Dr. Anthony Lilles Archives

BTP#16 Heaven In Faith Day 8 Prayer 2 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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From “Heaven in Faith: Day 8 Prayer 2” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

30. Let us lovingly eat this bread of the will of God. If sometimes His will is more crucifying, we can doubtless say with our adored Master: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by,” but we will add immediately: “Yet not as I will, but as You will”; and in strength and serenity, with the divine Crucified, we will also climb our calvary singing in the depths of our hearts and raising a hymn of thanksgiving to the Father.

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

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of St. Elizabeth for this series

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

Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.

BTP#15 Heaven In Faith Day 8 Prayer 1 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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From “Heaven in Faith: Day 8 Prayer 1” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

26. This is how the mystery of predestination, the mystery of divine election appeared to the enlightened gaze of the Apostle. “Those whom He has foreknown” Are not we of that number? Cannot God say to our soul what he once said through the voice of His prophet: “I passed by you and saw you. I saw that the time had come for you to be loved. I spread my garment over you. I swore to you to protect you, and I made a covenant with you, and you became mine.”

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

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

BTP#14 Heaven In Faith Day 7 Prayer 2 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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From “Heaven in Faith: Day 7 Prayer 2” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

24…”When God sees that we are prepared to receive His grace, His generous goodness is ready to give us the gift that will give us His likeness. Our aptitude for receiving His grace depends on the inner integrity with which we move towards Him.” And then God, “bringing us His gifts,” can “give Himself, imprint on us His likeness, forgive, and free us.”

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

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

BTP#12 Heaven In Faith Day 6 Prayer 2 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 12 Beginning to Pray: “Heaven in Faith” Day 6 Prayer 2 – “If your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light.”

From “Heaven in Faith” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

19. …What is this single eye of which the Master speaks but this “simplicity of intention” which “gathers into unity all the scattered forces of the soul and unites the spirit itself to God. It is simplicity which gives God honor and praise; it is simplicity which presents and offers the virtues to Him. Then, penetrating and permeating itself, permeating and penetrating all creatures, it finds God in its depths.

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

BTP#11 Heaven In Faith Day 6 Prayer 1 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 11 Beginning to Pray: “Heaven in Faith” Day 6 Prayer 1 – “To approach God we must believe”

From “Heaven in Faith” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

19. “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.” That is our great act of faith, the way to repay our God love for love; it is “the mystery hidden” in the Father’s heart, of which St. Paul speaks, which, at last, we penetrate and our whole soul thrills!”

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

BTP#10 Heaven In Faith Day 5 Prayer 2 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 9 Beginning to Pray: “Heaven in Faith” Day 5 Prayer 2 – “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood, remains in Me and I in him.”

From “Heaven in Faith” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

18. ….”The first sign of love is this: that Jesus has given us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink.” “The property of love is to be always giving and always receiving. Now this love ” of Christ is “generous. All that He has, all that He is, He gives; all that we have , all that we are, He takes away. He asks for more than we of our ourselves are capable of giving.”

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

BTP#9 Heaven In Faith Day 5 Prayer 1 – Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 9 Beginning to Pray: “Heaven in Faith” Day 3 Prayer 1 – “We will come to him and make our home in him”

From “Heaven in Faith” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

8. … “Each incident, each event, each suffering, as well as each joy, is a sacrament which gives God to it; so it no longer makes a distinction between these things; it surmounts them, goes beyond them to rest in its Master, above all things. It “exalts” Him high on the “mountain of its heart,” yes, “higher than His gifts, His consolation, higher than the sweetness that descends from Him.” “The property of love is never to seek self, to keep back nothing, but to give everything to the one it loves.” “Blessed the soul that loves” in truth; “the Lord has become its captive

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

The Gift of the Holy Spirit – A reflection by Dr. Anthony Lilles

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From Beginning to Pray authored by Dr. Anthony Lilles

Pentecost is a Feast of Love. It is the feast of the Canticle of Canticles where the Bridegroom comes to kiss his Bride. Today the Church cries out to her Bridegroom for a divine kiss, a kiss from the mouth of God. It is this kiss entrusted to frail humanity that makes all the difference in the world and in our lives. It is by this kiss that God discloses the depths of his love, that He surrenders His Holy Spirit to each of us in the most unique and particular way. It is the kiss God entrusts to humanity from the Cross.

The Holy Spirit is the life of the soul. He is the great gift that the Risen Lord breaths into the world. When lovers kiss, it is as if they are trying to breath their spirits into each other. Each wants the other to completely possess the gift of who they are. It is by way of a holy kiss that Christ breaths his Holy Spirit into the Church.

The whole Church and each of us as members of this mystical Body, through this same Gift, want to give everything we have to Christ and find in ourselves the power to do so and the inner conviction that we do not want to have it any other way. This is because with the Gift of the Holy Spirit we realize this is exactly the way God has loved us in Christ Jesus.

Wherever the Spirit blows, the most beautiful affections are ignited in our humanity. The Spirit of the Father and the Son moves us with a passion so sacred that it raises us up above ourselves. Such holy desires caused by the Fire of God in us allow us to participate in the very life of God.

The more humble we are, the more the kiss of Christ permeates the deep places of our hearts. He won the right to enter into these deep places, to breath his Holy Spirit into these depths, by emptying Himself until he became like us. In solidarity with our humanity, having embraced this most frail work of his creation to his Uncreated Nature in his Divine Person, He allowed himself be completely vulnerable to us – like a lover who attempts to disclose his love to the beloved. Spurned and rejected from the beginning, He would not give up on the friendship He yearned to share with us. He offered his kiss to a distrustful humanity by humbling Himself in the face of our pride and overcame our hostility to Him by his death. When we gaze on Him who died for us, always we see His arms are wide open, ready to embrace us. He waits to kiss us with the Gift of His Spirit whenever we allow our hearts to be pierced by his love.

Will we surrender to his kiss? Will we allow ourselves to be caught up in his love? True, the more we offer ourselves in love, we find ourselves dying to our old way of life. It is the pathway of surrender and trust. We are afraid of this — abandoning our old way of life leads somewhere with which we are not familiar. But the kiss of Christ is so beautiful, so life giving, it is worth this death a thousand times over. Let Him kiss you with the Kisses of his Mouth!

BTP#8 Heaven In Faith Day 4 Prayer 2 – Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 8 Beginning to Pray: “Heaven in Faith” Day 4 Prayer 2 – “We will come to him and make our home in him”

From “Heaven in Faith” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

16. But to attain to this love the soul must first be “entirely surrendered, its “will must be calmly lost in God’s will; so that its “inclinations,” “its faculties” “move only in this love and for the sake of this love. I do every with love, I suffer everything with love: this is what David meant when he sang, ‘I will keep all my strength for You.'”

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series

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

BTP#7 Heaven In Faith Day 4 Prayer 1 – Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Episode 7 Beginning to Pray: “Heaven in Faith” Day 4 Prayer 1 – “We will come to him and make our home in him”

From “Heaven in Faith” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

13. “Dues ignis consumens,” Our God, wrote St. Paul, is a consuming Fire, that is a “a fire of love” which destroys, which “transforms into itself everything that it touches.” “The delights of the divine enkindling are renewed in our depths by an unremitting activity: the enkindling of love in a mutual and eternal satisfaction. It is a renewal that takes place at every moment in there eternally, and this is the silence in which, somehow, they have lost themselves.” “Freed from their prison, they sail on the Ocean of Divinity without any creature being an obstacle or hindrance to them.”

We would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Miriam Gutierrez for providing for us “the voice” of Blessed Elizabeth for this series