Season 3 Episode 2
Join the fun! In the last five or six minutes of the podcast, I speak with a sort of inconsistency to the point I am trying to make. I wonder if anyone can identify it? Leave a comment if you do! Just be gentle :-)
This episode takes us back to the beginning of the phenomenological journey on the Trail of the Dogmatic Creed with St. Joan and St. Thérèse! In the last episode, I introduced you to the moment in the year 2008 when I was inspired through contemplation to respond to Our Lady’s insistence that “if I had something I felt I needed to say, I should probably start saying it.” However, to understand that moment we must now turn to the very beginning in the year 1984. This was the year of my conversion to the Catholic Church and my introduction to St. Thérèse.
I understood St. Thérèse before I came to know St. Thérèse. I understood her message before I came to know what it was. The principle that understanding is the foundation for the phenomenological knowing of my world, both temporal and spiritual, became my new constitution of being through the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Thérèse. I understood that all along, but it took me decades to know it.
Next episode - we enter the Dark Forest! Be prepared!
Reflective questions
How would you describe your journey into and through Catholicism? Is it a fairy-tale-like journey or simply a set of doctrines, dogmas, and rules for you to follow?
Can you describe your journey in terms of how you have received it - how it has been given to you - without any preconceived biases? If so, then perhaps you want to start journaling. If not, then keep listening!
The opening to this episode - from my book, Journey to Christendom - The Freedom Dance.
“What happened after this Great Event, this moment of receiving the magnificent gift of faith, is that I walked through a door into a land I had never imagined did or even could exist. This is a land of castles and kingdoms and marvelous vistas. But there are no fairies or anything fanciful and made-up. Everything here is very real; in fact, I should say it is more real than our material world. Or, even more accurately put, and this I say with great confidence, that this world is more alive than our suffering and miserable material world! This world encompasses ours and makes ours seem small and very dull, colorless I should say. The world of Catholicism is the real world, with color and life splashing everywhere yet always in complete order.”
I am also the co-host of the Heroic Hearts podcast devoted to a spiritual adventure with St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux! Join us on the journey!
S3E2 - The phenomenology of St. Thérèse of Lisieux that initiated my journey