35 Burst results for "Pope Benedict"
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
A highlight from HH1 The Cross Conquers Evil The Heart of Hope w/ Deacon James Keating Ph.D. Discerning Hearts podcast
"Discerninghearts .com presents The Heart of Hope, Suffering, and the Cross of Christ with Deacon James Keating. Deacon Keating is a professor of spiritual theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Lenon Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Deacon Keating has led more than 400 workshops in areas of morality and spirituality and has authored numerous books including The Way of Mystery, Listening for Truth, and Spiritual Fatherhood, The Heart of Hope, Suffering, and the Cross of Christ with Deacon James Keating. I'm your host, Chris McGregor. In the Christian life, we embrace the cross. We wear necklaces around our necks. We have them in our homes. They're to point us to something. Why a cross? Why is that our symbol? It's the symbol of our greatest fear, really. That greatest fear is surrender in love. Just from the human point of view, so many of us hedge our bets when we choose to love. We'll put limits on it. We have those nuptial agreements today now before we get married, you know, that we hedge our bets and we're afraid. We're afraid to be disappointed. We're afraid that surrender to love may hurt, there may be pain in it, and we look for ways to escape it. And so it's a paradoxical symbol of repulsion and attraction where we know that in our deepest nature we're made to love, to surrender, to give without bounds to love, and at the same time that sounds an awful lot like death to us. And so we hedge our bets and we hold back. So the symbol of the cross, from our point of view, is this great symbol of the place we want to go but we're afraid to go, that place of complete self -giving in love. Why would Jesus, our Savior, our God, have to embrace that cross? Why would he have to suffer? He created the world, he's the Elf of the Omega. This is, again, the greatest of all paradoxes, that goodness itself would have to suffer such profound evil, innocence itself would have to suffer such profound evil. And the short answer, which of course we have to live into, is that he went to the cross because he wanted us to know that even though we feel alone when we suffer, he has entered every single aspect of suffering and he is with us. The terrible way of dying, which is the cross, is symbolic of all of the types of suffering that human beings can inflict upon one another or that nature can inflict upon us. And Jesus wanted every human being to know that in that suffering, whether it's a health suffering or a relationship suffering, where we feel like we are forgotten, that we are abandoned, we are lost, we are alone. He wanted us to know that he has entered into every bit of that darkness himself. This is who God is. God does not take us out of the human condition. God because he loves us and created us, God enters the human condition. And the human condition is one of limit and finitude, which brings on suffering. And so he suffered because he loved. And as Pope Benedict said, then Cardinal Ratzinger, whenever you think about God suffering, whenever you think about Jesus suffering, you immediately have to think about Jesus, God, loving, because he suffers only because he loves. We're called to be Christ to the world. So does that lead us embracing that same type of suffering? It does when we understand the cross as this. The cross is meeting evil with love. And so in that way, yes, every Christian, everyone who bears the name Christ, must also enter the cross, must enter the reality of meeting evil with love. Because we are baptized, we are baptized into this great mystery of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. And we bear that as a witness to the world that we are not going to escalate evil. We are not going to be hopeless in the face of evil. We are somehow, and in our small way, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are going to confront evil with love, meaning that when bad things happen to us, we are going to will the good. We are going to, at its deepest level, even in the midst of this evil, I'm going to maintain relationships with those whom I love. This evil is not going to take these relationships away. I'm going to stay connected in the midst of this evil. I'm going to continue to commune with God, with love, with those in my life whom I love. I'm going to meet this evil, my dying, the ultimate evil, sin, my need for conversion, the penultimate evil. All of the cancers and all of the sicknesses that confront us, I'm going to meet this evil in communion with those whom I love, in communion with God. Evil is not going to separate me out and leave me isolated and alone. In the midst of this evil and suffering, I'm going to go more deeply into love. This becomes the great witness of the Christian. See how those Christians love one another. Even in the midst of horrific evil, love is still seen because the Christian bears love into evil and redeems it by the grace of Christ. That entering deeply into love, that's at the heart of why we pray, isn't it? We're called to pray to open up our hearts, to sustain our identities in relationship. I am not an I, I am a we. I am a relationship. And evil always tries to rip that apart and sort of isolate me and throw me in the corner by myself and say, you'll never get through this, you're weak, you're bad, you're alone. And if we begin our days from the time we are little children till the time we're adults, suffering the coming of Christ, in other words, it's not natural for us to want to pray. It's work in the very beginning to pray. And so in the very beginning, we pray in such a way that it seems like it's a duty. As Christ enters us more deeply, this becomes who we are. We are the beloved of God. And so prayer itself becomes our identity. It reaches down to our very being. And as we pray, we go more deeply into that relationship between myself, the Church, Christ, the Trinity, the Saints. Deeper and deeper, I go into all of these relationships that identify me and sustain me. Then, when evil confronts me, I am able to withstand it without losing my identity. In fact, for the holiest among us, evil becomes the occasion for deepening my intimacy with God, deepening my identity as one who is loved by God, because this person has prayed for so long, and this person has found their identity deep within their being. You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. Even though this is befalling you now, I am with you. And of course, we go back to your original question, what is the meaning of the cross? How dare you say that God is with you in this suffering? It looks as if God has abandoned you, but no. He has entered into every aspect of our suffering. And so, my son and my daughter, I am closer to you now than I have ever been before. It looks like you're abandoned, but in reality, this is the time of your visitation. This is the time for deepening your intimacy with me. And so, prayer becomes crucial to withstand suffering, to undergo its deepest meaning and purification. And this is why, more and more, we have to teach parishioners that prayer is not an ancillary or auxiliary type of reality in the parish, wouldn't it be nice if I was a prayer? But it's constitutive of being Catholic. It's at the very heart of being Catholic, you must learn how to pray, because you must learn to welcome God at deeper and deeper levels. If we welcome God into deeper levels, aren't we in danger of having Him expose those things we don't want Him to see? Well, we're experts at hiding from love. It's more natural for us to run from the truth because of the wound of original sin. And so many marital problems and personality problems are linked to this not wanting God to see us. And God is very gentle, very persistent in His love. And He comes very close and He wants to ask us, what are you afraid of? And a lot of times our answer is, I'm afraid of pain. And so I really don't want you getting too close to me, because then I may have to tell you the truth of my own self -hate, my own sadness, my own darkness, my own sins. I may have to actually tell you who I am. And so let's just keep this religion thing superficial, shall we? Let's keep it a duty on Sunday that I'm to show up at an institution and then I'll feel like I have done something for this relationship. But God is saying to us, that's just a mirage. I want to come so close so that you define yourself by my love of you. And I know that's frightening, but would you please trust me because I have come so close to you as to take on your flesh and your blood and to die your way of death. And I did all of this so that you would know you are loved and yet you keep running from me because you're afraid and because you don't like pain and I understand all this. But please look to the cross and see that I stopped running and I let the human condition define me as a man and I took on everything that you are now carrying and everything that you are now hiding. And now just trust me that whatever you're carrying and hiding, I will understand and I will have compassion for you. And do not be afraid to let me go deep, for in allowing me close is the very definition of your happiness. And the longer you keep me from the deepest things of your heart, the longer you will carry your sorrows and your griefs by yourself. Of course this can only compound the sadness of the human condition. And so in some way, as human beings, we're our worst enemies. God wants to come so close and yet we keep him at a distance because of this fear of pain. We'll return in just a moment to The Heart of Hope, Suffering and the Cross of Christ with Deacon James Keating. Did you know that Discerning Hearts has a free app where you can find all your favorite Discerning Hearts programming? Father Timothy Gallagher, Dr. Anthony Lillis, Monsignor John S. of Deacon James Keating, Father Donald Haggerty, Mike Aquilina, Dr. Matthew Bunsen, and so many more. They're all available on the free Discerning Hearts app. Over 3000 spiritual formation programs and prayers all available to you with no hidden fees or subscriptions. Did you also know that you can listen to Discerning Hearts programming wherever you download your favorite podcasts, like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeartRadio, Spotify, even on Audible, as well as numerous other worldwide podcast streaming platforms. And did you know that Discerning Hearts also has a YouTube channel? Be sure to check out all these different places where you can find Discerning Hearts Catholic podcasts dedicated to those on the spiritual journey.
Audio
Keating thing
"TheSearningHearts .com presents The School of Prayer Reflections on the Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI with Deacon James Keating. Deacon Keating is a professor of spiritual theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Lenon Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Deacon Keating has led more than 400 workshops in areas of morality and spirituality and has authored numerous books including The Way of Mystery, Listening for Truth, and Spiritual Fatherhood. The School of Prayer Reflections on the Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI with Deacon James Keating. I'm your host, Chris McGregor. You've been listening to The School of Prayer Reflections on the Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI with Deacon James Keating. To hear and or to download this conversation along with hundreds of other spiritual formation programs, visit TheSearningHearts .com or you can find it on the free Discerning Hearts app or on your favorite podcast streaming platform. This has been a production of Discerning Hearts. I'm your host, Chris McGregor. We hope that if this has been helpful for you that you will first pray for our mission, which is to offer authentic and rock solid spiritual formation freely to souls around the world. And if you feel us worthy, please consider a charitable donation, which is fully tax deductible to help support our efforts. But most of all, we hope that you will tell a friend about DiscerningHearts .com and join us next time for The School of Prayer Reflections on the Teachings of Pope Benedict XVI with Deacon James Keating. God bless. God bless.
Audio
A highlight from DC28-Hildegarde-pt1
"Discerninghearts .com presents The Doctors of the Church, the terrorism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen. For over 20 years, Dr. Bunsen has been active in the area of Catholic social communications and education, including writing, editing, and teaching on a variety of topics related to church history, the papacy, the saints, and Catholic culture. He is the faculty chair at the Catholic Distance University, a senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, and the author or co -author of over 50 books, including the Encyclopedia of Catholic History and the best -selling biographies of St. Damien of Malachi and St. Kateri Tekakawisa. He also serves as a senior editor for the National Catholic Register and is a senior contributor to EWTN News. The Doctors of the Church, the terrorism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen. I'm your host, Chris McGregor. Welcome, Dr. Bunsen. Wonderful to be with you again, Chris. Thank you so much for joining us to talk about this particular doctor of the church who, it's rare, isn't it, in our lifetimes to have those saints elevated to the status of doctor who have quite a background like St. Hildegard Bingen. Yes, well, she is, of course, with John of Avila, one of the two of the newest doctors of the church proclaimed as such by Pope Benedict XVI, who has, I think, a special fondness for her. And as we get to know her, we certainly can understand why he holds her in such great repute and such great respect. It's easy to overlook the fact that in her lifetime, she was called the Sybil of the Rhine, and throughout that, the whole of the 12th century in which she lived. She was renowned for her visions, but she was especially loved and respected for her wisdom, the greatest minds of her age, and, of course, was renowned also for her great holiness. So this is a formidable figure in the medieval church, and somebody, I think, that we really need to look at today as we proceed with the reform and renewal of the church. I'll try to put this very sensitively when I say that her presence in our time is one that, unfortunately, was relegated maybe into a back corner by many because of those who tried to hijack, in some ways, her spirituality to try to move forward to certain agendas. Yes, I think that's a very diplomatic way of putting it. Hildegard, in the last 10 years or so, and Pope Benedict XVI, I think, helped lead the charge in this, has been reclaimed by the church. Her authentic writings, her authentic spirituality, and especially her love for the church and her obedience to the authority of the church have all been recaptured, reclaimed for the benefit of the entire church. It's absolutely true that over the previous decades, much as we saw with a few others, I'm thinking, for example, of a Julian of Norwich in England who lived a little after Hildegard, were sort of kidnapped by those with real agendas to try to portray Hildegard as a proto -radical feminist, as somebody who was hating of the church, who attempted to resist the teachings of the church, who rejected the teachings of the church. And yet, as we read her, as we come to appreciate her more fully, I think we can grasp her extraordinary gifts, but also her remarkable love for the church. She was one who allowed herself to be subjected to obedience, that wonderful, can we say it, a virtue, as well as a discipline. Absolutely, yeah. It's one of those ironies, again, to use that word, that here was somebody who was falsely claimed by feminists, who I think would have been just shocked at the notion of herself as a feminist, that she had instead a genuine love for the church, a profound mysticism. And you've hit on one of the key words that we're going to be talking about with her, and that is a perfection of the virtues of love for Christ and her obedience to the church, to the authority of the church in judging what is and authentic what is pure. And that, I think, holds her up as a great role model today when we have so many who are dissenting from the church and continue to cling to this notion of Hildegard as some sort of a herald of feminism in the church. I don't think I would understate it by saying that it was breathtaking in the fall of 2010 then when Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, began a series of Wednesday audiences on the holy women of the Middle Ages. And he began those reflections, especially on those who had such deep mystical prayer experiences, he began the audiences not with just one but two audiences on Hildegard. Yeah, he has made it very clear. He certainly did this as pope. He's done this throughout his life as a theologian, somebody who wants to make certain that the church recognizes and honors genius in all of his forms, but also profound holiness. And Pope Benedict, in that there's the set of audiences, especially regarding Hildegard, but I mean, when we run through the list of some of the great figures that he was looking at, he talked, for example, about Julian of Norwich, he covered Catherine of Siena, Brigid of Sweden, Elizabeth of Hungary, and of course Angela of Foligno, who just recently was canonized through equivalent canonization by Pope Francis. The gifts to the church, the contributions to the life of the church, to the holiness of the church by these remarkable women. It's something that we need to pause, and I really appreciate the fact that you want to do that, to credit Pope Benedict for doing that, but also again to turn our gaze to these extraordinary women. And it is significant that Hildegard of Bingen was included in that list. If you could, give us a sense of her time period. Well, she grew up in Germany and really was a member of the German nobility, and she belonged to the German feudal system. In other words, her father was a wealthy, powerful landowner at a time when owning land was everything. His name was Hildebert, and both in the service of, as the feudal system worked, a more powerful lord by the name of Meggenhard, who was Count of Spannheim. These are sort of dazzling names to people today, but what's really most important is that medieval feudal life in Germany was one of service, it was one of status, but this reflects on the upbringing of Hildegard, I think, in a into this noble environment. She had the opportunity to learn, to understand what it was to command, to know what it was to have special status, and yet from her earliest times, she displayed extraordinary intelligence, but also very powerful spiritual gifts and a desire for status conscious, as so many of the members of the feudal nobility were, and yet they recognized in their daughter the fact that she was called to something else other than the life of service and of status that they enjoyed. And for that reason, they offered her up, as was the custom of the time, as sort of a tithe to the church, as an oblet to the nearby Benedictine abbey of Disobodenburg, and she was only eight years old at the time, but that was the custom. And her life changed from that minute, but it was, I think, the greatest gift that her parents could have given her, because they placed her in exactly the environment that she needed the most to foster, really to develop her spiritual life, and all of the skills that she was given by God that she came to possess as an abbess and as a leading figure of the medieval church. The stability of the Benedictine role, that way of devoting time in your day, not only to work, the discipline of action, but then also to prayer, it really served her so well, didn't it? It did, and especially crucial in this was the fact that, as was again the wisdom of the Benedictines, they gave her over for her initial training to other women who were experienced in life, in the spiritual life, in the discipline of the Benedictine community, but also in the spiritual life they saw, I think, immediately needed to be developed in her. There was the first by a widow by the name of Uda, and then more important was another woman by the name of Uta of Spannheim, who was the daughter of Count Stefan of Spannheim. Now why is it that notable? It's notable because in Uta, not only did Hildegard receive a kind of spiritual mother, as well as a spiritual guide and mentor, but Uta was, being the daughter of nobility, clearly aware of Hildegard's background as well as her immense potential in dealing with other members of the nobility in future years. The position of abbess was one of great power. We don't encounter abbesses and abbots very much anymore, and yet because of the status of the Benedictine order, because of the lands it accumulated, but also because of its importance to the life of the community wherever you had a Benedictine monastery, abbots and abbesses acquired and wielded great influence in society and political life, economic life, and then of course their spiritual power. And Uta would have understood all of this, and over the next decades she helped train Hildegard in a life of prayer, of asceticism, but also of training the mind and personality to command, to lead with charity, and then of course to have the level of learning with the best they could give her to prepare her for the immense tasks that lay ahead. Let's talk about some of those tasks. It's an incredible time for a monastery life, and it would be affected by her example of how it could be transformed. Well Hildegard always seriously underestimated and sort of downplayed her own learning. She referred to herself as an indocte mulier or an unlearned woman, and yet while she may have had formal academic training that one might think of today, she nevertheless understood Latin, certainly the use of the Psalter. The Latin language of course was the language of the church. It was so much of the common language of ecclesiastical life, but she also continued to train other noble women who were sent to this community. And so when she was given, as they say, she took the veil from the Bishop of Bamberg when she was about 15 years old. From that point on, we can see a direct line of progress and advancement for Hildegard. This wasn't something that she was craving, but it was something I think that she took to quite naturally, both because of her training, both because of her family background, but also just because of her genius level IQ. I say genius level IQ because if you spend much time reading the works of Hildegard, the unbelievable diversity of which she was capable, and we're going to talk a little bit about that, you appreciate the sheer level of her intelligence and how in that community life, in the wisdom of the Benedictine life, they were able to recognize that, to harness it, to train it, and then put it to the good of the community and the good of the wider church. Not just for the church's benefit, but to make of Hildegard's immense gifts exactly that. A gift to the church, a gift to the community, but especially a gift to God. And so we're seeing her move rapidly a from humble young girl, somebody who was then trained to become a teacher or a prioress of the sisters, and then of course, around the age of 38, she became the actual head of the community of women at Disobodenberg. I think it's so important to honor that intellectual aspect of Hildegard, I mean the fact that she would have this ability like a sponge to absorb everything around her, as though it seems, and also to wed that with her spiritual life and those mystical experiences, and when she had, how can we say this, it was very unique in that it wasn't that she would have a vision of something. She would even say she doesn't see things ocularly, I mean something that she would have in front of her. No, it was something much more compelling in which it incorporated all of her. I mean not only the the spiritual aspect, but it brought in to play all that intellectual knowledge so that you would end up getting tomes and tomes and tomes of writing. Yes, that's exactly it. For her, while she was certainly conscious of her limited education, she understood that the knowledge that she possessed came from what she always referred to in the Latin as the umbra viventis luminis, or the shadow of the living light. And for her, this is not something that she was too eager or all that willing to write about, which is, as you certainly know, Chris, of all people, that's one of the great signs of the genuineness of spiritual gifts, that she was reluctant to talk about this extraordinary series of visions and mystical experiences that she began having as a young girl, but chose not to speak of until she actually began to share them with Jutta, then with her spiritual director who is a monk by the name of Vomar, who really I think was a good influence on her. And only when she was really in her 40s did she begin to describe and to transcribe so much of what she saw. And part of that I think was because here was somebody who was receiving these these visions, these mystical experiences from a very young age, but who wanted to ruminate on them, who wanted to meditate on them. And for her, then, it was the command to talk about these. And as she wrote in the shivyas, one of her greatest of her writings, she talks about the fiery light coming out of a cloudless sky that flooded her entire mind and inflamed, she said, her whole heart and her whole like a flame. And she understood at that moment the exposition of the books of the Psalter, the Gospel, the Old and the New Testaments, and it was by command that she made these visions known. But it was again out of humility, out of obedience to the voice that she did this. And the full scale of what she saw and what she began to teach to transcribe took up almost the whole of the rest of her life. And yet even at that moment, as she did so, what was she doing? She sought additional counsel in the discernment of the authenticity and the truth of what she was seeing. Why? Because she was concerned that they might not be of God or that they were mere illusions or even possible delusions brought on by herself or by the evil one. And that commitment to obedience, I think, stands her in such great standing in the history of the church among the mystics. But it also tells us that, as often has been the case with some of the mystics in history, there have been those positivists and scientists and psychologists who try to dismiss these mystical experiences. In Hildegard's case, what have they claimed? They have said that she was receiving these simply psychological aberrations or they were various forms of neurological problems leading up to migraines or a host of other possible issues. And yet the clarity of her visions, the specificity of them, and also the theological depth of them, demolish any such claims by scientists today and instead really forces to look at what exactly she was seeing. I don't doubt that there will be many out there over the next century particularly that could achieve their doctorates just by writing on different aspects of her work. And if you are at all a student of the Benedictine rule, you can begin to see in those visions those connections with the life that she lived out. I mean, this was very organic. It wasn't like this were just coming. Though they seem foreign to us, when you, potentially, when you begin to look at those visions, if you understand the time, if you have a proper translation and you know the rule, you begin to see a little bit better the clarity of what she's communicating. Yes, exactly. And we also appreciate the staggering scale of what she saw. I mean, she beheld as well the sacraments. She understood the virtues. She appreciated angels. She saw vice. She saw, as Pope Benedict XVI talked in his letter proclaiming her a doctor of the church, what did he say? He says that the range of vision of the mystic of Bingen was not limited to treating individual matters but was a global synthesis of the Christian faith. So he talks about that this is a compendium of salvation history, literally from the beginning of the universe until the very eschatological consummation of all of creation. As he says, God's decision to bring about the work of creation is the first stage on a long journey that unfolds from the constitution of the heavenly hierarchy until it reaches the fall of the rebellious angels and the sin of our first parents. So she's touching on the very core of who we are and the most important aspects of redemption of the kingdom of God and the last judgment. That the scale of this again, I think, is difficult for much of a modern mind to comprehend. And it tells us that we have to be very careful from our perch here and surrounded by technology and modernity that we perhaps have lost our ability to see the sheer scale of salvation history. That this abbess sitting on the Rhine in the 12th century was able to and then was able to communicate it with language that is surprisingly modern. Oh, let's talk about that language not only with words but with music and with art. I mean, this woman was able to express herself in all manners of creative activity. Yes, I mean, this is somebody that designed, created her own kind of language. It's sort of a combination of Latin and German, which is a medieval German. But she also composed hymns, more than 70 hymns. She composed sequences and antiphons, what became known as the symphonia harmoniae celestium, the symphony of the harmony of heavenly revelations. And not only were they simply composed because, well, her community would need music, they were very much a reflection of the things that she had seen. And she wrote a very memorable letter in 1178 to the prelates of the city of Mainz, and she talks about the fact that music stirs our hearts and engages our souls in ways we can't really describe. But we're taken beyond our earthly banishment back to the divine melody Adam knew when he sang with the angels when he was whole in God before his exile. So here she's as seemingly simple as a hymn, and connecting it to the vision, connecting it to salvation history, and connecting to something far deeper theologically. So her hymns ranged from the creation of the Holy Spirit, but she was especially fond of composing music in honor of the saints, and especially the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yeah, as we're coming to a conclusion on this particular episode, I just don't want to miss out on just a little bit of a tidbit. We could have called her a doctor, I mean, in a very real way, a physician. This woman, this wonderful gift to the church, gift to all of us, I mean, she had that appreciation of creation and actually even how it will work to heal. Yes, yes. Again, it's hard to overestimate her genius. Why? Because beyond her visions, beyond her abilities as a composer, here was somebody who combined her genius with practical need. Her community had specific needs for her gifts. And so what did she do? She wrote books on the natural sciences, she wrote books on medicine, she wrote books on music. She looked at the study of nature to assist her sisters. So the result was a natural history, a book on causes and cures, a book on how to put medicine together. And it's a fascinating reading because she talks about plants and the elements and trees and birds and mammals and reptiles. But all of it was to reduce all of this knowledge to very practical purposes, the medicinal values of natural phenomena. And then she also wrote in a book on causes and cures, which is written from the traditional medieval understanding of humors. She lists 200 diseases or conditions with different cures and remedies that tend mostly to be herbal with sort of recipes for how to make them. This is all from somebody who at that time was an abbess of not just one but two monasteries along the Rhine, who was also being consulted on popes to kings to common people who came to her for help. And this is somebody who at that time was also working for her own perfection in the spiritual life and in the perfection of the virtues and who is also continuing to reflect and meditate on the incredible vision she was receiving. So this is a full life, but it was a life given completely to the service of others. And of course, she'll have to have two episodes. We do. Thank you so much, Dr. But looking forward to part two Chris. You've been listening to the doctors of the church, the charism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen. To hear and or to download this program, along with hundreds of other spiritual formation programs, visit discerning hearts .com. This has been a production of discerning hearts. I'm your friend. This has been helpful for you that you will first pray for our mission. And if you feel us worthy, consider a charitable donation which is fully tax deductible to support our efforts. But most of all, we pray that you will tell a friend about discerning hearts .com and join us next time for the doctors of the church, the charism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen.
Audio
A highlight from DC28-Hildegarde-pt1
"Discerninghearts .com presents The Doctors of the Church, the terrorism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen. For over 20 years, Dr. Bunsen has been active in the area of Catholic social communications and education, including writing, editing, and teaching on a variety of topics related to church history, the papacy, the saints, and Catholic culture. He is the faculty chair at the Catholic Distance University, a senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, and the author or co -author of over 50 books, including the Encyclopedia of Catholic History and the best -selling biographies of St. Damien of Malachi and St. Kateri Tekakawisa. He also serves as a senior editor for the National Catholic Register and is a senior contributor to EWTN News. The Doctors of the Church, the terrorism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen. I'm your host, Chris McGregor. Welcome, Dr. Bunsen. Wonderful to be with you again, Chris. Thank you so much for joining us to talk about this particular doctor of the church who, it's rare, isn't it, in our lifetimes to have those saints elevated to the status of doctor who have quite a background like St. Hildegard Bingen. Yes, well, she is, of course, with John of Avila, one of the two of the newest doctors of the church proclaimed as such by Pope Benedict XVI, who has, I think, a special fondness for her. And as we get to know her, we certainly can understand why he holds her in such great repute and such great respect. It's easy to overlook the fact that in her lifetime, she was called the Sybil of the Rhine, and throughout that, the whole of the 12th century in which she lived. She was renowned for her visions, but she was especially loved and respected for her wisdom, the greatest minds of her age, and, of course, was renowned also for her great holiness. So this is a formidable figure in the medieval church, and somebody, I think, that we really need to look at today as we proceed with the reform and renewal of the church. I'll try to put this very sensitively when I say that her presence in our time is one that, unfortunately, was relegated maybe into a back corner by many because of those who tried to hijack, in some ways, her spirituality to try to move forward to certain agendas. Yes, I think that's a very diplomatic way of putting it. Hildegard, in the last 10 years or so, and Pope Benedict XVI, I think, helped lead the charge in this, has been reclaimed by the church. Her authentic writings, her authentic spirituality, and especially her love for the church and her obedience to the authority of the church have all been recaptured, reclaimed for the benefit of the entire church. It's absolutely true that over the previous decades, much as we saw with a few others, I'm thinking, for example, of a Julian of Norwich in England who lived a little after Hildegard, were sort of kidnapped by those with real agendas to try to portray Hildegard as a proto -radical feminist, as somebody who was hating of the church, who attempted to resist the teachings of the church, who rejected the teachings of the church. And yet, as we read her, as we come to appreciate her more fully, I think we can grasp her extraordinary gifts, but also her remarkable love for the church. She was one who allowed herself to be subjected to obedience, that wonderful, can we say it, a virtue, as well as a discipline. Absolutely, yeah. It's one of those ironies, again, to use that word, that here was somebody who was falsely claimed by feminists, who I think would have been just shocked at the notion of herself as a feminist, that she had instead a genuine love for the church, a profound mysticism. And you've hit on one of the key words that we're going to be talking about with her, and that is a perfection of the virtues of love for Christ and her obedience to the church, to the authority of the church in judging what is and authentic what is pure. And that, I think, holds her up as a great role model today when we have so many who are dissenting from the church and continue to cling to this notion of Hildegard as some sort of a herald of feminism in the church. I don't think I would understate it by saying that it was breathtaking in the fall of 2010 then when Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, began a series of Wednesday audiences on the holy women of the Middle Ages. And he began those reflections, especially on those who had such deep mystical prayer experiences, he began the audiences not with just one but two audiences on Hildegard. Yeah, he has made it very clear. He certainly did this as pope. He's done this throughout his life as a theologian, somebody who wants to make certain that the church recognizes and honors genius in all of his forms, but also profound holiness. And Pope Benedict, in that there's the set of audiences, especially regarding Hildegard, but I mean, when we run through the list of some of the great figures that he was looking at, he talked, for example, about Julian of Norwich, he covered Catherine of Siena, Brigid of Sweden, Elizabeth of Hungary, and of course Angela of Foligno, who just recently was canonized through equivalent canonization by Pope Francis. The gifts to the church, the contributions to the life of the church, to the holiness of the church by these remarkable women. It's something that we need to pause, and I really appreciate the fact that you want to do that, to credit Pope Benedict for doing that, but also again to turn our gaze to these extraordinary women. And it is significant that Hildegard of Bingen was included in that list. If you could, give us a sense of her time period. Well, she grew up in Germany and really was a member of the German nobility, and she belonged to the German feudal system. In other words, her father was a wealthy, powerful landowner at a time when owning land was everything. His name was Hildebert, and both in the service of, as the feudal system worked, a more powerful lord by the name of Meggenhard, who was Count of Spannheim. These are sort of dazzling names to people today, but what's really most important is that medieval feudal life in Germany was one of service, it was one of status, but this reflects on the upbringing of Hildegard, I think, in a into this noble environment. She had the opportunity to learn, to understand what it was to command, to know what it was to have special status, and yet from her earliest times, she displayed extraordinary intelligence, but also very powerful spiritual gifts and a desire for status conscious, as so many of the members of the feudal nobility were, and yet they recognized in their daughter the fact that she was called to something else other than the life of service and of status that they enjoyed. And for that reason, they offered her up, as was the custom of the time, as sort of a tithe to the church, as an oblet to the nearby Benedictine abbey of Disobodenburg, and she was only eight years old at the time, but that was the custom. And her life changed from that minute, but it was, I think, the greatest gift that her parents could have given her, because they placed her in exactly the environment that she needed the most to foster, really to develop her spiritual life, and all of the skills that she was given by God that she came to possess as an abbess and as a leading figure of the medieval church. The stability of the Benedictine role, that way of devoting time in your day, not only to work, the discipline of action, but then also to prayer, it really served her so well, didn't it? It did, and especially crucial in this was the fact that, as was again the wisdom of the Benedictines, they gave her over for her initial training to other women who were experienced in life, in the spiritual life, in the discipline of the Benedictine community, but also in the spiritual life they saw, I think, immediately needed to be developed in her. There was the first by a widow by the name of Uda, and then more important was another woman by the name of Uta of Spannheim, who was the daughter of Count Stefan of Spannheim. Now why is it that notable? It's notable because in Uta, not only did Hildegard receive a kind of spiritual mother, as well as a spiritual guide and mentor, but Uta was, being the daughter of nobility, clearly aware of Hildegard's background as well as her immense potential in dealing with other members of the nobility in future years. The position of abbess was one of great power. We don't encounter abbesses and abbots very much anymore, and yet because of the status of the Benedictine order, because of the lands it accumulated, but also because of its importance to the life of the community wherever you had a Benedictine monastery, abbots and abbesses acquired and wielded great influence in society and political life, economic life, and then of course their spiritual power. And Uta would have understood all of this, and over the next decades she helped train Hildegard in a life of prayer, of asceticism, but also of training the mind and personality to command, to lead with charity, and then of course to have the level of learning with the best they could give her to prepare her for the immense tasks that lay ahead. Let's talk about some of those tasks. It's an incredible time for a monastery life, and it would be affected by her example of how it could be transformed. Well Hildegard always seriously underestimated and sort of downplayed her own learning. She referred to herself as an indocte mulier or an unlearned woman, and yet while she may have had formal academic training that one might think of today, she nevertheless understood Latin, certainly the use of the Psalter. The Latin language of course was the language of the church. It was so much of the common language of ecclesiastical life, but she also continued to train other noble women who were sent to this community. And so when she was given, as they say, she took the veil from the Bishop of Bamberg when she was about 15 years old. From that point on, we can see a direct line of progress and advancement for Hildegard. This wasn't something that she was craving, but it was something I think that she took to quite naturally, both because of her training, both because of her family background, but also just because of her genius level IQ. I say genius level IQ because if you spend much time reading the works of Hildegard, the unbelievable diversity of which she was capable, and we're going to talk a little bit about that, you appreciate the sheer level of her intelligence and how in that community life, in the wisdom of the Benedictine life, they were able to recognize that, to harness it, to train it, and then put it to the good of the community and the good of the wider church. Not just for the church's benefit, but to make of Hildegard's immense gifts exactly that. A gift to the church, a gift to the community, but especially a gift to God. And so we're seeing her move rapidly a from humble young girl, somebody who was then trained to become a teacher or a prioress of the sisters, and then of course, around the age of 38, she became the actual head of the community of women at Disobodenberg. I think it's so important to honor that intellectual aspect of Hildegard, I mean the fact that she would have this ability like a sponge to absorb everything around her, as though it seems, and also to wed that with her spiritual life and those mystical experiences, and when she had, how can we say this, it was very unique in that it wasn't that she would have a vision of something. She would even say she doesn't see things ocularly, I mean something that she would have in front of her. No, it was something much more compelling in which it incorporated all of her. I mean not only the the spiritual aspect, but it brought in to play all that intellectual knowledge so that you would end up getting tomes and tomes and tomes of writing. Yes, that's exactly it. For her, while she was certainly conscious of her limited education, she understood that the knowledge that she possessed came from what she always referred to in the Latin as the umbra viventis luminis, or the shadow of the living light. And for her, this is not something that she was too eager or all that willing to write about, which is, as you certainly know, Chris, of all people, that's one of the great signs of the genuineness of spiritual gifts, that she was reluctant to talk about this extraordinary series of visions and mystical experiences that she began having as a young girl, but chose not to speak of until she actually began to share them with Jutta, then with her spiritual director who is a monk by the name of Vomar, who really I think was a good influence on her. And only when she was really in her 40s did she begin to describe and to transcribe so much of what she saw. And part of that I think was because here was somebody who was receiving these these visions, these mystical experiences from a very young age, but who wanted to ruminate on them, who wanted to meditate on them. And for her, then, it was the command to talk about these. And as she wrote in the shivyas, one of her greatest of her writings, she talks about the fiery light coming out of a cloudless sky that flooded her entire mind and inflamed, she said, her whole heart and her whole like a flame. And she understood at that moment the exposition of the books of the Psalter, the Gospel, the Old and the New Testaments, and it was by command that she made these visions known. But it was again out of humility, out of obedience to the voice that she did this. And the full scale of what she saw and what she began to teach to transcribe took up almost the whole of the rest of her life. And yet even at that moment, as she did so, what was she doing? She sought additional counsel in the discernment of the authenticity and the truth of what she was seeing. Why? Because she was concerned that they might not be of God or that they were mere illusions or even possible delusions brought on by herself or by the evil one. And that commitment to obedience, I think, stands her in such great standing in the history of the church among the mystics. But it also tells us that, as often has been the case with some of the mystics in history, there have been those positivists and scientists and psychologists who try to dismiss these mystical experiences. In Hildegard's case, what have they claimed? They have said that she was receiving these simply psychological aberrations or they were various forms of neurological problems leading up to migraines or a host of other possible issues. And yet the clarity of her visions, the specificity of them, and also the theological depth of them, demolish any such claims by scientists today and instead really forces to look at what exactly she was seeing. I don't doubt that there will be many out there over the next century particularly that could achieve their doctorates just by writing on different aspects of her work. And if you are at all a student of the Benedictine rule, you can begin to see in those visions those connections with the life that she lived out. I mean, this was very organic. It wasn't like this were just coming. Though they seem foreign to us, when you, potentially, when you begin to look at those visions, if you understand the time, if you have a proper translation and you know the rule, you begin to see a little bit better the clarity of what she's communicating. Yes, exactly. And we also appreciate the staggering scale of what she saw. I mean, she beheld as well the sacraments. She understood the virtues. She appreciated angels. She saw vice. She saw, as Pope Benedict XVI talked in his letter proclaiming her a doctor of the church, what did he say? He says that the range of vision of the mystic of Bingen was not limited to treating individual matters but was a global synthesis of the Christian faith. So he talks about that this is a compendium of salvation history, literally from the beginning of the universe until the very eschatological consummation of all of creation. As he says, God's decision to bring about the work of creation is the first stage on a long journey that unfolds from the constitution of the heavenly hierarchy until it reaches the fall of the rebellious angels and the sin of our first parents. So she's touching on the very core of who we are and the most important aspects of redemption of the kingdom of God and the last judgment. That the scale of this again, I think, is difficult for much of a modern mind to comprehend. And it tells us that we have to be very careful from our perch here and surrounded by technology and modernity that we perhaps have lost our ability to see the sheer scale of salvation history. That this abbess sitting on the Rhine in the 12th century was able to and then was able to communicate it with language that is surprisingly modern. Oh, let's talk about that language not only with words but with music and with art. I mean, this woman was able to express herself in all manners of creative activity. Yes, I mean, this is somebody that designed, created her own kind of language. It's sort of a combination of Latin and German, which is a medieval German. But she also composed hymns, more than 70 hymns. She composed sequences and antiphons, what became known as the symphonia harmoniae celestium, the symphony of the harmony of heavenly revelations. And not only were they simply composed because, well, her community would need music, they were very much a reflection of the things that she had seen. And she wrote a very memorable letter in 1178 to the prelates of the city of Mainz, and she talks about the fact that music stirs our hearts and engages our souls in ways we can't really describe. But we're taken beyond our earthly banishment back to the divine melody Adam knew when he sang with the angels when he was whole in God before his exile. So here she's as seemingly simple as a hymn, and connecting it to the vision, connecting it to salvation history, and connecting to something far deeper theologically. So her hymns ranged from the creation of the Holy Spirit, but she was especially fond of composing music in honor of the saints, and especially the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yeah, as we're coming to a conclusion on this particular episode, I just don't want to miss out on just a little bit of a tidbit. We could have called her a doctor, I mean, in a very real way, a physician. This woman, this wonderful gift to the church, gift to all of us, I mean, she had that appreciation of creation and actually even how it will work to heal. Yes, yes. Again, it's hard to overestimate her genius. Why? Because beyond her visions, beyond her abilities as a composer, here was somebody who combined her genius with practical need. Her community had specific needs for her gifts. And so what did she do? She wrote books on the natural sciences, she wrote books on medicine, she wrote books on music. She looked at the study of nature to assist her sisters. So the result was a natural history, a book on causes and cures, a book on how to put medicine together. And it's a fascinating reading because she talks about plants and the elements and trees and birds and mammals and reptiles. But all of it was to reduce all of this knowledge to very practical purposes, the medicinal values of natural phenomena. And then she also wrote in a book on causes and cures, which is written from the traditional medieval understanding of humors. She lists 200 diseases or conditions with different cures and remedies that tend mostly to be herbal with sort of recipes for how to make them. This is all from somebody who at that time was an abbess of not just one but two monasteries along the Rhine, who was also being consulted on popes to kings to common people who came to her for help. And this is somebody who at that time was also working for her own perfection in the spiritual life and in the perfection of the virtues and who is also continuing to reflect and meditate on the incredible vision she was receiving. So this is a full life, but it was a life given completely to the service of others. And of course, she'll have to have two episodes. We do. Thank you so much, Dr. But looking forward to part two Chris. You've been listening to the doctors of the church, the charism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen. To hear and or to download this program, along with hundreds of other spiritual formation programs, visit discerning hearts .com. This has been a production of discerning hearts. I'm your friend. This has been helpful for you that you will first pray for our mission. And if you feel us worthy, consider a charitable donation which is fully tax deductible to support our efforts. But most of all, we pray that you will tell a friend about discerning hearts .com and join us next time for the doctors of the church, the charism of wisdom with Dr. Matthew Bunsen.
Audio
Bunson on Hildegard
"The scale staggering of what she saw. I mean, she saw the mystery of God. She saw creation, the Trinity, incarnation, the fall, redemption. She beheld as well the sacraments. She understood the virtues. She appreciated angels. She saw vice. She saw, as Pope Benedict XVI talked in his letter proclaiming her a doctor of the church, what did he say? He says that the range of vision of the mystic of Bingen was not limited to treating individual matters, but was a global synthesis of the Christian faith. So he talks about that this is a compendium of salvation history, literally from the beginning of the universe until the very eschatological consummation of all of creation. As he says, God's decision to bring about the work of creation is the first stage on a long journey.
Audio
Bunson on Hildegard - burst 1
"The scale staggering of what she saw. I mean, she saw the mystery of God. She saw creation, the Trinity, incarnation, the fall, redemption. She beheld as well the sacraments. She understood the virtues. She appreciated angels. She saw vice. She saw, as Pope Benedict XVI talked in his letter proclaiming her a doctor of the church, what did he say? He says that the range of vision of the mystic of Bingen was not limited to treating individual matters, but was a global synthesis of the Christian faith. So he talks about that this is a compendium of salvation history, literally from the beginning of the universe until the very eschatological consummation of all of creation. As he says, God's decision to bring about the work of creation is the first stage on a long journey.
AP News Radio
Pope Francis underlines that papacy is a lifetime post
"Pope Francis has underlined the papacy is a lifetime post. Francis has made clear in comments, published by a Jesuit journal that he believes being Pope is a lifetime position and that Pope Benedict XVI resignation was an exception. Francis told civita catholica in the clearest statement he's made yet on the issue, I for the moment do not have that on my agenda the Pope added the resignation letter he wrote two months after his elections was precautionary saying he did it in case he'd had some health problem that would have prevented him from exercising his ministry. I'm Charles De Ledesma
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"In terms of the abuse crisis, he here you have this wonderful fatherly soul who was given to us and then he makes this unexpected and surprising discernment to retire and this may be begins that you could go theologian, spiritual father, and then I would say his last face of his life was the contemplative mystic and just like he never stopped being the theological voice for our times. He never stopped being a spiritual father when he stepped into this mystical contemplative role where he helped us by his very witness discover that the most important thing of the church isn't the politics and the power of the papal office that the church isn't exhausted by the activity of Christ the head in the leadership in the governance of the church that the church also has a heart and it's for the heart that the head laid down his life and Pope Benedict and the final part of his life took the whole church into the heart by devoting himself to prayer and silence and solitude for our sake in anyone who thinks that that was done without any personal sacrifice at all simply doesn't understand what this man did for us he didn't live in luxury. He lived a very simple life as solitude, praying for the church, praying for those who were suffering in the church who didn't really understand all that was going on in terms of the scandals and the crisis of fatherhood that was going on. He devoted his life to praying for us so that at the end of the day we wouldn't be overcome by hopelessness, but we would remember the reason for our hope, and so then that's the way I kind of look at his life is that he was a master theological voice at a time when we needed a master theological voice. He was a spiritual father at a time when we needed spiritual fathers. He was a contemplative mystic at a time when we needed can template of mystics and in this way his contributions, I think, too. The church in our time into our faith that I don't know if we'll ever fully realize it in this life, how important his witness his theological work and his governess so the church has been for us, but it is a pure great grace.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Themselves. And the way to truth is by opening our hearts to that divine mercy. Yes, I've been off the road for many years. I went down the wrong path. I attached what is most dignified in me. My mind, my will, my heart, to false gods. But the divine mercy that is poured out in the spirit is the way to not only recover or maybe for the first time see the truth. But in living that truth, you simultaneously receive yourself back as well. Because one of the other negative effects of idolatry is that you lose a clear understanding of your own dignity. Of who you are, but once we allow the mercy of God to penetrate our mind, our heart, and call us back to true worship in the church and in its teachings. We not only receive God and all of the rest and the light that God gives, but we simultaneously receive ourselves. And that's a wonderful gift because idolatry is all about anxiety and fear and restlessness and movement. And a kind of inability of a person to truly understand what is substantial about their own person. Their own identity. And what worship of the true God gives is immediate rest around your identity. That is who I am. I am a son or a daughter, I am the beloved one of the father of mercy. That is who I am. And all these other false understandings of who I am will be burned up in the fire of his mercy. Pope Benedict will go on to conclude that the church fathers tell us that this story is a foretaste of the future, which is Christ. It is a step on the journey towards Christ. In Christ, of course, is the true son of the father, the only one deserving of our worship, and the only true altar is his altar, the rocks of calvary, that held the cross in place. It is a premonition of the one altar that will be standing, the one sacrifice that's acceptable. The sacrifice of the God man himself, no other sacrifice, no other religion, no other God, so to speak, is acceptable to the father, except the son, who came from the father, was obedient to the father, and now leads the way by his divine and human identity. He leads the way back to the father, for all of us. Who are restless, who are lost, who perhaps have chosen poorly about what to worship and what the meaning of life is. Jesus is leading us all back through his one acceptable sacrifice. Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. Thank you taking Katie. Thank you. You've been listening to the school of prayer, reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon James Keating. To hear and or to download this conversation along with hundreds of other spiritual formation programs, visit discerning hearts dot com, or you can find it on the free discerning hearts app or on your favorite podcast streaming platform. This has been a production of discerning hearts. I'm your host Chris McGregor. We hope that if this has been helpful for you that you will first pray for our mission, which is to offer authentic and rock solid spiritual formation freely to souls around the world, and if you feel it's worthy, please consider a charitable donation which is fully tax deductible to help support our efforts, but most of all, we hope that you will tell a friend about discerning hearts dot com and join us next time for the school of prayer, reflections on the teachings, a Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon, James Keating.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Litany of humility. Oh Jesus, meek and humble of heart. Hear me. From the desire of being esteemed. Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved. Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being extolled. Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being honored. Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being praised. Deliver meet Jesus. From the desire of being preferred to others. Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being approved. Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being humiliated. Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being despised. Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of suffering rebukes. Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being calumniated. Deliver me Jesus. From the fear of being forgotten. Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being ridiculed. Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being wronged. Deliver meet Jesus. From the fear of being suspected. Deliver me, Jesus. That others may be loved more than I. That others may be esteemed more than I. That in the opinion of the world, others may increase, and I may decrease. That others may be chosen and I, set aside. That others may be praised, and I, unnoticed. That others may be preferred to me in everything. That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holiest I should. Jesus. Grant me the grace to desire it. Amen. We now return to the school of prayer, reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon James Keating. There is a reluctance on the parts of some not to follow the bishops. Because of the hurts and the pains that have been suffered for the last decade or more, because of the scandals that have affected our church. Yes, and this is a perfect storm really that we're in. Regarding the bishop's authority, because of their lack of oversight, in some of the cases with the pre scandal. However, we have to remember that in their governing power, there are Prudential decisions that bishops make, that certainly are in part of the guarantee from the Holy Spirit, helping Catholics trust the bishops when they teach in the name of Jesus. Their governing authority, quite often, is their Prudential judgments. What we're talking about here when we talk about the apostles. And that we are to trust the apostles, and from them we are to listen and glean or pick up our essential in unifying teachings. We are talking about all of the doctrine for a sake of simplicity will say, resides in the catechism of the Catholic Church. This is the teaching that's guaranteed by the Holy Spirit to be true, and to be universal, and so when individual bishops made personnel decisions or prudent or imprudent decisions around questions of secrecy, questions of personnel placement, none of that is guaranteed to be a part of the teaching magisterium of the church. In its ordinary exercise, that is outside the realm of what we're talking about here. So what we cling to when we cling to the apostles, the ordinary magisterium of the Catholic Church, let's just say what we cling to is what's in the scriptures and what's in the catechism. Now, politically, people will continue to raise the mistakes of the bishop's prudentially, and they will try to undermine the authority of the bishops teachers, and this is already happened. But again, we have to make the crucial distinction. This is probably being made these accusations against bishops no longer having, teaching authority, it's either being made for political reasons, or it's being made because there's deep sorrow and pain with an a person, who is not yet been fully healed, and so to assuage their pain, obviously they need someone to blame. And the Prudential decisions of the bishops, in many cases, is the right place to lay blame. But that should not diminish our respect for what Christ is working in the bishops. The preservation of our true and universal teachings. What's remarkable in reflecting on this particular moment when Elijah builds the altar that is opposite of that a ball, the fire rains down from heaven, and it consumes the sacrifice, but also all the water that was poured out into it. This great fire and as you were speaking about the bishops of recalling the great fire of Pentecost that came raining down and really gave birth to this church that was to be assigned. In the way for truth. The Holy Spirit is the actor that preserves us in our bond with God. And this bond is both in love and in truth. And the guardians of the bond, particularly in their exercise as chief, liturgist, or the one in charge of worship, in the diocese, is the bishop. So he leads us in bright worship. But he also leads us in right doctrine right teaching. By the power of this flame, this fire, this Holy Spirit. And so when we listen to the bishop's teachings, we are ordered correctly in our conversions. And we are given a guarantee that those ideologies and political propaganda that may be attractive to us because they carry immediate gratification or some type of facilitation of our own needs. Real or perceived. If we cling to the bishop and the teachings that come from his office, then there will be a rest in us a safety in us, and we won't be buffeted about by the winds and the trends of thinking. No matter what political party may be in power, who's the winner this year, who is the loser, who's got power, who's fighting for power. This becomes wearying to the human person. And so by clinging to the truth of the teaching of the bishops, the teaching of the church. We find a place of great rest. And that rest is given to us because the apostles were open and vulnerable to receive the fire of the spirit, and one of the meditations we can make about the reception of the fire of the spirit. Is that one of its works is to purify the human mind, so that sees clearly what is true. And what is simply of this passing age. The holy father, Pope Benedict would go on to say that the lord responded unequivocally, not only burning the offering, but even consuming all the water that had been poured around the altar. Israel could no longer doubt divine mercy had responded to its weakness, to its doubts, to its lack of faith. Now ball, the vain idol was beaten, and the people who seemed lost had rediscovered the way of truth, they had rediscovered
The Eric Metaxas Show
How Liberal Christianity Invaded the Catholic Priesthood
"My Catholic high school was entirely taken over by heretical post Catholics of the kind who today are hanging rainbow flags in churches. And in not just in Catholic churches, but United methodist churches and Lutheran and Presbyterian churches and episcopal churches. Liberal Christianity had invaded the ranks of the Catholic priesthood and of the Catholic bishops. What I always say was the priesthood became dominated by the gays who weren't smart enough to work directly for the Democratic Party, couldn't dance, couldn't sing wouldn't have a career on Broadway, but they wanted to live in the palace like the Disney Princess, they always secretly knew that they were. So they signed up for the Catholic priesthood. And they got ordained and they got made bishops. We had hoped that Pope John Paul the second and Pope Benedict would clean these people out. They created the sex abuse crisis and they covered it up. They tried to stop the church from fighting for unborn life. And instead, they wanted to support groups like Black Lives Matter, they created something called the Catholic campaign for human development, which was invented by Saul alinsky, which was designed to turn the Catholic Church into a leftist tool of radical social change. They replaced traditional Christianity with squishy, leftist politics, and sexual libertinism.
The Eric Metaxas Show
John Zmirak Shares His Thoughts on Pope Benedict XVI
"You're a faithful Catholic. What do you have to say about the great Pope Benedict? I have a piece that streamed out our call. The tragedy of Pope Benedict. Ten years ago, papa went out for cigarettes and never came back. How do you manage? To make something like that, hilarious. What do you mean? My reference to his retirement. He left us with this psycho stepfather. Food stamps. Okay, so but do we know do you have, I never did get a straight answer from anybody on why he did that. He was 85 years old. He knows. Nobody knows. Okay, nobody knows, but we can speculate. Some people say that, you know, he kind of like opened up the books and there was so much corruption. He said, I think I'm going to go take a nap. We'll say there was some blackmail about his brother who has a murky record of physical, not sexual, but physical abuse of children running a school. Some people say there's personal dirt on him. The fact is he was taken out and what looks like an intelligence operation. What looks like something the CIA would have done. But Barack Obama certainly didn't want him in office.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"They'll throw in the towel much too soon. Wrestling, struggling, is a very important part of love. You can not artificially surrender and abandoned. You must go through the pain of the struggle and the surrender, until the ego has been finally wounded. Ego is finally surrendered and, and given up. That it's not important for me to live anymore. It's important for me to know you. That's the secret of love and the secret of prayer when we get to that point. It's not important that I live anymore. It's important that I get to know you. So lord, let me know you. You've been listening to the school of prayer, reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon James Keating. To hear and or to download this conversation along with hundreds of other spiritual formation programs, visit discerning hearts dot com, or you can find it on the free discerning hearts app or on your favorite podcast streaming platform. This has been a production of discerning hearts. I'm your host Chris McGregor. We hope that if this has been helpful for you that you will first pray for our mission, which is to offer authentic and rock solid spiritual formation freely to souls around the world, and if you feel it's worthy, please consider a charitable donation which is fully tax deductible to help support our efforts, but most of all, we hope that you will tell a friend about discerning hearts dot com and join us next time for the school of prayer, reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon, James Keating.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"That I <SpeakerChange> might finally <Silence> <Speech_Male> be one with you. <Silence> <Speech_Male> And have <SpeakerChange> peace. <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> Most of the prayers <Speech_Male> we pray <Speech_Male> or surrounded by <Speech_Male> many, many different words, <Silence> <Speech_Male> but at the core of <Speech_Male> the purest of prayers, <Silence> <Speech_Male> lies that <Speech_Male> that begging, <Speech_Male> if you will. <Speech_Male> That pleading. <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> I just want <Speech_Male> you God. <Speech_Male> And of course, <Speech_Male> when we say that, what <Speech_Male> we're saying is, <Speech_Male> we know that <Speech_Male> if we just have <Silence> God, <Speech_Male> all will be well. <Silence> All <Speech_Male> will be well. <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> The end of prayer <Silence> <Speech_Male> is to <Speech_Male> be secured <Silence> <Speech_Male> in the deepest of <Speech_Male> intimacy with God. <Silence> <Silence> And then <Speech_Male> flowing from that <Silence> <Speech_Male> will be <Speech_Male> our participation <SpeakerChange> <Silence> in the <Speech_Male> will of God. <Silence> <Speech_Male> In participating in <Speech_Male> the will of God, <Silence> is the <Speech_Male> source of our deepest <Silence> peace. <Speech_Male> And the deepest <Silence> meaning, <Speech_Male> for our lives. <Speech_Music_Male> <Music> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Female> <Speech_Music_Female> You've been listening <Speech_Music_Female> to the school <Speech_Music_Female> of prayer, <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> reflections on <Speech_Female> the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, <Speech_Female> <Speech_Music_Female> with <Speech_Music_Female> deacon James Keating. <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> To hear <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> and or to download <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> this conversation <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> along with <Speech_Female> hundreds of other <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> spiritual formation <Speech_Female> programs, <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> visit discerning <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> hearts dot com, <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> or you can find <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> it on the free <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> discerning hearts <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> app or on <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> your favorite <Speech_Music_Female> podcast streaming <Speech_Music_Female> platform. <Speech_Music_Female> This has been a <Speech_Female> production of discerning <Speech_Female> hearts. I'm your <Speech_Music_Female> host Chris McGregor. <Speech_Music_Female> We hope <Speech_Music_Female> that if this has been helpful <Speech_Female> for you that you will <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> first pray for <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> our mission, which <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> is to offer authentic <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> and rock <Speech_Female> solid spiritual <Speech_Female> formation freely <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> to souls <Speech_Music_Female> around the world, <Speech_Music_Female> <Advertisement> and <Speech_Music_Female> if you feel it's worthy, <Speech_Music_Female> please consider <Speech_Music_Female> a charitable <Speech_Female> donation, which is <Speech_Female> fully tax deductible <Speech_Female> <Advertisement> to <Speech_Music_Female> help support our efforts, <Speech_Music_Male> but most of <Speech_Music_Female> all, we hope that you will <Speech_Female> tell a friend about <Speech_Female> discerning hearts <Speech_Music_Female> dot com <Speech_Music_Female> and join us <Speech_Music_Female> next time for <Speech_Music_Female> the school of <Speech_Music_Female> prayer, <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Female> reflections on the teachings, <Speech_Music_Female> a Pope Benedict XVI, <Speech_Music_Female> <Speech_Music_Female> with deacon, James <Speech_Music_Female> Keating.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Prayer, tragically, of course, Scott can not even find ten innocent people, and sodom and gomorrah is destroyed. And in this biblical account goddess, you know, showing how much he hates sin, and he hates sin because he loves us so much. And so God is always waging a battle on sin against sin, culminating of course in the crucifixion of his son, the triumphant victory against sin, not against us who sin, but against sin itself. In what was given to Abraham and his persistence in prayer, was an overwhelming trust in the fact that God is mercy. And here I think is the great lesson for us in our prayer. Is that, of course, were impatient with our prayer. But if we can really commit ourselves to it, then no matter what level of prayer we are at or what form of prayer we use, whether it's intercessory prayer or praise, petition, the more we enter into prayer. The more we are going to receive the true identity of God. The core of God will be revealed to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we know God, the knowledge of God is going to draw us back to God. Because God is infinitely fascinating. In what's truly fascinating about God, is what he shares with us about himself. The fact that he wants to share himself with us is possibly the most fascinating thing about God. Because there's no reason for God to want to be vulnerable toward human beings. Except for the fact that God is in love with us. So if we can persist in prayer like Abraham, then the more God will give himself to us, and that, of course, will then increase our fascination with God. And we will be drawn back to God again and again. As a foretaste to eternal
AP News Radio
Thousands flock to Vatican for funeral of Pope Benedict, the stalwart conservative who dared to resign
"Pope Francis has honored his predecessor Benedict the 16th, presiding over a wreck you en masse before thousands of mourners and Saint Peter's square. Francis opened the mass with a prayer as he stood among thousands who had flocked to witness the funeral of Pope emeritus Benedict the 16th. Francis wore the crimson vestments typical of papal funerals in contrast to the heads of state royalty and clergy all dressed in black and seated nearby. Many had come from Benedict's native Bavaria to say their final goodbyes. They donned traditional dress, including boiled wool coats to guard against the morning chill. The varying Christopher busher called Benedict the most significant Bavarian in the past 500 years and was honored to be at his funeral, Warner Andrew messer from the U.S. called him a solid rock for the church. As a man who lived through the council and who changed the church as
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Good news. Human beings are worthy of communion with God, because of what God himself did in Jesus Christ. And we are all invited to get in on this revelation, so to speak. We are all now invited to let Jesus draw near, to receive his love, to let that love transfigure us, and then to respond to that love. By going and doing likewise, by going and loving the enemy. Just like Jesus did, who is now living in our hearts and our souls. So, we don't deserve God. We are poor, but God himself has determined that he will gift us with himself, and therefore we have this inestimable worth and dignity. For someone who is entering into the school of prayer. They may have over the course of their lifetime felt that it's enough that I say my prayers. That I say the words that were taught to me. Isn't that enough? Isn't it enough that I go when I read my prayer book? Can I read my slaughter? And I read all these different things. Shouldn't that be what I've been asked to do? The fulfillment of my requirement. In the reading of prayers, what we want to pay attention to is where our heart is opening to intimacy. And of course, a duty is done. When prayers are read, a duty is done, and that has merit. But what we want to pay attention to is, as we are reading our prayers, are there any movements of deepening consciousness, or affect, love, insight? That these words are bearing to my heart and mind. See the words are not infertile, the words of any prayer book, or the word of God itself, obviously, all these words are fertile. They carry seeds of life with them. But we have to let the seeds implant in our soul which means we have to pay attention to the movements of our heart, as we're reading our prayers. So, as a person might be reading a morning offering or a morning daily prayer, of course you read it and you finish it and you say, amen. But perhaps the Holy Spirit would invite you to notice some things. They may actually slow down the reading of your prayers. So that you can literally receive, trinitarian love, as you are in the midst of reading. So he's reading prayers sufficient, probably not. Its meritorious but not sufficient. God wants more, he wants to give you more. In whatever level of prayer you're at, and whatever level of capability you have intellectually, and emotionally, and in your will, to receive what he wants to give you. Obviously he's never going to do violence to you. He's never going to make you love him. But he's always offering the mystery of the love between the father and the son at the level that you're capable of receiving it. At this particular time in your life, and how do you know what level you're at? Will you simply don't worry about things like that? As you're saying your prayers, you simply begin to notice when you sense your heart receiving his love. And just pause there. And be with him for a while. And do not artificially stop this communion. But just be with him for as long as it feels natural. And then go on and continue to read your prayers until they are finished. Any final thoughts on this first encounter with Pope Benedict's teachings on prayer? Well, of course, the whole church is overwhelmed by the depth and the substance of this Pope. Regarding the spiritual life, we will be unpacking his spiritual writings for centuries to come. Following the pontificate of John Paul the second, who certainly re gifted the church with orthodoxy. With a love for youth, with the cry for evangelization. Now we've been gifted with Benedict, who places all the gifts of John Paul. Into the depths of contemplation. And to be alive, as Catholics, during these two pontificates, is in a measurable grace. That we will probably only know of in heaven. How blessed we were by God. To be with these two men. You've been listening to the school of prayer, reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon James Keating, to hear and or to download this conversation along with hundreds of other spiritual formation programs, visit discerning hearts dot com, or you can find it on the free discerning hearts app or on your favorite podcast streaming platform. This has been a production of discerning hearts. I'm your host Chris McGregor. We hope that if this has been helpful for you that you will first pray for our mission, which is to offer authentic and rock solid spiritual formation freely to souls around the world, and if you feel it's worthy, please consider a charitable donation which is fully tax deductible to help support our efforts, but most of all, we hope that you will tell a friend about discerning hearts dot com, and join us next time for the school of prayer, reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon, James Keating.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"So much as to anticipate. That we would resist his love out of fear, if he didn't come and show his face to us, and Jesus, of course, is the face of God. A face that we can now behold, albeit in our imaginations. Artists have tried to show this benevolent faith, face for 2000 years. But we know that the face is this. No matter what Jesus looked like physically, we know that his face revealed the eucharist. Which is the essence of Jesus person. In the eucharist is simply Jesus, self donating. For our welfare, even if it killed him, and it did. And so we know what Jesus looks like. Jesus looks like self sacrificing love. And we know, therefore, how we are too, respond to this self sacrificing love. We are to do as Jesus said in the scriptures, go and do likewise. But we can only go and do likewise. In other words, we can only love our enemy. If we have suffered the coming of the Holy Spirit in us, because obviously our spirit does not want to love the enemy. Jesus is the face of God. The father loves us so much. That he revealed his face. Do not be afraid. Come close to this face, this loving face of God. And he will teach you happiness. Which of course is the end of prayer itself. Pope Benedict would say in that first audience on prayer that expressed in every prayer, in fact, is the truth of the human creature who, on the one hand, experiences weakness and impoverishment, who therefore addresses his supplication to heaven, and on the other hand, is endowed with an extraordinary dignity so that in preparing to receive the divine revelation finds himself able to enter into communion with God. That's our great worth, and as our awe, you know, to meditate the saints will always tell us to meditate more on heaven is essential, that one day we will be sharing in the trinitarian life, through Jesus Christ. Let our destiny forever. We have inestimable worth, of course the culture and human sinfulness is always trying to tell human beings that they just have utilitarian worth. And this is why the Catholic Church is so hated today because we keep trying to teach the world that the human being, no matter what their condition, in utero, to the last moments of their lives. In old age, or with dementia, they have inestimable worth, and are teaching is
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Being loved
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Jesus's love, and then through grace, hopefully, a cooperation with this love finally, and we surrender, and we abandon ourselves to this love, and then we are born again. The relationship between the father and the son is so essential to understanding our relationship. In that Trinity of love, isn't it? You're the love between Jesus and his father, basically, is reality. And anything that flows from the love between the father and the son is something that we want to get in on. We want to be taken up into reality. And so much of our lives are lived, purifying, or being purified, by grace, away from those things that drag us further from reality, and prompt us to live fantasy world. Jesus loving the father and the father loving, Jesus, is truth, is freedom. Is reality, is healing, so we need to get in on that love. And this is the whole point of the church, the church mediates, the coming of Jesus. From Pentecost on the sacraments, call us into this relationship between the father and the son, so that we are not out in the cold. So that we're no longer orphans. But that we actually have a light that guides us. And we actually live in reality. So with each expression of our celebration of the sacraments, and are worthy participation in them. We grow more and more comfortable. Living in reality. In other words, living within heaven. Living within the father and the son's love. In the early stages we resist this love, but as love begins to wear us down and suffering tutors us that we have chosen poorly we grow more and more desirous. Of wanting to be involved in the love between the father and the son. And of course, when we speak of the love between the father and the son, we need to call down upon the Holy Spirit. We need to shout out for the spirit and cry for the spirit. And ask for the Holy Spirit to be given to us. We need always to be calling for a new Pentecost. And particularly around these audiences of Benedict the 16th, we need to be praying a very special prayer to the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. Give me a new Pentecost of prayer. Give me a new Pentecost of prayer. Meaning take me up into the love between the father and the son. As the normal life that I live. In our quest in our desire to enter into that union to be a part of that relationship, we pray, but as Pope Benedict has expressed that we must learn to pray properly, isn't that the key? The learning to pray is synonymous with learning to love. In another series of addresses, Pope Benedict once defined prayer as pure receptivity. Meaning that the work of prayer is God's work, mostly. We must learn how to withstand being loved. This is why in spiritual direction so many people will go to their director and say, you know, I tried to pray. I can't. I can't finish the prayers. I can't finish the rosary. I can't stay before the blessed sacrament. I just get anxious and nervous. I get distracted. And I have to leave. And a lot of it is because we are broken and poor. And we, in our state that we're in now, before a holiness, we are foreigners in the presence of God. It's not our native land, so to speak. And we literally have to get used to being loved by God. To receive his love, to, as I say, sometimes suffer his love, because in the early stages of prayer, is mostly pain. And if it's not pain early on in your prayer life, it's because God has allowed grace to suffuse your soul so deeply. That you are immediately experiencing attraction and pleasure to prayer. And it's a way of him hooking you into his love. But that level of grace and pleasure in prayer will not last. Because there's a lot of work that the Holy Spirit has to do upon our souls. Before we die and before we enter heaven, to an eternal, happiness with God. And that work is the purification of our soul. The purification meaning that we have to get used to being in the presence of the holy. And this is why prayer can be so difficult. Is we are being tutored or we are being taught, how to be loved by the divine. When, for 2030 or 40 years, we have simply been taking or angling to be loved by other humans. Or making baby steps in terms of making ourselves a self gift to others. But all of these prerequisites have not prepared us for the center of the core of prayer. Which is to literally be vulnerable. At our core, to being loved by holiness itself. And because of our fallen nature, we need to learn how to be vulnerable like this, and this is where the saints come in, their writings, their teachings, this is where the magisterium comes in, the catechism, this is where and why Pope Benedict said, very recently, that it would benefit everyone. To be in spiritual direction, even for a time, certainly it's necessary for our spiritual leaders, a clergy and religious, but even lay people. Should be in spiritual direction, even for a time. Because we need to know that praying is not natural. Selfishness is natural. And we need help to move us from selfishness to being able to withstand
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Lennon's seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, taking Keating has led more than 400 workshops in areas of morality and spirituality and has authored numerous books including the way of mystery, listening for truth and spiritual fatherhood. The school of prayer reflections on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, with deacon James Keating. I'm your host, Chris McGregor. Our holy father, Pope Benedict XVI, has given us rich catechesis in a series of reflections and his audiences on prayer. What are some of the things that you feel stand out in Benedict's approach? Well, I think the key thing first is his emphasis on the importance of Jesus. Jesus says the mediator of our relationship with the father and our capacity to speak to the father because of Jesus and the love that Jesus and the father have for one another. So Jesus is actually our doorway into personal prayer with God, the father. And you can see this as being true when we look at other world religions. Where, to some extent, there is an impersonal understanding of a deity. Or a God who is so distant as to simply perhaps be a lawgiver, but with Jesus comes this incredible revelation of closeness and intimacy that God the father wants to have with everyone. And the Pope is emphasizing the important role that Jesus plays in drawing all humankind back to the father, through sunship, through a filial relationship with the father. And making all of us children of the father, through grace through baptism, and in that way, we're able to speak to God. And this is another aspect of the Pope's wonderful audiences on prayer. He delves in this delves into this amazing paradox. Where we, human beings are at once poor, we can't reach God on our own. And yet at the same time we have incredible dignity and worth. Because our destiny is to reach God. Again with the help of grace. With the help of our relationship with Jesus, the essential nature of Jesus savior, being gifted and offered to us by the Trinity, so we are weak, we are poor, we can't reach God on our own, and yet its God's deepest desire that we do reach him and hence the mystery of Jesus comes into play, that the father sends the word, the word takes on flesh. And we are able then to be so dignified to have so much worth through Jesus and in Jesus, that we can now all reach the father. We can literally communicate with God. And spend the rest of our lives here and an eternity, with the father, because of Christ. And that first audience where he does chronicle the attempts of man throughout the ages to reach for the unknowing. That ache that whether it's the Greek philosophers or any of the religions prior to the presence of Jesus that ache to communicate with that unknown calling. And the holy father is you just pointed out, emphasizes that Jesus is the ultimate response to that quest. The ache is in us the desires and has put there by God himself. But without the revelation, the desire is diffused, and that's where we all get lost. We don't. We don't know which way to go. We don't know whether to be satisfied in current and passing philosophies or we don't know whether to simply be satisfied with the diversions of the flesh, we don't know whether to construct our own meaning systems. Regarding purposefulness or work, and we spend a great deal of our time before we die, going down a lot of blind alleys. Because we're not willing to actually receive, what is a very dramatic and consequential truth? You must let Jesus love you. And if you let him love you, your way will be clear. But to allow Jesus to love us, has all sorts of ramifications regarding the way we're living our lives now. And so we prefer to dally in slower processes of coming to life. Well, maybe I'll just leave Jesus over to the side here for a bit and I'll take some university courses or maybe I'll try this new hobby. Or maybe I'll indulge in these pleasures with whether it be through drugs or alcohol or some type of extreme living. And we don't want Jesus to love us. Because we want to hold on to these artificial consolations. Because we're afraid to be loved, and that's part of our brokenness. We're like little children cowering in the corner. Not willing to go to the grandfather or the grandmother or the parent who has their hand out to us. To love us, we prefer to stay sort of hidden from love because of the consequences of love, and of course the consequences of love are basically a changed life. To be converted. And to stand in the full light of being loved by Jesus. And so we do go through these stages of looking for a meaning in life, being diffused
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"He devoted to that, because as you said, once to us, the real problem with the church, if there are many problems in moral theology and dogmatic theology, the real problem really is in the scriptural interpretation of who Jesus of Nazareth is. And that if we don't get that right, we get nothing right. So his whole endeavor was to actually transform to uncover the scriptures which were so dear to his heart. That actually the person of Jesus Christ in his full humanity and his divinity would be evident to generations to come, and that I think he is achieved. That's only one of the many other contributions he has made to theology. So all of these ideas are going through my head as I think back over 52 years of association with the man, first, as a, as my doctor farter, in Germany, a doctoral supervisor is called a doctor farter area. And he was a father to us. In so many ways. But a wonderful father, he never interfered. He let us go away. He literally gave us the freedom to research to think. Am I saying too much? No, not at all. This is actually gold. So just I just appreciate everything you're saying. Just to go back to, I'm going to say, for my first memories of him as a professor, a two big memories many, but two major one was in his lectures. He had an extraordinary way of delivering nature. First of all, his lectures at the beginning of each semester when he took up a new topic, creation, evolution, for example, or the church of structure. Of mariology, river it was. He would give a toward the horizon. A whole discussion of how these questions were being treated in the world today. Take for example creation. The whole history of evolution, what science was saying, what philosophers were saying, what theologians were saying. And these initial lecturers attracted people scholars both professors and students from every discipline on the university.
Mike Gallagher Podcast
Carl Jackson Pays His Respects to Pope Benedict XVI
"Pope Benedict has passed away. Listen, I thought, frankly, he was a fantastic Pope. I was, you know, especially after John Paul the second, I did not want to see him go frankly. Unfortunately, health prevented him from staying and he resigned his position the first to do so in about 700 years, but this was a guy that was literally brought into the, the Nazi Party, if you will, during World War II, abandoned them, became a cardinal in the Catholic faith, faith became a theologian and the guy did amazing work as far as theology was concerned just like John Paul, the second did when it came to theology. The guy was fabulous and as a matter of fact, Pope Francis gets a lot of the credit that Pope Benedict put in place for things Pope Benedict put in place and whether it was a money scandal whether it was sexual abuse scandal, Pope Benedict started working on a lot of this stuff and Pope Francis gets the credit for it. But anyway, for all of you Catholics out there, I just want to offer my condolences. He was a great man. He was a great theologian.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"His, you know, his genius and his learning. All of that is integrated by that very, very simple point. I wish we had more time to talk about this particular subject and I would ask you any final thoughts on Pope Benedict and on the opportunity for us to be able to enter into Jesus of Nazareth. Well, maybe I'll take the last point that you mentioned just entering into the book. I think, first of all, I would say try to enter in. So those who haven't read it or who have only read part of it, I would encourage to pick it up. And the first few pages where he kind of lays out the lay of the land are a little bit difficult. Don't let that deter you, because once you get, I'm thinking particularly of the first volume, actually, when I say that, when you, because once you get going, it's he takes you along. Even if this or that detail, maybe difficult or this or that reference may be difficult. His aim is not to make things hard for the reader on the contrary is his aim is to help the reader find Jesus of Nazareth. And so I think that what I would say is just pick up the book, don't be discouraged by initial difficulties and let the Pope guide you, read slowly, read meditatively, and I think that that reading will be very rewarding. Start with that encounter first. Then go to the catechism, then go to all those other things. It will make all the rest of it makes sense. That's right. That's right. Oh. Adrian. I do. And I look forward to the work that we'll be doing on other projects as well. I look forward to that too, Chris. It'll be a lot of fun. But doctor Adrian walker, we've gotten inside the pages of Pope emeritus Benedict the 16th, Jesus of Nazareth. To learn more
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"Yeah, I think that's actually a general rule to keep in mind when you're reading people of the stature of Benedict. They're not writing newspaper articles. I don't mean to give offense, but you read a newspaper article to get the point to get the information. You don't remember the words afterwards. You don't ponder them. That's not the way this book is written in this book isn't written as a newspaper article. It's written in such a way that the words matter in order to get the message. You've got to think about the words. You've got to sort of savor them as it were. And to me, that's the mark of a great author. A great author is one whose meaning you don't want to separate from the way that they deliver the meaning. There's a beautiful unity there as well. The unity of the person of Christ, it's reflected in the unity between, let's say, form and content in the book itself, and that's one of the ways in which you see how Pope Benedict whole personality has been shaped by the Catholic tradition in the deepest possible way, he's given himself completely to God in the church and that gift has made him one has given him a unity by virtue of contact with the one Christ, the one lord. So there's a beautiful coherence to the whole thing, which is just, which is something that people should discover. I hope listeners won't be scared by the somewhat scholarly kind of side of the book. We'll have the courage to sort of stick with it because the rewards that they'll get from reading it will be greater than those that you would get from a typical sort of scholarly book about biblical interpretation. I love the fact that you use the word beautiful because that is a word that he values so highly and that's beauty. That's correct. And he has spoken so beautifully to use that word about art. That's right. Certain types of music. Yeah, and himself. Exactly. All those things. He sees it as the beauty that it flows from God. And even in his writings, there is such he's so prolific, and yet there's such that beautiful that's right. Element to what he writes, so you've got to stop pause and really reflect like those like a Mozart piece or a Marc Chagall. Absolutely, Chris. I think that's a wonderful, it's a wonderful insight about his work. Benedict is brilliant. But he's not at all a kind of dry as dust.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"And I think you're right. Benedict does see this as a personal work. I mean, it certainly is something that he's wanted to do for a long time. It's an opportunity also for a great scholar to think through certain issues in biblical exegesis and so forth. But as I say, it's personal in a very particular way because it isn't just sort of the self expression of an individual. You know, to put it in colloquial English, some guy expressing his opinions. He's not speaking, of course, as the successor of Peter, but he is speaking as a man of the church whose mind whose heart whose whole way of being has been shaped by the church has been shaped by profound study of the Catholic tradition all in an atmosphere of prayer. And so there's something here that transcends the merely individual so that this is a work that I think takes its place alongside real classics of the Catholic tradition. I brought up the date and time in which we're meeting this beginning of the year of faith. Primarily because Pope Benedict really has fashion for all of us, especially in this call for the synod of the new evangelization. To first begin with our own relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. And how beautiful that he really has led by example in his own reflection. Absolutely. The person of Jesus Christ is absolutely central for Benedict. And the person of Jesus Christ is absolutely control in this book as well. In fact, the whole point of the book is that whereas a lot of biblical scholars have sort of cut up the gospels, cut and pasted, leaving a few scraps, he says that if you approach the gospels without prejudices, you realize that you can't do that. You have to put the scissors away and you have to, first of all, see, and what you see is a person, and he uses an interesting term that translated as figure, which sounds sort of odd in English, but the point of it is that there's a unified whole, a beautiful luminous hole, which can't be cut up into pieces. That's not to say that it's simplistic. There's a great wealth of aspects to that figure. It's kind of like a very fine wine. Or a beautiful diamond with many facets, but it's one. And the lord is one and can't be and can't be divided up. And that intuition is really central, governs the entire book, I'd say. Many people who have begun reading Pope Benedict XVI, and they used this first book in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Have said that, wow, he's so deep. Yeah. And as the person who has translated those words, he's very particular in what he chooses because each word has an important meaning. Absolutely.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"pope benedict" Discussed on Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
"I'm your host Chris McGregor, and we are delighted to bring back a conversation we had with doctor Adrian walker on Pope emeritus Benedict the 16th Jesus of Nazareth. Doctor walker is currently a Professor of philosophy and dogmatics at Saint Patrick's seminary in Menlo Park, California. He has taught theology and philosophy at the Catholic university of America school of theology and religious studies and the pontifical John Paul two institute for studies on marriage and family. He's the editor of communio. The international Catholic review, but doctor Adrian walker, we once again explore the teachings of Pope emeritus Benedict the 16th, Jesus of Nazareth, published by ignatius press. Adrienne, thank you so much for joining me. Chris, thank you so much for inviting me. We're recording this on the first day of the urethra. That's correct. The celebration of the anniversary of the opening of Vatican two and also the gift from the congregation on the doctrine of the faith of what would become the catechism of the Catholic Church. That's right. That's right. So it's a very auspicious occasion. And to be able to speak with you about a very personal work that Pope Benedict XVI has penned and given out to the world. He said it's not, it's not necessarily a writing that has the weight of, say, in a cyclical or any of those type of documents, but a very personal gift of the reflections on the life of Jesus of Nazareth, which you translated for the holy father. Well, that's right. I translated the first volume, which was a wonderful experience for me, precisely because it was an opportunity to come into contact with, first of all, the figure of Christ himself, the lord, but also with the Pope Benedict who shows himself in this book to be not only a man of God, and he is that a great man of prayer, but also a man in whom we hear the voice of the Catholic tradition. Which, as we know, is the guardian of the scriptures, is the guardian of the gospels, which tell us about the life of Jesus. So in that sense, it was a great privilege.
AP News Radio
Pope Francis says former Pope Benedict "very sick", asks for prayers for him
"The Vatican has said the health of Pope Benedict has worsened you to his age, Vatican officials have said doctors are monitoring the condition of the 95 year old retired pontiff. Pope Francis had gone to visit his predecessor before the announcement and asked the faithful to pray for him, Benedict has lived in a monastery on Vatican grounds since he retired in February 2013, Benedict was the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. I am Karen Chammas
The Eric Metaxas Show
Patrick Coffin on His Claim That Pope Francis Is an Anti-Pope
"Eric always an honor to be back with you, sir. Thanks for having me. Well, it's a joy. And you're provocative thesis is what? Compressing a lot in a few words, the thesis has to do with evidence that I've been not really paying attention to. And until I started to really drill into it, that Pope Benedict XVI on February 11th, 2013, when he announced his abdication. Only abdicated partially in there. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me sum up your thesis, because I thought you were simply going to say this, and then we're going to get into the details. All right. Your thesis is that Pope Francis is not the Pope. He is an anti Pope. Now, you've got to explain before we get into why you a faithful Catholic think it's possible that Francis is not the Pope and an anti Pope. You have to explain to us non Catholics. What in the world is an anti Pope? Okay, taken from a different angle. An anti Pope is simply a man falsely believed to be the Pope. Doesn't mean anti Christ doesn't even mean he's a bad Pope. It's just someone who's not directly able to hold the office of the Roman pontiff. A nonprofit posing as Pope. Not necessarily posing. He may feel himself to be the Pope. His subjective psychology is something I can't get at. Nonetheless, the non Pope. In the shoes of the fishermen,
Bloomberg Radio New York
"pope benedict" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"You see the value and worldwide market news The push for a global minimum corporate tax rate is still alive and well and you want it first The Labor Department has sent an emergency regulation to The White House So do we Bond yields around the world are tumbling Bloomberg daybreak With Karen Moscow and Nathan Hager Straight ahead latest local headlines plus a check of sports On Bloomberg radio the Bloomberg business app and Bloomberg radio dot com This is balance of power on Bloomberg television and radio I'm David Westin for Bloomberg first word news We go now to Mark crompton David thank you European Union member states say they agree that tough sanctions should be imposed on Russia and the event it invaded Ukraine European Commission isn't giving specifics on what those penalties might be Russia has positioned more than 130,000 troops near Ukraine's border That's according to U.S. and UK estimates Russia denies it has any intention to attack Ukraine The UK government is ruling out the prospect of an early election in Northern Ireland saying it will be held on May 5th as planned It ends the uncertainty over the date following the resignation of a top democratic unionist party official last week Sinn Fein would share his power with the DUP one of the election held sooner than may Retired Pope Benedict XVI is asking for forgiveness for any quote grievous false in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases but he's still denying he personally did anything wrong Benedict's lack of a personal apology or admission of guilt immediately riled abuse survivors who said his response reflected the Catholic hierarchies quote permanent refusal to accept responsibility for sexual abuse of children by priests Global news 24 hours a day on air and on Bloomberg quick take Powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries I'm more crumpton This is Bloomberg Thank you so much Mark Want to follow up on.
AP News Radio
Pope Reverses Benedict, Reimposes Restrictions on Latin Mass
"Pope Francis re imposes restrictions on mass celebrated in Latin pope Francis has cracked down on the celebration of the old Latin mass by reversing one of pope Benedict the sixteenth signature decisions he said he was re imposing restrictions because Benedict's reform have become a source of division in the Roman Catholic Church Francis issued a new law requiring individual bishops to approve celebrations of the old Tridentine mass this move is a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics opposed to the second Vatican Council which allowed mass to be celebrated in the vernacular traditionalist immediately denounced it as a devastating attack on the old liturgy I'm Walter Ratliff
News and Perspective with Tom Hutyler
Pope Said to Be "Alert," in Good Shape After Intestinal Surgery
"Is alerts after undergoing intestinal surgery. Pope Francis remains at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican, saying the 84 year old pontiff is in good condition, breathing on his own. This following what officials call a scheduled surgery on Sunday. The Holy See office releasing a statement saying the pope is expected to remain in the hospital for seven days, barring any complications, a well informed source telling Italian news agency ANSA that Pope Francis was in good spirits, even joking with doctors after he woke up from surgery. People realize it's probably a minor thing in the grand grand scheme of things and he should be able to recover just fine. According to the Vatican, the pope is being treated for diverticulitis, a condition where small, bulging pouches along the digestive tract become inflamed or infected, which can lead to symptoms such as abdominal pain and bloating engaged early. The Vatican says the pope's procedure lasted three hours. Surgeons, removing the left side of the colon. Removal of that segment should allow him to be relieved of his chronic symptoms and have a normal, perfect healthy routine for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, among the many folks reaching out to wish him well is his predecessor, Pope Benedict The former pontiff's private secretary says the retired pope is praying for the current pontiffs full recovery. That's a B C's Amy Robach 2021 is the
Bob Sirott
Vatican report finds that John Paul II knew of allegations against ex-Cardinal McCarrick
"Into X Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has found that bishops, cardinals and Popes downplayed or dismissed reports of his sexual misconduct. The 400 page report determined Pope John Paul, the second was warned about McCarrick but made him archbishop of Washington anyway. Pope. Benedict was also aware of the allegations, it says Pope Francis also continued his predecessor's naive handling of the predator until a former altar boy alleged abuse. Francis then defrocked the 90 year old McCarrick last year after a Vatican investigation confirmed decades of allegations. The word of the year for
Morning Edition
Rev. Georg Ratzinger, Choirmaster and a Pope’s Brother, Dies at 96
"Report the ailing brother of former Pope Benedict has died. Georg Ratzinger was 96. Last month, Benedict spent several days in his native Germany with his brother, Ratzinger was also a priest. Benedict had not traveled outside of Italy since 2013. That's when he became the first pope to resign in about 600
John Williams
Retired pope suggests St. John Paul II be called "the Great"
"And emeritus pope Benedict is honoring ours hoping that pope John Paul the second might be named to John Paul the great only two other popes have had such a distinction they were the fifth century pope Leo the first and sixth century pope pope Gregory he's making the sex sex suggestion on the centennial of John Paul the