Kris McGregor Archives

IP#177 Dr. Matthew Bunson – St. Kateri on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:03 — 22.7MB) | Embed

With Dr. Matthew Bunson, we discuss his book “St. Kateri: Lily of the Mohawks”. The humble daughter of a Mohawk chief and a Roman Catholic mother, Kateri (named after St. Catherine of Siena) Tekakwitha lived a short life (she died at the age of 24). She was a powerful witness to her Christian faith, so much so, that even the famed “black robe” Jesuit missionaries were awed “by her perfection of the virtues, her mystical prayer life, and her total love for Christ.” Her last words were: “Jesus, I love you.” No one tells a story like Dr. Bunson, and he doesn’t fail to captivate this time when describing the life of this remarkably holy woman.

You can find the book here

From the book description:

This authoritative account of the first Native American woman to be declared a saint by the Church is sure to inspire you. Discover an extraordinary young woman who was called by Pope Blessed John Paul II, God’s “bountiful gift” to His Church and a “sweet, frail yet strong figure of a young woman who died when she was only twenty-four years old: Kateri Tekakwitha, the ‘Lily of the Mohawks.'”

Kateri was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Kateri Tekakwitha’s faith and love for Christ in the face of overwhelming hostility and her own debilitating illnesses will encourage you as you seek God’s grace to overcome challenges in your own life! She is a powerful role model for converts to the Church, young people striving for chastity, and anyone looking to deepen their own prayer life. She is also a shining example that God’s call to holiness is truly universal and is heard by men and women in all walks of life and all ages.

Written by experienced and prolific authors Matthew and Margaret Bunson, St. Kateri: Lily of the Mohawks is the most definitive biography of Kateri Tekakwitha.

Experience the extraordinary stories of the French Jesuit missionaries, the famed Blackrobes,” in the wilderness of North America and the heroic conversions of the Native Americans to the Catholic faith. Follow Kateri’s life from when she contracted smallpox as a toddler – a disease that swept through her village – claiming her family and leaving her severely disfigured and half-blinded. Drawn to the Catholic faith by the Bible stories and teachings of the French Jesuits, Kateri amazed them by her perfection of the virtues, her mystical prayer life, and her total love for Christ.

Kateri Tekakwitha’s life of faith is an inspiration to everyone!

IP#272 Dr. Vincent Ryan – Sven Stolpe’s “The Maid of Orleans” on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

Dr. Vincent Ryan joins us to discuss Sven Stolpe’s “The Maid of Orleans: The Life and Mysticism of Joan of Arc”.

There have been many books written about this fascinating French saint, but this one is a standout because it’s author sees Joan of Arc as primarily a mystic. By making this shift, from the nationalistic accomplishments of Joan the leader to Joan the woman steeped in prayer and called to respond, Stolpe provides a refreshing understanding of her motivation and legacy. Dr. Ryan, assistant professor of history at Aquinas College, Nashville, TN, who wrote the introduction to this Ignatius Press release, provides wonderful insights that help readers better appreciate the book as well as Joan of Arc the mystical saint. Marvelous.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:42 — 28.1MB) | Embed

You can find the book here

“There have been many books about Joan of Arc, but none surpass this study by a Swedish biographer in its recreation of Joan’s milieu, the vividness of its narrative, and its sensitive understanding of the mystery of her life and death.” —James Hitchcock, Ph. D., Author, History of the Catholic Church

“As an actress who portrayed Joan of Arc on stage, this beautiful work by Sven Stolpe made her come alive again, but in a much deeper mystical way for me. Stolpe leads us through the complex and incredible journey Heaven asked of Joan the maid. He strips away the legends about her and gets to the heart of her profound sanctity.” —Mother Dolores Hart, OSB, Author, The Ear of the Heart

WOM10 – The Liturgy of the Eucharist part 2 – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:19 — 20.2MB) | Embed

Episode 10 -The Way of Mystery: The Eucharist and Moral Living– The Liturgy of the Eucharist part 2

The True Meaning of “Full and Active Participation”…The Purpose of the Eucharistic Prayer

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha.

The Vatican II documents remind us that the spiritual journey is not made in a vacuum, that God has chosen to save us, not individually, but as The People of God. The Eucharist must help Christians to make their choices by discerning out of Christ’s paschal mystery. For this process to take place, however, Christians must first understand how the Eucharist puts them in touch with Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, and what concrete implications being in touch with this mystery has for their daily lives.

Check out more episodes at “The Way of Mystery” Discerning Heart podcast page

IP#361 Fr. Wade Menezes C.F.M. – Overcoming the Evil Within part 2 on Inside the Pages w/Kris McGregor Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:27 — 23.0MB) | Embed

Fr. Wade Menezes C.F.M. – Overcoming the Evil Within part 2 on Inside the Pages w/Kris McGregor Podcast

With the incredible Fr. Wade Menezes we discuss “Overcoming the Evil Within.” This is episode 2 of our two-part conversation.

You can find the book here

From the book description:

We all recognize that we are sinners. We constantly strive to do God’s will, and when we fall short, we go to the confessional to experience God’s healing mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Yet for all too many of us, when our sins are washed away, the shame of sin may linger on our hearts and plague us even as we resolve anew to follow Christ. This shame is one of Satan’s most insidious means of separating us from God’s love and forgiveness.

With gentleness and wisdom, Fr. Wade Menezes of the Fathers of Mercy shows you how to overcome your shame of sin and surrender to God’s mercy. Far from ignoring the reality of sin, Fr. Menezes illustrates the consequences of evil and vice, while reminding you that however great your sin may be, God’s goodness is greater. At every moment, He is calling you to Himself. He seeks your love and desires you, with all your sins and all your shame.

More from Fr. Wade Menezes: IP#320 Fr. Wade Menezes C.F.M. – The Four Last Things on Inside the Pages

IP#360 Fr. Wade Menezes C.F.M. – Overcoming the Evil Within part 1 on Inside the Pages w/Kris McGregor Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:59 — 23.4MB) | Embed

Fr. Wade Menezes C.F.M. – Overcoming the Evil Within part 1 on Inside the Pages w/Kris McGregor Podcast

With the incredible Fr. Wade Menezes we discuss “Overcoming the Evil Within.” This is episode 1 of our two-part conversation.

You can find the book here

From the book description:

We all recognize that we are sinners. We constantly strive to do God’s will, and when we fall short, we go to the confessional to experience God’s healing mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Yet for all too many of us, when our sins are washed away, the shame of sin may linger on our hearts and plague us even as we resolve anew to follow Christ. This shame is one of Satan’s most insidious means of separating us from God’s love and forgiveness.

With gentleness and wisdom, Fr. Wade Menezes of the Fathers of Mercy shows you how to overcome your shame of sin and surrender to God’s mercy. Far from ignoring the reality of sin, Fr. Menezes illustrates the consequences of evil and vice, while reminding you that however great your sin may be, God’s goodness is greater. At every moment, He is calling you to Himself. He seeks your love and desires you, with all your sins and all your shame.

More from Fr. Wade Menezes: IP#320 Fr. Wade Menezes C.F.M. – The Four Last Things on Inside the Pages

Heart of the World – Conference 4 – Meditations on the Paschal Mystery with Dr. Anthony Lilles and Kris McGregor

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:00 — 24.1MB) | Embed

Join Dr. Anthony Lilles and Kris McGregor as they offer a type of “online retreat” based on the spiritual work Heart of the World written by Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar.

In fourth “conference” talk, Dr. Lilles reflects upon “Love – A Wilderness”

Here is the excerpt that is read in the conference:

We fall down and adore you. In the end, only you remain, O Heart at the Center! We are not. Whatever is good in us is you. What we ourselves are is negligible. We pass by before you and aspire to be nothing more than mirrors and windows for our brothers. Our setting before you is your rising over us: our merging into you and your entry into us. For still does our decline before you bear the figure of your own decline, and still does our guilty distance from you belong not to ourselves, since you have made it into a distance of your own, Sin has the form of redemption.

And so in the end you remain alone, all in all. You are one with yourself, and without losing yourself you pour yourself out into the many. By remaining in the multiplicity of the members, you bring them all home into the unity of the Body. your self-emptying, even unto uttermost weakness and the renouncing of love, is your deed of uttermost strength and immutable love , and when you are weakest and they all trample you like a worm, it is then you are the Hero and have trampled the serpent. For what is emptiness? What fullness? Which of them is real privation? When you are empty and thirst for fullness, the we, the Church, are your fulfillment. But you are always the fullness and we are the void, always, even when you are fatigued and spent with exhaustion, even then do we all receive from your fullness grace upon grace. Your Church is but a vessel, she is only your organ. You are the leaping fountain. And even if out of us also there springs up a stream into life everlasting, this is a draft which you gave, for only from you do streams of living water flow. And when you go through the world poor and gray, cloaked in the garments of the lowly and the disinherited, concealing yourself behind sinners and tax-collectors, and we absent-mindedly perform on you the eight works of mercy, even then you alone are the giver who has made love possible for us from both within and without.

You alone remain. You are all in all. Even if your love desires us in order to delight in twoness and in order to celebrate with us the mystery of begetting and conceiving, nevertheless it is always YOUR love in both instances, your love which both gives and is given, at once seed and womb, and, again, the child begotten is none other than you. If love needs two feet in order to walk, still the walker is but one person, and that one is you. And if love needs two lovers, a lover and a beloved, still the love is only one, and that one is you.

Everything hearkens back to your throbbing Heart. Time and the seasons still hammer away and create, and your Heart drives the world and all its happenings forward with great painful blows. It is the unrest of the clock, and your Heart is restless until it rests in me. Your Heart is restless until we rest in you, once time and eternity have become interfused. But: Be at peace! I have overcome the world. The torment of sin has already been submerged in the stillness of love. The experience of what the world is has made love darker, more fiery, more ardent. The shallower abyss of rebellion has been swallowed up in unfathomable mercy, and throbbing majestically reigns serene the Heart of God.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Heart of the World (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1979), 217-219.

Here is the link to the Divine Mercy Prayer that Dr. Lilles mentions in the conference.

Though having the “Heart of the World” mentioned in this “retreat” is not necessary, we would encourage you at some to purchase this outstanding spiritual classic.

You find the book here

From the book description:

A great Catholic theologian speaks from the heart about the Heart of Christ, in a profound and lyrical meditation on Our Lord’s love for his Bride the Church.

Avid readers of Hans Urs von Balthasar often describe Heart of the World as a “surprise”. The “pure serenity of a volcano under snow” readers usually find in Balthasar, as translator Erasmo Leiva puts it, gives way to “the poet-theologian” who dares to “bare his own heart”. The sult is what can only be described as lyrical, even intimate spiritual reflections.

“Heart of the World”, the translator continues, “deserves a place next to
the Imitation of Christ. Especially in the passages where Christ speaks to the soul, Father von Balthasar shows himself a worthy successor of
Thomas a Kempis. Both works combine an intense personal piety with
a precise awareness of the believer’s position as child and servant of Christ’s Church…. For Balthasar, as for Kempis and all genuine Chris tians, the saint is first and foremost the one who renders constant thanks for having been loved.”

Heart of the World is a profound and theologically rich reflection on the
Heart of God.

Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is the St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park, CA. He has served the Church and assisted in the formation of clergy since 1994, and now previously served in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as Academic Dean of St. John’s Seminary, associate professor of theology and Academic Advisor of Juan Diego House. The son of a California farmer, married with young adult children, he holds a BA in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville with both the ecclesiastical licentiate and doctorate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum). He was a founding faculty member of Saint John Vianney Seminary in Denver where he also served as academic dean, department chair, director of liturgy and coordinator of spiritual formation for the permanent deacon program. He has recently published Hidden Mountain Secret Garden, Omaha: Discerning Hearts (2012)

The Suffering of Love: Christ’s Descent into the Hell of Human Hopelessness … In Conversation with Regis Martin

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:20 — 27.8MB) | Embed

One of the best interviews Bruce and I ever had discussing the many aspects of the Holy Saturday experience. Dr. Regis Martin is a professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and the author of several books on spirituality and theology.

Be sure to check out Dr. Martin’s book here

Making sense of human suffering is a challenge in every age, and many a person confronted with man’s inhumanity to his fellow man has lost his faith in a good God. The Holocaust, in particular, because of the scope of its ruthlessness, has raised the question for modern man: “What kind of God allows the horrible and systematic murder of so many innocent people?”

Quoting widely from Christian, Jewish and secular sources, Regis Martin makes an unflinching examination of this universal question on the meaning of suffering. By meditating on Christ’s passion, death and descent into Hell, he asks us to consider anew the God who overcomes evil by plunging himself into the depths of human misery.

The Mystery of This Present Moment – a special conversation with Deacon James Keating Ph.D. and Kris McGregor Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:19 — 19.5MB) | Embed

During this podcast, Deacon Keating will offer his insights on “the mystery of this present moment.”

Here a few of his comments:

Deacon Keating:

So, the wisdom of the Saints comes back to us again and again. Of course, in good times we never listened to the saints because we got this. And in bad times, we’re suffering so much, that a lot of times they can’t get their wisdom through to us because of our pain. So, it’s quite paradoxical. But the wisdom of the Saints is this, that throughout our life, no matter what we’re experiencing in suffering or enjoying, we should always be sloughing off the excess of our days, any idols that we are drawing artificial consolation from. We should be seeking Holy communion, no matter whether we’re in good times or bad times.

So, when bad times come or when good times come, everything is calculated toward reality and peace because we have been suffering the coming of Holy communion throughout our entire life. So, when people don’t have this Holy communion during bad times like we’re in right now, we can panic and we can start grasping at straws, and thinking that everything is over and ending. Anxiety then becomes our normal state. So, again, the saints would counsel us when this horrible virus passes, if we could just remember not to go back to being normal Americans, but to go back to Him and get our equilibrium set, and the substance of our interior life set. So that when the next reminder that everything on this planet is not forever, when that next reminder comes, we’ll have less panic and more peace because we will have been living for a while then in Holy communion.

Further in the conversation:

The reason there’s so much fear is that we are acknowledging that death is real. Again, most of our popular culture is a mask keeping us from ever thinking about death. Now there are all these masks that have dropped, death comes to the fore and it’s not something we want to rebel in or say, “Let’s look at this and some type of McCobb way.” But we’ve known as believers, that death has always been the enemy. Now we see it. We see the enemy, we’ve been afraid of the enemy.

Again, we’ve been afraid of the enemy because our Holy communion isn’t stronger enough, with our Holy friend, Jesus Christ. The deeper that friendship grows with him, the more we can confront death in peace. Without panic, without fear. Of course, there’ll be sadness, it will be mourning. But the sadness in the mourning is over the good things of life, the panic and the fear is over that which we have created in ourselves. Which is a habitual stance of isolation from God. That’s what he’s gently trying to say to us. This death has always been here. Your limit and your finitude have always been part of your life. Stop masking it and let’s look at real life. It’s okay to look at it, with me. That’s why I came so that you would not be alone when you look at it, that’s what we call salvation.

You’re looking at it from the stance of communion with him. That’s how the Saints die in joy and in peace. So push against the fear and choose a career. That would be the theme of this imposed retreat, I would say.

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha.

Check out the many series from Deacon James Keating Ph.D. by this Discerning Hearts podcast page

The Invitation to Radical Love – Deacon Omar Gutierrez and Kris McGregor Discerning Hearts Special Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:35 — 29.3MB) | Embed

Join Deacon Omar F. A. Gutierrez and Kris McGregor as they discuss the events of the global Coronavirus pandemic of 2020. They discuss how this affects the family, the value of life, and the lessons it brings. We discuss the liturgical life of the Church during Holy Week and how we might be able to enter into this sacred period in these challenging days.
Deacon Omar Gutiérrez is the President and co-Founder of the Evangelium Institute as well as the Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the Archdiocese of Omaha. An alumnus of Franciscan University, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and the University of Dallas, he has an MA in Theology and has been published in a number of print and online magazines and newspapers including the National Catholic Register and The Catholic Voice. His book, The Urging of Christ’s Love: The Saints and the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church was published in 2013, and he has a program on Catholic Social Teaching through DiscerningHearts.com which is aired on the Spirit Catholic Radio Network.

IP#295 Dr. Peter Kreeft – How to be Holy on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

Once again a spiritual classic has been given to us from the prolific Catholic philosopher Dr. Peter Kreeft!. “How to be Holy: First Steps in Becoming a Saint” derives it’s direction from the incredible “Abandonment to Divine Providence” by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J. and it’s simple message that God reveals himself through the daily events of our lives. How we respond is the key to faith and our opportunity to grow in holiness. Do you place your trust the Father’s will? Can you respond in love? Do you truly believe Romans 8:28 “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (RSV)? To be holy, we must take the first step…Dr. Kreeft shows us the way. Outstanding!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:57 — 38.4MB) | Embed

You can find the book here

From the book description:

The ever-popular and prolific Peter Kreeft says that the most important question he has written about is how one becomes holy; or to put it another way, how one becomes a saint. This question is central to all the great religions, Kreeft demonstrates, for striving toward holiness, moving toward perfect love, is the whole purpose of life.

Kreeft admits that he is only a beginner on the climb to holiness, and it is to novices like him that he has written this engaging and encouraging book. Using the insights and experiences of saints and great spiritual writers throughout history, Kreeft shows what holiness is and how it can be achieved.