Episode 9 – Dr. Stephen Barr’s “Modern Physics & Ancient Faith” part 2

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In this episode Dr. Reno examines Faith and Reason through the work of Dr. Stephen Barr’s “Modern Physics and Ancient Faith” and enters into the concept of “Scientific Materialism”.  part 2

 

“Christian Apologetics with Dr. R. R. Reno” explores numerous facets of faith and reason in the life of the Church and the world. Grounded on the work of giants, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Blessed John Newman, soon-to-be Blessed John Paul II, G. K. Chesterton, Blaise Pascal and Stephen Barr, Dr. Reno helps us to open our minds to make the journey to our hearts.

R. R. Reno is the editor at First Things: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life, and Professor of Theology, currently on leave from Creighton University. His theological work has been published in many academic journals. Essays and opinion pieces on religion, public life, contemporary culture, and current events have appeared in Commentary, and the Washington Post. In Fighting the Noonday Devil Reno suggests that putting ourselves at the disposal of what is real is what trains us for true piety. His other recent books include Genesis: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible and Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the Bible.

BKL 77 ” Building a Kingdom of Love” – “What is the garment you wear?”

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Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.   To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book by visiting here   Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “Building a Kingdom of Love“

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The Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Podcast is a reflection on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings presented by LifeTeen.com and hosted by Mark Hart.

Sunday Readings from the USCCB

Reading 1 IS 25:6-10A

Responsorial Psalm PS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6

Reading 2  PHIL 4:12-14, 19-20

Gospel MT 22:1-14

 

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine;

Bruce and I were deeply blessed to have a conversation with the late Fr. Benedict Groeschel on “The Virtue Driven Life“. Engaging, humble, funny, and saintly, Fr. Groeschel has left us such a tremendous legacy of teaching on the spiritual life! In this conversation we discuss the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity; as well as the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.  Fr. Groeschel, always practical, shares the wisdom of a spiritual father which illuminates more clearly the travails of the spiritual  journey.  How we blessed we have been to have such a spiritual master in our midst!

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May eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May Fr. Benedict Groeschel, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen!

 

You can find the book here

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Msgr. Esseff discusses prayer and the importance of persistance in faith.  What should we be praying for?  How should we pray for it?  What if we don’t receive the answer we expected?

Gospel LK 11:5-13

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?”

Episode 30- The Holy Rule of St. Benedict: A Spiritual Path for Today’s World with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B., PhD.

“The Life of St. Benedict pt 3”

We continue our conversation on the life of St. Benedict by using the biography penned by St. Gregory the Great. This episode brings to his interaction with the monk called Romanus and the breaking of the bell outside the cave.

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From the Life of Our Most Holy Father St. Benedict by St. Gregory the Great:

 CHAPTER I.

As he was travelling to this place, a certain monk called Romanus met him and asked whither he was going. Having understood his intention, he both kept it secret and afforded him help, moreover he gave him a religious habit and assisted him in all things. The man of God being come to this place lived for the space of three years in an obscure cave, unknown to any man except Romanus the Monk, who lived not far off in a Monastery governed by Father Deodatus. But he would piously steal forth, and on certain days bring to Benedict a loaf of bread which he had spared from his own allowance. But there being no way to the cave from Romanus his cell by reason of a steep and high rock which hung over it, Romanus used to let down the loaf by a long cord to which also he fastened a little bell, that by the sound of it, the man of God might know when Romanus brought him the bread, and going out may receive it. But the old enemy, envying the charity of the one and the refection of the other, when on a certain day he beheld the bread let down in this manner, threw a stone and brake the bell. Notwithstanding, Romanus afterwards failed not to assist him in the best manner he was able.

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

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Five hundred years ago, on March 28, a great mystic, founder, reformer, and doctor of the Church was born.  From March 27 to April 6, 2015 you are invited to join Kris McGregor of Discerning Hearts on a spiritual journey through Holy Week and Easter in the footsteps of Saint Teresa of Avila in Spain.  Fr. Giles Dimock O.P. will serve as Chaplain and Dr. Anthony Lilles will be our spiritual guide for this pilgrimage.

We will have more on this pilgrimage in the days ahead.  We begin with this conversation with Dr. Lilles.  For more information visit our page dedicated to pilgrimage at:  www.pilgrimage.discerninghearts.com 

 

Episode 9– The World Goes Mad

The Resilient Church with Mike Aquilina, offers a fascinating look at the trials and triumphs of the Catholic Church over the past two thousand years. Fast-paced sketches of critical periods in church history give readers perspective on the challenges faced by the church today. Mike Aquilina does not shrink from the realities of the past, including badly behaved leaders and those who betrayed the Lord. Yet he also leaves us all with well-founded hope for the future: God remains faithful in every circumstance and fulfills his promise to remain with his church always. Hosted by Kris McGregor

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Pick up a copy of Mke’s book. You’ll find so much more and invaluable references and resoources, as well

Also visit Mike’s “Discerning Hearts” page for more audio downloads and information!

Episode 8 “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher.

In this episode, Fr. Gallagher discusses the Three Modes, and in particular the we discuss “The Second Mode”:  The Attraction of the Heart.  When clarity is received through the discernment of spirits of either spiritual consolation or desolation.

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Father Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., was ordained in 1979 as a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, a religious community dedicated to retreats and spiritual formation according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.  Fr. Gallagher is featured on the EWTN series “Living the Discerning Life:  The Spiritual Teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola”.

For more information on how to obtain copies of Fr. Gallaghers’s various books and audio which are available for purchase, please visit  his  website:   frtimothygallagher.org

 

For the other episodes in this series check out Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s “Discerning Hearts” page

 

Episode 8 – Dr. Stephen Barr’s “Modern Physics & Ancient Faith” part 1

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In this episode Dr. Reno examines Faith and Reason through the work of Dr. Stephen Barr’s “Modern Physics and Ancient Faith” and enters into the concept of “Scientific Materialism”.

 

“Christian Apologetics with Dr. R. R. Reno” explores numerous facets of faith and reason in the life of the Church and the world. Grounded on the work of giants, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Blessed John Newman, soon-to-be Blessed John Paul II, G. K. Chesterton, Blaise Pascal and Stephen Barr, Dr. Reno helps us to open our minds to make the journey to our hearts.

R. R. Reno is the editor at First Things: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life, and Professor of Theology, currently on leave from Creighton University. His theological work has been published in many academic journals. Essays and opinion pieces on religion, public life, contemporary culture, and current events have appeared in Commentary, and the Washington Post. In Fighting the Noonday Devil Reno suggests that putting ourselves at the disposal of what is real is what trains us for true piety. His other recent books include Genesis: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible and Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the Bible.

Confession to Priests

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On this Faith Check let’s take a look at a common question: why confess your sins to a priest instead of straight to God?

First, Catholics are encouraged to privately confess our sins to God all the time and every single Mass begins with a penitential rite in which we do exactly this.

Still we should regularly go to the sacrament of confession or reconciliation.  Remember that in the Old Testament a Hebrew was to publicly go to the temple and offer a sacrifice for his sin.  In John 20, our Lord gives the apostles authority to forgive sins in his name, when He breathed the Holy Spirit on them and said “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” ¹Â  In 2 Corinthians Paul also notes that the apostles are Christ’s ambassadors who have been given the ministry of reconciliation.²

Early Christian records show that the early Church always understood this according to the Catholic view³:those who sinned gravely after baptism could be reconciled to the Church through confession to the priests, who do not stand as barriers to Christ, but as his ambassadors, who lovingly take us by the hand and restore us to grace after we have fallen.

1 -  Jn. 20:23

2 -  5:18-20

3 – See Catholic Answers website on subject: http://www.catholic.com/library/Confession.asp

Episode 29- The Holy Rule of St. Benedict: A Spiritual Path for Today’s World with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B., PhD.

“The Life of St. Benedict pt 2”

We begin the reflection of the life of St. Benedict by using the biography penned by St. Gregory the Great. This episode continues the teaching on detachment, particularly from our earthly mothers.

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From the Life of Our Most Holy Father St. Benedict by St. Gregory the Great:

 CHAPTER I.
Benedict having now left the schools resolved to betake himself to the desert, accompanied only by his nurse who most tenderly loved him. Coming therefore to a place called Affile, and remaining for some time in the Church of St. Peter by the charitable invitement of many virtuous people who lived there for devotion, so it chanced that his nurse borrowed of a neighbour a sieve to cleanse wheat, which being left carelessly upon the table was found broken in two pieces. Therefore on her return finding it broke, she began to weep bitterly because it was only lent her. But the religious and pious boy, Benedict, seeing his nurse lament was moved with compassion, and taking with him the two pieces of the broken sieve, with tears he gave himself to prayer, which no sooner ended, but he found the sieve whole, and found not any sign that it had been broken. Then presently he restored the sieve which had been broken, whole to his nurse, to her exceeding comfort. This matter was divulged unto all that lived thereabout, and so much admired by all, that the inhabitants of that place caused the sieve to be hanged up in the Church porch, that not only those present, but all posterity might know with how great gifts of grace Benedict had been endowed from the beginning of his conversion. The sieve remained to be seen for many years after, and hung over the Church door even until the times of the Longobards.
But Benedict more desirous to suffer afflictions than covetous of praise; and rather willing to undergo labours for the honour of God, than to be extolled with the favours of this world, fled secretly from his nurse to a remote place in the desert called Subiaco, distant about forty miles from Rome, in which a fountain springing with cool and crystal waters, extendeth itself at first into a broad lake, and running farther with increase of waters becometh at the last a river.

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

CW6 – St. Francis –  The “Never-Enough”  – The Great Cloud of Witnesses: Guides for Prayer with Fr. Mark Cyza

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Fr. Mark Cyza discusses the witness of St. Francis and how he was transformed through his encounter with Christ.

Fr. Cyza reflects on the passage from the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis,  when Brother Leo, the faithful companion of St. Francis,  heard him cry : “Love is not loved, Love is not loved”.  Leo asked: “Why are you crying, Brother Francis?” Francis did not reply, he simply continued to say, “Love is not loved, Love is not loved…”

Leo said to him: “But Francis, do you not think that you have done enough for Jesus by leaving you father and mother, your friends and a future of glory? And Francis answered: “No, it is not enough”.

“But Francis, – Leo continued to say -, does it not seem to you to be enough to have removed your clothes before everybody, to beg alms along the streets of the town, to embrace a leper… so that you are looked upon as a fool by your own?” “No, it is not enough”, responded Francis again.

For the third time Leo insisted: “Francis, does it not seem to be enough to suffer as you are suffering because of the stigmata, the rebellion of the Ministers, the illness of your eyes?” And once again Francis, this time in a loud voice, shouted: “No, it is not enough, it is not enough, it is not enough”. And he concluded saying: “Write it and remember it in you heart, Brother Leo, God is the never-enough”.

 

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The Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Podcast is a reflection on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings presented by LifeTeen.com and hosted by Mark Hart.

Sunday Readings from the USCCB

Reading 1  EZ 18:25- 28

Responsorial Psalm PS 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20

Reading 2  PHIL 4:6-9

Gospel MT 21:33-43

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking,
‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
They answered him,
“He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine;

Episode 2 – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Emily Bronte[powerpress]

Wuthering Heights is one of the classic novels of nineteenth century romanticism. As a major work of modern literature it retains its controversial status. What was Emily Brontë’s intention? Were her intentions iconoclastic? Were they feminist? Were they Christian or post-Christian? Who are the heroes and the villains in this dark masterpiece? Are there any heroes? Are there any villains?

 

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