The Intentional Household: A LifeCraft Podcast

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Many struggle with how to do photos in the home. This is part of a broader issue of great importance: how do we keep memories while living in the present? John and Sofia share their experience and offer some principles and concrete suggestions.

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Marriage can get harder as years pass. In any case, this is a common experience. Does this mean something has gone wrong? John and Sofia have a frank discussion about reckoning with the challenge of living the married life.

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Human life is necessarily seasonal, so really observing the four seasons is important, especially today. John and Sofia discuss how we can enter the spirit of autumn, and receive the gift it should be in our lives—despite it being such a busy time.

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How do boys learn to be men? To consider one of the great life questions, we need a clear vision of what a man is, and how he should act. John and Sofia start this discussion with a simple but revealing question: what does a real man do when he enters a room?

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Since Berry’s death many are taking stock of his unique voice warning of the tragic demise of community and household, culture and agriculture in twentieth century America. But his prodigious appeal and influence are most evident in his pointing to something beautiful still very much in our reach. John and Sofia share the astounding gift his work has been for their own household.

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Home is the natural place to die. How the elderly need us, and we need them, should give form and direction to every household—even if the elderly do not live with us right now. This lecture explores the amazing and surprising gift of God’s plan for growing old, dying, and death in the household.

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Seeing home as where new life begins gives key insight into making our homes all they should be—even if we are not now welcoming babies. This is the first of two lectures from our LifeCraft Day offering principles and actions steps based on home as the natural place for beginning and ending life.

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“What do you do when you’re tired, just really tired?” John and Sofia unpack this pressing question and address this very common experience, offering a realistic and encouraging analysis and approach.

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Reading together might be one of the most underrated and under-practiced activities for spouses, friends, and other close relationships. John and Sofia share their own experience and reflect on just how powerful reading together can be in deepening the most important relationships in our life.

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The feminine genius is complex. Perhaps its central feature is in making the home a place of unique life-giving power. But it cannot be taken for granted. It must be chosen and cultivated; and it comes with a price. John draws out Sofia regarding this breath-taking reality.

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Since leisure is the cornerstone of home life, these five concrete steps are golden keys for crafting the good life in our homes. John and Sofia go in depth about this list from chapter four of John’s new book The Intentional Household, making clear how true leisure is very much in our reach.

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Reclaiming our households demands a clear understanding of the main aspects of homelife. True leisure—which we can neither understand nor practice apart from good work—is the most crucial and difficult piece in the puzzle. John and Sofia discuss what leisure really is and how prioritizing it is at the center of crafting the good life in our homes.

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Human life demands good goodbyes. But too often we bumble through them—as if taken by surprise—or simply avoid them. John and Sofia discuss how our goodbyes should be expression of our deepest convictions, and how every day in our home we can cultivate the dispositions that will make our goodbyes—both big and small—all they can be.

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The book is finally here. It expounds the root principles behind all our podcasts. It clearly and winningly presents a radical approach to forging the kind of household for which we naturally yearn. Sofia draws out John on the key insights of his new book, showing why it will give new direction and confidence for anyone concerned about the central issue of our age.

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Each season not only reminds us of key truths about what it is to be human but also offers unique opportunities to enact those truths. And home is the most obvious and natural place to experience this powerful reality. John and Sofia consider a central gift of spring: the call to reconnect with our bodies and with the natural world, especially through bodily work in our household.

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Bodily pleasures are more important and chastity is more profound than we realize. Plato sagely noted that most people are inexperienced in pleasure, including pleasures of the body. John and Sofia open a new window onto the beauty of daily bodily pleasures in the home, and how they can be an essential training in chastity, and in spiritual pleasures, for young and old alike.

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We most associate parenting with raising the young; but there is more to it. Parents have a key role for as long as they live, and the long view provides needed perspective for parents of all ages. John and Sofia discuss a practical approach to parenting adult children, highlighting what changes, and what doesn’t.

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Spouses seek to share their lives in the deepest way possible. But the spiritual life—which should be at the very center of each person’s life—presents unique challenges in sharing. John and Sofia consider this crucial but under-considered feature of married life, offering a hopeful and practical approach, especially fitting for Lent.

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We are animals, so seasons are a key feature of human life. But we often miss this. Winter is a clarion call to slow down and look inside—our homes and our hearts. John and Sofia discuss how to make this winter a time of coming home and discovering the deeper richness we long for.

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As temporal creatures, it is fitting for us to mark certain times for new beginnings. January is an excellent time for such intentionality. John and Sofia take a principled and practical approach to making the new year an occasion for examining our life and refocusing on what is most important, starting at home.

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The most wonderful time of the year is often also remarkably difficult for several reasons. John and Sofia discuss how we can face these challenges, making them part of the gift of this unique holy season.

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What both men and women do in the home is often very hidden. This can be strikingly beautiful and at times quite painful. John and Sofia reflect—with the help of a spiritual masterpiece—on what we can learn about this regular feature of homelife from the remarkable hidden life of Joseph of Nazareth.

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Giving gifts is integral to how most of us celebrate Christmas, but discerning how to do it is challenging. John and Sofia discuss how a principled approach can help us avoid common pitfalls and make our gift-giving a truly life-giving part of our Christmas celebration.

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One of the most urgent of parental duties often does not get the attention it demands. Our children need our serious, principled, and courageous direction in the area of romantic attraction and dating. John and Sofia discuss how parents can grow close to their children in providing the wisdom and perspective today's young people so need.

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All humor aside, a man has a daunting task in doing for his wife what the marriage relationship calls for. John and Sofia read excerpts from a remarkable text by St. John Chrysostom and discuss its practical implications for every day life.

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We all notice it but often feel stumped at how to address it. The loss of responsibility is not random. Knowing its causes can go a long way in improving our own life and giving direction for forming our youth for true success. John and Sofia dig into the reality of responsibility and how to cultivate a sense of it.

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Eating well should be a major focus in the home; but it’s often hard to know where to start. John and Sofia share how Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions changed how they eat, and how it can do the same for you, one simple step at a time.

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Beginnings and endings are always important, and nowhere more than in daily life in the home. Simple routines can make all the difference. John and Sofia discuss principles and concrete practices for starting and ending our days well.

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Experience shows that really listening to one another is at the heart of marriage. But it is so hard to achieve. John and Sofia frankly share the ups and downs of their own spousal communication, shedding light on how such difficulties can be a gift, part of an ever-surprising plan for marriage

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Good philosophy makes clear: the power called ‘imagination’ has a dramatic while often unnoticed influence in our life. It is central in forming our thoughts and desires. Recognizing this truth gives practical direction for rethinking daily practices for ourselves, our children, and all our loved ones, starting in our home.

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John’s lecture from LifeCraft Day at the Barn is a hard-hitting presentation of why music and dance matter, of the problems we face in this area today, and of what we can do to harness their power for good in our homes and communities.

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Hospitality is much more than just a nice way to spend time with people; in the loss of real hospitality households have suffered a serious wound. Join John and Sofia in discussing the fuller nature of hospitality and why and how to rediscover it for the sake of fulfilling the deepest calling of the household.

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What to do for our children’s ‘education’ is one of the most important and difficult issues. This immediately demands some clear thinking about the overall goal in raising children. Join John and Sofia in a wide-ranging discussion that addresses how to think about academic formation in light of the deeper issue of personal formation through every-day life in the home.

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Are dishes, laundry, and cleaning more of a woman’s work? Is it important for men to do such work in the home? If so, why? Join John and Sofia in considering an important and challenging aspect of making a household today.

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The pervasive decline in manners leaves many wondering what can be done and what difference it makes. Join John and Sofia in considering age-old principles that both show how crucial good manners are and point to how we can work to restore them, starting in our own homes.

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Vacations have a significant role in making a household. With an intentional approach, grounded in a couple of key distinctions and principles, we can make our vacations restful and fun even as we build relationships and deepen our family culture. Join Sofia and John in thinking about this unconsidered aspect of family life.

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An Interview with Chris Vander Woude

The heroic death of Tom Vander Woude highlights the extraordinary beauty of his ‘ordinary’ life. You will be deeply moved by this account of a man’s death and life as told by his son. Here is an inspiring yet down-to-earth example of a true man of the household for our times, whose potential cause for canonization is being considered.

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