Episode Transcript  

One

The Hunger for Meaning

You know those times when you’re so hungry you just grab the first thing you can find — chips, sugar, whatever’s nearby — and only afterward realize, that wasn’t what I needed?

Our souls are like that. They’re starving for truth and beauty, but most days we feed them junk — endless headlines, gossip, outrage, distraction.

The result? We stay full of noise but empty of nourishment.

Leisure — our so-called “free time” — was never meant for numbing ourselves. It’s meant to feed the intellect with truth and the emotions with beauty.

If we keep grazing on what’s trivial or toxic, our minds grow restless and thin. But when we feed on what’s real and lasting, they grow strong and joyful.

So, here’s the question: What kind of truth are you feeding your soul when you rest?

Two

Truth you don’t Want

The purpose of free-time or leisure time is time to feed your soul with what it hungers for, to feed the intellect with truth and the emotions with beauty.  

If that’s the case, then here are some different kinds of truth that we should not be feeding ourselves with in our free time:

Superficial truth

Truth about celebrities personal lives, or the latest social trends

This probably doesn’t help you go down into the depths of reality. It’s superficial – it’s about stuff that doesn’t matter 

Truth that satisfies makes you wise – and wisdom is about being able to understand the profound truths underlying the world and human life – it’s not about being shallow.

Transient truth

Truth about things that are passing – this political scandal, that shift in the stock market, this professional sports trade – this is, at the end of the day, all trivia. Very soon none of this stuff will mean anything. 

It’s passing, it will be forgotten in a few years – so what’s the point of giving your mind to what won’t have any long-term relevance?

By the time you read about it – its old

Depressing or Enraging or Fear-mongering truth

Don’t, please don’t, give your leisure hours over to facts in the news or on social media that will make you angry or scared or sad.

Leisure is the time to cultivate joy. 

It’s the time to contemplate the truth that the world is good, and it’s governed by a God who is your Father and designed the entire cosmos with you in mind.

Truth that takes you away from that most fundamental truth might as well be flat-out lies.

Three

Scripture and the Lives of the Saints

One of the best ways to give your soul the truth it hungers for is to find stories that embody that truth. When you wrap an important truth around a great story of a great person, then you have a fantastic recipe. 

To learn the story of the Scriptures, for instance, is to learn the greatest story there is – God’s story of salvation – and to see in that story the fundamental truths about God and creation.

People like Scott Hahn, Tim Gray, Fr. Mike Schmitz and others are great for introducing you to this story.

But also the stories of the saints. It’s amazing what they did! It’s amazing the truth their lives embodied. Some of the greatest writers have written biographies about the greatest saints.

Read, for instance, Forget Not Love, the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe written by Andre Frossard

Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset 

Joan of Arc by Mark Twain, who said it was his greatest literary achievement. 

The Life of St. Edmond Campion or Helena, both written by the brilliant novelist Evylegne Waugh. 

Maybe one of the best ways to learn truth about almost everything is by reading the biography of John Paul II, Witness to Hope by George Weigel 

Read the Man for All Seasons about St. Thomas More, by Robert Bolt, or Murder in the Cathedral about St. Thomas Beckett, by T.S. Eliot. 

Louis De Wohl has written a number of novelizations about the lives of the saints.

Do you remember how St. Ignatius of Loyola became one of the greatest saints in history? He was looking for something to read in his free time, and he decided to read the lives of the saints. 

So you might consider trying it.

Four

True and Profound Principles

You can also get great delight from learning the true principles at the core of reality. 

You can learn how to think with the little book, Thinking Clearly by John Mark Miravalle, 

Or basic philosophy of life from writers like Peter Kreeft and C.S. Lewis

You can understand how science and faith relate from Fr. Robert Spitzer

You can understand the virtues from Joseph Pieper 

You can get a sense of the Church’s overall history from William Carroll – he has amazing books. 

It’s all out there. And it’s not just good to know – it’s delightful to know!

If you looking for something to do, why not get the greatest enjoyment from the greatest truth?

Five

Truth and Friendship

The search for truth is inseparable from friendship.

People who loved the truth loved to talk about it with others.

The great font of Western Philosophy is Socrates, who simply wanted to talk about truth with his friends.

Aristotle and his school were called “The Walkers,” because what they like doing most of all was walking around with their friends discussing important truths.

Even Christ Himself didn’t transmit His saving truth by writing books, but primarily by talking and walking with His friends. 

So who is the friend you have with whom you can pursue the truth?

A really easy way to do this is to invite someone to pray this Rosary Podcast with you and then have some good conversation. 

Or start a Rosary Group and run it like a book club. We have lots of great series you could use like the 30 Most Important Things to Know that we did in July and August. 

The only pleasure that compares to the pleasure of contemplation is the pleasure of friendship

And when you combine those two, you get about the greatest pleasure it’s possible to have in this life. That is why my favorite time each day is meditating on truth with Teresa and then having a good conversation. 

If you enjoyed this meditation, subscribe below.