Blessed Sacrament Archives

Day 4 St. Clare of Assisi Novena – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Day 4

From a letter to Ermentrude of Bruges

This labour of ours is brief, but the reward is eternal; let the noises of the fleeting world and its shadow not confound you; let the empty spectres of the deceiving world not drive you mad; shut your ears to the whispers of hell and, strong, break down its attempts [against you]; willingly bear adverse evils and let provident goods not puff you up; for the one requires faith, the other demands it; what you promised God, faithfully render, and he will repay you.

Dear St. Clare,

As a young girl, you imitated your mother’s love for the poor of your native Assisi.

Inspired by the preaching of St. Francis, who sang enthusiastically of His Lord Jesus and Lady Poverty, you gave your life to Jesus at nineteen years of age, allowing St. Francis to cut off your beautiful hair and invest you with the Franciscan habit.

All through your life you offered your great suffering for your Sisters, the Poor Clares, and the conversion of souls. You greatly aided St. Francis with his new order, carrying on his spirit in the Franciscans after his death.

Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor.

Please pray for me (mention your request) that I will seek to keep Jesus as my first love, as you did. Help me to grow in love of the Blessed Sacrament, to care for the poor, and to offer my whole life to God.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare. Through her intercession, please hear and answer my prayer, in the name of Jesus Your Son.

Amen.

For the complete novena visit the St. Clare Novena Discerning Hearts Page

Day 2 St. Clare of Assisi Novena – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Day 2

From a letter to St. Agnes of Prague

“…you might totally love Him who gave Himself totally out of love for you, whose beauty the sun and moon admire, and whose rewards, in both their preciousness and magnitude, are without end. I am speaking about the Son of the Most High, to whom the Virgin gave birth and, after whose birth, she remained a virgin. May you cling to his most sweet Mother, who gave birth to the kind of Son whom the heavens could not contain, and yet, she carried him in the tiny enclosure of her sacred womb.”

Dear St. Clare,

As a young girl, you imitated your mother’s love for the poor of your native Assisi.

Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare. Through her intercession, please hear and answer my prayer, in the name of Jesus Your Son.

Amen.

For the complete novena visit the St. Clare Novena Discerning Hearts Page

Day 1 St. Clare of Assisi Novena – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Day 1

From a letter to St. Agnes of Prague

Place your mind in the mirror of eternity;

Place your soul in the splendour of glory;

Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance;

And, through contemplation, transform your entire being into the image of the Divine One himself,

So that you, yourself, may also experience what his friends experience when they taste the hidden sweetness that God alone has kept from the beginning

For those who love him.

Dear St. Clare,

As a young girl you imitated your mother’s love for the poor of your native Assisi.

Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare. Through her intercession, please hear and answer my prayer, in the name of Jesus Your Son.

Amen.

For the complete novena visit the St. Clare Novena Discerning Hearts Page

BTP#32 St. Bernard, the 12 Steps to Humility and Pride, On Loving God – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

BTP#32 St. Bernard and the 12 Steps to Humility and Pride – The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints. In this episode Dr. Lilles continues the discussion on St. Bernard of Clairvaux and his teachings found in “The 12 Steps to Humility and Pride” and “On Loving God”.

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Dr. Lilles offers 4 key points we should keep in mind as we move forward in this series

1. The Search for God
2. Listening to God – Lectio Divnia
3. Conversion to God – Conversatio Morum
4. Living with oneself and letting God fashion one into His image

Dr. Lilles’ continues his discussion on St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “The 12 Steps of Humility and Pride” and “On Loving God”:

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Hidden-Mountain — To obtain a copy of Dr. Lilles’ book click here

Dr.Anthony Lilles is a Catholic husband and father of three teaching Spiritual Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. He teaches spiritual theology and spiritual direction to transitional deacons, and the spiritual classics to the men who enter the Spirituality Year, a year of prayer in preparation for seminary formation. He is the author of the “Beginning to Pray” Catholic blog spot.

For other episodes in the series visit the Discerning Hearts page for Dr. Anthony Lilles

Here is the bibliography that Dr. Lilles spoke of in this episode:

The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints

Saints, other figures, dates and bibliographic information

St. Benedict of Nursia – b. 480 – d. 547.

St. Benedict. The Rule. Edited by Timothy Fry, O.S.B. New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1981, 1998.