Deacon James Keating PhD - Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

About Deacon James Keating PhD - Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

With spiritual depth and theological richness, Deacon Keating leads listeners to communion and intimacy with God the Father through Christ and the Spirit.

Publisher

Deacon James Keating PhD and Kris McGregor

Category

religion & spirituality · religion & spirituality · religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Nov 2022

Latest episode

30 Nov 2025

Latest episodes

36 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Nov 2025

   AR#1 – God’s Patience – Advent Reflections with Deacon James Keating Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Podcast

   One of God’s attributes is patience. He suffers His own creation, as it comes to fulfillment in His love. The God that we worship is a God who truly loves us. And in this great love, He waits. He waits for us to respond to all that He has given us. And He doesn't simply wait in a passive way. He keeps loving us, keeps directing His love toward our hearts to awaken them with a response. This is near the very core of what Advent is about. God loving us so deeply, directing His love toward us, and Him sharing His life with us, so that we might respond in kind. So that we might wait and receive, and then respond to His great love The post AR#1 – God’s Patience – Advent Reflections with Deacon James Keating Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Podcast (https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/ar1-advent-reflections-deacon-james-keating-ph-d/) appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts (https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts).

2. 

   16 Oct 2025

   WOM9 – The Liturgy of the Eucharist, pt. 1 – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

   The Liturgy of the Eucharist, Part 1 – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating Deacon James Keating explores how the Eucharist shapes moral life by transforming our conscience through divine charity. He explains that the Eucharist is the source of goodness because it is the wellspring of God’s love. By placing ourselves before this mystery, we are drawn into holiness and made capable of authentic charity. The offertory is not merely a financial gesture but a response to being filled with the Word of God—an act that symbolizes giving of self. The mingling of water and wine is a sign of our union with Christ’s divinity through humility and service, reminding us that true communion with Christ sends us toward those in need. The priest’s quiet prayer for purification before consecration reveals a deep awareness of human unworthiness and the immense grace of God’s invitation to holiness. The shift in the Mass from prayers directed to Christ to those offered with Christ to the Father mirrors Jesus’ self-offering on the Cross and our participation in His obedience. He also reflects on the priest’s vocation as a sacramental presence of Christ—the bridge between God and His people. The priest’s role is not managerial but paternal, called to spiritual fatherhood that demands holiness, humility, and courage to teach truth even when unpopular. We shouldn’t reduce priesthood to leadership models devoid of spiritual depth: the priest must feed his people with truth rather than cultural opinions. The faithful, in turn, are called to pray fervently for their priests, that they may live their vocation with integrity and draw their communities into deeper communion with Christ. Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions * How does recognizing the Eucharist as the “wellspring of divine charity” reshape your understanding of moral goodness? * In what ways can you make your offertory—both spiritual and material—a more authentic act of self-giving? * What does the mingling of water and wine at Mass teach you about humility and participation in Christ’s divinity? * How do you discern whether an encounter with God has truly moved you toward serving the poor and those in need? * When you witness the priest’s hand-washing ritual, how might you join interiorly in his prayer for purification? * What does the shift in prayer “through Christ to the Father” invite you to consider about obedience and dependence on God? * How can you support your parish priest in living out his vocation as a spiritual father rather than a mere leader or administrator? * What does Deacon Keating’s reflection reveal about your own attitude toward authority and obedience in the Church? * How might you respond when the truth of Church teaching challenges your comfort or cultural assumptions? * In what concrete ways can you pray for priests and help strengthen their courage to proclaim the Gospel faithfully? Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., is a professor of Spiritual Theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO. Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page (https://www.discerninghearts.com/?page_id=624)

3. 

   3 Sept 2025

   WOM3 – The Paschal Mystery – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

   The Paschal Mystery – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating Deacon James Keating and Kris McGregor explore how the Paschal Mystery and the Eucharistic liturgy are inseparably united. The Mass is not merely about attendance or obligation but about making oneself available to be taken into Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. True participation requires an interior openness—allowing Christ to shape our hearts and draw us into communion with both Him and others. Rather than reducing Mass to duty, fellowship, or a fleeting emotional experience, he invites listeners to see it as an intentional, interior response to the presence of God breaking into time. Conversion is a gradual process. Everyone comes to the Eucharist at different stages of their spiritual journey, carrying joy, grief, or indifference. We need to bring our authentic state—whether delight or sorrow—before God, trusting that Christ works within those realities. Mass is both personal and communal: it reverences each individual’s encounter with Christ while drawing the community together in communion. Our identity flows from the Eucharist, where Christ gives us Himself and plants the seed of resurrection within us—a gift that sustains us through life, death, and into eternity. Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions * How do I prepare my heart to be truly available to Christ when I go to Mass? * In what ways do I sometimes reduce the Eucharist to an obligation rather than an encounter with Christ? * Am I attentive to my interior disposition at Mass, or do I approach it on autopilot? * How open am I to letting Christ take me into His life, death, and resurrection during the liturgy? * Do I bring both my joys and sorrows honestly before God in the Eucharist? * How do I recognize and respect that others in the community may be at different points in their spiritual journey? * In what ways do I allow my emotions—or lack of them—to determine my participation at Mass? * Do I see the Mass as both a personal encounter with Christ and a communal act of worship? * How do I live out my Eucharistic identity in daily life beyond the church walls? * What steps can I take to deepen my intentional presence at the Eucharistic liturgy each week? Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., is a professor of Spiritual Theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO. Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page (https://www.discerninghearts.com/?page_id=624)

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Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

19 ratings

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