Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"Conformity signifies that we join our wills to the will of God. Uniformity means more -- it means that we make one will of God's will and ours, so that we will only what God wills; that God's will alone, is our will." A few weeks ago, the Church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the proclamation, by Pope Pius IX, of St. Alphonsus Liguori as a Doctor of the Church. St. Alphonsus was an Italian bishop who lived from 1696-1787. He is the patron saint of confessors, and is perhaps one of the most widely read Catholic authors in the world (translations of his works exist in over seventy different languages). St. Alphonsus was a prolific writer who wrote over one hundred works on spirituality and theology. This text, Uniformity with God's Will, was written in 1755, and represents a topic that was dear to St. Alphonsus' heart. It is said that, in a similar way to how St. Ignatius stressed "all for the greater glory of God," St. Alphonsus gave central importance to "the greater good pleasure of God." After writing this work, St. Alphonsus frequently read it himself, and even had it read to him when his eyesight began to fail. The extraordinary circumstances within which we find ourselves today require a careful consideration of where our obedience is owed. This classic work by a Doctor of the Church can help. Links Uniformity with God's Will Full text: http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/uniformity_with_Gods_will/un3.php Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes. Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio 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.

"... as His atoning passion was undergone in the body, so it was undergone in the soul also." Mental Sufferings of Our Lord in His Passion full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/discourses/discourse16.html 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.

"How, and when, did Mary take part—and the initial part—in the world's restoration? It was when the Angel Gabriel came to her to announce to her the great dignity which was to be her portion." This is a selection from a larger work by Newman, published posthumously as Meditations and Devotions. In the first part of the book, Newman meditates on the Litany of Loreto. His meditations are divided into four categories: On the Immaculate Conception, On the Annunciation, On Our Lady's Dolors, and On the Assumption. Here are Newman's meditations on the titles of Mary most closely associated with the Annunciation: Queen of Angels, Mirror of Justice, Seat of Wisdom, Gate of Heaven, Mother of the Creator, Mother of Christ, and Mother of our Savior. Links On the Annunciation Full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/meditations/meditations2.html SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268 SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio 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.

"Joseph merited the greatest honors because he was never touched by honor. The Church has nothing more illustrious, because it has nothing more hidden." Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a seventeenth-century French theologian and bishop. During his life, he was highly regarded for that for which today he is still most remembered: his preaching. His style and accomplishment as an orator has seen him numbered among the likes of Augustine and Chrysostom—two of the Church's greatest preachers—and the most celebrated of his written works, Discourse on Universal History, has been favorably compared to Augustine's own City of God. St. Junipero Serra and Pope Pius XII are included among those who cherished Bossuet's writings, the latter of whom kept a copy of Bossuet by his bedside table. For all his fame as an orator and French stylist, however, Bossuet was also a man of great love for the study of Sacred Scripture, and for devotion to retirement and the interior life. It was only at the urging of St. Vincent de Paul (under whose spiritual direction Bossuet had prepared for the priesthood) that he moved to Paris and devoted himself entirely to preaching in the first place. Though he would eventually go on to become the court preacher of Louis XIV, Bossuet continued to esteem hiddenness. In today's reading, Bossuet observes: "The Christian life should be a hidden life, and the true Christian should ardently desire to remain hidden under God's wing." Indeed, it is Joseph's hiddenness that Bossuet recognizes is most essential to his greatness. Bossuet's reflections here have fresh significance today, in our modern prestige economy played out on the Internet and in social media. May Bossuet—among the best of preachers—convict us with his words; and may St. Joseph—the best of Teachers—teach us to be hidden. St. Joseph, pray for us! Links St. Joseph: A Man after God's Own Heart full text: https://catholicexchange.com/saint-joseph-man-gods-heart Meditations for Lent, Sophia Institute Press: https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/meditations-for-lent Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio 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.

Dive into the captivating account of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity as they face martyrdom. Experience Perpetua's heartfelt struggles with family and faith amid persecution. A chilling vision symbolizes hope and danger on the path to divine ascendance. Their stories illuminate the power of unwavering belief in brutal circumstances. This moving narrative highlights their courageous final moments and the lasting impact of their sacrifice on Christian tradition.

"The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already… but the Church of faith." In 1969, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger gave a radio address in which he made some predictions for the Church heading into the new millennium. The notion often attributed to him that the church would become "smaller and purer" is derived from this speech. Interestingly, the phrase "smaller and purer"—often misconstrued to suggest that Ratzinger wanted to drive people away from the Church—does not actually occur anywhere in the address. Instead, Ratzinger states that the Church of tomorrow will be "a more spiritualized and simplified Church." Far from driving people away, this Church, sifted through the crucible of trials, will be discovered by those outside of it as something wholly new and attractive. To cast into the future this way, Ratzinger looks to the time of Enlightenment—the historical moment which Ratzinger sees as most analogous to the times in which the Church finds herself today. "It is precisely in times of vehement historical upheaval," Ratzinger writes, "that men need to reflect upon history." Links Joseph Ratzinger - Aspects of Christian Meditation audiobook: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/joseph-ratzinger-aspects-christian-meditation/ Sign up for our newsletter at: http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio 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.

"Day and night follow each other not more surely, than punishment comes upon sin… just as a stone falls to the earth, or as fire burns, or as poison kills, as if by the necessary bond of cause and effect." Penitence is the focus of this sermon, given by Newman some years before his conversion to Catholicism. In it he addresses a topic too often neglected: the consequence of sin—of a single sin, at that. Even for Catholics, it can at times be all too easy simply to go to confession, receive absolution, and to forget that certain consequences remain—that reparations remain to be made—and that the work of penitence is ongoing. Even when we do attend to the consequences of our sin—above all, to the harm that our sin inflicts upon Jesus—these consequences can feel far removed, considered only in the abstract. In, this too, Newman's sermon is beneficial. By looking at the moral consequence of sin, Newman considers sin's consequence in an imminent and concrete light, able to stir us from complacency. Links Moral Consequences of Single Sins Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume4/sermon3.html Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio 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 paradoxical truth is that tames are more effective agents of the gay agenda than gays themselves... The tame commitment to the noncommittal is the engine that powers gay progress in the Church." Fr. Paul Mankowski, a Jesuit of the Midwest province and former contributor to CatholicCulture.org, passed away suddenly in September 2020 at the age of 66. At the time, we released an audiobook recording of "What Went Wrong?", a 2003 address to the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy in which Fr. Mankowski presents an excellent analysis of how the Catholic clerical sexual abuse crisis occurred. Fr. Mankowkski's words remain as relevant as ever. That was as much the case with his address on "What Went Wrong", as it is with this description of the phenomenon of "the tame priest", written in 1996. If you have looked with increasing bewilderment and frustration at the action—or, better put, inaction—of members of the Church's clergy, especially among her bishops, then "Tames in Clerical Life" just may shed new light on the problem. Links "Tames in Clerical Life" full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/userfiles/files/Tames.pdf "What Went Wrong?" on Catholic Culture Audiobooks: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/fr-paul-mankowski-what-went-wrong/ Phil Lawler Tribute to Fr. Mankowski: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/farewell-uncle-di-father-paul-mankowski-rip/ SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268 SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio 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.

"Is the enemy of Christ, and His Church, to arise out of a certain special falling away from GOD? And is there no reason to fear that some such Apostasy is gradually preparing, gathering, hastening on in this very day?" This is the first in a series of four lectures written before Newman's conversion to Catholicism and which initially appeared among Newman's "Tracts for the Times"—an effort by Newman and others to firm up a definite basis of doctrine and discipline for the Church of England. Decades later, and after his conversion to Catholicism, Newman would choose to have The Patristical Idea of Antichrist re-published in a collection called "Discussions and Arguments", from which this reading comes. Part 1, The Times of Antichrist, is an exhortation to take seriously prophecy concerning the Antichrist, and to recognize these prophecies as referring to a specific time and concerning a specific individual. Apostasy, Newman says, is that which unfailingly prepares the way for the spirit of Antichrist—a spirit already active in the world, ever struggling to bring about its ultimate fulfillment, and a spirit that each of us either resists or hastens the coming of its day. Links The Times of Antichrist Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/arguments/antichrist/lecture1.html Way of the Fathers w/ Mike Aquilina, Ep. 32—Julian, the Apostate Who Aped the Church: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/32julian-apostate-who-aped-church/ SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268 SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio 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.

"I have discussed in these four books not the kind of man I am, because I have many failings, but the kind of man he should be who strives to labor in sound teaching, that is, in Christian teaching..." We've finally reached the end of our seven-part reading series of St. Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana, or On Christian Instruction. Whether you're fully caught up on all of the previous episodes, or if you've not listened to any of them, you'll still stand to benefit from today's episode. That's because Augustine concerns himself in these final chapters with concrete rhetorical advice, and practical strategies for speaking and instruction. He does so primarily by outlining three basic styles of speech: the subdued style, the moderate style, and the grand style. To illustrate each of these three styles, Augustine provides extended quotes from the letters of St. Paul, as well as from two other orators whom he greatly respects: St. Cyprian and St. Ambrose. Augustine rounds out Book 4 with an emphasis on the effect that a speaker's life will have upon his speech, and on how important a role moral character plays in the way a speech is ultimately received by others. Finally, Augustine returns to a point he has made throughout De Doctrina Christiana: the power of prayer — prayer before speaking, and prayer after speaking, asking for the grace of God "in whose hand are both we and our words." Links Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275 Previous De Doctrina Christiana episodes: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes. Donate at http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio to support this podcast! 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.