09 Mar 26 – Offering It Up: From Our Cravings to Christ’s Agony

What does your morning coffee have to do with the agony in the garden? More than you might think. In this episode, we dive into St. Ignatius of Loyola’s surprisingly practical—and countercultural—rules for eating. Why did Ignatius say we should never fast from bread? Is refusing to eat food prepared a certain way actually a form of gluttony? And yes, we tackle the great coffee question: should you give it up for Lent, or is it a legitimate aid to your vocation? We’ll explore how fasting, properly understood, is not about self-punishment but about hope, trust, and training our hearts to depend on a strength bigger than ourselves. Then, we examine two high priests with two very different approaches to sacrifice. Caiaphas, the political operator, tears his robes in outrage and schemes to kill Jesus in order to “save the nation”—a plan that backfires spectacularly when Rome destroys Jerusalem just forty years later. Meanwhile, in John 17, the true High Priest prays—not for worldly power, but for unity, for consecration, and astonishingly, He shares His glory with us. (Spoiler: it has everything to do with the Eucharist.) Finally, we arrive in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here, Jesus gives us the ultimate blueprint for “offering it up”: honest anguish, complete surrender, and the union of our small sufferings with His redemptive love. If you’ve ever wondered why we fast, how to pray like a high priest, or what it really means to unite your suffering with Christ, this episode is for you.