Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts Archives

Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Day 6

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With loving provident care,

O Mother Most Amiable,
you covered us with your Scapular
as a shield of defense against the Evil One.
Through your assistance,
may we bravely struggle against the powers of evil,
always open to your Son Jesus Christ.
(State your request here…)

Recite the following prayers…

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Our Lady of Mount Carmel,
pray for us.

Day 4 Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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When you gave us, Gracious Lady,

the Scapular as our Habit,
you called us to be not only servants,
but also your own children.
We ask you to gain for us from your Son
the grace to live as your children in joy, peace and love.
(State your request here…)

Recite the following prayers…

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…

Our Lady of Mount Carmel,
pray for us.

Day 1 St. Benedict Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Novena to St. Benedict Day 1

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In the Holy Rule, St. Benedict you have said:

Listen, O my son, to the precepts of the master, and incline the ear of your heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of your loving Father, that by the toil of obedience you may return to Him from whom by the sloth of disobedience you have gone away.

To You, therefore, my speech is now directed, who, giving up your own will, take up the strong and most excellent arms of obedience, to do battle for Christ the Lord, the true King. (Holy Rule – Prologue)

Glorious Saint Benedict,
sublime model of virtue, pure vessel of God’s grace!
Behold me humbly kneeling at your feet.
I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God.

To you, I have recourse in the dangers that daily surround me.
Shield me against my selfishness and my indifference to God and to my neighbor.
Inspire me to imitate you in all things.
May your blessing be with me always, so that I may see and serve Christ in others and work for His kingdom.

Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces which I need so much in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life.
Your heart was always full of love, compassion, and mercy toward those who were afflicted or troubled in any way.
You never dismissed without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to you.
I, therefore, invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I earnestly implore.

{mention your petition}

Help me, great Saint Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to run in the sweetness of His loving will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven.

Amen.

O Holy Father, St. Benedict, pray for us.

“With good hope I shall commit myself wholly to God” – Saint Thomas More from the Office of Readings

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From a letter written in prison to his daughter Margaret by Saint Thomas More
(The English Works of Sir Thomas More, London, 1557, p. 1454)

With good hope I shall commit myself wholly to God

Although I know well, Margaret, that because of my past wickedness I deserve to be abandoned by God, I cannot but trust in his merciful goodness. His grace has strengthened me until now and made me content to loose goods, land, and life as well, rather than to swear against my conscience. God’s grace has given the king a gracious frame of mind toward me, so that as yet he has taken from me nothing but my liberty. In doing this His Majesty has done me such great good with respect to spiritual profit that I trust that among all the great benefits he has heaped so abundantly upon me I count my imprisonment the very greatest. I cannot, therefore, mistrust the grace of God. Either he shall keep the king in that gracious frame of mind to continue to do me no harm, or else, if it be his pleasure that for my other sins I suffer in this case as I shall not deserve, then his grace shall give me the strength to bear it patiently, and perhaps even gladly.

By the merits of his bitter passion joined to mine and far surpassing in merit for me all that I can suffer myself, his bounteous goodness shall release me from the pains of purgatory and shall increase my reward in heaven besides.

I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear. I shall remember how Saint Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning.
And if he permits me to play Saint Peter further and to fall to the ground and to swear and forswear, may God our Lord in his tender mercy keep me from this, and let me lose if it so happen, and never win thereby! Still, if this should happen, afterward I trust that in his goodness he will look on me with pity as he did upon Saint Peter, and make me stand up again and confess the truth of my conscience afresh and endure here the shame and harm of my own fault.

And finally, Margaret, I know this well: that without my fault he will not let me be lost. I shall, therefore, with good hope commit myself wholly to him. And if he permits me to perish for my faults, then I shall serve as praise for his justice. But in good faith, Meg, I trust that his tender pity shall keep my poor soul safe and make me commend his mercy.

And, therefore, my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.

Chap 2 – The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus – Mp3 audio

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The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel

Chapter 2

Early Impressions—Dangerous Books and Companions—
The Saint is placed in a Monastery.

For the pdf containing the complete text and footnotes click here

For other chapters of the audio book visit: The Life of Teresa of Avila (autobiography) audio page

The Life
St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel.
Written by Herself.
Translated from the Spanish by
David Lewis.
Third Edition Enlarged

Prologue & Chap 1 – The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus – Mp3 audio

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The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel

For the pdf containing the complete text and footnotes click here

Prologue & Chapter 1

Childhood and Early Impressions. The Blessing of Pious Parents. Desire of Martyrdom. Death of the Saint’s Mother.

For other chapters of the audio book visit: The Life of Teresa of Avila (autobiography) audio page

The Life
St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel.
Written by Herself.
Translated from the Spanish by
David Lewis.
Third Edition Enlarged

USCCA13 – Our Eternal Destiny – U. S. Catholic Catechism for Adults w/ Arch. George Lucas

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Catholic Spiritual Formation - Catholic Spiritual Direction

USCCA13- Episode 13- Our Eternal Destiny

Archbishop Lucas offers insights on the US Catholic Catechism for Adults Chapter 13:

” But the reality of death and its finality give an urgency to our lives. “Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ” (CCC, no. 1021). This teaching recognizes that the death of a person marks an end to our earthly journey with its sorrows and joys, its sinful failures, and the triumphs of Christ’s saving grace and help.

The Most Reverend George J. Lucas leads the Archdiocese of Omaha.

For other episodes in the visit our Archbishop George Lucas page

This programs is based on:

More information can be found here.

We wish to thank the USCCB for the permissions granted for use of relevant material used in this series.
Also we wish to thank Fr. Ryan Lewis for his vocal talents in this episode.

GWML#11 William Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice and King Lear) – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Discerning Hearts

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Episode 11 – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – William Shakespeare part 2

The Merchant of Venice is probably the most controversial of all Shakespeare’s plays. It is also one of the least understood. Is it a comedy or a tragedy? What is the meaning behind the test of the caskets? Who is the real villain of the trial scene? Is Shylock simply vicious and venomous, or is he more sinned against than sinning?

One of the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays, King Lear is also one of the most thought-provoking. The play turns on the practical ramifications of the words of Christ that we should render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God that which is God’s. When confronted with the demand that she should render unto Caesar that which is God’s, Cordelia chooses to “love and be silent”. As the play unfolds each of the principal characters learns wisdom through suffering.

Based on the Ignatius Critical Edition, this series examines, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, the life, the times, and influence of authors of great works in literature .

Joseph Pearce is currently the Writer-in-Residence and Visiting Fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is co-editor of the Saint Austin Review (or StAR), an international review of Christian culture, literature, and ideas published in England (Family Publications) and the United States (Sapientia Press). He is also the author of many books, including literary biographies of Solzhenitsyn, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Oscar Wilde.

To learn more about the authors and titles available in the Ignatius Critical Editions

IP#281 Vivian Dudro – Meriol Trevor’s “Shadows and Images” on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

It is with great delight to once again have a conversation with Vivian Dudro about another standout Catholic author. This time we discuss the prolific Meriol Trevor and her work of historical fiction entitled “Shadows and Images”. Trevor, who had already authored a two part biography of John Henry Cardinal Newman, sets him into this engaging story which spans many years during which pivotal historical influences, such as the Industrial Revolution and the Oxford Movement, are shaping Victorian England. An enjoyable read…highly recommended!

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Meriol Trevor (15 April 1919 – 12 January 2000) was one of the most prolific Roman Catholic women writers of the twentieth century. In 1946 she went to Italy as a relief worker with UNRRA and lived for nearly a year in the Abruzzi. In Italy Trevor was exposed to Catholic culture. Previously an agnostic humanist, she was received into the Roman Catholic Church at Oxford in 1950. Her two-volume biography of John Henry Newman was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography in 1962. She also wrote biographies of Pope John XXIII, Philip Neri, and James II, as well as many historical novels and children’s stories and a book of poetry. In 1967 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. An annual lecture series in her honour was begun in 2000 in her home town of Bath. – wikipedia

You can find the book here

From the book description:

This is the story of a Protestant young woman and her journey to the Roman Catholic Church. The fascinating novel is set in nineteenth-century England-a time when Catholicism was regarded with suspicion and prejudice against Catholics was commonplace. Leaving her sheltered life in the countryside, young Clem becomes acquainted with the fascinating ideas and people of Oxford-including a brilliant young clergyman, John Henry Newman. But when her relationship to a Roman Catholic man with a colorful reputation leads to an Italian elopement that is more innocent than it appears, the scandal drives a wedge between Clem and the upright Anglican circle of friends and family she left behind. Woven into the story of Clem and Augustine, their courtship and marriage, and Clem’s conversion, is the vital, influential, and holy Newman, as seen through the eyes of friends.

Many important events, personages, and ideas in the life of Newman appear in the story-his reasons for becoming a Roman Catholic, his differences with Cardinal Manning, his work in the Birmingham Oratory, and his being made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. The author, a renowned biographer of Newman, used Newman’s actual correspondence as the basis for his parts in the dialogue.

The Risen Lord Waits for Us to Call on Him – a reflection by Dr. Anthony Lilles

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The Risen Lord Waits for Us to Call on Him –

a posting which originally appeared on Dr. Lilles’ “Beginning to Pray” website

Jesus, the Risen Lord, is truly present in this moment. In the midst of difficulty or rest, sorrow or joy, He is with us, fully alive, more real than all the rest of reality combined. He is present with great humility and respect: asking as if He were a starving beggar, seeking as if He were the one who had lost something and knocking as if He had no right to enter. He is here, in this moment and in every moment, above all space and time, over all circumstance and trial, waiting for us to open the door.The Victor once and for all, He has been raised and set apart to judge the living and the dead, not in the distant future, but now in the present moment. Only those who are pierced to the heart by love can accept the judgment of His justice and truth, and how I long for my own heart to be pierced so that at last I might know that freedom of love that He alone can give.Spiritual freedom flows from His touch and even now He holds out His hands towards us. Those who believe in Him find forgiveness. Even as we confess our sins and repent of our rash judgments, He silences the voice of condemnation that cries against us.

He has suffered death and passed through hell to restore peace to our troubled consciences because He did not create us for self torment. He has come Himself because He alone has the power and authority to liberate us from such a hellish burden. In Him, we discover that the power of misery is not absolute and that evil does not have the last word. Darkness vanishes before His light. He reigns unconquered and invites us to join Him.

Who will separate us from His love? Who can prevent us from living the life that He has come to give? Worldly powers could not silence Him. Suffering could not diminish Him. Death could not contain Him. Every knee is bent before Him and every head is bowed in His presence. He rules forever at the right hand of the Father.

Against all falsehood, he shines forth forever true. Though winds of false teachings and all kinds of myths seem to hold sway, He is a sure anchor, a safe-harbor in the storm. In the midst of a changing sea of confusion, He stands as the sure reference point of life and every decision. In the midst of rancor and contention, whether within our hearts or in our communities, He is the only true source of peace.

The Word of the Father is the Love that is stronger than death. He is Truth unvanquiahed. He is the living waters of the deep dug well of salvation. He calls in whispers that thunder in our hearts. He gazes on us with love though we have done nothing to deserve it. He hopes in us and rejoices when we raise our eyes to Him if only for a moment. The Lord of Life longs for us to share our hearts with Him freely and to share His heart with us completely in that moment which will have no end.