Catholic Culture Audiobooks CatholicCulture.org

In this episode from the archive, a selection of three of Newman’s poems is read, all of which were composed within a few days of one another and all reflecting on the efficacy of prayer.
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Full text: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses/index.html
Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.
Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"If you hate your own corruption in sincerity and truth, if you are really pierced to the heart that you do not do what you know you should do, if you would love God if you could, then the Gospel speaks to you words of peace and hope. It is a very different thing indolently to say, 'I would I were a different man,' and to close with God's offer to make you different, when it is put before you. Here is the test between earnestness and insincerity."
This sermon is taken from a collection of sermons given by Newman between 1825 and 1843, before his conversion to Catholicism. In it, he reflects on Christ's counsel to his Apostles, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." (John 13:17)
Links
Knowledge of God's Will without Obedience full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume1/sermon3.html
Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.
Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

“Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism—community of goods—must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal.”
Rerum Novarum—literally meaning “Of New Things,” but more accurately translated, “Of Revolutionary Change,”—was Pope Leo XIII’s response to the political upheaval of the 19th century. Issued on May 15, 1891, Rerum Novarum set forth a definitive word on these “new things”, and laid the groundwork for much of the development of the Church’s social thought through the 20th century. Today, Rerum Novarum is considered a foundational text of Catholic social teaching.
Covering everything from property rights to trade unions, to questions of wages and the relationship of man to the State, Rerum Novarum is a sweeping document that is at once comprehensive and accessible. There’s no need to be a political philosopher or economist here. Leo XIII develops his arguments in a methodical and straightforward way, and states plainly that human society can be healed in no other way than in a return to Christian life and Christian institutions.
Originally released on this podcast in two parts, Rerum Novarum is now available to be listened to in a single continuous episode.
Links
Full Text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4904
Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.
Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"Be solicitous only to pour out tears abundantly, and leave to God the care of drying them up."
On the Sanctity and Duties of the Monastic State by the Abbé Armand-Jean de Rancé was originally published in Paris in 1683.
Although Abbé de Rancé, the founder of the Trappists, originally wrote for his monks, many laity of 17th c. France enthusiastically adopted much of his spirituality, and to wonderful effect. With asceticism re-appearing now as a corrective to our self-indulgence and softness, his incisive book is a badly needed, bracing corrective for the Christians of our time. -- from the description of Back to Asceticism: the Trappist Option, trans. Lee Gilbert.
Links
Back to Asceticism: The Trappist Option -- https://www.amazon.com/Back-Asceticism-Translation-Introduction-MONASTIQUE/dp/057855366X
Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.
Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"In the second coming when He will come for rendering repayment, He will not come in humility and poverty, but in such majesty and power that the whole world will tremble."
St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419) was born in Valencia, Spain, and died in Vannes, Britany. He was a great scholar and theologian, and even served as an advisor to Benedict XIII, the Avignon anti-pope. St. Vincent was also a great preacher, traveling throughout Europe as a parish mission preacher. The favorite topic of his sermons was the final judgment, and he is often called the "Angel of the Judgment."
This sermon demonstrates St. Vincent’s ability, in typically Dominican style, to render a close analysis of scripture into an accessible sermon capable of drawing out both the literal and moral significance of the sacred text.
Happy feast of St. Vincent Ferrer!
Links
Sermon on the Last Judgment full text: https://www.svfsermons.org/A398_On%20the%20Last%20Judgment,%20Sheep%20and%20Goats.htm
More St. Vincent Ferrer sermons trans. by Fr. Albert G. Judy, OP: http://www.svfsermons.org
Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.
Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"For, truly, she is raised above the condition of sinful beings, though by nature a sinner; she is brought near to God, yet is but a creature, and seems to lack her fitting place in our limited understandings, neither too high nor too low. We cannot combine, in our thought of her, all we should ascribe with all we should withhold."
The Reverence Due to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a sermon first given by Newman for the Feast of the Annunciation, before his conversion to Catholicism. In it he considers in what respects the Virgin Mary is "Blessed".
Happy Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord!
Links
The Reverence Due to the Virgin Mary full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon12.html
Go to http://www.catholicculture.org/getaudio to register for FREE access to the full archive of audiobooks beyond the most recent 15 episodes.
Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.