Jesus invites us to give the maximum….Join Teresa Monaghen, of Pro Sanctity, as she offers a “Personal Plan for Holiness”. Listen along with these short, but beautiful meditations which encourage us to continue on our journey as “saints in the making”!
Are you born again? It’s a question that Catholics aren’t quite sure how to respond to, but those who are living out their faith should answer with a whole-hearted Yes.
The term “born again” comes from John 3 when our Lord tells Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above,”1 or “born again,” as some translations put it. Nicodemus is confused, thinking that Jesus is referring to a 2nd physical birth, so Jesus clarifies that “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”2 The early Church unanimously interpreted this as a reference to the sacrament of baptism, 3 which is no mere symbolic ritual, but the normative instrument that Christ instituted for our spiritual rebirth.
Romans 6 says that in baptism our old natures are buried and we are raised to new life in Christ. 4 And 1 Peter 3:21 puts it plainly, “baptism now saves you.”
Salvation is a lifelong process, a race to the finish line. But baptism is where it all begins, where we are born again, if you will.
1 – Jn. 3:3
2 – Jn. 3:5
3 – See Catholic Answers website on subject: http://www.catholic.com/library/Born_Again_in_Baptism.asp
4 – Rom. 6:3-4
1. Go to Mass, if possible, daily Mass
2. The sacrament of confession
3. Daily Prayer
4. Talk to a priest
5. Read the Gospels
6. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
7. Eucharistic adoration
8. Live a life of virtue
9. Spiritual reading
10. Hang around good people
Based on “Is Jesus Calling You To Be A Catholic Priest: A helpful guide”, published by National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Director.
Fr. Paul Hoesing serves as the Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Omaha, NE.
Check out “For Your Vocation.org“
Is Jesus Calling? A Spiritual Guide to Discerning Your Vocational Call with Fr. Paul Hoesing – episode 6: The Eighth Spiritual Lesson: The will of the spirit against Christ is revealed in fear. “This spirit against Christ drives a man by a fear of something false. While the Spirit of Christ draws a man by a peaceful presence to something that is true.”
Questions: Does your fear come when you are desiring to do God’s will and the thought of you choosing not to do His will causes your fear? Or, rather, does your fear come when you are focused on what you want and the thought that God might want something different makes you afraid; if so, identify that as the will of the spirit against Christ and turn away from it, inviting Christ into the situation by repeating a simple prayer like, “Jesus I trust in you!”
The Ninth Spiritual Lesson: You must stand firm in faith in what you received from God. “This is the essential choice. If one does not make this choice, his spiritual life will be the experience of a ping pong ball, bouncing back and forth, believing one desire one day and the opposite one the next. He will be a confused man.”
Questions: Do you have moments in prayer where the next step you are to take becomes quite clear from the experience of the peace of Christ, but then you believe and follow the thoughts, feelings, and desires in the fear flowing from the spirit against Christ, causing you to change your mind and not move forward? Identify those movements and cling to Christ during them by praying, “Jesus, I I trust in you.”
Based on “Is Jesus Calling You To Be A Catholic Priest: A helpful guide”, published by National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Director.
Fr. Paul Hoesing serves as the Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Omaha, NE.
Check out “For Your Vocation.org“
What a joy to talk about the saints with Paul Thigpen. and discuss this INCREDIBLE book! Not just an ascetically gorgeous work, worthy of the mystery it contains, but “A Year With the Saints: Daily Meditations with the Holy Ones of God” is filled with guided meditations, teachings, and prayers with the “Great Cloud of Witnesses”. Dr. Thigpen, who earned his PhD in Church History, also guides through a wonderful catechesis of the faith through these “love letters” from history. The perfect gift…period.
In this conversation, we discuss many topics, including:
Why the saints? Do we need them? How can they help us grow in faith?
“Those who follow the saints”, said Pope Clement I, “will themselves become saints”. Their words and deeds provide a treasury of time-tested wisdom, encouragement, and inspiration for the pursuit of holiness.
Best-selling Catholic author Paul Thigpen opens up that treasury in A Year With the Saints: Daily Meditations With the Holy Ones of God. These 365 reflections draw from the writings and lives of holy men and women across two thousand years. Their spiritual and practical insights for Christian living are as fresh and relevant today as they were when they were first written.
Heart of Hope Part 3 – What is Redemptive Suffering…using love and the energy of love to redirect pain as an intercessory prayer for another…how it makes sense and is no longer meaningless
Deacon James Keating, PhD, the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha, is making available to ”Discerning Hearts” and all who listen, his series of programs entitled “The Heart of Hope”.
This extraordinarily popular series explores the work of suffering in the Christian life and how God can use it to transform the heart of the individual and the world.
In the persons who go from mortal sin to mortal sin, the enemy is commonly used to propose to them apparent pleasures, making them imagine sensual delights and pleasures in order to hold them more and make them grow in their vices and sins. In these persons the good spirit uses the opposite method, pricking them and biting their consciences through the process of reason.
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: www.frtimothygallagher.org
“These Beautiful Bones: An Everyday Theology of the Body” is the book I’ve been waiting for, thank you Emily Stimpson! A book about the Theology of the Body, the great teachings from Bl. Pope John Paul II, that isn’t all about SEX! What Emily has done is truly remarkable….she has presented to us just how practical this great teaching is and how it can be applied to the varied aspects of our everyday lives. Emily has an engaging writing style which is filled with humor and insight. A wonderful work and a must have for the Catholic library.
“As a writer, Emily Stimpson always brings to her readers a unique combination of deep wisdom, practical insight and personal experience. In These Beautiful Bones, she uses the sacramental lens of the liturgy to explore a wide range of activities in daily life. Whether it’s your eating habits or clothing styles, the dignity of hard work or the pitfalls of pop culture, you will find in this book lots of graceful guidance in living out the physical side of being spiritual. ” — Dr. Scott Hahn, Internationally renowned author and biblical theologian
In Romans and Galatians, St. Paul warns about those trying to justify themselves before God by following the works of the Law.
To properly understand this, we must look at the historical context. As we read in the Acts, there was a group in the early Church called the “Judaizers,”1 which taught that Gentile converts to Christianity must be circumcised and follow the kosher laws.
Paul says in no uncertain terms that those trying to be saved through these Old Testament works of the Law have rejected Christ and lost their salvation.
The attitude of the Judaizers is contrasted with the faith of Abraham,2 who trusted and obeyed God even to the point of offering his own son, Isaac. Paul’s point is not that our works have no bearing on our salvation, but rather that these particular Jewish rituals were not necessary for eternal life.
For the same Romans that teaches “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law,”3 also says that God “shows no partiality … [for] he will render to everyone according to his works..” 4
There is no contradiction, as long as we correctly understand what Paul meant by the works of the law.
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
“He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.”
Even the soldiers jeered at him.
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
“If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.”
Above him there was an inscription that read,
“This is the King of the Jews.”
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
“Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us.”
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
“Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal.”
Then he said,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He replied to him,
“Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. 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.
To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book by visiting here
as “saints in the making”!
