Going up the mountain offers an opportunity to come face-to-face with God, providing a perspective where we can see what’s important. Up there, we are invited to embrace the experience and the beauty of childlike wonder and awe. It’s a place of intimacy with and revelation of God. But the challenge as we go up the mountain is to let go of things. And it’s difficult because most of us have surrendered theophany for dopamine. We have been used to this constant consumption of “dopamine kicks”—the consumption of these things that makes us feel good.
As we go up the mountain, we need empty ourselves and allow God to lead us there. So that we can have His eyes look upon us, which is the purest, the truest, the tenderest, the most loving, and the most hope-filled.
This episode is the second part of our Lenten series on Fr. Mark Toups’s Lenten Companion.
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An Unfading Mercy (Lent 2026)
Do you ever feel stuck confessing the same sins over and over again?
Continuing their reflection on the Prodigal Son, the friars explore a powerful truth: God’s mercy isn’t a one-time moment, it’s something we encounter again and again. Like a path worn into the ground, the Father continually goes out to meet His children, never tiring, never holding back.
In this episode, they reflect on what it means that God’s mercy is “new every morning”, and how His love doesn’t diminish, no matter how many times we return. For those who struggle with discouragement, shame, or the feeling of “starting over,” this is a reminder that the Father’s embrace is always full, always real, and always waiting.
Join us as we rediscover a mercy that never fades and a Father who never stops coming to meet us.
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A Pro-Life Examen
Have you ever felt overwhelmed or unsure about what being “pro-life” actually looks like in your everyday life? Rather than focusing on politics or arguments, this conversation centers on discipleship: prayer, sacrifice, courage, and small, concrete steps that flow from the Gospel. It’s an invitation to examine our hearts with humility and let God show us where He’s calling us to deeper faithfulness. In this episode, the friars invite us into a yearly pro-life examen. A prayerful pause to notice where indifference, distraction, or fatigue may have crept in, and to remember why the dignity of human life matters so deeply to our faith. They speak honestly about how easy it is to grow numb and why staying awake to this reality is an act of love. Join us as we ask the Lord to renew our hearts and teach us how to love and defend life more intentionally.
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Silence of Interior Conversations
How much of your day is spent talking to yourself?
Replaying a difficult conversation. Planning what you should have said. Criticizing yourself for a mistake. Imagining what might happen next. Running through the same fears, judgments, and to-do lists again and again. In this episode, the friars explore the constant interior monologue that can fill our minds with noise and leave us anxious, distracted, or stuck within ourselves.
But we were not made to live inside a closed loop. We were made for communion. The invitation is to notice when that interior conversation has turned inward and begin directing it toward God. Instead of merely thinking about a struggle, we can bring it to Jesus. Instead of endlessly processing what happened, we can let Him meet us there. The monologue becomes a dialogue.
The friars offer practical examples of what this can look like in everyday life: after falling into sin, before or after a difficult conversation, when anxiety takes over, or when loneliness and discouragement begin shaping the way we see ourselves. Sometimes the movement toward prayer can be as simple as stopping, looking toward Jesus, and remembering: I am not alone. We are doing this together.
This kind of silence does not mean having no thoughts at all. It means allowing the noise within us to find its proper end in relationship with God. As our interior life becomes less about endlessly speaking to ourselves and more about being with Him, we make room for His presence, His truth, and His peace.
