Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts Archives

An Introduction – Mary’s Magnificat, Word by Word with Sonja Corbitt

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What happens when a prayerful young peasant receives a whisper so powerful that she dares not tell it? She hugs the secret close. And it is incarnated.

Going over and over the reality in her mind, she touches it timidly and unwraps it with equally unspeakable thrill each time. Looking at its significance from every possible angle, replaying the words repeatedly, jumping up and down and twirling around in her soul until she’s dizzy with the implications, she “ponders it in her heart.”

And when someone else, a cousin, reveals that she too knows and understands and believes what unspeakable thing has happened, the riot of praise and poetry and stupendous irony fizz out of her, spreading out in a pool of song that runs up the sides of the hills of history like a wave.

This is Mary’s Magnificat. This is Mary’s Song. Hers is the song of the Church.

For other episodes in this series, visit the Discerning Hearts Sonja Corbitt page

Scripture References for The Show

Luke 1:46-55, the words of the Magnificat

And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
⁵⁰And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
⁵²he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.”

1 Samuel 2:1-10, The Magnificat is based on the Song of Hannah.

Fixed Hour Prayer in OT

Psalm 55:17, David prays evening, morning, and noon.
Daniel 6:10, Daniel prays toward Jerusalem three times a day.
Jeremiah 39:8, There were public prayer places in the first temple that the Chaldeans destroyed when they razed it.
I Kings 8:48 and Daniel 6:10, Jews prayed three times daily toward Jerusalem when in exile.

Fixed Hour Prayer in NT

Acts 2:15, Apostles pray at third hour, 9 am.
Matthew 15:36; Acts 27:35, Jesus’ “lunch prayers” at midday
Luke 1:10, Zechariah serves at the incense altar at “the hour of incense,” (incense, itself, symbolic of prayer) while the people pray outside.
Luke 18:10, Jews go to the temple to pray at appointed times when in Jerusalem.
Acts 3:1; 10:30, Apostles go to the temple to pray at the ninth hour or 3 pm.

Galatians 4:4, The woman, Mary, is the “fullness of time” and the axis of salvation history.

For more resources and Sonja’s scripture meditation exercise for this episode visit the “Bible Study Evangelista“ website

Sonja’s books can found here

Sonja Corbitt is the Bible Study Evangelista. She’s a Catholic Scripture teacher with a story teller’s gift – a Southern Belle with a warrior’s heart and a poet’s pen.

We’re all sweating and dirty with the effort to love and lift all He’s given to us – those people, duties, callings, and longings that break our hearts and make them sing, sometimes at the same time. But most times, we need to be loved and lifted ourselves.

So her Bible study media are created with you in mind, bites of spinach that taste like cake, to help you make space in your busy heart and schedule for God to love and lift you all the way up into His great lap, where all you’ve been given is loved and lifted too.

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 2 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY TWO

Gentle Queen of Heaven, Mary, my Mother,
kindly turn your eyes toward me.
You who are so filled with compassion
and love for all your children on this earth,
be with me now as I kneel before you.

I call to mind, Mary,
the joy you gave to this world.
Your acceptance of the desire
of our loving Father gave all of us Jesus,
our Lord and our Savior.
You in turn, kind Mother,
knew the joy of holding God in your arms,
of guiding His first steps,
of bringing Him to manhood.
It is with a heart filled with gratitude,
dear Mother of God,
that I recall the joys in your life
which have given me a most wonderful Savior.

Blessed Mary, Mother of Consolation,
through the joy you knew with Jesus on earth
and the unending joy of being with Him in heaven,
please pray with me now.
Ask our Lord to assist me in this need of mine.

(pause)

Grant also, Blessed Mother,
that I may reflect the joy I have in my life.
I am so blessed by Our Lord.
His Gospel of love
must always remain in my heart and on my lips.

Amen.

Our Lady of Consolation Novena Day 1 – Mp3 audio and text

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DAY ONE

Blessed Mary, Mother of Consolation,
I ask you to pray with me now
as I come before you as your child.
Kindly be with me, dear Mother;
guide me in your gentle way.

It was after nine days of prayer
in the upper room that you, Mary,
and the close friends of Jesus
received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Behold me then, most kind Mother,
as I too pray for nine days,
in humble imitation of you.

Blessed Queen of heaven,
you are the chosen one of our most loving Father.
You are the Blessed Mother of God,
our Savior, Jesus.
You are most close to His heart.
Please join your prayers to mine.

Pray with me, Mary,
for these intentions,
these needs that are on my mind and in my heart.

(pause)

Above all, dear Mother,
keep me always as your devoted child.
May I ever have before my eyes
your beautiful example of acceptance
of the will of the Father.
May I ever strive to hold in my heart
the teaching of your most blessed Son,
my Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

IP#246 Devin Schadt – “Joseph’s Way” on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

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Devin Schadt offers a tremendous work proclaiming St. Joseph as a model for the authentic expression of manhood and fatherhood. In ” Joseph’s Way: The Call to Fatherly Greatness: Part I: Prayer of Faith”, he shares his compelling personal witness to the great saint’s role in his life. He also uses Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and many other outstanding resources, to fashion a study that helps to deepen the faith of those who walk with good St. Joseph through the perils men, as well as their families, face in our world today.

You can find the book here

From the book description:

Among the most serious crises facing our nation and the world is the crisis of fatherhood. Indeed, if the world is to be converted, the Church must be renewed. If the macro-Church is to be renewed, the micro church of the family must be restored. And if the family is to be restored and re-vitalized, the man who is both husband and father must become who God has created him to be – a father on earth like the Father in heaven. Joseph’s Way: The Call to Fatherly Greatness, Part I: Prayer of Faith is the first in a four book series that comprises an in-depth vision of the human father as seen through the lens of St. Joseph and the patriarchs. By comparing Abraham the ‘Father in Faith’, with St. Joseph the just father who lived by faith fathers will discover the power of their vocation and their essential role in rebuilding society. Joseph’s Way: The Call to Fatherly Greatness, Part I: Prayer of Faith helps men become great fathers by re-discovering the hidden greatness of fatherhood.

BTP#22 St. Catherine of Siena – Passion for Truth: Beginning to Pray w/ Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 22 Beginning to Pray: St. Catherine of Siena

From Dr. Lilles’ “Beginning to Pray” blog site:

Catherine of Siena – passion for truth

She is an important figure for those who see a rediscovery of prayer as the force of renewal in the Church. Because she put her devotion to Christ first, she found herself with a spiritual mission to help restore the life and unity of Christ’s body. Some of her efforts met with a little success. But as she approached her death at the age of 33, her lifetime of effort in building up the Church seemed to be in vain. Corruption, scandal, cowardice – and most of all indifference – seemed to infect the Church even more. (For more on her life, go tohttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03447a.htm.) Yet she never lost hope and she persevered in prayer. This is because she understood the love and mercy of God.

She was uneducated, but in 1377, by a miracle, she learned to write. Even so she retained secretaries to whom she dictated most of her thoughts. Her master work on the spiritual life is known as the Dialogues. These are conversations between her soul and God the Father. God the Father reveals his deep love for his Son and his plan to build up the Church. One of the beautiful aspects of this conversation is the Father’s explanation for how each soul can come to know Jesus.
Christ is the bridge to the Father and we cross this bridge by allowing our hearts to be pierced by what the Lord has done for us. The passion of Christ reveals at once the truth about who God is and who we are in his sight. For her, among the greatest blocks to the spiritual life is ignorance. Knowledge of God and knowledge of self go hand in hand in progressing toward spiritual maturity. But the knowing is not simply an intellectual trip. It as the kind of knowing informed by the loving affection of a real friendship. The friendship she describes in tender terms evokes the deepest joys and sorrows all at once.

The gift of tears, so central to early Dominican spirituality, is a beautiful part of this description. She presents those holy affections as the only proper response to the great love revealed in Christ crucified. These tears move us away from sin and into the very heart of God. She describes this as a journey that begins with kissing the feet of Jesus and entering into his wounded side. For her, intimacy with the Lord is always through the Cross and informed by a profound gratitude and humility.

One other beautiful feature of her spirituality is her understanding of virtue. This understanding is not quite classical in that she goes beyond the generic definition of a virtue as a good habit. Instead, she addresses a problem that is related to life in the Church. She notices that different Christians excel at different virtues. One might have a special aptitude for the art of getting on with others and is a special source of justice in the community. Another may be especially able to enter into the heart of someone enduring great difficulty and brings to the Church a particular awareness of mercy. Still another might have a profound gift of prayer. The question she takes up is why has the Father given different gifts to different members of the Body of Christ.

In the Dialogues, the Father explains to her that He has distributed his bountiful gifts in this way so that each member of the Body of Christ must rely on all the other members and at the same time each member bears a particular responsibility to support the Body of Christ commensurate to the gifts he has been given. In other words, his has distributed his gifts in a manner that disposes us to love one another. And the Father is counting on this mutual love, this genuine fellowship. It is part of His plan that as we cross Christ the Bridge we enter into communion with Him not merely individually, but together as a family.

The family of God requires a new kind of love, a love which only God can give us. A beautiful foundation is laid for what will later be understood as a “call within a call,” that particular mission each one is entrusted with in the eternal loving plan of God. On one hand, answering this call involves some suffering – just as Mother Theresa in our own time discovered. But those who endure this would not have it any other way. There is a certain joy and fullness of life that one discovers when one generously embraces the loving plan of the Father. The possibility of this joyful fulness makes Catherine’s message to the Church dynamically attractive.

For those beginning to pray, Catherine sheds light on the importance of truth, devotion to Christ and the life of the Church. These things organically hang together in her vision of the spiritual life so that growing in prayer goes beyond the merely therapeutic: it opens up the possibility of fully thriving, of living life to the full.

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

Prayers of St. Catherine of Siena

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O Supreme Physician

O Supreme Physician! O unspeakable Love of my soul! I have recourse to Thee. O infinite and eternal Trinity, I, though unworthy, ardently sigh for Thee! I turn to Thee in the mystical body of Thy holy Church, so that Thou mayest wash away with Thy grace all stains of my soul. I beseech Thee through the merits of St. Peter, to whom Thou hast committed the care of Thy Bark, to delay no longer to help Thy Spouse, who hopes in the fire of Thy charity and in the abyss of Thy admirable wisdom. Despise not the desires of Thy servants, but do Thou Thyself guide Thy holy Bark. O Thou, the Author of peace, draw unto Thyself all the faithful; dispel the darkness of the storm, so that the dawn of Thy light may shine upon the Head of Thy Church, and pour down upon him zeal for the salvation of souls. O eternal and merciful Father, Thou hast given us the means of restraining the arms of Thy justice in the humble prayer and ardent desires of Thy devoted servants, whom Thou hast promised to hear when they ask Thee to have mercy upon the world. O powerful and eternal God, I thank Thee for the peace which Thou wilt grant to Thy Spouse! I will enter into Thy gardens, and there I will remain until I see the fulfilment of Thy promises, which never fail. Wash away our sins, O Lord, and purify our souls in the blood which Thy only-begotten Son shed for us, so that with joyful countenances and pure hearts we may return love for love, and, dying to ourselves, live for Him alone. Amen.

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My Nature Is Fire

In your nature, eternal Godhead,
I shall come to know my nature.
And what is my nature, boundless love?
It is fire,
because you are nothing but a fire of love.
And you have given humankind
a share in this nature,
for by the fire of love you created us.
And so with all other people
and every created thing;
you made them out of love.
O ungrateful people!
What nature has your God given you?
His very own nature!
Are you not ashamed to cut yourself off from such a noble thing
through the guilt of deadly sin?
O eternal Trinity, my sweet love!
You, light, give us light.
You, wisdom, give us wisdom.
You, supreme strength, strengthen us.
Today, eternal God,
let our cloud be dissipated
so that we may perfectly know and follow your Truth in truth,
with a free and simple heart.
God, come to our assistance!
Lord, make haste to help us!

Amen.

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O Supreme and Ineffable God

O Supreme and Ineffable God, I have sinned! Therefore, I am unworthy to pray to Thee. But Thou canst make me less unworthy. Punish my sins, O Lord, but turn not away from my misery. From Thee I have received a body which I offer to Thee. Behold my body and my blood! Strike, destroy, reduce my bones to dust, but grant me what I ask for the Sovereign Pontiff, the one Bridegroom of Thy Spouse. May he always know Thy will, may he love it and follow it, so that we may not perish. O my God, create a new heart in him! May he ever receive an increase of Thy grace; may he never tire of bearing the standard of Thy holy cross; and may he bestow the treasures of Thy mercy upon unbelievers as he bestows them upon us who enjoy the benefits of the passion and blood of Thy most beloved Son, the Lamb without a spot. O Lord, eternal God, have mercy on me for I have sinned.

For the Novena to St. Catherine of Siena page

AW222 Negativity Among Catholics Thwarts the Good – Among Women with Pat Gohn

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In this episode:

“Among Women” Guest: Jaymie Stuart Wolfe

Pat’s guest is Jaymie Stuart Wolfe, writer of a provocative article — “Uncomfortable” — that challenges the in-fighting that can happen between members of the Church. Together we discuss the harmful effects of disparaging each other and each other’s projects with a kind of litmus Catholic test. This kind of negativity is contrary to the Christian mission. This show is a call to check our own witness, and to tend to our own efforts at reaching out to others.

Links for this episode:

“Uncomfortable”, as found in The Boston Pilot by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe

Jaymie Stuart Wolfe’s ministry, Loaves and Fishes

Adoption: Room for One More? by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe

Other shows of related interest:

AW 144: a previous show with Jaymie Stuart Wolfe

About your host, Pat Gohn: After decades of leading women’s and family ministries in local churches in New York and Massachusetts, Among Women combines Pat’s love of learning and teaching the Catholic faith with her passion of using media for the new evangelization. A wife and mother of three young adults, Pat is both a writer and speaker on Catholic subject matter. She holds a Masters in Theology, and a Bachelors in broadcast communications. Visit her column, “A Word in Season”, at the Catholic Portal at Patheos.com, and find her other columns at CatholicMom.com, AmazingCatechists.com, Catholic Digest, or by searching PatGohn.com. Her book for women, Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the gift of Catholic womanhood, was published by Ave Maria Press in 2013. Pat’s newest book is “All In: Why Belonging to the Catholic Church Matters”

FG#6 Interior Freedom by Fr. Jacques Phillippe ep 6 – Fountains of Grace with Donna Garrett

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Join host Donna Garrett, with Fr. Daniel Brandenburg, LC, as they discuss the spiritual classic “Interior Freedom” by Fr. Jacques Philippe a priest of Communaute des Beatitudes, an international association of the faithful of Pontifical Right founded in France in 1973. The members of the Community, which has a contemplative vocation based on Carmelite spirituality, are actively engaged in the service of the poor and the proclamation of the Gospel.

Discussed in this episode, among other topics, from “Interior Freedom” page 84

Donna Garrett is joined in this particular series by Fr. Daniel Brandenburg, LC

“We can suffer for Only one Moment.”

This effort to live in the reality of each moment is of the greatest importance in times of suffering. St Therese of Lisieux said during her illness; “ I only suffer for one moment. It is because people think about the past and the future that they become discouraged and despair. Nobody has the capacity to suffer for ten or twenty years; but we have the grace to bear today the suffering that is ours now. Projecting things into the future crushes us not experiencing suffering but anticipating it.”

For other episodes in this series click here “Fountains of Grace w/Donna Garrett”

You can find “Interior Freedom” here

Divine Mercy…In Conversation with Vinny Flynn

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Bruce and I were delighted to talk with Vinny Flynn about the origin of the Divine Mercy message and devotion.

Vinny Flynn is a popular speaker at Catholic conferences around the world, and is the best-selling author of 7 Secrets of the Eucharist, 21 Ways to Worship, 7 Secrets of Confession, and Mercy’s Gaze. Vinny has helped train many of the people writing and speaking about Divine Mercy today. He also has been singing the original “Chaplet of Divine Mercy” on EWTN with some of his children for over 20 years.

IP#279 Fr. Michael Gaitley MIC – “The Second Greatest Story Ever Told” on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

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I LOVE this book! “The Second Greatest Story Ever Told: Now is the Time of Mercy” is outstanding! Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC is able to once again provide just the right amount of insight, depth, and practical application to an important aspect of our collective spiritual experience! He brings forward to us the “School of Trust” whose curriculum is the continuing story of our salvation revealed to us over the last 2000 years and lived out and taught to us through the lives of the saints. Fr. Gaitley’s storytelling is thoroughly engaging. This a page turner you truly will not want to set aside. Filled with so many “ah-ha” moments you’ll be saying to yourself over and over again “Oh, I knew that, but I didn’t know I knew that” or “Ok, wow, now I see the connection!” This is also a book that you’ll want to give to others…follow through with that impulse, they will be glad you did! HIGHLY recommended!

You can find the book here

From the book description:

In The Second Greatest Story Ever Told bestselling author Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, reveals St. John Paul II’s witness for our time. Building on the prophetic voices of Margaret Mary Alacoque, Thérèse of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe, and Faustina Kowalska, The Second Greatest Story Ever Told is more than a historical account of the Great Mercy Pope. This book expounds on the profound connection between Divine Mercy and Marian consecration. It serves as an inspiration for all those who desire to bear witness to the mercy of God, focused on Christ and formed by Mary. Now is the time of mercy. Now is the time to make John Paul’s story your own.