Catholic Culture Audiobooks

A Holy Saturday poem by Sr. Mary Ada, OSJ.  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 would have accepted a sad life, but not one that was absurd." Raïssa Maritain is best known as the wife of Jacques Maritain, one of the foremost Catholic philosophers of the 20th century whose work was instrumental in the modern revival of the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Raïssa was a poet, painter, and philosopher in her own right. We Have Been Friends Together is Raïssa's autobiography and a memoir of her marriage to Jacques. The excerpt featured in today's episode is Raïssa's moving account of the fateful afternoon when she and Jacques, both in their 20's and still students at the Sorbonne, make a suicide pact together. Disillusioned by the nihilism that dominated their philosophical studies, Jacques and Raïssa—still at this point agnostic and atheist—resolve either to discover the meaning of life or else to end it. It was this resolution that set them on a path that would ultimately lead to Christ and to His Church. Links 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.

“None rejoice in Easter-tide less than those who have not grieved in Lent.” In this sermon originally preached on Easter Day, Newman likens Christian joy at Easter to that of sick people in convalescence. He speaks also of the unassuming yet undeniable power of the Church’s precepts and ordinances. Keeping Fast and Festival full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume4/sermon23.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.

"... 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.

“What is given us by revelation to estimate and measure this world by? The event of this season—the Crucifixion of the Son of God.” A powerful sermon given by Newman for the last Sunday in Lent.  The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume6/sermon7.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.

“Would you know the power of repentance? Would you understand this strong weapon of salvation and the might of confession?” With this second installment in St. Cyril’s Lenten series of catechetical lectures, Cyril offers a remarkable testament to the power of repentance. Cyril exhorts his catechumens to sure confidence in God’s mercy, no matter how much one has sinned. God’s mercy, Cyril reminds, extends even to a whole people; a nation; a globe. Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120469/the-works-of-saint-cyril-of-jerusalem-vol-1 Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2410 Donate: https://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.

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"Rejoice, O Bride Ever-Virgin!" The Akathist Hymn is one of the most well-loved services of devotion in the Eastern Church. Although there’s some debate concerning the particulars of its authorship, many scholars agree with the pious tradition that it was composed by St. Romanos the Melodist, c. 530 in Constantinople.St. Romanos was a deacon and noted hymnographer, whose hymns have been praised both for their beauty as well as for their profound theology. The Akathist Hymn—just one of the many hymns attributed to St. Romanos—was originally composed for liturgical use in the celebration of the great Feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, March 25. After the great liberation of Constantinople in 626, it was chosen to be sung as the hymn of thanksgiving for the miraculous victory that had been achieved through the intercession of the Blessed Mother. The faithful prayed all through the night without sitting, hence the Greek meaning of the title, Akathistos—"not seated." May we, too, be found upright in thanksgiving and supplication, invoking Mary’s invincible intercession. Full text: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=899 Example of sung chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IYzQ2Ava4 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.

"Sustain the struggle for your soul, especially in these days!” We’re introducing a new figure today: St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth-century bishop whose feast is March 18. We’ve only a few extant works from St. Cyril: a letter, a homily, some fragments, and a series of 24 lectures known as the Lenten or Catechetical Lectures. These were pre-baptismal catechetical lectures given by Cyril to catechumens in the Lent of probably 349 A.D. Of these lectures, the most well known are perhaps the final five, also known as the Mystagogical Lectures. In these, Cyril deals with each of the three sacraments the then-neophytes would have received: baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. This first Catechetical Lecture serves as a good introduction to the others, as well as a welcome return to the basics. “Lay aside things of the present,” Cyril says, “and put your faith in things to come.” Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120469/the-works-of-saint-cyril-of-jerusalem-vol-1 Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2409 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.

“For when did the knowledge of God so shine forth? When did chastity and the virtue of virginity so manifest itself, or when was death so despised, as since the Cross of Christ appeared?” We’re quickly approaching the conclusion to this great spiritual classic by St. Athanasius! In this episode, we’ll hear Athanasius recount a litany of wonders God worked through St. Anthony’s prayer: more healings, visions, and casting out of evil spirits, as well as descriptions of St. Anthony’s theological tussles with Arian heretics and Greek philosophers. If you’ve not yet listened to our previous installments in this series, today’s episode stands on its own; but after listening, you may find you’ll want to go back and hear this extraordinary life from the beginning. Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120446/early-christian-biographies Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3080 Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes. 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.