Series Archives

BKL71 – “They all ate and were satisfied” – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff

BKL 71 ” Building a Kingdom of Love” – “They all ate and were satisfied”

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Gospel MT 14:13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 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 Blessed 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 Bl. Pope 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. To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book by visiting here Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “Building a Kingdom of Love”

WOM#18 – The Gift of Grace – The Way of Mystery w/ Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts

Episode 18 -The Way of Mystery: The Eucharist and Moral Living

The challenge of living the moral life and the gift of grace from the sacrament of the Eucharist.

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For more episodes in “The Way of Mystery” Series click here

Deacon James Keating, PhD, the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha, is making available to ”Discerning Hearts” and all who listen, his series of programs entitled “The Way of Mystery”.

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.

For more information on the “Institute of Priestly Formation” and for oth er material available by Deacon Keating, just click here

Don’t forget to pickup a copy of “Communion with Christ” , it is on e of the best audio sets on prayer…ever!

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page

MC5 – Praying with Scripture: Christian Contemplation and Meditation in the Ignatian tradition w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Episode 5 Praying with Scripture: Christian Contemplation and Meditation in the Ignatian tradition w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Fr. Gallagher continues to discuss the differences and benefits of meditation and contemplation – the cornerstones of Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual practice.

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For other episodes in the series visit The Discerning Hearts “Praying with Scripture” page

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

Faith Check 26 – Sacramentals with Greg Youell

Sacramentals

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In the minds of non-Catholics, Catholicism often conjures images of Catholic stuff: candles, crucifixes, rosaries, statues, holy water, oils,
and the like. These are called sacramentals—not to be confused with the seven sacraments, they are material items that the Lord uses as conduits of his blessing.
Because of our belief in sacramentals, Catholics have sometimes been accused of practicing magic. But magic is the pagan or new age belief that an object has power in and of itself. Sacramentals are the Christian belief that the living and true God uses His creation as instruments of grace and healing.

Sacramentals appear all throughout the Scriptures. James speaks of anointing with oil.¹ Acts of the Apostles tells us that Paul’s handkerchiefs brought healing power to those they touched.²In the Old Testament, Elisha’s bones were used to bring a dead man back to life.³

And of course the Gospels portray Our Lord himself often using water, mud or even his own spit to perform mighty works of healing and cleansing, a power which Jesus passed on to his priests to be continued to this day.⁴ Sacramentals are neither magic nor make believe, but powerful weapons to be utilized in our spiritual journeys.

1 – Js. 5:14

2 – Acts 19:11-12

3 – 2 Kgs. 13:21

4 – cf. Mt. 10:7-8; Lk. 10:18-20; Jn. 20:21-23, etc.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday, Sunday, Sunday with Mark Hart

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The Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Podcast is a reflection on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings presented by LifeTeen.com and hosted by Mark Hart.

Sunday Readings from the USCCB

Reading 1 1 KGS 3:5, 7-12

Responsorial Psalm PS 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130

Reading 2 ROM 8:28-30

Gospel MT 13:44-52

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household
who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

RC#4 – Heresy and Orthodoxy – The Resilient Church w/ Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts

Episode 3 – Heresy and Orthodoxy

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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.

Pick up a copy of Mke’s book. You’ll find so much more and invaluable references and resoources, as well

Also visit Mike’s “Discerning Hearts” page for more audio downloads and information!

WOM#17 – Mystical Experiences and Consoling Prayer – The Way of Mystery w/ Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts

Episode 17 -The Way of Mystery: The Eucharist and Moral Living

Mystical experiences and consoling prayer. Prayer is earnestly desired, because it is something we delight in. Also the prayer that will spontaneously occur. Another type of experience is the aspect of the sacramental encounter.

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For more episodes in “The Way of Mystery” Series click here

For more information on the “Institute of Priestly Formation” and for oth er material available by Deacon Keating, just click here

Don’t forget to pickup a copy of “Communion with Christ” , it is on e of the best audio sets on prayer…ever!

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page

Faith Check 27 – Development of the Living Church w/Greg Youell

Development of the Living Church

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The celebrated English convert, John Henry Cardinal Newman, pointed out that the Catholic Church can be likened to a tiny acorn which grows into a tree—though it looks entirely different, it remains in its essence, the same thing. Likewise, a human grows from a tiny child to an adolescent through adulthood to old age, yet he remains the same person with the same DNA.

So too the Church grows and develops as the living Body of Christ. Of course, the Church of over one billion people today is not a mirror image of the relatively tiny Church in the first century Mediterranean we read about in the New Testament—nor should it be. The Church’s organization and outward forms are dynamic, not static, and must change to meet the needs of the age—yet the Church remains the same Church believing the same Faith.

The Church’s doctrine also grows and develops—never contradicting itself, but deepening with years of reflection and clarification. For instance, it was not until Christ’s divinity was denied that the Nicene Council gave us the Creed we profess each Sunday at Mass, which states precisely what we do and do not believe about our Lord. And so the grows the Church until the consummation of time.

MC4 – Praying with Scripture: Christian Contemplation and Meditation in the Ignatian tradition w/Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Episode 4 Praying with Scripture: Christian Contemplation and Meditation in the Ignatian tradition w/Fr. Timothhey Gallagher

Fr. Gallagher continues to discuss the differences and benefits of meditation and contemplation – the cornerstones of Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual practice.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:46 — 52.7MB) | Embed

For other episodes in the series visit The Discerning Hearts “Praying with Scripture” page

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

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday, Sunday, Sunday with Mark Hart

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The Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Podcast is a reflection on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings presented by LifeTeen.com and hosted by Mark Hart.

Sunday Readings from the USCCB

Reading 1 WIS 12:13, 16-19

Responsorial Psalm PS 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16

Reading 2 ROM 8:26-27

Gospel MT 13:24-30

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’
His slaves said to him,
‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”