St Philip Neri in the 16th century would daily gather those in Rome who were desirous of seeking Christian perfection. He would read from a spiritual book and then discourse on the meaning of what was read. This podcast (and the nightly prayer group from which it springs) seeks to carry on St Philip's method of helping people become holy, even saints, in their own homes.
Where was St John Henry educated? After his private boarding school, he went to Oxford. Newman's time at Oxford shaped the rest of his life. Through the people he met, he was directed towards his life's mission as an educator and father of souls.
When did St John Henry Newman experience a profound first conversion? In 1816, during his summer vacation. Due to his father's failed business, St John Henry had to stay at his boarding school during the summer. Through reading, conversations, and prayer, Newman's life was transformed that summer. He was only fifteen. He became convinced of the presence and reality of God and his own soul. He began to love the Athanasian Creed. The religious direction of his life was set.
When did Newman live? The nineteenth century. Born in 1801, Newman died in 1890. He witnessed great intellectual changes. One of the keys to Newman's writings is his effort to explain the relationship between faith and reason. How can we believe what we cannot fully understand? How can we believe what we cannot prove? St John Henry wanted to defend the value of the faith of the most simple believer. He wanted to show how faith in Christ is reasonable and mysterious.
When did St John Henry become a Catholic? This small book is Meriol Trevor and Leonie Caldecott's little biography of St John Henry Newman. Newman is being proposed as a Doctor of the Church by bishops from all over the world. His image is used by this prayer group as their logo. His life and teachings will inspire us.
Did Mother see her life in special relation to Mary? Yes, she especially wanted to live with the Risen Christ as Our Lady did. She looked on Mary not only as the model of humility as Our Lady of Sorrows, but also as the Queen of Heaven. Mary could teach her how to be joyful.
Did Mother have a special love for humility? Yes. She really wanted God to be all in all. She wanted to live for Him alone. She wanted to be completely under his Power. Therefore, she did not care what people said or did to her if He was glorified.
Did Mother practice penances and mortifications? Yes. Exterior ones. Interior ones. She also accepted the great torture within her soul for the love of Jesus.
Did Mother have success in following a plan of life and keeping her resolutions? Yes. But her notes for the ninth day also show her prudence and her flexibility in keeping her rules. Mother Teresa knew how to live out the true spirit of her plan of life.
How did Mother Teresa set up a plan of life? With great clarity, courage and supernatural outlook. We read about the eighth day of her 1959 retreat, based on the notes that Jesus made her give to him. These notes on the eighth day are incredibly revealing about Mother's effort to find God.
Did her fellow MCs realize the extent of her interior torments? No. Her closest collaborators did not know. They saw the fruitfulness of her work. They saw her joy. They saw her prayer. They had no idea of the intense interior trial of her heart. They did not know that her intimacy with Christ had been veiled in Mother's own sense that God was absent.
What made Mother Teresa unique among God's saints? The length of her interior darkness; the way she grasped the "'painful thirst' in the Heart of Jesus for the poorest of the poor." Her special way of sharing in Christ's own thirst on the Cross.
What made Mother comfortable and quiet in hospital? Her Hindu doctor could not explain it. But when the priests brought the box to the room, Mother, even in her greatest final illnesses would be quiet and calm. The doctor told the priests, bring her the box. What box was he talking about? The tabernacle.