FJ1 – Embarking on the Journey – The Final Journey with Dr. Stephen Doran M.D. – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Episode 1 – Embarking on the Journey – The Final Journey with Dr. Stephen Doran, M.D.

In this conversation, Dr. Stephen Doran, a Catholic deacon and neurosurgeon, and series host Kris McGregor, discuss his experiences with end-of-life care and the importance of contemplating death. He emphasizes the inevitability of death and the need for individuals to prepare for it, both spiritually and practically. Dr. Doran also shares his personal experience with his father-in-law’s death, which was a profound and holy time that deeply impacted him and his family. He stresses that preparation for death should begin now and that it can be approached in a way that isn’t scary. The conversation highlights the importance of deep listening, discernment, and integrating death into the experience of life.

For more episodes in the series, visit The Final Journey: Insights from a Catholic Doctor and Neurosurgeon w/ Dr. Stephen Doran M.D.  – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

 

Stephen Doran, M.D., a board-certified neurosurgeon with over twenty-five years of experience, is an ordained permanent deacon and serves as the bioethicist for the Archdiocese of Omaha. His writings in bioethics, neurosurgery, and gene therapy for brain disorders have been widely published in national media outlets, academic journals, and neurosurgery textbooks. He is married with five sons. He co-founded Seeking Truth Catholic Bible Study with his wife, Sharon.


Discerning Hearts reflection questions for this episode:

  1. Facing the Inevitability: How does Dr. Stephen Doran express the inevitability of death as a shared destination for everyone?
  2. Vocational Roles and Balance: In what ways does Dr. Doran discuss the challenge of balancing various vocational roles, including being a doctor, deacon, husband, and father, while relying on God’s grace?
  3. The Importance of Storytelling: How does Dr. Doran use storytelling in his book to draw people into the concrete realities of end-of-life experiences, as opposed to relying solely on clinical or dogmatic teachings?
  4. The Journey to Neurosurgery: What influenced Dr. Doran’s decision to pursue neurosurgery, and how does he reflect on the weight of the responsibility associated with this medical field?
  5. Being Present in Life-Changing Moments: How does Dr. Doran describe the privilege and challenge of being present with patients during life-changing moments, especially in the context of neurosurgery?
  6. A Holy Death: Based on the story of Dr. Doran’s father-in-law, Mike, how does the experience of a holy death impact the family’s perception of death, making it less scary and more integrated into the fabric of life?


You can find the book here

From the book description:

Dr. Stephen Doran draws from his vast experience as a neurosurgeon, a bioethicist, and a permanent deacon to present the Catholic perspective on the art of dying well. The spiritual and moral issues related to death and the process of dying can be challenging and complicated. To Die Well provides a detailed yet readily understandable guide to these topics.

Each chapter begins with a story from Dr. Doran’s personal or professional life that not only provides context for the topic at hand but also gently draws the reader toward the personal realities of dying. The first part focuses on the moral issues that surround death and dying, including end-of-life medical decisions. The second part is devoted to the Catholic spiritual understanding of dying and the rites that accompany the death of a Catholic.

To Die Well will help readers contemplate, pray about, and prepare for the end of their earthly lives.

 

POA12 – Aids in the Battle – Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/ Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

Aids in the Battle – Put On The Armor: A Manual for Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. Put On The Armor - A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. 2

Dr. Thigpen offers insights on the Manual for Spiritual Warfare Chapter 7:

For in spite of all the witness of creation and of the salvific economy inherent in it, the spirit of darkness is capable of showing God as an enemy of his own creature, and in the first place as an enemy of man, as a source of danger and threat to man. In this way Satan manages to sow in man’s soul the seed of opposition to the one who “from the beginning” would be considered as man’s enemy— and not as Father. Man is challenged to become the adversary of God! The analysis of sin in its original dimension indicates that, through the influence of the “father of lies,” throughout the history of humanity there will be a constant pressure on man to reject God, even to the point of hating Him: “Love of self to the point of contempt for God,” as St. Augustine puts it. POPE JOHN PAUL II, DOMINUM ET VIVIFICANTEM (PAPAL ENCYCLICAL, 1986), 38POA6 - "Know your Weapons" pt. 1 - Put On The Armor - A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D.

Visit here for other episodes in this series:
Put On The Armor: A Manual for Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D.

The “Manual for Spiritual Warfare” can be found here

Paul Thigpen, Ph.D, is the Editor of TAN Books in Charlotte, North Carolina. An internationally known speaker, best-selling author and award-winning journalist, Paul has published forty-three books in a wide variety of genres and subjects: history and biography, spirituality and apologetics, anthologies and devotionals, family life and children’s books, study guides and reference works, fiction and collections of poetry and prayers.
Paul graduated from Yale University in 1977 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with Distinction in the Major of Religious Studies. He was later awarded the George W. Woodruff Fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, where he earned an M.A. (1993) and a Ph.D. (1995) in Historical Theology. In 1993 he was named as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow by the U.S. Department of Education. He has served on the faculty of several universities and colleges.
In 2008 Paul was appointed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to their National Advisory Council for a four-year term. He has served the Church as a theologian, historian, apologist, evangelist, and catechist in a number of settings,speaking frequently in Catholic and secular media broadcasts and at conferences, seminars, parish missions, and scholarly gatherings.

 

HH6 – The Light at the End of the Tunnel – The Heart of Hope w/ Deacon James Keating Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Podcast

The Light at the End of the Tunnel – The Heart of Hope with Deacon James Keating Ph.D.

Deacon Keating and Kris McGregor address the following:

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
Am I being punished?
Why do the innocent and faithful suffer?
Beholding the wood of the cross.
The core of redemptive suffering.

This extraordinarily popular series explores the work of suffering in the Christian life and how God can use it to transform the heart of the individual and the world.

The “Heart of Hope”  tackles a very tough subject…the gift of suffering in the Christian life.  Deacon Keating guides us well.

You can find other episodes in the Heart of Hope – Discerning Hearts series page


Deacon James Keating Ph.D., is a professor of Spiritual Theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO. 

 

LST8 – Casting Flowers – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher Podcast

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

Episode 8 – Casting Flowers – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

In this conversation, Fr. Gallagher reflects on an important aspect of “the little way” as imaged by St. Therese of “casting flowers.” This is demonstrated by her relationship with a challenging novice, Sister Marie of Saint-Joseph

St. Therese of Liesuex

Here are some of the various texts Fr. Gallagher refers to in this episode:

The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. I: 1877-1890 (Critical edition of the complete works of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux)

Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. II

This is one of the letters Fr. Gallagher refers to in this episode
LT 194 From Thérèse to Sister Marie of Saint-Joseph.(Fragment.)

September 8-17 (?), 1896
LC lost

I am delighted with the little child, and the one who carries her in His arms is still more delighted than I…. Ah! how beautiful is the little child’s vocation! It is not one mission that she must evangelize but all missions. How will she do this?… By loving, by sleeping, by THROWING FLOWERS to Jesus when He is asleep. Then Jesus will take these flowers, and, giving them an inestimable value, He will throw them in His turn; He will have them fly over all shores and will save souls (with the flowers, with the love of the little child, who will see nothing but will always smile even through her tears!… (A child, a missionary, and even a warrior, what a marvel!)

St. Therese of Lisieux. Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Volume II: General Correspondence 1890-1897 (Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Saint Therese of Lisieux Book 2) (Kindle Locations 5315-5322). ICS publications. Kindle Edition..


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 “The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Discerning Hearts” page

Episode 15 – The Drama of Atheist Humanism – Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J., Vivian Dudro, and Joseph Pearce – FBC Podcast


Dostoyevsky knows the difference between a revolution of love (Christian) and a revolution of power (atheism). Fr. Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro continue to read Henri de Lubac’s analysis of the great Fyodor Dostoyevsky in “The Drama of Atheist Humanism.”


You can find the book here

De Lubac traces the origin of 19th century attempts to construct a humanism apart from God, the sources of contemporary atheism which purports to have “moved beyond God.” The three persons he focuses on are Feuerbach, who greatly influenced Marx; Nietzsche, who represents nihilism; and Comte, who is the father of all forms of positivism.

He then shows that the only one who really responded to this ideology was Dostoevsky, a kind of prophet who criticizes in his novels this attempt to have a society without God. Despite their historical and scholarly appearance, de Lubac’s work clearly refers to the present.

As he investigates the sources of modern atheism, particularly in its claim to have definitely moved beyond the idea of God, he is thinking of an ideology prevalent today in East and West which regards the Christian faith as a completely outdated.


Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J.
Vivian Dudro
Joseph Pearce

 

POA11 – Keep the Enemy Out of the Camp – Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Put On The Armor - A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. 2

Episode 11 – “Keep the Enemy Out of the Camp” – Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D.

Dr. Thigpen offers insights on the Manual for Spiritual Warfare Chapter 6:

Satan has his Trojan horses as well. He sometimes tempts us to embrace what looks like a desirable gift. But despite the attractive appearance, it’s actually a catastrophe waiting for an invitation to invade. Playing with a Ouija board, for instance, may seem innocent enough, a diversion indulged in for the simple pleasure of satisfying curiosity. But such boards have been known to provide demons with easy access to those who thought them only a harmless game. To play with them is to play with fire.

Exorcists have in fact reported cases in which this practice— and other, more obviously serious, sins— have opened the gates of a soul to extraordinary demonic phenomena. Actions and activities commonly reported to have such terrifying consequences include satanic rituals; witchcraft, sorcery and so-called “white magic”; participation in religious cults; occult practices, such as Ouija boards and fortunetelling; séances, channeling, and other forms of necromancy (attempts to contact the dead); substance abuse; sexual sin; and abortion.Seeking the attractive “gift” of pleasure, power, secret knowledge, or (in the case of abortion) even escape from responsibility, some have committed these sins, and in doing so have opened themselves to demonic infestation, oppression, obsession, and even possession.

Blessed Pope Paul VI noted this danger when he warned that many Christians in modern times are “exposing their souls— their baptized souls, visited so often by the Eucharistic Presence and inhabited by the Holy Spirit!— to licentious sensual experiences and to harmful drugs, as well as to the ideological seductions of fashionable errors. These are cracks through which the Evil One can easily penetrate and change the human mind.”

In addition, forgiveness is crucial to deliverance from the Evil One, because a bitter heart gives him a foothold in our lives. “Take heed lest anyone be lacking in the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by it, many be defiled” (Heb 12: 15). Those especially who have suffered a grave injustice must seek the grace to let go of the offense and pray for the offender, so that resentment doesn’t ferment into malicious bitterness.

If we’re ever tempted to invite the Enemy into our “camp” in any of these ways, we must recognize the Adversary’s deception and reject his offer firmly and immediately. And if we’ve ever committed such sins in the past, but have never confessed them, we need to confess them to God, seeking forgiveness and healing in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Visit here for other episodes in this series:
Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D.
Put On The Armor - A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. 4

The “Manual for Spiritual Warfare” can be found here

 Paul Thigpen, Ph.D., is the Editor of TAN Books in Charlotte, North Carolina. An internationally known speaker, best-selling author, and award-winning journalist, Paul has published forty-three books in a wide variety of genres and subjects: history and biography, spirituality and apologetics, anthologies and devotionals, family life and children’s books, study guides and reference works, fiction and collections of poetry and prayers.
Paul graduated from Yale University in 1977 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with Distinction in the Major of Religious Studies. He was later awarded the George W. Woodruff Fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, where he earned an M.A. (1993) and a Ph.D. (1995) in Historical Theology. In 1993 he was named as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow by the U.S. Department of Education. He has served on the faculty of several universities and colleges.
In 2008 Paul was appointed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to their National Advisory Council for a four-year term. He has served the Church as a theologian, historian, apologist, evangelist, and catechist in a number of settings, speaking frequently in Catholic and secular media broadcasts and at conferences, seminars, parish missions, and scholarly gatherings.

 

BTP-LOT5 – Challenges in Suffering, Part 2 – The Life of St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles Discerning Hearts Podcast

Challenges in Suffering, Part 2 – The Life of St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

Join Dr. Anthony Lilles and Kris McGregor as they dive into the life of St. Teresa of Avila, using her autobiography, “The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus of The Order of Our Lady of Carmel”. In this episode, Dr. Lilles continues an overview of St. Teresa’s life and in particular, her struggles in finding good, spiritual literature.

St. Teresa of Avila Interior Castle Podcast Anthony Lilles Kris McGregor

“From the very beginning, God was most gracious unto me. Though I was not so free from sin as the book required, I passed that by; such watchfulness seemed to me almost impossible. I was on my guard against mortal sin—and would to God I had always been so!—but I was careless about venial sins, and that was my ruin. Yet, for all this, at the end of my stay there—I spent nearly nine months in the practice of solitude—our Lord began to comfort me so much in this way of prayer, as in His mercy to raise me to the prayer of quiet, and now and then to that of union, though I understood not what either the one or the other was, nor the great esteem I ought to have had of them. I believe it would have been a great blessing to me if I had understood the matter. It is true that the prayer of union lasted but a short time: I know not if it continued for the space of an Ave Maria; but the fruits of it remained; and they were such that, though I was then not twenty years of age, I seemed to despise the world utterly; and so I remember how sorry I was for those who followed its ways, though only in things lawful.

I used to labour with all my might to imagine Jesus Christ, our Good and our Lord, present within me. And this was the way I prayed. If I meditated on any mystery of His life, I represented it to myself as within me, though the greater part of my time I spent in reading good books, which was all my comfort; for God never endowed me with the gift of making reflections with the understanding, or with that of using the imagination to any good purpose: my imagination is so sluggish, that even if I would think of, or picture to myself, as I used to labour to picture, our Lord’s Humanity, I never could do it.

And though men may attain more quickly to the state of contemplation, if they persevere, by this way of inability to exert the intellect, yet is the process more laborious and painful; for if the will have nothing to occupy it, and if love have no present object to rest on, the soul is without support and without employment—its isolation and dryness occasion great pain, and the thoughts assail it most grievously. Persons in this condition must have greater purity of conscience than those who can make use of their understanding; for he who can use his intellect in the way of meditation on what the world is, on what he owes to God, on the great sufferings of God for him, his own scanty service in return, and on the reward God reserves for those who love Him, learns 22 how to defend himself against his own thoughts, and against the occasions and perils of sin. On the other hand, he who has not that power is in greater danger, and ought to occupy himself much in reading, seeing that he is not in the slightest degree able to help himself.”

Excerpt from Chapter 4 from “The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus of The Order of Our Lady of Carmel”


Listen Here to the Discerning Hearts audio recording of “The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus” by St. Teresa of Avila

For other audio recordings of various spiritual classics you can visit the Discerning Hearts Spiritual Classics page.


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 St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.

 

 

HH5 – The Purpose of Life – The Heart of Hope w/ Deacon James Keating Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Deacon James Keating Discerning Hearts Podcast Suffering

The Purpose of Life – The Heart of Hope w/ Deacon James Keating Ph.D.

Deacon Keating and Kris McGregor discuss the purpose of life,  the suffering of humanity and how it relates to the grace of God.  Emotional Suffering, Purgation,  Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, and Redemption.

This series explores the work of suffering in the Christian life and how God can use it to transform the heart of the individual and the world.

The “Heart of Hope”  tackles a very tough subject…the gift of suffering in the Christian life.  Deacon Keating guides us well.

You can find other episodes in the Heart of Hope – Discerning Hearts series page


Deacon James Keating Ph.D., is a professor of Spiritual Theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO. 

 

 

LST7 – The Personality of St. Therese – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher Discerning Hearts Podcast

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

The Personality of St. Therese – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

In this conversation, Fr. Gallagher continues to reflect on the illuminating personality of St. Therese, by examining several letters written about her and letters she wrote to extended family members.

St. Therese of Liesuex

Here are some of the various texts Fr. Gallagher refers to in this episode:

The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. I: 1877-1890 (Critical edition of the complete works of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux)

Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. II


This is one of the letters Fr. Gallagher refers to in this episode
LT 166 From Thérèse to Mme. Pottier (Céline Maudelonde).

J.M.J.T.

Jesus †
Carmel, July 16, 1894

Dear little Céline,

Your letter gave me real joy. I marvel at how the Blessed Virgin is pleased to answer all your desires. Even before your marriage, she willed that the soul to whom you were to be joined form only one with yours by means of an identity of feelings. What a grace for you to feel you are so well understood, and, above all, to know your union will be everlasting, that after this life, you will still be able to love the husband who is so dear to you!…

They have passed away, then, for us both the blessed days of our childhood! We are now at the serious stage of life; the road we are following is different, however, the goal is the same. Both of us must have only one same purpose: to sanctify ourselves in the way God has traced out for us.1

I feel, dear little friend, that I can speak freely to you; you understand the language of faith better than that of the world, and the Jesus of your First Communion has remained the Master of your heart. In Him, you love the beautiful soul who forms only one with yours, and it is because of Him that your love is so tender and so strong.

Oh! how beautiful is our religion; instead of contracting hearts (as the world believes), it raises them up and renders them capable of loving, or loving with a love almost infinite since this love must continue after this mortal life which is given to us only for meriting the homeland of heaven where we shall find again the dear ones whom we have loved on earth!

I had asked for you, dear Céline, from Our Lady of Mount Carmel the grace you have obtained at Lourdes. How happy I am that you are clothed in the holy scapular!2 It is a sure sign of predestination, and besides are you not more intimately united by means of it to your little sisters in Carmel?…

You ask, dear little cousin, that I pray for your dear husband; do you think, then, I could fail in this?… No, I could not separate you in my weak prayers. I am asking Our Lord to be as generous in your regard as he was formerly to the spouses at the wedding of Cana. May He always change water into wine!3… That is to say, may He continue to make you happy and to soften as much as possible the trials that you encounter in life.

Trials, how could I place this word in my letter, when I know everything is happiness for you?…

Pardon me, dear little friend; enjoy in peace the joy God is giving you, without disturbing yourself regarding the future. He is reserving for you, I am sure, new graces and many consolations.

Our good Mother Marie de Gonzague is very appreciative of your kind remembrance of her, and she herself is not forgetting her dear little Céline. Our Mother and Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart are also very happy because of your joy, and they ask me to assure you of their affection.

I dare, dear little cousin,4 to beg you to offer my respectful regards to Monsieur Pottier, whom I cannot refrain from considering also as my cousin.

I leave you, dear Céline, remaining always united to you in my heart, and I shall, throughout my life, be happy to call myself, Your little sister in Jesus,

Thérèse of the Child Jesus
rel. carm. ind.

St. Therese of Lisieux. Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Volume II: General Correspondence 1890-1897 (Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Saint Therese of Lisieux Book 2) (Kindle Locations 3118-3148). ICS publications. Kindle Edition.


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 “The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Discerning Hearts” page

How can we possibly love as God expects? – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Building a Kingdom of Love – How can we possibly love as God expects?  Only “through Him, with Him, in Him!”

Gospel MT 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine;

 

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton.  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.  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.    He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders.