The Mystery of One Talk & Discipleship & Advent

Very rarely in life do we listen to one CD and want to give it away because it changed our lives. I can recount the number of music CD's that I purchased as a kid and when I really loved one of the CD's I would hold on to it forever. If I brought it over to a friends house I would make sure I didn't leave it there because of how much I connected with the music. Maybe you can relate to having similar circumstances. What would've happened if we shared that CD with a friend so it could change their life? Would the CD have been good for them or worse?

Disciples Spread the Good News: For those of you who do not know, I felt the call to the priesthood at the  Men of Christ Conference on January 17th, 2007.  That day I was fed in so many different ways, but ultimately I was fed with the truth. The speakers were passionate, funny, honest, zealous, and ultimately were on fire with the Holy Spirit. As I left that conference, my brother PJ went to the table of Fr. Larry Richards and purchased a few talks on CD called "The Truth," "Confession" and "The Mass."  PJ listened to them a few days later and asked me listen to them because he was so amazed at how much truth the Holy Spirit was feeding him with. The talk on confession is what I heard at the Men of Christ Conference and I have never been the same since. PJ couldn't get enough because of how the truth helps the soul heal. He had to share it with someone else. We began to ask more frequently "why does the Church do that? instead of only looking at what the Church says.

Meeting you where you are at: I didn't understand too much about what I professed to believe every Sunday.  As I started to discern the call to be a disciple of Jesus it wasn't easy because I knew next to nothing about the Catholic Faith and the Priesthood. If there is one thing I've learned about the Catholic Church and the Priesthood it is that if you know next to little or nothing about it, then it can intimidate you or even seem pointless. One talk by Father Donald Calloway changed my life because of his radical conversion story. I could relate to the tension he was going through. I'd highly recommend listening to his story called No Turning Back. However, over time, I came to know through different CD's how the Catholic Liturgy is so Biblical it started to bring me to tears as to what I felt the Lord was calling me to discern priesthood as his disciple. Can you believe that at one point in my life I didn't know what it meant to be Catholic or what the difference between being a Catholic or Christian was? (The Lord met me where I was at with my pridefulness and lack of Catechesis) With 35,000 different denominations calling themselves Christian, there has to be one true Church where it all started. I started to ask questions like: What came first the Bible or the Church? What do we mean by God when we say God? I was confused about all of the different denominations and these CD's helped me see with more clarity. Many of the talks I listened to were defended by converts from Protestant denominations or Judaism. Additionally, the culture says that I should be making as much money as possible, diving into all of my passions with women, and not worrying about the consequences. What does the Church have to say about that? Then I heard Christopher West talk about the Theology of the Body and I found John Paul II's teaching calling me to a life of virtue and continence. Also, what about marriage and homosexuality? Fr. Mike Schmitz talk From Love, By Love, For Love blew me away. These CD's have helped me look for the why first in the Church instead of only focusing on the what. I am not a bookworm because I do not read right away to get interested in a subject. I'd consider myself more of a tapeworm (audio orientated) when learning a subject. If you like books, most websites that have different talks on the faith sell books too. Typically, by word of mouth or by a CD/MP3 I will get interested and then begin to do some reading. It's still a mystery to me to this day how God is working through media in a positive way.

Disciples Press Pause in Prayer or for Prayer: Just one CD changed my life and helped me to become more comfortable with the call to a disciple of Jesus Christ. I would go back to the CD's/MP3's over and over. The most important part of the talks is to pray with the themes/topics or press pause when something strikes your heart. The Lord desires us to talk to him through prayer when our heart is moved. I can remember going on long drives (sometimes 10 hours to Saint Meinrad Seminary) and pressing pause very often to talk to the Lord in prayer about something I just heard or when listening to a talk on the passion being moved to tears by the passion of Christ. (To grow in prayer is to move slow in prayer.) There would be times when I was working out, mowing the lawn, etc when I would be listening to a certain talk and I'd be drawn to talk to Jesus about it.  Most importantly, these talks helped me thirst for the Eucharist and for authentic community. Everything around me began to feel lacking when it wasn't supplemented with a truth or an invitation to look for a deeper reality with myself or others. These talks helped me discern the call to greatness as a disciple of Jesus Christ in his Church. We can even listen to the Bible on CD or apps on our phones now. Our excuses to not encounter Christ are dwindling by the hour.

Recommendation: Start! We all have to start somewhere. It is a lie that you are too old or too young. Don't fall into that trap. There are so many rich sources out there and when we hear the truth, our hearts will be moved by the Holy Spirt to help us desire it more and more. We are not idiots or stupid. When truth confronts us to make a choice, we have the freedom to engage it or wonder what could have been for days, months, and even years. Now is the time to engage your heart for the rest of your life.  Here are a few places to start engaging your call to discipleship and the call to greatness: 

Lighthouse Catholic Media

Fr. Barron's Word on Fire (Check out the Sunday Homily Page)

Fr. Mike Schmitz Homilies (Great for High School and College Students)

Matthew Kelly's "Dynamic Catholic"

St. Joseph Communications

Prayer is the most important: I am saving the best for last! If we need to learn how to do anything, it is to learn how to pray. Often we miss the point of prayer in America because we are so focused on results, production, and numbers. We want to see results happening, but that's not the purpose of prayer. To add to that, we struggle with silence at first, but that's normal in this noisy culture.  \We don't know what to do with it because silence magnifies our most dominate thoughts and if they are not holy then we tend to become anxious. Our thoughts will not always be holy because of our disordered desires from concupiscence. After a while, it the silence will become more peaceful and natural. A few of resources I've come across on prayer are:

Prayer - Fr. Larry 

Glimpses Along the Way of the Cross

Catechism: 2725-2758

There are so many sources on prayer and we need pray about who to share them with.

I'm sure that there are more resources than this, but it's a great place to start. One CD or one MP3 could change your life forever and you may just want to share it with someone else. It's an invitation to be who you were created to be: a beloved disciple and to be strengthened in mind, body, and soul. If one of these talks touches your heart then share it with someone.

Have I given you enough resources to start with or to think about? I sure hope so, but the last three I will recommend are on Christmas and Advent. We are entering into the season of the mystery of the incarnation very soon! The Incarnation is the foundation of our faith.

The True Meaning of Christmas by Blessed Fulton J. Sheen

Journey through Advent - Fr. Barron

The Mystery of Christmas by Fr. Larry Richards


Living in the mystery and casting into the deep,

Zach Weber