Bonus Roundtable: Compunction

Bonus Roundtable: Compunction

Author: Exodus 90 April 3, 2025 Duration: 40:57

Jamie, Doyle, Adam, and Jared from the Exodus 90 team meet to discuss Bishop Varden's reflection on Episode 14: Compunction.

Each week, we'll meet to discuss Bishop Varden's reflection and what practical takeaways we can glean from it and apply to our lives. New Roundtable Discussions will be published every Thursday.

We owe a special thanks to our partners. Desert Fathers in a Year is...

• ...written by Bishop Erik Varden. You can follow Bishop Varden on his blog, CoramFratribus.com.

• ...produced by EWTN Global Catholic Network

• ...and brought to you by Exodus 90. Download the Exodus 90 app today and get ready to start the Exodus 90 Challenge beginning on January 20, 2025.

You can listen to Desert Fathers in a Year on the Hallow app, YouTube, X (fka Twitter), Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts.


There’s a particular kind of stillness that feels almost impossible to find now, a quiet where you might actually hear something other than the next notification. Desert Fathers with Bishop Erik Varden is built around that search for quiet, drawing direct lines between our fragmented modern experience and the ancient, radical journey of the early Christian monastics. This isn’t a history lesson, though you’ll certainly learn. Instead, Bishop Varden, with the Exodus 90 community, acts as a guide through a year-long exploration, starting at the new year. Each episode becomes a point of reflection, using the stark wisdom of those who went into the literal desert to find God as a mirror for our own crowded lives. You’ll hear their stories and sayings unpacked not as relics, but as surprisingly urgent counsel for anyone feeling parched by the pace and pressure of today’s culture. The rhythm of this podcast is intentional-meant to be absorbed slowly, creating space to consider how their pursuit of essential truth challenges our own attachments and distractions. It’s an invitation to see your own daily landscape, with all its demands and digital noise, as a place where that same transformative silence can be cultivated.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 78

Desert Fathers with Bishop Erik Varden
Podcast Episodes
Episode 33: Xeniteia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:40
In this episode of Desert Fathers, Bishop Erik Varden explores the theme of fortitude through the lens of Xeniteia, a call to solitude and trust in God. He discusses the importance of preparing for trials in the pursuit…
Episode 32: Philosophy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:16
In this episode, Bishop Erik Varden reflects on the virtue of fortitude as taught by the Desert Fathers, emphasizing the importance of enduring hardship in the pursuit of wisdom. The conversation explores how ancient wis…
Episode 31: Gold [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:00
In this episode of Desert Fathers with Bishop Erik Varden, Bishop Varden explores the teachings of the Desert Fathers on the theme of possessing nothing, emphasizing the dangers of materialism and the importance of gener…
Episode 30: Foresight and Providence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:33
In this episode of Desert Fathers, Bishop Erik Varden explores the theme of possession and trust through the story of a gardener who learns the importance of relying on God rather than hoarding wealth. The conversation d…
Episode 29: Lovely Books [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:56
In this episode of Desert Fathers, Bishop Erik Varden explores the themes of unity in early Christianity, the significance of books in monastic life, and the balance between possession and purpose in knowledge. Bishop Va…
Episode 28: Lacerated Body [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:11
Join Bishop Erik Varden, a Trappist monk and Bishop of Trondheim, Norway, in this episode of Desert Fathers with Bishop Erik Varden, where he unpacks the timeless wisdom of the Desert Fathers through the lens of Abba Ant…
Bonus Roundtable: Sympathy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:21
Bearing One Another’s Burdens - Lessons from the Desert Fathers on Lust and FraternityIn this powerful bonus roundtable discussion for Episode 26 of Desert Fathers in a Year, host Jamie Baxter, joined by Adam, Doyle, and…
Episode 26: Sympathy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:06
Episode OverviewIn this episode of Desert Fathers in a Year, we delve into a poignant story from the Systematic Collection of the Desert Fathers about two brothers navigating the aftermath of temptation in the marketplac…
Bonus Roundtable: The Source of Strength [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:06
Have a question for Bishop Varden?In this bonus roundtable for Episode 25 of Desert Fathers in a Year with Bishop Erik Varden, host Jamie Baxter and guests Adam, Doyle, and Jared dive into the powerful story of Amma Sara…