"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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“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

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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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“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.

“Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.”

This is the first-hand account of the events leading up to and including the martyrdom of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, documented by Perpetua herself while in prison. Alongside her testimony is another text written by one of her companions, Saturus, as well as an eyewitness account of the executions themselves.

Originally written in Latin, the document is considered to have been at least edited by Tertullian, though whether he composed the narrator portions himself or not remains unknown.

Additional narration provided by Karina Majewski.

Links

Full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1678&repos=8&subrepos=0&searchid=2097575#

Way of the Fathers Ep. 15—Perpetua: A Rare Female Voice from Antiquity https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/perpetua-rare-female-voice-from-antiquity/

Catholic Culture Audiobooks: The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/martyrdom-st-polycarp/ 

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"The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already… but the Church of faith."

In 1969, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger gave a radio address in which he made some predictions for the Church heading into the new millennium. The notion often attributed to him that the church would become “smaller and purer” is derived from this speech.

Interestingly, the phrase “smaller and purer”—often misconstrued to suggest that Ratzinger wanted to drive people away from the Church—does not actually occur anywhere in the address. Instead, Ratzinger states that the Church of tomorrow will be “a more spiritualized and simplified Church.” Far from driving people away, this Church, sifted through the crucible of trials, will be discovered by those outside of it as something wholly new and attractive.

To cast into the future this way, Ratzinger looks to the time of Enlightenment—the historical moment which Ratzinger sees as most analogous to the times in which the Church finds herself today. “It is precisely in times of vehement historical upheaval,” Ratzinger writes, “that men need to reflect upon history.” 

Links

Joseph Ratzinger - Aspects of Christian Meditation audiobook: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/joseph-ratzinger-aspects-christian-meditation/

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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.

“Day and night follow each other not more surely, than punishment comes upon sin… just as a stone falls to the earth, or as fire burns, or as poison kills, as if by the necessary bond of cause and effect.”

Penitence is the focus of this sermon, given by Newman some years before his conversion to Catholicism. In it he addresses a topic too often neglected: the consequence of sin—of a single sin, at that. Even for Catholics, it can at times be all too easy simply to go to confession, receive absolution, and to forget that certain consequences remain—that reparations remain to be made—and that the work of penitence is ongoing.

Even when we do attend to the consequences of our sin—above all, to the harm that our sin inflicts upon Jesus—these consequences can feel far removed, considered only in the abstract. In, this too, Newman's sermon is beneficial. By looking at the moral consequence of sin, Newman considers sin’s consequence in an imminent and concrete light, able to stir us from complacency.

Links

Moral Consequences of Single Sins Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume4/sermon3.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.

"Your very perplexity in reconciling the surface of things with our Lord's announcements, the very temptation you lie under to explain away the plain words of Scripture, shows you that your standard of good and evil, and the standard of all around you, must be very different from God's standard."

In this sermon from his Anglican period, Newman reflects upon the challenging truth proclaimed uniformly throughout Scripture: the chosen are few, though many are called.

Links

Many Called, Few Chosen full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon18.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.

“The paradoxical truth is that tames are more effective agents of the gay agenda than gays themselves... The tame commitment to the noncommittal is the engine that powers gay progress in the Church.”

Fr. Paul Mankowski, a Jesuit of the Midwest province and former contributor to CatholicCulture.org, passed away suddenly in September 2020 at the age of 66. At the time, we released an audiobook recording of “What Went Wrong?”, a 2003 address to the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy in which Fr. Mankowski presents an excellent analysis of how the Catholic clerical sexual abuse crisis occurred.

Fr. Mankowkski’s words remain as relevant as ever. That was as much the case with his address on “What Went Wrong”, as it is with this description of the phenomenon of “the tame priest”, written in 1996.

If you have looked with increasing bewilderment and frustration at the action—or, better put, inaction—of members of the Church’s clergy, especially among her bishops, then “Tames in Clerical Life” just may shed new light on the problem.

Links

"Tames in Clerical Life" full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/userfiles/files/Tames.pdf

"What Went Wrong?" on Catholic Culture Audiobooks: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/fr-paul-mankowski-what-went-wrong/

Phil Lawler Tribute to Fr. Mankowski: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/farewell-uncle-di-father-paul-mankowski-rip/ 

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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.

“Is the enemy of Christ, and His Church, to arise out of a certain special falling away from GOD? And is there no reason to fear that some such Apostasy is gradually preparing, gathering, hastening on in this very day?”

This is the first in a series of four lectures written before Newman’s conversion to Catholicism and which initially appeared among Newman’s “Tracts for the Times”—an effort by Newman and others to firm up a definite basis of doctrine and discipline for the Church of England.

Decades later, and after his conversion to Catholicism, Newman would choose to have The Patristical Idea of Antichrist re-published in a collection called “Discussions and Arguments”, from which this reading comes.

Part 1, The Times of Antichrist, is an exhortation to take seriously prophecy concerning the Antichrist, and to recognize these prophecies as referring to a specific time and concerning a specific individual.

Apostasy, Newman says, is that which unfailingly prepares the way for the spirit of Antichrist—a spirit already active in the world, ever struggling to bring about its ultimate fulfillment, and a spirit that each of us either resists or hastens the coming of its day.

Links

The Times of Antichrist Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/arguments/antichrist/lecture1.html

Way of the Fathers w/ Mike Aquilina, Ep. 32—Julian, the Apostate Who Aped the Church: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/32julian-apostate-who-aped-church/

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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.

“I have discussed in these four books not the kind of man I am, because I have many failings, but the kind of man he should be who strives to labor in sound teaching, that is, in Christian teaching...”

We’ve finally reached the end of our seven-part reading series of St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, or On Christian Instruction. Whether you’re fully caught up on all of the previous episodes, or if you’ve not listened to any of them, you’ll still stand to benefit from today’s episode.

That’s because Augustine concerns himself in these final chapters with concrete rhetorical advice, and practical strategies for speaking and instruction. 

He does so primarily by outlining three basic styles of speech: the subdued style, the moderate style, and the grand style. To illustrate each of these three styles, Augustine provides extended quotes from the letters of St. Paul, as well as from two other orators whom he greatly respects: St. Cyprian and St. Ambrose.

Augustine rounds out Book 4 with an emphasis on the effect that a speaker’s life will have upon his speech, and on how important a role moral character plays in the way a speech is ultimately received by others.

Finally, Augustine returns to a point he has made throughout De Doctrina Christiana: the power of prayer — prayer before speaking, and prayer after speaking, asking for the grace of God “in whose hand are both we and our words.”

Links

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

Previous De Doctrina Christiana episodes: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm 

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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.

"Thus when we would know who God is, we answer: Jesus."

This episode features sermon notes jotted down by St. John Henry Newman in 1851.

Before his conversion, Newman had always read his sermons from a prepared manuscript, according to Anglican custom at the time. As a Catholic priest, he instead preached his homilies in a manner to which Catholics were more accustomed, with a more extemporaneous feel.

Interestingly, his sermon notes were for the most part written down after the sermon, not before - an indication that Newman continued to develop his thoughts even as he preached.

Links

On the Name of Jesus (sermon notes) Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/sermonnotes/file2.html#sermon11

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“Thus, in praying for himself and for those whom he is about to address, [the orator] should be a suppliant before he is a speaker… Who can make us say what we should, and say it in the way we should, except Him in whose ‘hand are both we and our words’?”

With this fourth and final book of Augustine’s work On Christian Instruction, we finally arrive at the chapters dedicated to, well, instruction. Whereas in Books 1-3 Augustine exhaustively describes the process of ascertaining the meaning of the Scriptures, here he turns his attention to the manner in which that meaning should be conveyed and taught. 

And Augustine would know a thing or two about this: before his conversion, Augustine was an accomplished orator, schooled in the best Roman traditions of rhetoric. It's exciting to see Augustine’s expertise and passion for the subject.

Augustine directs Book 4 to those who will be responsible for preaching and teaching the faith—the clergy, in particular. Augustine reasons that if those whose purposes are evil will make good use of rhetorical rules to disseminate their message effectively, how tragic it is if those preaching the Gospel do not also exercise the same care. 

Still, the Christian orator succeeds, Augustine says, “more through the piety of his prayers than through the power of his oratory.”

Links

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

Previous De Doctrina Christiana episodes: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm 

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.

“Consider what it is you mean by praying, and you will see that, at that very time that you are asking for the coming of His kingdom, you are anticipating that coming, and accomplishing the thing you fear.”

This Advent sermon appears among a collection of sermons originally written and preached by St. John Henry Newman before his conversion to Catholicism. In it, Newman addresses the question: How are we to pray for Our Lord’s coming, even as His Coming necessarily involves the end of our time for conversion?

Links

Shrinking from Christ’s Coming Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume5/sermon4.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.

“Students of these revered writings should be advised not only to learn the kinds of expressions in the Holy Scriptures… but also to pray that they may understand them.”

With these final chapters of Book 3, Augustine wraps up his treatment of figurative expressions. He illustrates just how tricky scriptural interpretation can be, citing instances wherein the same literary figure is employed in different—or even contrary—ways. He quotes many scriptural examples throughout these chapters, always careful to highlight the clearer instances in order to illuminate the more obscure ones.

Augustine shows how the scriptural authors utilized the whole range of literary devices—including metaphor, irony, parable, and allegory—even if the authors themselves did not define those devices as such.

And finally, Augustine relates a set of seven rules for scriptural interpretation—rules that were previously enumerated by a certain Donatist heretic named Tyconius, but that are here refined and repurposed within the broader context of Augustine’s work.

Augustine is careful to stress, however, that these rules alone cannot be relied upon as though a key to unlock the meaning of Holy Scripture. Indeed, as he concludes Book 3, Augustine emphasizes prayer—which he describes as “chiefly and especially necessary” when it comes to understanding the Scriptures.

Links

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

Previous De Doctrina Christiana episodes: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm 

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.

We had planned today to release the fifth installment in our seven-part series of St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana — but in light of renewed lockdown measures being implemented across the United States and elsewhere, we’ve decided instead to re-release another work of Augustine’s previously featured on the show: his letter to Honoratus, on the necessity of keeping the sacraments available.

As a Church, let’s not do what we did before in the first shutdown. Let’s not go silently into that good night. Let’s let government officials—and, even more importantly, church leaders—know that the administration of the sacraments is an essential service.

If you missed this episode the first time around, give it a listen. Or listen again, considering all that’s transpired in the five months since we first released this reading. For access to this and all of our previous episodes, register for free at catholicculture.org/getaudio

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120446/early-christian-biographies

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3143

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

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.

"Is my gloom, after all, / Shade of his hand, outstretched caressingly?"

Francis Thompson was an English Catholic poet who died at the age of 47, stricken with poor health that followed him from hard experiences he had had as a young man living on the streets of London. "The Hound of Heaven" was written when Thompson was living at Our Lady of England Priory and recovering from opium addiction.

In the poem, one hears echos of Psalm 139 (which Thompson no doubt would have prayed often at the priory): "Where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your face? … even darkness is not dark for you and the night is as clear as the day."

Links

"The Hound of Heaven" full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=10546

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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.

“This is the faith by which the Catholic Church lives and progresses, namely, that humanity is believed to exist in Jesus Christ not without real divinity, and divinity, not without real humanity.”

The papacy of Pope Leo I  saw the convening of the Catholic Church’s fourth ecumenical council: the Council of Chalcedon. 

The Tome of Leo was a central document debated during the Church's fourth ecumenical council, the Council of Chalcedon, at which the hypostatic union of Christ’s twofold nature—human and divine—was definitively set forth. This council took place during the papacy of Pope Leo I, described by Pope Benedict XVI as “undoubtedly one of the most important in Church history.”

Written in the form of a letter, the Tome is addressed to Flavian, the Patriarch of Constantinople. Flavian had recently excommunicated a certain presbyter by the name of Eutyches, who had taught what would come to be known as the heresy of Monophysitism: the denial of Christ’s twofold nature and the insistence that in Christ there is only one nature, wholly divine.

Leo invokes the text of the Nicene Creed and references Scripture throughout. He illustrates that humanity and divinity both truly exist in the Person of Christ, the Incarnate Word, and that other mysteries of the faith—notably, Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and our Redemption—depend upon this mystery.

The Tome was eventually accepted as doctrinal. To this day it remains a foundational text of Christology, and it is perhaps the theological contribution for which St. Leo the Great is most remembered.

Links

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2133

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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.

“Keep his commandments, and you will have a cure for sin.”

The Shepherd of Hermas is an apocryphal text written in Rome in the 2nd century. It belongs to the category of "apocalyptic" literature, as it relates a series of revelations given to its titular character, Hermas, who may or may not also have been the work's author.

The Shepherd of Hermas was widely read and respected in the early Church, with some Church Fathers (such as Irenaeus and Origen) even considering it part of canonical scripture. 

The text is divided into three main sections: Visions, Mandates, and Parables. Taken together, they serve as an exhortation to repentance.

Part 4: Conclusion

00:00 Intro

  00:39 Ninth Parable - Chapter 1   03:35 Chapter 2   05:27 Chapter 3   06:40 Chapter 4   09:12 Chapter 5   11:18 Chapter 6   13:12 Chapter 7   15:15 Chapter 8   17:39 Chapter 9   20:07 Chapter 10   21:59 Chapter 11   24:58 Chapter 12   27:45 Chapter 13   30:38 Chapter 14   32:54 Chapter 15   35:21 Chapter 16   37:36 Chapter 17   39:31 Chapter 18   41:44 Chapter 19   43:28 Chapter 20   44:46 Chapter 21   45:56 Chapter 22   47:10 Chapter 23   48:37 Chapter 24   50:00 Chapter 25   50:36 Chapter 26   53:06 Chapter 27   53:50 Chapter 28   56:08 Chapter 29   57:30 Chapter 30   59:11 Chapter 31   01:01:05 Chapter 32   01:02:48 Chapter 33   01:04:14 Tenth Parable - Chapter 1   01:05:45 Chapter 2   01:07:21 Chapter 3   01:09:14 Chapter 4

This work was released in its entirety in episodic format.

Links

The Shepherd of Hermas full text: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-grimm/

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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.

"Since, then, no one is allowed to be remiss in the service due to God, and since the chief duty of all men is to cling to religion in both its reaching and practice—not such religion as they may have a preference for, but the religion which God enjoins, and which certain and most clear marks show to be the only one true religion —it is a public crime to act as though there were no God."

In this encyclical, issued on November 1, 1885, Pope Leo XIII urges Catholics to give particular attention to national politics and to make use of popular institutions for the advancement of truth and goodness. He warns that, were Catholics to abdicate the field of politics, it would “allow those whose principles offer but small guarantee for the welfare of the State to more readily seize the reins of government.”

Leo condemns the politically expedient side-lining of Catholic teaching, warning that it is unlawful for Catholics "to follow one line of conduct in private life and another in public, respecting privately the authority of the Church but publicly rejecting it.” He especially cautions those who hold positions of authority, writing: “they must remember that the Almighty will one day bring them to account, the more strictly in proportion to the sacredness of their office and preeminence of their dignity.”

Indeed, the right exercise of authority—and in particular, the right relationship between the authority of the Church and that of the State— is at the heart of Leo’s concern in Immortale Dei, and the encyclical can be seen as a correction to the defective view of authority that arises from a false notion of liberty. In fact, less than three years after issuing Immortale Dei, Pope Leo XIII issued another encyclical letter entitled Libertas, on the Nature of Human Liberty.

Links

Full text of Immortale Dei: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4916

The Catholic Culture Podcast Ep. 90—Leo XIII on the State’s Duties Toward the Church—Thomas Pink: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/90-leo-xiii-on-states-duties-toward-church-thomas-pink/

Audiobook of Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-rerum-novarum-pt-1/

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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.

“Reflect for a long time upon what is being read, until the interpretation is drawn over to the sway of charity.”

We’re picking up where we last left off in St. Augustine’s great treatise On Christian Doctrine, beginning Book 3 and finally diving into Augustine’s primary concern with this work: the correct interpretation of Holy Scripture. 

In the initial chapters, Augustine closely considers the textual minutia of everything from punctuation to conjugation and declension, to pronunciation and inflection. (Lectors, take note!)

Of particular concern for Augustine, however, is the correct discernment between literal and figurative expressions. It’s with respect to the latter that some of Augustine’s most salient insights shine through. His multi-faceted consideration of signs and symbols finds application in a wide range of concerns, including the sacraments, inculturation of the faith, and even morality.

Augustine is particularly helpful in his discussion, toward the end of the reading, of the Old Testament and of certain anomalous—or even vicious—behavior of Old Testament figures.

Any correct reading of Scripture will ultimately conduce to a love of God for his own sake, and of neighbor for God’s sake.

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

Previous De Doctrina Christiana episodes: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm 

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

Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast!

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.

“It is better to say nothing and be a Christian, than to speak and not to be one.”

St. Ignatius’ letters express a clear view of the Church as hierarchical and monarchical, and his Letter to the Ephesians is no exception. In it, Ignatius emphasizes respect and obedience to the bishop and the priests and deacons in union with him. 

For Ignatius, the formula is simple: Jesus is the mind of the Father, and the appointed bishops are of one mind with Christ. If the prayer of two or three gathered in Christ’s name is so efficacious, how much greater is that prayer in union with the bishop and the whole Church?

Ignatius also issues stern warnings to those who would compromise the Church’s unity and pollute her teaching. In particular, those who would corrupt the family. Ignatius warns that those who bear the name of Christian while behaving in a way unworthy of God cannot be listened to. Again, for Ignatius the formula is simple: faith can no more do the things of infidelity, than infidelity can do the things of faith.

Are we to abandon such people? Of course not, Ignatius says. “Do not cease to pray, for there is hope of their conversion and of their finding God. Give them the chance to be instructed, at least by the way you behave.” Yet another simple formula.

Links

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-marique/

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1628

Other readings of Ignatius’ Letters: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm

Way of the Fathers, Ep. 4—Ignatius of Antioch: To Know “Jesus Christ Our God” https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-4-ignatius-antioch-to-know-jesus-christ-our-god/

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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.

“I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold, and what they do not, who know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it.”

This lecture was given against the backdrop of a resurgent anti-Catholicism throughout England, marked by anti-Catholic hysteria and government overstep. Although Newman is responding to an institutional prejudice born specifically of establishment Protestantism, his words for the most part can be applied equally as well to prejudice born of secularized liberalism.

Newman puts so-called “public opinion” into its place. Newman exhorts Catholics to be straightforward, generous, and forbearing in spite of provocation. “Interpret the actions of all,” he says, “in the best sense that you possibly can.”
Links

Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/england/lecture9.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.

“Among this ever so numerous throng of pure spirits, the highest of hierarchies is that of the great contemplative angels… Next comes those who are ministers of the Most High… and finally there are the angels who simply execute the orders of God, as are the invisible guardians of men, communities, and nations.”

An excerpt from The Sense of Mystery: Clarity and Obscurity in the Intellectual Life, by French Dominican theologian Garrigou-Lagrange.

In this chapter, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange writes from the perspective of an angel. In the angel's own words, he describes the nature, knowledge, and limits of the created pure spirit, and by way of contrast elucidates the limits of our own human intellect. 

Links

Translation courtesy of Emmaus Academic: https://www.emmausacademic.com/publications/2018/5/18/sense-of-mystery

The Catholic Culture Podcast Ep. 38—Garrigou-Lagrange, The Sacred Monster of Thomism—w/ Matthew K. Minerd: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-38-sacred-monster-matthew-k-minerd/

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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.

“Whoever does not refer everything to the praise and love of the one God... may seem to be erudite, but he can by no means be considered wise.”

Where we last left off, Augustine had just finished vindicating some "pagan" forms of knowledge—such as music— as useful in the study of Sacred Scripture. He’ll go into further detail concerning what should be avoided and what embraced from among the so-called pagan disciplines. 

Rejection of superstition is a major theme contained in these chapters, and Augustine provides some helpful criteria for the Christian in discerning what is superstitious from what is not.

While all superstitious human conventions must be rejected as worthless and sinful, human conventions not arranged with demons, but arranged among men themselves, can sometimes be useful—even essential. It’s here that Augustine discusses principles of logic and rhetoric—a subject he’ll return to later in Book IV. 

Though much of what he discusses in these chapters may strike some as academic, Augustine is far from advocating an esoteric approach to the Scriptures. "Knowledge puffs up," Augustine quotes St. Paul, "but charity edifies." What Augustine accomplishes, rather, is a robust defense of the fundamentally catholic character of the truth. In so far as anything is true, it is Christ’s. Thus all knowledge must, in the end, be put to the service and love of God.

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

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

Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast!

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.

“While I was lying in darkness and in the obscure night, and while, ignorant of my real life, I was tossing about on the sea of a restless world wavering and doubtful in my wandering steps… I thought it indeed difficult and hard to believe... that divine mercy was promised for my salvation.”

Born at the beginning of the 3rd century to a wealthy, pagan family in Carthage, Cyprian initially rose to prominence as an orator. After a youth spent in dissipation, Cyprian converted and was baptized at around 35 years old. His bishop became so impressed with him that after only one year, Cyprian was made first a deacon, and then a priest. When that same bishop died only one year later, Cyprian was chosen to succeed him! As bishop, Cyprian would shepherd the church in Carthage through many storms—including persecution, a pandemic, and schism.

The Letter to Donatus came before all of that. It is the earliest of Cyprian's treatises, written very shortly after his conversion. In it, Cyprian writes to his friend, Donatus, who is also a recent Christian initiate. Cyprian describes elements of his own conversion, including details about the misery to which his sins had reduced him.

Cyprian writes with eloquence and power, and he concludes his letter with a rousing exhortation to Christian life. The Letter to Donatus remains as compelling today as it was in 246 A.D.

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/46612/st-cyprian-treatises 

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1733 

Way of the Fathers, Ep. 18 - The Short, Happy Life of Cyprian of Carthage: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-18-short-happy-life-cyprian-carthage/# 

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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.

"Deviant sexual assault has accomplished what liturgical abuse never could: it has generated secular media pressure and secular legal constraints so overwhelming that the apparat was forced to make its files public."

Fr. Paul Mankowski was a Jesuit of the Midwest province and a former contributor to CatholicCulture.org. For years, he spearheaded CatholicCulture.org’s old "Off the Record" column, writing under the pseudonym of Diogenes. A brilliant priest who worked tirelessly for Catholic renewal, Fr. Mankowski was unfortunately stymied by his superiors.

"What Went Wrong?", a 2003 address to the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, first appeared in written form on CatholicCulture.org; in it, Fr. Mankowski traces an excellent analysis of how the Catholic clerical sexual abuse crisis came about.

Notes

Full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=5915 

Phil Lawler Tribute to Fr. Mankowski: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/farewell-uncle-di-father-paul-mankowski-rip/ 

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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.

Catholic Culture Audiobooks presents a 6-part series of St. Athanasius’ famous biography of St. Anthony. Listen to the entirety of Athanasius’ Life of St. Anthony without interruption.

You may already be familiar, from its countless iterations across art and literature, with “The Temptation of St. Anthony”... but The Life of St. Anthony—of which the temptations are only part—is one of the most influential works in the history of Christian literature.

Setting aside the unique authority and influence of the biographer (the great Church father, St. Athanasius of Alexandria), the work itself describes the life of a singularly holy man. In fact, it is the earliest biographical account of a saint who had become such without having had to suffer martyrdom.

Though St. Anthony was not the first Christian hermit, he was the most popular: this account of his life did much to spread his ascetic and monastic ideals throughout the East and West. Anthony has been called not only the father of Christian monasticism, but even the founder of the religious life.

Needless to say, we are very excited to be bringing you The Life of St. Anthony in its entirety. If you enjoy this reading and would like hear more, register with us at http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio!

Notes

Way of the Fathers episode on St. Anthony: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/anthony-desert-solitary-celebrity/

Catholic Culture Podcast episode on the Temptation of St. Anthony in art history https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/90-temptation-st-anthony-elizabeth-lev/

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120446/early-christian-biographies

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3080

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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.

“Everyone devoted to the study of the Holy Scriptures... will find nothing else except that God must be loved for His own sake, and our neighbor for the sake of God.”

We’re resuming our multi-part reading series of St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, or 'On Christian Doctrine'. This is our second installment in the series, having released the Prologue & Book 1 in an episode last month.

Augustine dives deeper into the subject of scriptural interpretation in these chapters, including a seven-step process  from Fear of the Lord (step 1) to Wisdom (step 7). Think of it as Augustine’s seven habits of highly effective scriptural readers.

Augustine's approach to Scripture, however, is not so much an academic approach as a spiritual one. For Augustine, all scriptural knowledge will boil down to the great dual commandment of love of God and love of neighbor.

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

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

Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast!

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.

"It cannot be said, then, because we have not to bear the burden and the heat of the day, that therefore we have returned to paradise. It is not that our work is lighter, but our strength is greater."

This sermon from Newman's Anglican period was originally preached on Septuagesima Sunday. In it, Newman addresses the misconception that grace exempts Christians from work, and he exhorts Christians to embrace their calling to work diligently for the glory of God.

Links

The Work of the Christian full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/subjects/sermon1.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.

“Her glories are not only for the sake of her Son — they are for our sakes also.”

Whereas in The Glories of Mary for the Sake of Her Son, Newman focuses primarily upon the then soon-to-be-defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception, here he draws special attention to Mary’s Assumption, and to the fitness — or, as he says, becomingness — of both dogmas.

Newman further points out that Mary’s glories are not only for the sake of her Son, but for the sake of us, the rest of her children, as well.

Notes

On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/discourses/discourse18.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.

“All the aspirations which the prayer of other religions expresses are fulfilled in the reality of Christianity beyond all measure.”

This ecclesial document was written in 1989 by the then-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict XVI.

Ratzinger was responding to a surge of popular interest in forms of Eastern spirituality—including such methods as Zen, yoga, and so-called transcendental meditation—which had led to an uncritical adoption by some Christians of methods of prayer incompatible with Christian worship.

The fascination with Eastern methods continues today, and Christians must still carefully distinguish that which is authentically Christian from that which is not.

Ratzinger’s is a masterful and accessible treatment on certain fundamentals of Christian prayer. Though he addresses the letter to bishops, one need not be a theologian to be spiritually edified — or have one's prayer enriched — by what he writes.

Links

Aspects of Christian Meditation Full text: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19891015_meditazione-cristiana_en.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.

“In accordance with the view of the apostle Paul, let us give attention to the text - that we can, as he himself says, receive ‘the mind of Christ’ and know ‘the things that are given us by God.’”

After St. Paul, Origen of Alexandria may well have been the most titanic intellectual figure of the first three centuries of Christianity.

In the breadth of his writings and in the depth of his influence, Origen is equaled by few among the Church Fathers. He brought the Catechetical School of Alexandria to its height after succeeding Clement as its head. He was the first to make Scriptural exegesis into a science. His works were copied by Sts. Jerome and Ambrose among many others, and he influenced great medieval mystics like St. Bernard and Meister Eckhart. He dared to go where no Christian thinker had gone before — and though he fell into some theological errors, he nevertheless submitted all his thought to the judgment of the Universal Church and attained something very close to a martyr’s death.

Origen’s homilies are simple, conversational and spiritually edifying. One is struck by his conviction that every word, every grammatical construction of Scripture has a purpose, and by his care not to let any meaning God intended go to waste. His interpretations give the lie to contemporary mischaracterizations of how early Christians understood the bible, especially with regard to the creation texts.

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/46619/origen-homilies-on-genesis-and-exodus

Way of the Fathers, Ep. 19—Origen: The Most Controversial Christian Ever? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/life-origen-most-controversial-christian-ever/

Way of the Fathers, Ep. 20—Origen, Part 2: Hero, Heretic—or Hybrid? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/origen-part-2-hero-heretic-or-hybrid/

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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.

July 24, 2020 is being observed by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as a day of mourning for Hagia Sophia, in response to the decision by Turkey’s President to convert the historic cathedral in Istanbul from a museum to a mosque. 

In a message to the Greek Orthodox faithful, Archbishop Elpidiphoros wrote, “knowing that on Friday, July 24th, there will be an ‘inauguration’ of this program of cultural and spiritual misappropriation and a violation of all standards of religious harmony and mutual respect, we call upon all the beloved faithful of our Holy Archdiocese to observe this day as a day of mourning and of manifest grief. We urge you to invite your fellow Orthodox Christians and indeed all Christians and people of goodwill to share in the following observances.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops shared this invitation, indicating that the Hagia Sophia — after serving for over eighty years as a museum — had become a place of encounter and dialogue between people of all faiths and cultures. 

The Greek Orthodox have asked that every church toll its bells, every flag be raised to half-mast, and that the Akathist Hymn is chanted in the evening — to which the USCCB has added that for Catholics unfamiliar with the Akathist Hymn, the recitation of the rosary is recommended. Both prayers entreat the Mother of God for her intercession.

It is for this reason that we are re-releasing our reading of the Akathist Hymn, which appeared on this podcast back in March for the feast of the Annunciation. As access beyond the most recent 15 episodes of this podcast is restricted to our registered users, this particular episode is a perfect example of the kind of content only available to those who register for free at catholiculture.org/getaudio.

We want everyone, however, to have access to this resource on this day. So for those who have yet to register, please consider doing so. And for those who have already registered and listened to this episode, we hope this re-release will serve as a prompting to join together with us as we unite alongside our fellow Christians in this day of mourning, praying the words of this powerful and ancient prayer to the Mother of God.

Notes

Full text: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=899

Example of sung chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IYzQ2Ava4

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

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.

 

“Whoever, then, appears in his own opinion to have comprehended the Sacred Scriptures, or even some part of them, yet does not build up with that knowledge the two-fold love of God and his neighbor, has not yet known as he ought to know.”

“Everything which is not exhausted by being given away is not yet owned as it ought to be.”

This episode marks the beginning of an exciting new work on Catholic Culture Audiobooks: De Doctrina Christiana, or On Christian Doctrine, by St. Augustine of Hippo.

Though De Doctrina is a shorter work than Confessions or The City of God, it’s ranked right alongside them in significance — the three books together comprising St. Augustine’s contribution to the “Great Books of the Western World” list.

In this episode, we hear Book One in its entirety. Augustine provides, by way of introduction to the study of interpretation, an influential synthesis of Christian teaching based on the idea that only God should be enjoyed, as the source of true happiness, whereas all other things are meant to be used toward our true end. 

Over the course of the next few months, we’ll be releasing the other three books in two parts each — for a total of seven episodes, each about an hour or so in length. It’s the longest work we’ve tackled yet on this podcast, but we hope you’ll join us on the journey as we make our way through this great work of our Christian inheritance and Catholic culture.

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

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

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.

In this sermon, Newman warns of the danger arising from inordinate love for "the elegant arts and studies," or what he refers to as accomplishments. It is one thing, for example, to be well-read in the classics merely to take delight in the lofty sentiments therein expressed—but it is another thing to “apply all we read to ourselves… from the mere sincerity and honesty of our desire to please God."

The Danger of Accomplishments full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon30.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.

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.

"But the fight for our planet, physical and spiritual, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started."

Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn gave this prophetic commencement address at Harvard University on June 8, 1978. Solzhenitsyn’s observations remain strikingly relevant—perhaps even more so than when they were first delivered.

Notes

Full text: https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/a-world-split-apart

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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.

“Mistrust Him, Meg, I will not, even if I feel myself faint."

In this episode, we present the entirety of Dialogue on Conscience, by St. Thomas More and his daughter Margaret.

Dialogue on Conscience is presented in the form of two letters; the first is written by More’s stepdaughter, Alice Alington, to his eldest daughter, Margaret Roper; the second is a letter written by Margaret in response to Alice — itself the record of a dialogue between Margaret and St. Thomas that provides us with an invaluable look into More's wit, personality, and faith.

Links

Interview with More scholar Louis Karlin https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/robert-bolts-man-for-all-seasons-christian-saint-or-hero-selfhood/

Discussion of film A Man for All Seasons https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/man-for-all-seasons-1966/

Text courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-More-Source-Book/dp/0813213762

Another version of the text: https://www.thomasmorestudies.org/docs/Dialogue%20on%20Conscience%20Modernized.pdf

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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.

“Because of something uncertain, there should not be a definite abandonment of duty — for, in that event, there is certain ruin for the people, not only in things pertaining to this life, but also in those of that other life which must be cared for with incomparably greater attention and anxiety.”

In his Letter to Honoratus, Augustine writes in response to a question put to him by a fellow bishop: is it permissible for bishops and their clergy to flee oncoming persecution?

Augustine exhorts bishops to place their trust in God, emphasizing the power of God to protect, and the primacy of prayer. He underlines that concern for eternal life takes precedence over the preservation of temporal life, and he insists that bishops and their clergy are beholden to serve the laity in their charge. If the laity remain, the clergy are obliged to do similarly.

After all, Augustine points out, it is during the times of most danger that the sacraments are most needed — and in most demand.

Links

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3143

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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.

"The man who thinks that he is quiet and peaceful has within him a passion that he does not see."

St. Dorotheus was a 6th century Palestinian abbot who founded a monastery near Gaza. Excerpts of his instruction on self-accusation are found in the Office of Readings.

Excerpts from Doct. 13, De accusatione sui ipsius, 1-3: PG 88, 1699

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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.

“These mandates are advantageous for those who intend to repent. For, if they do not walk in them, their repentance is worthless. You who repent must cast off the wickedness of this world which wears you down; if you put on every excellence of justice, you can observe these mandates and keep from committing any additional sins.”

The Shepherd of Hermas is an apocryphal text written in Rome in the 2nd century. It belongs to the category of "apocalyptic" literature, as it relates a series of revelations given to its titular character, Hermas, who may or may not also have been the work's author.

The Shepherd of Hermas was widely read and respected in the early Church, with some Church Fathers (such as Irenaeus and Origen) even considering it part of canonical scripture. 

The text is divided into three main sections: Visions, Mandates, and Parables. Taken together, they serve as an exhortation to repentance.

Part 3: Parables

00:00 Intro

00:39 First Parable

04:18 Second Parable

08:45 Third Parable

09:48 Fourth Parable

12:08 Fifth Parable

27:08 Sixth Parable

38:25 Seventh Parable

42:05 Eighth Parable

This work to be released in its entirety in episodic format.

Links

The Shepherd of Hermas full text: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-apostolic-fathers-walsh-grimm-grimm/

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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.

“Love  gives life to the soul, for just as the body lives through the soul, so the soul lives through God, and God dwells in us through love.”

A Pentecost sermon by St. Thomas Aquinas.

Links

Article on Aquinas' preaching style: "What Lessons Do Thomas Aquinas' Sermons Hold For Modern Preachers?" https://www.hprweb.com/2017/06/what-lessons-do-thomas-aquinass-sermons-hold-for-modern-preachers/

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/the-academic-sermons-aquinas-hoogland/

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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.

"Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner."

The second half of Leo XIII's classic encyclical offers a defense of the right of association, exhortation to preferential option for the poor, emphasis on the importance of Sabbath rest, as well as an explication of the principles of a just wage.

Full Text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4904

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

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.

“Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism — community of goods — must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal.”

Rerum Novarum—literally meaning “Of New Things,” but more accurately translated, “Of Revolutionary Change,”—was Pope Leo XIII's response to the political upheaval of the 19th century. Issued on May 15, 1891, Rerum Novaum set forth a definitive word on these “new things”, and laid the groundwork for much of the development of the Church’s social thought through the 20th century. Today, Rerum Novarum is considered a foundational text of Catholic social teaching.

Covering everything from property rights to trade unions, to questions of wages and the relationship of man to the State; it’s a sweeping document that is at once comprehensive and accessible. There’s no need to be a political philosopher or economist here. Leo XIII develops his arguments in a methodical and straightforward way, and states plainly that human society can be healed in no other way than in a return to Christian life and Christian institutions.

In this first half, Pope Leo XIII lays out the problems, rejects socialism’s call for the abolition of private property, and identifies those rights and duties of the person and family that are prior to and independent of the State. He outlines the respective rights and duties of the worker and of the employer, affirming their mutual need for one another and calling them not only to cooperation, but to love.

Today, when so many of the same social ills have reared their ugly head, Rerum Novarum is required reading for anyone looking to address the political and economic questions of today.

Full Text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4904

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

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.