Lives of the Popes on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lives-of-the-popes/id1885968422

Lives of the Popes on CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/lives-of-popes-podcast/

"... we shall find it difficult to estimate the moral power which a single individual, trained to practice what he teaches, may acquire in his own circle, in the course of years. While the Scriptures are thrown upon the world, as if the common property of any who choose to appropriate them, he is, in fact, the legitimate interpreter of them, and none other; the Inspired Word being but a dead letter (ordinarily considered), except as transmitted from one mind to another."

St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were instrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England and ultimately led to many conversions to Catholicism.

In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman's own conversion to Catholicism years later.

These fifteen sermons, though deeply interconnected in theme and insight, are not sequential in nature; rather, each stands on its own as a distinct and self-contained reflection on faith and reason. Newman lays the groundwork for themes developed in later works, such as Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

In this fifth sermon, Newman contends that Christian truth spreads and endures in the world primarily through the personal character of holy individuals, rather than through the influence of institutions or intellectual arguments alone.

Links

Personal Influence, the Means of Propagating the Truth full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon5.html

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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.

"No work takes deep root, or has real stability, or will perpetuate itself, unless the apostle has begotten the interior life in other souls. Naturally, he cannot do this unless he himself is strong in the inner life."

This episode concludes Part Four of the classic work by the French Trappist monk, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858-1935). Among other things, there is featured an illuminating description of the progressive stages of conversion, which Dom Chautard includes as an aid for spiritual directors.

Episode 4: Part Four (sections e - g)

00:00 - Intro

00:39 - e. Because the Interior Life Begets Interior Life, Its Results Upon Souls Are Deep and Lasting

20:09 - f. Importance of the Formation of "Shock Troops" and of Spiritual Direction

46:12 - (Stages of Conversion - Categories for Spiritual Directors)

57:48 - g. The Entire Success of the Apostolate Depends on One Thing: An Interior Life Centered on the Blessed Eucharist

Links

The Soul of the Apostolate full text: https://www.cmri.org/0-olmc-mission/catholic-books/soul_of_the_apostolate.pdf

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter

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.