“My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience.”
Saint Therese, flower of Carmel,
you said you would spend your heaven
doing good upon the earth.
Your trust in God was complete.
Listen to my prayer;
bring before God my special intention…
Pray for me that I may have something of your confidence
in the loving promises of our God.
Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me,
and one day see the Face of God who you so ardently loved.
Saint Therese,
you kept your word to love God
and to trust the world to that loving providence.
Pray for us that we may be faithful to our commitment to love.
May our lives, like yours,
be able to touch the world and bring it to peace.
Conference 8 – Discerning the Will of God with Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.
Join Fr. Timothy Gallagher as he offers the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola on Discerning the Will of God. Conference 8 discusses the Third Mode of the discernment process.
You can find various handouts spoken of by Fr. Gallagher in the links below:
“I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors’ defects–not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.”
Saint Therese, flower of Carmel,
you said you would spend your heaven
doing good upon the earth.
Your trust in God was complete.
Listen to my prayer;
bring before God my special intention…
Pray for me that I may have something of your confidence
in the loving promises of our God.
Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me,
and one day see the Face of God who you so ardently loved.
Saint Therese,
you kept your word to love God
and to trust the world to that loving providence.
Pray for us that we may be faithful to our commitment to love.
May our lives, like yours,
be able to touch the world and bring it to peace.
Monday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast
As you begin, take a deep breath and exhale slowly. For at least the next few moments, surrender all the cares and concerns of this day to the Lord.
Say slowly from your heart “Jesus, I Trust In You…You Take Over”
Become aware that He is with you, looking upon you with love, wanting to be heard deep within in your heart…
From the Holy Gospel According to Luke 9:46-50
An argument started between the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child and set him by his side and then said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you all, that is the one who is great.’
John spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said ‘we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.’
What word made this passage come alive for you?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more give the Lord an opportunity to speak to you:
An argument started between the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child and set him by his side and then said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you all, that is the one who is great.’
John spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said ‘we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.’
What did your heart feel as you listened?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more, through Him, with Him and in Him listen to the Word:
An argument started between the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child and set him by his side and then said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you all, that is the one who is great.’
John spoke up. ‘Master,’ he said ‘we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.’
What touched your heart in this time of prayer?
What did your heart feel as you prayed?
What do you hope to carry with you from this time with the Lord?
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen
Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright (c) 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. Reprinted by Permission.
“I am convinced that one should tell one’s spiritual director if one has a great desire for communion, for our Lord does not come from heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium; He comes to find another heaven, the heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.”
Saint Therese, flower of Carmel,
you said you would spend your heaven
doing good upon the earth.
Your trust in God was complete.
Listen to my prayer;
bring before God my special intention…
Pray for me that I may have something of your confidence
in the loving promises of our God.
Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me,
and one day see the Face of God who you so ardently loved.
Saint Therese,
you kept your word to love God
and to trust the world to that loving providence.
Pray for us that we may be faithful to our commitment to love.
May our lives, like yours,
be able to touch the world and bring it to peace.
Sunday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast
As you begin, take a deep breath and exhale slowly. For at least the next few moments, surrender all the cares and concerns of this day to the Lord.
Say slowly from your heart “Jesus, I Trust In You…You Take Over”
Become aware that He is with you, looking upon you with love, wanting to be heard deep within in your heart…
From the Holy Gospel According to Luke 16:19-31
Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”
‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’
What word made this passage come alive for you?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more give the Lord an opportunity to speak to you:
Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”
‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’
What did your heart feel as you listened?
What did you sense the Lord saying to you?
Once more, through Him, with Him and in Him listen to the Word:
Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”
‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’
What touched your heart in this time of prayer?
What did your heart feel as you prayed?
What do you hope to carry with you from this time with the Lord?
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen
Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright (c) 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. Reprinted by Permission.
Part 1 -Chapter 13 of the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales
This is a Discerning Hearts recording read by Correy Webb
CHAPTER XIII. FIFTH MEDITATION.
Of Death
Preparation.
1. PLACE yourself in the Presence of God.
2. Ask His Grace.
3. Suppose yourself to be on your deathbed, in the last extremity, without the smallest hope of recovery.
Considerations.
1. Consider the uncertainty as to the day of your death. One day your soul will quit this body—will it be in summer or winter? in town or country? by day or by night? will it be suddenly or with warning? will it be owing to sickness or an accident? will you have time to make your last confession or not? will your confessor or spiritual father be at hand or will he not? Alas, of all these things we know absolutely nothing: all that we do know is that die we shall, and for the most part sooner than we expect.
2. Consider that then the world is at end as far as you are concerned, there will be no more of it for you, it will be altogether overthrown for you, since all pleasures, vanities, worldly joys, empty delights will be as a mere fantastic vision to you. Woe is me, for what mere trifles and unrealities I have ventured to offend my God? Then you will see that what we preferred to Him was nothing. But, on the other hand, all devotion and good works will then seem so precious and so sweet: —Why did I not tread that pleasant path? Then what you thought to be little sins will look like huge mountains, and your devotion will seem but a very little thing.
3. Consider the universal farewell which your soul will take of this world. It will say farewell to riches, pleasures, and idle companions; to amusements and pastimes, to friends and neighbors, to husband, wife and child, in short to all creation. And lastly it will say farewell to its own body, which it will leave pale and cold, to become repulsive in decay.
4. Consider how the survivors will hasten to put that body away and hide it beneath the earth—and then the world will scarce give you another thought, or remember you, any more than you have done to those already gone. “God rest his soul!” men will say, and that is all. O death, how pitiless, how hard thou art!
5. Consider that when it quits the body the soul must go at once to the right hand or the left. To which will your soul go? what side will it take? none other, be sure, than that to which it had voluntarily drawn while yet in this world.
Affections and Resolutions.
1. Pray to God, and throw yourself into His Arms.
O Lord, be Thou my stay in that day of anguish! May that hour be blessed and favorable to me, if all the rest of my life be full of sadness and trial.
2. Despise the world.
Forasmuch as I know not the hour in which I must quit the world, I will not grow fond of it. O dear friends, beloved ones of my heart, be content that I cleave to you only with a holy friendship which may last forever; why should I cling to you with a tie which must be broken?
I will prepare for the hour of death and take every precaution for its peaceful arrival; I will thoroughly examine into the state of my conscience and put in order whatever is wanting.
Conclusion.
Thank God for inspiring you with these resolutions: offer them to His Majesty: intreat Him anew to grant you a happy death by the Merits of His Dear Son’s Death. Ask the prayers of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
At the end of your meditation linger a while, and gather, so to say, a little spiritual bouquet from the thoughts you have dwelled upon, the sweet perfume that may refresh you through the day.
For other chapters of the Introduction to the Devout Life audiobook visit here –
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
Saint Therese, flower of Carmel,
you said you would spend your heaven
doing good upon the earth.
Your trust in God was complete.
Listen to my prayer;
bring before God my special intention…
Pray for me that I may have something of your confidence
in the loving promises of our God.
Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me,
and one day see the Face of God who you so ardently loved.
Saint Therese,
you kept your word to love God
and to trust the world to that loving providence.
Pray for us that we may be faithful to our commitment to love.
May our lives, like yours,
be able to touch the world and bring it to peace.
HP6 – Prayer and Healing from Sin – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke
Fr. Éamonn Bourke and Kris McGregor explore the why, how, and what of “prayer”. In this episode, they explore the healing power of prayer against sin and the role the Holy Spirit plays in it as well.
Here is an excerpt from their conversation:
Fr. Éamonn Bourke:
Speaker 1 Remember, Sin has damaged us. It’s damaged our beauty. It’s damaged the way we look at ourselves, the way we view the world, our relationships with each other, and God will never do any damage to us. That’s one thing to remember. So when He heals us, He heals us the most precious, beautiful and loving and gentle way, and slowly but surely reveals that dignity to us in a really profound way,. That’s why, I suppose for some, sins that are particularly invasive or addictive, that’s why we need to come to confession regularly,. Because God will never, as I said, force us to do anything, but He gently leading us and that the damage that is overcome is overcome sometimes gently, so it’s just never give up because “Oh, I went to confession and I did grand for a couple of days and then I fell into temptation again. I’m the worst person in the world.”
No, you just pick yourself back up with God’s grace. Allow God to pick you up and you go back to Him and you ask Him for his grace about that gentle, loving, merciful, healing will eventually, in your life, transform your life. God does not do any violence to us, but gently, lovingly restores our dignity back to its uniqueness.
Confession for me, as a priest, is just an incredible encounter with the merciful Jesus, and one of the examples or the results of a really good, decent confession from someone who really gives their heart to the Lord is often tears, and that freedom of being… Actually I was embarrassed by this and I had no reason to be, because I was encountering the merciful Jesus at a retreat recently for students that were discussing the apparition at Knock, County Mayo in Ireland of Our Lady in the 1850s, and one of the beautiful aspects of the apparition there, which has no words, is the lamb of God present on the altar as a delicate lamb. And I think, really, that’s who we approach in confession, so we’ve no need to be afraid or embarrassed by approaching a lamb, because we’ve got nothing to fear from the gentleness of a lamb, and so we should never be, “I’m too embarrassed, I’m too afraid, I’m too upset, too anxious.”
Never allow that to become a barrier, because we’re approaching the lamb of God who wants to take away the sins of the world, and not just the sins of the world, our sin as well.
Father Éamonn Bourke is a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, and served as Vocations Director for the diocese, as well as Pastor in a number of its parishes. Trained as a spiritual director in the contemplative style, he now serves as Chaplain to University College, Dublin, the largest University in Ireland.
“If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient, but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.”
Saint Therese, flower of Carmel,
you said you would spend your heaven
doing good upon the earth.
Your trust in God was complete.
Listen to my prayer;
bring before God my special intention…
Pray for me that I may have something of your confidence
in the loving promises of our God.
Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me,
and one day see the Face of God who you so ardently loved.
Saint Therese,
you kept your word to love God
and to trust the world to that loving providence.
Pray for us that we may be faithful to our commitment to love.
May our lives, like yours,
be able to touch the world and bring it to peace.
Monday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast
Sunday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time – A Time of Lectio Divina for the Discerning Heart Podcast
