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IP#135 Christopher West – The Heart of the Gospel on Inside the Pages

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Christopher West is a pioneer in the area known as “The Theology of the Body”, a teaching found in the Wednesday audiences of Bl. John Paul II over the course of many years. In “The Heart of the Gospel: Reclaiming the body of the New Evangelization”, Christopher shares his insights and deeper understandings found in over 20 years of experience with this work and it’s relevance for our faith lives today. In the course of the book, he also answers those objections to his approach in the past. He dives deeply into the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, the teachings of the Saints, and above all, Sacred Scripture to find a richer expression of this important work and its message for our world today. Below is the complete interview I had with Christopher which lasted close to an hour. His humble, candid, honest approach to our discussion reveals his care and concern for the subject and great love for the work given to us by our late great Holy Father, Bl. John Paul II.

St. Francis de Sales, restoring the “universal call to holiness”

Denver, Colo., Jan 23, 2011 / 07:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Jan. 24, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that runs from Jan. 18-25, Catholics will celebrate the life of St. Francis de Sales. A bishop and Doctor of the Church, his preaching brought thousands of Protestants back to the Catholic fold, and his writings on the spiritual life have proved highly influential.

The paradoxical circumstances of Francis’ birth, in the Savoy region (now part of France) during 1567, sum up several contradictory tendencies of the Church during his lifetime. The reforms of the Council of Trent had purified the Church in important ways, yet Catholics and Protestants still struggled against one another – and against the temptations of wealth and worldly power.

Francis de Sales, a diplomat’s son, was born into aristocratic wealth and privilege. Yet he was born in a room that his family named the “St. Francis room” – where there hung a painting of that saint, renowned for his poverty, preaching in the wilderness. In later years, Francis de Sales would embrace poverty also; but early in his ministry, the faithful chided him for having an aristocratic manner.

In many ways, Francis’ greatest achievements – such as the “Introduction to the Devout Life,” an innovative spiritual guidebook for laypersons, or his strong emphasis on the role of human love in Christian devotion – represent successful attempts to re-integrate seemingly disparate “worldly” and “spiritual” realities into one coherent vision of life.

Pope Benedict on Prayer 19 – The Prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper

“In contemplating Jesus’ words and gestures that night, we can clearly see that it was in His intimate and constant relationship with the Father that He accomplished the gesture of leaving to His followers, and to all of us, the Sacrament of love”, said the Pope. During the Last Supper Jesus also prayed for His disciples, who likewise had to suffer harsh trials. With that prayer “He supported them in their weakness, their difficulty in understanding that the way of God had to pass through the Paschal mystery of death and resurrection, which was anticipated in the offer of bread and wine. The Eucharist is the food of pilgrims, a source of strength also for those who are tired, weary and disoriented”.

Faith Check 28 – Supporting our Priests

I once spoke with a priest of a large suburban parish with thousands of members, who told me that he could count the number of dinner invitations he had received over the past year from his parishioners on one hand. This shocked me as I knew he was very busy with his ministry, and I assumed that he was frequently invited to the homes and activities of his parishioners. Yet such was not the case.

It is easy to take our priests for granted. Our priests are men who have sacrificed everything—marriage, family, children—for the sake of the Gospel.1 And yet they are but men who, like everyone, need to be encouraged, welcomed, and loved.

Let us find ways to involve them in the lives of our families. Let us pray for them that they will grow in the grace of God and be protected from the attacks of the enemy;

And let us pray the Lord to send more priestly laborers into the harvest fields, so that the People of God might be sanctified, supported, and led in our earthly pilgrimage toward our Father’s House.

1 – cf. Mt. 19:10-12; 1 Cor. 7:32-35

St. Cecilia, patroness of music…of wordless prayer

St. Cecilia, her story is an extraordinary one of faithulness and commitment. Some would have you believe it was all “legend”, but the discovery of her incorrupt body in 1599 would bear otherwise. It seems to me the Lord is encouraging us to believe the witness of this courageous virgin martyr.

In St. Cecilia’s in Rome, I had one of the most peaceful and prayerful experiences while on pilgrimage to the “City of the Saints”.

St. Margaret of Scotland, pray for us

The Queen of my ancestoral home! Washing the feet of the poor
Margaret was very pious and carried out many works of charity. She visited and cared for the sick and had hostels built for the poor. It was her custom that the poor should visit her every morning and be seated around her to receive alms.

St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa never sought out the mystical experiences that she experienced, but resigned herself to God’s will and considers the experiences a divine blessing. She spent long hours in meditation that she called the “prayer of quiet” and the “prayer of union.” During such prayers she frequently went into a trance, and at times entered upon mystical flights in which she would feel as if her soul were lifted out of her body. She said ecstasy was like a “detachable death” and her soul became awake to God as never before when the faculties and senses are dead.

Faith Check 19 – Contraception vs. Natural Family Planning (NFP)

The Catholic teaching that it is a sin to use contraception is nothing new but is the perennial teaching of Judeo-Christian morality. Only in the 1930s did any Christians begin teaching that contraception could be morally acceptable.1

The Seventh Mansions chapter 2 – The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila audio mp3 edition –

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The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila audio mp3 edition – The Seventh Mansions chapter 2

1. The spiritual nuptials introduced by an imaginary vision. 2. Spiritual betrothal and marriage differ. 3. Spiritual marriage lasting. 4. Not so spiritual betrothal. 5. Spiritual marriage permanent. 6. St. Paul and spiritual marriage. 7. The soul’s joy in union. 8. Its conviction of God’s indwelling. 9. Its peace. 10. Christ’s prayer for the divine union of the soul. 11. Its fulfilment. 12. Unalterable peace of the soul in the seventh Mansion. 13. Unless it offends God. 14. Struggles outside the seventh Mansion. 15. Comparisons explaining this.

The Seventh Mansions chapter 4 – The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila audio mp3 edition –

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1. Vicissitudes of the Seventh Mansion. 2. Humility produced by them. 3. Such souls free from mortal and from wilful venial sins. 4. The fate of Solomon. 5. Holy fear. 6. These favours strengthen souls to suffer. 7. Crosses borne by the saints. 8. Effect of vision of our Lord on St. Peter. 9. Fruits of these favours. 10. Why the spiritual marriage takes place. 11. Love for Christ proved by our deeds. 12. True spirituality. 13. Humility and the virtues must combine with prayer. 14. Zeal of advanced souls. 15. Strengthened by the divine Presence within them. 16. Examples of the saints. 17. Both Martha and Mary must serve our Lord. 18. Christ’s food. 19. Mary’s mortification. 20. Her grief at the Passion. 21. Can we lead souls to God? 22. How to do so. 23. Love gives value to our deeds. 24. Conclusion.