The Discerning Hearts Blog Archives

Beyond Words with Mark Hart – The Third Sunday of Advent – Discerning Hearts

Mark Hart is an author, speaker, director and teacher, Mark’s work both written and spoken, is known across the country and world. While he serves as the Vice President of LIFE TEEN, he is known to tens of thousands simply as the “Bible Geek ®” Mark passionately echoes the gospel to all he encounters. He is as deep as he is funny, and his love for his wife and daughters is second only to his immense love for Jesus Christ.

IP#126 Katie Davis – Kisses from Katie on Inside the Pages

Katie Davis is “just a normal girl who is trying to do what God has asked her to do”. “Kisses from Katie: A story of relentless love and redemption” is written by 22 year old Katie, who went to mission for a “short” time in Uganda and found God had another plan. Now she is the adopted mother of 13 girls and founder of Amazima Ministries, which encourages orphaned and vulnerable children and the poor in the country of Uganda. In the Lugandan language, Amazima (uh-mahz-i-muh) means “truth.” Amazima desires to reveal the truth of God’s unconditional love through Jesus Christ to the Ugandan people. Katie is remarkable and inspiring and a joy to read and talk with. Please, say a prayer for her and her “kids” today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:28 — 25.1MB) | Embed

You can find the book here

Katie’s blog is here

2nd Friday of Advent I – Daily Reading and Reflection on the Gospel – Discerning Hearts

Will this generation heed God’s wisdom?

an excerpt from today’s reflection by Don Schwager:

Why did the message of John the Baptist and the message of Jesus meet with deaf ears and resistance? It was out of jealously and spiritual blindness that the scribes and Pharisees attributed John the Baptist’s austerities to the devil and they attributed Jesus’ table fellowship with sinners as evidence that he must be a false messiah. They succeeded in frustrating God’s plan for their lives because they had closed their hearts to the message of John the Baptist and now to Jesus’ message. What can make us spiritually dull and slow to hear God’s voice? Like the generation of Jesus’ time, our age is marked by indifference and contempt, especially in regards to the things of heaven. Indifference dulls our ears to God’s voice and to the good news of the gospel. Only the humble of heart can find joy and favor in God’s sight. Is you life in tune with Jesus’s message of hope and salvation? And do you know the joy of obedience to God word?

“Lord Jesus, open my ears to hear the good news of your kingdom and set my heart free to love and serve you joyfully. May nothing keep me from following you wholeheartedly.”

for the full reflection visit : Daily Reading and Meditation

Salve Regina…favorite prayer, favorite hymn…beautiful – Discerning Hearts

English translation

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy
[Hail] our life, our sweetness and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished chidren of Eve,
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn, then, o most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy and after this our exile
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.

Latin text

Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae,
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, Salve!
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii [H]evae,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes,
In hac lacrimarum valle.
Eja ergo, Advocata nostra,
Illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
Nobis, post hoc exilium, ostende,
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

Salve Regina…favorite prayer, favorite hymn…beautiful

English translation

Turn, then, o most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy and after this our exile
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.

Latin text

Pope Benedict on Prayer 16 –Divine Revelation Does Not Follow Earthly Logic

VATICAN CITY, 7 DEC 2911 (VIS) –

Benedict XVI dedicated the catechesis of today’s Wednesday audience, celebrated in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, to the Messianic Hymn of Jubilee, Jesus’ prayer of praise recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which constitutes the “apex of a path of prayer in which Jesus’ profound and intimate communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit and His divine filiation clearly emerges “.

Already at the opening of the hymn, the Pope observed, Jesus addresses God by calling him Father, a term that expresses “Jesus’ awareness and certainty of being ‘the Son’ in close and constant communion with Him. This is the central point and the source of Jesus’ every prayer. … The name of ‘Father’ is followed by a second title: ‘Lord of heaven and earth'”, which “recalls the great biblical narration of the history of God’s love for human beings that began with creation. Jesus … is the pinnacle and the fullness of this history of love. … Through the expression ‘Lord of heaven and earth’ we also recognize how, in Jesus, the one who reveals the Father, the possibility of access to God is opened to humanity”.

But, to whom does the Son want to reveal the mysteries of God? “Divine revelation”, the pontiff explained, “does not occur within earthly logic, according to which humans are the wise and powerful who posses important knowledge and transmit it to those who are more simple. … God’s style is another: His communication is addressed precisely to the ‘childlike’. … And what is this childlikeness that opens humans to a filial intimacy with God and to welcoming His will? … It is the pureness of heart that allows us to recognize the face of God in Jesus Christ. It is keeping our hearts as simple as those of children, without the presumptions of those who are locked in themselves, thinking they have no need of anyone, not even God”.

“In Matthew’s Gospel, after the Hymn of Jubilee, we encounter one of Jesus’ most moving pleas: ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.’ Jesus asks that we go to Him, the true wisdom, to the one who is ‘meek and humble of heart’; He proposes His ‘yoke’, the path of evangelical wisdom, which is neither a doctrine to learn nor an ethical proposal, but rather a Person to follow: He himself, the only-begotten Son, in perfect communion with the Father”.

“We also can address God with the confidence of sons and daughters”, Benedict XVI concluded, “calling Him Father when we pray. But we have to keep the heart of a child, the heart of those ‘poor in spirit’, in order to recognize that we are not self-sufficient … that we need God, that we have to seek Him, listen to Him, speak to Him. Prayer opens us to receiving the gift of God, His wisdom who is Jesus himself, in order to accept the will of the Father in our lives and to find consolation in the weariness of our journey”.

At the end of the audience, Benedict XVI greeted the pilgrims present in the hall in their various languages and noted that the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, which is celebrated tomorrow, “reminds us of Mary’s singular acceptance of God’s salvific plan. Preserved from any stain of sin in order to be the holy dwelling place of the Incarnate Word, she always trusted fully in the Lord”. The Pope especially urged the youth to make the effort to imitate the Virgin “with pure and clean hearts, letting yourselves be shaped by God who, in you as well, desires to bring about ‘great things'”.

Our relationship with the Father, the role of Mary, and the 3 levels of the heart – talk 2 by Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:13 — 66.2MB) | Embed

Msgr. Esseff spoke at a recent conference which was held in PA. in November 2011. In the 2nd talk he speaks of our true relationship with the Father in Heaven, the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the 3 levels of the heart and the place of Jesus in our lives.

Be sure to visit “Building a Kingdom of Love”

YFFC Show 12 – Teens and the Birth Control Pill w/ Dr. Thomas Hilgers – Discerning Hearts

Show 12 – Teens and the Birth Control Pill

The dangers we place our teen age girls bodies in when we place them on the birth control pill. Dr. Hilgers also discusses other drugs and vaccines they would give our girls, as well as the problems with condems. Dr. Hilgers speaks as well of the importance of the need for the proper sexual education for our kids. Timely and important discussion for us all who wish to stand against the “culture of death”.

“Your Fertility Care Consult”
with Dr. Thomas Hilgers, founder of the Pope Paul VI Institute
for The Study of Human Reproduction
hosted by Kris McGregor

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:00 — 38.5MB) | Embed

listen to the entire series at Dr. Hilger’s Discerning Hearts Page

The Pope Paul VI Institute, founded in 1985 by Thomas W. Hilgers, MD, is internationally recognized for its outstanding achievements in the field of natural fertility regulation and reproductive medicine — 30 years of scientific research and educational program development; allied health professional education programs for couples and professionals; professional, caring, and morally acceptable patient services. The Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction is building a culture of life in women’s health care through its major developments — Creighton Model FertilityCare System and NaProTechnology.

http://www.popepaulvi.com/

IP#125 Virginia G. Breen – I Am In Here on Inside the Pages

The subtitle of this show is “insights from today’s most compelling authors”…I don’t think there’s a more compelling author than Elizabeth M. Bonker, who along with the help of her mother, Virginia Breen, has authored “I Am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice”. A powerful and poignant book, the conversation with Virginia is hope-filled as she shares with us all the challenges and love she has found in being the mother of Elizabeth and the strength they have both found in their relationship with God.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:39 — 40.7MB) | Embed

“Elizabeth’s beautiful poetry clearly shows that some individuals with autism who appear to be low-functioning have real abilities. Elizabeth’s first words when she was able to type were ‘Agony. I need to talk.'”–Temple Grandin, New York Times bestselling author

Me

I sometimes fear

That people cannot understand

That I hear.

And I know

That they don’t believe I go

To every extreme

To try to express

My need to talk.

If only they could walk

In my shoes

They would share my news:

I am in here.

And trying to speak every day

In some kind of way.

Though she cannot speak, Elizabeth Bonker writes poetry that shines a light on the hidden inner world of autism and the world around us. I Am in Here is the spiritual journey of a mother and daughter who refuse to give up hope, who celebrate their victories, and who keep moving forward despite the obstacles. Elizabeth’s poetry and her mother’s stirring storytelling combine in this inspirational book to proclaim that there is always a reason to take the next step–with hope.