St. Leo the Great – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

St. Leo the Great – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson

  • Born: Tuscany, Italy
  • Died: November 10, 461 AD, Rome, Italy

Dr. Matthew Bunson and Kris McGregor explore the life, teachings, and contributions of Pope St. Leo the Great. They discuss Leo’s background, his significant influence on the papacy, and his role in defending orthodox Christian doctrine amid turbulent times.

Pope St. Leo lived during a period of upheaval within both the Church and the Roman Empire. Notably, he confronted heresies that questioned Christ’s divinity and humanity, such as Arianism and Nestorianism, which led to ongoing debates over Christ’s nature. Leo’s “Tome,” a key theological document, clarified the Church’s stance on Christ’s dual nature as both fully human and divine, shaping the Council of Chalcedon’s doctrine in 451 AD. This affirmation became central to Christian Christology and reinforced the Virgin Mary’s title as Theotokos, or “Mother of God,” which had been confirmed in earlier councils.

Pope Leo’s theological insights and firm defense of the faith earned him the title “Doctor of the Church” and established his legacy as a “Great” saint. His contributions, particularly regarding the papal primacy and the nature of Christ, continue to influence Catholic teaching and underscore the importance of spiritual and doctrinal leadership within the Church.


Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

  1. Pope Leo’s Courage and Leadership: How does Pope Leo’s boldness in confronting both Attila the Hun and the Vandals inspire us to act courageously in defending our faith and values?
  2. Defending the Faith in Challenging Times: In what ways can we, like Pope Leo, respond to theological and cultural challenges to our faith with clarity and conviction?
  3. Christ’s Dual Nature: How does Pope Leo’s affirmation of Christ’s full humanity and divinity shape our understanding of who Jesus is and our relationship with Him?
  4. Role of Papal Authority: What does Pope Leo’s role in affirming the primacy of the Pope teach us about the importance of Church unity and obedience to spiritual authority?
  5. The Impact of Holiness on History: How might Pope Leo’s deep personal holiness and spiritual influence inspire us to cultivate our own sanctity and positively impact those around us?
  6. Peace and Mediation: How can we follow Pope Leo’s example of striving for peace and reconciliation in our communities and personal lives?
  7. Enduring Legacy of Truth: In what ways does Pope Leo’s theological clarity at the Council of Chalcedon encourage us to seek and proclaim truth, even when it requires perseverance and effort?
  8. The Virgin Mary’s Role: How does the Council’s affirmation of Mary as Theotokos (Mother of God) deepen our devotion to her and understanding of her role in the mystery of Christ?

For more on St. Leo the Great and his teachings


From Vatican.va, an excerpt from the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI General Audience 2008

“Aware of the historical period in which he lived and of the change that was taking place – from pagan Rome to Christian Rome – in a period of profound crisis, Leo the Great knew how to make himself close to the people and the faithful with his pastoral action and his preaching. He enlivened charity in a Rome tried by famines, an influx of refugees, injustice and poverty. He opposed pagan superstitions and the actions of Manichaean groups. He associated the liturgy with the daily life of Christians:  for example, by combining the practice of fasting with charity and almsgiving above all on the occasion of the Quattro tempora, which in the course of the year marked the change of seasons. In particular, Leo the Great taught his faithful – and his words still apply for us today – that the Christian liturgy is not the memory of past events, but the actualization of invisible realities which act in the lives of each one of us. This is what he stressed in a sermon (cf. 64, 1-2) on Easter, to be celebrated in every season of the year “not so much as something of the past as rather an event of the present”. All this fits into a precise project, the Holy Pontiff insisted:  just as, in fact, the Creator enlivened with the breath of rational life man formed from the dust of the ground, after the original sin he sent his Son into the world to restore to man his lost dignity and to destroy the dominion of the devil through the new life of grace.

This is the Christological mystery to which St Leo the Great, with his Letter to the Council of Ephesus, made an effective and essential contribution, confirming for all time – through this Council – what St Peter said at Caesarea Philippi. With Peter and as Peter, he professed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. And so it is that God and man together “are not foreign to the human race but alien to sin” (cf. Serm. 64). Through the force of this Christological faith he was a great messenger of peace and love. He thus shows us the way:  in faith we learn charity. Let us therefore learn with St Leo the Great to believe in Christ, true God and true Man, and to implement this faith every day in action for peace and love of neighbour.”

For more visit Vatican.va


For more from Dr. Matthew Bunson, check out his Discerning Hearts page.

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.

St. Gregory the Great, pt. 1 – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson – Discerning Hearts Podcast

St. Gregory the Great, Part 1 – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson

  • Born: 540 AD, Rome, Italy
  • Died: March 12, 604 AD, Rome, Italy

Dr. Matthew Bunson and Kris McGregor discuss the life and legacy of Pope Gregory the Great, one of the most influential figures in Church history. Gregory, often referred to as the last of the Latin Fathers and the founder of the Medieval Papacy, left an indelible mark despite a relatively short 14-year pontificate. Born into a wealthy and noble Christian family in 540 AD, Gregory was deeply influenced by his devout upbringing, which included connections to previous popes and saints.

With a focus on the tumultuous historical context of Gregory’s life, particularly the decline of the Roman Empire and the challenges of governing a city in crisis; despite these challenges, Gregory’s contributions were immense. He reformed the church, influenced the development of Gregorian Chant, and served as a model for both bishops and secular rulers.

Gregory’s decision to leave a promising political career to become a monk is explored: his time as a monk prepared him spiritually and intellectually for the heavy responsibilities he would later bear as Pope. Despite his frail health and the overwhelming challenges of his time, Gregory’s leadership and spiritual wisdom left a lasting impact on the Church and Western civilization.


Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

  1. Influence of Family and Upbringing: How did Gregory’s devout Christian upbringing and noble lineage shape his later decisions and contributions to the Church?
  2. Responding to Crisis: In times of societal collapse, like Gregory’s Rome, how can we, as Christians, fill the leadership void with faith and service?
  3. Embracing Humility: What can Gregory’s commitment to humility, despite his wealth and power, teach us about living a life of true Christian service?
  4. Monastic Life and Personal Transformation: How did Gregory’s decision to embrace monastic life prepare him for greater responsibilities, and how can we apply this in our own spiritual journey?
  5. Balancing Prayer and Action: How did Gregory’s monastic discipline of balancing prayer with work influence his effectiveness as a leader, and how can we cultivate this balance in our lives?
  6. Legacy of Leadership: What qualities made Gregory a model for both spiritual and secular leadership, and how can we emulate these in our own roles?
  7. Sanctity and Suffering: How did Gregory’s suffering and deep concern for his people reflect his sanctity, and how can we offer our own sufferings for the good of others?

For more on St. Gregory the Great and his teachings:


From Vatican.va, an excerpt from the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI General Audience 2008:

“Today I would like to present the figure of one of the greatest Fathers in the history of the Church, one of four Doctors of the West, Pope St Gregory, who was Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604, and who earned the traditional title of Magnus/the Great. Gregory was truly a great Pope and a great Doctor of the Church! He was born in Rome about 540 into a rich patrician family of the gens Anicia, who were distinguished not only for their noble blood but also for their adherence to the Christian faith and for their service to the Apostolic See. Two Popes came from this family: Felix III (483-492), the great-great grandfather of Gregory, and Agapetus (535-536). The house in which Gregory grew up stood on the Clivus Scauri, surrounded by majestic buildings that attested to the greatness of ancient Rome and the spiritual strength of Christianity. The example of his parents Gordian and Sylvia, both venerated as Saints, and those of his father’s sisters, Aemiliana and Tharsilla, who lived in their own home as consecrated virgins following a path of prayer and self-denial, inspired lofty Christian sentiments in him.

In the footsteps of his father, Gregory entered early into an administrative career which reached its climax in 572 when he became Prefect of the city. This office, complicated by the sorry times, allowed him to apply himself on a vast range to every type of administrative problem, drawing light for future duties from them. In particular, he retained a deep sense of order and discipline: having become Pope, he advised Bishops to take as a model for the management of ecclesial affairs the diligence and respect for the law like civil functionaries . Yet this life could not have satisfied him since shortly after, he decided to leave every civil assignment in order to withdraw to his home to begin the monastic life, transforming his family home into the monastery of St Andrew on the Coelian Hill. This period of monastic life, the life of permanent dialogue with the Lord in listening to his word, constituted a perennial nostalgia which he referred to ever anew and ever more in his homilies. In the midst of the pressure of pastoral worries, he often recalled it in his writings as a happy time of recollection in God, dedication to prayer and peaceful immersion in study. Thus, he could acquire that deep understanding of Sacred Scripture and of the Fathers of the Church that later served him in his work.

But the cloistered withdrawal of Gregory did not last long. The precious experience that he gained in civil administration during a period marked by serious problems, the relationships he had had in this post with the Byzantines and the universal respect that he acquired induced Pope Pelagius to appoint him deacon and to send him to Constantinople as his “apocrisarius” – today one would say “Apostolic Nuncio” in order to help overcome the last traces of the Monophysite controversy and above all to obtain the Emperor’s support in the effort to check the Lombard invaders. The stay at Constantinople, where he resumed monastic life with a group of monks, was very important for Gregory, since it permitted him to acquire direct experience of the Byzantine world, as well as to approach the problem of the Lombards, who would later put his ability and energy to the test during the years of his Pontificate. After some years he was recalled to Rome by the Pope, who appointed him his secretary. They were difficult years: the continual rain, flooding due to overflowing rivers, the famine that afflicted many regions of Italy as well as Rome. Finally, even the plague broke out, which claimed numerous victims, among whom was also Pope Pelagius II. The clergy, people and senate were unanimous in choosing Gregory as his successor to the See of Peter. He tried to resist, even attempting to flee, but to no avail: finally, he had to yield. The year was 590.”

For more visit Vatican.va


For more from Dr. Matthew Bunson, check out his Discerning Hearts page.

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.

St. Leo the Great – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

Dr. Matthew Bunson discusses the life, times and teachings of St. Leo the Great.

Born: Tuscany, Italy

Died: November 10, 461 AD, Rome, Italy
For more on St. Leo the Great and his teachings
From Vatican.va, an excerpt from the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI General Audience 2008

Aware of the historical period in which he lived and of the change that was taking place – from pagan Rome to Christian Rome – in a period of profound crisis, Leo the Great knew how to make himself close to the people and the faithful with his pastoral action and his preaching. He enlivened charity in a Rome tried by famines, an influx of refugees, injustice and poverty. He opposed pagan superstitions and the actions of Manichaean groups. He associated the liturgy with the daily life of Christians:  for example, by combining the practice of fasting with charity and almsgiving above all on the occasion of the Quattro tempora, which in the course of the year marked the change of seasons. In particular, Leo the Great taught his faithful – and his words still apply for us today – that the Christian liturgy is not the memory of past events, but the actualization of invisible realities which act in the lives of each one of us. This is what he stressed in a sermon (cf. 64, 1-2) on Easter, to be celebrated in every season of the year “not so much as something of the past as rather an event of the present”. All this fits into a precise project, the Holy Pontiff insisted:  just as, in fact, the Creator enlivened with the breath of rational life man formed from the dust of the ground, after the original sin he sent his Son into the world to restore to man his lost dignity and to destroy the dominion of the devil through the new life of grace.

This is the Christological mystery to which St Leo the Great, with his Letter to the Council of Ephesus, made an effective and essential contribution, confirming for all time – through this Council – what St Peter said at Caesarea Philippi. With Peter and as Peter, he professed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. And so it is that God and man together “are not foreign to the human race but alien to sin” (cf. Serm. 64). Through the force of this Christological faith he was a great messenger of peace and love. He thus shows us the way:  in faith we learn charity. Let us therefore learn with St Leo the Great to believe in Christ, true God and true Man, and to implement this faith every day in action for peace and love of neighbour.

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.

SOP1 – Why We Need Prayer – The School of Prayer: Reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI w/ Deacon James Keating

Why We Need Prayer – The School of Prayer: Reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI 

“Life without prayer has no meaning or points of reference”.  The relationship between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit  is so essential to our understanding of prayer.  The meaning of the Church.  Suffering the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is the face of God.  Do not be afraid, He will teach you happiness.

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., is a professor of Spiritual Theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO. 

From  Pope Benedict’s 1st audience on prayer:

Human life is a fabric woven of good and of evil, of undeserved suffering and of joy and beauty that spontaneously and irresistibly impel us to ask God for that light and that inner strength which support us on earth and reveal a hope beyond the boundaries of death.

In the examples of prayer of the various cultures which we have considered, we can see a testimony of the religious dimension and of the desire for God engraved on the heart of every human being, which receives fulfilment and full expression in the Old and in the New Testament. The Revelation, is in fact purifying and brings to its fullness man’s original yearning for God, offering to him, in prayer, the possibility of a deeper relationship with the heavenly Father.

At the beginning of our journey in the “school of prayer” let us now   so that the relationship with him in prayer may be ever more intense, affectionate and constant. Once again, let us say to him: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1).

 

For more episodes visit: The School of Prayer:  Reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI

 

DC13 St. Leo the Great – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson

Dr. Matthew Bunson discusses the life, times and teachings of St. Leo the Great

Born: Tuscany, Italy

Died: November 10, 461 AD, Rome, Italy
For more on St. Leo the Great and his teachings
From Vatican.va, an excerpt from the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI General Audience 2008

Aware of the historical period in which he lived and of the change that was taking place – from pagan Rome to Christian Rome – in a period of profound crisis, Leo the Great knew how to make himself close to the people and the faithful with his pastoral action and his preaching. He enlivened charity in a Rome tried by famines, an influx of refugees, injustice and poverty. He opposed pagan superstitions and the actions of Manichaean groups. He associated the liturgy with the daily life of Christians:  for example, by combining the practice of fasting with charity and almsgiving above all on the occasion of the Quattro tempora, which in the course of the year marked the change of seasons. In particular, Leo the Great taught his faithful – and his words still apply for us today – that the Christian liturgy is not the memory of past events, but the actualization of invisible realities which act in the lives of each one of us. This is what he stressed in a sermon (cf. 64, 1-2) on Easter, to be celebrated in every season of the year “not so much as something of the past as rather an event of the present”. All this fits into a precise project, the Holy Pontiff insisted:  just as, in fact, the Creator enlivened with the breath of rational life man formed from the dust of the ground, after the original sin he sent his Son into the world to restore to man his lost dignity and to destroy the dominion of the devil through the new life of grace.

This is the Christological mystery to which St Leo the Great, with his Letter to the Council of Ephesus, made an effective and essential contribution, confirming for all time – through this Council – what St Peter said at Caesarea Philippi. With Peter and as Peter, he professed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. And so it is that God and man together “are not foreign to the human race but alien to sin” (cf. Serm. 64). Through the force of this Christological faith he was a great messenger of peace and love. He thus shows us the way:  in faith we learn charity. Let us therefore learn with St Leo the Great to believe in Christ, true God and true Man, and to implement this faith every day in action for peace and love of neighbour.

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.

The Moment of Christian Witness with Dr. Rodney Howsare pt. 1 – “Balthasar: Beauty, Goodness, Truth” Podcast


 The Moment of Christian Witness with Dr. Rodney Howsare Ph.D. – pt. 1

Dr. Rodney Howsare, Ph.D.

With Dr. Rodney Howsare Ph.D., we begin with a conversation about Hans Urs von Balthasar and his analysis of the thought of Karl Rahner S.J. and those who followed after him. We then discuss the meaning of what Balthasar calls “the Decisive Moment.”

Balthasar: Beauty, Goodness, Truth is a series of conversations with noted theological scholars about the life and teachings of Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar who is considered to be one of the most important Catholic intellectuals and writers of the twentieth century.

Find the paperback book here
Find the e-book here

From the book description:

Hans Urs von Balthasar puts his finger on the precise origin of all those elements in modern Christianity which see the real Jesus Christ as unknowable, the Gospels as merely the confused reflections of later Christians, and Christian tradition as a perpetuation of the mythology.

 


For more podcast episodes with Dr. Rodney Howsare discussing The Moment of Christian WitnessThe Moment of Christian Witness Podcasts


For Audio and Text Excerpts from The Moment of Christian WitnessAudio and Text Excerpts


 

DC15 St. Gregory the Great pt 1 – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunson Podcast

Dr. Matthew Bunson discusses the life, times and teachings of St. Gregory the Great

Born: 540 AD, Rome, Italy

Died: March 12, 604 AD, Rome, Italy
For more on St. Gregory the Great and his teachings
From Vatican.va, an excerpt from the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI General Audience 2008

Today I would like to present the figure of one of the greatest Fathers in the history of the Church, one of four Doctors of the West, Pope St Gregory, who was Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604, and who earned the traditional title of Magnus/the Great. Gregory was truly a great Pope and a great Doctor of the Church! He was born in Rome about 540 into a rich patrician family of the gens Anicia, who were distinguished not only for their noble blood but also for their adherence to the Christian faith and for their service to the Apostolic See. Two Popes came from this family: Felix III (483-492), the great-great grandfather of Gregory, and Agapetus (535-536). The house in which Gregory grew up stood on the Clivus Scauri, surrounded by majestic buildings that attested to the greatness of ancient Rome and the spiritual strength of Christianity. The example of his parents Gordian and Sylvia, both venerated as Saints, and those of his father’s sisters, Aemiliana and Tharsilla, who lived in their own home as consecrated virgins following a path of prayer and self-denial, inspired lofty Christian sentiments in him.

In the footsteps of his father, Gregory entered early into an administrative career which reached its climax in 572 when he became Prefect of the city. This office, complicated by the sorry times, allowed him to apply himself on a vast range to every type of administrative problem, drawing light for future duties from them. In particular, he retained a deep sense of order and discipline: having become Pope, he advised Bishops to take as a model for the management of ecclesial affairs the diligence and respect for the law like civil functionaries . Yet this life could not have satisfied him since shortly after, he decided to leave every civil assignment in order to withdraw to his home to begin the monastic life, transforming his family home into the monastery of St Andrew on the Coelian Hill. This period of monastic life, the life of permanent dialogue with the Lord in listening to his word, constituted a perennial nostalgia which he referred to ever anew and ever more in his homilies. In the midst of the pressure of pastoral worries, he often recalled it in his writings as a happy time of recollection in God, dedication to prayer and peaceful immersion in study. Thus, he could acquire that deep understanding of Sacred Scripture and of the Fathers of the Church that later served him in his work.

But the cloistered withdrawal of Gregory did not last long. The precious experience that he gained in civil administration during a period marked by serious problems, the relationships he had had in this post with the Byzantines and the universal respect that he acquired induced Pope Pelagius to appoint him deacon and to send him to Constantinople as his “apocrisarius” – today one would say “Apostolic Nuncio” in order to help overcome the last traces of the Monophysite controversy and above all to obtain the Emperor’s support in the effort to check the Lombard invaders. The stay at Constantinople, where he resumed monastic life with a group of monks, was very important for Gregory, since it permitted him to acquire direct experience of the Byzantine world, as well as to approach the problem of the Lombards, who would later put his ability and energy to the test during the years of his Pontificate. After some years he was recalled to Rome by the Pope, who appointed him his secretary. They were difficult years: the continual rain, flooding due to overflowing rivers, the famine that afflicted many regions of Italy as well as Rome. Finally, even the plague broke out, which claimed numerous victims, among whom was also Pope Pelagius II. The clergy, people and senate were unanimous in choosing Gregory as his successor to the See of Peter. He tried to resist, even attempting to flee, but to no avail: finally, he had to yield. The year was 590.

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.

IP#100 Fr. Andrew Apostoli – Fatima For Today on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

Fr. Andrew Apostoli does a tremendous job covering all the varied aspects of the events of Fatima and the call  of Our Lady of Fatima. He conveys the “immaculate” heart of the message, as well as tackling the “controversies” that have plagued the events over the years.  Because of the prophetic nature of her messages, Our Lady of Fatima has been the subject of much controversy and speculation. In this book, Father Andrew Apostoli carefully analyzes the events that took place in Fatima and clears up lingering questions and doubts about their meaning. He also challenges the reader to hear anew the call of Our Lady to prayer and sacrifice, for the world is ever in need of generous hearts willing to make reparation for those in danger of losing their way to God.

 

 

Check out the book here

“As was so dramatically obvious during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Fatima in May, 2010, Our Lady’s apparitions in 1917 remain powerfully compelling for us today. There she was an evangelist, calling us to prayer, conversion of heart, and penance, pointing to Jesus and repeating her words at Cana, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ This book brings it all home.”
-Most Reverend Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York
“For us, Fatima is a sign of the presence of faith, of the fact that it is precisely from the little ones that faith gains new strength, one which is not limited to the little ones but has a message for the entire world and touches history here and now, and sheds light on this history . . . Even now there is tribulation, in every conceivable form, and power threatens to trample down faith. Even now, then, there is a need for the answer about which the Mother of God spoke to the children at Fatima.”
-Pope Benedict XVI

Faith Check 22 – Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina

When the Holy Father says that the practice of a certain devotion would lead to nothing less than the renewal of the Church,1 we do well to sit up and take notice.

Pope Benedict XVI said exactly this about the practice of lectio divina, which is an ancient form of praying over the Scriptures.  In lectio divina, a passage is read and followed by silence.  The hearers focus on a single word or phrase that jumps out at them and allow the “still small voice of the Lord” to speak to their hearts.  The same passage is read another two or three more times, with each reading followed by another period of silence, and a time of sharing may follow for the edification of all.

Many parishes are starting groups for lectio divina and it can also be done during individual prayer time.  Sacred Scripture is our spiritual food, the lamp unto our feet and director of our steps.  But this can’t happen if God’s Word remains on our bookshelf collecting dust.

Let us crack open our Bibles and not only read God’s Word, but prayerfully and slowly listen to what the Holy Spirit is speaking personally to us this day.

1 –  From Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the Participants of the International Congress Organized to Commemorate the
40th Anniversary of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation ‘Dei Verbum’: “If [Lectio divina] is effectively
promoted, this practice will bring ot the Church – I am convinced of it – a new spiritual springtime.”