Show Notes
This week the kitchen table gets a guest: Xavier Evans — Naval Academy graduate, United States Marine officer, lifelong friend of Annie's from Owensboro, and godfather to their son. He landed in Cincinnati as a plus-one to a wedding, and Ryan and Annie grabbed the chance to ask him the question this whole show is built on: how do the physical and the spiritual actually integrate when the stakes are human lives?
Xavier walks through the road from a small-town swim team to the Naval Academy, three years in Okinawa, and a year underway on a ship — 20-hour days, Marines carrying divorce and trauma, and an adoration chapel that doubled as the library. His answer to how anyone sustains that is blunt: you can't, not on your own. "My saving grace on that ship was the Eucharist." Along the way: why leading Marines is a ministry, how physical discipline and prayer rise and fall together, and the line he keeps coming back to — your life is not your own.
In this episode
- Why a small-town swimmer chose the Naval Academy — and how "the peace of Christ" sealed it
- The Academy as a "hidden treasure" of Catholic community
- "The reason you join is not the reason you stay"
- Leading Marines twice your age straight out of college — and why leadership is ministry
- A year on the ship: 20–22-hour days, and the Eucharist as saving grace
- "Most people don't rise to the occasion — they fall to their level of training and preparation"
- How to carry other people's wounds without letting them destroy you
- Why physical discipline and spiritual discipline rise and fall together
- "Surfaces and gaps" — exploiting the little pockets of the day for prayer and training
- Practical non-negotiables for the days you can't pray a holy hour
- "Your life is not your own" — and why your job can be a ministry, wherever you are
Mentioned in this episode
Gasper River Catholic camps · NET Ministries · the United States Naval Academy
Chapters
00:00 — Welcome, and meeting Xavier
00:52 — Annie's intro: growing up together, swim team, and Gasper River
02:18 — From the Naval Academy to the Marine Corps
04:14 — Why the Naval Academy? A call to serve
05:35 — "Fight mediocrity with your entire being"
07:09 — "The peace of Christ fell on me" — finding the Academy
07:55 — A hidden treasure: faith at the Naval Academy
10:14 — "The reason you join is not the reason you stay"
11:03 — Why leading Marines is a ministry
13:00 — Why classroom leadership isn't enough without Christ
15:44 — A year on the ship: 20-hour days and the Eucharist as saving grace
19:12 — God equips the called — but we have to cooperate
20:41 — "You fall to your level of training and preparation"
22:03 — Carrying others' wounds without being destroyed by them
24:22 — Body and soul: how fitness feeds the spiritual life
25:54 — The 20-minute run that unlocks 10 minutes of prayer
27:31 — Practicals: accountability and daily non-negotiables
29:06 — "Surfaces and gaps" — exploiting the little pockets for good
31:26 — Foundation builds on foundation
33:32 — A new mission: mentoring future officers in Maine
35:36 — "Your life is not your own"
37:42 — Your job can be a ministry — you don't need the title
39:25 — Closing prayer for Xavier and all who serve
New episodes every Tuesday, 6 AM ET.
Show notes, blog, and full transcripts:
healthinthespirit.com Follow along:
@healthinthespirit on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube
Got a healing story, a question, or a guest suggestion? ryan@healthinthespirit.com / annie@healthinthespirit.com
Health in the Spirit is recorded under the patronage of Ss. Cosmas and Damian, physicians who healed the body and soul without counting the cost.
This podcast is for education and encouragement. It isn't medical advice and doesn't replace care from your own clinician.
What is Health in the Spirit?
Health in the Spirit is a Christian health and wellness podcast with Dr. Ryan and Annie DeNome, a chiropractor and a theologian raising a family in Cincinnati, Ohio. Each week they bring holistic health, the wisdom of the healing saints, and the teaching of the Church into one conversation about how to live well, body and soul. Rooted in Saints, Scripture, and the Catechism, the show explores what the ancient wisdom of the Church has to say about the modern health crisis: nutrition, movement, rest, healing, and raising a healthy family. New episodes every Tuesday, beginning July 7, 2026.