Contemplata
The purpose of our lives is to come to know God, yet on account of sin the eyes of our hearts have grown blind to the presence of God. Just as Jesus healed the blind men in the Gospels, so God is now at work to heal the eyes of our hearts by the light of his grace. Contemplata is a podcast for those seeking to grow in contemplative prayer—the loving awareness of the presence of God. Fr. James Dominic Brent, O.P. is a Dominican Friar of the Province of St. Joseph.
Episodes
29 episodes
Contemplata Episode 27 | 1st Paraclete Promise | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
At the Last Supper, the Lord promised to send his Spirit to dwell in each of us. And when you and I were baptized, we received the Holy Spirit in a whole new way—we came to have the very person of the Holy Spirit himself living and dwelling in ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 27
•
9:53
Contemplata Episode 26 | What are the 5 Paraclete Promises? | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
In this episode, Fr. James Brent, O.P., introduces us to what scripture scholars call paraclete promises, which are found throughout scripture and are a great reason to be confident in our prayer before God. Fr. James will point to many of thes...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 26
•
9:46
Contemplata Episode 25 | Why Pray the Rosary? | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
Petitionary prayer, meditation, contemplation, the Our Father, and the Hail Mary, the Glory Be. The Rosary has it all. If we stay with it and practice praying the Rosary, the different elements of it come together and gradually we realize that ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 25
•
8:14
Contemplata Episode 24 | How God Purifies You | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
God is a refiner's fire, and he says through the mouth of the prophet Zechariah, “I will refine them as silver is refined.” What does that mean? You and I can ask for God to plunge us into the fire, to purify us, to separate out the lead from t...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 24
•
6:09
Contemplata Episode 23 | The Name of Jesus | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
There’s one prayer in particular that’s the best prayer and it is the name of Jesus. When we call upon the name of Jesus with faith, we should expect to receive his grace. The name of Jesus will work in our hearts and will do in our hearts, in ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 23
•
8:03
Contemplata Episode 22 | God Helps You | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
“O God, come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me.” This prayer was taught to John Cassian and his friend Germanus by one of the desert monks, Abba Isaac, who told them if they just pray this prayer over and over again, their hearts w...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 22
•
8:13
Contemplata Episode 21 | A Busy Heart in Prayer | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
In this episode, Fr. James Brent, O.P., gives an example of how javelin prayers can be helpful in the spiritual life as he recounts a story about someone he knew who was a high-powered lawyer in New York. She barely had any time for extended da...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 21
•
9:25
Contemplata Episode 20 | Javelin Prayers | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
As we’ve discussed for a few episodes now, one of the principal pathways to metanoia is prayer. And one of the principal challenges to prayer is distraction. Aside from external distractions which many of us suffer from, we have interior distra...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 20
•
12:16
Contemplata Episode 19 | Frequent Short Prayers | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
People—especially busy people—forget we can ask God for help with everything. No matter how busy we are, all of us are able to make frequent short prayers throughout the day. “Lord, help me with this situation at work. Lord, help me prepare the...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 19
•
10:44
Contemplata Episode 18 | The Life of Prayer | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
When people hear the word prayer, they think about the various prayers that we say—the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Anima Christi. That’s one sense of the word prayer. We’re called to not only say acts of prayer, but to live the life of praye...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 18
•
10:45
Contemplata Episode 17 | Metanoia | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
The purpose of our lives is to enter into the life of the Holy Trinity, and come to know something of the holy, awesome, and awe-inspiring life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The question is, “How?” The Lord Jesus tells us the answer very...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 17
•
12:51
Contemplata Episode 16 | The Purpose of Life | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
The purpose of our life is to know, love, and enjoy God. More specifically, the purpose of our life is to know, love, and enjoy the Holy Trinity. In this episode, Fr. James Brent, O.P., meditates on the sign of the cross, a simple gesture that ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 16
•
10:14
Contemplata Bonus Episode | Rosary of Gratitude | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
In previous episodes, we learned about the Eucharistic sacrifice and about the qualities of heart we need when we go to Mass. One of these qualities is thanksgiving. We need to take time to count our blessings. And two of the best ways we can p...
•
Season 1
•
4:01
Contemplata Episode 15 | The Friends of God | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
“You become what you eat,” they say. If you eat the body and drink the blood of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, who do you become? You become him. You become Jesus. You become another Christ in this world. You learn to live his life – his...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 15
•
29:24
Contemplata Episode 14 | Formed by Heaven | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
At Mass, the people are called to co-offer the sacrifice. But how, precisely, do we do so? It is principally an affair of the heart, a matter of intention. Find out in this episode how heaven teaches us to form such an intention at Mass....
•
Season 1
•
Episode 14
•
11:22
Contemplata Episode 13 | Mass without Communion? | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
Very often, when we think of going to Mass or not going to Mass, the question in our minds is, “What I will get out of it.?” We do not think in terms of what God is worth or how, in the Mass, we render to God the worship he deserves from us. Bu...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 13
•
8:35
Contemplata Episode 12 | Your PART at the Mass | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
Pope Pius XII once said that “all the faithful should be aware that to participate in the Eucharistic Sacrifice is their chief duty and supreme dignity.” But how do we do so? What is our part in the Mass? The answer is simple. Our hearts ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 12
•
10:18
Contemplata Episode 11 | It is the Lord! | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
When we go to Mass, we remain on earth. But Fr. James Brent, O.P. explains that what we have on our altars in our earthly liturgies is one and the same Lamb of God as in heaven—not merely a sign or merely a symbol of the Lamb, but the actual La...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 11
•
9:02
Contemplata Episode 10 | The Sacrament of Charity | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
There is one place above all where we can come to know the love of God—the Eucharist. It is called the sacrament of charity, the sacrament of love. And it was out of love that Jesus Christ set up this great sacrament in the Church. It was in or...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 10
•
8:48
Contemplata Episode 9 | The Greatness of Eucharistic Adoration | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
In this episode, Fr. James Brent O.P., talks about the Marian apparition at Knock (in Ireland) which he says is also a Eucharistic apparition—and that Eucharistic Adoration is essentially a sustained beholding of the Lamb of God. It is the perf...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 9
•
10:22
Contemplata Episode 8 | Preparation for Holy Communion | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
When we receive holy communion in a certain state, when we are well disposed with certain qualities of mind and heart, then holy communion will have a great effect on us. When our minds and hearts lack those qualities or are not well disposed, ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 8
•
9:17
Contemplata Episode 7 | The Effects of Holy Communion | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
When we receive holy communion, the sacrament has certain effects on us—spiritual or supernatural effects. Just as food nourishes a child and causes the child to grow strong in bodily life, so holy communion nourishes our souls and causes us to...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 7
•
9:02
Contemplata Episode 6 | The Eucharistic Sacrifice | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
As Catholics, we believe and confess that the Eucharist is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, not a new or additional sacrifice, but the same sacrifice. How can it be so? In this episode of Contemplata, Fr. James Brent, O.P. further explains how th...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 6
•
8:37
Contemplata Episode 5 | The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
Jesus fulfilled the law of sacrifice in a unique way when he offered himself to the Father on Calvary. In his sacrifice, we find the three elements common to all sacrifice. First, we find an inward or spiritual sacrifice—the offering of his hea...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 5
•
9:37
Contemplata Episode 4 | The Law of Sacrifice | Fr. James Brent, O.P.
In this episode, Fr. James Brent, O.P., discusses sacrificial worship—human beings have, written in their hearts, a desire to offer sacrifice to God. Jesus taught us that the one sacrifice that would please God is not something we make up, but ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 4
•
9:14