Spiritual Formation Library Archives

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

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

Fr. Eamonn Bourke reflects with Kris McGregor on the deeply personal and transformative nature of prayer. Fr. Bourke encourages a grounded, honest approach—bringing one’s full self into prayer, including brokenness, weaknesses, or wounds often rooted in life experiences. It’s a misconception that prayer is only for a spiritual elite: prayer is accessible to everyone. Using examples from the Gospels—like Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery or the healing of Bartimaeus—each story illustrates how Christ meets people exactly where they are, offering compassion and healing without precondition. The heart of prayer is not performance, but authenticity: allowing God to meet us in our reality.

Prayer plays a role in healing: much of the pain people carry—whether from childhood, failed expectations, or sin—is subtle but significant. We need for self-awareness and trust in God’s presence, especially when prayers appear unanswered or outcomes differ from one’s desires. Prayer can be compared to a spiritual offering, where our joys, fears, and even resistance become gifts to God. By asking God to reveal what holds us back, and by relinquishing control over how healing unfolds, one opens the door to freedom, healing, and deeper union with God. This interior transformation, though often quiet and gradual, reshapes how a person experiences life and others.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How can I allow my weaknesses and daily struggles to become a source of glory to God?
In what ways am I being invited to participate in Christ’s redemptive suffering today?
Do I trust that even my failures can be used by God when surrendered in faith?
What does it mean for my soul to be a “bridal chamber” for Christ, and how can I prepare it?
Am I open to letting Jesus dwell more fully in the hidden, ordinary parts of my life?
How does my understanding of death—physical or spiritual—affect my willingness to love and surrender?
In what ways do I resist dying to self, and how can I practice greater self-gift for love of Christ?
How does my vocation reflect the mutual love and self-giving that Blessed Elizabeth describes?
When faced with suffering or silence, do I keep my gaze fixed on Christ or turn inward in fear?
What visible or invisible realities in my life help me perceive God’s presence more deeply?

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

A Special Holy Thursday Reflection – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcast

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A Special Holy Thursday Reflection – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Msgr. John Esseff reflects deeply on the meaning of Holy Thursday, focusing especially on Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet and the institution of the Eucharist. He describes the foot-washing as a sign of humility and love that all Christians are called to imitate, not just toward family and friends, but especially toward enemies and those most difficult to serve. This act, performed by Christ before his Passion, is framed as his last will and testament—a mandate to serve others with profound humility, as he did. Msgr. Esseff invites us to internalize this calling by examining their relationships and asking us whose feet we would struggle to wash.

There is the unity between the Eucharist and this act of service. Receiving Christ in the Eucharist, especially during the Triduum, is meant to transform hearts to love as he loves. It’s important to receive spiritual discernment in knowing when and how to engage with others in this sacrificial way. Msgr. Esseff recalls traditional Holy Thursday devotions and reflects on the Paschal Mystery—Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection—as the heart of Christian life, reminding the listener that Easter marks a beginning, not an end, in the journey of faith.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

Whose feet in your life would be the hardest for you to wash, and why?
In what ways do you live out Christ’s call to humble service in your daily relationships?
How does your participation in the Eucharist transform the way you treat others, especially those who hurt you?
Are there people you need to forgive before entering into the Triduum more fully?
How do you discern when to serve and when to retreat in prayer, following Jesus’ example?
What does the washing of feet reveal to you about true greatness in the Kingdom of God?
Have you ever tried to serve someone with hidden resentment or pride—how can that change?
How does your Holy Thursday participation reflect your love for the Eucharist and your understanding of its meaning?
What spiritual traditions during Holy Thursday or the Triduum help you grow closer to Christ?

Gospel JN 13:1-15

“Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.
So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

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 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 around the world.

HP1 – What is Prayer? – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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What is Prayer? – The Heart of Prayer with Fr. Éamonn Bourke

Fr. Éamonn Bourke reflects with Kris McGregor on the essence of prayer as an intimate relationship with God, who desires to meet each person personally. Prayer isn’t about perfection or following a strict formula, but about showing up as we are—vulnerable, broken, even ashamed or angry. He draws from Scripture and personal experience to illustrate how the heart of prayer lies in stillness, honesty, and a willingness to encounter God in the midst of life’s struggles. Whether it’s the distractions of daily life, wounds from the past, or the weight of sin, none of these are barriers to God’s love. God receives even the most faltering prayer with tenderness and transforms it with grace.

Fr. Bourke also speaks about the importance of consistency and space for daily prayer, no matter how small. Whether on a commute, during quiet moments at home, or through reflection on Scripture, these moments help us become more attuned to God’s presence throughout the day. Saints like St. Thérèse of Lisieux taught that prayer can be as simple as a glance toward heaven.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How can I deepen my awareness of God’s personal desire to be in relationship with me today?
When have I allowed shame or guilt to keep me from turning to God in prayer?
What broken or vulnerable part of myself do I need to honestly bring before God in prayer?
Do I make daily prayer a true priority in my life, or does it get pushed aside by other concerns?
How have distractions or busyness kept me from recognizing God’s presence in my day?
In what ways have I treated prayer more like a monologue than a dialogue with God?
What is one simple way I can invite silence into my day to better hear God’s voice?
Have I ever brought my anger or disappointment to God honestly in prayer? Why or why not?
What practical step can I take to create a “cell of solitude” within my everyday environment?
How might Scripture—especially a short verse—become a doorway to deeper personal prayer?

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

IP#353 Sally Read – Annunciation on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

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It was truly a delight to once again to talk with Sally Read! This time we discuss her beautiful book “Annunciation: A Call to Faith in a Broken World”.

You can find the book here

From the book description:

Sensing the precarious nature of faith in an overwhelmingly secular world, Read, through meditation and anecdote, began writing down the compelling reasons for holding onto both God and Church. Taking the Annunciation as her template (that most fundamental yes to God), she explores common experiences of the spiritual life: His presence and invitation (And he came to her); the fears we have to let go of (Do not be afraid); the realization of our identity in God (Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord) and what our vocation might be (Let it be to me according to your word); and when God feels very distant from us (And the angel departed from her).

Drawing on Scripture, lives of the saints, and the lives of people she has known personally and professionally as a nurse, Read shows how God is with us always―through suffering, spiritual dryness and depression, as well as in joyful and mystical ways. This book was inspired by a mother’s loving response to a daughter―but what has resulted is something that will speak to any believer engaged in the bliss and bewilderment of a relationship with God.

Check out our previous conversation: IP#309 Sally Read – Night’s Bright Darkness on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

Temptation and Spiritual Warfare – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Temptation and Spiritual Warfare – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

In this episode of Building a Kingdom of Love, Monsignor John Esseff reflects on the Epistle of St. James and every Christian’s daily spiritual battle. He explores the nature of temptation, emphasizing that it is the ordinary way Satan works in our lives, luring us according to our weaknesses. Monsignor Esseff stresses the importance of recognizing our tendencies toward sin—whether pride, self-reliance, jealousy, fear, or lust—and surrendering them completely to God. He reminds us that even great saints like St. Peter and St. Paul struggled with temptation but overcame it through total reliance on Christ. This episode is a powerful call to vigilance, prayer, and dependence on God’s grace to withstand temptation.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

What are the primary temptations you struggle with in your daily life? How have you seen patterns of sin or weakness develop over time?
St. James teaches that God does not tempt us but allows trials for our growth. How can you view your temptations as opportunities to deepen your reliance on Christ?
Monsignor Esseff discusses how Satan studies each of us to exploit our weaknesses. How can you be more vigilant in recognizing and resisting these attacks?
The Lord’s Prayer asks, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” How can praying this with sincerity change your approach to spiritual warfare?
Self-reliance is a major obstacle in the spiritual life. In what ways do you try to handle struggles on your own instead of surrendering them to God?
What spiritual practices—such as prayer, fasting, or the sacraments—help you guard against temptation? Are there areas where you need to strengthen your defenses?
Temptation is not a sin, but giving in to it leads us away from God. How can you distinguish between being tempted and willfully choosing sin?
Many people struggle with shame from past sins, like the priest Monsignor mentioned who experienced childhood humiliation. How can God heal past wounds that may still influence your choices today?
The devil wants to isolate us in our struggles, but God calls us to community. How can seeking guidance from a spiritual director, priest, or trusted friend help you overcome temptations?
St. Paul said, “What I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do” (Romans 7:15). How does this struggle resonate with you, and how can you invite God’s grace to transform your heart?

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 worldwide. 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, sisters, seminarians, and other religious leaders worldwide.

Preparing for Lent – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Preparing for Lent – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Msgr. John Esseff reflects on the significance of Lent and its deep spiritual purpose rooted in Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us of our mortality and call us to repentance, marking the beginning of 40 days of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. Even though Lent is a penitential season, Sundays remain celebrations of the Resurrection.

He shares his personal experience with fasting in the Peruvian desert, explaining how physical deprivation heightened his spiritual clarity and deepened his prayer life. Fasting should not be about mere dieting but about uniting our sacrifices with Christ’s. For those unable to fast physically, he suggests fasting from judgment or envy while feasting on recognizing Christ in others. Almsgiving is closely tied to fasting, as seen in St. Teresa of Calcutta’s example, where the food her sisters gave up directly fed the poor. Lent is meant to transform us so that by Easter, we are more fully conformed to Christ, carrying the spiritual fruits beyond the season itself.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How does Jesus’ 40 days in the desert relate to your own Lenten journey and struggles with temptation?
What does receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday mean to you personally, and how does it shape your perspective on repentance?
How can fasting become a more intentional spiritual practice rather than just a physical challenge?
In what ways can you incorporate prayer more deeply into your Lenten observance this year?
What is one area of your life where you need to “fast” from a negative habit or attitude and “feast” on virtue instead?
How does the connection between fasting and almsgiving challenge your approach to generosity?
What steps can you take to deepen your understanding of the Liturgy of the Hours or daily Mass during Lent?
How can reflecting on your mortality help you live more intentionally as a disciple of Christ?
What specific sacrifices can you make this Lent to grow closer to God and imitate Christ more fully?
How can your Lenten practices lead to a lasting transformation beyond Easter?

Pray the Liturgy of Hours

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 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.

SJC15 – Receptivity to God’s Presence – St. John of the Cross with Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Receptivity to God’s Presence – St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation with Fr. Donald Haggerty

Fr. Donald Haggerty discusses St. John of the Cross’s teachings on contemplation and how it is a universal call for all Christians, regardless of vocation. Drawing from the example of St. Joseph, he illustrates how a life of silent receptivity to God’s will fosters spiritual depth. He also touches on the role of surrender in prayer, explaining that even great saints like Mary and Joseph experienced moments of not fully understanding God’s ways, yet remained open to His divine plan.

Contemplation transforms one’s entire life, moving from structured prayer activities to an interior disposition of continual awareness of God’s presence. The concept of spiritual darkness in St. John’s writings states that as faith deepens, one’s intellect encounters the mystery of God in a way that surpasses human understanding. Rather than signifying God’s absence, this darkness reflects the soul’s movement into deeper communion with Him.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How does St. John of the Cross’s teaching challenge your understanding of contemplation as a universal call for all Christians?
In what ways can you cultivate a deeper desire for God in your daily prayer life?
How does St. Joseph’s silent and active faith inspire your approach to prayer and trust in God?
When have you experienced moments of spiritual darkness or uncertainty, and how did you respond?
What does it mean to surrender even your understanding to God, as Mary and Joseph did?
How can you incorporate small pauses throughout your day to turn your heart toward God?
What role does faith play in leading you closer to God, even when His presence feels hidden?
How can contemplating the mystery of the Eucharist deepen your relationship with Christ?
In what ways do you see prayer moving from structured activities to an ongoing disposition of receptivity?
How can you grow in trust that God is guiding you even when His ways remain beyond your understanding?

An excerpt from St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation

The whole matter is nonetheless very delicate in description. The beginning of contemplation is not just a passive drifting with an interior current of grace that carries the soul away easily into the presence of God. A soul must learn to give itself to a quiet, loving attentiveness and discover that in the silence itself the mystery of God is hidden. There is a need to learn that nothing is lost in relinquishing active, reflective thought, as long as one’s attentiveness remains turned toward the mystery of the divine presence. Letting go in this way, so that God himself permeates the inner “activity” of prayer, requires a gradual adjustment to a new attraction felt inwardly in the soul. Receptivity is certainly the key word of advice. The soul must receive the inclination of quiet and respond to it with surrender, without seeking to grasp at an experience that it can claim as its own. It has to trust that God is mysteriously near and strive to be receptive to his hidden, drawing action. Saint John of the Cross offers this description: The proper advice for these individuals is that they must learn to abide in that quietude with a loving attentiveness to God and pay no heed to the imagination and its work. At this stage, as was said, the faculties are at rest and do not work actively but passively, by receiving what God is effecting in them. If at times the soul puts the faculties to work, it should not use excessive efforts or studied reasonings, but it should proceed with gentleness of love, moved more by God than by its own abilities. (AMC 2.12.8)

The essential adjustment into this new stage of prayer is thus twofold in nature. The four earlier signs demonstrate a need to relinquish meditative prayer because it no longer works. If a soul perceives itself at fault for the inability to meditate, it tends to impede and block the desire it feels delicately for a silence alone with God. It has to fight off, if necessary, an anxious concern that it is failing in diligence if it no longer pursues meditative prayer. The advice to trust one’s heart and its deeper desire at this time is apt. The choice to leave behind meditation happens more easily to the degree a person is more docile to the deeper inclination. Nonetheless, there remains the dilemma what to do now in a quiet and solitary state, without giving thought and imagination to any subject. This is the second aspect of a necessary adjustment. A soul almost always finds itself initially in a transitional state of some confusion. It needs to cross a bridge not knowing what it means to be on the other side of a silence without thought. The recommendation to embrace a “loving knowledge” of God is not refined sufficiently in most lives to be identified clearly as a target of desire.

The soul may be subject to gentle waves of intermittent desire and feel an inclination drawing it. When it abandons meditation and gives way to the desire “to remain alone in loving awareness of God” (AMC 2.13.4), forsaking considerations, it is possible that it may soon find a new satisfaction. “Interior peace and quiet and repose” (AMC 2.13.4) may now gradually permeate it, without any need to respond with acts and exercises. A preference to stay in that quiet and peace may be gently felt, without realizing so well that it is being drawn to a deeper love for God. At the same time, a lack of perception is often experienced because a painful aridity is also felt. The aridity can be strong despite the obscure desire to enter into a greater love for God. A passage from The Dark Night exposes some of the difficulty of this moment of adjustment. It also identifies benefits that accrue precisely from the difficulty.

Haggerty, Donald. Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation (p. 175). 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.

IP#507 Sr. Josephine Garrett – Wilderness Within on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Wilderness Within by Sr. Josephine Garrett on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

Sister Josephine Garrett and Kris McGregor discuss Wilderness Within, a Lenten journal designed to guide individuals in deepening their spiritual journey. Sister Josephine explains that the book is not for the faint of heart but for those willing to reflect on their implicit beliefs about God, faith, and themselves. The book explores the theme of the “wilderness within,” likening it to the Desert Fathers’ realization that the greatest spiritual battle is fought in the human heart and the importance of rendering one’s heart open to Christ, engaging in interior reflection, and embracing the challenges of Lent not as failures but as necessary struggles on the path to spiritual growth.

The need for authentic hope amid personal and societal struggles is important during the Jubilee of Hope. Fasting, penance, and detachment each share a role in gaining clarity and deepening union with God rather than simply self-denial. She encourages listeners to avoid rushing through Lent, instead embracing the rhythm of the liturgical season as a model for ongoing spiritual discipline.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions:

How does the concept of the “wilderness within” resonate with your own spiritual struggles and growth?
In what ways do you see God’s love sustaining you, even in times of doubt or hardship?
What are the “stories” you tell yourself about your relationship with God, and how do they shape your faith?
How can you practice rendering your heart more fully open to God during Lent?
What attachments or distractions in your life may be keeping you from fully trusting in God’s plan?
How do you respond to suffering and the cross in your own life—do you resist it or see it as a path to deeper union with Christ?
How can fasting, prayer, and almsgiving help you detach from worldly concerns and focus more on God?
In what ways does the Jubilee of Hope challenge you to rediscover hope in your personal faith journey?
How does reflecting on Christ’s suffering during Holy Week draw you closer to His heart?
What steps can you take after Lent to ensure that your spiritual growth continues beyond the season?

From the book’s description:

This Lent, allow Sr. Josephine Garrett to be your guide as you explore the interior wilderness of your heart and invite Jesus in to heal you with his love.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus went into the wilderness? Some believe it was to reveal his divinity or to restore humanity’s relationship with God. In Wilderness Within, Sr. Josephine Garrett, a mental health counselor and popular speaker, reflects on the belief that Jesus went into the wilderness to rescue us—to rescue us! The Lord does not want us to view the wilderness as something that causes worry, anxiety, or fear. “What if, instead,” Sr. Josephine writes, “we looked at how God has been a faithful provider in the wilderness and trusted that He will do the same for us in the wilderness journey ahead? What if we joyfully take His hand and journey into the wilderness, because when Christ enters there, ‘this opposite place of the garden becomes the place of reconciliation and healing’” (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth)?

In Wilderness Within, Sr. Josephine will guide you through the forty days of Lent to attend to the wilderness of your heart as a place to be explored, restored, and sent on mission by Jesus’s tender love.

Week of Ash Wednesday: Enter Lent by recognizing your ability to always begin anew in Christ.

Week One: Open your heart to God’s love, allowing yourself to reverence your heart as a gift from your Creator.

Week Two: Reflect on the truth that we are created for relationships, and examine the relationships in your life.

Week Three: Take an honest look at your limitations, wounds, and sin guided by a spirit of humility and repentance.

Week Four: Begin to see how God designed your heart to be rescued by him and grow in your capacity to be healed by him.

Week Five: Leave the wilderness of your heart so that you can go on mission—with a heart restored by Christ’s love—to love your neighbor and be a good steward of the gifts and charisms given to you.

Holy Week: Follow in Jesus’s footsteps to the Cross and discover how you can love him well through each stage of the Passion and Resurrection.

Each day’s content includes brief meditations, specially crafted illustrations, thought-provoking reflection questions, heartfelt prayers curated to uplift your spirit, and ample journaling space for personal revelations and insights. Whether you’re journeying alone or with a group, Wilderness Within is your guide to a beautiful and renewing Lent.

About the Author

Sr. Josephine Garrett, CSFN, is a sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth, a licensed counselor, host of the Hope Stories podcast, and a Catholic speaker and author.

Garrett earned a bachelor’s degree in political philosophy from the University of Dallas. Prior to entering religious life, she worked as vice president in the home loans division of Bank of America. In 2019, she earned a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and became a nationally certified counselor licensed in Texas.

She worked as a school counselor in Tyler, Texas, and is presently serving as a counselor in private practice. Garret is a voice for mental health on various platforms such as Formed and Hallow.

She resides in Tyler, Texas.

SJC14 – Graces from Contemplation – St. John of the Cross with Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Graces from Contemplation – St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation with Fr. Donald Haggerty

Fr. Donald Haggerty discusses the transition from meditative to contemplative prayer in the spiritual life, drawing from St. John of the Cross. Many struggle when they feel an inclination toward silent prayer, fearing they are abandoning traditional meditative practices. Haggerty explains that this inclination is a grace, where the soul is drawn to rest in God’s presence rather than actively engaging the intellect. Forcing oneself back into meditation when contemplative grace is being offered can hinder spiritual growth. However, this shift does not negate structured prayers like the Rosary or the Liturgy of the Hours, which remain valuable. Contemplative grace is often intermittent and does not fill an entire period of prayer but can be recognized and embraced when it arises.

A deepening relationship with God affects daily life. As the soul becomes more attuned to God’s presence, moments of contemplation may arise unexpectedly, even outside formal prayer. This transformation fosters greater love for God and others, leading to a more self-giving life. We must set aside silent time for prayer, particularly in the presence of the Eucharist, as a means of nurturing this deeper union with God.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How do you respond when you feel drawn to quiet prayer rather than structured meditation, and do you see this as a possible grace from God?
In moments of dryness or uncertainty, how can you resist the urge to force a particular method of prayer and instead surrender to God’s leading?
What are some unexpected moments in your day when you have sensed God’s presence, and how can you become more attuned to them?
How do you maintain a healthy balance between meditative, vocal, and contemplative prayer without neglecting any aspect of your spiritual life?
In what ways can you nurture a deeper desire for God in both prayer and daily actions, allowing His love to transform your heart?

An excerpt from St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation

“The more a soul in responding to contemplative grace becomes “habituated” to the calm that is drawing it from within, the more likely that a “general, loving knowledge of God” rises up from within the recesses of the soul. In time, it can be expected that this loving knowledge will pervade the soul’s awareness more distinctly and more appealingly. Nonetheless, it would seem clear that this last sign is in a certain way the most difficult to discern. The previous four signs exhibit strong negative reactions. This last sign is subtle always in its beginnings and delicate in its attraction, and to answer to it means to respond to a grace that may not seem so assured. In many cases, it may be that a soul gives itself to this inclination quite unknowingly. It is led by God and surrenders to the calm and loving knowledge without thinking much about what it is doing. This may certainly be true in the lives of simple souls who are not so analytical and intellectual.

As Saint John of the Cross comments: “It is noteworthy that this general knowledge is at times so recondite and delicate (especially when purer, simpler, and more perfect), spiritual and interior that the soul does not perceive or feel it even though the soul is employed with it” (AMC 2.14.8). The last phrase seems to make clear that souls often initially enter into the graces of contemplation without realizing that they are doing so. The general loving knowledge that descends on the soul is accompanied by a deep interior calm and draws the soul like the fragrance of newly baked bread for a hungry man. The man in hunger simply moves in the direction of that bread, not thinking so much what he is doing. And this is precisely what can happen in prayer. The more a soul finds itself following the deeper inclination to enter this inward calm and quiet peace, the more likely it is that the soul begins to be attracted to the simple desire to love that it is receiving in grace. The movement forward to contemplation is a response to this grace: “The more habituated persons become to this calm, the more their experience of this general loving knowledge of God will increase. This knowledge is more enjoyable than all other things because without the soul’s labor it affords peace, rest, savor, and delight” (AMC 2.13.7).

Haggerty, Donald. Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation (p. 175). 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.

SJC13 – The Incipient Signs of the Grace of Contemplation – St. John of the Cross with Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Dawning Light of the Gift of Contemplation – St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation with Fr. Donald Haggerty

Fr. Donald Haggerty discusses St. John of the Cross’s teachings on the incipient signs of contemplative grace and the initial challenges that arise in prayer, such as the inability to engage in meditative reflection, a lack of attraction to distractions, and a deep spiritual aridity. These experiences, though confusing and often mistaken for psychological depression, signal a profound purification by God, who invites the soul to a more will-oriented love. This aridity, unlike lukewarmness, fosters a more generous self-giving in one’s vocation, even when consolations are absent.

Fr. Haggerty also delves into the fourth sign: a painful self-questioning that emerges as one loses previous spiritual satisfactions, leading to potential scrupulosity if unguided. The fifth sign, however, marks a significant shift—a quiet inclination to remain in God’s presence without active meditation, signifying a deeper contemplative union. Drawing from his experience with the Missionaries of Charity, Fr. Haggerty reminds us to have proper spiritual guidance, particularly for seminarians and priests, to navigate these trials and foster a genuine contemplative life rooted in love and faith.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

The Role of Aridity in Contemplative Prayer: How can the experience of spiritual dryness be understood as a divine invitation to deeper love and reliance on God’s will?
Distinguishing Aridity from Lukewarmness: What behaviors and attitudes outside of prayer reveal whether our spiritual dryness is a sign of contemplative grace or a lapse in fervor?
The Challenge of Self-Questioning: How can persistent self-examination during times of spiritual desolation hinder our trust in God’s work within us?
The Importance of Spiritual Direction: Why is guidance from experienced spiritual directors crucial when navigating the early stages of contemplative prayer?
The Quiet Drawing to God’s Presence: How can the soul’s gentle inclination to remain silently in God’s presence signal a new depth in our prayer life?

An excerpt from St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation

“We turn our attention now to one of the most important contributions to spirituality in the writings of Saint John of the Cross. This concerns the signs that indicate a need to discontinue the practice of discursive meditation and shift to a prayer of contemplation. Two things might be stressed before providing an extensive treatment of these signs. One is that a soul’s practice of meditation as a daily method of prayer is presumed in this teaching. A person has a regular commitment to silent prayer and is employing some method of reflective consideration on the Gospels or other parts of Scripture, as spoken of previously. The signs that Saint John of the Cross will identify make no sense except as a trial and struggle that enter into the prayer of meditation.

There is no encouragement here to forgo the preliminary effort of meditation, as though one might simply enter into a more graced and intimate relationship with God by leaping ahead into contemplative prayer as a favored method of prayer. The preliminary stages must be observed. A propaedeutic period of learning to pray reflectively in silence is indispensable. We have to learn to think about our Lord and the mysteries of faith in order to enter into deeper love for our God. This effort in turn must be accompanied by a serious pursuit of virtue and of faithfulness to the will of God. A life without a clear sacrificial dimension should not expect graces of contemplation in the interior life of prayer.”

Haggerty, Donald. Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation (p. 175). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.