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St Philip Neri in the 16th century would gather those each day 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.
Episodes
Wednesday Dec 07, 2022
Wednesday Dec 07, 2022
Is it still possible to become a saint in modern times?
Yes. De Caussade tries to persuade us that saints can still exist. Sanctity is not limited to the time of the Apostles. There is one road to holiness: the will of God. God's will is still being made manifest in his divine operations. By our fidelity to that will, no matter the evil around us, we can become holy.
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Tuesday Dec 06, 2022
Why is gaining knowledge through experience so important?
This was the one way in Christ gained knowledge. We are imitating Him. Unless we experience certain things, we will never be able to communicate them to others. Unless we go through certain things, we will never be able to understand those God sends us. And God unites people in this life. God sends people into our lives whom we are supposed to help.
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Monday Dec 05, 2022
What is the purpose of all that happens to us?
God has one desire: to unite us to Himself. God is Love and wills to share His life with us. God only created the world because he wanted to unite us with His Son in the deepest possible unity. Through the Son, we are brought into communion with the Father. To make this sharing in the love of the Father and the Son possible, we receive the Holy Spirit. God has made us to be Temples of the Holy Spirit, the eternal Love flowing between the Father and the Son.
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
How can God's will be so glorious when so many of us treat His will so badly?
Think back to Christ's life. He did all things well. He went about doing good. And yet, how was he received? Even those closest to him, his Twelve, argued at the Last Supper who was the greatest. Ten of the Twelve fled at his arrest. Should we be surprised that God's will continues to be treated badly?
Saturday Dec 03, 2022
Saturday Dec 03, 2022
How can we learn to interpret the events of our life?
By the Holy Spirit. He is the author of the Sacred Scriptures. He is also the author of all that happens in creation. Veni Creator Spiritus, the Church sings, come Creator Spirit. As He is the author, so He can teach us the meaning of what He is writing in our souls. But what if it all seems a great contradiction? What if all that happens is so perplexing? God's actions are only fully clear in heaven.
Friday Dec 02, 2022
Friday Dec 02, 2022
What is the meaning of the life of grace within us?
We are sharing in the life of Christ. The Son of God became man and lived a human and historical life. The life within his human soul is the life of the Son of God. He transformed what it means to be human. That life, that love, that obedience, that humility of the Son of God made man is what is flowing down through the centuries. The meaning of what happens to us is making us like Christ. The more we share in his Passion, the more we will share in His Resurrection.
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Thursday Dec 01, 2022
Does God speak to us in the Sacred Scriptures or the events of everyday life?
In both ways! God has said in His Word, Christ himself, all that He has to say to us. That divine revelation is transmitted to us in the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. But the same Lord creates all things through His Word. God's creation and his action in history is his original way of speaking. By faith in Christ, we are able to interpret what God is saying moment by moment. Christ is the key. Faith in Christ unlocks these mysteries.
Wednesday Nov 30, 2022
Wednesday Nov 30, 2022
Where does eternity meet time?
In the present moment. Think of eternity as a line and time as a rotating circle. Where does a line meet the edge of the circle? At one point. The present moment is where time and eternity meet. We must live not in the past or the future, but now. Here God is speaking to us. Here our duties and the inspirations of God show us His will.
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
Tuesday Nov 29, 2022
What if events are ugly and hide God's beauty?
Faith can penetrate below the surface of things. More is happening in history and our lives than the senses can discern. God is infinite and mysterious. If God the Son is present in the small Christ child, if he can make Himself present under the appearances of bread and wine, he can act when and where he wants.
Monday Nov 28, 2022
Monday Nov 28, 2022
If God's action is always at work in the world, how do we recognize it?
By faith. Faith, St Paul says, is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. God's actions are unseen, invisible. Faith allows us to be sure that despite appearances, God is at work in this and that situation. Even when others mean to hurt us, God can bring good out of the situation.
Sunday Nov 27, 2022
Sunday Nov 27, 2022
Is God's activity involved with every event in history?
Yes, God's providence extends as far as his causality, St Thomas tells us. All things are held in being by God. All things act through his enabled them to act. There is nothing that happens that God does not in some way allow. He is not the cause of sin. But he allows such things to bring some great good out of the evil.
Saturday Nov 26, 2022
Saturday Nov 26, 2022
What is the secret to sanctity?
Union with the will of God. God knows what He is doing. He is the craftsman; we are his handiwork. We have to will what He wills for us. We have to say "fiat" to all that he asks of us and all he allows us to suffer.
Friday Nov 25, 2022
Friday Nov 25, 2022
Can we become holy if we neglect our duties of our state in life?
No. God first and foremost asks us to be faithful in small things. We have to be faithful in all the responsibilities of our state in life. He will give us special inspirations. He will ask things beyond our normal duties. But we must walk before we can run. Let us be faithful in what our state requires of us. Let us do all these duties with love.
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
Thursday Nov 24, 2022
What will faithfulness to God's will bring?
Besides perfection, faithfulness brings peace of soul. Peace arises from things being in order, in their proper place. We want to be in line with the order God has established. If we try to act outside his will, we will never find true peace.
Wednesday Nov 23, 2022
Wednesday Nov 23, 2022
What is the best spiritual practice?
Whatever practice at a given moment is willed by God. De Caussade does not want us to be spiritually greedy. Instead of thinking what activity we most want at a given moment, we should tend to think about what God wants. Even attempts at prayer when God is asking us to do something else would be a mistake.
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Tuesday Nov 22, 2022
Is reading, even spiritual reading, sometimes bad?
Reading in itself is good. But everything must be read at the right time and in the right way. De Caussade insists that reading for mere curiosity or outside of God's will for us can actually darken our minds. Spiritual reading is one of the greatest things we can do. But let us read what God really wants us to read.
Monday Nov 21, 2022
Monday Nov 21, 2022
In what does perfection consist?
Perfection consists in our wills being united with God's will. Perfection does consist in our fully understanding why God wills what he wills. Perfection does not consist in the mere studying of how God acts. We want to have God acting in us. We want to cooperate with God's action. Mere theories about how water quenches thirst will not help our actual thirst after a long and hot day. We want to pray and not just know about prayer.
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
In what does sanctity consist?
The active fulfillment of our duties before God and the passive acceptance of all He allows. De Caussade makes this fundamental distinction for understanding our spiritual lives. We must seek to do all that God asks. But then he also leads us to a loving acceptance of the actions of His Providence.
Saturday Nov 19, 2022
Saturday Nov 19, 2022
Is this active and passive practice beyond our strength?
No. We have the ability to do what God asks and to accept what he sends. We have this ability by His grace. We simply must do what is in our power. He will take care of the rest.
Friday Nov 18, 2022
Friday Nov 18, 2022
What is the sacrament of the present moment?
The term used by the Abandonment to Divine Providence to express the grace available to us in the duty of each moment. A sacrament is an outward sign of in inward and invisible grace. The seven sacraments are signs that communicate God's life to us. But the present moment in all its ordinariness, the duty of this moment, is a sign of God's will that can bring us inward grace.