Catholic Culture Audiobooks – Details, episodes & analysis

"They are the class of feelings we should have—yes, have in an intense degree—if we literally had the sight of Almighty God; therefore they are the class of feelings which we shall have, if we realize His presence."

This sermon appears among a collection of sermons originally written and preached by St. John Henry Newman before his conversion to Catholicism. In it, Newman emphasizes that true reverence arises from a deep, abiding awareness of God's presence.

Links

Reverence, a Belief in God's Presence full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon2.html

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"You thought perhaps when learned Campion dies,
His pen must cease, his sugared tongue be still;
But you forgot how loud his death it cries
How far beyond the sound of tongue and quill."

In 1581, a young Englishman named Henry Walpole attended the execution of the Jesuit Edmund Campion. As Campion was hung, drawn and quartered, Walpole stood close enough to be spattered with his holy blood. Though Campion’s fame in England was already great, Walpole would amplify it further with a splendid, lengthy poem, which became enormously popular among English Catholics—so popular that the man who printed the book had his ears cut off as punishment.

In his poem Walpole wrote:
We cannot fear a mortal torment, we,
This martyr’s blood hath moistened all our hearts,
Whose parted quarters when we chance to see
We learn to play the constant Christian’s parts.

This was more than wordplay: Two years after Campion’s death, Walpole became a priest, and was himself hung for the faith in 1595.

Links

Lyra Martyrum: The Poetry of the English Martyrs: https://www.clunymedia.com/product/lyra-martyrum/

Catholic Culture Podcast #69—The Poetry of the English Martyrs—Benedict Whalen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-69-poetry-english-martyrs-benedict-whalen/

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"So the man whom Satan has smitten ought not to be ashamed to confess his sin, and depart from it, and entreat for himself the medicine of penitence. For gangrene comes to the wound of him who is ashamed to show it, and harm comes to his whole body; and he who is not ashamed has his wound healed, and again returns to go down into the conflict."

St. Aphrahat is known in the tradition as “the Persian Sage.” Born in the late third century in the Persian Empire, he flourished amid persecution and is the earliest prominent witness to Syriac Christianity. He wrote in a dialect of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, and maintained close contact with Judaism, demonstrating a profound knowledge of Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish customs. He is best known for his collection of twenty-three writings called the "Demonstrations."

Demonstration VII concerns penitents. Composed in 336-337 A.D., it is the earliest work to treat of the early Church's approach to the sacrament of penance and pastoral care with such precision.

Links

Demonstration VII, On Penitents full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/aphrahat_dem7.htm

Learn more about St. Aphrahat on Way of the Fathers: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/27-aphrahat-parsee-sage-primary-in-time/

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

“True, we should esteem the things that make for the glory of God, but we should show the greatest esteem for those that concern the will of God.”

This week, we conclude our series of readings from St. Alphonsus’s Uniformity with God’s Will.

In these final chapters, St. Alphonsus turns his attention to times of spiritual desolation, when submission to the will of God can sometimes be the most difficult.

Alphonsus includes in his considerations: the sudden loss of others, particularly those by whom we are spiritually edified; dryness and difficulty in prayer; unrelenting temptation; as well as the circumstances of our own death.

“We should consider everything happening to us in the present," Alphonsus writes, "and everything that will happen to us in the future, as coming from the hands of God.”

To hearken back to the very first chapter of this work, uniformity with God’s will means something more than simply obeying God in this or that circumstance — it means, as St. Alphonsus puts it, “that we make one will of God’s will and ours… that God’s will alone, is our will.”

Links

Uniformity with God's Will Full text: http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/uniformity_with_Gods_will/un3.php

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

“...at the moment of Joseph's own ‘annunciation’ he said nothing; instead he simply ‘did as the angel of the Lord commanded him’. And this first ‘doing’ became the beginning of ‘Joseph's way’. The Gospels do not record any word ever spoken by Joseph along that way. But the silence of Joseph has its own special eloquence..."

On August 15th, 1889, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the encyclical letter Quamquam Pluries on devotion to St. Joseph. 100 years later, on August 15th, 1989—and only two years after the release of his great Marian encyclical, Redemptoris Mater, "Mother of the Redeemer"—Pope St. John Paul II gave his apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Custos, "Guardian of the Redeemer", on the person and mission of St. Joseph in the life of Christ and of the Church.

“It is my heartfelt wish,” St. John Paul writes, “that these reflections on the person of St. Joseph will renew in us the prayerful devotion which my Predecessor called for a century ago. Our prayers and the very person of Joseph have renewed significance for the Church in our day.”

St. Joseph the Worker, Guardian of the Redeemer — pray for us!

Links

Redemptoris Custos Full text: http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_15081989_redemptoris-custos.html

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

“Sickness is the acid test of spirituality, because it discloses whether our virtue is real or sham.”

If with the first three chapters, St. Alphonsus makes the case for obedience to God—the excellence of this virtue, and that man’s ultimate happiness derives from it—in these chapters, St. Alphonsus gets practical, turning his attention to those instances where obedience to God can sometimes be especially difficult.

In particular, he focuses on our susceptibility to sickness, and stresses the importance of obedience to God’s will in times of infirmity.

That renders these chapters especially relevant to our own day, when it should be apparent that most of our suffering over the past year has come from our attempt to avoid suffering, and certainly not to accept it in the spirit of trust and docility which St. Alphonsus here describes.

Indeed, in some places, Alphonsus’ words seem almost prophetic:

“It often happens,” St. Alphonsus writes, “that some, on the occasion of a slight illness, or even a slight indisposition, want the whole world to stand still…”

Sound familiar?

Links

Uniformity with God's Will Full text: http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/uniformity_with_Gods_will/un3.php

Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

“Conformity signifies that we join our wills to the will of God. Uniformity means more -- it means that we make one will of God's will and ours, so that we will only what God wills; that God's will alone, is our will.”

A few weeks ago, the Church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the proclamation, by Pope Pius IX, of St. Alphonsus Liguori as a Doctor of the Church.

St. Alphonsus was an Italian bishop who lived from 1696-1787. He is the patron saint of confessors, and is perhaps one of the most widely read Catholic authors in the world (translations of his works exist in over seventy different languages). St. Alphonsus was a prolific writer who wrote over one hundred works on spirituality and theology.

This text, Uniformity with God’s Will, was written in 1755, and represents a topic that was dear to St. Alphonsus’ heart. It is said that, in a similar way to how St. Ignatius stressed “all for the greater glory of God,” St. Alphonsus gave central importance to “the greater good pleasure of God.” After writing this work, St. Alphonsus frequently read it himself, and even had it read to him when his eyesight began to fail.

The extraordinary circumstances within which we find ourselves today require a careful consideration of where our obedience is owed. This classic work by a Doctor of the Church can help.

Links

Uniformity with God's Will Full text: http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/uniformity_with_Gods_will/un3.php

Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"... as His atoning passion was undergone in the body, so it was undergone in the soul also."

Mental Sufferings of Our Lord in His Passion full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/discourses/discourse16.html

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

“How, and when, did Mary take part—and the initial part—in the world's restoration? It was when the Angel Gabriel came to her to announce to her the great dignity which was to be her portion.”

This is a selection from a larger work by Newman, published posthumously as Meditations and Devotions. In the first part of the book, Newman meditates on the Litany of Loreto. His meditations are divided into four categories: On the Immaculate Conception, On the Annunciation, On Our Lady’s Dolors, and On the Assumption.

Here are Newman’s meditations on the titles of Mary most closely associated with the Annunciation: Queen of Angels, Mirror of Justice, Seat of Wisdom, Gate of Heaven, Mother of the Creator, Mother of Christ, and Mother of our Savior.

Links

On the Annunciation Full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/meditations/meditations2.html

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

“Joseph merited the greatest honors because he was never touched by honor. The Church has nothing more illustrious, because it has nothing more hidden.”

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a seventeenth-century French theologian and bishop. During his life, he was highly regarded for that for which today he is still most remembered: his preaching. His style and accomplishment as an orator has seen him numbered among the likes of Augustine and Chrysostom—two of the Church’s greatest preachers—and the most celebrated of his written works, Discourse on Universal History, has been favorably compared to Augustine’s own City of God. St. Junipero Serra and Pope Pius XII are included among those who cherished Bossuet’s writings, the latter of whom kept a copy of Bossuet by his bedside table. 

For all his fame as an orator and French stylist, however, Bossuet was also a man of great love for the study of Sacred Scripture, and for devotion to retirement and the interior life. It was only at the urging of St. Vincent de Paul (under whose spiritual direction Bossuet had prepared for the priesthood) that he moved to Paris and devoted himself entirely to preaching in the first place.

Though he would eventually go on to become the court preacher of Louis XIV, Bossuet continued to esteem hiddenness. In today’s reading, Bossuet observes: “The Christian life should be a hidden life, and the true Christian should ardently desire to remain hidden under God’s wing.”

Indeed, it is Joseph’s hiddenness that Bossuet recognizes is most essential to his greatness. Bossuet’s reflections here have fresh significance today, in our modern prestige economy played out on the Internet and in social media.

May Bossuet—among the best of preachers—convict us with his words; and may St. Joseph—the best of Teachers—teach us to be hidden.

St. Joseph, pray for us!

Links

St. Joseph: A Man after God's Own Heart full text: https://catholicexchange.com/saint-joseph-man-gods-heart

Meditations for Lent, Sophia Institute Press: https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/meditations-for-lent

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.