BTP-LR24 The “Last Retreat” Day 16 – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Beginning to Pray: “The Last Retreat – Day 16 ” pt 1 -“ My soul thirsts for the living God! ”

From “Last Retreat Day 16” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

42. “As the thirsty doe longs for the springs of fresh water, so my soul longs for You, O God! My soul thirsts for the living God! When will I appear before His face? . . .” 254

And yet, as “the sparrow has found a home,” and “the turtledove a nest in which she may lay her young,” 255 so Laudem Gloriae has found while waiting to be brought to the holy Jerusalem, “beata pacis visio” 256— her retreat, her beatitude, her anticipated Heaven in which she begins her life of eternity. “In God my soul is silent; my deliverance comes from Him. Yes, He is the rock in which I find salvation, my stronghold, I shall not be disturbed!” 257 This is the mystery my lyre sings of today! My Master has said to me as to Zacchaeus: “Hurry and come down, for I must stay in your house today. . . .” 258 Hurry and come down, but where? Into the innermost depths of my being: after having forsaken self, withdrawn from self been stripped of self in a word, without self.

This the text we are using to discuss “Heaven in Faith” you can find it here and order from the Carmelite Sisters

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to
Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity. After graduating from Franciscan University of Steubenville, he completed licentiate and doctoral studies in spiritual theology at the Angelicum in Rome. In 2012, he published Hidden Mountain, Secret Garden: a theological contemplation of prayer by Discerning Hearts. Married with two young adult children pursuing their careers and a teenager still at home, he has settled in family in Oxnard, California.

The Prinicipal and Foundation of Prayer and Discernment: a teaching from Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts

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I had the opportunity to speak with Msgr. Esseff, who is conducting a spiritual retreat for the Sisters of the

Missionaries of Charity in Sydney, Australia. He shares with us the teachings from the first day, which is on the principal and foundation of prayer as taught by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Msgr. Esseff begins by reflecting on the Awe of God and the difference between “being” and “becoming”. He shares a special memory of an experience that helped him to understand this which occurred when he was a young boy on his grandfather’s farm. Many years later, he would learn this was a basic teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on the nature of God and creation. God is being and creation (including man) is becoming.

With that foundation, Msgr. Esseff proceeds to teach us that all of our are becoming therefore because mankind has a soul and has the capacity for reflection, we have the power to glorify God. That is the first call we have, to glorify God. To often we focus on our selves and what serves our needs. St. Ignatius would say, that instead when faced with a decision or direction, each human being is called to discern, to ask whether if this is what God wants or is this is what I want. The key is to take ask the Father “What do you want us to do?” This is discernment at its basic level.

To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book byvisiting here

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “Building a Kingdom of Love”

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta: reflections by Msgr. Esseff – Discerning Hearts

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Msgr. Esseff reflects on Blessed Mother Teresa whom he met in 1984 in Beruit, Lebanon.

Msgr. Esseff worked alongside Blessed Mother Teresa in Calcutta, Lebanon, West Africa, Haiti and elsewhere and would go on to serve as a spiritual director and confessor for Mother Teresa and her sisters. (The last few minutes of the reflection are particularly poignant)

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “Building A Kingdom of Love”

“HALT” – The Danger of False Generosity with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts

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Msgr. Esseff discusses HALT and how it is the response to False Generosity. False Generosity can be destructive…we don’t even realize we are doing it.

When you find yourself:

H – Hungry, A- Angry,
L – Lonely, T – Tired

We must take care of ourselves! Msgr. Esseff first gives a checklist to attend to our physical needs and then he addresses our prayer lives. When you become the source of others feeding off you, you will become drained! You cannot give to your brothers and sisters what you do not receive from Him. Discernment is key! When you get exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed, or run down it is your body saying you are doing things that are none of your business. God is not asking you to do what is not in your ability. Serving God Jesus-follow may involve suffering, fatique, and even moments of great physical or emotional pain, but none of this pull you away from your deepest self or from God. Those who want to be helpful to their community must ask themselves, “What do I need to be present to and what is it that I need to refrain from?

From the NAB St. Matthew Chap 11

28^* “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,^* and I will give you rest.29^* ^p Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves.30For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

A Time of Spiritual Warfare – Recognizing the Enemy with Msgr. John Esseff

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Msgr. Esseff refers repeatedly in this podcast to “The Manual for Spiritual Warfare” by Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. which he HIGHLY RECOMMENDS!

Reading 1 1 jn 2:18-21

Children, it is the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.
Thus we know this is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;
if they had been, they would have remained with us.
Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.
But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge.
I write to you not because you do not know the truth
but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth

Manual for Spiritual Warfare by Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D.

Gospel jn 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.

And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.

A Year-End Examination – Preparing Our Hearts For the New Year

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Msgr. Esseff leads us through a year-end examination of conscious.

Here are some scripture to reflect on:

Reading 1 1 jn 2:3-11

Beloved:
The way we may be sure that we know Jesus
is to keep his commandments.
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked.
Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you
but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
And yet I do write a new commandment to you,
which holds true in him and among you,
for the darkness is passing away,
and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says he is in the light,
yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light,
and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.
Whoever hates his brother is in darkness;
he walks in darkness
and does not know where he is going
because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Colossians, chapter 3

Renunciation of Vice.^*

5Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:^c immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.^*

6Because of these the wrath of God^* is coming [upon the disobedient].^d

7By these you too once conducted yourselves, when you lived in that way.

8But now you must put them all away:^* anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths.^e

9Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices^f

10^* and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.^g

11Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,^* slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.^h

12Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,ⁱ

13bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.^j

14And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.^k

15And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.^l

16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.^m

17And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.ⁿ

GWML#6 Jonathan Swift and “Gulliver’s Travels” – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce

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Episode 6- Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Jonathan Swift

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is one of the greatest satirical works ever written. Through the misadventures of Lemuel Gulliver, his hopelessly “modern” protagonist, Swift exposes many of the follies of the English Enlightenment, from its worship of science to its neglect of traditional philosophy and theology. Swift’s satire on the threats posed by the Enlightenment and the embryonic spirit of secular fundamentalism makes Gulliver’s Travels priceless reading for today’s defenders of tradition.

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#102 Msgr. John Esseff – Building a Kingdom of Love on Inside the Pages

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Msgr. John Esseff is one of the most extraordinary men I have ever spoken with. He is the author of “Building A Kingdom of Love: Your Role in the Triumph of the Sacred Heart”. Msgr. Esseff is widely known as a spiritual master who works with the Institute for Priestly Formation. Ordained a priest in 1953 for the Diocese of Scranton, PA, Msgr. Esseff served in parishes and as an exorcist for the diocese. Serving the poor in areas around the world, he would become a confessor and retreat director for Blessed Mother Teresa, and continues that role today for the

sisters of the Missionaries of Charity. He would encounter St. Padre Pio and would be considered one of the St Pio’s spiritual children.

Msgr. John Esseff is on a mission from God. He is one of the founders of the Sacred Heart Apostolate. He hopes to have the Sacred Heart of Jesus enthroned as King of the entire world, family by family, church by church, dioceses by diocese…country by country.

Everyone can participate and support this mission. For information about enthroning the Sacred Heart of Jesus in your home, go to www.sacredheartapostolate.com. Then, you can keep Msgr. Esseff and his mission in your prayers. For more insights and information about Msgr. Esseff, his website is:http://home.catholicweb.com/msgrjohnesseff/index.cfm.

“BE NOT AFRAID” – Msgr. John Esseff on the role of fear in suffering…and the remedy…faith

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Msgr. Esseff discusses the crippling effects of fear and it’s remedy. Fear, in a very real way, is the opposite of faith.

There’s an adage in spirituality that says that if we can name the demon we can tame it. Jesus wants us not to be afraid. He may challenge us in some ways, so that we can name it and bring it out of the darkness into peace. The Light dispels the fear! Fear fuels sin. Ultimately, it’s a fear of not being loved and losing

relationship in some way. Luke 15 ( the parable of the Prodigal Son) shows us how much the Father loves us…no matter what! He’s waiting with open arms to relieve the pain and suffering. Look at the One who wants to pick you up! Some suffer in silence, especially when falsely accused…stand with Jesus at the first station of the cross. Do not take your eyes off the face of Jesus…we are meant for eternal life. Learn from the examples of the saints… BELIEVE.

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff”s website: “Building A Kingdom of Love”

Sobornost – Catherine Doherty “The falling in love with God”

Catherine Doherty addresses the Eastern Catholic Charismatic Renewal conference in 1979. Her subject is sobornost, a Russian term, translatable as "unity".

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“Faith is the father of love, faith is the father of hope also, and its in faith, and faith alone, that we can plunge ourselves, like in a warm sea, to swim the strange currents that will come our way.”

On the beginning of unity “…you become a prayer…you contemplate God, because He always contemplates you…see how simple it is?”

To learn more about Catherine Doherty visit www.madonnahouse.org