St. Clare, pray for us – a model for the discerning heart…In Conversation with Sr. Joan Mueller

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Enter into the life story of St. Clare’s life by listening to one of the best storytellers we know…Sr. Joan Mueller. Both women are enthralling!!!

St. Clare of Assisi, the foundress of the Order of Poor Ladies, or Clares, was the first Abbess of San Damiano; born at Assisi, on 16 July 1194; died there on 11 August 1253.

One of the best DVDs we have seen on the life of Clare and Francis is distributed by Ignatius Press.

If you’d like to see her life summed up in a quick read, try here.
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A personal reflection on St. Clare by Kris McGregor:

In 2007, I had a chance to visit Assisi…I just wanted to be near St. Clare. I didn’t plan it, but my hotel ended up being right across the street from St. Clare’s Basilica (it seems wrong to call it a street, its width is so small). Early one morning, I got up and began walking outside of the Basilica. No one else was out; all the shops closed, and the sun was just coming up. On a whim, I thought I would see if the church’s doors were open (thinking to myself, of course, they wouldn’t be), but to my surprise, they were, so I entered. No one was around. I saw steps leading down to a lower level. I stepped over the rope blocking the entrance (boorish American that I am) and walked down. The path led down to an area with a display of relics, clothing, and other items (I assumed they were Clare’s), and then I turned and saw something incredible…the crypt of St. Clare. I quietly walked over to the enclosure grates. I knelt and unexpectedly started to weep…I just couldn’t help it. It was so quiet and peaceful; it was such a gift. I brought to St. Clare all the petitions I held deeply in my heart. And when that was done, silence once more filled the space. After about 10 minutes, I could hear the sound of the Poor Clare Sisters in the distance chanting their morning office. I knelt at that spot and listened with St. Clare. After about 30 minutes, I praised God for this special moment and left the basilica. St. Clare has been with me in a special way ever since a friendship I continue to cherish. Dear St. Clare, pray for us.

HP3 – The Healing Nature of Prayer – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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HP3 – The Healing Nature of Prayer – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke

Fr. Éamonn Bourke and Kris McGregor discuss the why, how, and what of “prayer”. In this episode, they explore the healing nature of prayer. They examine the many wounds we can bring to our prayer and the Father’s great desire to heal our pain.

Here is an excerpt from their conversation:

Kris McGregor

Prayer requires a soul to be vulnerable in order to ask the Lord to help enlighten you about areas that He sees that we’re kind of closing our eye. It’s not something that we’re maybe intentionally doing, but again, just asking the Lord, “Okay, help me. Help me to see what you see to help me to understand how you understand me.”

Fr. Éamonn Bourke:

Oh, I think so. I think even making that prayer your own. Like, “Lord, help me to see myself as you see me.” Because one thing we can become used to our sin and our brokenness that we don’t even notice that it’s having an effect in our lives and our sinfulness can really affect the way we live our life each and every day. We can sometimes get used to, I go out to meet my friends, I can be a bit ratty and a bit snappy or that kind sort of actually look, that’s me. Or I should be making a cup of tea for someone doing a job, but look, I’m used to my own kind of comfort and that kind of stuff. Or I really find it hard to stand up in front of people and talk and like that’s just me. I can’t do that because no one will want to hear me or whatever it is that we’re really grappling with.

Honesty around that helps us to recognize, “Well, actually, Lord, what’s stopping me from doing this? What’s the blockage that’s in my life that’s causing me to maybe think of myself or to wallow in self-pity or to think of myself before others. Like what’s broken and wounded in myself that’s causing me to act in this way? Because I really want to be a generous person. I want to be a loving person. I want to be a person of joy and hope in the world, but there’s something holding me back and I’m just not really sure what’s holding me back. So please enlighten me to the area of my life that’s causing me to be weighed down so that I can allow you in to heal.”

Father Éamonn Bourke is a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland and served as Vocations Director for the diocese, as well as Pastor in a number of its parishes. Trained as a spiritual director in the contemplative style, he now serves as Chaplain to University College, Dublin, the largest University in Ireland.

⇨For more episodes in the series visit : The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

SP 49 – Episode 49 – Lost at Sea, Is the Lord Sleeping? – In Search of the Still Point with Dr. Regis Martin – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 49 – Lost at Sea, Is the Lord Sleeping?

Discerning Hearts is honored to host the reflections of Dr. Regis Martin. Filled with profound insights, wisdom, and joy, he is one of the most trustworthy guides one can have on the spiritual journey.

For years Regis Martin, STD, has been regaling audiences about the mysteries of God and Church, most especially his students at Franciscan University of Steubenville where he teaches theology. Author of half-dozen or more books, including The Suffering of Love (Ignatius, 2006), The Last Things (Ignatius Press, 2011), Still Point (Ave Maria, 2012), The Beggar’s Banquet (Emmaus Road, 2012), Witness to Wonder (Emmaus Road, 2017) his work frequently appears in Crises and The Catholic Thing.

DWGS1 – Conference 1 – Discerning the Will of God with Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

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Conference 1 – 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 1 offers an introduction to the life of St. Ignatius and establishes the challenges involved in everyday Christian decision-making.

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

For more episodes from Discerning The Will of God conference talks visit here

Did you know that Fr. Timothy Gallagher has 13 different podcast series on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts?

Visit here to discover more Fr. Gallagher podcasts!

Are you a faithful servant? – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff Podcast

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Msgr. Esseff asks, “Are you a faithful servant?”

Gospel

LK 12:35-40

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have the servants recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come.”

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 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.

ST-Luke Ep 23- The Gospel of Luke – Chapter 11 Part 1 – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 23 – The Gospel of Luke – Chapter 11 Part 1

Luke 11: “Lord Teach Us To Pray”

In this lecture on Luke 11, we focus especially on the Lord’s Prayer. Seeing Jesus praying in a certain place, his disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They saw the Lord praying by himself, and they desired to have a similar union with the Father. As faithful Jews, the disciples knew how to pray, but they wanted to pray as Jesus prayed. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we learn that the first communities prayed the Lord’s Prayer three times a day, in place of the “Eighteen Benedictions” customary in Jewish piety (CCC 2767). The Eighteen Benedictions, also known as the Amidah, are the core of every Jewish worship service. Established by Ezra and recited while standing, the Amidah consists of prayers of praise, petitions and thanksgiving. The Amidah is accompanied by the Shema prayer which is said twice daily and comes from Deuteronomy 6: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” To the Jews, God was “one” but they had no understanding of the Trinity who is one God in three Persons.

The Lord’s Prayer is the perfect prayer, spoken at Mass, the highest prayer, just after the Eucharistic prayer and just before reception of Holy Communion. The order of the Mass had its earliest beginnings just after the resurrection of Jesus when he appeared to the disciples at Emmaus: First he opened the Scriptures(Liturgy of the Word) and then, “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them (Luke 24:30 Liturgy of the Eucharist)” The 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension was a time of prayer and learning for the disciples, as Jesus appeared to them. After the ascension, the disciples prayed for nine days, which can be seen as the first novena. Then, on the 10^th day, the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection.

Catechism paragraph 1085 describes the glorious Paschal mystery. It is a beautiful reflection worth reading in its entirety:

“In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father “once for all.” His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is – all that he did and suffered for all men – participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.”

The Lord’s Prayer has been described as the summary of the whole Gospel. As found in Luke 11 and Matthew 6, it is a series of seven petitions. Beginning with the words “Our Father,” the Lord’s Prayer immediately draws our hearts to the intimate relationship between a father and his children. This sense of God was new to the Jews, who experienced God as creator and ruler. We realize now that the first creation in Genesis makes sense in light of the new creation of Christ. On occasion, the Old Testament describes God as a father, both to the nation of Israel (see Hosea 11, Isaiah 64:8, Malachi 2:10 as examples) and to certain individuals such as King David (1 Chronicles 22:11). With Jesus, sonship takes on a whole new meaning. He is a “Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power (Heb 1:2-3).” Even more, we learn that not only is God the father of Jesus, He is also our Father: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God (John 20:17).”

The next petition in the Lord’s Prayer is “Hallowed be thy name.” It is a reminder that He is God and we are not. From the beginning with Adam and Eve until now, we are tempted to be our own God.

Next is “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” We are reminded that we can only serve one king and we need to choose between the worldly kingdom of Satan, and the heavenly Kingdom of Jesus. Jesus established His kingdom when he walked the earth, and His kingdom continues forever both on earth and in heaven. He promised the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He appointed Peter and his successors as stewards of His kingdom, the Catholic Church (IS 22). At the center of the kingdom is the true presence of God in the Eucharist. In the Old Testament, the true presence of God was found in the Ark of the Covenant, but at the time of Jesus, the temple no longer held the Ark as it had been hidden

Sharon Doran serves as the teaching director of “Seeking Truth.” An experienced Bible Study teacher, Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God’s Word and apply His message to your everyday life.

For more in this series, visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page.

“Seeking Truth” is an in-depth Catholic Bible Study commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more, go to www.seekingtruth.net

SJC2 – Caverns of Longing within the Soul – St. John of the Cross with Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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SJC2 – Caverns of Longing within the Soul – St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation with Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

In this series Fr. Donald Haggerty and Kris McGregor discuss the depths of prayer as explored by St. John of the Cross, the Mystical Doctor of the Church.

Here is the excerpt from the The Living Flame of Love by St. John of the Cross that Fr. Haggerty references in the podcast:

Songs of the soul in the intimate communication of loving union with God.

1. O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest center! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

2. O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life and pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.

3. O lamps of fire! in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.

4. How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.

We encounter the importance of seeking a contentment with nothing other than God in many places in Saint John of the Cross’ writings. Shortly after introducing the image of the faculties as “deep caverns of feeling” in The Living Flame of Love, for instance, he affirms that a primary impediment to contemplation occurs when attachments cling to us and are repeatedly sought instead of our seeking God himself. These attachments are always contrary to accepting a contentment with having nothing: “Any little thing that adheres to them in this life is sufficient to so burden and bewitch them that they do not perceive the harm or note the lack of their immense goods, or know their own capacity” (LF 3.18). The words are a strong admonition. It takes very little to upset and block the proper dynamism of a holy pursuit of God in or out of the life of prayer. We can end up living unaware of the harm inflicted by very common tendencies that, in effect, keep us from being content with having nothing, that is, nothing but God. We have a capacity for greatness, for being filled with the love of God in our prayer. Yet we may live our hours of prayer like restless marauders in a search for prizes or enjoyments worth very little, seeking for delights that satisfy us only in negligible and fleeting ways. Without an awakening by which God becomes a passionate pursuit engaging our life’s entire intensity, our soul can descend easily to a dull caricature of its actual potency. As Saint John of the Cross writes:

It is an amazing thing that the least of these goods is enough so to encumber these faculties, capable of infinite goods, that they cannot receive these infinite goods until they are completely empty, as we shall see. Yet when these caverns are empty and pure, the thirst, hunger, and yearning of the spiritual feeling is intolerable. Since these caverns have deep stomachs, they suffer profoundly; for the food they lack, which as I say is God, is also profound. (LF 3.18)

Haggerty, Donald. Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation (pp. 48-49). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

For more episodes in this series visit Fr. Haggerty’s Discerning Hearts page here

You find the book on which this series is based here

SP 48 – Episode 48 – Putting A Good Word in for Priests – In Search of the Still Point with Dr. Regis Martin – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 48 – Putting A Good Word in for Priests

HP2 – Creating Space for Prayer – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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HP2 – Creating Space for Prayer – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke

Fr. Éamonn Bourke and Kris McGregor discuss the why, how, and what of “prayer”. In this episode, they explore a creating space for prayer. They also reflect on the witness of Servant of God Dorothy Day.

Here is an excerpt from their conversation:

Fr. Éamonn Bourke:

Absolutely God constantly speaks to the human heart at certain times. Do we stop and listen that God is always prompting us? God will never give up on us. Always drawing us back to life and to love. And sometimes if we can just allow his presence in, he can inspire greatness in the midst of a kind of mediocre in our life. You know, when things are just sometimes even a mess, you know, but he will never give up on us. So if you are listening today and you think that God has given up on you or that there is no hope for me or I can’t, this, what we’re talking about here is for somebody else or it’s for the theologians, for the, the Saint, spirituality and, and holiness and sainthood is open for all of us and God is constantly calling us so we can become holy in the midst of all wherever your family life is, or your work life is, or your school life is that her called a holiness there.

And he called Doorothy Day into something incredible. And she had the courage to stop herself and say, okay, I’m not sure what this is, but I’m want to go with it. And one thing I often think of people , especially young people. I think they’re often afraid to enter into the misre prayer or to enter into holiness or enter into the spiritual life because they feel they’re gonna miss out on something or it’s gonna cramp prompt their style, or, you know, they’re going to look foolish among their friends and that kind of stuff, but actually God never takes away. He always gives. So when we enter into the mystery prayer, we don’t lose anything, we actually gain an abundance. So if you can realize that we have nothing to lose by stilling ourselves and entering to the mystery of prayer because God wants to give us the kingdom abundance more than we can ask or imagine.

What I love about Dorothy Day is her spirituality and her faithfulness brought her to recognize God, not just in herself, but in the people around her and even in people that other people had written off. I love this story where the elderly man had gone to live in the home that they’d set up in a, his language wasn’t particularly, um, suitable for children. If you know what I mean, and he was a bit abusive and that kind of, and people were saying, no, you must throw this man out on the street. He’s causing problems here. And she didn’t. She said, we must love this man. And it turned out the man was in the early stage of Alzheimer’s. So he was actually struggling mentally, which was causing him to act in this way. But her love and her patience with this man helped him to die with dignity. So she was able to see the presence of God. And I think that’s what happens when we entered to mystery of prayer. We begin to see the presence of God, even in the midst of our problems, even in the midst of the people around us who get on our nerves, even in the midst of the worries of life. But as we know, the world is full of beautiful people and beautiful things as well. So it’s about recognizing that.

⇨For more episodes in the series visit : The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

DC14 St. Peter Chrysologus – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson

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Dr. Matthew Bunson discusses the life, times and teachings of St. Peter Chrysologus

Born: 406 AD, Imola, Italy

Died: July 31, 450 AD

For more on St. Peter Chrysologus and his teachings

From Wikipedia:

Peter was born in Imola, where Cornelius, bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Imola, baptized him, educated him, and ordained him a deacon. He was made an archdeacon through the influence of Emperor Valentinian III. Pope Sixtus III appointed Peter as Bishop of Ravenna (or perhaps archbishop) circa 433, apparently rejecting the candidate whom the people of the city ofRavenna elected. The traditional account, as recorded in the Roman Breviary, is that Sixtus had a vision of Pope Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna, the first bishop of that see, who showed Sixtus a young man, the next Bishop of Ravenna. When a group from Ravenna arrived, including Cornelius and his archdeacon Peter from Imola, Sixtus recognized Peter as the young man in his vision and consecrated him as a bishop.

People knew Saint Peter Chrysologus, the Doctor of Homilies, for his short but inspired talks; he supposedly feared boring his audience. His piety and zeal won universal admiration. After hearing oratory of his first homily as bishop, Roman Empress Galla Placidia supposedly gave him the surname Chrysologus, meaning “golden-worded.” Empress Galla Placidia patronized many of projects of Bishop Saint Peter.

In his extant homilies, bishop Peter explained Biblical texts briefly and concisely. He also condemned Arianism and Monophysitism as heresies and explained beautifully the Apostles’ Creed, the mystery of the Incarnation, and other topics in simple and clear language. He dedicated a series of homilies to Saint John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Peter advocated daily reception of Eucharist. He urged his listeners to confide in the forgiveness offered through Christ. He shared the confidence of Saint Pope Leo I the Great (440-461), another doctor of the Church.

A synod held in Constantinople in 448 condemned Eutyches for Monophysitism; Eutyches then appealed to Saint Peter Chrysologus but failed in his endeavour to win the support of the Bishop. The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon(451) preserves the text of letter of Saint Peter Chrysologus in response to Eutyches; Peter admonishes Eutyches to accept the ruling of the synod and to give obedience to the Bishop of Rome as the successor of Saint Peter.

Archbishop Felix of Ravenna in the early eighth century collected and preserved 176 of his homilies. Various authors edited and translated these works into numerous languages.

Death and veneration

St Peter died circa or after 450 during a visit to Imola, the town of his birth. Older reference books say he died on 2 December, but a more recent interpretation of the ninth-century “Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis” indicated that he died on 31 July. When in 1729 he was declared a Doctor of the Church, his feast day, not already included in the Tridentine Calendar, was inserted in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints for celebration on 4 December. In 1969 his feast was moved to 30 July, as close as possible to the day of his death, 31 July, the feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

Dr. Matthew E. Bunson is a Register senior editor and a senior contributor to EWTN News. For the past 20 years, he has been active in the area of Catholic social communications and education, including writing, editing, and teaching on a variety of topics related to Church history, the papacy, the saints and Catholic culture. He is faculty chair at Catholic Distance University, a senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, and the author or co-author of over 50 books including The Encyclopedia of Catholic History, The Pope Encyclopedia, We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI, The Saints Encyclopedia and best-selling biographies of St. Damien of Molokai and St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

HP3 – The Healing Nature of Prayer – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke

⇨For more episodes in the series visit : The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

Episode 49 – Lost at Sea, Is the Lord Sleeping?

Conference 1 – Discerning the Will of God with Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V.

For more episodes from Discerning The Will of God conference talks visit here

Did you know that Fr. Timothy Gallagher has 13 different podcast series on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts?

Visit here to discover more Fr. Gallagher podcasts!

Gospel

Episode 23 – The Gospel of Luke – Chapter 11 Part 1

Luke 11: “Lord Teach Us To Pray”

For more in this series, visit the Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran Discerning Hearts page.

SJC2 – Caverns of Longing within the Soul – St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation with Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

1. O living flame of love that tenderly wounds my soul in its deepest center! Since now you are not oppressive, now consummate! if it be your will: tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

2. O sweet cautery, O delightful wound! O gentle hand! O delicate touch that tastes of eternal life and pays every debt! In killing you changed death to life.

3. O lamps of fire! in whose splendors the deep caverns of feeling, once obscure and blind, now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely, both warmth and light to their Beloved.

4. How gently and lovingly you wake in my heart, where in secret you dwell alone; and in your sweet breathing, filled with good and glory, how tenderly you swell my heart with love.

Episode 48 – Putting A Good Word in for Priests

HP2 – Creating Space for Prayer – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke

⇨For more episodes in the series visit : The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

1. O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest center! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

2. O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life and pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.

3. O lamps of fire! in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.

4. How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.