Shows
My Delight with Sarah BartelThe Five Spiritual Attacks to Expect While Fasting... with Denise JelinekWhen we fast, we can expect a pattern of five spiritual attacks--whether the fast is from food, behaviors like scrolling, people-pleasing, or other comforts.The enemy works in our false attachments: to things, to false gods, and to false comforts. He likes to get us to put something above God in our life, and that creates disorder.Fasting restores order.It puts God back as the center of our life.Of course the enemy will pursue our soul when we do this. Learn his tactics, learn that this is n...
2026-02-1942 minMy Delight with Sarah Bartel3 Tips from the Song of Songs for Your Love Life 🌺It's almost Lent! Listen to the voice of the Lord speak:"I will lead her into the desert, and there I will speak to her heart." Hos 2:14So many good Catholic married women feel like there's a desert of some kind in their love life. Maybe it's a libido desert, or a postpartum desert, or a menopause desert. Maybe it's the ache of not feeling as desired by your husband as you'd like. Maybe lovemaking just feels humdrum and routine So many different kinds of deserts!The scriptures can renew our minds and...
2026-02-1812 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelWhat is Sexual Coercion? with Jenny DuBayMaking you feel guilty for saying "no."Wearing you down with asking over and over.You just want to get some sleep... the babies will be up at 5 am, so you just give in to get it over with....These are all examples of sexual coercion, which is a form of emotional abuse. Sarah is joined by Jenny DuBay, a certified trauma-informed Catholic coach, certified deconstructing gaslighting specialist, and certified narcissistic abuse specialist to talk about sexual coercion in marriage and the importance of consent to sex in Catholic marriage.
2026-02-0441 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelNutrition, Libido, and Perimenopause with Rita JohnsonHow does nutrition impact our hormones for libido and perimenopause thriving? Sarah is joined by Catholic nutritionist Rita Johnson of the Health and Hormones podcast to chat about how what you eat can impact your libido and perimenopause hormones. Along the way they chat about the power of dreaming, mindset shifts, and four high-protein breakfast ideas to anchor your blood sugar and set you up for a stable day... the kind of day more likely to leave with with some extra energy for intimacy at the end of it, if you want!You ca...
2026-01-2733 minMy Delight with Sarah Bartel🇫🇷 7 Reasons I Love France and Want to Take You There!Ladies, this is your invitation from Sarah to join her on a "Daughters of Grace" Women's pilgrimage to France in May 2026!It's this May 4-13th, in the footsteps of St. Thérèse, her mama St. Zélie, St. Joan of Arc ("I was born to do this!"), and of course, all guided, inspired, and devoted to Our Lady. You'll pray at Notre Dame cathedral, the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, Mont St. Michel where we'll seek the archangel's strength and protection, and culminate with a healing of hearts at Lourdes.The themes of the...
2026-01-1530 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelWhat Should You Wear to Bed? 💕What should you wear as you climb into bed with your husband for a lovemaking night?Sarah invites you to consider:Wearing something that makes you feel good. 1. It might feel good in terms of comfort. It might feel cozy and comforting on your skin and keep you warm. 2. It might make you feel good because it looks good on you. It's your color. The cut and fit suit you and flatter you. That's another wonderful reason to wear something to bed! 3. It mig...
2025-12-1912 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelDo You Need a Sex Sabbatical?🚫What is a sex sabbatical? How do you know if you need one? What do you do during it, and how do you change up your dynamic afterwards?In this episode, Sarah shares how a sex sabbatical can be a helpful way to reset your love life in marriage. If you're in a cycle of obligation sex, forcing yourself to have painful sex, or just feeling burnt out, used, or resentful about sex in your marriage, a sex sabbatical can be just what a wife needs. It can give her the time to reflect on how she...
2025-12-1321 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelOur Lady and Your Love LifeWhat does the Blessed Virgin Mary have to do with your love life as a Catholic wife? Is it even appropriate to turn to her for help in this area, seeing as she is a virgin--the Virgin of virgins, in fact?Yes! She is the passionate spouse of the Holy Spirit, and you do not need to be shy of asking her help with this intimate sanctuary of your marriage. -Mary is the perfect model of active receptivity. This concept can help you grow in your love life. Some women need to develop the "active" s...
2025-12-0908 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelTouched Out! 4 TipsSo many moms feel touched out by the end of the day and don't want their husband to touch them, especially not in lovemaking. How do you handle this?In this episode, Sarah shares 4 tips for handling that touched-out feeling that affects moms with young kids as well as other hands-on caregivers.1. Set boundaries with your kids to save yourself from some of the unwanted touches throughout the day--for example, teach them not to tug at your clothes, if that drives you nuts. 2. Take the time you need to reset and re...
2025-12-0418 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelA Sex Book for Catholic Women? with Mary BrunoMary Bruno wrote Missing Pieces: Female Perspectives on Sex for Catholic Women in response to a lack of women's voices among the popular speakers and authors who are most well-known for bringing messages about theology of the body and Catholic teachings on sex and marriage.The theology and teachings are beautiful and true, but they implicitly assume that sex will be pleasurable. What if it's painful, as up to 75% of women will experience at some point in their lives? What if they desire it more than their husbands do? What if the...
2025-11-2129 min
Truth & Fertility56 | Secrets to A Healthy (and Holy) Sex Life with Dr. Sarah BartelDr. Sarah Bartel is a Catholic sex and marriage coach who is dedicated to helping Catholic married women have good, fun, awesome, holy, amazing sex! We get into the nitty gritty of what a healthy sex life looks like and common problems women experience. Sarah is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to improving intimacy in your marriage and speaking into the details of how to have better sex with your husband.🎙️My Delight Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-delight-with-sarah-bartel/id1793405809⭐️Enhancing Marital intimacy FREEBIE: https://canafeast...
2025-11-1851 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelMaking Time For It When You're a Busy MomHow do you find time for sex when you'e a busy mom with young kids?First, Sarah shares three mindset shifts, plus a bonus note on attitudes about motherhood:1. You NEED to make time for your marriage. You don't find it, you make it. You need to make time for emotional connection with your husband, and also for sex. Ideally, you want both of them together, but if you only have time for one, consider prioritizing emotional connection first. Consider scheduling it, and have an attitude that accepts that preparation will make it better--just as...
2025-11-1227 min
Open to Life22 | Find DELIGHT in Sex and Marriage w/ Catholic Moral Theologian Sarah BartelIn this episode of the Open to Life podcast, Melanie Salazar interviews Sarah Bartel, a Catholic moral theologian and sex and marriage coach. They discuss her journey into moral theology, the challenges of balancing motherhood and ministry, and misconceptions about Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality, including marital debt. The conversation highlights the role of body literacy, fertility awareness, and Natural Family Planning (NFP) in fostering intimacy and healthy marriages. Together, they explore the dignity of women, the need for healing in embracing sexuality, and practical steps for cultivating joy, communication, and openness about sex within the Catholic community.
2025-10-241h 47My Delight with Sarah BartelWhat Is There for Husbands? ... with Nathan BartelIn this episode, Sarah welcomes special guest Nathan Bartel... her husband! Sarah asks Nathan about what led him to create his Holy Desires course for husbands. Along the way, they chat about:Philosophy (Nathan's Master's degree from CUA and his love of Aristotle)VirtueStruggles Husbands Face (mismatched libidos in marriage, not knowing how their wives' sexuality works, and finding the time amidst work and kids)Sex in Three Acts (Act I: Beforeplay + Foreplay, Act II: Intercourse, Act II: Afterglow)Men are Helicopters, Women are Jet Planes (Nathan reacts to a metaphor Sarah is testing out to h...
2025-10-0944 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelWhat Can You Do in NFP Abstinence Time?If you're using NFP to avoid pregnancy (TTA), how can you thrive in your marriage with the abstinence period in your fertile window? How do you stay close? What sort of physical affection and touch is appropriate? (No genital stimulation for intentional arousal.) How can you harness the extra boost from the ovulation hormones to set yourself up for better lovemaking once you get the green light again?🌸 🌸 Join me for the free Bloom in the Desert retreat: www.canafeast.com/desertbloom MORE RESOURCES Free E...
2025-10-0213 minMy Delight with Sarah Bartel5 Reasons It's Worth Working on ItMaybe you're a Catholic wife with sex struggles in your marriage, but you think, "Oh well, that's just how it is." In this episode, Sarah lays out five reasons why it's worth your bother to figure out how to make things better for you. 1. You're worth it. 2. Sex is the body language of the wedding vows, so learning how to communicate the messages of love in those vows well is important.3. The practice of improving your experience of your love life can strengthen your marriage. 4. You want to model a healthy, hol...
2025-09-2611 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelWhat about Period Sex?What about having sex during your period (as a married Catholic woman)? What are some things to think about? There are no moral prohibitions to this in the Catholic faith. Different NFP methods may have guidance around avoiding period sex if you're trying to avoid pregnancy. Some women may just avoid it because they assume it's yucky, but in this episode, Sarah challenges this thought. It is beautiful to be a woman, and having a period is part of the goodness of God's plan in creating women. Sarah shares practical tips, as well as a book consideration f...
2025-08-3006 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelWhat about Quickies?Are quick lovemaking sessions (less than 20-30 min or so) a good idea in your Catholic marriage, or not? In this episode, Sarah offers some cautionary and probing questions meant to identify if quickies are helping build your unity and connection or if they're reinforcing bad habits in your love life. She draws on quotes from Church documents to identify some principles to help you discern whether they're serving the highest goals of marriage.While the Catholic Church does not offer specific guidelines or rules about how long lovemaking sessions should be, in most cases, Sarah personally...
2025-08-2617 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelWhy Discovering Your Libido Brakes and Accelerators Is ImportantWhat gets you in the mood? That's an accelerator. What are you libido-killers? Those are your breaks. In this episode, Sarah describes common brakes and accelerators for women. She shares some ideas for how to learn what your own personal brakes and accelerators are, and suggests how you can use this knowledge in order to optimize your love life in your marriage.Resources mentioned in this episode.Come as You Are, Emily Nagoski (a book by a secular researcher on female sexuality0"Libido Killer" by Holderness Family Music (a humorous v...
2025-08-0817 min
Veil + Armour: Holiness in Motherhood and Daily Life48. Holy Intimacy within Christian Marriage: How to improve communication about intimacy within your marriageSend us a textCatholic sex and marriage coach, and moral theologian, Dr. Sarah Bartel shares her insights on marital intimacy from a Catholic perspective, explaining how sex is a physical renewal of our marriage vows and addressing common misconceptions that prevent couples from experiencing true intimacy.• The Catholic understanding of sex as "body language" that renews our marriage vows• Why there's no moral obligation for wives to always say "Yes" to sex all the time• Distinction between spontaneous and responsive desire in men and women• How socialization affects our comfort with sexual d...
2025-08-0547 min
A Life of GreatnessJimmy Bartel: From Premiership Glory to Personal HealingEver wonder how a Brownlow medallist, three-time premiership hero, and AFL icon becomes a gentle force for change? In this deeply moving episode, Jimmy Bartel joins Sarah Grynberg to explore the man behind the medals, the father, advocate, and quiet survivor of domestic trauma. From playing through pain to raising sons with softness, Jimmy opens up about what it means to break cycles, rebuild after heartbreak, and redefine masculinity on his own terms. You'll learn: *Why vulnerability, not victories, has become Jimmy's proudest legacy.*How he transitioned from elite athlete to present...
2025-08-041h 13My Delight with Sarah BartelWhat Counts as Just Cause for Using NFP?How grave do your reasons need to be to use NFP to avoid pregancy? The precise language the Church uses in Humanae Vitae discussing the kinds of reasons legitimating using NFP actually refers to "just reasons," "serious reasons," or "well-grounded reasons." The phrase "grave reason" is a mistranslation which gives the misleading impression that you have to be practically on death's doorstep or so broke you're eating dirt in order to use NFP to avoid. In this episode, Sarah looks at the categories of reasons Humanae vitae mentions, and offers some specific examples. She...
2025-08-0110 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelNFP with a Contraceptive Mentality? It's Not a Thing.Can you use NFP with a contraceptive mentality? Is this something to beware of? No.Sarah debunks the false worry that NFP users need to watch out for using NFP with a contraceptive mentality.She looks at the origin of the phrase in magisterial Catholic documents in its context to discover what the "contraceptive mentality" actually refers to, and points to additional references.References for This Episode:Magisterial Catholic Church Documents:Humanae vitaeFamiliaris consortio (1981, St. John Paul II)Gaudium et spes (Vatican I...
2025-07-2514 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelMarital Debt is Not Church TeachingWhat is this idea of marital debt? Where is it in the Catechism, or in other official magisterial Church documents? (Hint: It's not actually there!) What does a belief in marital debt do to a married Catholic or Christian woman?In this episode, Sarah tackles marital debt head-on, debunking the idea that obligation sex for wives is the teaching of the Church. She shares quotes from official church teachings and looks to a common quote from the Supplement to the Summa (not actually written by St. Thomas Aquinas, but by one of his students) that is used...
2025-07-2439 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelHow to Say No (Nicely!)How do you lovingly decline your husband's initiation of sex in a way that is still connecting and that doesn't feel like such a harsh personal rejection to him? In this episode, you'll learn how to put your "no" inside a Positivity Sandwich that affirms him and your desire to be connected in your relationship. *I address women declining husbands' initiations in this episode, but this technique is also very good for husbands to use when declining their wife's initiation, also!🌸 🌸 Join me for the free Bloom in the Desert retreat: ...
2025-07-1709 minMy Delight with Sarah BartelDon't Put Your Marriage on the Back Burner! 3 Reasons to Keep GrowingThe Abundant Catholic marriage course is on sale for 50% off (coupon code: JOY) until Thurs, June 10th in honor of the upcoming feast of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin!🌹 Learn more at canafeast.com/abundantYes, life is busy... but that doesn't mean you can let your marriage stagnate on the back burner. Here are three reasons why you NEED to keep growing in your marriage and relationship skills, as well as some ideas for how to work on your marriage. 1. Continuing education is important (and often required!) for professionals so they stay up to...
2025-07-0925 minMy Delight with Sarah Bartel3 Keys to Emotional Intimacy from Sts. Louis and Zelie MartinIn this episode, I’m joined by my husband Nathan as we share three keys to building emotional intimacy in marriage, inspired by Saints Louis and Zélie Martin.You will hear about how this saintly couple put faith at the center of their relationship, and how they stayed connected and united to each other while honoring each other’s differences. We also share practical examples from our own marriage and offer a lot of encouragement along the way! If you want to join my husband and I for a deeper look at the spi...
2025-07-0322 min
The Joy of Transformation - Faith, Prayer, Catholic Church, Resilience, Self-Confidence#91 Looking to Improve Intimacy within your marriage? Meet Catholic Sex and marriage Coach,, PhD Sarah Bartel, Part 2Inside today's episode of The Unplanned Joyful Life Podcast, Cathy Jo continues her conversation with Moral Theologian and Catholic sex and marriage coach, Sarah Bartel, PhD.
Sarah shares: How she came to specialize in marriage intimacy, common challenges that women face, and programs and that are available to improve intimacy in Catholic or Christian marriages.
You can find both Free and paid workshops and/or Downloads at:
www.canafest.com
www.littlewayofmarriage.com
headsteward@canafest.com
If this episode resonated or blessed you in any way, please take 3...
2025-07-0124 min