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BKL#41 – Veni Hospice, Veni Christus with Msgr. John Esseff

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Msgr. Esseff reflects on the need to be aware of Christ’s “presence”.

GospelLK 10:38-42

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary Mary-and-Martha

who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”

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”

IP#224 Dr. Robert George – Conscience and Its Enemies on Inside the Pages

“Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism” is one of the best articulations of today’s battle over religious liberty and traditional morality. Dr. Robert George’s clarity and insight are indispensable for understanding where we have been, where we are going, and what paths we could be traveling down if we fail to act on the leading morality challenges facing as individuals and citizens. Pass by this book and its message at your own risk.

As the book description states: “In defending what James Madison called the “sacred rights of conscience”—rights for which government shows frightening contempt—George grapples with today’s most controversial issues: abortion and infanticide, same-sex marriage, genetic manipulation, euthanasia and assisted suicide, religion in politics, judicial activism, and more. His brilliantly argued essays rely not on theological claims or religious authority but on established scientific facts and a philosophical tradition that extends back to Plato and Aristotle.”

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You can find it here

“One of the nation’s most respected legal theorists . . . Even people who profoundly disagree with some of his conclusions [respect] his sheer brilliance, the analytic power of his arguments, the range of his knowledge . . . [and] a deeply principled conviction, a profound and enduring integrity.” —Elena Kagan, Supreme Court justice

“One of the most incisive legal and moral thinkers working today.” —First Things

“One of contemporary conservatism’s intellectual pinups.” —George F. Will

“Professor George has helped strengthen our nation’s system of ordered liberty by exploring enduring questions of American constitutional law and Western political theory.” —President George W. Bush, in awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal

BKL39 – “Who Do You Say That I Am?” with Msgr. John Esseff

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Msgr. Esseff reflects on the readings for the day and in particular the question asked by Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?” Do we witness to this Truth? What are the blocks in our hearts to authentically proclaiming Jesus to the world around us?

Gospel LK 9:18-24

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist;
others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them
and directed them not to tell this to anyone.He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

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”

BKL38 – “I Live, No Longer I, But Christ Lives In Me” – Are you aware of who you are? with Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts

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Msgr. Esseff reflects on the readings for the day and in particular the teachings of the St. Paul, “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me”. Are we aware of the power we have, through grace, to live in, with, and through the life of Christ?

GAL 2:16, 19-21

Brothers and sisters:
We who know that a person is not justified by works of the law
but through faith in Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Christ Jesus
that we may be justified by faith in Christ
and not by works of the law,
because by works of the law no one will be justified.
For through the law I died to the law,
that I might live for God.
I have been crucified with Christ;
yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me;
insofar as I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith in the Son of God
who has loved me and given himself up for me.
I do not nullify the grace of God;
for if justification comes through the law,
then Christ died for nothing.

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”

IP#222 Joseph Pearce – Shakespeare on Love on Inside the Pages

Another outstanding addition to the Joseph Pearce canon! “Shakespeare on Love: Seeing the Catholic Presence in Romeo and Joseph-Pearce-1 Juliet” is a terrific read. Once again Jospeh Pearce helps us to see that the story we thought we knew is something very different when viewed with the Catholic Shakepeares len’s. Is Romeo a hero or a self indulgent cad? Is Juliet a free thinking woman or a relationship starved 13 year old victimized by an adult male predator? And how about those adults? Just look at what happens when Eros runs a muck, and virtue is replaced blindly in favor of vice! Let us not forget to mention the tragedy which occurs from bad parenting. Sexual desire and the gift of reason are explored in this compelling work by the prolific Pearce. Who would have thought a book about a 500 year old play would contain such important lessons for our lives today.

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You can find the book here

“Joseph Pearce’s book on Romeo and Juliet stands like a lighthouse in the murk of modern literary criticism. His approach challenges the assumptions that govern popular ‘scholarly’ work on Shakespeare in our time. It is massively researched, convincing, intelligent, and (happily) interesting. I commend it highly to all possible readers.” —-Thomas Howard, Author, Chance or the Dance?

The Seven Secrets of the Eucharist – In Conversation with Vinny Flynn

Our conversation with Vinny Flynn, on the “Seven Secrets of the Eucharist”, is one of the most popular interviews we have had on the Morning Show. Vinny’s love for the Eucharist pours out in his descriptions of just some of the beautiful “secrets” found in this great mystery and gift to us all. Find out also the great connection between the Divine Mercy and the Eucharist (it really isn’t a secret…thank you St. Faustina!).

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Other reviews of this book:

If you are looking for new ways to increase your devotion to Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, this is the book for you, and I suggest you buy several copies for your friends. — Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R.

This book will change your understanding and experience of the Holy Eucharist in an amazing way. Each of the 7 Secrets of the Eucharist will lead you into the fire of ‘Eucharistic amazement’ called for by Pope john Paul II (Ecclesia de Eucharistia). Fr. George W. Kosicki, C.S.B.

This little book is a real gem. A `must read’ for any Catholic. In fact, I would recommend this book to anyone. –George Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sydney

St. Justin Martyr – A Father of the Church: “pioneer of positive engagement with philosophical thinking – albeit with cautious discernment…. ” with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts

Join us a we discuss the life St. Justin Martyr with the wonderful Mike Aquilina

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You can also read the following from Vatican.va

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

St Peter’s Square
Wednesday, 21 March 2007

St Justin, Philosopher and Martyr (c. 100-165)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In these Catecheses, we are reflecting on the great figures of the early Church. Today, we will talk about St Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, the most important of the second-century apologist Fathers.

The word “apologist” designates those ancient Christian writers who set out to defend the new religion from the weighty accusations of both pagans and Jews, and to spread the Christian doctrine in terms suited to the culture of their time.

Thus, the apologists had a twofold concern: that most properly called “apologetic”, to defend the newborn Christianity (apologhía in Greek means, precisely, “defence”), and the pro-positive, “missionary” concern, to explain the content of the faith in a language and on a wavelength comprehensible to their contemporaries.

Justin was born in about the year 100 near ancient Shechem, Samaria, in the Holy Land; he spent a long time seeking the truth, movi
Finally, as he himself recounts in the first chapters of his Dialogue with Tryphon, a mysterious figure, an old man he met on the seashore, initially leads him into a crisis by showing him that it is impossible for the human being to satisfy his aspiration to the divine solely with his own forces. He then pointed out to him the ancient prophets as the people to turn to in order to find the way to God and “true philosophy”.ng through the various schools of the Greek philosophical tradition.

In taking his leave, the old man urged him to pray that the gates of light would be opened to him.
The story foretells the crucial episode in Justin’s life: at the end of a long philosophical journey, a quest for the truth, he arrived at the Christian faith. He founded a school in Rome where, free of charge, he initiated students into the new religion, considered as the true philosophy. Indeed, in it he had found the truth, hence, the art of living virtuously.

For this reason he was reported and beheaded in about 165 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor to whom Justin had actually addressed one of his Apologia.

These – the two Apologies and the Dialogue with the Hebrew, Tryphon – are his only surviving works. In them, Justin intends above all to illustrate the divine project of creation and salvation, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Logos, that is, the eternal Word, eternal Reason, creative Reason.

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BKL35 – The Great Gift of Penetcost with Msgr. John Esseff

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Msgr. Esseff reflects on the readings for the great feast of Pentecost He discusses the birth of our true identity, and in particular, what it means to be Christ in the world today.

From the NAB

ROM 8:8-17

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 that dwells in you.
Consequently, brothers and sisters,
we are not debtors to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die,
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you received a Spirit of adoption,
through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
if only we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him.

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”

St. Damian of Molokai, apostle of the exiled w/ Dr. Matthew Bunson

Dr Matthew Bunson co-wrote, with Margaret Bunson, a compelling biography of St. Damien.
Dr. Bunson took time to share many more aspects of the life of this incredible saint.

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St Jozef Damien De Veuster (1840-1889) – from vatican.va

St Jozef Damien De Veuster, ss.cc, was born at Tremelo, Belgium, on 3 January 1840 (see also p. 8). Jozef (“Jef”) began his novitiate with the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (“Picpus Fathers”) at the beginning of 1859 and took the name Damien. He would pray every day before a picture of St Francis

Xavier, patron of missionaries, to be sent on a mission. In 1863 his brother, who was to leave for a mission in the Hawaiian Islands, fell ill. Since preparations for the voyage had already been made, Damien obtained permission from the Superior General to take his brother’s place. He landed in Honolulu on 19 March 1864. He was ordained to the priesthood on the following 21 May.

At that time, the Hawaiian Government decided on the harsh measure of quarantine aimed at preventing the spread of leprosy: the deportation to the neighbouring Island of Molokai of all those infected by what was then thought to be an incurable disease. The entire mission was concerned about the abandoned lepers and Bishop Louis Maigret, a Picpus father, felt sure they needed priests. He did not want to send anyone “in the name of obedience” because he was aware such an assignment was a potential death sentence. Of the four brothers who volunteered, Damien was the first to leave on 10 May 1873 for Kalaupapa.

At his own request and that of the lepers, he remained on Molokai. Having contracted leprosy himself, he died on 15 April 1889, at the age of 49, after serving 16 years among the lepers. He was buried in the local cemetery under the same Pandanus tree where he had first slept upon his arrival in Molokai. His remains were exhumed in 1936 at the request of the Belgian Government and translated to a crypt of the Church of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts at Louvain. Damien is universally known for having freely shared the life of the lepers in quarantine on the Kalaupapa Peninsula of Molokai. His departure for the “cursed isle”, the announcement of his illness (leprosy) in 1884 and his subsequent death deeply impressed his contemporaries of all denominations.

Damien was above all a Catholic missionary. Fr Damien is known today as a hero of charity because he identified so closely with thevictims of leprosy.

He respected the religious convictions of others; he accepted them as people and received with joy their collaboration and their help. With a heart wide open to the most abject and wretched, he showed no difference in his approach and in his care of the lepers. In his parish ministry or in his works of charity he found a place for everyone.

He continues to inspire thousands of believers and non-believers who wish to imitate him and to discover the source of his heroism. People of all creeds and all philosophical systems recognized in him the Servant of God which he always revealed himself to be, and respect his passion for the salvation of souls.

Pope John Paul II beatified Damien de Veuster in Brussels on 4 June 1995.

St. Athanasius – Father and Doctor of the Church w/Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts

St. Athanasius is one of the great Father and Doctors of the Church…the Father of Orthodoxy. His extraordinary life is shared with us by Mike Aquilina. When we say “consubstantial” at mass it’s due in part to St. Athansius and the battle against the Arian Heresy. Take a listen and learn more…

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More on the life of St. Athanasius from Pope Benedict at Vatican.va

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Continuing our revisitation of the great Teachers of the ancient Church, let us focus our attention today on St Athanasius of Alexandria.
>Only a few years after his death, this authentic protagonist of the Christian tradition was already hailed as “the pillar of the Church” by Gregory of Nazianzus, the great theologian and Bishop of Constantinople (Orationes, 21, 26), and he has always been considered a model of orthodoxy in both East and West.

As a result, it was not by chance that Gian Lorenzo Bernini placed his statue among those of the four holy Doctors of the Eastern and Western Churches – together with the images of Ambrose, John Chrysostom and Augustine – which surround the Chair of St Peter in the marvellous apse of the Vatican Basilica.

Athanasius was undoubtedly one of the most important and revered early Church Fathers. But this great Saint was above all the impassioned theologian of the Incarnation of the Logos, the Word of God who – as the Prologue of the fourth Gospel says – “became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1: 14).

For this very reason Athanasius was also the most important and tenacious adversary of the Arian heresy, which at that time threatened faith in Christ, reduced to a creature “halfway” between God and man, according to a recurring tendency in history which we also see manifested today in various forms.

In all likelihood Athanasius was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in about the year 300 A.D. He received a good education before becoming a deacon and secretary to the Bishop of Alexandria, the great Egyptian metropolis. As a close collaborator of his Bishop, the young cleric took part with him in the Council of Nicaea, the first Ecumenical Council, convoked by the Emperor Constantine in May 325 A.D. to ensure Church unity. The Nicene Fathers were thus able to address various issues and primarily the serious problem that had arisen a few years earlier from the preaching of the Alexandrian priest, Arius.

With his theory, Arius threatened authentic faith in Christ, declaring that the Logos was not a true God but a created God, a creature “halfway” between God and man who hence remained for ever inaccessible to us. The Bishops gathered in Nicaea responded by developing and establishing the “Symbol of faith” [“Creed”] which, completed later at the First Council of Constantinople, has endured in the traditions of various Christian denominations and in the liturgy as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

In this fundamental text – which expresses the faith of the undivided Church and which we also recite today, every Sunday, in the Eucharistic celebration – the Greek term homooúsiosis featured, in Latin consubstantialis: it means that the Son, the Logos, is “of the same substance” as the Father, he is God of God, he is his substance. Thus, the full divinity of the Son, which was denied by the Arians, was brought into the limelight.

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