. What if we are rich – does this story apply to us? Well, we are, and that depends… Riches come in many forms. And they can cause vanity, pride, and a million other things that distract us from The Lord. If we are distracted by our riches – those things that make us feel rich, important, better than others, etc. – including the “right” group, even a youth group that’s “cool”, then those riches are exactly what Jesus is talking about. Are we rich in our knowledge? Rich in our athletic ability? Rich in the number of friends we have? These are all questions of wealth we need to see that apply to us when we hear this story of Jesus and the rich young man. The riches that distract us are no different than the riches of the rich young man – they can be distracting and can be what we gain our identity from. Our identity should always be in Jesus. How many rich people did Jesus meet during His ministry? Many more than this encounter reveals. Jesus knows what distracts us from His Father, and this young man’s distraction was his monetary wealth. For others it can be anything of a myriad of possibilities. We are all rich in something? Are we humble enough to keep that from distracting us from The Lord, so that we, to, may inherit eternal life? Some items on our site that will help in exploring the Love of Money, or at least get you started: TWMWU: All Things are Possible For God TWMWU: The Important Things TWMWU: Complacency Kills Article: Putting God to the Test of Higher “Education” Article: What is Love? Podcast Episode: God’s Beauty – Episode 160 Your suggestions, questions, and ideas for topics are what we need to keep providing great episodes. Email us or use the contact page to let us know what you would like us to talk about, or comment below to let us know if we picked a good topic with The Love Of Money.
Transcribe →