Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"You thought perhaps when learned Campion dies, His pen must cease, his sugared tongue be still; But you forgot how loud his death it cries How far beyond the sound of tongue and quill." In 1581, a young Englishman named Henry Walpole attended the execution of the Jesuit Edmund Campion. As Campion was hung, drawn and quartered, Walpole stood close enough to be spattered with his holy blood. Though Campion’s fame in England was already great, Walpole would amplify it further with a splendid, lengthy poem, which became enormously popular among English Catholics—so popular that the man who printed the book had his ears cut off as punishment. In his poem Walpole wrote: We cannot fear a mortal torment, we, This martyr’s blood hath moistened all our hearts, Whose parted quarters when we chance to see We learn to play the constant Christian’s parts. This was more than wordplay: Two years after Campion’s death, Walpole became a priest, and was himself hung for the faith in 1595. Links Lyra Martyrum: The Poetry of the English Martyrs: https://www.clunymedia.com/product/lyra-martyrum/ Catholic Culture Podcast #69—The Poetry of the English Martyrs—Benedict Whalen https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-69-poetry-english-martyrs-benedict-whalen/ 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.

“This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ, we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love”. It is there that this truth can be contemplated. It is from there that our definition of love must begin. In this contemplation the Christian discovers the path along which his life and love must move.” Deus Caritas Est, or “God is Love,” was the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, released on December 25, 2005. This letter focuses on the nature of Christian love, particularly examining the relationship between God’s love for humanity and the love Christians are called to show others. Benedict grounds his reflections in Scripture and tradition, aiming to clarify misunderstandings about Christian love in a contemporary world marked by both cynicism and sentimentality. In this first part, titled “The Unity of Love in Creation and in Salvation History,” Benedict explores two distinct yet intertwined dimensions of love, eros and agape, arriving at the newness which biblical faith brings to man's understanding of love—a new understanding that finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the incarnate love of God. Links: Full text: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html 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.

"For we don't invent marriage... any more than we invent human language. It is part of the creation of humanity and if we're lucky we find it available to us and can enter into it. If we are very unlucky, we may live in a society that has wrecked or deformed this human thing." Elizabeth Anscombe was a prominent 20th-century British philosopher, known for her influential work in ethics and her deep commitment to Catholic doctrine. In her essay 'Contraception and Chastity'—one of the earliest defenses of Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Humanae Vitae—Anscombe expertly explains the evil of contraception and contrasts its use with that of methods of natural family planning.  Read by Karina Majewski Links Contraception and Chastity full text: https://global.uwi.edu/sites/default/files/bnccde/PH19B/conchastity.html 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.

My oldest friend, mine from the hour          When first I drew my breath; My faithful friend, that shall be mine,                 Unfailing, till my death... "St. Michael" full text: https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/st-michael "Angelic Guidance" full text: https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/angelic-guidance "Guardian Angel" full text: https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/guardian-angel-2 Happy feast of the Guardian Angels! More links: 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.