Lent

CTD4 – The Desert of Sin – Crossing the Desert: Lent and Conversion with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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The Desert of Sin – Crossing the Desert: Lent and Conversion with Deacon James Keating

In this episode, Deacon James Keating and Kris McGregor discuss the concept of the “Desert of Sin”. They delve into the idea that sin, while providing some form of consolation, ultimately leads to spiritual emptiness and turmoil.

Dcn. Keating emphasizes the importance of patience in the process of personal and spiritual transformation, particularly in dealing with others who may not share the same level of spiritual fervor. He warns against the temptation to become impatient or frustrated when others do not respond as expected, stressing the need to trust in God’s timing for their conversion.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

  1. Reflection on the Desert of Sin: How do we recognize the mirage of sin in our lives and understand its inability to provide true fulfillment? How can we invite Jesus into our “desert” of sin to offer us real life?
  2. Patience in Personal Growth: Reflect on the virtue of patience in your spiritual journey. How can impatience hinder our own progress and potentially lead to despair? How can we cultivate patience with ourselves and others as we strive for spiritual maturity?
  3. Living Virtuously in Response to God’s Love: Consider the idea that receiving God’s love should naturally lead to loving God in return through virtuous living. How can we demonstrate our love for God through our actions and choices in daily life?
  4. Role of Saints as Models of Holiness: Reflect on the lives of the saints as mirrors of hope. How can studying their examples help us understand the path to holiness and deepen our own relationship with God?
  5. Embracing Joy through God’s Love: Explore the concept of joy as a result of receiving God’s love. How does this joy differ from superficial happiness, and how can we experience it more fully in our lives?


An excerpt from “Crossing the Desert: Lent and Conversion”:

“Any moral conversion, if it is to be real, must work its way into our minds and hearts.  The conversion we undergo is one that transforms our entire person, and so our thought processes, habits, perceptions, and affections all become realigned to a new way of seeing good and evil Patience with ourselves, as well as with ohters who are also in the midst of conversion, becomes the key virtue to cultivate.  God knows we are on the right track once we embrace such a conversion, and so being gentle on ourselves is not a sign of laxity or weakness of will, but a sign of wisdom.

Of course, the start of a moral conversion can be dramatic and jumpstart a change, but over the long haul of life, the heart of a person must be fully cooperative;  otherwise, the person will not adhere to the moral truth for long.”

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.

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page

SM8 – The Feast of Feasts – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast


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SM8 – The Feast of Feasts – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

“The Feast of Feasts”

“Easter—the resurrection of Christ! The feast of feasts! The final proof of Christ’s divinity! Easter—the first feast of the early Church, around which all the other feasts grew like stars around the sun. We celebrate Christ’s resurrection as something absolutely, fantastically beautiful that has happened, and is still happening. The fact that there is an Easter is something to be grateful for. It is such a happy feast. What can be more beautiful than this passage from death to life, real life? Now death has become a passage. A passage to what, to where, to whom? It is the passage of you to God and me to God. You walk into it and there at the end is Christ and Our Lady, the life that lasts forever and that is lived with God and his blessed Mother. Christ’s resurrection is the most joyous feast in the calendar of the Church, the one in which everything comes together. It is the greatest feast.

As you approach the church for the Vigil Mass announcing Christ’s resurrection, you will see preparations for a new fire. The fire is usually lit with a flint as it was in the old days. Ideally, the new fire is a large bonfire lit in the parking lot or other outdoor gathering place. It should be outside of the church on a dark night, because this bonfire celebrates, cries out: “Light! Out of the darkness of the tomb came Light! See! Come here, all you who were mourning. Come, all you who did not believe in God. Come, all you who never were told about God. Come and warm your hands at the fire!” The Light of Christ! This fire is the symbol of light, of warmth, the symbol of the heart of Christ and the love of Christ.”

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (p. 92). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

SM7 – To Fast, Part Two – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast


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SM7 – To Fast, Part Two – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

To Fast, Part Two

“Fasting is the song of a soul in the process of liberation. It is a door to that dispossession which allows me to give up my will to God. Fasting is the shepherd’s crook that leads you and me on the road to the real pilgrimage to God. With that crook, one moves faster. Fasting is the following of Christ, not walking behind him, but running as men and women in love run toward him whom they love.

I am the sister of Jesus Christ, who came to do the will of the Father, and so I desire to do the will of the Father. The will of the Father can be difficult, a heavy burden on my selfishness. By fasting from all my appetites—cigarettes, food, and so forth—I finally develop my will to a strength in which I can shoulder the demands of God that seem to be so heavy on me. And I find that they are not heavy at all, because I have given up that which stood between me and God. This is our consolation. And we discover that one of the biggest by-products of fasting is a new freedom.

Here we have to make very certain that we do not think that we are appeasing God by our fasting. We do not say, “Here are my sins, Lord, and here is my payment or atonement for them.” No. We fast to seek the face of our Father. We fast because heaven is taken by violence, violence to oneself, violence to all those things in us that are not of God. A fast is to remove all that is not of God in us.”

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (pp. 48-49). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

SM6 – To Fast, Part One – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast


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SM6 – To Fast, Part One – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

To Fast, Part One

“Often during Lent, my mind turns to the reading from the prophet Isaiah that ends with the simple question: “Is this not the sort of fast that pleases me?” (Isaiah, ch 58) God evidently wants a broken, humble heart, because he says, “Rend your hearts and not your garments.” God wants not so much a giving up as a simple giving. In order to really have an open and humble heart, to give lavishly of food, love, shelter, tenderness and compassion because of this humble heart, one must give up oneself. To fast the way the Lord wants means a total surrender of self to the other and for the other.

The Lenten season is a good time to examine ourselves. Perhaps food is not our god, yet we can worship our will, which feeds our ego out of all proportion. Perhaps in the depths of our souls we might be unforgiving, hostile, angry. These are shameful things, if directed toward our neighbor. Maybe I am not too concerned with things of the world, but very much with “my thing”, my desires, and very little concerned with other people’s needs. Lent is the time to find out, because when we have broken and opened our hearts, God comes.”

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (p. 42). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

TOR3 – Beauty and Penance – A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Beauty and Penance – A Time of Renewal Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season

An excerpt from A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season :

Beauty and Penance

“When we examine the Church’s liturgy, the idea of blossoming beauty is very evident everywhere in this season of penance. It neither begins nor ends with anything severe, even though we are told to set ourselves to work, which will inevitably involve suffering and pain since we are so disjointed. We are so unbeautiful sometimes. The Lenten liturgy is one of hope and of restoration that speaks of a great blossoming that is to come, that is to be accomplished during these days. Holy Church tells us that it is not in vain that we keep vigil, and that a crown is promised to those who watch. She tells us that our penance is not without purpose.

We might stop to reflect there for just a minute. In our time the Church has lifted so much of what was mandatory in penitential practices, thereby placing great trust in us. She has not changed anything about her concept of penance or understanding of the need for penance, she has merely removed penalties. She has tried to show us a greater trust. If the Church is aware that penance had been done for the wrong reason, she is now asking us to do it for the right reason, without penalty.”

Mother Mary Francis. A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season . Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

From the book’s description:

Mother Mary Francis, abbess of a Poor Clare Monastery for over forty years, left an enduring legacy in her writings and in the conferences she gave to her spiritual daughters. In this work she presents beautiful meditations on the liturgical season of Lent, revealing the treasures of the liturgy to Christians in all walks of life. Her insight into Holy Scripture and her poet’s heart engendered reflections that illuminate the daily Mass readings in a fresh and attractive way.

These meditations enlighten the reader to see conversion as positive and enriching, and help us to understand that the generous embrace of Lenten penance has a purpose and brings a wondrous reward: deeper union with God. She was a true daughter of Saint Francis of Assisi, who found perfect joy by turning away from self to God.

As a spiritual guide, Mother Mary Francis excels in the art of persuasion, aware that the human heart cannot be forced but only gently led to holiness. She makes this goal attractive and desirable by tirelessly explaining why striving for holiness is the happiest and wisest way to live. This book provides a wealth of material for plundering the riches of the Lenten season and for deepening one’s spiritual life. Her meditations are profound and timeless, not changing from year to year, thus providing a lifetime of Lenten meditations in this one volume.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

SM5 – Repentance and Forgiveness – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast


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SM5 – Repentance and Forgiveness – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

Repentance and Forgiveness

Repentance is a powerful word. We should use it not only in Lent but constantly, because daily we commit acts, say words, have inward movements, that we are sorry for, wish we had not said or done, and in some way wish to atone for.

That is good. It is also good to know that sin is not the immediate cause of this or that calamity. Sometimes God sends us sorrow, trials, sadness so that we repent, do penance, and turn our face to him. At times it is very hard to understand that those calamities and tragedies can make us understand the love of God, and his tenderness and mercy shine with a new shine, better than ever. Let us be reassured and let us open ourselves to whatever God sends us. A supposed calamity changes into a benediction, into something we could offer to God. Let us look at things that way; it takes faith, but you pray for faith.

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (pp. 33-34). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

SM4 – The Sea of God’s Mercy – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast


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SM4 – The Sea of God’s Mercy – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

The Sea of God’s Mercy

It came to me that Lent is a sort of sea of God’s mercy. In my imagination, it was warm and quiet, and inviting for us to swim in. If we did, we would be not only refreshed but cleansed, for God’s mercy cleanses as nothing else does.

Then I thought of our reticence. I do not know if it is reticence, or fear to really plunge into God’s mercy. We really want to be washed clean; we want to be forgiven. But these desires meet with something else inside. I say to myself that if I enter into that sea of mercy I will be healed, and then I will be bound to practice what Christ preaches, practice his law of love. And that law of love is painful, so terribly painful. There by that sea I stand and think. If I seek mercy, I have to dish out mercy, I have to be merciful to others. What does it mean to be merciful to others? It means to open my own heart, like a little sea, for people to swim in.

If we stand before God’s mercy and drink of it, that means the Our Father is a reality and not just a prayer that I say.

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (pp. 28-29). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

SM3 – Learning to Love – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast


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SM3 – Learning to Love – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

Learning to Love

The fall of Adam was a felix culpa, as the Latin used to say, a “happy fault”, for it brought us Christ. Christ has come to take our sins away and reconcile us to his Father. We have a “door” and we have a “way”, and if we pass through that door and we walk along that way, we shall see the Father. Christ is our brother; he is the brother of everybody, and so that makes us all brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ made us brothers and sisters of one another and that is the tremendous essence of this thing called Christianity—we are followers of Christ, baptized into his death and resurrection. We preach the Gospel with our lives, or should, if we are Christian. (We can also preach it with our mouth, but the best way of preaching is with our lives.)

What is that Gospel? To love God with our whole mind, heart, soul, and strength; to love our neighbor as ourselves. Do not ever forget the “ourselves’’ business. You cannot love me unless you love yourself. If you despise yourself, if you do not care for yourself, you despise God’s creature. You cannot love God either, if you do not love yourself. To put it another way, if you cannot love God and yourself, then how can you love me, your neighbor?

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (pp. 15-16). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.

TOR2 – Amendment and Penance – A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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First Friday of Lent: Amendment and Penance – A Time of Renewal Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season

An excerpt from A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season:

Amendment and Penance

“It is of great spiritual benefit to avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation often during this holy season, and so let us continue our consideration of this great gift ministered to us through our Holy Church. Just as there is no sacramental absolution without contrition and without the actual confession, so the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not valid unless we are determined to do penance and to amend our lives. To whom do we confess? To Almighty God. But we never sincerely confess to God what we have not first confessed to ourselves. The first confession is confessing to myself in true confrontation that I am guilty, I have sinned, I am at fault. If we do not have that first confession in the truth, that cleansing self-confrontation, we will not rightly confess to God. We cannot tell God anything he does not know, and we cannot rightly express to God what we have not expressed in truth to ourselves. “

Mother Mary Francis. A Time of Renewal: Daily Reflections for the Lenten Season . Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

From the book’s description:

Mother Mary Francis, abbess of a Poor Clare Monastery for over forty years, left an enduring legacy in her writings and in the conferences she gave to her spiritual daughters. In this work she presents beautiful meditations on the liturgical season of Lent, revealing the treasures of the liturgy to Christians in all walks of life. Her insight into Holy Scripture and her poet’s heart engendered reflections that illuminate the daily Mass readings in a fresh and attractive way.

These meditations enlighten the reader to see conversion as positive and enriching, and help us to understand that the generous embrace of Lenten penance has a purpose and brings a wondrous reward: deeper union with God. She was a true daughter of Saint Francis of Assisi, who found perfect joy by turning away from self to God.

As a spiritual guide, Mother Mary Francis excels in the art of persuasion, aware that the human heart cannot be forced but only gently led to holiness. She makes this goal attractive and desirable by tirelessly explaining why striving for holiness is the happiest and wisest way to live. This book provides a wealth of material for plundering the riches of the Lenten season and for deepening one’s spiritual life. Her meditations are profound and timeless, not changing from year to year, thus providing a lifetime of Lenten meditations in this one volume.

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921-2006) was for more than forty years the abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. She became recognized as an authoritative voice for the renewal of religious life through her many books, including A Right to Be Merry, But I Have Called You Friends, and Anima Christi.  To learn more about Mother Mary Francis and the Poor Clare Nuns of Roswell, NM visit their website at https://poorclares-roswell.org

SM2 – Seek God’s Will – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty – Discerning Hearts Podcast


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SM2 – Seek God’s Will – Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter by Servant of God Catherine Doherty

An excerpt from Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter:

Seek God’s Will

“God speaks to us through the Bible. If you are humble, simple, and direct, and love the Scriptures as something that really comes from the mind of God to bring you to his heart, then the Holy Spirit teaches you to read them. A whole new vista, a new dimension opens before you, and you enter into a world that heals you, cleanses you, washes you, makes you whole.

In repeating the Word of God and praying with it, even when it seems monotonous, there is tremendous light. We are always attracted to something that is exotic, interesting; we do not want to dwell on something that we may not understand, or which bores us. And so we pass by a whole dimension of our own life. We are willing to absorb the Scriptures if they are put before us in a pleasant way. If not, we sometimes go to sleep, don’t we? But man’s heart cannot live in a void. As you are faithful to what at first appears to be a monotony, the Holy Spirit comes and you are silently visited by the Trinity, and they become your teachers of theology—teachers about themselves, that is. For who knows more about himself than God does?”

Doherty, Catherine. Season of Mercy: Lent and Easter (Seasonal Customs Vol. 2) (pp. 12-13). Madonna House Publications. Kindle Edition.

Catherine Doherty was born into an aristocratic family in Russia in 1896, and baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of her father’s work, she grew up in Ukraine, Egypt, and Paris. Many different strands of Christianity were woven into the spiritual fabric of her family background, but it was from the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the living faith of her father and mother, and the earthy piety of the Russian people themselves that Catherine received the powerful spiritual traditions and symbols of the Christian East. Catherine fled to England during the Russian Revolution, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1919. The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church. More information about Catherine’s life, works, and the progress of her cause can be found at: www.catherinedoherty.org and www.madonnahouse.org.

Discerning Hearts is grateful to Madonna House Publications whose permission was obtained to record these audio selections from this published work.