Season 100

Searching the Depths of the Unconscious: The Desert Fathers and Psychoanalysis

A lecture presented at Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, October 24, 2023. Sponsored by the Department of Catholic Studies. 

”The Prayer of Fire” - A Pentecost Retreat, Session Three

”The Prayer of Fire” - A Pentecost Retreat, Session Two

”The Prayer of Fire” - A Pentecost Retreat, Session One

Behold His Face: They Shall Look On Him Whom They Have Pierced

As a special reflection for this Holy Week, we chose a reading from Fr., Thomas Acklin‘s book “The Passion of the Lamb.”  In particular we reflected on the chapter entitled “Behold His Face.” As one participant in tonight‘s group stated: “This reflection is a gem!”  I agree. It is a rarest of gems and I’m grateful to Fr. Tom for writing it and the entire book. While small, it has had an incalculable effect upon me and I hope for all who listen to this podcast. 
What Fr. Tom seeks to do is to open our minds and our hearts to the truth revealed in the Passion of Christ. So often we approach this mystery bound by the limits of our reason and our sin. Fr. Tom challenges us to allow ourselves to be guided and drawn into the mystery by faith; to comprehend what God has revealed to us and what is beyond the measure of man’s mind. 
Many Christians throughout the centuries have struggled with the mystery of the Cross and the reality of our Lord’s suffering. Theologically, the human mind, almost in a form of resistance, intellectually and spiritually, tries to hold on to the notion of God being impassible. We are comfortable with notions of God being all powerful and all knowing. What we have trouble understanding and what we are often unwilling to embrace is the reality of a God who is Omni-kenotic and Omni-vulnerable. What Fr. Tom wants us to reflect upon is a God in whom we see and attribute not human deficiencies and sinfulness, hatred, ignorance, or illness. Rather, he wants us to contemplate and attribute to God in an infinite and perfect way the good qualities that we have in a finite and even deficient way. Thus, Fr. Tom says, rather than being impassible, incapable of feeling or having passion as we do as human beings, it would be more accurate to say that not only Christ but all three persons of the Trinity are infinitely caring, infinitely affected by us; Omni-passible. To believe such a thing is to understand that “at the height of his agony, he could see, not only the people who stood before him, jeering or weeping, but all the people of all time. He saw us in our loving and in our refusing to love, our sinning and our repenting. At the same eternal moment, he took on all the moments of every life and death. He could be the infinite love of God in person to each human being who ever lived, and who will ever live.” 
May God bless us this Holy Week with the gift of faith to see this love, this perfect vulnerability, even in the smallest measure.
---
Text of chat during the group:
00:05:42 FrDavid Abernethy: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/679d1720-7a17-e9b4-7355-2bd4ae5431fd/Behold_His_Face_Booklet.pdf
 
00:14:52 Cath Lamb: I don't have microphone or camera 😊
 
00:18:31 Rebecca Thérèse: England
 
00:18:36 CathyQ: Canadian too!
 
00:18:41 Kristen's I Phone: Alberta Canada!
 
00:18:59 Michael: Pittsburgh!
 
00:19:07 michele: Buffalo ny
 
00:19:09 Cath Lamb: Colorado USA
 
00:19:10 kevin: BOSTON
 
00:19:16 James Moran: Appleton WI
 
00:39:47 Michael: Shroud of Turin video
https://www.youtube.com/live/HAbuG-oVq1Q?feature=share
 
00:43:25 CathyQ: Reacted to "Shroud of Turin vide..." with ❤️
 
01:44:49 Sean: Hi Father, I think (from what I have seen) that a problem might be people seeing heaven in the future rather than deification as a reality we can begin to participate in here and now. ☦️
 
01:44:49 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
01:45:53 Kristen's I Phone: Reacted to "Shroud of Turin vide…" with ❤️
 
01:47:30 sheri: Thank you.  Good night.
 
01:47:40 Patricia: Thank You!
 
01:47:46 Michael: Thank you Fr
 
01:48:04 Kristen's I Phone: Thank you!
 
01:48:12 michele: Thank you
 
01:48:53 kevin: beautiful talk excellent ,  thank you for sharing Father
 
01:49:08 David Fraley: Thank you, Father David.
 
01:49:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Fr. Tom needs our +prayers.. He's sick.
 
01:49:28 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Long term problem
 
01:49:34 Patricia: Do you know Fr. Justin?
 

City a Desert Lecture Series, Lecture Three: Interiorized Monasticism Part III: Chastity and Obedience

City a Desert Lecture Series, Lecture Two: Interiorized Monasticism Part II: Fundamental Principles

INTERIORIZED MONASTICISM PART II FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS
• Prayer• Eschatological Maximalism• Evangelical Counsels as Seen through Three Temptations of Christ in the Desert:
1. Poverty
Next Week:
Chastity: the Sacredness of Creation and the Virginity of Heart that Should Belong to All
Obedience to God: Receptivity to the Spirit of Truth and the Creative Freedom of the Life of Grace.

Repentance

I have one word for tonight‘s group: Beautiful! Repentance “brings to us the power of the living God, revealing once again, the true Christ Jesus who dwells in us.” As with so many aspects of the faith, we have a tendency to compartmentalize not only the practice of virtue or of prayer but of our relationship with God as a whole. Yet our faith and our relationship with God should touch the very fabric of our beings and shape the essence of every relationship and every work that we engage in throughout the course of our lives. It should shape also our experience of death and our realization of our own mortality. Repentance is not an episodic reality but a continual effort, the continual straining of the heart - reaching out to God to experience his love and mercy. In this sense it is the most important of things.
---
Text of chat during the group:
00:06:18 sue and mark: microphone is not working
 
00:08:33 Ren Witter: PDF Handout: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/34558acb-864f-f9f8-1546-e7decdc9605b/Repentance.pdf
 
00:34:44 charlesevers: What gets us (causes) trapped into thinking of past sins?
 
00:34:55 Irene Bridget Hutchinson: Fr, how would a scrupulous person go about being constantly repentant with peace of soul?
 
00:44:00 David: The past few years I have also focused on taking time in prayer and adoration to express gratitude and thanksgiving. Isn't it equality important to give thanks as to deepen repentance. No amount of regret changes the past, no amount of worry will change the future but any gratitude will change the present.
 
00:50:52 charlesevers: Very good. Thank you Father.  Excellent explanation.
 
00:55:37 charlesevers: St. Bonaventure wrote a colloquay
 
01:12:54 Rachel : Yes. Only true Beauty. Most,. I include myself, can tend to misuse t|
 
01:21:53 Missi White: That's a tough pill to swallow, especially in what has become such a narcissistic culture.  How I needed this conference, thank you!
 
01:24:26 Art: Helpful reminder for me at times: But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (Jn 1:12-13)
 
01:25:21 Bonnie Lewis: I have found that when I pray for someone who is causing me to harbor a resentment toward them, I am the one who changes internally.  The other person may remain exactly how they were, yet I have received a peace of mind and thought toward them.  This doesn't happen overnight.  sometimes it takes some time.
 
01:36:29 Rachel : Who wrote the book? A continual effort. With no temptation or battle a soldier is not made stronger through resisting. St. Faustina, and  St Therese had clear experiences of people who tried their patience. They felt the irritation. Its not like the new lens that Father is speaking of will mean that somone will not need to actively practice patience but that the life of repentence, living constantly in the presence of God, in Truth, the person "drunk with compunction" just simply cannot not forgive when they see who they really are in Christ and the dignity of others as well. All mankind seen through the lens of love
 
01:37:12 Rachel : This book should be gone through very slowly.
 
01:41:33 Rachel : I think Ren mentioned that this past year in a group! I need to get that book.
 
01:44:13 Bonnie Lewis: Thank you Father David.  This was beautiful.
 
01:44:15 David: Thank you Father!
 
01:44:27 charlesevers: Thank you Father.  This was wonderful
 
01:44:30 Lori Hatala: so very helpful.
 
01:44:31 Rachel : lol
 
01:44:31 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 🙂
 
01:44:32 Melissa Kummerow: Yes thank you! I like the occasional "bonus" groups :)
 
01:44:34 Rachel : Thank you
 
01:45:17 Rachel : Thank you
 
01:45:18 Lorraine Green: Thank you
 
01:45:26 Cindy Moran: I hope Father's talj will be available for what I missed.
 
01:45:27 Rachel : Praying for you
 
01:45:31 Mary Jo: Thank you !!
 
01:45:31 Mitch: Very profound. Thankyou Father take care
 

City a Desert Lecture Series, Lecture One: Introduction to Interiorized Monasticism

INTRODUCTION TO INTERIORIZED MONASTICISM
Interiorized Monasticism and Ascetic Ideal:• Obscured: Out of reach to majority.• Revealed: Fundamental principle of life in Christ.
Eschatological Dimensions:
Obscured: Life cut off from the world or world cut off
from life of the kingdom.
Revealed: Incarnation and kingdom of God present;
Kingdom within through gift of the Spirit (active eschatology, touching every aspect of the world; living now in light of the End).
Beauty Saves the World:
Obscured: Culture as cult, autonomous from God and
guided by sensibilities of the age.
Revealed: Rediscovery of culture through the beauty
of holiness. Jesus is the Holy One - the most beautiful of the sons of men. He is the perfect icon, manifesting God unveiled.
The Monastic Ideal:
Obscured: Return to the ancient forms of monastic
ascesis.
Revealed: Internalized. The human psyche is renewed
from within.
Five Fundamental Elements of Interiorized Monasticism (Upcoming Lectures):
• Prayer• Eschatological Maximalism • Poverty• Chastity• Obedience

To Love Fasting

Tonight we explored an often neglected aspect of the spiritual life; or one might better say an essential part of the spiritual life – Fasting. Throughout the spiritual tradition, we have heard the Saints tell us that “prayer without fasting is weak” or that “where there is no prayer and fasting there are demons.”
With the coming of Christ, however, we see a unique and distinctive meaning of fasting emerge. It is not only a discipline to help order the appetites or a form of penitence. It is tied directly to Christ: what we see in His practice and in what He teaches us about it.  His own fasting is guided by the Holy Spirit in preparation for embracing the Father’s will, and His desire that it might be accomplished. Beyond this, Christ teaches us that our practice of fasting is forever tied to our desire for Him. He is the Heavenly Bridegroom and each soul the Bride. We see and experience in Him the One alone who can satisfy the deepest desires of the human heart. He is the Bread of Life. 
The focus of our discussion this night was on recapturing not only the practice of fasting, but seeing it as something that is to be “loved”, precisely because it draws us to Christ. It is not a discipline but a path to draw nearer to the Beloved.  
---
Text of chat during the group:
00:25:01 Stephen McCane: I have doing this “Exodus 90” and it is like a warm up to Lent.
 
00:25:51 Stephen McCane: For women it is called “Fiat 90”.
 
00:45:48 Adam Paige: Hi Father, should laypeople share their Lenten fasting plans with their spiritual director in the same way Saint Benedict instructs his monks to do with their spiritual father in his rule ?
 
01:14:51 Victoria: here is the book pdf: https://ia902908.us.archive.org/6/items/tolovefasting/To%20Love%20Fasting.pdf
 
01:15:41 Victoria: Free on Internet Archive :)
 
01:16:14 Adam Paige: Original version in French: https://folleautonomie.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/adalbert-de-Vogue-Aimer-Le-Jeune.pdf
 
01:21:00 Adam Paige: Reacted to "here is the book pdf…" with 👍
 
01:33:07 angelo: Reacted to "here is the book pdf..." with ❤️
 
01:33:20 angelo: Replying to "here is the book pdf..."
 
thank you
 
01:33:53 Matt Mondorff: I’ve found that our physical bodies don’t require much food, it’s mainly our mind and habits that convince us that we’re hungry. So to realize that and push through the initial hunger, knowing it’s coming but we’ll be ok has helped me a lot. Then, little by little it gets easier to go longer and longer. Eating healthy and moderately helps also…it seems to my anyway
 
01:47:52 Lori Hatala: you can saute in broth.
 
01:48:12 Fr. Michael Winn: A former monk of Mt. Athos once told me that in North America it would be inadvisable to stop all use of oil during the winter seasons - reduce, but do not eliminate.
 
01:57:15 Kathy: My experience of fasting is that it is a type of prayer in and of itself.
01:59:22 angelo: Thank you for that short clarification of the centering prayer and the danger of falling into delusion.
 
02:06:09 angelo: Thank you so much Fr.
 
02:06:29 Lori Hatala: thank you so much Father.
 
02:06:31 Stephen McCane: Thank you Father.
 
02:06:33 Ryan McMann: Thank you!
 
02:06:40 Monk Maximos: Thank you Father
 
02:07:18 kevin: thanks father that was great!!
 
02:07:21 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂
 
02:07:22 Fr. Michael Winn: Thanks, Father!
 
02:07:25 Rachel Pineda: Thank you father Abernethy!!
 
02:07:31 Siggy Evers: Thank you Fr.
 

Repentance: Life’s Continual Effort

Lecture given by Father David S. Abernethy, C.O. on Saturday, March 26. 

Enter By The Narrow Gate: The Ascetic Podvig of Living in the World

Tonight we had the opportunity to discuss asceticism as a preparation for the holy season of Lent. We find in the spiritual  tradition a clear call to enter into a struggle to live the life of faith to its fullest. We are to strive to enter by the narrow gate. 
When we look to the Scriptures and the writings of the Saints we see very clearly that they took no passive approach to the embrace of the faith. They knew that it must be lived and that their life must undergo a revolution. To live in accord with the beatitudes or the sermon on the mount means that one will not fit into the norms of this world. Just the opposite. In so far as we experience ease within this world, or experience success and the favors of this world we may be living a life at enmity with God. 
Our life should be about seeking to love God above all things and seeking to please him. Our exercise of the faith, our asceticism, means nothing if it is merely an exercise of endurance. It must be rooted in our desire for God and the things of God. It must be rooted in love. 
Seen in this light, Lent should not be simply a 40 day period that comes and goes; but rather a springboard into a more committed life in Christ.  Lent is about repentance; turning toward God and away from self and sin. May we take this truth to heart and so know the healing of God‘s grace in all of its fullness.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:03:14 Jean-Paul: in a vow of digital simplicity no camera and no mic
 
00:20:12 Jean-Paul: Could you please re-state the name of that journal
 
00:47:16 Andrew musano: “Do that which is good, and no evil shall touch you. Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold: For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life: But they that sin are enemies to their own life.”
 
+ St. Raphael the Archangel, Tobit 12:7-10
 
00:50:41 Anthony: Contendire in Latin.  Contend. Not just "you signed an intellectual contract to get to Heaven."
 
00:51:30 Jean-Paul: The Great Fast begins with the Exultation of the Cross Sept.14
 
00:53:00 Louise A: My dear Father always practiced Ember day fasting....if I remember they were originally associated with the great feasts Christmas,Easter, Pentecost.
 
00:56:30 Andrew musano: Listed below is dates for Fasting in the East. I hope this helps.
 
https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.112.219/1a3.c9d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/the-fasts-of-the-orthodox-church.pdf
 
01:04:13 Jean-Paul: Carthusian guidance on fasting  http://www.quies.org/quies_fasting.php
 
01:05:30 Jean-Paul: Carthusian fasting for the Fathers is usually on Fridays and consists of eating solely bread and water
 
01:10:47 Andrew musano: Let all involuntary suffering teach you to remember God, and you will not lack occasion for repentance.
 
+ St. Mark the Ascetic, “On the Spiritual Law: Two Hundred Texts” No. 57, The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 1)
 
01:18:56 Andrew musano: Ash Wednesday Is a beautiful tradition.
01:28:21 Andrew musano: A foretaste of Heaven on Earth
 
01:36:09 Ren: The adults are the real annoyance. Lets get rid of all of them :-D ;-)
 
01:48:59 Jean-Paul: Can anyone tell how long tonights gather will be
 
01:50:56 Jean-Paul: We are on page 4 will we complete the PDF tonight?
 
01:52:26 Andrew musano: “It is necessary for a Christian to fast, in order to clear his mind, to rouse and develop his feelings, and to stimulate his will to useful activity. These three human capabilities we darken and stifle above all by ‘surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life’ (Lk. 21:34).”
 
— St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
 
02:10:22 Jean-Paul: More than 40% of the women over 75 live alone -- perhaps there are more hermits and monks than one knows.
 
02:11:11 Bonnie: This has given me an entirely new way to prepare for Lent.  Much deeper, more meaningful, and hopefully long lasting.  Thank you Father!
 
02:11:17 Miron Kerul Kmec: thank you
 
02:11:24 ellice: Thank you! This was beautiful
 
02:11:28 Jean-Paul: Peace and all good
 
02:11:29 Andrew musano: Thank you Fr.
 
02:11:40 Anthony: Thank you :)
 
02:11:50 Larisa Cowell: Thank you Father I loved it.
 
02:12:04 Louise A: many thanks Father