Midnight Carmelite

Stuck in the Silence? The old maps—standard devotionals and "trying harder"—won't work here. You need new coordinates. I wrote a comprehensive guide on the metaphysics of the Dark Night and how to navigate it without losing your mind. Start Here: Read the Field Guide https://midnightcarmelite.com/darknight/ #19: What are the reasons St. John of the Cross gives for calling the ascent of Mt. Carmel...

Stuck in the Silence? The old maps—standard devotionals and "trying harder"—won't work here. You need new coordinates. I wrote a comprehensive guide on the metaphysics of the Dark Night and how to navigate it without losing your mind. Start Here: Read the Field Guide https://midnightcarmelite.com/darknight/ What is the meaning of the term "dark night" in St. John of the Cross? In this episode, we...

#17: How does faith illumine a person's view of reality? In this episode, we will examine the notion of nobility and its relation to God, our faith, and reason. If you find this episode valuable, please share it with others. If you want to leave a tip, please check out the tip jar . (https://checkout.luminoustradition.com/products/tip-jar/).

#16: How do people react when they encounter something that arrests their attention? In this episode, we will examine wonder as a species of fear and consider how in both knowledge begotten by abstraction and knowledge begotten by love we need to overcome and resolve this fear in order to love how we ought. If you find this episode valuable, please share it with others. If you want to leave a tip,...

#15: What evidence do we have that Christ loved us? In this episode, we will engage a key Scripture passage that tells us about Jesus's Sacred Heart being pierced after his death on the cross. This meditation can help you see Christ's love for us and how his Sacred Heart burns for all of us. If you find this episode valuable, please share it with others. If you want to leave a tip, please check ou...

#14: How can we measure our love of Christ? In this episode, we will engage a key Scripture passage in Luke where Christ lays out what we all must do to follow Him. This meditation can help you start your journey of identifying the cross that Christ wants you to carry. If you find this episode valuable, please share it with others. If you want to leave a tip, please check out the tip jar. (https:/...

#13: What does the faculty of memory have to do with Our Lady? In this episode, we will explore a place in St. John of the Cross's work where he mentions Our Lady explicitly. He discusses her as the model for us when trying to annihilate our natural affection for sensible things rather than God, and he shows us how Our Lady's memory never imprinted on the form of sensible things in her soul. Click...

#12: What can we learn about the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Scripture? In this episode, we will explore Scripture in the original Greek and see that the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the source of grace for all of us and the place of peace. We will examine the two instances that mention Mary's Immaculate Heart as well as their relationship to Christ. If you find this episode valuable, please shar...

#11: Who is St. Simon Stock and how is he related to the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel? In this episode, we will explore how St. Simon Stock was an early member of the Carmelites who our Lady gave the Brown Scapular to as a pledge of protection for all Carmelites. If you find this episode valuable, please share it with others! If you want to leave a tip, head to the tip jar . (https://c...

# 10: How do your senses relate to supernatural visions? Supernatural visions are not sense experiences, but sense experience is how we know things. In this episode, we will explore this issue and show how a human person's knowledge starts with sense realism and leads naturally to supernatural visions, virtues, and union with God. If you find this episode valuable, please share it with others! If...

#9: How much do you know about Mary as Our Lady of Mount Carmel? The title Our Lady of Mt. Carmel often causes confusion. In today's episode, we will meditate on Mary as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, her virtues, and her receptivity to God. We will see how Mary is the exemplar of all Carmelites and the model of the spiritual life that we should all aspire to emulate in our own spiritual lives. If you fi...

#8: What is knowledge? Do we have certitude about what we know? Is the knowledge of a subject like mathematics the same as the knowledge about someone you love? In today's episode, we will explore what knowledge means, the types of knowledge, common objections to certitude in knowledge, as well as ways human persons know different things. A human person must know something first before loving it,...

#6: How do we respond to things like prophecy and the working of miracles? Both of these are what are called supernatural goods that are outside of our natural power to achieve and bestowed on us by God freely, yet more often than not we do not try to understand what precisely supernatural goods are and how they can be an obstacle to union with God. That's why today's episode focuses on what super...

#5: How can we make sense of Jesus's encounter with Pontius Pilate about the nature of truth in the Gospel of John? When Pilate says his famous line "What is truth," we are not sure precisely what he means. That's why today's episode focuses on this encounter in the light of Jesus's understanding of his kingdom using Jesus's own words from throughout the Gospels. We will begin at Jesus's encounter...

#4: What does St. Joseph and the Holy Family's flight to Egypt tell us about obedience and faith? Obedience is a tough topic for us, but in this week's episode, we will discuss St. Joseph and his obedience to God in evading Herod and bringing the Holy Family into Egypt. We will move into St. John of the Cross's understanding of obedience in relation to the spiritually gluttonous person to have a b...

#3: What does St. John of the Cross mean by union? We may think of different things we know that are a union, but union is not the same for all these things. That's why today's episode focuses on St. John of the Cross's understanding of union. We will start from some basic notions about union philosophically such as virtual quantity and contrariety, and then move into St. John of the Cross's under...

#2: What role did St. Joseph play in the Presentation of our Blessed Lord? We often do not meditate on his role in the process. That's why today's episode focuses on St. Joseph's role, the virtue of prudence he exhibited, the role of conscience, and the relationship to law and the human person. If you find this episode valuable, reach out through the contact form on the website and share it with y...

#1: Midnight Carmelite is an open discourse from the fullness of my heart about the doctrine of St. John of the Cross and the broader Carmelite tradition. We will discuss philosophy of the human person, Scripture reflections in the original Greek, among other topics. I am sure that you will find in this podcast mistakes, a missed word here and there, and my faults. Despite all that, I hope you fin...