Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts Archives

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 6 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY SIX

Holy Mother Mary,
again I come before you as your child.
I pray with all my heart and mind
for all of God’s pilgrim people.

Pray for me, dear Mother,
for a greater understanding
of the wonderful gift of Christ
in the Eucharist.
Help me to see in this most Blessed Sacrament,
Christ Himself,
the great and unending gift of the Father.
Help me, Mary,
to feel the nearness of my Lord.
Through the celebration of the Eucharist,
He truly touches me;
He feeds me by His divine sacrifice,
His death and resurrection.

So abundant is God’s love
through this Sacrament.
May I ever see this love,
this grace,
and live as a child of God,
a child of light.

At Mass, dear Mother,
our entire salvation unfolds before my eyes.
Jesus, our Savior, comes to us,
as the wonderful sacrifice
to the Father is renewed.
What a loving Father we have,
and how endless is His love
and mercy for all of us!

Mary, Mother of God,
keep me mindful of this great gift
of the Eucharist.

Please pray with me now,
dear Mother,
for these special needs of mine.

(pause).

Ask our blessed Lord
to keep me ever united to Him,
and always close in prayer to you.

Amen.

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 5 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY FIVE

Dear Lady of Consolation,
Queen of Peace,
be with me now as I pray.
Join your prayers to mine
as I bring my needs before
our most loving Father
and His Divine Son.

Throughout your life, dear Mother,
you offered all around you
a most perfect example
of gentleness and peace.
It is for that inner peace,
that lovely calm in my own life,
that I pray.

Help me to quiet myself
in the midst of the activity around me.
Guide me in the way of peace
that I may seek the time to be still
and hear the gentle voice of our Father.

Mary, please pray for me
that I may quiet myself
in order to learn more of Jesus, our Lord.
Through Him we have the way to the Father.
Help me to take more time each day for prayer,
for deepening my relationship with Christ.
Guide me in the way
of opening myself to His peace.

Pray with me now,
kind and gentle Mother,
for my special intentions.

(pause)

May your gentleness ever be my example
and may the peace of Christ
fill my heart always.

Amen.

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 4 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY FOUR

Mary, Mother of Consolation,
again I come before you in prayer.
Help me to pray to our most loving Father.
Ever guide me to seek in my life
His divine will.
Help me to hold before my eyes
the saving life of your Son.

You are the chosen, Mary,
for your magnificent answer
to the desire of the Father,
the prompting of the Holy Spirit
and the request of the angel.
Your openness to the Father
has given joy to the world.
The Son of God your Son
and our Lord and Savior,
became man through your answer.

Oh Mary, grant that I might offer myself
to the Father as you did.
Help me on the true path of holiness;
this is the Father’s desire for me.
Assist me through your prayers
that I too might agree
to the prompting of the Holy Spirit within me.
Help me to offer others around me
the example your Son expects me to be.

In a special way,
I ask you to pray with me for these,
the main intentions of this novena.

(pause)

Holy Mary, I offer my prayers
for all of God’s people,
for the needs of all mankind.
We are all pilgrims ever on our way
toward our heavenly home.
Watch over us and guide us;
lead us to your Son, Jesus,
our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 3 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY THREE

Holy Mary, Mother of God,
bless me today.
Bless me and join me in prayer.

I am so lacking in patience, dear Mary.
I grow so weary and unhappy at times.
There are days when I even find it difficult
to raise my heart and mind in prayer.

Teach me, most holy Mother,
to turn to you as an example.
Your life is a most perfect example of patience,
acceptance and love.

How truly you can be called
“Mother of Consolation.”
You knew the ultimate grief
of witnessing the earthly death
of your loving Son.
You saw, as so few mothers do,
your own flesh and blood,
hurt, bleeding, and despised,
as He climbed Calvary.
This most precious offering of Himself
to all mankind,
you saw mocked and ridiculed.
Through all of this
you continued to offer for all time
the perfect example of a most patient
and compassionate mother.

Holy Mother, I ask you to help me
become more accepting and patient.
May I ever follow your example
and strive to make these virtues
of patience and acceptance
more real in my own life.

Pray for me, please, dear Mother.
Ask our blessed Lord to make me more like you.
Ask Him also for my very special intentions.

(pause)

Keep me in your love, Blessed Mary,
and guide me always closer
to your Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

BA-V10 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Pt 1 – Begin Again with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Pt 1 – Begin Again /w Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Ep. 10 from Discerning Hearts on Vimeo.

In this episode, Fr. Timothy Gallagher discusses the deep devotion Ven. Bruno Lanteri had for the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was a deep relationship of love between Ven. Lanteri and Our Lady. Fr. Gallagher offers what a Marian devotion can bring to the spiritual life. He goes on to say that there is something safe about turning to the Blessed Mother in our struggles which is deeply rooted in our Catholic tradition.

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

You can obtain just the audio podcast if you would prefer

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For a copy of the Spiritual Counsels of Ven. Lanteri visit here:

An Introduction – Mary’s Magnificat, Word by Word with Sonja Corbitt

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What happens when a prayerful young peasant receives a whisper so powerful that she dares not tell it? She hugs the secret close. And it is incarnated.

Going over and over the reality in her mind, she touches it timidly and unwraps it with equally unspeakable thrill each time. Looking at its significance from every possible angle, replaying the words repeatedly, jumping up and down and twirling around in her soul until she’s dizzy with the implications, she “ponders it in her heart.”

And when someone else, a cousin, reveals that she too knows and understands and believes what unspeakable thing has happened, the riot of praise and poetry and stupendous irony fizz out of her, spreading out in a pool of song that runs up the sides of the hills of history like a wave.

This is Mary’s Magnificat. This is Mary’s Song. Hers is the song of the Church.

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.”

1 Samuel 2:1-10, The Magnificat is based on the Song of Hannah.

Fixed Hour Prayer in OT

Psalm 55:17, David prays evening, morning, and noon.
Daniel 6:10, Daniel prays toward Jerusalem three times a day.
Jeremiah 39:8, There were public prayer places in the first temple that the Chaldeans destroyed when they razed it.
I Kings 8:48 and Daniel 6:10, Jews prayed three times daily toward Jerusalem when in exile.

Fixed Hour Prayer in NT

Acts 2:15, Apostles pray at third hour, 9 am.
Matthew 15:36; Acts 27:35, Jesus’ “lunch prayers” at midday
Luke 1:10, Zechariah serves at the incense altar at “the hour of incense,” (incense, itself, symbolic of prayer) while the people pray outside.
Luke 18:10, Jews go to the temple to pray at appointed times when in Jerusalem.
Acts 3:1; 10:30, Apostles go to the temple to pray at the ninth hour or 3 pm.

Galatians 4:4, The woman, Mary, is the “fullness of time” and the axis of salvation history.

For more resources and Sonja’s scripture meditation exercise for this episode visit the “Bible Study Evangelista“ website

Sonja’s books can found here

Sonja Corbitt is the Bible Study Evangelista. She’s a Catholic Scripture teacher with a story teller’s gift – a Southern Belle with a warrior’s heart and a poet’s pen.

We’re all sweating and dirty with the effort to love and lift all He’s given to us – those people, duties, callings, and longings that break our hearts and make them sing, sometimes at the same time. But most times, we need to be loved and lifted ourselves.

So her Bible study media are created with you in mind, bites of spinach that taste like cake, to help you make space in your busy heart and schedule for God to love and lift you all the way up into His great lap, where all you’ve been given is loved and lifted too.

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 2 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY TWO

Gentle Queen of Heaven, Mary, my Mother,
kindly turn your eyes toward me.
You who are so filled with compassion
and love for all your children on this earth,
be with me now as I kneel before you.

I call to mind, Mary,
the joy you gave to this world.
Your acceptance of the desire
of our loving Father gave all of us Jesus,
our Lord and our Savior.
You in turn, kind Mother,
knew the joy of holding God in your arms,
of guiding His first steps,
of bringing Him to manhood.
It is with a heart filled with gratitude,
dear Mother of God,
that I recall the joys in your life
which have given me a most wonderful Savior.

Blessed Mary, Mother of Consolation,
through the joy you knew with Jesus on earth
and the unending joy of being with Him in heaven,
please pray with me now.
Ask our Lord to assist me in this need of mine.

(pause)

Grant also, Blessed Mother,
that I may reflect the joy I have in my life.
I am so blessed by Our Lord.
His Gospel of love
must always remain in my heart and on my lips.

Amen.

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 1 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY ONE

Blessed Mary, Mother of Consolation,
I ask you to pray with me now
as I come before you as your child.
Kindly be with me, dear Mother;
guide me in your gentle way.

It was after nine days of prayer
in the upper room that you, Mary,
and the close friends of Jesus
received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Behold me then, most kind Mother,
as I too pray for nine days,
in humble imitation of you.

Blessed Queen of heaven,
you are the chosen one of our most loving Father.
You are the Blessed Mother of God,
our Savior, Jesus.
You are most close to His heart.
Please join your prayers to mine.

Pray with me, Mary,
for these intentions,
these needs that are on my mind and in my heart.

(pause)

Above all, dear Mother,
keep me always as your devoted child.
May I ever have before my eyes
your beautiful example of acceptance
of the will of the Father.
May I ever strive to hold in my heart
the teaching of your most blessed Son,
my Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

IP#246 Devin Schadt – “Joseph’s Way” on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

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Devin Schadt offers a tremendous work proclaiming St. Joseph as a model for the authentic expression of manhood and fatherhood. In ” Joseph’s Way: The Call to Fatherly Greatness: Part I: Prayer of Faith”, he shares his compelling personal witness to the great saint’s role in his life. He also uses Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and many other outstanding resources, to fashion a study that helps to deepen the faith of those who walk with good St. Joseph through the perils men, as well as their families, face in our world today.

You can find the book here

From the book description:

Among the most serious crises facing our nation and the world is the crisis of fatherhood. Indeed, if the world is to be converted, the Church must be renewed. If the macro-Church is to be renewed, the micro church of the family must be restored. And if the family is to be restored and re-vitalized, the man who is both husband and father must become who God has created him to be – a father on earth like the Father in heaven. Joseph’s Way: The Call to Fatherly Greatness, Part I: Prayer of Faith is the first in a four book series that comprises an in-depth vision of the human father as seen through the lens of St. Joseph and the patriarchs. By comparing Abraham the ‘Father in Faith’, with St. Joseph the just father who lived by faith fathers will discover the power of their vocation and their essential role in rebuilding society. Joseph’s Way: The Call to Fatherly Greatness, Part I: Prayer of Faith helps men become great fathers by re-discovering the hidden greatness of fatherhood.

BTP#22 St. Catherine of Siena – Passion for Truth: Beginning to Pray w/ Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 22 Beginning to Pray: St. Catherine of Siena

From Dr. Lilles’ “Beginning to Pray” blog site:

Catherine of Siena – passion for truth

She is an important figure for those who see a rediscovery of prayer as the force of renewal in the Church. Because she put her devotion to Christ first, she found herself with a spiritual mission to help restore the life and unity of Christ’s body. Some of her efforts met with a little success. But as she approached her death at the age of 33, her lifetime of effort in building up the Church seemed to be in vain. Corruption, scandal, cowardice – and most of all indifference – seemed to infect the Church even more. (For more on her life, go tohttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03447a.htm.) Yet she never lost hope and she persevered in prayer. This is because she understood the love and mercy of God.

She was uneducated, but in 1377, by a miracle, she learned to write. Even so she retained secretaries to whom she dictated most of her thoughts. Her master work on the spiritual life is known as the Dialogues. These are conversations between her soul and God the Father. God the Father reveals his deep love for his Son and his plan to build up the Church. One of the beautiful aspects of this conversation is the Father’s explanation for how each soul can come to know Jesus.
Christ is the bridge to the Father and we cross this bridge by allowing our hearts to be pierced by what the Lord has done for us. The passion of Christ reveals at once the truth about who God is and who we are in his sight. For her, among the greatest blocks to the spiritual life is ignorance. Knowledge of God and knowledge of self go hand in hand in progressing toward spiritual maturity. But the knowing is not simply an intellectual trip. It as the kind of knowing informed by the loving affection of a real friendship. The friendship she describes in tender terms evokes the deepest joys and sorrows all at once.

The gift of tears, so central to early Dominican spirituality, is a beautiful part of this description. She presents those holy affections as the only proper response to the great love revealed in Christ crucified. These tears move us away from sin and into the very heart of God. She describes this as a journey that begins with kissing the feet of Jesus and entering into his wounded side. For her, intimacy with the Lord is always through the Cross and informed by a profound gratitude and humility.

One other beautiful feature of her spirituality is her understanding of virtue. This understanding is not quite classical in that she goes beyond the generic definition of a virtue as a good habit. Instead, she addresses a problem that is related to life in the Church. She notices that different Christians excel at different virtues. One might have a special aptitude for the art of getting on with others and is a special source of justice in the community. Another may be especially able to enter into the heart of someone enduring great difficulty and brings to the Church a particular awareness of mercy. Still another might have a profound gift of prayer. The question she takes up is why has the Father given different gifts to different members of the Body of Christ.

In the Dialogues, the Father explains to her that He has distributed his bountiful gifts in this way so that each member of the Body of Christ must rely on all the other members and at the same time each member bears a particular responsibility to support the Body of Christ commensurate to the gifts he has been given. In other words, his has distributed his gifts in a manner that disposes us to love one another. And the Father is counting on this mutual love, this genuine fellowship. It is part of His plan that as we cross Christ the Bridge we enter into communion with Him not merely individually, but together as a family.

The family of God requires a new kind of love, a love which only God can give us. A beautiful foundation is laid for what will later be understood as a “call within a call,” that particular mission each one is entrusted with in the eternal loving plan of God. On one hand, answering this call involves some suffering – just as Mother Theresa in our own time discovered. But those who endure this would not have it any other way. There is a certain joy and fullness of life that one discovers when one generously embraces the loving plan of the Father. The possibility of this joyful fulness makes Catherine’s message to the Church dynamically attractive.

For those beginning to pray, Catherine sheds light on the importance of truth, devotion to Christ and the life of the Church. These things organically hang together in her vision of the spiritual life so that growing in prayer goes beyond the merely therapeutic: it opens up the possibility of fully thriving, of living life to the full.

Dr. Anthony Lilles is a Catholic husband and father of three teaching Spiritual Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. He teaches spiritual theology and spiritual direction to transitional deacons, and the spiritual classics to the men who enter the Spirituality Year, a year of prayer in preparation for seminary formation. He is the author of the “Beginning to Pray” catholic blog spot.

For other episodes in the series visit the Discerning Hearts page for Dr. Anthony Lilles