Dr Geertjan Zuijdwegt, author of the recent release, An Evangelical Adrift p The Making of John Henry Newman's Theology,  discusses Newman's key sermon that sets Newman apart from his Evangelical beginning. Dr. Zuijdwegt points out that this sermon points to Newman no longer separating faith and works. Newman’s solution is to regard faith and works as equals – both faith and obedience are ways of seeking God. They are the same thing viewed differently – God is their stay. In this sermon we once again find Newman making the life of Christ very practical, personal and relational. 

Dr Zuijdwegt's text can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Evangelical-Adrift-Making-Newmans-Theology/dp/0813235588

Learn more of The  St. John Henry Newman Association of America at www.stjhnaa.org

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

Join us for part 2 of a fascinating interview with Monsignor Jefferey Steenson the first Ordinariate (Anglican priest not Catholic priest) in the United States as we look into Newman's Catholic era Lenten sermon "The World and Sin" 

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

My discussion with Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson, former bishop in the Anglican Church and now a Catholic priest, is so informative and enchanting that  I'm splitting it into two episodes. Part 2 will be posted next Monday.  Monsignor's journey to the Church includes a long journey with St. John Henry Newman that started when he studied at Oxford University in England. His interpretation of Newman's Lenten insights on the world and sin are invaluable. Enjoy!

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

Monsignor Richard Liddy, retired emeritus professor from Seaton Hall University and Newman/Lonergan scholar extraordinaire, offers beautiful insights into Newman's sweeping 1836 sermon "Elisha a Type of Christ and His Followers".  Monsignor points out that the sermon specifically reaches into the heart of each of us as both Fathers Lonergan and Newman upheld. In this episode Monsignor offers an unparalled guide to personalism by quoting from Parochial and  Plain Sermon "Christian Sympathy" - "we dare not trust each other with the secret of our hearts. We have each the same secret, and we keep it to ourselves, and we fear that, as a cause of estrangement, which really would be a bond of union. We do not probe the wounds of our nature thoroughly; we do not lay the foundation of our religious profession in the ground of our inner man; we make clean the outside of things; we are amiable and friendly to each other in words and deeds, but our love is not enlarged, our bowels of affection are straitened, and we fear to let the intercourse begin at the root; and, in consequence, our religion, viewed as a social system, is hollow. The presence of Christ is not in it".  You will enjoy this episode with one of the great contributors in Catholic philosophy. 

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

Lauren Scharmer, a 32-year-old longtime friend with a deeply convicted Catholic faith reflects on Newman's insights in his 1856 sermon "The Secret Power of Divine Grace". With the aid of Scripture Newman makes it clear that grace is so close to us that we are never alone.  Since in the Incarnation, Christ came subtly to "conquest the heart", He in turn comes to us daily by regular, subtle inward influences in the form of the Sacraments - "He is ever coming. Again and again He comes to His Church" (lines 160-161). Lauren explains that Christ comes "again and again" in order for wayward souls to be reconciled to God and to oneself. Once reconciled our restless hearts become truly free.  Today, as we contend with a crazy world, alienated from The Creator, we witness an ever increasing distinction of the world from The Gospel making the life of Christ all the more beautiful and inviting. Encountering this beauty is the most important event of our lives knowing that it will propel us forward into the world "again and again".

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

“The Glory of the Christian Church”

Dr. Barbara Wyman, assistant professor of English at McNeese State University in McNeese, Louisiana highlights Newman’s 1834 Epiphany sermon, “The Glory of the Christian Church”. The Epiphany is ongoing as God guides each of us with a guiding light that we need to be ever watchful for. Quoting Boethius, Dr Wyman explains that “time is an ever-present moment”. Comprehending a timeless God able to see everything in present moment is made possible only by our encountering the bridge between time and the timeless – The Incarnation. The Epiphany reminds us that we must seek the light through Christ with the hope that, in the end, we will be one of its fruits.

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

Fr. John Utecht, associate pastor at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Edina, Minnesota reflects on Newman's Catholic era (1849) sermon "Illuminating Grace".  He highlights Newman in that it is only through the ongoing action of the Holy Spirit that we find the fullness of the truth. We need illuminating Grace to fully understand things. Reason has immense power to calculate but is limited to the human mind looking at the material world. The love of the dying Jesus on the Cross looks "unreasonable". Yet, Newman and Fr. John remind us that it is the greatest act of love ever made. Grace comes into us to enliven our faith where our reason fails. Newman illustrates that reason without faith is but an opinion. Since it is truly never decided the end of reason is doubt where the end of faith is love.

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

Fr. Robert Lisowski from the University of Notre Dame draws key insights from Newman's Advent sermon, "Watching". Newman tells us that we must be watchful everyday of our lives - watchful as to how God breathes His love into our lives and how we respond to that love. Watchfulness involves a consistent, expectant focus on God. Without this focus our eyes move inward and we tend to miss the small advents of our lives. This self-absorption elevates things of this world leaving us ultimately unsatisfied. Without watchfulness goodness is limited to a  worldly definition. Newman calls us to something more. We are not called to merely advance in this world rather we are called to mount toward holiness. The lack of watchfulness can lead to a "rusting" of the soul. Rust on a soul clouds and discolors the mirror within that is meant to reflect Christ. Rubbing off this rust, by embracing the Cross, permits the light of Christ to shine offering an advent of hope to the world. This hope is realized by being watchful for the coming of Christ - "life is short: death is certain; and the world to come is everlasting". 

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

Brother Bobby McFadden, a religious brother in training with the Congregation of the Holy Cross (with a PhD in Augustine studies), reflects on Newman’s sermon “Faith and Love”. To have an authentic faith is to love. If we have the love of God then the faith that we have is genuine, real. Love then is the sign of our faith. Newman helps us see faith as the beginning of religion – the belief in God’s omnipotence, His almighty power. We delight in God because He is good – His commandments are good. We can only obey the Lawgiver if we have the pure love of an infant since we are born with that seed of holiness. Here Brother Bobby highlights Newman’s insight on faith and works. We engage the world with faith while love is the internal dwelling of God. Love is the condition of faith and faith in turn is matures love – it brings out love into works and therefore is called the root of the works of love. The substance of the works is love – the outline and direction of them is faith. The Blessed Mother’s conviction that all things are possible with God (omnipotence) matures the love that moves her to say “Yes”. It is in the blessed Mother where Newman sees the unity of faith and works. If we don’t love God all works mean nothing because the love of God is our fundamental nature. Our need to see God is realized through the lens of love. It is charity that brought Christ down – charity is but another name for The Comforter. God became human out of His love for us. When we love, we enter into that Divine love that is our destiny. We are Christ’s by love. 

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.

Dr. David Deavel, an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas - Houston (after coming from The Center of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota) reflects on Newman's sermon "Promising without Doing". Like Newman, Dr. Deavel sees his own journey from Evangelical Protestantism to the Catholic Church as an addition of the truths he understood prior to becoming Catholic. Dr. Deavel helps us to appreciate Newman's understanding of the relationship of our "doing" (works) with our faith in Christ. Together, St. John Henry Newman and Dr. Deavel, place our identity in Christ at the center of how we live and journey in the presence of God. 

To learn more of Dr. Deavel work go to "The Imaginative Conservative" at https://theimaginativeconservative.org

To approach Newman's majestic thought it is highly recommended to download the formatted sermon at www.newmanontap.com. Comments and suggestions are appreciated on the same site.