BA-V11 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Pt 2 – Begin Again with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Pt 2 – Begin Again /w Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Ep. 11 from Discerning Hearts on Vimeo.

BA6 - "Refuse to Accept Discouragement" - Begin Again: The Spiritual Legacy of Ven. Bruno Lanteri with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

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

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

51ouge9w6ql-_sx311_bo1204203200_

 

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

Episode 22 Beginning to Pray:  St. Catherine of Siena

From Dr. Lilles’ “Beginning to Pray”  blog site:Dr. Anthony Lilles STD - Beginning to Pray 5

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.
St. Catherine of Siena Novena - Mp3 audio and text 3Christ 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

 

The Mysterious Prayer of Gethsemane – a reflection with Dr. Anthony Lilles

 

From Dr. Anthony Lilles’ blog “Beginning to Pray

There are stories about great saints who struggled to pray in the face of great difficulty.   This can be baffling until we try to enter into the Passion of Christ and consider the movements of His Heart before the merciful love of the Father.  Until we contemplate the prayer of the Word of the Father, this struggle to pray is often deemed to be merely a stage through which we pass.   Yet, in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Luke 22:35ff), the bloody sweat of the Son of God reveals this struggle as a supreme moment of Christian contemplation, a terrifying standard against which the truth of all our other prayers can be discerned.The hymn of praise learned with the Suffering Servant on the Mount of Olives is shrouded in a mystery.  It is against this mystery that therapeutic approaches to prayer should be discerned.  Psychological or physical tantrums are silenced before the authentic cry of heart offered by the Son of Man.  His love for his disciples and devotion to the Father challenges any consumerist attitude toward the things of God.   His sorrow and spiritual poverty helps us feel the appropriate shame we ought to have over any gluttonous expectation for mental relief or euphoric experience.  Against the dark terror Jesus confronts in prayer, spiritual consumerism can only be seen as limiting the freedom that our conversation with the Lord requires.

The Word made flesh baptized every moment of his earthly life in this kind of prayer.   Every heart beat and every breath was so filled with zeal for the Father and those the Father gave Him, divine love ever exploded in His sacred humanity with resounding silence, astonishing signs, heart-aching wonders and words of wisdom which even after two thousand years still give the world pause.  Each verse of the Gospels attempts to show us His self-emptying divinity boldly hurling His prayerful humanity with the invincible force of love to the Cross.In Gethsemane we glimpse how the Son of Man availed Himself to these mysterious promptings of the Father’s love, an unfathomable love that is not comfortable to our limited humanity.   Unaided human reason cannot penetrate the divine passion that compelled Him into the solitude hidden mountains and secret gardens.   His vigil on the Mount of Olives can only be understood as the culmination of the ongoing conversation to which He eagerly made His humanity vulnerable.

If, in this culminating movement of heart, Christ sweat blood, we who have decided to follow in the footsteps of our Crucified Master should not be surprised by moments of great anguish in our own conversation with God.  In the face of this mystery, we must allow the Risen Lord to give us His courage.   What is revealed on the Mount of Olives helps us see why Christian prayer can mature into a beautiful surrender, a movement of love which gives glory to the Father and extends the redemptive work of the Redeemer in the world.   What Christian contemplation sees with the Son of God can involve very difficult struggle, through the strength that comes from the Savior even the terrifying moments of such prayer can resolve themselves in trustful surrender: “Not my will… Yours be done.”

Dr. Anthony Lilles is the author of “Hidden Mountain, Secret Garden”

Available at Amazon.com as an ebook (click here), a paperback edition (click here).  You may also order a paperback edition at createspace.com.

USCCA8 – The Saving Death and Resurrection of Christ – U. S. Catholic Catechism for Adults w/ Arch. George Lucas

Catholic Spiritual Formation - Catholic Spiritual Direction 3Archbishop Lucas offers insights on the US Catholic Catechism for Adults Chapter 8:

Because Christ’s suffering and death was the instruments of salvation, from what did he save us? We needed to be saved from sin and its damaging effects. God’s plan to save us involved having the Son of God enter into this world to be like us in all things except sin. Divine love made this possible.

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

For other episodes in the visit our Archbishop George Lucas page

This program is based on:

 

More information can be found here.

We wish to thank the USCCB for the permissions granted for the use of  relevant material used in this series.
Also, we wish to thank Chuck Adams and Miriam Gutierrez for their vocal talents in this episode.

HR#6 “Respect and Tolerance” – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict w/ Fr. Mauritius Wilde OSB

St.-Benedict-dFrom the Holy Rule of St. Benedict:

CHAPTER II
What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be

“…..Let him make no distinction of persons in the monastery. Let him not love one more than another, unless it be one whom he findeth more exemplary in good works and obedience. Let not a free-born be preferred to a freedman, unless there be some other reasonable cause. But if from a just reason the Abbot deemeth it proper to make such a distinction, he may do so in regard to the rank of anyone whomsoever; otherwise let everyone keep his own place; for whether bond or free, we are all one in Christ (cf Gal 3:28; Eph 6:8), and we all bear an equal burden of servitude under one Lord, “for there is no respect of persons with God” (Rom 2:11). We are distinguished with Him in this respect alone, if we are found to excel others in good works and in humility. Therefore, let him have equal charity for all, and impose a uniform discipline for all according to merit.”

Father Mauritius Wilde, OSB, Ph.D., did his philosophical, theological and doctoral studies in Europe. He is the author of several books and directs retreats regularly. He serves as Prior at Sant’Anselmo in Rome.

BTP#26 “The Face of Christ: Radiance of Mercy and Sign of Hope” Beginning to Pray Special w/ Dr. Anthony Lilles

Dr. Lilles’ continues his  Day of Recollection offered in April 2013.

In an age of great confusion and rejection of God, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Elisabeth of the Trinity and St. John Paul II find in Christ the reason for our hope.   Starting with St. Therese’s devotion to the Holy Face expressed in living her life as an offering to merciful love, we will see how the pathway she pioneered was followed and further developed in the spiritual missions of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity and St. John Paul II.   In particular, we will contemplate the relationship of mercy and hope that the Face of Christ helps us to see when hope and mercy are most needed so that we too can follow the path of mercy.

Jesus-shroud

Dr. Anthony Lilles STD - Beginning to Pray 10Anthony 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 St. 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. He is the author of the “Beginning to Pray”

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

HR#5 “Stability” – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict w/ Fr. Mauritius Wilde OSB

St.-Benedict-dFrom the Holy Rule of St. Benedict:

CHAPTER LXVI
Of the Porter of the Monastery

…If it can be done, the monastery should be so situated that all the necessaries, such as water, the mill, the garden, are enclosed, and the various arts may be plied inside of the monastery, so that there may be no need for the monks to go about outside, because it is not good for their souls. But we desire that this Rule be read quite often in the community, that none of the brethren may excuse himself of ignorance

Father Mauritius Wilde, OSB, Ph.D., did his philosophical, theological and doctoral studies in Europe. He is the author of several books and directs retreats regularly. He serves as Prior at Sant’Anselmo in Rome.

HR#4 “In place of confusing life patterns, the security of a healthy balance” – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict w/ Fr. Mauritius Wilde OSB

St.-Benedict-dFrom the Holy Rule of St. Benedict:

CHAPTER XLI

From holy Easter till Pentecost let the brethren dine at the sixth hour and take supper in the evening. From Pentecost on, however, during the whole summer, if the monks have no work in the fields and the excess of the heat doth not interfere, let them fast on Wednesday and Friday until the ninth hour; but on the other days let them dine at the sixth hour. This sixth hour for dinner is to be continued, if they have work in the fields or the heat of the summer is great. Let the Abbot provide for this; and so let him manage and adapt everything that souls may be saved, and that what the brethren do, they may do without having a reasonable cause to murmur. From the ides of September until the beginning of Lent let them always dine at the ninth hour. During Lent, however, until Easter, let them dine in the evening. But let this evening hour be so arranged that they will not need lamp-light during their meal; but let everything be finished whilst it is still day. But at all times let the hour of meals, whether for dinner or for supper, be so arranged that everything is done by daylight.

Father Mauritius Wilde, OSB, Ph.D., did his philosophical, theological and doctoral studies in Europe. He is the author of several books and directs retreats regularly. He serves as Prior at Sant’Anselmo in Rome.

BTP#25 “The Face of the Bridegroom: Source of Mystical Prayer” Beginning to Pray Special w/ Dr. Anthony Lilles

Dr. Lilles’ continues his  Day of Recollection offered in April 2013.

The renewal of mental prayer in 16th Century Spain is characterized by a rediscovery of the face of Christ in contemplation.   Using passages from her life, we will consider how St. Teresa’s contemplation of the face of Christ developed during her conversion.  We will compare this with the way St. John of the Cross pondered the face of Christ in the Spiritual Canticle.  These saints help us see the mysterious Face of Christ, hidden in suffering and reflected in the secret of our faith, as the threshold and source for mystical prayer.

Dr. Anthony Lilles STD - Beginning to Pray 10Anthony 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 St. 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. He is the author of the “Beginning to Pray”

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

DWG1 – “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Fr_TimothyEpisode 1  “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher.

This episode offers an overall introduction of the series by offering examples, both big and small, and the overall tools that will be used to come to the discernment of God’s will in various situations.  In particular, what do we do when deciding between “a morally good option and another apparently good option”?St.-Ignatius-3

For other episodes in the series visit The Discerning Hearts “Discerning the Will of God” page

Father Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., was ordained in 1979 as a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, a religious community dedicated to retreats and spiritual formation according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.  Fr. Gallagher is featured on the EWTN series “Living the Discerning Life:  The Spiritual Teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola”.

For more information on how to obtain copies of Fr. Gallaghers’s various books and audio which are available for purchase, please visit  his  website:   frtimothygallagher.org

 

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