"For the one who was born as Son, and led to slaughter as a lamb, and sacrificed as a sheep, and buried as a man, rose up from the dead as God."

A vernacular version of the earliest surviving Easter vigil homily by a second-century bishop about whom little is known.

Full text: https://www.kerux.com/doc/0401A1.asp

Alternate translation: Pascha-Melito-of-Sardis.pdf">https://sachurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/On-Pascha-Melito-of-Sardis.pdf

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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.

"People are shown to be not particularly spiritual at other times if they do not prove themselves to be more spiritual in these days."

St. Leo the Great's pontificate was described by Pope Benedict XVI as “undoubtedly one of the most important in Church history”. His 96 extant sermons, given during the period 440-461, reveal his great desire for the unity of the Church and his strong belief in the primacy of the papacy.

These three Lenten sermons were given in the years 441, 442, and 443 respectively. In them, Leo exhorts the faithful to use Lent as a time to fight against the temptations of the flesh and overcome the self, that they might participate fully in the Easter feast.

Links

St. Leo the Great Sermons: https://verbum.com/product/120449/st-leo-the-great-sermons

Alternate Translations at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2215 and https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2217

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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 don't know which is the cause of the greatest grief for me: whether those who were slain, or those who were captured, or those whom the devil so deeply ensnared."

St. Patrick's Letter to Coroticus is one of two extant works from the fifth century bishop who would come to be known as the “Apostle of Ireland.”

Written several years into St. Patrick's missionary work in Ireland, this letter offers a stern rebuke to a British warlord named Coroticus and his soldiers, the latter of whom had killed and enslaved several of Patrick's recent Irish converts. Reading at times like a Pauline epistle, the letter reveals Patrick's deep love for his Irish flock, his courage in confronting the evils of his day, and his profound zeal for the Gospel.

St. Patrick, pray for us!

Links

Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus Full Text: https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/epistola_english#

Way of the Fathers, Ep. 51—St. Patrick | Paternal & Patristic: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/51st-patrick-paternal-and-patristic/ 

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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.

"God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves."

In this 1939 essay, J.R.R. Tolkien expounds upon his personal theory of fantasy. Considered by many to be his most influential scholarly work, the essay is remarkable both as an analysis of a literary form by one of its most important pioneers and as a key to understanding Tolkien's own legendarium.

This reading is unabridged, with the exception of Tolkien’s footnotes and endnotes.

Links

On Fairy-Stories full text: https://archive.org/details/on-fairy-stories_202110

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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 artist puts before him beauty of feature and form; the poet, beauty of mind; the preacher, the beauty of grace: then intellect too, I repeat, has its beauty, and it has those who aim at it."

In 1854, Newman was invited to Dublin by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland to serve as rector for the newly established Catholic University of Ireland, now University College, Dublin. Though he retired after only four years, during this time he composed and delivered the lectures that would become The Idea of a University.

What is the point of a liberal education? What is the use of philosophy? What good is knowledge in general? These questions and others like them are the consideration of Newman's fifth discourse on university studies, in which he answers that the study of philosophy and acquisition of knowledge is a sufficient end and good in itself.

Links

Cluny Media edition: https://clunymedia.com/collections/john-henry-newman/products/the-idea-of-a-university

The Idea of a University full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/

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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.

"Therefore, my child, communicate frequently, as often as you can, subject to the advice of your spiritual Father... and by reason of adoring and feeding upon beauty, goodness, and purity itself in this most divine Sacrament you too will become lovely, holy, pure."

St. Francis de Sales continues his instruction in the devout life with these eminently practical chapters on how the saints are united to us, how to hear and read God's Word, how to receive inspirations, how to go to confession, and how to receive Communion. On this last subject, St. Francis observes: “one rarely does that well which one seldom does.”

This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format. Be sure to subscribe so as not to miss an installment!

Links

Introduction to the Devout Life full text: https://watch.formed.org/introduction-to-the-devout-life-by-st-francis-de-sales

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 courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur—this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time."

Pope Benedict XVI delivered this address to scientists at the University of Regensburg on September 12, 2006, where he was a professor and vice rector from 1969 to 1971.

The Pope praised the university's traditional openness to approaching God through the use of reason. He went on to contrast this approach with the Muslim teaching that God transcends man so completely that "His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." According to this perspective, man can never seek to understand God, Who is free to act in whatever way He chooses, for good or for evil, and is never bound to reveal the truth to man.

Pope Benedict explained how in this context, the Western synthesis between faith and reason is all the more important: "The truly divine God is the God who has revealed himself as logos...and has acted and continues to act lovingly on our behalf...Consequently, Christian worship is...worship in harmony with the eternal Word and with our reason." This convergence of faith and reason "created Europe and remains the foundation of what can rightly be called Europe."

Links:

Full text: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7155

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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.

"Now, in the practice of this spiritual retreat and of these brief prayers the great work of devotion lies: it can supply all other deficiencies, but there is hardly any means of making up where this is lacking."

In this installment, St. Francis De Sales delves further into his discussion of prayer, focusing his chapters on such subjects as Morning & Evening Prayer, how to receive Holy Communion, and on praying the other public offices of the Church. De Sales stresses the importance of daily placing oneself in the presence of God, which he describes as "one of the surest means of spiritual progress."

This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format. Be sure to subscribe so as not to miss an installment!

Links

Introduction to the Devout Life full text: https://watch.formed.org/introduction-to-the-devout-life-by-st-francis-de-sales

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.

“We are now entering on a fresh stage of our life's journey; we know well how it will end, and we see where we shall stop in the evening, though we do not see the road.”

Ring in the New Year with this New Year’s Day sermon by St. John Henry Newman, first released on this podcast in January 2020.

Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume7/sermon1.html

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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.

Originally delivered at the Pro Civitate Dei summer school in La Londe-les-Maures, France on June 12, 2022, The Politics of Hell is an in-depth examination of St. Thomas Aquinas' doctrine concerning the social order among angels and demons—and a commentary on the human governmental arrangements to which each most closely corresponds.

Links:

The Politics of Hell full text at The Josias: https://thejosias.com/2022/06/16/the-politics-of-hell/

DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio 

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.