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Selected Sermons, Prayers and Devotions, by John Henry Newman. Vintage, 1999.
Newman was preacher to the University Church at Oxford, so his sermons address the "big questions" that eternally vex undergraduates--Who is God? How am I to live? Who was Jesus? Newman's answers are straightforward yet sophisticated, and very often grounded in ethics. "Outward acts, done on principle, create inward habits. I repeat, the separate acts of obedience to the will of God,
good works as they are called, are of service to us, as gradually severing us from this world of sense, and impressing our hearts with a heavenly character," he writes, in a sermon called "Holiness Necessary for Future Blessedness." Newman's preoccupation with ethics intensified after his conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1843, along with his growing conviction that life in this world is best understood as preparation for life in the next one. Gomes observes that, "For Newman
the only security in this world of tribulation is the unseen reality of the spiritual world, a world which (sic) is ruled by Christ, and for which Christ gave himself up for our redemption, which act is recapitulated in the sacramental life of the believer." Newman's sermons, with their astringent ethical focus, were in part a reaction to the increasing secularism and materialism of the 19th century. (He lived from 1801-1890.) In this regard, our fin de siècle echoes his and makes a contemporary
reader's attention to his sermons all the more urgent and rewarding.
--Michael Joseph Gross, Amazon.com reviewer
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Podcasts on Christian Spirituality and Theology
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Most recent: Theosis: Transformation in Christ. 39 min.
This is a new Internet ministry outreach that will be expanding in the months ahead.
Use link for direct access. Also available via phone and tablet apps: Podbean, Spotify, Google Play Music, and Apple Podcasts.
- Do search for Awaken, Philip St. Romain, or combine in search, then subscribe to channel for ongoing notifications.
Podcasts
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St. Sharbel Machluf: July 24. 1828 - 98.
Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra where he was born, his influence has spread widely.
Joseph Zaroun Makluf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853, and was ordained six years
later.
Following the example of the fifth-century Saint Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875, until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to
administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.
He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified Sharbel in 1965, and canonized him 12 years later.
Calendar of Saints
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