Caryll Houselander Archives - Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Day 1: Christ’s Dependence and Our Advent “By his own will Christ was dependent on Mary during Advent: he was absolutely helpless; he could go nowhere but where she chose to take him; he could not speak; her breathing was his breath; his heart beat in the beating of her heart…. In the seasons of ... Read more The post Day 1: Christ’s Dependence and Our Advent – From the wri...

Day 2: The Gift of Christ in Each Other “I saw that it is the will of Christ’s love to be put into the hands of sinners, to trust Himself to men, that He may be their gift to one another that they may comfort Him in each other, give Him to each other. In ... Read more The post Day 2: The Gift of Christ in Each Other – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Discerning Hearts Po...

Day 3: The Word of Love in Our Humanity “Christ used the flesh and blood of Mary for his life on earth, the Word of love was uttered in her heartbeat. Christ used his own body to utter his love on earth; his perfectly real body, with bone and sinew and blood and tears; Christ uses ... Read more The post Day 3: The Word of Love in Our Humanity – From the writings of Caryll Houselander –...

Day 4:  Bringing Christ to the Everyday “Sometimes it may seem to us that there is no purpose in our lives, that going day after day for years to this office or that school or factory is nothing else but waste and weariness. But it may be that God has sent us there because but ... Read more The post Day 4: Bringing Christ to the Everyday – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Disc...

Day 5: Seeing God’s Love in the Ordinary “Every ordinary thing in your life is a word of God’s love: your home, your work, the clothes you wear, the air you breathe, the food you eat…. the flowers under your feet are the courtesy of God’s heart flung down on You! All these things say one ... Read more The post Day 5: Seeing God’s Love in the Ordinary – From the writings of...

Day 6: A Home for Christ Within “Christ asks for a home in your soul, where he can be at rest with you, where he can talk easily to you, where you and he, alone together, can laugh and be silent and be delighted with one another.“ Commentary:  Houselander’s vision of Christ seeking a “home” in ... Read more The post Day 6: A Home for Christ Within – From the writings of Caryll Houselan...

Day 7:  Embracing God’s Vision for Us “I often think that the ideal of our perfection that we set up, and often go through torture to achieve, may not be God’s idea of how He wants us to be at all. That may be something quite different that we never would have thought of, and ... Read more The post Day 7: Embracing God’s Vision for Us – From the writings of Caryll Houselander &#8...

Day 8: Transformed by Divine Love “When God enters into our passions, joys, desires, sorrows, into our relationship with one another, our nature undergoes a transubstantiation. The Paraclete Who rests in the human heart changes the substance of our humanness to Christ, we are charged with the power of Christ’s love. Love is God in ... Read more The post Day 8: Transformed by Divine Love &#82...

Day 9:  The Silent Growth of Divine Love “Advent is the season of the secret, the secret of the growth of Christ, of divine love growing in silence…For nine months, Christ grew in his mother’s body. By his own will, she formed him from herself, from the simplicity of her daily life.” Commentary:  Caryll Houselander ... Read more The post Day 9: The Silent Growth of Divine Love &#...

Day 10:  Faith in the Hidden Christ “This time of Advent is absolutely essential to our contemplation too. If we have truly given our humanity to be changed into Christ, it is essential to us that we do not disturb this time of growth. It is a time of darkness, of faith. We shall not ... Read more The post Day 10: Faith in the Hidden Christ – From the writings of Caryll Houselander &#8...

Day 11:  Letting Christ Grow Within Us “We ought to let everything grow in us, as Christ grew in Mary. And we ought to realize that in everything that does grow quietly in us, Christ grows. We should let thoughts and words and songs grow slowly and unfold in darkness in us” Commentary:  Caryll Houselander ... Read more The post Day 11: Letting Christ Grow Within Us – From the wri...

Day 12:  The Virtue of Patience in Small Things “There are things that refuse to be violated by speed, that demand at least their proper time of growth; you can’t, for example, cut out the time you will leave an apple pie in the oven. If you do, you won’t have an apple pie. If ... Read more The post Day 12: The Virtue of Patience in Small Things – From the writings of Caryll Houselande...

Day 13: The True Fruit of Advent in Suffering “We need the season of Advent; we need it in suffering, in joy, and in thought. We need it in everything that is to bear fruit in our lives. People sometimes get disheartened because they have read that suffering ennobles and have met people who seem ... Read more The post Day 13: The True Fruit of Advent in Suffering – From the writings of...

Day 14:  Patience in the Hidden Growth of Sorrow Sometimes this Advent season of the soul is a recurring rhythm through life, deliberately chosen as such or simply given to us. Sometimes it is the immediate result of conversion or of a new awareness of God or of an increase of Love. Sometimes it is ... Read more The post Day 14: Patience in the Hidden Growth of Sorrow – From the writings of...

Day 15: The Sacred Vigil of Love The fostering of an infant’s life is a thing of terror as well as of beauty. We are face to face with life at its most precious, housed in its frailest. That life depends for its survival upon us, upon the intelligence, the skill, the perseverance, the unceasing, ... Read more The post Day 15: The Sacred Vigil of Love – From the writings of Caryll Houselander...

Day 16: Trusting Christ’s Quiet Growth in Us It is only necessary to give ourselves to that life, all that we are, to pray without ceasing, not by a continual effort to concentrate our minds but by a growing awareness that Christ is being formed in our lives from what we are. We must trust ... Read more The post Day 16: Trusting Christ’s Quiet Growth in Us – From the writings of Caryll House...

Day 17:  Welcoming Christ in Others It is part of God’s plan for us that Christ shall come to us in everyone; it is in their particular role that we must learn to know him. He may come as a little child, making enormous demands, giving enormous consolation. He may come as a stranger, so ... Read more The post Day 17: Welcoming Christ in Others – From the writings of Caryll Houselander...

Day 18:  Seasons of Rest and Trust If Christ is to come to flower and bear fruit in individual lives, there must be seasons of rest in which there is almost no activity but the giving wholly of self to nourish the supernatural life; just as the earth in which the seed is buried is ... Read more The post Day 18: Seasons of Rest and Trust – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – Disce...

Day 19: The Incarnation in Our Suffering World Christ was born not because there was joy in the world, but because there was suffering in it. Not to riches, but to poverty. Not to satiety but to hunger and thirst. Not to security, but to danger, to exile, to homelessness, to destitution and crucifixion. His ... Read more The post Day 19: The Incarnation in Our Suffering World – From the writ...

Day 20:  Christ, the Word of God’s Love Neither have we any words to tell of God’s love for us, but God gave His Word, Christ is the Word, telling how God loves the word. Everything that Christ said and did and experienced on earth is the Word saying, “see how God loves you!” Not ... Read more The post Day 20: Christ, the Word of God’s Love – From the writings of Caryll Houselander – D...

Day 21:  Trusting with Christ’s Heart However difficult or however insignificant our life may seem to be, it is precious to God as Christ is precious to God. On each one in whom Christ lives, the whole of the infinite love of God is concentrated at every moment. If this were realized there could be ... Read more The post Day 21: Trusting with Christ’s Heart – From the writings of Caryll Hous...

Day 22:  Surrendering to Christ’s Life Within Us The Infant Christ is the whole Christ. Christ was not more God, more Christ, more man, on the Cross than He was in His Mother’s womb. His first tear, His first smile, His first breath, His first pulsation in the womb of His Mother, could have redeemed ... Read more The post Day 22: Surrendering to Christ’s Life Within Us – From the writings of...

Day 23: Resting in Christ, Living His Love In Advent, Christ rested in Mary—still, silent, helpless, utterly dependent. The Creator trusted Himself to His creature. He trusted the expression of His love to her, the expression of God’s love for the world, and of His love of His Father. Just as the work of His ... Read more The post Day 23: Resting in Christ, Living His Love – From the writing...

Day 24:  A Gentle Love Born in Our Hearts How small and gentle his coming was. He came as an infant. The night in which He came was noisy and crowded; it is unlikely that in the traffic of the travelers to Bethlehem the tiny wail of the newly-born could be heard. God approaches gently, ... Read more The post Day 24: A Gentle Love Born in Our Hearts – From the writings of Caryll Houselander &...

Day 25:  Christ Born in Us Today The crib showing the nativity, in all the cities and villages and Catholic homes of the world, is not only there to commemorate Christ’s first coming to earth, it is there as a symbol of Christ’s birth in us. Christmas does not only mean that God became man ... Read more The post Day 25: Christ Born in Us Today – From the writings of Caryll Houselander &#8211...