The Discerning Hearts Blog Archives

Day 7 – Novena to St. Padre Pio

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:00 — 2.8MB) | Embed

Day 7

St. Padre Pio you have said:

May the Grace and peace of the Holy Spirit always be at the center of your heart. Place your heart in the open side of the Savior, and unite it with the King of your heart who is within it as on a royal throne, in order that He might receive homage and obedience from all other hearts. Keep your hearts door open, so that everyone can approach Him and gain an audience at all times. May the King of all saints also be the King of your heart!

Gracious God, you generously blessed your servant, Padre Pio, with the gifts of the Spirit. You marked his body with the five wounds of Christ Crucified, as a powerful witness to the saving Passion and Death of your Son, and as a stirring inspiration to many people of your infinite mercy, forgiveness and love.

In the confessional, Padre Pio labored endlessly for the salvation of souls. Through his powerful intercession, many who suffered were healed of sickness and disease. Endowed with the gift of discernment, he could read people’s hearts. With dignity and intense devotion, he celebrated daily Mass, inviting countless men and women to a greater union with Jesus Christ, in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Through the intercession of Saint Pio, we confidently beseech you to to grant us the grace of (state your petition here). Help us to imitate his example of prayerful holiness and compassion, so that we, too, may faithfully follow the Risen Lord, and one day rejoice in the Kingdom, where you live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

Day 6 – Novena to St. Padre Pio

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:57 — 2.7MB) | Embed

Day 6

St. Padre Pio you have said:

In the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, in this sacrament of Love, we have true life, a blessed life, and true sacrament of Love; we have true life, a blessed life, and true happiness. Because in it we receive not only those graces that perfect us but the very Author of those graces.

St. Padre Pio Novena Day 6

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:10 — 3.8MB) | Embed

Join Msgr. John Esseff, as he offers this novena in honor of St. Pio

The entire novena can be found on the The St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) Discerning Hearts Page

Day 6

From the writings of St. Pio:

In the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, in this sacrament of Love, we have true life, a blessed life, and true sacrament of Love; we have true life, a blessed life, and true happiness. Because in it we receive not only those graces that perfect us but the very Author of those graces.

Read more

St. Padre Pio Novena Day 5 with Msgr. Esseff

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:14 — 3.9MB) | Embed

Join Msgr. John Esseff, as he offers this novena in honor of St. Pio

The entire novena can be found on the The St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) Discerning Hearts Page

Day 5

From the writings of St. Pio:

St Therese of the Child Jesus used to say, “I don’t want to choose either to die or to live, but let Jesus do as He likes with me.” I see clearly that this is the image of all souls who are stripped of self and filled with God… What St. Therese has said ought to be said by every soul inflamed with love of God.

Read more

St. Padre Pio Novena Day 4 with Msgr. Esseff

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:12 — 4.8MB) | Embed

Join Msgr. John Esseff, as he offers this novena in honor of St. Pio

The entire novena can be found on the The St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) Discerning Hearts Page

Day 4

From the writings of St. Pio:

I often think that there is only one thing in this base world which can soothe the most acute pain which pierces the heart when we see ourselves far from God, the source and consolation of distressed souls. That one thing is solitude, for here the soul enjoys sweet rest in the One who is its true peace. I want the heavenly Father to grant you the grace of stability in all your resolutions, not least of all your resolution to grow in holiness and to be silent and reduce to silence everything around you, so that you may hear the divine voice of the Beloved and establish with Him a tranquil and everlasting dialogue.

Recollect yourself continually, and may your whole life be hidden in Jesus and with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, that is to say, in the silence of meditation and prayer.

Try to be always more docile to grace and more and more generous with Jesus, making absolutely everything around you and within you to be silent. Don’t worry; rest trustfully in the divine Mercy.

Silently adore the delicacy of the workings of divine grace.

Read more

St. Padre Pio Novena Day 3 with Msgr. Esseff

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:30 — 4.1MB) | Embed

Join Msgr. John Esseff, as he offers this novena in honor of St. Pio

The entire novena can be found on the The St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) Discerning Hearts Page

Day 3

From the writings of St. Pio:

I am greatly comforted and very content in Jesus’ company, and who could describe the help it is to me to have Him continually by my side? This company makes me much more careful not to do anything which would displease God. It seems to me as if Jesus is constantly watching me. If it sometimes happens that I lose the presence of God, I soon hear Our Lord calling me back to my duty. I cannot describe the voice He uses to call me back, but I know that it is very penetrating, and the soul who hears it finds it almost impossible to refuse what He asks.

Read more

“His mother stood by the cross ” – Saint Bernard from the Office of Readings

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:50 — 3.9MB) | Embed

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot

(Sermo in dom. infra oct. Assumptionis, 14-15: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. [1968], 273-274)

His mother stood by the cross

The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord’s passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted. He went on to say to Mary: And your own heart will be pierced by a sword.

Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart. For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son. Indeed, after your Jesus – who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours – gave up his life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from his lifeless body, tore open his side. Clearly it did not touch his soul and could not harm him, but it did pierce your heart. For surely his soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away. Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.

Or were those words, Woman, behold your Son, not more than a word to you, truly piercing your heart, cutting through to the division between soul and spirit? What an exchange! John is given to you in place of Jesus, the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the master; the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God himself. How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere remembrance of them breaks ours, hearts of iron and stone though they are!

Do not be surprised, brothers, that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit. Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love. That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.

Perhaps someone will say: “Had she not known before that he would not die?” Undoubtedly. “Did she not expect him to rise again at once?” Surely. “And still she grieved over her crucified Son?” Intensely. Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than at the passion of Mary’s Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.

COLLECT
O God, who willed
that, when your Son was lifted high on the Cross,
his Mother should stand close by and share his suffering,
grant that your Church,
participating with the Virgin Mary in the Passion of Christ,
may merit a share in his Resurrection.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Excerpts from the English translation of The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) © 1974, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.

The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:56 — 10.9MB) | Embed

The Virgin Mary, who believed in the word of the Lord, did not lose her faith in God when she saw her Son rejected, abused and crucified. Rather she remained beside Jesus, suffering and praying, until the end. And she saw the radiant dawn of His Resurrection. Let us learn from her to witness to our faith with a life of humble service, ready to personally pay the price of staying faithful to the Gospel of love and truth, certain that nothing that we do will be lost.

— Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus – September 13, 2009

Collect:

Father,
as Your Son was raised on the cross,
His mother Mary stood by Him, sharing His sufferings.
May Your Church be united with Christ
in His suffering and death
and so come to share in His rising to new life,
where He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Devotion from the revelation to St. Bridget of Sweden:

The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Discerning Hearts on Vimeo.

St. Padre Pio Novena Day 2 with Msgr. Esseff

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:21 — 4.0MB) | Embed

Join Msgr. John Esseff, as he offers this novena in honor of St. Pio

The entire novena can be found on the The St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) Discerning Hearts Page

Day 2

From the writings of St. Pio:

I implore you to be faithful and humble and always to keep the great Mother of God before your mental gaze, she who humbled herself more profoundly the more she was exalted. Never, ever be exalted at your virtues but repeat that everything comes from God, and give Him the honor and glory.

Read more

He Puts Down and Exalts – Mary’s Magnificat, Word by Word with Sonja Corbitt

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:57 — 53.0MB) | Embed

The most common cop-out against God, religion, or Christianity is “all the evil in the world.” What about the evil in me? Doesn’t the evil in me deserve acknowledgment and punishment? Doesn’t my selfishness help cause and perpetuate “all the evil in the world”?

God allows suffering partly because humanity’s evil works it and deserves it, but He redeems suffering to reveal something else. “He has shown strength with His arm” means He has bared His arm. The image is God baring His muscle to use His power. What is He doing?

He is revealing Himself, which turns everything on its head, and shows us reality is not defined by human reasoning, but by God’s Is-ness – which is very different from our own. God is establishing His Kingdom in an evil world: He treats me better than I deserve and teaches me to do the same for others. Mary recognizes His revolutionary presence, and her Magnificat reminds me that in the turmoil of evil and suffering, God is quietly turning everything right-side up with sacrificial love.

For other episodes in this series, visit the Discerning Hearts Sonja Corbitt page

Scripture References for The Show

Luke 1:46-55, the words of the Magnificat

And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
⁵⁰And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
⁵²he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.”

This week’s LOVE the Word exercise (interactive scripture meditation, or lectio divina) is based on an Ignatian* personality approach. Go on! Try it!

Listen (Lectio)

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself’ … And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them” (Gen 3:7-10, 20).

Observe (Meditatio)

Imagine you are in the Garden of Eden, as Adam or Eve, just before these verses. What do you see around you? Are there animals? How does it feel in your skin? What’s the climate like? What do you hear? What are you thinking? What does it feel like to walk with each other and with God “in the cool of the day”? What do you smell? What does that fruit taste like as its juice bursts onto your tongue?

Now, read the passage again.

Where, lately, have your “eyes opened” to sin? What do you feel now, that you did not feel moments before you recognized or felt the consequences of that sin? What is different? Why are you afraid? As you hear God approaching for His daily walk with you, why are you hiding? What are you hiding? Do your fig leaves help? Hear Him call your name. What will you do, now, with the death that follows sin?

Verbalize (Oratio)

What thoughts and emotions bubble to the surface as you read and meditate on this passage? Have you allowed God to clothe you with His sacrificial forgiveness? Talk to Him about your thoughts and feelings. What does He want you to do?

Entrust (Contemplatio)

Tell Him what you will do. End your meditation by offering Him the fruit of this LOVE the Word exercise – what He wants you to do and what you resolve to do. Ask Him for the grace to obey and to continue in obedience, and to leave outcomes to Him.

*Interactive scripture meditations, LOVE Exercises, vary weekly according to the four personalities, or “prayer forms,” explored in Prayer and Temperament, by Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey: Ignatian, Augustinian, Franciscan, and Thomistic.