Series Archives

DWG9 – Second Mode of Discernment – The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions with Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Second Mode of Discernment – “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Fr. Timothy Gallagher and Kris McGregor discuss the second mode of discernment according to St. Ignatius of Loyola. This mode involves a consistent attraction of the heart toward one option over a period of time, particularly during spiritual consolation.

They examine an experience from St. Ignatius’s life where he discerned whether the Jesuits should continue living in radical poverty. Ignatius sought God’s guidance through Mass for 40 consecutive days, experiencing spiritual consolation and a consistent inclination toward radical poverty until the 40th day, when he faced spiritual desolation and doubts.

Fr. Gallagher reminds us of the importance of spiritual guidance in discernment, noting that it’s a process over time rather than a single moment of clarity. He illustrates this mode with the stories of Richard, who discerned a call to Jesuit life, and Jessica, who felt drawn to religious life over time.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions:

When have I noticed a repeated interior drawing toward a particular choice during times of prayer and closeness to God?
How do moments of peace or joy in prayer differ from moments of heaviness or discouragement when I reflect on an important decision?
Am I allowing enough time for clarity to emerge, or do I feel pressure to decide before a pattern becomes clear?
How do doubts affect me during discernment, and do they change when I return to prayer or silence before the Lord?
In what ways might periods of interior struggle be revealing resistance rather than the failure of a discernment already underway?
Have I reached a place of genuine interior freedom where I can say, “Whatever you want, Lord,” even if it challenges my preferences?
Who accompanies me in discernment, and how open am I to sharing my interior experience with a wise spiritual guide?
Do I distinguish between being actively engaged in a discernment process and simply feeling stuck or uncertain without direction?

From The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions:

“Three Times in which a Sound and Good Choice May Be Made

The first time is when God Our Lord so moves and attracts the will that, without doubting or being able to doubt, the devout soul follows what is shown to it, as St. Paul and St. Matthew did in following Christ our Lord.

The second time is when sufficient clarity and understanding is received through experience of consolations and desolations, and through experience of discernment of different spirits.

The third time is one of tranquility, when one considers first for what purpose man is born, that is, to praise God our Lord and save his soul, and, desiring this, chooses as a means to this end some life or state within the bounds of the Church, so that he may be helped in the service of his Lord and the salvation of his soul. I said a tranquil time, that is, when the soul is not agitated by different spirits, and uses its natural powers freely and tranquilly.

If the choice is not made in the first or second time, two ways of making it in this third time are given below.”

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

For the other episodes in this series check out Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s “Discerning Hearts” page

The 4th Sunday of Advent – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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The 4th Sunday of Advent – The Joy of Christ’s Coming – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

In this final Sunday of Advent reflection, Msgr. John Esseff and Kris McGregor turn to the mystery of the Incarnation through the Gospel of Matthew and the prophecies of Isaiah. The episode traces God’s faithful promise to send a Savior, moving from the darkness that followed the fall of Adam and Eve through the long hope of Israel and into the quiet obedience of Joseph and the fiat of Mary.

Msgr. Esseff reflects on Mary as the faithful woman prepared from all ages to receive the Word made flesh. Through her obedience, God enters human history in a new and intimate way. The Incarnation is presented not only as an event in the past, but as a living reality that continues through those united to Christ. Drawing from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Msgr. Esseff speaks about incorporation into Christ through baptism and the call to live as Christ in the world today.

The reflection moves from Scripture into daily life. Listeners are invited to examine how Christ desires to radiate through relationships, family life, parish communities, work, and moments of suffering. Msgr. Esseff speaks tenderly to those who are ill, grieving, anxious, or isolated, affirming that suffering united to Christ carries deep meaning and hope.

The episode closes with a call to joy, patience, and interior awareness. Christ has come. Christ dwells within. Christmas becomes not only a celebration of Bethlehem, but a rediscovery of identity and mission as Christ’s presence in the world.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

Where have I seen Christ living and acting through me during this Advent season?
How do my daily relationships reflect the presence of Christ within me?
In what area of my life is Christ inviting healing, humility, or reconciliation?
How do I unite moments of suffering or weakness to the life of Christ within me?
What does it mean for me to carry Christ into my family, parish, or workplace this Christmas?

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. Msgr. Esseff served as a retreat director and confessor to St. Teresa of Calcutta. 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 Pope 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 director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians, and other religious leaders around the world.

Finding Joy and Hope in Challenging Times – Advent Reflections with Dr. Anthony Lilles – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

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Finding Joy and Hope in Challenging Times – Advent Reflections w/ Dr. Anthony Lilles – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

Dr. Anthony Lilles, focusing on Pope Benedict XVI’s writings, discusses how illness, physically or emotionally, during Advent can be a unique spiritual opportunity. He emphasizes that suffering and difficulty can be a form of divine visitation, offering a chance for personal growth and deeper connection with God.

Dr. Lilles encourages listeners to view every life event, including hardships, as an expression of God’s love. He suggests maintaining an ‘inner diary’ of daily positives as a way to acknowledge God’s presence in all situations. The discussion also covers practical spiritual practices for the Advent season, especially for those facing physical or emotional challenges. Dr. Lilles highlights the importance of ‘offering up’ one’s suffering, transforming it into a meaningful spiritual journey.

This podcast offers a compassionate perspective on finding spiritual richness and hope in the midst of illness, aligning with the reflective nature of Advent.

VEC8 – Celsus – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 8 – Celsus – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina

Mike Aquilina discusses the second-century pagan intellectual Celsus, a formidable critic of early Christianity whose work unintentionally preserved valuable insight into the objections Christians faced in the ancient world. Celsus was a serious compiler of knowledge who treated Christianity alongside medicine, law, and agriculture, largely because the Church had become impossible to ignore. Drawing heavily from hostile sources, he misunderstood core Christian claims such as the Trinity, the virginal conception, and the role of women in the Church, often filtering them through the cultural and “scientific” assumptions of his time. These critiques, though flawed, are historically important because they reveal how Christianity challenged deeply held norms of Greco-Roman society, especially regarding monotheism, human dignity, and the equal worth of men and women.

The major arguments raised by modern critics of Christianity are often recycled versions of ancient claims, already addressed by early thinkers like Origen and St. Augustine. Rather than seeing intellectual challenges as threats, Mike Aquilina frames them as occasions for growth in understanding, prayer, and maturity. It draws parallels between knowing God and knowing a loved one: surface-level claims lose their power when grounded in lived relationship. Science and faith are not rivals; in fact, Christian ideas about creation, reason, and order laid foundations for scientific progress. We ought to seek thoughtful answers, cultivate a disciplined life of prayer, and allow challenges to deepen one’s relationship with Christ rather than weaken it.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How does learning about ancient critics of Christianity help me better understand and trust the development of Church teaching today?
In what ways do my own cultural assumptions shape how I hear or judge the claims of the Christian faith?
How do intellectual challenges to Christianity invite me to grow in humility rather than defensiveness?
What practices help me distinguish between surface-level knowledge about God and a lived relationship with Him?
How does the Church’s historical engagement with science inform the way I approach modern scientific questions?
When confronted with difficult teachings, do I seek deeper understanding through prayer, study, and tradition?
How can time spent in prayer strengthen my ability to respond calmly and faithfully to doubts or criticisms?

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church

“The man’s name was Aulus Cornelius Celsus, and he was one of those remarkable people who seem to know a little bit about everything. Today we remember him most as a physician, because the main work of his that survives is a treatise on medicine; but that book was actually part of a book on practically all the world knowledge that Celsus had put together. He dealt with law, war, politics, farming, and other subjects as well. And if he knew as much about them as he did about medicine, Celsus must have been a one-man Wikipedia.

The fact that Celsus was so insatiably curious about so many things may be why he bothered to try to learn about the Christians. They were a phenomenon to be studied. But his studies did not go so far as to ask the best authorities on the subject—the bishops and teachers he might have found if he had looked around. Instead, he seems to have relied on what he heard secondhand. That was probably because, although he was a scientist, Celsus was, like any good educated man in the Roman Empire, a snob first and foremost.”

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.

You can find the book on which this series is based here.

**For more episodes in the Villians of the Early Church podcast visit here – Villains of the Early Church – Discerning Hearts Podcast**

Mike Aquilina is a popular author working in the area of Church history, especially patristics, the study of the early Church Fathers.^[1] He is the executive vice-president and trustee of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, a Roman Catholic research center based in Steubenville, Ohio. He is a contributing editor of Angelus (magazine) and general editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History Series from Ave Maria Press. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books, including The Fathers of the Church (2006); The Mass of the Early Christians (2007); Living the Mysteries (2003); and What Catholics Believe(1999). He has hosted eleven television series on the Eternal Word Television Network and is a frequent guest commentator on Catholic radio.

Mike Aquilina’s website is found at fathersofthechurch.com

WOM18 – The Gift of Grace – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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The Gift of Grace – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating

Deacon James Keating describes the spiritual journey from attachment to sin into a life shaped by Christ’s light. This shift usually begins through pain or restlessness that awakens a desire for something deeper. As a person moves away from sin and leans into virtue, the presence of Christ becomes clearer, forming the mind and heart through prayer, scripture, worship, and especially the Eucharist. Over time, a person stops acting in isolation and instead makes choices with Christ dwelling within, seeking His guidance in every moral question. This inner communion brings freedom, joy, and clarity, not constraint, because the Christian life becomes a relationship of deepening love rather than instant transformation.

Worship shapes moral life because it immerses the soul in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Practical discernment includes immediately handing temptations over to Christ before they take root in the imagination and lead the will astray. All ethical questions are to be placed within the mystery of Christ rather than secular ideologies. A well-formed conscience draws from scripture, the Eucharist, and the Church’s teaching authority, which safeguards doctrine and prevents confusion born from private theories or theological trends. True renewal in the Church arises where Catholics rediscover authentic teaching, which challenges one toward holiness and aligns life with Christ rather than cultural pressures.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How has Christ begun to bring light into areas of your life where you once felt restless or dissatisfied?
In what ways does your participation in the Eucharist shape the choices you make throughout the week?
Where do you still rely on your own independence rather than inviting Christ into your decisions?
How quickly do you turn to Christ when you notice temptation arising within you?
What helps you enter worship not as a routine, but as a living encounter with God?
How do you place your daily moral questions within the mystery of Christ rather than cultural or personal preferences?
In what ways could your conscience be more deeply formed by scripture and the Church’s teaching?
How does your relationship with Christ affect the way you evaluate what is truly good or meaningful?
What practices help you remain attentive to Christ dwelling within you throughout the day?
How is God inviting you to grow in humility when receiving teaching or correction within the Church?

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

DWG8 – Two Modes of Discernment – The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions with Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Two Modes of Discernment – “What am I to do?” The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Fr. Timothy Gallagher continues his teaching on St. Ignatius of Loyola’s three modes of discernment, focusing here on the first and second modes. The first mode is a clarity beyond doubting, in which a person receives an unmistakable certainty about God’s will that cannot be shaken. This is illustrated through vocation stories. Such clarity may arise suddenly or gradually, but remains stable over time. It’s important in confirming this kind of clarity with a wise spiritual guide, especially when the decision involves major life commitments, so that discernment is not carried out in isolation.

When such unmistakable clarity does not occur, St. Ignatius proposes a second mode of discernment, which unfolds through attention to spiritual consolation and spiritual desolation. Father Gallagher explains consolation as interior movements of joy, peace, love of God, and renewed faith, hope, and charity, often accompanied by a sense of God’s closeness. Desolation, by contrast, involves heaviness, confusion, discouragement, and a pull away from spiritual life. Over time, by noticing consistent patterns—how consolation draws the heart toward one option and desolation pushes against it—a person can gain sufficient clarity about God’s direction. Father Gallagher illustrates this with St. Ignatius’s own discernment about poverty in the Jesuits, showing how repeated experiences of consolation consistently pointed him toward one choice, forming the basis of a sound decision.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions:

Where in my life have I experienced a clarity that seemed steady and peaceful, and how did I respond to it?
Am I currently facing a decision that invites me to seek God’s will through prayer, the sacraments, and wise counsel?
How do I recognize moments of spiritual consolation in my daily prayer and ordinary activities?
What patterns of heaviness, discouragement, or confusion have I noticed that may indicate spiritual desolation?
When I experience interior joy and peace, which choices seem to draw my heart more deeply toward God?
How do I typically react during times of spiritual dryness, and do those reactions help or hinder my openness to God?
In what ways might keeping track of consolation and desolation over time bring greater clarity to an important decision?
Who is a spiritually wise person I can turn to for guidance when discerning significant choices in my life?

From The Discernment of God’s Will in Everyday Decisions:

“Three Times in which a Sound and Good Choice May Be Made

The first time is when God Our Lord so moves and attracts the will that, without doubting or being able to doubt, the devout soul follows what is shown to it, as St. Paul and St. Matthew did in following Christ our Lord.

The second time is when sufficient clarity and understanding is received through experience of consolations and desolations, and through experience of discernment of different spirits.

The third time is one of tranquility, when one considers first for what purpose man is born, that is, to praise God our Lord and save his soul, and, desiring this, chooses as a means to this end some life or state within the bounds of the Church, so that he may be helped in the service of his Lord and the salvation of his soul. I said a tranquil time, that is, when the soul is not agitated by different spirits, and uses its natural powers freely and tranquilly.

If the choice is not made in the first or second time, two ways of making it in this third time are given below.”

For the other episodes in this series check out Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s “Discerning Hearts” page

The 3rd Sunday of Advent – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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The 3rd Sunday of Advent – The Joy of Christ’s Coming – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

In this Third Sunday of Advent reflection, Msgr. John Esseff proclaims the joy of Christ’s coming and the deep mystery of Jesus dwelling within those who are baptized. Drawing from the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew, he reflects on the signs that reveal the Messiah: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are raised, and the poor receive the good news.

Msgr. Esseff focuses on Jesus’ response to John the Baptist’s question from prison and the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promises. He explains that John the Baptist stands as the greatest born of women, yet those united to Christ through baptism share a deeper intimacy with him. This union is not symbolic. It is real, lived daily through baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist.

He speaks about light and darkness in human lives, noting that many are born into families marked by suffering, addiction, or division. Yet Christ’s light already lives within them. Rather than seeing only wounds or spiritual struggle, Msgr. Esseff urges listeners to recognize the presence of Jesus at work within their own life stories.

A central invitation of the episode is to pray through the Stations of the Cross during Advent, not as a Lenten exercise but as a way of recognizing Christ’s life unfolding within personal experiences. False accusation, betrayal, forgiveness, abandonment, suffering, and perseverance become places of union with Jesus. Each fall is not the end but a return to grace through Christ who lives within the soul.

The episode closes with a call to patience, trust, and joy. Christ is coming, not only in history or at Christmas, but ever more deeply into the lives of those who allow him to live and act through them.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

Where in my life do I see signs of Christ’s light already at work, even amid struggle or pain?
How does recognizing Jesus living within me change the way I view my past experiences?
Which Station of the Cross most reflects something I am carrying right now?
Where am I being invited to return to grace after a fall?
How can I live Advent with greater patience and joy as I await Christ’s coming?

AR#12 – St. Therese and the Present Moment – Advent Reflections with Deacon James Keating Ph.D.

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St. Therese of Lisieux said the following: “If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient. But I only look at the present. I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.” In these remarks, St. Therese is trying to point to the truth that is buried deep within the Christian revelation. God only lives in the present moment. He holds all time together in the present. For ourselves, we get lost many times in the past, which could breed nostalgia and grief. Or we anxiously and fearfully try to make the present come quicker. This Advent, ask the Lord for the grace to live in the present so that our gratitude towards all that He is giving us now will deepen. And in our deepening gratitude, will be born a new fervor for worship. For worship is the fruit of the grateful heart.

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.

We highly recommend – The Eucharist and the Hope of Conversion with Deacon James Keating Ph.D. Discerning Hearts Podcast

Our Lady of Guadalupe – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Our Lady of Guadalupe – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff

Msgr. John Esseff reflects on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a decisive moment of renewal for the Church, set against the turmoil of 16th-century Europe and the vast conversion that followed in Mexico. He situates Mary’s 1531 appearance to Juan Diego within salvation history, drawing connections to the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation and to the Annunciation in Luke’s Gospel. Her request for a simple church and her choice of a poor, elderly Indigenous man reveal a maternal closeness that transformed an entire continent, leading millions to enter the Church at a time when many were leaving elsewhere.

He invites everyone across the Americas to hear Mary’s words personally: “Do you not know that I am your mother?” Msgr. Esseff links this to St. John Paul II’s call for the Church in North and South America to see itself as one body, meeting at this Marian center. He encourages a posture of humility, openness, and attentiveness to those often overlooked, reminding us that Mary’s tenderness reaches every stage of life. As Advent approaches, the feast becomes an invitation to receive her care anew, to pray for unity across cultures, and to walk toward Christmas knowing we are held under her mantle.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How do I personally receive Mary’s words, “Do you not know that I am your mother,” in my current season of life?
In what ways might God be inviting renewal in my heart through simplicity, humility, and trust like that shown by Juan Diego?
How open am I to listening to God’s voice when it comes through people or circumstances I might normally overlook?
What attitudes do I hold toward Catholics in other cultures, especially in Latin America, and how might Mary be calling me to greater unity?
As I prepare for Christmas, how can I place my worries more fully under Mary’s maternal care?
Where do I resist being sent as a messenger of God’s love because I feel inadequate or unimportant?
How does the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe help me see the Church as one family across the Americas?

First Reading RV 11:19A; 12:1-6A, 10AB

“God’s temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.”

From the Office of Readings:

From a report by Don Antonio Valeriano, a Native American author of the sixteenth century
(Nicon Mopohua, 12th ed., 3-9, 21)

The Voice of the Turtledove has been heard in our land

At daybreak one Saturday morning in 1531, on the very first days of the month of December, an Indian named Juan Diego was going from the village where he lived to Tlatelolco in order to take part in divine worship and listen to God’s commandments. When he came near the hill called Tepeyac, dawn had already come, and Juan Diego heard someone calling him from the very top of the hill: “Juanito, Juan Dieguito.”

He went up the hill and caught sight of a lady of unearthly grandeur whose clothing was as radiant as the sun. She said to him in words both gentle and courteous: “Juanito, the humblest of my children, know and understand that I am the ever virgin Mary, Mother of the true God through whom all things live. It is my ardent desire that a church be erected here so that in it I can show and bestow my love, compassion, help, and protection to all who inhabit this land and to those others who love me, that they might call upon and confide in me. Go to the Bishop of Mexico to make known to him what I greatly desire. Go and put all your efforts into this.”

When Juan Diego arrived in the presence of the Bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, a Franciscan, the latter did not seem to believe Juan Diego and answered: “Come another time, and I will listen at leisure.”

Juan Diego returned to the hilltop where the Heavenly Lady was waiting, and he said to her: “My Lady, my maiden, I presented your message to the Bishop, but it seemed that he did not think it was the truth. For this reason I beg you to entrust your message to someone more illustrious who might convey it in order that they may believe it, for I am only an insignificant man.”

She answered him: “Humblest of my sons, I ask that tomorrow you again go to see the Bishop and tell him that I, the ever virgin holy Mary, Mother of God, am the one who personally sent you.”

But on the following day, Sunday, the Bishop again did not believe Juan Diego and told him that some sign was necessary so that he could believe that it was the Heavenly Lady herself who sent him. And then he dismissed Juan Diego.

On Monday Juan Diego did not return. His uncle, Juan Bernardino, became very ill, and at night asked Juan to go to Tlatelolco at daybreak to call a priest to hear his confession.

Juan Diego set out on Tuesday, but he went around the hill and passed on the other side, toward the east, so as to arrive quickly in Mexico City and to avoid being detained by the Heavenly Lady. But she came out to meet him on that side of the hill and said to him: “Listen and understand, my humblest son. There is nothing to frighten and distress you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and let nothing upset you. Is it not I, your Mother, who is here? Are you not under my protection? Are you not, fortunately, in my care? Do not let your uncle’s illness distress you. It is certain that he has already been cured. Go up to the hilltop, my son, where you will find flowers of various kinds. Cut them, and bring them into my presence.”

When Juan Diego reached the peak, he was astonished that so many Castilian roses had burst forth at a time when the frost was severe. He carried the roses in the folds of his tilma (mantle) to the Heavenly Lady. She said to him: “My son, this is the proof and the sign which you will bring to the Bishop so that he will see my will in it. You are my ambassador, very worthy of trust.”

Juan Diego set out on his way, now content and sure of succeeding. On arriving in the Bishop’s presence, he told him: “My lord, I did what you asked. The Heavenly Lady complied with your request and fulfilled it. She sent me to the hilltop to cut some Castilian roses and told me to bring them to you in person. And this I am doing, so that you can see in them the sign you seek in order to carry out her will. Here they are; receive them.”

He immediately opened up his white mantle, and as all the different Castilian roses scattered to the ground, there was drawn on the cloak and suddenly appeared the precious image of the ever virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the same manner as it is today and is kept in her shrine of Tepeyac.

The whole city was stirred and came to see and admire her venerable image and to offer prayers to her; and following the command which the same Heavenly Lady gave to Juan Bernardino when she restored him to health, they called her by the name that she herself had used: “the ever virgin holy Mary of Guadalupe.”

VEC7 – Valentinus – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Episode 7 – Valentinus – Villains of the Early Church with Mike Aquilina

Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor explore the figure of Valentinus, an early second-century teacher whose ideas became one of the most significant challenges to the young Church. Valentinus built an exclusive movement that claimed access to hidden teachings unavailable to ordinary Christians, rejected the true incarnation by treating matter as corrupt, and cultivated a social atmosphere that appealed to wealthy Romans seeking prestige and safety. His approach fit within the broader stream of Gnosticism, a recurring pattern in history that appeals to those who want to view themselves as spiritually superior or part of a select inner circle. The Fathers—especially Irenaeus and Tertullian—carefully examined and critiqued these ideas, noting their internal contradictions and their departure from the apostolic witness.

The Church’s response clarified essential truths: the goodness of creation, the real incarnation of Christ, the harmony of Scripture’s layers of meaning, and the universal call of the Gospel. Movements like Valentinus’s ultimately fragmented because they relied on private revelations without a stable authority. This episode also highlights how similar attitudes appear in every age, even within Catholic circles—whenever people treat the faith as a private club or disregard the embodied, communal, and historical character of Christianity. By recalling the errors of Valentinus, it invites us to remain rooted in the Church’s public teaching, the witness of the saints, and the shared life of the whole People of God.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

How does the appeal of Valentinus’s exclusive “inner circle” challenge me to examine whether I ever treat my faith as a status symbol rather than a gift meant for all?
In what ways do I struggle to accept the goodness of my own body, and how does the Incarnation invite me to see it differently?
Where in my life do I rely too heavily on my own insights instead of the apostolic teaching safeguarded by the Church?
How might I cultivate deeper unity with the whole parish community, including those I find difficult to relate to?
What practices help me stay grounded in the public, communal nature of the Gospel rather than seeking spiritual shortcuts or secret paths?
How does the Church’s teaching on the resurrection of the body challenge my assumptions about what salvation truly involves?
What can the rise and collapse of movements like Valentinus’s teach me about the need for humility and accountability in spiritual leadership?
How does reflecting on the early Church’s struggles strengthen my gratitude for the stability and clarity offered through the magisterium today?

An excerpt from Villains of the Early Church

“We know almost nothing about Valentinus the man except that he was well educated. He had much more higher education than the average Christian: he had studied at Alexandria, so he had the ancient equivalent of a Harvard or Oxford degree. He had specialized in Platonic studies, meaning that he knew Plato backwards and forwards, at least as Plato was interpreted by later students who claimed to have understood him. (Like many philosophy students today, Valentinus probably learned about Plato from secondary sources more than from actually reading Plato.)

In about 130, Valentinus came to Rome and he stayed there for about twenty years. Thus, he was in Rome at the same time as Marcion. Valentinus later ended up in Cyprus.1

One thing his opponents gave Valentinus credit for was his brain. Tertullian and, much later, Jerome both considered him to have a formidable mind. But he applied that mind to creating an incredibly convoluted mythology rather than simply understanding the Scriptures. In this Valentinus was just like all the other Gnostics: incredibly convoluted mythologies were their stock in trade. The simple truth was for simple people. Like some academics today, the Gnostic teachers felt a need to prove their intellectual worth by filling their writings with jargon nobody but other Gnostics could understand.”

Aquilina, Mike. Villains of the Early Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.