Lent Archives

SM8 – The Feast of Feasts – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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SM8 – The Feast of Feasts – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

“The Feast of Feasts”

“Easter—the resurrection of Christ! The feast of feasts! The final proof of Christ’s divinity! Easter—the first feast of the early Church, around which all the other feasts grew like stars around the sun. We celebrate Christ’s resurrection as something absolutely, fantastically beautiful that has happened, and is still happening. The fact that there is an Easter is something to be grateful for. It is such a happy feast. What can be more beautiful than this passage from death to life, real life? Now death has become a passage. A passage to what, to where, to whom? It is the passage of you to God and me to God. You walk into it and there at the end is Christ and Our Lady, the life that lasts forever and that is lived with God and his blessed Mother. Christ’s resurrection is the most joyous feast in the calendar of the Church, the one in which everything comes together. It is the greatest feast.

As you approach the church for the Vigil Mass announcing Christ’s resurrection, you will see preparations for a new fire. The fire is usually lit with a flint as it was in the old days. Ideally, the new fire is a large bonfire lit in the parking lot or other outdoor gathering place. It should be outside of the church on a dark night, because this bonfire celebrates, cries out: “Light! Out of the darkness of the tomb came Light! See! Come here, all you who were mourning. Come, all you who did not believe in God. Come, all you who never were told about God. Come and warm your hands at the fire!” The Light of Christ! This fire is the symbol of light, of warmth, the symbol of the heart of Christ and the love of Christ.”

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (p. 92). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

PoC-46 Holy Saturday: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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Taking Up Our Cross. . .Be Not Afraid

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Is life a series of “gifts” from God or tragedies?

Seek—Encounter the empty tombs of life with the expectation that they are signs of the Risen Christ.

Knock—Meditate on 1 John 4:18–19.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us.

How do you view the events of your life, as God punishing you or as God showering you with gifts? Is your image of what God is like from the way Jesus reveals God to us or from some other source?

Transform Your Life—Accept the cross whenever it presents itself to you in daily life. Do not flee from it. Do not shrink from it, but embrace it in the name of Jesus. Learn from it, be enlightened by it, find in it the key to living a fruitful life. Think of this every time that you sign yourself with the cross.

The author of “The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ in Your Life“, Michael Dubriuel, passed away in 2009. His wife, author Amy Welborn, has made his book available as a free e-book! We HIGHLY encourage you to download this exceptional work!

“The Power of the Cross” is available as a free e-book here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-45 Good Friday: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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Taking Up Our Cross. . .To Stay with Jesus

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Do I feel “lucky” to carry the cross that God has given me?

Seek—Keep the cross of Christ before you at all times. Let it be a reminder of Christ’s forgiveness for you when you feel sorrowful for your sins. Let it be a sign of God’s love for others when you are tempted to judge. Let it be a light that you can share with those whose lives you touch.

Knock—Meditate on 1 Corinthians 12:26–27.

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Do you think of yourself as a part of Christ’s body? What changes are necessary for you to make in order to act as a member of the body of Christ rather than as an individual follower of Jesus?

Transform Your Life—Realize the difference that embracing the cross of Christ makes in your life. Learn to see the world in a new way and to see what Jesus meant when he said, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

The author of The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ in Your Life, Michael Dubriuel, passed away in 2009. His wife, author Amy Welborn, has made his book available as a free e-book! We HIGHLY encourage you to download this exceptional work.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-44 Holy Thursday: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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Taking Up Our Cross. . .In Imitation of Christ

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Am I willing to do small things for Christ?

Seek—Volunteer to do a task that no one wants to do, a menial or unpleasant one, all the while uniting yourself with the Passion and death of Jesus.

Knock—Meditate on Philippians 2:5–8.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Paul says that we should have the mind of Christ, and Jesus told Peter that he was thinking like men and not God. How is having the mind of Christ different than the thoughts that we are apt to naturally have about life issues? Do your thoughts clash with the gospel message? Are you trying to be like the god you imagine, or the God Jesus revealed by his cross?

Transform Your Life——Seek to follow the example of Christ in all that you do. Be solicitous for the care of others. Learn the truth that in dying to self you are born into eternal life.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-43 Holy Wednesday: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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Taking Up Our Cross. . .Be Prepared

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—How well do I prepare for the Eucharist I receive at Mass?

Seek——Try to participate fully in the Eucharist each time you are present; if possible, attend daily. Be mindful of what you do at Mass, what you hear and how you respond. Learn more about the Mass.

Knock—Meditate on 1 Corinthians 11:27–30.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

What does St. Paul mean when he says that those who do not discern bring judgment upon themselves? What can you do to examine yourself before participating in Mass to avoid doing it absent-mindedly?

Transform Your Life——Know what you celebrate when you are at Mass; mean what you do with every gesture and prayer, and especially when you receive Holy Communion.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-42 Holy Tuesday: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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Taking Up Our Cross. . .To Follow the Lord

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—How often do I trust my own instincts, and how often do I entrust myself to Jesus?

Seek—Try to live each day with a resignation to God’s will, accepting each moment with the expectation that God might be breaking through to you.

Knock—Meditate on 1 Peter 5:6–9.

Bow down, then, before the power of God now, and he will raise you up on the appointed day; unload all your worries onto him, since he is looking after you. Be calm but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. Stand up to him, strong in faith and in the knowledge that your brothers all over the world are suffering the same things.

Think about the experiences of Peter in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and the words that he writes here. What lesson do they convey? How might the devil be seeking to devour you in your attempts to follow Christ?

Transform Your Life—Make an amendment to live humbly. Cast all of your hopes and anxieties on the Lord. Realize that following Jesus means living a life of trust not in your way but in God’s way, the way of the cross.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-41 Holy Monday: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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Taking Up Our Cross. . .In Reverence

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Do I reverence God?

Seek—Find a way to adore God today, be it in the Eucharist or in the secrecy of your room, or anywhere. When you see the shape of the cross, say the prayer that St. Francis instructed his brothers and sisters to say, “We adore you Christ and we praise you present here and in all the Churches throughout the world, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

Knock—Meditate on Hebrews 12:28–29.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.

What does it mean to offer acceptable worship to God? How is the kingdom we are offered by Christ unshakeable?

Transform Your Life—Make your life one of reverence toward God at all times. Let your focus be on remaining in God’s presence, rather than judging and criticizing those around you.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-40 Palm Sunday: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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Taking Up Our Cross. . .In Abandonment

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Do I believe in God’s providential care?

Seek—Cry out to God to save you. Realize what it means to say that God is your Savior. Frequently call to mind all that you need to be saved from and have recourse to God who alone can save you.

Knock—Meditate on Romans 13:12–14.

Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Paul uses the image of armor that we wear, either of darkness or light. Much of what he terms the deeds of darkness are acts that typically happen at nightfall or in the secret of one’s heart—they are acts that take place when we hide them from God and others. Reflect on how putting on armor of light and bringing all of your cares before God will change the way you see them.

Transform Your Life—Believe and trust in Jesus at all times. Do not allow the enemy to have a foothold into your life. Make “Hosanna, save us, Lord” the prayer that is constantly on your lips.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

PoC-39 5th Saturday of Lent: The Power of the Cross Lenten Meditation

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The Cross of Christ Restores. . .Justice

The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila - Audio Mp3 Audio 3 Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—Do I see myself as a child of God?

Seek——Focus on the crucified Christ as you meet him throughout the day. Stand up for your brother or sister, always appealing to the brother or sister who might seek to harm him or her.

Knock—Meditate on Micah 2:12–13.

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men. He who opens the breach will go up before them; they will break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass on before them, the LORD at their head.

Micah prophesies that the Lord will lead his sheep out of their captivity. In the violent journey of Christ out of the walled city of Jerusalem, we see a literal fulfillment of this prophecy. Are you one of the followers of Jesus on his way of the cross?

Transform Your Life—Realize that you are a child of God, reborn in Baptism when you shared in the death and resurrection
of Jesus. Live out your Baptism, dying to yourself whenever you find yourself tempted to be a child of something other than
the one true God.

The Power of the Cross is now available as a free e-book,
check out more information by going here

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

SM7 – To Fast, Part Two – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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SM7 – To Fast, Part Two – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

To Fast, Part Two

“Fasting is the song of a soul in the process of liberation. It is a door to that dispossession which allows me to give up my will to God. Fasting is the shepherd’s crook that leads you and me on the road to the real pilgrimage to God. With that crook, one moves faster. Fasting is the following of Christ, not walking behind him, but running as men and women in love run toward him whom they love.

I am the sister of Jesus Christ, who came to do the will of the Father, and so I desire to do the will of the Father. The will of the Father can be difficult, a heavy burden on my selfishness. By fasting from all my appetites—cigarettes, food, and so forth—I finally develop my will to a strength in which I can shoulder the demands of God that seem to be so heavy on me. And I find that they are not heavy at all, because I have given up that which stood between me and God. This is our consolation. And we discover that one of the biggest by-products of fasting is a new freedom.

Here we have to make very certain that we do not think that we are appeasing God by our fasting. We do not say, “Here are my sins, Lord, and here is my payment or atonement for them.” No. We fast to seek the face of our Father. We fast because heaven is taken by violence, violence to oneself, violence to all those things in us that are not of God. A fast is to remove all that is not of God in us.”

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (pp. 48-49). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.