IP#251 – Anne Costa – Embracing Edith Stein on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

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What a joy to discover “Embracing Edith Stein: Wisdom for Women from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross” by author Anne Costa. Far from a clinical dissertation on Edith Stein’s writings, Anne introduces us to a woman with whom she has shared a rich spiritual friendship. By learning from and then implementing her wealth of teaching, Anne gives a saint who can help us to grow in faith and wisdom . Highly recommended!

You can find the book here

From the book description:

Embracing Edith Stein shows how the different aspects of the life and teachings of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross can serve as a guide for women and their unique vocation today. Written in a friendly, conversational style, this is one woman sharing the story of her friendship with this saint with her readers.

Day 7 St. Clare of Assisi Novena – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Day 7

From the testament of St. Clare

In the Lord Jesus Christ, I admonish and exhort all my sisters, both those present and those to come, to strive always to imitate the way of holy simplicity, humility, and poverty and [to preserve] the integrity of [our] holy manner of life, as we were taught by our blessed Father Francis from the beginning of our conversion to Christ. Thus may they always remain in the fragrance of a good name (cf. 2 Cor 2:15), both among those who are afar off and those who are near. [This will take place] not by our own merits but solely by the mercy and grace of our Benefactor, the Father of mercies (cf. 2 Cor 1:3).

Dear St. Clare,

As a young girl you imitated your mother’s love for the poor of your native Assisi.

Inspired by the preaching of St. Francis, who sang enthusiastically of His Lord Jesus and Lady Poverty, you gave your life to Jesus at nineteen years of age, allowing St. Francis to cut off your beautiful hair and invest you with the Franciscan habit.

All through your life you offered your great suffering for your Sisters, the Poor Clares, and the conversion of souls. You greatly aided St. Francis with his new order, carrying on his spirit in the Franciscans after his death.

Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor.

Please pray for me (mention your request) that I will seek to keep Jesus as my first love, as you did. Help me to grow in love of the Blessed Sacrament, to care for the poor, and to offer my whole life to God.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare. Through her intercession, please hear and answer my prayer, in the name of Jesus Your Son.

Amen.

For the complete novena visit the St. Clare Novena Discerning Hearts Page

Day 6 St. Clare of Assisi Novena – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Day 6

From a letter to St. Agnes of Prague

The kingdom of heaven is promised and given by the Lord only to the poor: for he who loves temporal things loses the fruit of love. Such a person cannot serve God and Mammon, for either the one is loved and the other is hated, or the one is served and the other despised.

You also know that one who is clothed cannot fight with another who is naked, because he is more quickly thrown who gives his adversary a chance to get hold of him; and that one who lives in the glory of earth cannot rule with Christ in heaven.

Dear St. Clare,

As a young girl you imitated your mother’s love for the poor of your native Assisi.

Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare. Through her intercession, please hear and answer my prayer, in the name of Jesus Your Son.

Amen.

For the complete novena visit the St. Clare Novena Discerning Hearts Page

Day 3 St. Clare of Assisi Novena – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Day 3

From a letter to St. Agnes of Prague

Consider also the midst of his life, his humility, or at least his blessed poverty, the countless hardships, and the punishments that he endured for the redemption of the human race. Indeed, ponder the final days of this mirrored one, contemplate the ineffable love with which he was willing to suffer on the tree of the cross and to die there a kind of death that is more shameful than any other. That mirror suspended upon the wood of the cross from there kept urging those passing by of what must be considered, saying: O all you who pass by this way, look and see if there is any suffering like my suffering. In response let us with one voice and in one spirit answer him who is crying out and lamenting: I will remember this over and over and my soul will sink within me.

Dear St. Clare,

As a young girl you imitated your mother’s love for the poor of your native Assisi.

Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, which fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare. Through her intercession, please hear and answer my prayer, in the name of Jesus Your Son.

Amen.

For the complete novena visit the St. Clare Novena Discerning Hearts Page

GWML#9 Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Scarlet Letter” – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Discerning Hearts

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Episode 9 – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Nathaniel Hawthorne

A key figure in the development of American literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne was also profoundly influenced by his ancestors and the Christianity that underscored their Puritan heritage. A literary classic, The Scarlet Letter presents a profound meditation on the nature of sin, repentance, and redemption, and how such Christian concepts may be integrated into American democracy.

Based on the Ignatius Critical Edition, this series examines, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, the life, the times, and influence of authors of great works in literature.

Joseph Pearce is currently the Writer-in-Residence and Visiting Fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is also Visiting Scholar at Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire. He is co-editor of the Saint Austin Review (or StAR), an international review of Christian culture, literature, and ideas published in England (Family Publications) and the United States (Sapientia Press). He is also the author of many books, including literary biographies of Solzhenitsyn, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Oscar Wilde.

To learn more about the authors and titles available in the Ignatius Critical Editions

ROF#10 – “Defending Human Life: The Early Church and Abortion” – Roots of the Faith with Mike Aquilina

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Episode 10 – Defending Human Life: The Early Church and Abortion

Roots of the Faith – From the Church Fathers to You with Mike Aquilina, makes clear that just as an acorn grows into a tree and yet remains the same plant, so the Catholic Church is a living organism that has grown from the faith of the earliest Christians into the body of Christ we know today. Hosted by Kris McGregor

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

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

IP#220 Mother Dolores Hart O.S.B. – The Ear of the Heart on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

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This is the best biography I have read in years! What a glorious testament to the fruitfulness of the Benedictine rule and how it transforms lives. Mother Dolores Hart brings to us a generous sharing of her life experience and the joy found in the peace and stability in the living with her monastic community. How could a woman walk away from “having it all”? Mother Dolores discovered the “pearl of great price”, and she found it by listening to the “ear of the heart”. An absolutely fantastic read and spiritually fulfilling work. A must read!!!! This conversation will go down as one of my favorites of all time!!! Thank you God!!!

You can find the book here
“What a joy to be in the company of Mother Dolores Hart. She is a compassionate narrator, from her childhood days, darkened by parental alcoholism, to her Hollywood career and her calling as a Catholic nun. Mother Dolores talks candidly about the difficulty of becoming a cloistered, Benedictine nun. The struggle with years of discipline and the rigorous farm work at the Abbey of Regina Laudis. We learn there was something in her deepest heart she sought.” — —-Pia Lindstrom, television journalist, daughter of Ingrid Bergman

“Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.”
Saint Benedict

“Mother Dolores Hart is a remarkable woman with a remarkable story-one of love, devotion, and faith.”
—Maria Shriver, bestselling author of Just Who Will You Be?

ROF#9 – Sexuality, Marriage, Contraception – Roots of the Faith with Mike Aquilina

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Mike Aquilina - Fathers of the Church and so much more... 5

Episode 9 – Sexuality, Marriage, Contraception

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

GWML#5 Charles Dickens “Great Expectations” – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Charles Dickens

St. Pope John Paul II described Dickens’ books as “filled with love for the poor and a sense of social regeneration . . . warm with imagination and humanity”. Such true charity permeates Dickens’ novels and ultimately drives the characters either to choose regeneration or risk disintegration. In Great Expectations, Pip — symbolic of the pilgrim convert — gains both improved fortunes and a growth in wisdom, but as he acquires the latter, he must relinquish the former — ending with a wealth of profound goodness, not of worldly goods.

by (George) Herbert Watkins, photograph,1858

That the Dickensian message was a Christian one is unmistakable. Reminiscent of an Augustinian model, one of reflection, conversion, and moral improvement, Pip undergoes an internal change that manifests itself in his profound contrition for his earlier deeds and his equally profound resolution to make amends. As we travel with Pip, we find that Dickens leads us to an acceptance of worldly limitations and an anticipation of final salvation.

Based on the Ignatius Critical Edition, this series examines, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, the life, the times, and influence of authors of great works in literature.

To learn more about the authors and titles available in the Ignatius Critical Editions

GWML#4 Oscar Wilde and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce – Discerning Hearts podcast

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Episode 4 – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce podcast – Oscar Wilde and “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

In true Faustian tradition, The Picture of Dorian Gray authored by Oscar Wilde tells the tale of a young man who sells his soul to the devil in return for youthful immortality, only to discover that the “devil’s bargain” is no bargain at all. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

When Dorian Gray is asked this question he knows the answer. He has learned his lesson the hard way and has added the destroyed lives of others into the bargain. The moral is inescapable, making The Picture of Dorian Gray more than merely a classic of Victorian literature. It is a classic of Christian literature also. Joseph Pearce can speak about the heart and mind of Oscar Wilde in a unique way, he is the author of “The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde”

Based on the Ignatius Critical Edition, this series examines, from the Judeo-Christian perspective, the life, the times, and influence of authors of great works in literature.