Describes the difference between perfection in the lives of contemplatives and in the lives of those who are content with mental prayer. Explains how it is sometimes possible for God to raise a distracted soul to perfect contemplation and the reason for this. This chapter and that which comes next are to be noted carefully.
THE WAY OF PERFECTION by ST. TERESA OF AVILA Translated & Edited by E. ALLISON PEERS from the Critical Editon of P. SILVERIO DE SANTA TERESA, C.D.
In this lecture, Sharon completes our journey through the book of Romans. The over-arching theme in this section is the universality of salvation through Jesus Christ. Taking us back to Genesis, Sharon focuses on the election of Israel as God’s chosen people. The children of promise, the offspring of Abraham and Sarah, become the nation of Israel. The children of flesh, the offspring of Abraham and Hagar, become the nation of Islam. Yet, as predicted by the prophets Hosea and Isaiah, only a remnant of Israel will be justified through faith in Jesus while the gentiles will be welcomed into covenant with God through faith in Christ. Sharon teaches us about the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which is also known as the feast of first fruits. The birth of the Church occurs with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the first Jewish Christians are the first fruits of the new covenant. Using the imagery of an olive tree, Sharon also shows us how the nation of Israel is cut off due to their hardened hearts and lack of belief in Christ. Yet the roots remain holy and the gentiles are grafted into these roots to bear fruit for the kingdom of God. Even more, righteousness is offered to ALL nations provided they have faith in Jesus; the children of promise (Israel) and the children of flesh (Islam) can be grafted into these holy roots and bear fruit for the kingdom of God through the righteousness of faith in Jesus Christ.For the audio-only version of this podcast
Sharon Doran serves as the teaching director of “Seeking Truth.” An experienced Bible Study teacher, Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God’s Word and apply His message to your everyday life.
“Seeking Truth” is an in-depth Catholic Bible Study, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more go to:www.seekingtruth.net
FG#2 – Interior Freedom episode 2 – Fountains of Grace: reflections on contemporary spiritual classics with Donna Garrett
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 42
Donna Garrett is joined in this particular series by Fr. Daniel Brandenburg, LC
“Sometimes we tend to forbid ourselves some wholesome aspiration, some accomplishment, or legitimate happiness. A subconscious psychological mechanism makes us deny ourselves happiness out of a sense of guilt or it may come from a false idea of God’s will, as if we ought to deprive ourselves systematically of everything good in life! In either case, it has nothing to do with genuine spiritual realism and acceptance of our own limitations. God sometimes calls us to make sacrifices but he also sets us free from fears and false sense of imprisoning guilt. He restores to us the freedom to welcome whatever good and pleasant things he wants to give us in order to encourage and show us his tenderness.”
Show 3 ” Building a Kingdom of Love” – “The Gift of Nothing.“
Msgr. Esseff begins by reading a passage from the book “The Gift of Nothing” by Patrick McDonnell. He discusses how we all think what we will need “something,” but Msgr. Esseff helps us to see what God desires for us to see “the gift of nothing.” What we desire deep down is intimacy. Msgr. Esseff offers how Jesus reaches out to us in Divine Love…the Bread of Life. The Eucharist offers intimacy, will we accept the gift?
Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30, 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to St. Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical Missions, a Catholic organization established by St. John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and spiritual director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world. He is the President of the Board of the Pope Leo XIII Institute School of Exorcism.
Episode 6 The Daily Prayer of Discernment: The Ignatian Wisdom of the Examen Prayer.
Fr. Gallagher continues to discuss the fourth step – FORGIVENESS. Then we approach the fifth step – RENEWAL – which is how we move forward after our encounter with God in our prayer.
Father Timothy M. Gallagher, O.M.V., was ordained in 1979 as a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, a religious community dedicated to retreats and spiritual formation according to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Fr. Gallagher is featured on the EWTN series “Living the Discerning Life: The Spiritual Teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola”.
As outlined from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola
(translated from the autograph by Fr. E. Mullan, S.J. 1909 in the public domain)
METHOD FOR MAKING THE GENERAL EXAMEN
It contains in it five Points.
First Point.The first Point is to give thanks to God our Lord for the benefits received. Second Point.The second, to ask grace to know our sins and cast them out. Third Point.The third, to ask account of our soul from the hour that we rose up to the present Examen, hour by hour, or period by period: and first as to thoughts, and then as to words, and then as to acts, in the same order as was mentioned in the Particular Examen. Fourth Point. The fourth, to ask pardon of God our Lord for the faults. Fifth Point.The fifth, to purpose amendment with His grace.
Episode 23 Beginning to Pray Special: “Let Your Face Shine on us and we shall be saved.”
Dr. Lilles’ offered a Day of Recollection in April 2013. We are blessed to have the presentations he gave that day in audio form. They are OUTSTANDING!
Here is Presentation 1:
Mental prayer, which is the prayer that searches the face of Christ, is a source of conversion. Beautiful truths about the incarnation and the paschal mystery come together in the face of Risen Lord who gazes on us with love. In the shadow of this love, we discover the freedom to turn ourselves to the Lord ever more completely. Our day begins with a meditation on the psalms which point the way to this prayer. We will introduce the saints who will guide us through our reflections: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Elisabeth of the Trinity and St. John Paul II.
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 benefitted from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity. After graduating from Franciscan University of Steubenville, he completed licentiate and doctoral studies in spiritual theology at the Angelicum in Rome. In 2012, he published Hidden Mountain, Secret Garden: a theological contemplation of prayer by Discerning Hearts. Married with two young adult children pursuing their careers and a teenager still at home, he has settled in family in Oxnard, California. He is the author of the “Beginning to Pray” Catholic blog spot.
Teaches that detachment from the things aforementioned is insufficient if we are not detached from our own selves and that this virtue and humility go together.
Continues to treat of mortification and describes how it may be attained in times of sickness.
THE WAY OF PERFECTION by ST. TERESA OF AVILA Translated & Edited by E. ALLISON PEERS from the Critical Editon of P. SILVERIO DE SANTA TERESA, C.D.