Welcome to Word Made Fresh, where Dr. Christopher West, Bill Donaghy, and Mike Mangione dive into art, poetry, music, stories, and everyday moments to reveal the sacramentality of reality.
No script. No filters. Just a conversation that keeps surprising even them.
Your Need to Be the Hero Could Be Hurting Everyone You Love | WMF28
What if the thing that keeps getting in the way isn't that you're not trying hard enough, but that you're trying to do it all yourself?
We start with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, where Frodo makes it all the way to Mount Doom and still can't let the ring go. The quest is accomplished, but not through the heroism everyone expected. And that raises a pretty uncomfortable question: how often do we do the same thing in our own lives?
We talk about the need to be the hero, the pressure to get our lives together, and what that looks like in marriage, fatherhood, creativity, and our relationship with God. Christopher even shares the words he had inscribed in his wife's engagement ring, and what it has meant to live them.
Maybe our weakness isn't the end of the story. Maybe it's where the real work begins.
🎙️ Word Made Fresh Links:
🎵 Listen WMF on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/45zfXd4tSlqoQQObSCLkwy?si=i1fda-9KSPe7hfP9QzYD4w)
📍 Tour Dates (https://tobinstitute.org/live-events/)
📩 Send us your art & questions (mailto:wmf@tobinstitute.org): wmf@tobinstitute.org
Christopher West:
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/cwestofficial/)
🔵 Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/cwestofficial)
🎤 Ask Christopher West Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/show/2dCkL6l7ogGgbNiqMf7K65?si=d39f694c9eb7486a)
Mike Mangione:
🎵 Mike's Music (https://ffm.to/heartinblue)
▶️ YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@mikemangione)
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mangionemusic/)
🎸 Mike's website (https://www.mikemangione.com/)
🗺️ Mike's tour (https://www.mikemangione.com/live-performance)
Bill Donaghy:
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thewayofwonderofficial/)
Theology of the Body Institute Resources:
🛍️ Store (https://shop.corproject.com/)
👨⚕️ List of trusted counselors, psychologists and coaches (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11GI1XK7viPMV36eBBNjxoKqzCENSRVyR1IoLpX6lqrw/edit?usp=sharing)
13 Oct 2026
Why Jesus Spit in a Blind Man’s Eyes | WMF27
What if one of the strangest moments in the Gospel is actually one of the most intimate?
Jesus spits in a blind man’s eyes. At first, Christopher West admits, it sounds kind of gross. But as he sits with the story, something begins to open up. What if the medicine we need to heal our blindness is precisely what we resist? What if Jesus’ healing isn’t distant or sanitized, but profoundly bodily, intimate, and vulnerable?
From there, Christopher and his co-host explore the deeper meaning of intimacy, the connection between Christ and marital love, the Eucharist, and why the Gospel is far more physical and visceral than we often allow ourselves to see.
They also talk about music, freedom, vulnerability, and what it means to stop hiding from the invitation to love.
And then comes a realization: maybe seeing clearly means recognizing that we will need Jesus to touch us again and again for the rest of our lives.
Maybe needing God isn’t something to overcome. Maybe it’s what it means to be human.
Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart - Here Comes The Rain Again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFnYcIqj6I&list=RDTzFnYcIqj6I&start_radio=1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFnYcIqj6I&list=RDTzFnYcIqj6I&start_radio=1)
And It Stoned Me - Van Morrison lyrics: https://genius.com/Van-morrison-and-it-stoned-me-lyrics (https://genius.com/Van-morrison-and-it-stoned-me-lyrics)
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Man of Fire at Letterman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YB1Z3kkPfc&t=17s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YB1Z3kkPfc&t=17s)
Bring On The Rain by Jo Dee Messina lyrics: https://genius.com/Tim-mcgraw-and-jo-dee-messina-bring-on-the-rain-lyrics (https://genius.com/Tim-mcgraw-and-jo-dee-messina-bring-on-the-rain-lyrics)
🎙️ Word Made Fresh Links:
🎵 Listen WMF on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/45zfXd4tSlqoQQObSCLkwy?si=i1fda-9KSPe7hfP9QzYD4w)
📍 Tour Dates (https://tobinstitute.org/live-events/)
📩 Send us your art & questions (mailto:wmf@tobinstitute.org): wmf@tobinstitute.org
Christopher West:
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/cwestofficial/)
🔵 Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/cwestofficial)
🎤 Ask Christopher West Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/show/2dCkL6l7ogGgbNiqMf7K65?si=d39f694c9eb7486a)
Mike Mangione:
🎵 Mike's Music (https://ffm.to/heartinblue)
▶️ YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@mikemangione)
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mangionemusic/)
🎸 Mike's website (https://www.mikemangione.com/)
🗺️ Mike's tour (https://www.mikemangione.com/live-performance)
Bill Donaghy:
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thewayofwonderofficial/)
Theology of the Body Institute Resources:
🛍️ Store (https://shop.corproject.com/)
👨⚕️ List of trusted counselors, psychologists and coaches (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11GI1XK7viPMV36eBBNjxoKqzCENSRVyR1IoLpX6lqrw/edit?usp=sharing)
29 Sept 2026
What If You Actually Believed You Were Loved? | WMF26
Ever wondered why a flowing river calls so deeply to the human heart? Join us on this episode of WMF where Christopher shares his 12-mile canoe trip down the Conestoga—navigating everything from bald eagles to city wastewater—and Mike reveals how class-three rapids unlocked a moment of pure wonder for his 11-year-old son. Bill unpacks our identity as homo viator (man on a journey), while diving into the soul-crushing disease of modern busyness, and Peter Gabriel’s Washing of the Water. Step out, slow down, and rediscover how Love is at the true source of the ancient questions every human has pondered: Where do we come from and where are we going?
Washing of the Water: https://youtu.be/AICeVeWpMts?si=Su2NCuVQu5iaiROC (https://youtu.be/AICeVeWpMts?si=Su2NCuVQu5iaiROC)
🎙️ Word Made Fresh Links:
🎵 Listen WMF on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/45zfXd4tSlqoQQObSCLkwy?si=i1fda-9KSPe7hfP9QzYD4w)
📍 Tour Dates (https://tobinstitute.org/live-events/)
📩 Send us your art & questions (mailto:wmf@tobinstitute.org): wmf@tobinstitute.org
Christopher West:
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/cwestofficial/)
🔵 Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/cwestofficial)
🎤 Ask Christopher West Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/show/2dCkL6l7ogGgbNiqMf7K65?si=d39f694c9eb7486a)
Mike Mangione:
🎵 Mike's Music (https://ffm.to/heartinblue)
▶️ YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@mikemangione)
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mangionemusic/)
🎸 Mike's website (https://www.mikemangione.com/)
🗺️ Mike's tour (https://www.mikemangione.com/live-performance)
Bill Donaghy:
📸 Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thewayofwonderofficial/)
Theology of the Body Institute Resources:
🛍️ Store (https://shop.corproject.com/)
👨⚕️ List of trusted counselors, psychologists and coaches (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11GI1XK7viPMV36eBBNjxoKqzCENSRVyR1IoLpX6lqrw/edit?usp=sharing)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
17 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
19 ratings
Contact Word Made Fresh
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
