Heart to Heart: Faith Seasons Podcast

Today's Ornament of Grace for Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent is St. Elisabeth Hesselblad. Luke1:5-25 Then, when Zechariah’s time of priestly service was over, he went home.  Afterward, his wife Elizabeth conceived.  She went into seclusion for five months, saying: “In these days, the Lord is acting on my behalf; he has seen fit to remove my reproach among men.” We know from today’s Gospe...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Sunday of the Fourth Week of Advent is St. Angela of Foligno. Romans 1:1-7 Greetings from Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart to proclaim the gospel of God…Through him we have been favored with apostleship, that we may spread his name and bring to obedient faith all the Gentiles, among whom are you who have been called to belong...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Saturday of the Third Week of Advent is St. Peregrine. Genesis 49: 2, 8-10 …Judah, like a lion’s whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts – who would dare rouse him? The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people’s homa...

Today's Ornaments of Grace for Friday of the Third Week of Advent are Priscilla and Aquila. Isaiah 56:1-3a, 6-8 Let not the foreigner say, when he would join himself to the Lord, “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people”; nor let the eunuch say, “See, I am a dry tree.”  And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming hi...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Thursday of the Third Week of Advent is Venerable Carla Ronci. Isaiah 54:1-10 Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear, break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor, for more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says the Lord.  Enlarge the space for your tent, spread out your tent cloths un...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent is St. Paul of the Cross. Luke 7:18b-23 “John the Baptizer sends us to you with this question: ‘Are you ‘He who is to come’ or do we look for someone else?” ...Jesus gave this response: “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard.  The blind recover their sight, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent is St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 For then will I remove from your midst the proud braggarts, and you shall no longer exalt yourself on my holy mountain.  But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord… In 1769, Rose Philippine Duchesne wa...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Monday of the Third Week of Advent is Our Lady of Guadalupe. Zechariah 2:14-17 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!  See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the Lord.  Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. Today is surely...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Sunday of the Third Week of Advent is Jeremiah the Prophet. James 5:7-10 Be patient… until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer awaits the precious yield of the soil.  He looks forward to it patiently while the soil receives the winter and the spring rains.  You, too, must be patient.  Steady your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is at hand… As your...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Saturday of the Second Week of Advent is St. Vincent Ferrer, OP. Matthew 17:9a, 10-13 …The disciples put this question to him: “Why do the scribes claim that Elijah must come first?”  In reply, he said: “Elijah is indeed coming, and he will restore everything.  I assure you, though, that Elijah has already come, but they did not recognize him and did as they plea...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Friday of the Second Week of Advent is Tran Minh Nhat. Matthew 11:16-19 “What comparison can I use to describe this breed? They are like children squatting in the town squares, calling to their playmates: ‘We piped you a tune but you did not dance! We sang you a dirge but you did not wail! In other words, John appeared neither eating nor drinking, and people say:...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Thursday of the Second Week of Advent is The Immaculate Conception of Mary. Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens! God chose us in him before the world began, to be holy and blameless in his sight, to be full of love... Today is a solemn feast of Mary...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Wednesday of the second week of Advent is St. Monica. Isaiah 40:25-31 The Lord is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound. Though the young faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Tuesday of the second week of Advent is St. Nicholas. from Matthew 18:12-14 “… A man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away; will he not leave the ninety-nine out on the hills, and go in search of the stray?  If he succeeds in finding it, believe me he is happier about this one than about the ninety-nine that did not wander away.  Just so, it is no par...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Monday of the second week of Advent is St. Sebastian. from Romans 15:4-9 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s words to the Romans in today’s second reading offer us encoura...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Sunday of the second week of Advent is St. John the Baptist. from Matthew 3:1-12   “Reform your lives! The reign of God is at hand… John was clothed in a garment of camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist.  Grasshoppers and wild honey were his food…When he saw that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were stepping forward for this bath, he said to t...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Saturday of the first week of Advent is St. Francis Xavier, SJ. from Isaiah 30:19-21 The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.  For the tyrant will be no more and the arrogant will have gone; all who are alert to do evil will be cut off, those whose mere word condemns a man, who ensnare his defender at the gate and...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Friday of the first week of Advent is St. Angela Merici. from Matthew 9:27-31 As Jesus moved on from there, two blind men came after him crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!”. When he got to the house, the blind men caught up with him.  Jesus said to them, “Are you confident I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they told him.  At that he touched their eyes and sai...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Thursday of the first week of Advent is Jacqueline Novogratz. from Isaiah 26: 1-6 Trust in the Lord forever!  For the Lord is an eternal Rock.  He humbles those in high places, and the lofty city he brings down; he tumbles it to the ground, levels it with the dust. It is trampled underfoot by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor. In 2009, Jacqueline Novogratz...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Wednesday of the first week of Advent is St. Andrew. from Romans 10:9-18 For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Faith in the heart leads to justification, confession on the lips to salvation. St. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, had a Greek name meaning “courageous,” and...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Tuesday of the first week of Advent is St. Francis of Assisi. from Isaiah 11:1-10 But he shall judge the poor with justice and decide aright for the land’s afflicted… Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them….  St. Francis of Assisi...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Monday of the first week of Advent is the Roman Centurion. from Matthew 8:5-11 As Jesus entered Capernaum, a Centurion approached him with this request: “Sir, my serving boy is at home in bed paralyzed, suffering painfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” “Sir,” the Centurion said in reply, “I am not worthy to have you under my roof.  Just give an or...

Today's Ornament of Grace for Sunday of the first week of Advent is the Archangel Raphael. Matthew 24:37-44 Jesus said to his disciples: “The coming of the Son of Man will repeat what happened in Noah’s time.  In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and being married, right up to the day Noah entered the ark.  They were totally unconcerned until the flood came...