Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 35 – St. Hildegard of Bingen – Bearing Fruit in Steadfastness In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on St. Hildegard of Bingen’s vision of fruitfulness as something that grows slowly through steadfastness. Healing is not the end of the s...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 34 – St. Hildegard of Bingen – The Ruler of All In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor continues with St. Hildegard of Bingen and her vision of God as the One who orders and sustains all things. Hildegard begins not with the self but with God, who...

I Don't Feel God's Love – Struggles in the Spiritual Life with Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V. Fr. Timothy Gallagher and Kris McGregor discuss how ongoing struggles are a normal part of the spiritual life, where both consolation and desolation play important roles in growth. Through Kathy’s experience, they show how prayer can begin with deep peace, a sense of being loved, and visible fruit in daily...

The Fifth Sunday of Lent: Resurrection and New Life – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff Podcast In this Fifth Sunday of Lent reflection, Msgr. John Esseff turns to the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus and the promise spoken through the prophet Ezekiel that God will open the graves and restore life to his people. He proclaims that apart from Christ, humanity lives in a state of spirit...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 33 – St. Hildegard of Bingen – Scivias: God’s Living Work In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor turns to St. Hildegard of Bingen and her great work Scivias. Formed by the Benedictine life of prayer, stability, obedience, and attentive listening,...

Episode 6 – The Cross of Christ restores… – Fifth Week In "The Power of the Cross", Michael Dubruiel penned a truly exceptional meditation on the Cross of Christ which serves beautifully as a source for reflection any time of the year, but it is particularly poignant and compelling during the weeks of Lent. Several years ago Bruce and I had the chance to have a series of conversations with Michael...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 32 – St. Bernard of Clairvaux – Love Returned in God In Episode 32 of our Week 4 Lenten journey with St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s On Loving God, we reflect on the furthest reach of love: when love is so healed and rightly ordered in God that a person can receive even his own life as...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 31 – St. Bernard of Clairvaux – Loving God for God’s Sake In Episode 31 of our Week 4 Lenten journey, we continue with St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s On Loving God and reflect on a deeper purification of love: learning to love God for His own sake. St. Bernard shows that this is a work...

Charles Dickens and Great Expectations – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce In this episode of The Great Works in Western Literature, Kris McGregor and Joseph Pearce explore Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, a profound story of personal conversion, moral awakening, and the search for true happiness. Dickens, writing during a time of rapid industrial and social change, presents...

In place of confusing life patterns, the security of a healthy balance – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B In this episode of The Holy Rule of St. Benedict: A Spiritual Path for Today’s World, Kris McGregor and Fr. Mauritius Wilde, OSB reflect on how the Rule offers a remedy for the confusing life patterns of the modern world. Fr. Mauritius points to the way contemporary...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 30 – St. Bernard of Clairvaux – Love in Its Beginning In Episode 30 of our Week 4 Lenten journey with St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s On Loving God, we reflect on the humble beginning of love. St. Bernard speaks with striking honesty: the human person does not begin by loving God perfec...

Joseph – The Man Who Raised Jesus by Fr. Gary Caster on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor In this episode of Inside the Pages, Fr. Gary Caster presents St. Joseph as a mysterious yet deeply engaging figure whose life is revealed through decisive, faithful action rather than recorded words. This silence invites deeper contemplation, drawing people to examine their own willingness to trust God and...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 29 – St. Bernard of Clairvaux – On Loving God In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor turns to St. Bernard of Clairvaux’s On Loving God as a natural deepening of the path already laid by the Holy Rule. Through prayer, humility, obedience, and restr...

Sexuality, Marriage, Contraception – Roots of the Faith with Mike Aquilina Mike Aquilina and Kris McGregor discuss how the Church Fathers presented marriage and family life as sacred gifts in sharp contrast to pagan Rome, where women were often treated as property, children could be discarded, and marriage was frequently marked by exploitation, instability, and distrust. This shows Christianity as...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 28 – Prayer Shaped by Humility In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on Chapter 20 of the Holy Rule, where St. Benedict teaches about personal prayer. After forming the heart through obedience, humility and the rhythm of liturgical life,...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 27 – The Twelfth Degree of Humility In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on the Twelfth Degree of Humility in Chapter 7 of the Holy Rule. St. Benedict concludes the ladder of humility by describing how the virtue becomes visible in the...

I’ll Try, but Nothing Will Come of It – Struggles in the Spiritual Life with Fr. Timothy Gallagher O.M.V. Fr. Timothy Gallagher reflects on a story about Bob, a husband and father who becomes discouraged after unintentionally hurting his wife during a disagreement about their son. Although Bob has been growing in faith through a men’s formation group and regular prayer, the unresolved tension at h...

The Fourth Sunday of Lent: Spiritual Blindness – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff Podcast In this episode of Building a Kingdom of Love, Msgr. John Esseff reflects on the Gospel of the man born blind and the deeper meaning of spiritual sight during Lent. Humanity enters the world marked by original sin, unable to see clearly without the healing grace of Christ. The Gospel account re...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 26 – The Eleventh Degree of Humility In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on the Eleventh Degree of Humility from Chapter 7 of the Holy Rule. St. Benedict continues his teaching on speech, moving beyond the question of whether a person...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 25 – The Tenth Degree of Humility In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on the Tenth Degree of Humility from Chapter 7 of the Holy Rule. St. Benedict turns to the way a person conducts himself outwardly. By this stage in the ladder of hu...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 24 – The Ninth Degree of Humility In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on the Ninth Degree of Humility in Chapter 7 of the Holy Rule. St. Benedict turns to restraint in speech, showing how humility appears in the way a person speaks and...

Jonathan Swift & Gulliver's Travels – Great Works in Western Literature with Joseph Pearce In this episode of The Great Works in Western Literature, Kris McGregor and Joseph Pearce explore Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, one of the most brilliant satirical works in Western literature. Through the strange voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, Swift exposes the intellectual fashions of the Enlightenm...

In place of the disability to express ourselves, to sing – The Holy Rule of St. Benedict with Fr. Mauritius Wilde O.S.B In this episode of The Holy Rule of St. Benedict: A Spiritual Path for Today’s World, Kris McGregor and Fr. Mauritius Wilde, OSB, reflect on St. Benedict’s guidance on prayer and the place of singing in the spiritual life, particularly as expressed in Chapter 19 of the Rule. Whil...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 23 – The Eighth Degree of Humility In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on the Eighth Degree of Humility in Chapter 7 of the Holy Rule. St. Benedict turns to the humility required to live within a shared life rather than continually sha...

The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life: Learning to Listen to God with a Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor Episode 22 – The Seventh Degree of Humility In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on the Seventh Degree of Humility from Chapter 7 of the Holy Rule. St. Benedict moves more deeply into the interior life, describing humility not simply as outward...