Series Archives

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.

WOM7 – The Liturgy of the Word pt. 1 – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:55 — 19.9MB) | Embed

Episode 7 -The Way of Mystery: The Eucharist and Moral Living– The Liturgy of the Word part 1 Christ entering us through language. The difference in our attitude of being an “audience” and being in an attitude of prayer. How the Word sets us free.

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

Entering Into Mental Prayer During Troubling Times /w Dr. Anthony Lilles and Kris McGregor Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:04 — 26.8MB) | Embed

Join Dr. Anthony Lilles S.T.D. and Kris McGregor as they discuss our new reality given the Global Corona Virus Pandemic of 2020. Dr. Lilles offers wise counsel on how to enter prayer during this time. He also reflects on the importance of entering more deeply into our relationship with God through detachment and abandonment to the will of the Father. While not easy at first, such a disposition allows God’s grace to take root in our hearts and trust to flourish within us during troubling times.

For more from Dr. Anthony Lilles visit: Dr. Anthony Lilles – Beginning to Pray Discerning Hearts Podcasts

Episode 2 – The Day Is Now Far Spent – Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J., Vivian Dudro, and Joseph Pearce FBC Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:57 — 25.4MB) | Embed

We begin our exploration of Robert Cardinal Sarah’s “The Day Is Now Far Spent”—a tour de force response to the present darkness in the Church.

From the New York City skyline to the meaning of the word “Modernism”. We continue our discussion of Robert Cardinal Sarah’s “The Day Is Now Far Spent”.

You can find the book here

Robert Cardinal Sarah calls The Day Is Now Far Spent his most important book. He analyzes the spiritual, moral, and political collapse of the Western world and concludes that “the decadence of our time has all the faces of mortal peril.”

A cultural identity crisis, he writes, is at the root of the problems facing Western societies. “The West no longer knows who it is, because it no longer knows and does not want to know who made it, who established it, as it was and as it is. Many countries today ignore their own history. This self-suffocation naturally leads to a decadence that opens the path to new, barbaric civilizations.”

While making clear the gravity of the present situation, the cardinal demonstrates that it is possible to avoid the hell of a world without God, a world without hope. He calls for a renewal of devotion to Christ through prayer and the practice of virtue.

IP#281 Vivian Dudro - Meriol Trevor's "Shadows and Images" on Inside the Pages 1 — Vivian Dudro

WOM6 – The Penitential Rite of the Mass pt 2 – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:37 — 22.4MB) | Embed

Episode 6 -The Way of Mystery: The Eucharist and Moral Living– The Penitential Rite part 2
Are we afraid of silence, of being alone with God? We also discuss posture and the domestic church.

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. 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

The Global Pandemic: Christ Conquers Sin and Death – Building a Kingdom of Love with Msgr. John Esseff Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:33 — 19.6MB) | Embed

Msgr. Esseff addresses the global pandemic of the coronavirus and COVID-19. He reflects that there is something greater than death…sin. Now is the time to examine ourselves and recognize areas in our lives where sin has a grip on us. It is time to give it all to Christ and to be free.

Reading 2 ROM 8:8-11

Brothers and sisters:
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.

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. Pope John Paul II. 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.

HR#22 “On Suffering” – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:16 — 21.5MB) | Embed

Episode 22 – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict: A Spiritual Path for Today’s World with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B., Ph.D.

On Suffering

From the Holy Rule of St. Benedict:

CHAPTER 7

an excerpt:

The fourth degree of humility is, that, if hard and distasteful things are commanded, nay, even though injuries are inflicted, he accept them with patience and even temper, and not grow weary or give up, but hold out, as the Scripture saith: “He that shall persevere unto the end shall be saved” (Mt 10:22). And again: “Let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord” (Ps 26[27]:14). And showing that a faithful man ought even to bear every disagreeable thing for the Lord, it saith in the person of the suffering: “For Thy sake we suffer death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36; Ps 43[44]:22). And secure in the hope of the divine reward, they go on joyfully, saying: “But in all these things we overcome because of Him that hath loved us” (Rom 8:37). And likewise in another place the Scripture saith: “Thou, O God, hast proved us; Thou hast tried us by fire as silver is tried; Thou hast brought us into a net, Thou hast laid afflictions on our back” (Ps 65[66]:10-11). And to show us that we ought to be under a Superior, it continueth, saying: “Thou hast set men over our heads” (Ps 65[66]:12). And fulfilling the command of the Lord by patience also in adversities and injuries, when struck on the one cheek they turn also the other; the despoiler of their coat they give their cloak also; and when forced to go one mile they go two (cf Mt 5:39-41); with the Apostle Paul they bear with false brethren and “bless those who curse them” (2 Cor 11:26; 1 Cor 4:12).

Father Mauritius Wilde, OSB, Ph.D., did his philosophical, theological and doctoral studies in Europe. He is the author of several books and directs retreats regularly. He serves as Prior at Sant’Anselmo in Rome.

For more information about the ministry of the Missionary Benedictines of Christ the King Priory in Schuyler, Ne

Episode 1 – The Day Is Now Far Spent – Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J., Vivian Dudro, and Joseph Pearce FBC Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:12 — 33.1MB) | Embed

We begin our exploration of Robert Cardinal Sarah’s “The Day Is Now Far Spent”—a tour de force response to the present darkness in the Church. In this week’s reading, the cardinal pays a special tribute to such controversial churchmen as Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (all Ignatius Press authors). What he says may surprise you.

You can find the book here

WOM5 – The Penitential Rite – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB) | Embed

Episode 5 – The Penitential Rite

The penitential rite of the mass, while not the pivotal point, it is one of the most important points of the mass, and key in our moral conversion…it’s about the crucifixion to sin, meeting evil with love.

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

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

Stability and Balance During a Time of Crisis – Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B. from Sant’Anselmo all’Aventino Monastery in Rome

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:24 — 23.7MB) | Embed

Join Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B. and Kris McGregor in this special Discerning Hearts Video Podcast as they discuss the effects of the novel Coronavirus Global Pandemic in Rome and at Sant’Anselmo all’Aventino Monastery. Fr. Mauritius offers important spiritual guidance during this time which comes from the Holy Rule of Benedict.

Check out Fr. Mauritius Wilde Podcasts on Discerning Hearts by visiting her