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A Reflection on St. Anthony of Padua by Msgr. John Esseff on his 89th Birthday

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Today we celebrate not only the feast of St. Anthony of Padua but also the 89th birthday of Msgr. Esseff, who takes the time to reflect on his special relationship with this great saint.

Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15 Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Ignatius Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 2006, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30, 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to St. Teresa of Calcutta. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical Missions, a Catholic organization established by St. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and serves as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.

BKL#9 – True Happiness and Joy – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff

Show 9 ” Building a Kingdom of Love” – True Happiness and Joy

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Msgr. Esseff reflects on the true meanings of happiness and joy. What does it really look like? How can we live a life of happiness and joy? Msgr. Esseff discusses the beatitudes and forgiveness and the keys to a proper understanding. What is true humility? How much the Father loves you!

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.

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

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

CPH1 “Ven. Mary Ward” pt 1 – A Church of Passion and Hope: Conversations with Sr. Gill Goulding C.J.

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Episode 1 of our series begins with a discussion on the life of the Ven. Mary Ward, (23 January 1585 – 30 January 1645), an English Catholic Religious Sister and whose activities led to the founding of the Congregation of Jesus (the order which Sr. Gill Goulding belongs) and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, better known as the Sisters of Loreto, which have both established schools around the world.

From “A Church of Passion and Hope – Mary Ward”

A recusant heritage and a disciplined faith formation nurtured a deep encounter with Christ for Mary Ward. This intimacy was the foundation for her progressive discernment and grounded her ecclesial disposition, which was particularly characterized by: courage, faithfulness, generosity and confident freedom in the Lord. It is a passionate love of God that drives her endeavors and is manifest in the manner of her obedience which embraces suffering for the fruitfulness of her mission in the service of the Church.

Sr. Gill Goulding, member of the Congregatio Jesu [IBVM/Loretto] is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Spirituality at Regis College in the University of Toronto. Alongside her work as a theologian, she undertakes a ministry of spiritual direction and retreat work. She is the author of several books and numerous articles that deal with the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, the Theology of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI and Ignatian spirituality. In 2012, she was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a theological expert to the Synod on the New Evangelization.

To obtain a copy of the book on which this series is based visit here

“Gill Goulding, C.J. invites readers to move beyond a debilitating polarization in the Church and to adopt an ecclesiology of communion. She presents the ecclesial disposition of St Ignatius of Loyola, rooted in love for Christ, alive to the inseparable union between Christ and the Church, and aware that to love Christ is to love the Church – the real, concrete, hierarchical, “institutional” Church, the people of God, the spouse of Christ infused by His Spirit. Goulding’s love for the Church is evident in all she writes and suffuses the exposition with warmth. One cannot read this book without feeling the call to communion in the Church. A Church of Passion and Hope also serves to highlight an underemphasized part of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises – the Rules for Thinking (sentir) with the Church – a valuable contribution to Ignatian writing and practice.” ―Fr Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V., Saint Clement Eucharistic Shrine, USA

USCCA30 – Life in Jesus Part 5 – U. S. Catholic Catechism for Adults w/ Arch. George Lucas

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USCCA28 Chapter 24 Life In Jesus part 5

An awareness of the social dimension of human life is an important principle in understanding Christian morality, especially in light of the great emphasis on individualism in our society. The social aspect of what it means to be human is revealed in the natural inclination we have to seek social interaction and establish community. This awareness serves as a moral foundation for an attitude of solidarity with each other and leads to a dedication to social justice for everyone. Our Gospel commitment to Christ’s Kingdom of love, justice, and mercy always includes advocating and supporting fairness for all. God calls us to form community and to correct both the symptoms and causes of injustice that rip apart the solidarity of a community.

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 Matt Wilkom for his vocal talents in this episode.

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RC#2 – The Martyr’s Cup – The Resilient Church w/ Mike Aquilina

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Episode 2 – The Martyr’s Cup

But there was another dominant reality in the ancient Church. It is something that appears just as often in the archaeological record and in the paper trail of the early Christians. That something is martyrdom. Persecution.

Martyrdom occupied the attention of the first Christians because it was always a real possibility. Shortly after Christianity arrived in the city of Rome, the emperor Nero discovered that Christians could provide an almost unlimited supply of victims for his circus spectacles. The emperors needed to keep the city’s populace amused, and one way to do so was by providing spectacularly violent and bloody entertainment.

The Christians’ moral code made them none too popular with their neighbors, so the pagan Romans were more than willing to cheer as the Christians were doused with pitch and set on fire, or sent into the ring to battle hungry wild animals or armed gladiators. It was all in a day’s fun in ancient Rome. Over time, Nero’s perverted whims settled into laws and legal precedents, as later emperors issued further rulings on the Christian problem. Outside the law, mob violence against Christians was fairly common and rarely punished.

The Christians applied a certain term to their brothers and sisters who were persecuted and killed. They called them “martyrs”—which means, literally, “witnesses in a court of law.” And to the martyrs they accorded a reverence matched only by their reverence for the Eucharist.

Pick up a copy of Mike’s book.

Also visit Mike’s “Discerning Hearts” page for more audio downloads and information!

The Gift of the Holy Spirit – A reflection by Dr. Anthony Lilles

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From Beginning to Pray authored by Dr. Anthony Lilles

Pentecost is a Feast of Love. It is the feast of the Canticle of Canticles where the Bridegroom comes to kiss his Bride. Today the Church cries out to her Bridegroom for a divine kiss, a kiss from the mouth of God. It is this kiss entrusted to frail humanity that makes all the difference in the world and in our lives. It is by this kiss that God discloses the depths of his love, that He surrenders His Holy Spirit to each of us in the most unique and particular way. It is the kiss God entrusts to humanity from the Cross.

The Holy Spirit is the life of the soul. He is the great gift that the Risen Lord breaths into the world. When lovers kiss, it is as if they are trying to breath their spirits into each other. Each wants the other to completely possess the gift of who they are. It is by way of a holy kiss that Christ breaths his Holy Spirit into the Church.

The whole Church and each of us as members of this mystical Body, through this same Gift, want to give everything we have to Christ and find in ourselves the power to do so and the inner conviction that we do not want to have it any other way. This is because with the Gift of the Holy Spirit we realize this is exactly the way God has loved us in Christ Jesus.

Wherever the Spirit blows, the most beautiful affections are ignited in our humanity. The Spirit of the Father and the Son moves us with a passion so sacred that it raises us up above ourselves. Such holy desires caused by the Fire of God in us allow us to participate in the very life of God.

The more humble we are, the more the kiss of Christ permeates the deep places of our hearts. He won the right to enter into these deep places, to breath his Holy Spirit into these depths, by emptying Himself until he became like us. In solidarity with our humanity, having embraced this most frail work of his creation to his Uncreated Nature in his Divine Person, He allowed himself be completely vulnerable to us – like a lover who attempts to disclose his love to the beloved. Spurned and rejected from the beginning, He would not give up on the friendship He yearned to share with us. He offered his kiss to a distrustful humanity by humbling Himself in the face of our pride and overcame our hostility to Him by his death. When we gaze on Him who died for us, always we see His arms are wide open, ready to embrace us. He waits to kiss us with the Gift of His Spirit whenever we allow our hearts to be pierced by his love.

Will we surrender to his kiss? Will we allow ourselves to be caught up in his love? True, the more we offer ourselves in love, we find ourselves dying to our old way of life. It is the pathway of surrender and trust. We are afraid of this — abandoning our old way of life leads somewhere with which we are not familiar. But the kiss of Christ is so beautiful, so life giving, it is worth this death a thousand times over. Let Him kiss you with the Kisses of his Mouth!

RC#1 – History, with Arms Upraised – The Resilient Church w/ Mike Aquilina

Episode 1 – History, with Arms Upraised

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The Resilient Church with Mike Aquilina, offers a fascinating look at the trials and triumphs of the Catholic Church over the past two thousand years. Fast-paced sketches of critical periods in church history give readers perspective on the challenges faced by the church today. Mike Aquilina does not shrink from the realities of the past, including badly behaved leaders and those who betrayed the Lord. Yet he also leaves us all with well-founded hope for the future: God remains faithful in every circumstance and fulfills his promise to remain with his church always.

Pick up a copy of Mike’s book.

Also visit Mike’s “Discerning Hearts” page for more audio downloads and information!

GWML#14 Herman Melville & “Moby Dick” – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Discerning Hearts

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Episode 14 – Herman Melville and “Moby Dick” on Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce

A sea adventure, a study of evil, and a cast of fascinating characters, including the crazed captain who is obsessed with hunting down the whale that maimed him — Moby-Dick is all of this and more.

Based on the author’s experiences as a sailor, Herman Melville’s probing look into the human heart has been read and analyzed from every angle, including the most absurd. The tragic tale is looked at afresh in this Ignatius Critical Edition, which examines the background and other writings of the author and provides his essay on a work by his literary friend Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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. , as well as 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 Moby-Dick Editions

USCCA29 – Life in Jesus Part 4 – U. S. Catholic Catechism for Adults w/ Arch. George Lucas

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USCCA28 Chapter 24 Life In Jesus part 4

Conscience represents both the more general ability we have as human beings to know what is good and right and the concrete judgments we make in particular situations concerning what we should do or about what we have already done. Moral choices confront us with the decision to follow or depart from reason and the divine law. A good conscience makes judgments that conform to reason and the good that is willed by the Wisdom of God. A good conscience requires lifelong formation. Each baptized follower of Christ is obliged to form his or her conscience according to objective moral standards. The Word of God is a principal tool in the formation of conscience when it is assimilated by study, prayer, and practice. The prudent advice and good example of others support and enlighten our conscience. The authoritative teaching of the Church is an essential element in our conscience formation. Finally, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, combined with regular examination of our conscience, will help us develop a morally sensitive conscience.
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 Matt Wilkom for his vocal talents in this episode.

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BTP#8 Heaven In Faith Day 4 Prayer 2 – Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 8 Beginning to Pray: “Heaven in Faith” Day 4 Prayer 2 – “We will come to him and make our home in him”

From “Heaven in Faith” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

16. But to attain to this love the soul must first be “entirely surrendered, its “will must be calmly lost in God’s will; so that its “inclinations,” “its faculties” “move only in this love and for the sake of this love. I do every with love, I suffer everything with love: this is what David meant when he sang, ‘I will keep all my strength for You.'”

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.