Father John Devaney returns to the Rock & Roles podcast for a conversation around happiness, love and social action.
I did a podcast with Dominican Friar Father John Devaney last year and wanted his updated ideas this year. We started with the theme of “happiness” and mostly avoided talking about Trump but ranged over many areas of finding meaning in life day to day, minute to minute, in 2017. Although there are some aspects of Catholic theology as he sees it that are unique to that path, I find an enormous amount of common ground and Father John, who has his own radio show on Sirius Catholic Channel, is also a great lover of rock and roll.
Show Notes
Daily Happiness (Opening) – Father Devaney gives us the Christian perspective of happiness. This view says that happiness is not fully complete in this life, but there can be a day to day happiness in what is presented to us each day. Danny discusses this idea with Father Devaney and delves into how prayer and contemplation play into happiness.
“Aristotle gave us the concept that man is a union of body and soul. So that there is part of us that is immaterial and part of us is material. We are never going to be totally satisfied in this life because it is only until we see God, who is pure spirit, that the spirit part of us will be fully fulfilled. Since we are this mix, here and now where things aren’t perfect, we are never going to be fully fulfilled until we have that.” – Father John Devaney
Essence of Love (12:00) – Where does love come into Father Devaney’s tradition? He and Danny discuss the essence of God’s love and service to others.
“Our encounters with love, through each other, can be participation and experiences of the divine love that transcends down.” – Father John Devaney
Love God and Love Your Neighborhood (18:00) – How do we serve and act locally, while also doing what we can to help others elsewhere in the world? The two talk about the suffering and crisis’s that exist around the world and in our own back yard, discussing the source of this suffering and what we can do about it.
“We are so connected. How can we then extend our heart and our desire for justice 10,000 miles away when we see it brought to us on these screens before us?” – Father John Devaney
Making Change in America (29:30) – Danny talks to Father Devaney about what has been going on in American politics since he last visited the show. They dig into the systematic issues that plague our society, and what we can do to change them for the better.
Check out Father John Devaney’s last visit to the Rock & Roles podcasts here.
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Photo by Jenn Evelyn-Ann on Unsplash