Bruce and I had a conversation with Karl Schultz, editor of  “Christian Values and Virtues”  comprised of   Pope Paul VI’s teachings on peace, hope, humility, faith, suffering, love, and joy as comprised through his public audiences and his writings. Karl also shares little known things about Pope Paul VI. This book is a must read for those interested in understanding the impact of Pope Paul VI’s papacy on the modern Catholic Church.

You can find the book here

Ora pro nobis, Paulus Sextus. + August 6, 1978

[powerpress]

Msgr. Esseff reflects on the feast of the Transfiguration.  He asks us to take time and prayerfully reflect and ask God to show you those moments of “transfiguration” in our lives.

Gospel                              LK 9:28B-36

Jesus took Peter, John, and James
and went up a mountain to pray.
While he was praying his face changed in appearance
and his clothing became dazzling white.
And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus
that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep,
but becoming fully awake,
they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, 
“Master, it is good that we are here;
let us make three tents,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
But he did not know what he was saying.
While he was still speaking,
a cloud came and cast a shadow over them,
and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.
They fell silent and did not at that time
tell anyone what they had seen.

Episode 3 -Listening For Truth–Rediscovering the soul through prayer.  The interior life. Welcoming the other that lives within us and passing the through the wall of suffering

[powerpress]

Deacon James Keating, PhD, the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha, is making available to ”Discerning Hearts” and all who listen, his series of programs entitled “Listening For Truth”.

Listening for Truth leads men and women in a search for a fuller experience of God that begins in prayer, grows in the rediscovery of our spiritual being, and grounds itself in the truth of Jesus Christ. A presentation of the Christian life as an engagement of the whole person — body, mind, and soul — in the challenge of daily living.

For more information on the “Institute of Priestly Formation” and for other material available by Deacon Keating, just click here

Don’t forget to pickup a copy of “Communion with Christ” , it is one of the best audio sets on prayer…ever!

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page

Mary Our Mother

[powerpress]

On this faith check let’s talk about why Catholics believe the Virgin Mary is not just Jesus’ mother, but our mother too.

It was during the crucifixion in St. John 19 that Our Lord looked down at Mary and the apostle John at the foot of the cross and said to Mary, “Woman behold your son,” and to John, “Behold your mother.” ¹

Bear in mind here that Jesus is suffering the pains of the cross—He must be doing something bigger than simply asking John to watch after his Mother.  John here is a representative of all of Jesus’ followers, and Jesus is giving his mother to all of us.

In Revelation 12 John describes his vision of a “woman clothed with the sun,” ² who brings forth a male child to rule the nations and defeat the ancient dragon who is the devil.  Verse 17 says that the offspring of this woman are those who keep God’s commandments and bear testimony to Jesus.

Friends, God has given us Mary, the Woman chosen from all eternity, ³ to be our spiritual mother and draw us closer to her son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 -  Jn. 19:26-27

2 -  Rev. 12:1

3 -  cf. Gen. 3:15, Is. 7:14; Jer. 31:22, etc.

Show 42 ” Building a Kingdom of Love” –  The Blinding Danger of Greed

[powerpress]  St. John Vianney is the subject of the a book by Fr. Frederick L. Miller, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ, is the Chairman of the Department of Systematic Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  We had a chance to speak to him about the life and times and this holy priest.

You can find the book here

Episode 1 – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict: A Spiritual Path for Today’s World with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B., PhD.  Materialism vs Gratitude is the subject addressed in our first episode.  How to deal with things. “Do you really need it?” This is the question we are called to ask ourselves.

[powerpress]
From the Holy Rule of St. Benedict:

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Whether all ought equally to receive what is needful.

As it is written: “Distribution was made to every one, according as he had need.”177 By this, we do not say that there should be accepting of persons, which God forbid, but that due consideration should be shown to each one’s infirmities. Therefore, let him who needeth less, give God thanks, and be not grieved; and let him who needeth more, be humbled for his infirmity, and not lifted up for the mercy that is shown him; and thus all the members shall be in peace. Above all things, take heed there be no murmuring, by word or sign, upon any occasion whatsoever, If any one shall be found faulty in this respect, let him be subjected to most severe discipline.

Father Mauritius Wilde, OSB, Ph.D., did his philosophical, theological and doctoral studies in Europe. He is the author of several books and directs retreats regularly. He serves as Prior of our monastery in Schuyler.

For more information about the ministry of the the Missionary Benedictines of Christ the King Priory in Schuyler, Nebraska visit here:

Episode 8 – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Jane Austen

Jane Austen is arguably the finest female novelist who ever lived and Pride and Prejudice is arguably the finest, and is certainly the most popular, of her novels. An undoubted classic of world literature, its profound Christian morality is all too often missed or willfully overlooked by today’s (post)modern critics.

In all things, Jane Austen was a woman of faith. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in Mansfield Park, her most neglected, abused, and misunderstood novel. Like Austen’s other novels, it can be fully appreciated only when illuminated by the virtuous life and Christian beliefs of the author herself.

Jane Austen saw the follies and foibles of human nature, and the frictions and fidelities of family life, with an incisive eye that penetrates to the very heart of the human condition.

[powerpress]

Based on the Ignatius Critical Edition, this series examines, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, the life, the times, and influence of authors of great works in literature .

Joseph Pearce is currently the Writer-in-Residence and Visiting Fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is  co-editor of the Saint Austin Review (or StAR), an international review of Christian culture, literature, and ideas published in England (Family Publications) and the United States (Sapientia Press). He is also the author of many books, including literary biographies of Solzhenitsyn, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Oscar Wilde.

To learn more about the authors and titles available in the Ignatius Critical Editions

Here is a special interview we had with Fr. James Martin, SJ discussing St. Ignatius of Loyola

[powerpress]

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO THE FATHERS AND BROTHERS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

Vatican Basilica
Saturday, 22 April 2006  from vatican.va

Dear Fathers and Brothers of the Society of Jesus,

I meet you with great joy in this historical Basilica of St Peter’s after the Holy Mass celebrated for you by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, my Secretary of State, on the occasion of combined jubilees of the Ignatian Family. I address my cordial greeting to you all.

I greet in the first place the Superior General, Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, and thank him for his courteous words expressing your common sentiments to me. I greet the Cardinals with the Bishops and priests and all those who have desired to participate in this event.

Together with the Fathers and Brothers, I also greet the friends of the Society of Jesus present here, and among them, the many men and women religious, members of the Communities of Christian Life and of the Apostolate of Prayer, the students and alumnae with their families from Rome, from Italy and from Stonyhurst in England, the teachers and students of the academic institutions and the many collaborators.

Your visit today gives me the opportunity to thank the Lord with you for having granted your Society the gift of men of extraordinary holiness and exceptional apostolic zeal, such as St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier and Bl. Peter Faber. For you they are the Fathers and Founders: it is therefore appropriate that in this centenary year you commemorate them with gratitude and look to them as enlightened and reliable guides on your spiritual journey and in your apostolic activities.

St Ignatius of Loyola was first and foremost a man of God who in his life put God, his greatest glory and his greatest service, first. He was a profoundly prayerful man for whom the daily celebration of the Eucharist was the heart and crowning point of his day.

Thus, he left his followers a precious spiritual legacy that must not be lost or forgotten. Precisely because he was a man of God, St Ignatius was a faithful servant of the Church, in which he saw and venerated the Bride of the Lord and the Mother of Christians. And the special vow of obedience to the Pope, which he himself describes as “our first and principal foundation” (MI, Series III, I., p. 162), was born from his desire to serve the Church in the most beneficial way possible. (more…)

The video above provides a wonderful telling of the experiences of St. Ignatius prior to founding the Jesuits.  Contained in those stories is the encounter St. Ignatius had with a Moor on the road, and how a mule aided him in a time of much needed discernment.  A fascinating tale.

The ultimate homiliest… so much so that he is known forever after as St. Peter Chrysologus (Peter of the Golden Words).    Born in 380 and died July 30 45o A.D.  He was known for his short and inspired talks…make note: can be inspired AND short…wow!  He spoke out against all those nasty heresies of the time (Aranism to name just one) and encouraged daily communion.

Take a listen to Mike Aquilina (speaking of Mr. Golden Words) talk to us about this time in history and all those “isms”, and how the Holy Spirit worked through the Church to battle those false teachings

[powerpress]

Favorite quotes:

“He is The Bread sown in the virgin, leavened in the Flesh, molded in His Passion, baked in the furnace of the Sepulchre, placed in the Churches, and set upon the Altars, which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful.”

“Today Christ works the first of his signs from heaven by turning water into wine. But water [mixed with wine] has still to be changed into the sacrament of his blood, so that Christ may offer spiritual drink from the chalice of his body, to fulfill the psalmist’s prophecy: How excellent is my chalice, warming my spirit.”

Episode 2 -Listening For Truth– The virtues:  Fortitude, Obedience, and so much more.

[powerpress]

Deacon James Keating, PhD, the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha, is making available to ”Discerning Hearts” and all who listen, his series of programs entitled “Listening For Truth”.

Listening for Truth leads men and women in a search for a fuller experience of God that begins in prayer, grows in the rediscovery of our spiritual being, and grounds itself in the truth of Jesus Christ. A presentation of the Christian life as an engagement of the whole person — body, mind, and soul — in the challenge of daily living.

For more information on the “Institute of Priestly Formation” and for other material available by Deacon Keating, just click here

Don’t forget to pickup a copy of “Communion with Christ” , it is one of the best audio sets on prayer…ever!

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page

Praying to Saints

[powerpress]

On this faith check let’s answer the question, “why pray to a saint when you can pray straight to God?”

Of course, Catholics can and do pray straight to God.  But we also pray to saints, not to worship them, but simply to ask for their prayers on our behalf, just like we ask our friends on earth to pray for us.

In the communion of saints we are spiritually connected to believers in the here and now and in the hereafter.  For instance, Hebrews tells us we are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses,”¹ who are aware of what’s going on here.  We read in Revelation that the prayers of the elders and saints in heaven are ascending before the throne of God.²

The prayers of the saints are powerful because they have been perfected in God’s grace and as St. James says, “the fervent prayer of the righteous has great power.”³

Early Christian writings demonstrate that this practice was not a later corruption, but goes back to the very first centuries of Christianity.  So let us join with Christians of all ages in saying “all you holy men and women, pray for us!”

1 -  12:1

2 -  5:8; 8:3; etc.

3 -  5:16

Dr. Matthew Bunson joins us to discuss the recent encyclical issued by Pope Francis, “Lumen Fidei” 

[powerpress]

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LUMEN FIDEI
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON FAITH

1. The light of Faith: this is how the Church’s tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus. In John’s Gospel, Christ says of himself: “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (Jn 12:46). Saint Paul uses the same image: “God who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts” (2 Cor 4:6). The pagan world, which hungered for light, had seen the growth of the cult of the sun god, Sol Invictus, invoked each day at sunrise. Yet though the sun was born anew each morning, it was clearly incapable of casting its light on all of human existence. The sun does not illumine all reality; its rays cannot penetrate to the shadow of death, the place where men’s eyes are closed to its light. “No one — Saint Justin Martyr writes — has ever been ready to die for his faith in the sun”.[1] Conscious of the immense horizon which their faith opened before them, Christians invoked Jesus as the true sun “whose rays bestow life”.[2] To Martha, weeping for the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus said: “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (Jn 11:40). Those who believe, see; they see with a light that illumines their entire journey, for it comes from the risen Christ, the morning star which never sets.

Episode 14 – Herman Melville  and “Moby Dick”  on Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce 
[powerpress]

A sea adventure, a study of evil, and a cast of fascinating characters, including the crazed captain who is obsessed with hunting down the whale that maimed him — Moby-Dick is all of this and more.

Based on the author’s experiences as a sailor, Herman Melville’s probing look into the human heart has been read and analyzed from every angle, including the most absurd. The tragic tale is looked at afresh in this Ignatius Critical Edition, which examines the background and other writings of the author and provides his essay on a work by his literary friend Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Based on the Ignatius Critical Edition, this series examines, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, the life,the times, and influence of authors of great works in literature .

Joseph Pearce  is currently the Writer-in-Residence and Visiting Fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. , as well as co-editor of the Saint Austin Review (or StAR), an international review of Christian culture, literature, and ideas published in England (Family Publications) and the United States (Sapientia Press). He is also the author of many books, including literary biographies of Solzhenitsyn, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Oscar Wilde.

To learn more about the authors and titles available in the Ignatius Critical Editions