I love talking with John Salza…tough doctrine and dogma that for most of us is difficult to explain, is just so easy for John. And he shares his knowledge with all of us…what a gift!
In The Biblical Basis for Purgatory, John offers the definitive scriptural explanation of this distinctively Catholic doctrine. Building on the teachings of Christ and St. Paul, he shows how the existence of a place of temporal punishment after death is not only a logical extension of what we know about the reality of sin and God’s justice, but is also a supreme expression of God’s love and mercy. Although Purgatory is a place of mercy, its pains are real, and they are severe. This book does more than defend and explain Purgatory it provides a solid plan, drawn from the Church s perennial wisdom for conquering our sins by God s grace, while still on earth.
Episode 10 “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher.
In this episode with Fr. Gallagher, we can continue our conservation on “The Second Mode” of discernment. In particular, we discuss the role of the spiritual director. We then begin discussing “The Third Mode”.
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”.
For more information on how to obtain copies of Fr. Gallaghers’s various books and audio which are available for purchase, please visit his website: frtimothygallagher.org
(thanks to Matt Willkom for sharing his vocal gifts on this prayer)
My God, I believe most firmly that Thou watchest over all who hope in Thee, and that we can want for nothing when we rely upon Thee in all things; therefore I am resolved for the future to have no anxieties, and to cast all my cares upon Thee.
People may deprive me of worldly goods and of honors; sickness may take from me my strength and the means of serving Thee; I may even lose Thy grace by sin; but my trust shall never leave me. I will preserve it to the last moment of my life, and the powers of hell shall seek in vain to wrestle it from me.
Let others seek happiness in their wealth, in their talents; let them trust to the purity of their lives, the severity of their mortifications, to the number of their good works, the fervor of their prayers; as for me, O my God, in my very confidence lies all my hope. “For Thou, O Lord, singularly has settled me in hope.” This confidence can never be in vain. “No one has hoped in the Lord and has been confounded.”
I am assured, therefore, of my eternal happiness, for I firmly hope for it, and all my hope is in Thee. “In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me never be confounded.”
I know, alas! I know but too well that I am frail and changable; I know the power of temptation against the strongest virtue. I have seen stars fall from heaven, and pillars of firmament totter; but these things alarm me not. While I hope in Thee I am sheltered from all misfortune, and I am sure that my trust shall endure, for I rely upon Thee to sustain this unfailing hope.
Finally, I know that my confidence cannot exceed Thy bounty, and that I shall never receive less than I have hoped for from Thee. Therefore I hope that Thou wilt sustain me against my evil inclinations; that Thou wilt protect me against the most furious assults of the evil one, and that Thou wilt cause my weakness to triumph over my most powerful enemies. I hope that Thou wilt never cease to love me, and that I shall love Thee unceasingly. “In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded.”
From the writings of St. Claude on Prayer
“Since by the mercy of God I feel myself somewhat drawn to prayer, I have asked of God, with a large heart, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, that He would give me the grace to love this holy exercise more and more, unto the hour of my death.
It is the one means for our purification, the one way to union with God, the one channel by which God may unite Himself with us, that He may do anything with us for His glory. To obtain the virtues of an apostle we must pray; to make them of use to our neighbour we must pray; to prevent our losing them while we use them in His service we must pray.
The cousel, or rather the commandment: Pray always, seems to me extremely sweet and by no means impossible. It secures the practice of the presence of God; I wish, with the help of Our Lord, to endeavour to follow it. We are always in need of God, then we need to pray always; the more we pray the more we please Him, and the more we receive.
I do not ask for those delights in prayer which God gives to who He will; I am not worthy of them, I have not strength enough to bear them. Extraordinary graces are not good for me; to give them to me would be to build on sand, it would only be pouring precious liquor into a leaking hogshead which can hold nothing. I ask of God only a solid, simple manner of prayer, which may give Him glory and will not puff me up; dryness and desolation, accompanied with His grace, are very good for me, so it seems. Then I make acts of the best kind, and with satisfaction; then I make efforts against my evil disposition, I try to be faithful to God, etc….
Above all things I am resigned to be sanctified by the way that God shall please, by the absence of all sensible delight, if He wishes it so to be, by interior trials, by continual combat with my passions.”
FC 16 – Confession is Good Medicine
A trip to the doctor’s office can be a scary thing, but it’s often necessary to go there to get the healing and treatment that we need.
Likewise, going to the confessional can be intimidating, but it’s often the very thing that we need to get us back on the pathway to the Lord.
While we should also privately repent of our sins to God, Jesus instituted the sacrament of reconciliation or penance for our own good. Statistics show that Catholic populations have historically had lower rates of suicide and depression than non-Catholics, which many psychologists attribute directly to the healthy practice of vocally confessing one’s sins.
Few things can be as liberating as getting all of the junk from our lives out there on the table. The priest stands as Christ’s representative whose words of absolution, “I forgive you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” act as a sweet healing balm upon our souls. Priests are not their to scold you, but to offer healing and a fresh start.
So be not afraid, come unload your burdens before the Lord in confession today.
In this conversation, we discuss the significance of St. Teresa of Avila, not only in the area of the interior life, but also who her effect and presence on the world stage. We discuss how vital mental prayer is in the spiritual life and for interior renewal. For more information visit our page dedicated to pilgrimage at: www.pilgrimage.discerninghearts.com
Five hundred years ago, on March 28, a great mystic, founder, reformer, and doctor of the Church was born. From March 27 to April 6, 2015 you are invited to join Kris McGregor of Discerning Hearts on a spiritual journey through Holy Week and Easter in the footsteps of Saint Teresa of Avila in Spain. Fr. Giles Dimock O.P. will serve as Chaplain and Dr. Anthony Lilles will be our spiritual guide for this pilgrimage.
The Resilient Church with Mike Aquilina, offers a fascinating look at the trials and triumphs of the Catholic Church over the past two thousand years. Fast-paced sketches of critical periods in church history give readers perspective on the challenges faced by the church today. Mike Aquilina does not shrink from the realities of the past, including badly behaved leaders and those who betrayed the Lord. Yet he also leaves us all with well-founded hope for the future: God remains faithful in every circumstance and fulfills his promise to remain with his church always. Hosted by Kris McGregor
Episode 3 – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the most influential and controversial novels of the nineteenth century; but has also become one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted. It has been vivisected critically by latter-day Victor Frankenstein’s who have transformed the meanings emergent from the novel into monsters of postmodern misconception. Rather than understanding Frankenstein and his monster through the lens of tradition, the moderns have seized upon the book and carried off bits to construct their own particular bogeymen.
Seldom has a work of fiction suffered so scandalously from the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism. This critical edition, containing tradition-oriented essays by literary scholars, refutes the errors and serves as an antidote to the poison that has contaminated the critical understanding of this classic gothic novel.
Based on the Ignatius Critical Edition, this series examines, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, the life,the times, and influence of authors of great works in literature .
Joseph Pearce is currently the Writer-in-Residence and Visiting Fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is co-editor of the Saint Austin Review (or StAR), an international review of Christian culture, literature, and ideas published in England (Family Publications) and the United States (Sapientia Press). He is also the author of many books, including literary biographies of Solzhenitsyn, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Oscar Wilde.
Episode 9 “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher.
In this episode, we continue our conservation on “The Second Mode” of discernment. He breaks open an experience in which St. Ignatius discerns the vow of poverty for the community. Fr. Gallagher gives an overview of the classic discernment of spirits which includes an understanding of “spiritual consolation” and “spiritual desolation”, and how that plays out in vocational discernment.
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”.
For more information on how to obtain copies of Fr. Gallaghers’s various books and audio which are available for purchase, please visit his website: frtimothygallagher.org
just so easy for John. And he shares his knowledge with all of us…what a gift!
Everyday Decisions w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher.
While we should also privately repent of our sins to God, Jesus instituted the sacrament of reconciliation or penance for our own good. Statistics show that Catholic populations have historically had lower rates of suicide and depression than non-Catholics, which many psychologists attribute directly to the healthy practice of vocally confessing one’s sins.
