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POA1 – Know Your Enemy – Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. – Discerning Hears Catholic Podcasts

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

Episode 1 – “Know Your Enemy” – 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 1:

Like it or not, you are at war.

No matter who you are — whether or not you know it — you have a mortal enemy who wants to destroy you, not just in this life, but in the next.

No matter where you live on this planet — whether or not you can see it — you live on a hotly contested battlefield, and you can’t escape the conflict.

It’s a spiritual war with crucial consequences in your everyday life. And the outcome of that war will determine your eternal destiny.

The first rule of any type of warfare is to know your enemy. How can you fight an adversary you can’t identify? Worse yet, how can you avoid being a casualty in a battle going on all around you if you don’t even recognize that you’re in danger?

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

The “Manual for Spiritu al 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.

“The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary”– Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Msgr. Esseff reflects on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and what death really means.

Reading 2 1 COR 15:20-27

Brothers and sisters:
Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since death came through man,
the resurrection of the dead came also through man.
For just as in Adam all die,
so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,
but each one in proper order:
Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
then comes the end,
when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father,
when he has destroyed every sovereignty
and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
for “he subjected everything under his feet.”

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.

St. Charbel Makhlouf and the Importance of Becoming a Saint with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Msgr. Esseff shares stories of his time in Lebanon and his experience surrounding the great St. Charbel Makhlouf. He reflects on the importance of depending on God.

You can pray the Chaplet of St. Charbel by visiting here:

The Chaplet of St. Charbel -Discerning Hearts podcast

SH7 – The Sacred Heart and Abandonment – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

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The Sacred Heart and Abandonment – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Join Msgr. John Esseff as he continues his talk about the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. In this episode, he discusses the importance of the Sacred Heart and how it helps feelings of abandonment.

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. Msgr. Esseff 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. 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, seminarians, and other religious leaders worldwide.

SH6 – The Sacred Heart and the Elderly – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

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The Sacred Heart and the Elderly – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Join Msgr. John Esseff as he continues his talk about the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. In this episode, he discusses the importance of the Sacred Heart and the Elderly members of our society.

SH5 – The Sacred Heart and Work – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

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The Sacred Heart and Work – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Join Msgr. John Esseff as he continues his talk about the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. In this episode, he discusses the importance of the Sacred Heart and the workplace.

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.

DC12 St. Cyril of Alexandria – 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. Cyril of Alexandria

Born: 378 AD, Alexandria, Egypt

Died: June 27, 444 AD, Alexandria, Egypt

For more on St. Cyril of Alexandria and his teachings

Clement of Alexandria
– Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?
– Exhortation to the Heathen
– The Instructor
– The Stromata, or Miscellanies
– Fragments

From Vatican.va, an excerpt from the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI General Audience 2007

Cyril’s writings – truly numerous and already widely disseminated in various Latin and Eastern translations in his own lifetime, attested to by their instant success – are of the utmost importance for the history of Christianity. His commentaries on many of the New and Old Testament Books are important, including those on the entire Pentateuch, Isaiah, the Psalms and the Gospels of John and Luke. Also important are his many doctrinal works, in which the defence of the Trinitarian faith against the Arian and Nestorian theses recurs. The basis of Cyril’s teaching is the ecclesiastical tradition and in particular, as I mentioned, the writings of Athanasius, his great Predecessor in the See of Alexandria. Among Cyril’s other writings, the books Against Julian deserve mention. They were the last great response to the anti-Christian controversies, probably dictated by the Bishop of Alexandria in the last years of his life to respond to the work Against the Galileans, composed many years earlier in 363 by the Emperor known as the “Apostate” for having abandoned the Christianity in which he was raised.

The Christian faith is first and foremost the encounter with Jesus, “a Person, which gives life a new horizon” (Deus Caritas Est, n. 1). St Cyril of Alexandria was an unflagging, staunch witness of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, emphasizing above all his unity, as he repeats in 433 in his first letter (PG 77, 228-237) to Bishop Succensus: “Only one is the Son, only one the Lord Jesus Christ, both before the Incarnation and after the Incarnation. Indeed, the Logos born of God the Father was not one Son and the one born of the Blessed Virgin another; but we believe that the very One who was born before the ages was also born according to the flesh and of a woman”. Over and above its doctrinal meaning, this assertion shows that faith in Jesus the Logos born of the Father is firmly rooted in history because, as St Cyril affirms, this same Jesus came in time with his birth from Mary, the Theotò-kos, and in accordance with his promise will always be with us. And this is important: God is eternal, he is born of a woman, and he stays with us every day. In this trust we live, in this trust we find the way for our life.

For more visit Vatican.va

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.

SH4 – The Sacred Heart and Schools – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

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The Sacred Heart and Schools – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Join Msgr. John Esseff as he continues his talk about the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. In this episode, he discusses the importance of the Sacred Heart and schools.

Fr. James Kubicki S.J. – A Heart on Fire on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

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By far, this book is the BEST on the subject of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that I have seen in a very long time. So very practical and deep in its spiritual appreciation of this beautifully essential devotion for our lives, Fr. James Kubicki helps all to rediscover the devotion to the Sacred Heart. He presents the history of this timely devotion, with help of the apostles, Church Fathers, the Saints, and contemporary Catholics, in an engaging and easily digestible way. And the prayers…the incredibly deep and radiant prayers…Fr. Kubicki breaks them open a new for us all to appreciate, encouraging us not to “say the prayers”, but to “pray the prayers”. Wonderful, simply wonderful! I cannot recommend this work more highly. Pick up more than one copy and become a missionary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by passing copies on to others

You can find the book here

“At first communion, I was taught to say first thing every morning, Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee!’ Reading Father Kubicki’s splendid book has only made that prayer all the more sincere and meaningful.” —Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York

“A fresh and attractive reconsideration of this centuries-old devotion in the Catholic Church. Blessed Basile Moreau (1873), the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, who entrusted his priests to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, wrote: ‘The primary purpose of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is to return love for love.’ Fr. Kubicki develops this theme in a way that speaks well to today’s generation of believers.” —Rev. Peter D. Rocca, C.S.C., Rector, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, University of Notre Dame

“I invite everyone to renew his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ in the month of June, making use of the traditional prayer of the offering of the day and keeping in mind the intentions that I have proposed to the whole Church.” —Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, June 1, 2008

SH3 – The Gifts of the Sacred Heart – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

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The Gifts of the Sacred Heart – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Join Msgr. John Esseff as he continues his talk about the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. In this episode, he discusses the first two gifts of the Sacred Heart.