Episode 3 –  Confession: the history of mercy

Roots of the Faith – From the Church Fathers to You with Mike Aquilina, makes clear that just as an acorn grows into a tree and yet remains the same plant, so the Catholic Church is a living organism that has grown from the faith of the earliest Christians into the body of  Christ we know today. 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!

While my heart sings for joy because I know he must be with Lord in heaven, it’s also so sad knowing the Church Miltant no longer has one of it’s greatest contemplative teachers in its temporal midst.  Fr. Thomas Dubay died, September 26, 2010.  Fr. Dubay led me to St. Teresa of Avila.  His work on “Fire Within” and all the programs he gave us on EWTN were instrumental in my spiritual growth.  In those early days, he was like having a distant spiritual director who guided me, as well as the rest of us, toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

He told me once, “Kris, the best theology books are the lives of the saints; you study them and you won’t be led astray.”  Fr. Thomas Dubay, in a very real way, helped inspire the work of this blog and it’s mission.

It was an INCREDIBLE blessing to have had the chance to speak with Fr. Thomas Dubay about his book “Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer”…I was SO nervous, because I was so awe struck, but he made it so easy.

I’m leaving now to light a candle for Fr. Dubay at our church…it doesn’t seem like much given the fact he was such an important part of my spiritual growth, but then again I think it would make him happy knowing I was offering that “prayer” from the depths of my heart.  I can’t wait to meet him in person one day.  Fr. Thomas Dubay, pray for us.

One of the great modern day conversion stories…the Hahn’s, Scott and Kimberly!  They have had a profound affect on the McGregor hearts and continue to point the discerning hearts of so many more brothers and sisters towards the depths of  Truth.  Don’t forget…conversion is a verb, not a noun.  It’s an action that continues every moment of every day as we journey home.  Join the wonderful Marcus Grodi, with a story that never grows old…

Wow…as a parent there could be nothing more difficult then the death of your child, but then imagine being there for their beatification in Rome!  That has been the experience of Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano.

The life and witness of Blessed Chiara Luce Badano is one not just for youth, but for us all!!!!

             

Maria Grazia Magrini, vice-postulator of Chiara Badano’s cause for canonization, told ZENIT: “She put Jesus in the first place. She called him ‘my spouse.'” 

As a young girl, she liked to sing, dance, play tennis and skate. She loved the mountains and the sea. “She also tried to go to Mass every day,” said Magrini.

One day, at age 17, while playing tennis the adolescent felt an acute pain. Her mother recalled: “She returned home and was very pale. She went upstairs.” 

The mother asked her: “Why did you come back, Chiara?” The youth explained, “Because during the match I felt such an sharp pain in my back that I dropped the racquet.”

The pain worsened. Doctors soon discovered bone cancer. As the disease progressed, Badano faced repeated hospitalizations and increasing pain. She often repeated, “For you, Jesus. If you wish it, so do I!” 

Her mother still remembers when she came home after the first session of chemotherapy. She did not want to talk. Maria Teresa recalled: “I looked at her and I saw the expression on her face, all the struggle she was combating within herself to say her ‘yes’ to Jesus.” After 25 minutes, she said to her mother “now you can talk.”

Going to meet Jesus

Chiara underwent surgery, which was unsuccessful; from that moment she lost the use of her legs. 

According to her vice postulator, this young athlete, notwithstanding the very painful moment, exclaimed: “If I had to choose between walking or going to paradise, I wouldn’t hesitate, I’d choose paradise.”

At that time her friendship with Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, who decided to call the youth Chiara “Luce” Badano, became very close.

She spent several months in agony, preparing for her encounter with Jesus. “The most beautiful moments were during the last summer,” said her friend, Chicca. “She was motionless in her bed,” she recalled. 

Magrini highlighted Chiara’s attitude: “She didn’t cry, didn’t lament, she looked at the image of Jesus.”

Chicca recalled how Chiara wished to prepare her own funeral: the songs of the Mass, the dress and hairdo: Everything was for her a celebration. The friend recalled, “She told me she wanted to be buried in a white dress, as a bride that goes to meet Jesus.”

Chiara made one last exhortation to her mother: “When you dress me, you must repeat three times: Now Chiara is seeing Jesus.” Chiara also asked that the cornea of her eyes be donated to two youths. 

She died on Oct. 7, 1990. Her last words to her mother were: “Be happy because I’m happy.” – Zenit

Discerning Hearts shares a newly released video by Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in which he explains how new definitions of marriage could seriously harm society.  This issue is a difficult subject to articulate compassionately to family, friends and others who misunderstand the Church’s important pastoral teaching on marriage.  Archbishop Nienstedt offers a helpful instruction concerning the traditional view of marriage in relation to same-sex “marriage” initiatives.  He speaks about current efforts in Minnesota, but what he has to say can be used as a general instruction for all.

In addition to his defense of marriage as a matter of both faith and basic human reason, the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis carefully articulates the Church’s position of compassion toward individuals forced to bring up children alone, as well as those who experience same-sex attractions.

“The Church’s teaching on marriage,” he affirms, “is not a condemnation of homosexual persons as human beings. It is simply a reflection, not only of the Scriptures, but of the unique, procreative nature of the male-female bond.”

A shining example of how reason and science can lead to faith. Dr. Kevin Vost is a cradle Catholic, who fell into aethism at the age of 17.  He would stay there for over 2 decades, until gradually through reasoned enlightenment (showered with God’s grace)  the fallacy in aethistic philosophy was revealed and the glory of real Truth became known.  Wonderful read…the journey really can be made from the head to the heart, just ask Dr. Kevin Vost!

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Pick up a copy of Kevin’s book

Be sure to visit Dr.  Kevin Vost’s website

 

OK, everyone lets  put the Little Flower to work (it brings her great  joy, don’tcha know)!  Today begins the novena to St. Therese of Lisieux.  Her feast day is Oct. 1.  She’s only merely huge… why she’s only slightly enormous…barely gigantic in all the little ways…she’s Our Little Flower.  A Doctor of the Church, who’s little way leads to the greatest love.

Teresa of Elkhorn, (Teresa Monaghen of course) leads us in our Novena to St. Therese.

George Weigel give us “The End and The Beginning:  Pope John Paul II – The Victory of of Freedom, The Last Years, The Legacy”. What a tremendous blessing to reflect once again on the life of a modern day saint…our very own late great Holy Father, John Paul II.  George Weigel doesn’t disappoint.  The first part of the book  reads like a spy novel…even more compelling because it’s true.  The second part, covers the last 6 years of the Pope John Paul’s life, the jubilee and so much more.  The last part sets the stage for a legacy which will be reflected and pondered on for generations, if not centuries.  It’s as much our story as Church as it is the life of  Pope John Paul II.  Don’t miss this one…it is essential reading!!!

 

You can pick up the book here

Visit the Ethic and Public Policy Center for more information

The most dangerous thing about Conn and David Iggulden’s book is that you’ll be inspired to heroism. From George Washington to Edith Cavell, from The Women of the SOE to Flight 93, the Dangerous Book of Heroes inspires young and old…it’s what good story telling is all about.  Some stories may be a little more than some very young listeners can take in, but don’t let that stop you from diving in yourself….the very best stories are the one’s we grow into.  Conn Iggulden and his brother David have given us all a gift.

 

You can find more about the book here

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“Much loved father of souls…” Pope Benedict XVI

As reported by the Catholic Herald UK
Pope Benedict XVI today beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman in a historic Mass at Cofton Park, Birmingham – the first beatification ever to take place on British soil.

In his homily, the Pope placed Cardinal Newman in a tradition of English martyrs and saintly scholars, and praised the “warmth and humanity” of his priestly ministry.

He also noted that it was the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and paid tribute to English men and women who resisted the “evil ideology” of Nazism.

He said: “For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology.

“My thoughts go in particular to nearby Coventry, which suffered such heavy bombardment and massive loss of life in November 1940,” the Pope said.

He explained Newman was the latest in a “long line” of saintly British scholars, including St Bede, St Hilda, St Aelred, and Blessed Duns Scotus. It was a tradition, he said, “of gentle scholarship, deep human wisdom and profound love for the Lord”.

He pointed to Newman’s “devoted care for the people of Birmingham … visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison”.

“No wonder,” he said, “that on his death so many thousands of people lined the local streets as his body was taken to its place of burial not half a mile from here”.

The Pope said that given his holiness it was fitting he should take his place beside England’s martyrs, “whose courageous witness has sustained and inspired the Catholic community here for centuries”.

Pope Benedict said his vision of education had “done so much to shape the ethos that is the driving force behind Catholic schools and colleges today”.

He quoted Cardinal Newman’s appeal for a well-instructed laity as a goal for all teachers of religion. He said: “ ‘I want a laity not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it.’ ”

The Pope added: “I pray that, through his intercession and example, all who are engaged in the task of teaching and catechesis will be inspired to greater effort by the vision he so clearly sets before us.”

He also spoke about Newman’s holiness, saying it was a “profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God”.

The Pope spoke in front of tens of thousands of pilgrims, some of whom had slept overnight at Cofton Park in sleeping bags. Others had set off from parishes as early as 2am in special pilgrim buses. Fr Tim Finigan, parish priest at Blackfen, Kent, tweeted: “Apologies to the neighbours for waking them up last night singing ‘God bless our Pope’ as the coach left for Birmingham. Won’t happen again.”

According to Simon Caldwell, the Catholic Herald’s news editor, rain poured down all morning until just before the Pope’s helicopter landed nearby, when the sun finally came out.

Deacon Jack Sullivan, who was healed of a severe spinal disorder after praying for Newman’s intercession, proclaimed the Gospel during the Mass. It was his inexplicable healing that led to Newman being made a Blessed.

A choir of 1,200 sung a new setting of the Mass by composer James MacMillan. The prayers of the faithful were made in German, Welsh, French, Vietnamese and Punjabi.” – Catholic Herald UK

The truth had more value than security and prestige.  He stressed a life of virtue.  His life would emphasize that both the habits of knowledge, along with  the habits of  virtue, lead to the birth of the habit of right judgement in our lives.  Boy now there is the key isn’t it.  We can have knowledge…we can have virtue…but are the two truly united, “married” so to speak, to bring about in our hearts and our minds, right judgement.  Look around the world today, is there the practice of  “right judgement’?  Sound complicated? Not really, it’s at the heart of true and proper discernment.  And that’s why Blessed John Henry Newman is a vital saint for today’s world.

One of the best books I’ve ever read on the teachings of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman was “Progressive Illumination”.  And one my favorite discussions on his life was with Fr. Edward Ondrako OFM Conv.  What’s great about Fr. Ondrako is that not only thinks “Newman”, he prays “Newman.  And he shows us how it brings us all to the heart of Christ.

Take a listen to the conversation Bruce and I had with Fr. Ondrako on the Spirit Morning Show

 

 

A wonderful book on Blessed John Henry Newman is “Progressive Illumination” by Fr. Ondrako

There’s somethng that happens when you not only read and recite but when you also hear…when you listen deeply and profoundly.  The private revelation which was given to St. Bridget of Sweden that day in the chapel of the church of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome over 600 years ago is still one of the most poignant and compelling moments in all mystical experiences.  The Church has deemed this worthy of belief to the extent that it can edify one’s faith rather than hurt; that indeed if practiced and nurtured it could open the heart for an outpouring of grace.

The “Pieta Prayers” of St. Bridget of Sweden can be a challenging practice in today’s world.  To help foster a greater understanding and devotion to Our Lord’s Passion, Discerning Hearts has produced a MP3 Downloadable audio which we hope will assist you in some way.

[powerpress = “Devotionals-Prayers”]  (featuring Bruce McGregor and Denise Wharton)

For the complete texts, promises and ecclesial advisements click here

I love the movies as much as a good book; unfortunately there are fewer “good” movies than there are “good” books.  So it was great to talk the history of film and what makes for a good movie, as well as, what are some of the best of the old and new in cinema today with Gary Giddins. This interview was a blast for me.  If you love the movies, or even if you don’t but you want to have a fun and enjoyable movie going experience, home alone or in the theater, check out “Warning Shadows”

 

For more on “Warning Shadows:  Home Alone with Classic Cinema”

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Who is he?  Why should you care? 
(that almost looks like what he is thinking, doesn’t it?)….Well besides the fact that he is one of newest members sitting in the “Saint” section of the Cloud of Witnesses, he’s British and for those of us who are of English ancestory it’s kind of nice to have a British saint who didn’t have to be martyred at the hands of fellow countrymen to get there!

Brilliant…that’s the word…simply brilliant…that’s Cardinal John Henry Newman.  We’ll have more about him in later posts.  But an excellent way to start to learn more about him would be to  check out Dr. R. R. Reno, professor of Theology at Creighton University  discussing Newman’s life and times, and the significance of his work on his “Christian Apologetics” show.

Episode 2 – The Mass: the Universal Sign

Roots of the Faith – From the Church Fathers to You with Mike Aquilina, makes clear that just as an acorn grows into a tree and yet remains the same plant, so the Catholic Church is a living organism that has grown from the faith of the earliest Christians into the body of  Christ we know today. Hosted by Kris McGregor

[powerpress]

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!