"The life of action ought to flow from the contemplative life, to interpret and extend it, outside oneself, though at the same time being detached from it as little as possible."

Part Two of this classic work by the French Trappist monk, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858-1935), further explores the inseparable interdependence of the active and the interior lives—each depends upon, presupposes, and completes the other.

Episode 2: Part Two

00:00 - Intro

00:46 - 1. The priority of the interior over the active life in the eyes of God   10:30 - 2. Good works should be nothing but an overflow from the inner life   16:36 - 3. Active works must begin and end in the interior life, and, in it, find their means   25:11 - 4. The active and interior lives are completely interdependent   36:22 - 5. The excellence of this union This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format.

Links

The Soul of the Apostolate full text: https://www.cmri.org/0-olmc-mission/catholic-books/soul_of_the_apostolate.pdf

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

"If God calls me to apply my activity not only to my own sanctification, but also to good works, I must establish this firm conviction, before everything else, in my mind: Jesus has got to be, and wishes to be, the life of these works. My efforts, by themselves, are nothing, absolutely nothing."

Part One of this classic work by the French Trappist monk, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858-1935), examines the relationship between exterior works and the interior life of the apostle, demonstrating how the fruitfulness of the former depends entirely upon the vitality of the latter.

Episode 1: Part One

00:00 - Intro

00:38 - Prologue    05:50 - 1. God wants good works, and therefore zealous action   13:00 - 2. God wills that the life-principle of our works be Christ   20:59 - 3. What is the interior life?   42:58 - 4. Ignorance and neglect of this interior life   49:55 - 5. Is the interior life lazy?   01:04:06 - 6. Is the interior life selfish?   01:16:54 - 7. No conflict between the interior life and the salvation of souls This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format.

Links

The Soul of the Apostolate full text: https://www.cmri.org/0-olmc-mission/catholic-books/soul_of_the_apostolate.pdf

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

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

"The Comforter who has come instead of Christ, must have vouchsafed to come in the same sense in which Christ came; I mean, that He has come, not merely in the way of gifts, or of influences, or of operations, as He came to the Prophets, for then Christ's going away would be a loss, and not a gain, and the Spirit's presence would be a mere pledge, not an earnest; but He comes to us as Christ came, by a real and personal visitation."

A powerful Pentecost sermon from St. John Henry Newman's Anglican period.

Links

The Indwelling Spirit full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/index.html

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

"Prefer nothing whatever to Christ. And may He bring us all together to life everlasting!"

The Rule of St. Benedict is a foundational spiritual guide composed by St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of Western monasticism, around 530 AD. In this third episode, covering Chapters 39–73, Benedict details daily routines like meals and work, outlines hospitality and simplicity in possessions, and establishes the monastery’s governance. These final chapters conclude Benedict's Rule, presenting a vision of disciplined living, generous welcome, and unity centered on Christ.

Episode 3: Ch. 39 - 73

00:00 Intro

00:38 Food, Work, and Silence (Chapters 39–47)   12:28 Labor, Hospitality, and Possessions (Chapters 48–57)   27:04 Entry and Community Structure (Chapters 58–62)   37:19 Leadership and Communal Unity (Chapters 63–73) This work released in its entirety in episodic format.

Links

St. Benedict's Rule for Monasteries full text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50040/pg50040-images.html#chapter-1

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

"We believe that the divine presence is everywhere... But we should believe this especially without any doubt when we are assisting at the Work of God."

The Rule of St. Benedict is a foundational spiritual guide composed by St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of Western monasticism, around 530 AD. In the chapters comprising this second episode, Benedict details the structure of the Divine Office, establishes the rhythms and roles of community life, and provides guidelines for the disciplinary measures to be taken against erring brothers.

Episode 2: Ch. 8 - 38

00:00 Intro

00:38 Structuring Prayer (Chapters 8 - 20)   16:32 Order and Discipline (Chapters 21 - 30)   25:15 Community Life and Roles (Chapter 31 - 38) This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format.

Links

St. Benedict's Rule for Monasteries full text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50040/pg50040-images.html#chapter-1

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

"And so we are going to establish a school for the service of the Lord. In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome. But if a certain strictness results… do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation, whose entrance cannot but be narrow."

In this first of five episodes, we begin The Rule of St. Benedict, a foundational spiritual guide composed around 530 AD by St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of Western monasticism. In the Prologue, St. Benedict sets forth the Rule’s purpose, followed by Chapters 1–7, in which he outlines the kinds of monks, the qualities of an abbot, the Instruments of Good Works as a monk’s daily guide, and the Rule's core principles of obedience, silence, and humility.

Episode 1: Ch. 1 - 7, with Prologue

00:00 Intro

00:38 Prologue    07:43 Chapter 1 - On the Kinds of Monks   09:51 Chapter 2 - What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be   16:43 Chapter 3 - On Calling the Brethren for Counsel   18:37 Chapter 4 - What Are the Instruments of Good Works   23:44 Chapter 5 - On Obedience   26:18 Chapter 6 - On the Spirit of Silence   27:50 Chapter 7 - On Humility This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format.

Links

St. Benedict's Rule for Monasteries full text: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50040/pg50040-images.html#chapter-1

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

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

"It is not for Demophilus to set these things straight. For if the Word of God commands us to pursue just things justly... this must be pursued by all justly, not beyond their own fitness."

This letter—historically attributed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, a 1st-century convert of Saint Paul from Acts, but now considered the work of an anonymous 5th-century author known as 'Pseudo-Dionysius'—delivers a stern yet compassionate rebuke to a monk named Demophilus. Dionysius challenges the monk's rash condemnation of a priest for absolving a repentant sinner, and urges mercy, humility and respect for the Church’s hierarchy. Adapted from an 1897 translation, this version retains the work's rhetorical and theological depth while rendering the language more accessible to contemporary listeners.

Links

Letter VIII: About minding one's own business, and kindness full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/areopagite_08_letters.htm#letter8

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

"The philosopher aspires towards a divine principle; the Christian, towards a Divine Agent."

St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were isntrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England and ultimately led to many conversions to Catholicism.

In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman’s own conversion to Catholicism years later.

These fifteen sermons, though deeply interconnected in theme and insight, are not sequential in nature; rather, each stands on its own as a distinct and self-contained reflection on faith and reason. Newman lays the groundwork for themes developed in later works, such as Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

In this second sermon, Newman illustrates how the foundational awareness of God's existence ascertained by natural religion (human reason and observation of the world) is perfected and deepened by the personal knowledge of God offered by revealed religion (divine revelation, especially in the person of Christ).

Links

The Influence of Natural and Revealed Religion Respectively full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon2.html

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

"The philosopher might speculate, but the theologian must submit to learn."

St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were instrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England.

In this collection of fifteen sermons, Newman especially explores the relationship between faith and reason, and lays the groundwork for themes he would later develop in works like his Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman’s own conversion to Catholicism years later.

In this first sermon, Newman argues that it was Christianity which first promoted a properly philosophical disposition, by encouraging a mindset and instilling the virtues essential for a truly scientific approach to the pursuit of truth.

Links

The Philosophical Temper, First Enjoined by the Gospel full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon1.html

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

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

“This present feast is one of the greater of the whole year... Because there are three grades of sanctity which we celebrate in this feast.”

St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) was a Spanish Dominican friar, theologian, and renowned preacher known for his fiery sermons and missionary work across Europe. He was deeply devoted to calling people to repentance, emphasizing the urgency of salvation and often preaching about the Last Judgment. This earned him the moniker "Angel of the Judgment."

In this Candlemas sermon, St. Vincent reflects on the three significant events which this great feast commemorates: the Meeting with Simeon, the Presentation of Christ, and the Purification of Mary.

Links:

Full text: https://www.svfsermons.org/C117_Purification%20of%20the%20BVM.htm

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