 Okay, hey friend, you're watching behind the scenes divine intimacy radio Dan Burke. That's me Stephanie Burke That's better. That's Stephanie and then father Jesse mango Dominican priest we're going to be talking about part two of Contemplation and peace in the storm is that what the show was called Jordan Top contemplation in the midst of the storm. So I think before we jump into the show I don't know For me, I don't like writing books that have already been covered, you know, I don't like to To fill ground like you devil in the castle No, book has ever been written in any language that I'm aware of on Teresa of Avila's perspective on spiritual warfare You know in the progress of the soul Lot of books on laxia divina, but into the deep was I've never read one like exactly how what exactly do I do? When do I get up? How what is my prayer space of light, you know, all of that? So similarly though a little bit of a break from that that pattern Sanofa on just a great wrote an extraordinary work on simple direct powerful on the subject of the show today on how to find peace in the storm he didn't call it that it was called Uniformity to God's will but the challenge with Liguri as he wrote in another time and in in a way a kind of a linguistic style that is can be offensive or strange or jarring or Disruptive to the modern mind and so Also, there are principles and concepts that many people in that time would have understood that people in our time don't So what I did is I took that very powerful book and I wrote Spirit reflections, you know trying to help the the audience understand the usage of terms I did do a little tweak on translation being careful to stay true to the exact word. He was trying to represent To remove the stumbling blocks, but then to expand more fully and to apply it to Our time so I have no doubt like the people who've read it Number one, the book has changed many lives just Liguri, you know straight up, but Many people have been a part of the editing process We have a launch team that truly believes in this and trying to make it up because the church needs healing We need people who are strong and you can't be strong if the storms wreck you You know, you can't help other people if you're drowning So we're trying to help people get out of this drowning thing. So that's what the show is about today and the You can find them you can pre-order the book right now out at spiritualdirection.com shop The shop tab and you'll see it right at the top of the page. So I'd be grateful if you'd go by only ask you buy seven and That one for you and six for all, you know friends that you give it to give it to priests Give it to seminarians. Give it to the leaders, you know, people who are helping Others who need to not you know because our leaders have to not be drowning to help people to be free You know, you can only rescue someone from drowning if you are very well grounded in how to do that how to swim yourself You know how to deal with somebody who's flailing around you are supposed to put the oxygen mask on yourself And then on the person yeah sitting next to you. Yeah, that's another analogy on the airplane Yeah, but but the oxygen mask on yourself Well, and if you don't know how to deal with a drowning person, they will drown you so, you know similar problem But so that's what the show is going to be about today Not the book, but just the concepts related to how it is that we we can Position our draw near to the Lord in such a way that when the storm comes and when we're in the midst of the storm We become a source of light and help to others instead of a victim. You know, that's a big thing so We're gonna go ahead and start the show. Oh and a last thing sorry Like and subscribe if you don't do that. You're a fat head. That's what I used to call my brother when I was a little kid Everybody's going what? Well, my brother's now used to call each other names when we were a kid, you know And one of my brothers got rest of soul had a really big head. That's why I called him a fat head but anyway, no Father Jesse's going this is very undignified I But that's welcome to divine intimacy. Welcome to welcome to my world. Welcome to Stephanie's world Undignified is sort of a gift that I have so Let's jump into the show and your market said go This is Dan and Stephanie Burke welcome to divine intimacy radio your radio haven of rest your hermitage of the heart Your monastery of the mind where we lift our hearts and minds to heaven To draw upon the wisdom of the saints to help us navigate the tumult of this life Today we are joined by Father Jesse mango mango like a fruit. No He does come hail from the tropics. Yes from Trinidad Tobago, is that called the tropics? Oh, yeah, Caribbean. Yeah, are you anywhere near like the Bermuda triangle? Far away from that. Okay. Good. So we can fly to visit you. We're not gonna get Okay, yeah, so of course if you didn't understand the white robe, he's a he's a Norbertine That's not true Well, that was so nice No, he's yeah, he was very terrible another Dominican friend of mine Got really upset one time when he was somebody introduced him as a Norbertine. He's not a Norbertine Oh, they're beautiful order, they're doing wonderful things at St. Michael's Abbey in California. Wow, what a beautiful Beautiful place. Okay. So father Jesse of course is Dominican They both wear white habits if you didn't know of a joke But Stephanie you this is part two part one you can find out on YouTube spiritual direction calm ultimately they'll all be on spiritual direction outcome website, but yeah, you Scripture passage that moved you well that when so in the last show, you know Hopefully people go back and listen to that because this is one There's a second part of the show Father you were talking about this understanding about trials and temptations and What the Lord's doing in it and not to allow it to? Wreck us and I think one of the distinctions you said that was so important is if you're following the Lord if you're in a State of grace if you're doing all that you know to do in In in proper order and you experience trials You need to recognize it differently than if you're not if you're outside of the church or in a state of mortal sin and you're Experiencing trials now both are invitations both both are invitations one is to come back You know hollering out to the prodigal sons and daughters, right come back, you know to God the Father or You're going from good to better, you know, and so we want to be able to enter into that So anyway, it brought this scripture passage that has been so profound in the last week It was really an extraordinary grace when I it just really moved me And so I want to read it because it's just so paramount to what we're talking about And I'm not going to read it too fast because I want people to really let the word That is alive and living enter into them in this passage. So the passage is first Peter 1 6 through 9 There is cause for rejoicing here You may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials But this is so that your faith Which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire tried gold May by its genuineness lead to praise Glory and honor when Jesus Christ appears Although you have never seen him you love him and without seeing you now believe in him and Rejoice with inexpressible joy touched with glory because you are achieving faith's goal Your salvation. I love this last piece that I think is just so important for us to understand You are achieving faith's goal your salvation By suffering through the trials, right? You may have to suffer. No, you will you will right, right? Well, I'm quoting this Yeah, you may for a time. Oh, yeah, have to suffer the distress of many trials But this is so that your faith can be tested. This is so that This it will be tried like gold in the fire And the genuineness will lead to the praise glory and honor of Christ So just amazing, right? Beautiful You want to talk to that a little bit? I think we need to Really convert our minds to seeing the cross as the biggest blessing I think when we come to accept that it's the word of Jesus Pick up your cross and follow me We need to really let that sink deep into our hearts. That's the beginning of peace That's the beginning of of the mature walk in the spiritual life and we stop the wrestling Because what happens when you're in a fight? You through punches you get punched back the surrender immediately stops the tension and We have to surrender with faith hope and love in this. This is this whole theme of abandonment Which is so important in the life of of a mature spiritual life And that we we do everything within our power To remove the evils of suffering from our life because suffering is an evil It's now part of God's original plan But now within the the wise plan of God within his wisdom plan The cross the trials become the very source of our deepest blessing And it might be that you know, we have some trial and that God is sending in his wisdom this trial to For you to come out of laziness To do something to to get rid of it It might be some kind of virtue that he's building in it You know, we might get a sickness And it it it takes a lot of courage maybe to go to the doctor Sometimes and to have an operation You know, that's virtue. It takes virtue. It takes, you know It takes the detachment from money That we might need to put into an illness or something it we don't know what God is doing in these trials and But ultimately he's perfecting the soul. So coming back to that main point as you were saying Stephanie is that you know to God's more interested I said this once in a homily God's more interested in sending us trials than just sending us comforts because It's way better for us because by it we come to discover our absolute need for him You mentioned the chosen early on in that Peter And that that's seen that you love so much Dan of him clinging to the Lord. I need you Lord Well, don't leave me. Don't leave me But it's precisely because of his trial and his prugation that he can cling to the Lord If he didn't have trials, he would have sit in the boat and and be self-sufficient God's more interested in breaking our heart So that he could fill our heart with his grace and himself He has to you know, we there's that saying that we see quite often That you know You have to hit rock bottom to discover God's rock at the bottom. There's profound truth in that You know profound truth. Yeah, so just say that about the spiritual life and contemplation Coming back to what we said in the last last meeting where we're together It's by faith stretching by trials of faith doubt overcoming doubt Hope hopelessness overcoming hopelessness by Fixing from our faith on God's God's goodness and his power his almighty power That's what hope is based on his omnipotence his ability to see things through our love You know the many trials of love that we have You know, we pray the pray, you know Lord help me to love them and we expect that he'll just put all this love into our heart But no that person's going to become Annoying magnified by a thousand That's how you grow in charity And and that's how you grow in love. That's that's the contemplative life It's as real as that because when when you when you can bring these virtues then into prayer In those small fixed times of prayer They they sharpen they cling to God And then when we are in prayer and we have those stable habits of prayer Then throughout the rest of the day when we're still trying to contemplate in our work In our conversations and whatever we do We we have the habit of clinging to him So we have the habit of clinging to him in life from trials. We'll cling to him more easily in prayer. Yeah, yeah Well, and I think the converse is also true. Yes, right? And I think The chicken and the egg There is an order and I think the order is We must be near Jesus In order to be able to do what you did this morning. I don't know your trial was I probably caused it. I don't know but the the But there's this moment where you have a decision to make But you had already I don't did the trial happen for you at before after your mental prayer time It happened before well, it started the the night before Okay, um, and then and it just kind of woke I woke up with some more clarity Then went to morning prayer and it just sharpened I went to get ready for the show this morning went back to prayer and It was it was happening actually all, you know, like all in the through it I mean, it was just like One of the biggest bigger storms that I've experienced And it was happening as I was getting ready Went to prayer and I just went to my knees the rest of you in community Yeah, we up in the chapel you all were y'all were praying I couldn't utter a word except to put myself right before the Lord on my knees and just keep keep just Lean it's a it's a it's an interior Opening that I that I make that I that I feel the burn of the purgation You know the Lord that he's doing something I'm in the storm and I'm inviting the Lord to come in And take it and take it and just burn it away And so it's this interior opening of making a space for the Lord and making an act of the will to say I choose you Lord I don't want to be carried away in the storm. I choose you so please come and take it So it's a it's an act of the will but it's this It's this it happens all simultaneously of Understanding what's going on and understanding what the Lord's Probably inviting me to which is greater selflessness And a dying of self-love right so you you made a choice to not stare at the Circumstance which would have made you a victim I don't really know what you went through but let's say let's say it was me I don't know But then it makes you a victim of me and then you become angry at me and then you have unforgiveness or whatever But when you but when you look up Everything changes When you look up to Jesus Now you're availing yourself of grace now you're instead of being bound By a way a destructive way of responding to the trial You're being liberated by the trial and you're actually ascending to God in your heart and in your mind And being set free by the very pain that might bind somebody else It's like the analogy of a knife, you know In surgery having to cut out the cancer cut out. It's going to hurt Yeah But that hurt that that that recovery is crucial to have that overall health and freedom Yeah, we're we're about to go to a break but it is, you know, when we come back I think understanding the The fire of the Holy Spirit as that knife, you know, I think is really great I also have another scripture verse for this for this battle that we all experience whether it's little or big Yeah, just a small one that'll I think help us launch us into this conversation about Contemplation finding peace in the storm and this call that we are all called to To lean into prayer. Yeah, and to what the Lord's doing in and through us And then what I want to do in the last segment it just gets super practical So we've been talking about kind of an experience and we're talking about the theology But in the last six minutes what I want to do or 12 minutes that we have Is I want to get down to okay, somebody's listening going I want that how do they get that? So we'll be right back on divine intimacy radio Look at that, baby. Bam. Was it all right? Okay. Yeah 13 Okay This is very practical. Good. What is the verse? I don't know actually It's moses I love that scripture. All right, cool. All right, uh, folks, we're heading back into divine intimacy radio Before we do I just wanted to remind you about our marriage retreat divine intimacy and marriage number third to the fifth it's it begins with an inch entering into Catholic mystical tradition not into modern pop psychology You know, uh, there's some good psychology psychology out there, of course It's like nothing else out there because we didn't design it on anything else. We haven't been to anybody else's marriage retreats Yeah, so So anyway, and as Stephanie always likes to say, there'll be no kumbaya. I guess that's for people over 50 you even know what that is, but it was a terrible time in the church, but Lots of love lots of prayer lots of joy Yeah, and you know and and you know testimonies one woman says I'm not going to leave my husband Before I came to this retreat. I was going to another one said I'm moving out of the guest room back into the main bedroom Uh, you know just we have testimonies like that over and over one man said In a in a healthy marriage, you know, we have the spectrum and even pre-married, but one man said I never knew there were so many ways. I could love you. He said that to his wife And I was just wow. What a good guy in her valentine card Because she said is this card to me or is this card to the divine intimacy a marriage retreat because he was gushing About it a man Yes, yes, you know, and it was just beautiful. So that's like a great marriage 2023 Uh shrine of the most blessed sacrament in hansville like wow beautiful place Tallest second tallest monstrance in the world And food is good a little wine a beautiful venue spiritualdirection.com forward slash events spiritualdirection.com right events for all of our events um Ready on your market tech. Oh, welcome back to divine intimacy radio Dan and stephanie berk with father jesse mango dominican Extraordinaire did anyone ever told say you were dominican extraordinary? Oh, yeah, the first okay Probably a lot of firsts hanging out around here. Unfortunately So before the for the break you mentioned another inspiration to uh some wisdom from scripture Yeah, and so we're going to enter into practicals like yeah, how do you do this? How do you do this practically in your day-to-day? Whether it's a huge storm outside? Whether it's the culture whether it's what's happening with your kids or your marriage or your family your finances um, you know Whatever it is or whether it's the interior battle Of just your own purgation moving from good to better or Choosing the good right? Yeah, so I just love this. Um, this is uh, moses Speaking to the people so he addresses them the people the people it says okay, so moses answered the people Fear not Stand your ground And you will see the victory the lord will win for you today The lord himself will fight for you You have only to keep still You have only to keep still contemplation prayer surrender People don't understand that when we talk about this exercise of virtue of leaning into the lord greater faith Greater hope greater love. They think of it as like. Oh, yeah, I've got faith. I've got hope We're talking about a radical faith A radical hope a radical love beyond anything that we've experienced out in the world a radical surrender a radical vulnerability Of leaning into the lord and letting him Take possession of us. I love that word because I think we have to understand that the lord wants to marry his people he's he's This the other one that I love is he's a jealous lover. He's not content with you know The the ring finger on your right hand. He's not content with your left foot Not content with half of the hairs on your head. He wants every part of you Your mind your body your spirit your soul and that invitation to that radical relationship of really Giving yourself over to the lord in the midst of these storms standing still Not allowing it to rattle you not allowing it to cause you to sin Or to go back to old behaviors or old patterns But to trust in the lord and say you are in this I surrender myself to you Take over my life. I will do whatever you ask of me Burn this out of me fill me with all that is of you so that when I rise I can love and serve other people According to how you made me your design your desire your will So that his divine will his kingdom can reign supreme in the midst of everything so Like how to do that is the big thing right the contemplative life is made up of two You know very clear calls From jesus to follow him used to take up my cross to follow me and if you don't you can't be my disciple The the two things related to living the contemplative life which begins this freedom I mean the beginning of the freedom is of course our baptism and then when we begin to live it out our baptism You know the graces begin to become manifest But that requires a yes and everybody has to say that Peter said his first yes and he ends up in the storm and he you know, and he makes many mistakes, but Because he remains with jesus They turn into more and more yeses, you know because of that grace so but We need to practice daily mental prayer which is in and of itself an ascesis or in and of itself A self-denial and self-giving because it's it's always a little difficult You were a principal of a catholic school when you started mental prayer, right? Yes Right, so you started with I think four hours a day, right? Not even and we had a house full of kids with a brady bunch You know Some of them were a little off the rails, you know, we were kind of like our producer We were holding on for dear life, you know, you were not yet levitating Neither was I so there was a there was a lot to be purged But it was this and and I guess really the grace of really going to the pigs, you know To going to your end becoming a prodigal daughter or son Is that you understand I I can't live any other way but to follow the lord I can't turn back. So how do I keep moving forward? What did you start with though? I started with a very short amount of prayer 10 to 15 minutes in the morning Of prayer in so I had a place. I had a little particular place sacred space sacred time sacred attention Yeah, I had to write to to commit to that. I love talking about first fruits So I would give the lord my first fruits of the day. I'd get up before everybody was stirring I'd get my cup of coffee. I'd go to my prayer place And he got the best of me which was first and so I just sit at his feet I was I was married at the feet Martha in my head was running around but I was telling Martha to go sit down I'm going to be married for these first 15 minutes Martha in my head I like that. I mean that's that's kind of reality Yeah, it was and it was reality in those days. I had I felt like an octopus, you know I was showing up and what was beautiful is he met me in that You know, I think people don't understand All he wants is our effort just a little effort and he meets us there and then multiplies it He's he's the size of a mustard. Yes. Yes, right. So practical. So Folks are out there listening going. Yeah, okay still like what like how do you what do you do? We if you go out to spiritualdirection.com shop, you'll find one book to the beginning place into the deep You'll also find on the website of a five-part video series. We did just to explain this I used to only people could only hear this just teaching if they were an avalanche Tutu or if I came to their parish or whatever Now it's in a video series anybody can get and it's cost a thousand dollars It does not right. It's free It's free it costs us thousands to produce but it's free So you began so that book will tell you sacred times fake sacred space sacred attention how to do that You you just started showing up every day in the gospels another book that helped you a lot Was into the deep father John Bartunek, which are reflections on all the better part you mean What did I say into the deep? Oh the better part? No, I'm just sort of narcissistic So it's always about me in my books, but the better part by father John Bartunek, which Provides a very practical insightful reflection very holy priest on every passage of the gospels So, you know, so start that so now I want to move to you. We don't have much time When did you start mental prayer? When did you begin living the contemplative life where you really said, okay? You know, I've been baptized I want to say yes. I got how did you begin? So for me After my conversion or reversion to the faith, whatever you want to call it Had this deep longing for prayer, but I did not have the discipline did not have the virtue Um, but I had a great spiritual director at the time who kept saying You need to make time for prayer and I took a little while to develop that because I was tempted by all these ministries Mental prayer by the way we everything we're talking about. Yes mental prayer mental prayer Yeah, and that was a big big thing for him that he was trying to teach me to just sit To have this conversation of Christ where I would stay my mind on him and prepare myself for deeper graces of contemplation That come forth from mental prayer, you know, where the Lord could seize us or infuse in our heart a profound loving knowledge of him Yeah, so but really it was in the novitiate Where the Lord I needed that Okay, I needed that the Lord needed the structure of a novitiate And he removed a lot of under the obedience of my superiors and the obedience of a structure So I think like for a lay person something practical is that you know Be obedient to a rule of life that you follow for yourself and stick to it relentlessly you know, I shared this before but We had a brother in the irish province very well known for his prayer and a wise brother and he was asked um For the paul mori who's a great spiritual writer irish dominican in my province I live with him in Rome He asked this brother when he was just a novice father What about what's the secret of contemplation and mental prayer? And he just said the gospel secret stick to it. Yeah, keep following Christ show up, you know show up And that's it And so so yes, it was really in the novitiate where I started to practice more time and then do hours of mental prayer day And and I guess I could afford to do that as a religious that that's the call of the religious side to As a primary task is to contemplate the divine things and God Yeah, just to send the novitiate and then over my life as a religious that has changed that has grown that has been challenged There have been great temptations along the way to get busy and active again And I have and then I saw how it affected the fruit But I have seen how much more fruit there is in my life as a priest because I pray more and I do maybe less But my life's more food. Yes. Yeah, it's interesting I've talked about this on the show before and it could sound a little narcissistic. I guess talk about it But people ask how do you get so much done because they know this all of this grew up when I was This the president of eWTM news and all of that and my answer is always Not oh, this is my technique. This is oh because I'm a great leader It's because of Jesus of because of prayer Because when we sit as his feet And then we rise and then we move We rise with his wisdom his strengths his insight We rise knowing where he is blessing and then we follow So so it isn't something we do so I'm not talking about prayer as a pelagian Like oh, it's a formula and I go check the box and now I'm great. And so then I go act as a superhuman. Yeah Yeah, I think it's really where St. Paul talks about it is no longer I that live But Christ who lives within me and that's a reality that is the goal That that is the end goal of this time of mental prayer. It's not that we become all Seeing all knowing it's that Christ then lives within us and he is animating He is the one who's bringing forth. So we're practicing being a mother less We're practicing being religious less practicing being a businessman less We're praying more and we're better at all of those things Right, and I mean that's really the power of prayer All right. Well, unfortunately, we're we're coming to the end of this this series If you want to learn more if you really if your heart is burning I know there's some of you whose hearts are burning out there And you're saying I really want that I really don't want to be dominated by the storm anymore. I I'm so sick of My sin. I'm so sick of being Imprisoned, you know to my lower nature or to the circumstances around me Jesus gave his life for you to be free He gave everything he had For you to be free and if you draw near to him I promise you it is inevitable as long as you stay As long as you show up every day No matter how bad it is, you'll be free and I can attest coming from a very dark place. You'll be free So to learn more head out to spiritualdirection.com To avila dash institute.com to My high calling calm if you think you're called to be priest or religious To apostole apostoleva.com There you go Until next time may the god of peace make you perfect in holiness. May he preserve you whole and entire Spirit soul and body irreproachable at the coming of our lord. Jesus christ