4 Archives - Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts
Day 7 – A Novena to St. John Paul II – Discerning Hearts Podcast
St John Paul II by Mike Roberts
A Novena to St. John Paul II – Day Seven
Reflection by Saint John Paul II:
“Certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the ‘light of the world.’”
Prayer for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity, we thank you
for having graced the Church with
Saint John Paul II and for allowing
the tenderness of your fatherly care,
the glory of the Cross of Christ
and the splendor of the Spir...
Day 6 – A Novena to St. John Paul II – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Pope John Paul II by Krzysztof Annusewicz,
A Novena to St. John Paul II – Day Six
Reflection by Saint John Paul II:
“The Good News which she received from her divine Founder obliges the Church to proclaim the message of salvation and human dignity and to condemn injustices and attacks on human dignity.”
Prayer for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity, we thank you
for having graced the Church with
Saint John Paul II and for allowing
the tenderness of your fatherly care,
the glo...
Day 5 – A Novena to St. John Paul II – Discerning Hearts Podcast
A Novena to St. John Paul II – Day 5
Reflection by Saint John Paul II:
“As we ask for forgiveness, let us also forgive. This is what we say every day when we recite the prayer Jesus taught us: ‘Our Father . . . forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’”
Prayer for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity, we thank you
for having graced the Church with
Saint John Paul II and for allowing
the tenderness of your fatherly care,
Day 4 – A Novena to St. John Paul II – Discerning Hearts Podcast
A Novena to St. John Paul II – Day 4
Reflection by Saint John Paul II:
“Faith is strengthened when it is given to others! It is in commitment to the Church’s universal mission that the new evangelization of Christian peoples will find inspiration and support.”
Prayer for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity, we thank you
for having graced the Church with
Saint John Paul II and for allowing
the tenderness of your fatherly care,
the glory of the Cross of...
Day 3 – A Novena to St. John Paul II – Discerning Hearts Podcast
A Novena to St. John Paul II – Day Three
Day Three
Reflection by Saint John Paul II:
“Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid.”
Prayer for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity, we thank you
for having graced the Church with
Saint John Paul II and for allowing
the ten...
Day 2 – A Novena to St. John Paul II – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 2 – A Novena to St. John Paul II
Reflection by Saint John Paul II:
“Darkness can only be scattered by light. Hatred can only be conquered by love. My most fervent wish, which I entrust to God in prayer . . . is that we should all carry in our unarmed hands the light of a love which nothing can discourage.”
Prayer for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity, we thank you
for having graced the Church with
Saint John Paul II and for allowi...
Day 9 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 9: CHARITY
St. Teresa you have said
The blessings gained through true poverty I think are many, and I wouldn’t want to lose them. I am often aware of a faith within me so great that I think God cannot fail anyone who serves Him. I know that there never is or will be any time in which His words will fail; for I cannot persuade myself otherwise, nor can I fear…It seems to me I have much more compassion for the poor than I used to. I feel such great p...
Day 1 – A Novena to St. John Paul II – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 1 – A Novena to St. John Paul II
Reflection by Saint John Paul II:
“It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted . . .”
Prayer for the Intercession of St. John Paul II
O Blessed Trinity, we thank you
for having graced the Church with
Saint John Paul II and for allowing
the tenderness of your fatherly care,
the gl...
Day 8 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 8: VIRTUES
St. Teresa you have said
“I repeat, it is necessary that your foundation consist of more than prayer and contemplation. If you do not strive for the virtues and practice them, you will always be dwarfs. And, please God, it will be only a matter of not growing, for you already know that whoever does not increase decreases. I hold that love, where present, cannot possibly be content with remaining always the same.”
—Interior Castle VII:4.9
Teresa writes these words toward the end of her description of the inte...
Day 7 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 7: SURRENDER
St. Teresa you have said
Myself surrendered and given,
The exchange is this:
My Beloved is for me,
And I am for my Beloved.
When the gentle Hunter
Wounded and subdued me,
In love’s arms,
My soul fallen;
New life receiving,
Thus did I exchange
My Beloved is for me,
And I am for my Beloved.
The arrow he drew
Full of love,
My soul was made one
With her Creator.
Other love I...
Day 6 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 6: THE REALITY OF HELL
St. Teresa you have said
“A long time after the Lord had already granted me many of the favors I’ve mentioned and other very lofty ones, while I was in prayer one day, I suddenly found that, without knowing how, I had seemingly been put in hell…The fact is that I don’t know how to give a sufficiently powerful description of that interior fire and that despair, coming in addition to such extreme torments and pains. I didn’t see who inflicted them on me, but, as...
Day 5 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 5: HUMILITY
St. Teresa you have said
“O Eternal Father! How much this humility deserves. What treasure do we have that could buy Your Son? The sale of Him, we already know, was for thirty pieces of silver. But to buy Him, no price is sufficient. Since by sharing in our nature He has become one with us here below—and as Lord of His own will—He reminds the Father that because He belongs to Him the Father in turn can give Him to us. And so He says, “our bread.” He doesn’t make an...
Day 4 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 4: THE SOUL
St. Teresa you have said
“It is that we consider our soul to be like a castle made entirely out of a diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven there are many dwelling places. For in reflecting upon it carefully, Sisters, we realize that the soul of the just person is nothing else but a paradise where the Lord says He finds His delight…I don’t find anything comparable to the magnificent beauty of a soul and its marvelous capacity...
Day 3 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 3: THE CENTRALITY OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
St. Teresa you have said
“The thought comes to me now that our good Jesus showed us the weakness of His humanity previous to the trials, and when He was in the abyss of His sufferings showed such great fortitude that He not only did not complain but did nothing that would make it appear He was suffering with weakness. When He went to the garden, He said: My soul is sorrowful even to death. Yet, while on the cross, for He was...
Day 2 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
Day 2 INTIMATE AND TRANSFORMATIVE PRAYER
St. Teresa you have said
“Whoever has not begun the practice of prayer, I beg for the love of the Lord not to go without so great a good. There is nothing here to fear but only something to desire…And if one perseveres, I trust then in the mercy of God, who never fails to repay anyone who has taken him for a friend. For mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone...
Day 1 – A Novena to St. Teresa of Avila – Discerning Hearts Podcast
DAY 1: QUALITY SPIRITUAL READING
St. Teresa you have said:
“The prioress should see to it that good books are available, especially The Life of Christ by the Carthusian, the Flos Sanctorum, The Imitation of Christ, The Oratory of Religious, and those books written by Fray Luis de Granada and by Father Fray Pedro de Alcantara. This sustenance for the soul is in some way as necessary as is food for the body.”
—Constitutions 8
In chapter 4 of her autobiography, Teresa recounts the story of a particular visit to her uncle, Pedro Sá...
We must be simple, humble and pure – St. Francis of Assisi from the Office of Readings – Discerning Hearts Podcast
A letter from St Francis of Assisi to all the faithful
“It was through his archangel, Saint Gabriel, that the Father above made known to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary that the worthy, holy and glorious Word of the Father would come from heaven and take from her womb the real flesh of our human frailty. Though he was wealthy beyond reckoning, he still willingly chose to be poor with his blessed mother. And shortly before his passion he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. Then he prayed to his Father saying: Father, if it be po...
