Matthew Christoff from Every Catholic Man and Michael Donovan from Catholic Men's Leadership Alliance sit down to talk about this Sunday’s Gospel. It’s part of a special Lent program geared to help men be better prepared for every Sunday Mass during Lent. Each week, watch these men explore Gospel reading, looking for ways to grow in awe of Jesus Christ and grow in real happiness.

About this episode:
Jesus battles and conquers Satan in the Temptation. Every Catholic man can grow in happiness by building the Virtue of Temperance so he can conquer media "gluttony" and avoid the many near occasions of sin and by growing in the Virtue of Studiousness so he can replace idle and destructive curiosity with the useful study of the Bible.

Matthew James Christoff is a Catholic convert who focuses on helping the Church recognize and respond to the Catholic “man-crisis.” He is the founder of EveryCatholicMan.com which provides daily Gospel devotions for the Mass and a comprehensive set of tools to help men draw closer to Jesus Christ, learn the Catholic faith and grow in happiness by becoming a better Catholic Son and Catholic Father.

He is a co-founder of the Catholic Men’s Leadership Alliance and HeroicMen.com and several other Catholic men’s evangelization efforts. He is a key contributor to the Knights of Columbus Into the Breach Video Series and his work has been featured in the National Catholic Register, EWTN, Catholic World Report, Homiletics and Pastoral Review, Relevant Radio, and other national and international media.

Matthew’s professional experience includes working and serving Fortune 500 companies in the areas of marketing, strategy and organizational consulting and he holds a Masters in Theology with a concentration in evangelization and catechesis from the Augustine Institute, a Masters in Industrial Administration and a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from Purdue University.

Matthew and his childhood sweetheart have four married children and a number of grandchildren.

Mike is a Dominican-American cradle Catholic who took a 20+ year detour into Protestantism - reverting to his Catholicism in 2020. His preparation for ministry developed over the course of his life where much seeking, wandering, losing and finding took place. While Mike was raised to identify as a Catholic, the “thorns” of worldly desire quickly distracted him from faith in his pre-teens. In his early teens, by God’s grace, the Lord drew him to himself through a Protestant cousin, marking the beginning of a lifelong devotion to Christ through sacred Scripture which formed the basis for his discipleship alongside Christian fellowship and preaching. This trajectory continued through his University years at NYU.

Upon graduation, he chose to serve with a Protestant student ministry at New York University called The Navigators, accompanying students on their own faith journeys. It was through the relationships formed in Navigators ministry, that he met his wife, Deidre. Having never ceased identifying as a Catholic, Deidre found herself worshiping in the Protestant world where she felt she had more opportunities to learn the scriptures. Together, Mike and Deidre worshiped in the Protestant world until many years (and children) later the Lord led them to return to their roots in the Catholic Church - the home of Sacred scripture.

Upon becoming Catholic, Mike joined the Catholic apostolate Emmaus Journey where he serves to this day alongside his role with the Catholic Men's Leadership Alliance. When Jesus journeyed on the road to Emmaus alongside his disciples, Sacred scripture tells us that ”beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Mike's desire is to bring this fullness of revelation to those Jesus is calling to himself, and to play a role in mobilizing them in their own missions of evangelization and discipleship.