Saints Archives

LST2 – A Glimpse of Zélie – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher Podcast

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A Glimpse of Zélie – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Episode 2 – In this conversation, Fr. Gallagher reflects on the letters of Zélie Martin, which offers a compelling glimpse of the life of the Martin family and the tender love she had for her children and others. She was a beautiful example of what Pope St. John Paul II called “the gift of self.”

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)

For the other episodes in this series check out “The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Discerning Hearts” page

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

St. Hildegard von Bingen Novena – Day 4

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Day 4

St. Hildegard you have said:

Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around Him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honour. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God.

O glorious St. Hildegard, abbess of the order of St. Benedict and doctor of the universal Church, we now join in the prayer you taught us….

God is the foundation for everything
This God undertakes, God gives.
Such that nothing that is necessary for life is lacking.
Now humankind needs a body that at all times honors and praises God.
This body is supported in every way through the earth.
Thus the earth glorifies the power of God.

O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the Fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
St. Hildegard von Bingen, pray for us

For the Discerning Hearts 9-Day Novena to St. Hildegard von Bingen page

Musical excerpt: Ave generosa, by Hildegard von Bingen (1089 – 1179)
Laurence Ewashko, conductor
30 January 2000, St. Matthew’s Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
http://www.cantatasingersottawa.ca/listen.php

St. Hildegard von Bingen Novena – Day 2

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Day 2

St. Hildegard you have said:

These visions which I saw were not in sleep nor in dreams, nor in my imagination nor by bodily eyes or outward ears nor in a hidden place; but in watching, aware with the pure eyes of the mind and inner ear of the heart.

O glorious St. Hildegard, abbess of the order of St. Benedict and doctor of the universal Church, we now join in the prayer you taught us….

God is the foundation for everything
This God undertakes, God gives.
Such that nothing that is necessary for life is lacking.
Now humankind needs a body that at all times honors and praises God.
This body is supported in every way through the earth.
Thus the earth glorifies the power of God.

Musical excerpt: Ave generosa, by Hildegard von Bingen (1089 – 1179)
Laurence Ewashko, conductor
30 January 2000, St. Matthew’s Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
http://www.cantatasingersottawa.ca/listen.php

Special Encore – The Canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff

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SPECIAL ENCORE

Join Msgr. John Esseff as he reflects on his experiences with Mother Teresa on the eve of her canonization! Several of the stories he has not shared on any of his previous programs.

Rather than be “admirers” of Mother Teresa, Msgr. Esseff asks all of us to pray to become “imitators” of this little one of God’s children who has now become one of His great saints!

Carrier of God’s Tender Love and Mercy

Lord Jesus, merciful Face of the Father, you came to give us the Good News of the Father’s mercy and tenderness.

We thank you for the gift of our dearest Mother, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who will be canonized in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. You chose her to be your presence, your love and compassion to the brokenhearted, the unwanted, the abandoned and the dying. She responded wholeheartedly to your cry, ‘I Thirst,’ by the holiness of her life and humble works of love to the poorest of the poor.

We pray, through her intercession, for the grace to experience your merciful love and share it in our own families, communities and with all our suffering brothers and sisters. Help us to give our “hearts to love and hands to serve” after the example of Mother Teresa. Lord Jesus, bless every member of our family, our parish, our diocese, our country, especially those most in need, that we all may be transformed by your merciful love. Amen.

Text © Mother Teresa Center of the Missionaries of Charity

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. Msgr. Esseff served as a retreat director and confessor to Saint 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.

“O Eternal Truth, True Love, and Beloved Eternity” – Saint Augustine of Hippo from the Office of Readings

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From the Confessions of St. Augustine, bishop

(Lib. 7,10,18; 10,27: CSEL 33,157-163,255)

O eternal truth, true love, and beloved eternity

Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance into the inmost depth of my soul. I was able to do so because you were my helper. On entering into myself I saw, as it were with the eye of the soul, what was beyond the eye of the soul, beyond my spirit: your immutable light. It was not the ordinary light perceptible to all flesh, nor was it merely something of greater magnitude but still essentially akin, shining more clearly and diffusing itself everywhere by its intensity. No, it was something entirely distinct, something altogether different from all these things; and it did not rest above my mind as oil on the surface of water, nor was it above me as heaven is above the earth. This light was above me because it had made me; I was below it because I was created by it. He who has come to know the truth knows this light.

O Eternal truth, true love and beloved eternity. You are my God. To you do I sigh day and night. When I first came to know you, you drew me to yourself so that I might see that there were things for me to see, but that I myself was not yet ready to see them. Meanwhile you overcame the weakness of my vision, sending forth most strongly the beams of your light, and I trembled at once with love and dread. I learned that I was in a region unlike yours and far distant from you, and I thought I heard your voice from on high: “I am the food of grown men; grow then, and you will feed on me. Nor will you change me into yourself like bodily food, but you will be changed into me.”

I sought a way to gain the strength which I needed to enjoy you. But I did not find it until I embraced the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who is above all, God blessed for ever. He was calling me and saying: I am the way of truth, I am the life. He was offering the food which I lacked the strength to take, the food he had mingled with our flesh. For the Word became flesh, that your wisdom, by which you created all things, might provide milk for us children.

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

Chapters 3 – 4: The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Dr. Lilles discusses Chapter 3 and 4 of St. Teresa of Avila’s “Way of Perfection”:

Chapter 3 – Continues the subject begun in the first chapter and persuades the sisters to busy themselves constantly in beseeching God to help those who work for the Church. Ends with an exclamatory prayer.

Chapter 4 – Exhorts the nuns to keep their Rule and names three things which are important for the spiritual life. Describes the first of these three things, which is love of one’s neighbor, and speaks of the harm which can be done by individual friendships.

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”s

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.

BTP-WP2 Chap 1 – 2: The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Chapters 1 & 2 of The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

Dr. Lilles discusses Chapter 1 and 2 of St. Teresa of Avila’s “Way of Perfection”:

Chapter 1 – Of the reason which moved Teresa to found the convents in such strict observance.

Chapter 2 – Treats of how the necessities of the body should be disregarded and of the good that comes from poverty.

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”

BTP-WP1 Introduction – The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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This serves as an introduction to the life of Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada (28 March 1515 – 4 October 1582). In our opening conversation, we discuss 16th century Spain, events taking place in the world and the people associated with Teresa. Dr. Lilles also gives introductions to her various spiritual works and the importance of “The Way of Perfection”.

St. Teresa of Avila Way of Perfection Podcast — Saint Teresa Painting Convento de Santa Teresa Avila Castile Spain.

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

For other episodes in the series visit
The Discerning Hearts “The Way of Perfection with Dr. Anthony Lilles”

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Prayer – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

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Prayer to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

O most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel,

fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God,

Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help me herein and show me here you are my Mother.

O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth,

I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in my necessity. (make request)

There are none that can withstand thy power.

O Mary, conceived without sin,

pray for us who have recourse to thee (three times).

Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (three times).

from About.com

“According to the traditions of the Carmelite order, on July 16, 1251, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite. During the vision, she revealed to him the Scapularof Our Lady of Mount Carmel, popularly known as the “Brown Scapular.” A century and a quarter later, the Carmelite order began to celebrate on this date the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The Carmelites had long claimed that their order extended back to ancient times-indeed, that it was founded on Mount Carmel in Palestine by the prophets Elijah and Elisha. While others disputed this idea, Pope Honorius III, in approving the order in 1226, seemed to accept its antiquity. The celebration of the feast became wrapped up with this controversy, and, in 1609, after Robert Cardinal Bellarmine examined the origins of the feast, it was declared the patronal feast of the Carmelite order.

The feast celebrates the devotion that the Blessed Virgin Mary has to those who are devoted to her, and who signal that devotion by wearing the Brown Scapular. According to tradition, those who wear the scapular faithfully and remain devoted to the Blessed Virgin until death will be granted the grace of final perseverance and be delivered from Purgatory early.”

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

A Glimpse of Zélie – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Musical excerpt: Ave generosa, by Hildegard von Bingen (1089 – 1179) Laurence Ewashko, conductor 30 January 2000, St. Matthew’s Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada http://www.cantatasingersottawa.ca/listen.php

Musical excerpt: Ave generosa, by Hildegard von Bingen (1089 – 1179) Laurence Ewashko, conductor 30 January 2000, St. Matthew’s Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada http://www.cantatasingersottawa.ca/listen.php

From the Confessions of St. Augustine, bishop

Chapters 1 & 2 of The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

Prayer to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Musical excerpt: Ave generosa, by Hildegard von Bingen (1089 – 1179)
Laurence Ewashko, conductor
30 January 2000, St. Matthew’s Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
http://www.cantatasingersottawa.ca/listen.php

Musical excerpt: Ave generosa, by Hildegard von Bingen (1089 – 1179)
Laurence Ewashko, conductor
30 January 2000, St. Matthew’s Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
http://www.cantatasingersottawa.ca/listen.php