LST1 – Introduction – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher Discerning Hearts Podcast

Introduction – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy GallagherBA6 - "Refuse to Accept Discouragement" - Begin Again: The Spiritual Legacy of Ven. Bruno Lanteri with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Episode 1 – Fr. Gallagher discuss the importance of St Therese of Lisieux, who Pope St. Pius X called the most important saint of the 20th century.  We discuss the significance of “letters” in revealing aspects of the saints and their relationships. In the case of St. Therese, Fr. Gallagher notices the “other centeredness” of her letters.  He also sets into context the age and culture of France and how it touched the lives of the Martin family.

In this conversation, Fr. Gallagher chooses to begin with a look at the lives and letters of her canonized parents, Louis and Zélie Martin as seen through the eyes of St. Therese’s family members.
Here are some of the various texts Fr. Gallagher refers to in this episode:

St. Therese of Lisieux by Those Who Knew Her (Testimonies from the Process of Beatification)

Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus (1864-1885)


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

BTP-WP9 Chap 31 -34 – Prayer of Quiet and the Real Presence of Christ the Eucharist- The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

Chapters 31 -34 – Prayer of Quiet and the Real Presence of Christ the Eucharist- The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

Dr. Lilles discusses the Prayer of Quiet and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Chapter 31—Continues the same subject. Explains what is meant by the Prayer of Quiet. Gives several counsels to those who experience it. This chapter is very noteworthy

Chapter 32—Expounds these words of the Paternoster: “Thy will be done: as in Heaven, so on earth.” Describes how much is accomplished by those who repeat these words with full resolution and how well the Lord rewards them for it

Chapter 33—Treats of our great need that the Lord should give us what we ask in these words of the Paternoster: “Give us this day our daily bread”

Chapter 34—Continues the same subject. This is very suitable for reading after the reception of the Most Holy Sacrament

Saint Teresa Painting Convento de Santa Teresa Avila Castile Spain.

For the audio recordings of  St. Teresa’s “The Way of Perfection” you can visit the Discerning Hearts Spiritual Classics audio page

For other episodes in the series visit
The Discerning Hearts “The Way of Perfection with 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 St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.

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Episode 11 – The Drama of Atheist Humanism – Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J., Vivian Dudro, and Joseph Pearce – FBC Podcast


Comte builds a new religion—with him as pope and scientific experts as bishops. Part 2, chapter 3, sections 1 and 2 of “The Drama of Atheist Humanism” by Henri de Lubac.


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

 

POA5 – Know your Commander and Comrades – Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. – Discerning Hears Catholic Podcasts

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

Episode 5 – “Know your Commander and Comrades” – 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 3:

How can we possibly defeat “that ancient Serpent who is called the Devil” (Rv 12:9)?

Our Commander, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Conqueror of hell and death, calls us to battle alongside Him against the Enemy so that we can have a share in His victory. To fight the good fight, however, we must know not only our adversary and his strategies; we must also know the comrades that our great Commander has given to us.

The Book of Revelation describes Christ’s final return to earth in glory as a Warrior leading a charge in battle against Satan and his allies, with “the armies of heaven” accompanying Him (see Rv 19:11–14). In his two epistles to the Thessalonians, St. Paul specifies who is in those armies: When Christ comes in His final glorious triumph, He will come “with all his saints” (1 Thes 3:13) and “with the angels of His power, in flaming fire” (2 Thes 1:7–8). Even now, those hosts of saints and angels are our comrades in battle.


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. 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.

 

BKL17 – Our Lady of Sorrows – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Our Lady of Sorrows – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Msgr. Esseff reflects on the meaning of Our Lady of Sorrows. How do we connect that with the suffering of Christ?  All the suffering we endure is united with Jesus, and the Blessed Mother guides our way.  She is our mother and the power of her love is incredible.  Ask her to come to you in your suffering as she came to her Son. She is our Our Mother of Hope and Compassion.  God conquers sorrow with hope!

 

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

℣ Pray for us O holy Mother of God,
℟ that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.


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 St. 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 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 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.   

 

BKL267 – “Exaltation of the Holy Cross” – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

“Exaltation of the Holy Cross” – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Msgr. Esseff reflects on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.  He describes in detail the true horror of this means of execution and what it meant to be crucified in the time of Jesus.  But he also talks about the great love that God has for us in embracing the Cross for our sake and what it means for us today.  A very powerful reflection.


Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He served as 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 Pope St. 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.

BTP-WP8 Chapters 29 – 30 – Prayer of Recollection and Quiet – The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

Chapters 29 – 30 – Prayer of Recollection and Quiet – The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

Dr. Lilles discusses the Prayer of Recollection and the Prayer of Quiet.

CHAPTER 29-

Continues to describe methods for achieving this Prayer of Recollection. Says what little account we should make of being favored by our superiors.

CHAPTER 30
Describes the importance of understanding what we ask for in prayer. The nature of Prayer of Quiet.


Saint Teresa Painting Convento de Santa Teresa Avila Castile Spain.

 

For the audio recordings of  St. Teresa’s “The Way of Perfection” you can visit the Discerning Hearts Spiritual Classics audio page

For other episodes in the series visit
The Discerning Hearts “The Way of Perfection with 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 St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.

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Episode 10 – The Drama of Atheist Humanism – Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J., Vivian Dudro, and Joseph Pearce – FBC Podcast


Comte, the father of “social science,” believes in a new god: MANKIND. Fr. Fessio, Joseph Pearce, and Vivian Dudro finish part 2, chapter 2, of Henri de Lubac’s “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

 

DWGS8 – Conference 8 – Discerning the Will of God with Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts


Fr. Timothy Gallagher OMV

Conference 8 – Discerning the Will of God with Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.

Join Fr. Timothy Gallagher as he offers the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola on Discerning the Will of God. Conference 8 discusses the Third Mode of the discernment process.

You can find various handouts spoken of by Fr. Gallagher in the links below:

For the  PDF document:

Handout 1
https://www.discerninghearts.com/PDF/Discerning_the_Will_of_God-DISCERNING_HEARTS.pdf

Handout 2 
https://www.discerninghearts.com/PDF/Text-of-St-Ignatius-SpirEx,175-188.pdf


Did you know that Fr. Timothy Gallagher has 13 different podcasts series on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts?  Visit here to discover more!

 

POA4 – Extraordinary Activity – Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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

Episode 4 – “Extraordinary Activity” – 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 2:

Beyond the ordinary activity of demons through temptation is their extraordinary activity. This destructive work is more powerful and manifests itself, not only in thoughts, but also in the physical realm. Most observers of demonic tactics agree that the following activities occur, but they sometimes differ in how they categorize the various phenomena.

Here’s one common way of classifying them:  Infestation…Oppression…Obsession…Possession

Visit here for other episodes in this series:

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

POA6 - "Know your Weapons" pt. 1 - Put On The Armor - A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/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.