 Hey friends, you're watching behind the scenes divine intimacy radio. We're going to jump into the show today and continue our series on St. Alphonsus Liguri's uniformity with God's will which I Wrote a new book that provides commentary on that and kind of modern context finding peace in the storm by Published by Sophia Institute Press and so we're on show number eight today. We're going to talk about physical infirmities And the will of God and how to deal with that So if you suffer With physical infirmities or even circumstance that you struggle with or that Caused you to have stress and anxiety and all of that stuff St. Alphonsus has a way of freedom out of that That frustration for you so Stay tuned for that before we jump into the show I want to tell you about a couple of opportunities. Maybe just one. We'll see at J. Homo, which is our annual Lenten Speaking series if you will It's it's it's the the theme this year is conversion stories in the call to prayer And we some of our speakers are Emily Wilson father Chase Hillenbrick Joseph Pierce don't miss Joseph Pierce. He's he's awesome. We we we did the Camino with Joseph last year And he's a scholar on Tolkien and story and just fascinating speaker Arts Bishop Joseph Nauman a very very good Bishop a friend of ours That's going to be speaking. So there's many more speakers You can go to it's March 21st to the 23rd and it's a virtual event by the way You can you can watch in your closet in your house if you want or in your car. No, don't do that That in your pjs. Don't do it. Get a cup of tea. There you go. Don't do it in your car unless you're parked Yeah, right, you know if you're if you're in the in the pickup line at school You know you sit there for an hour put your headphones in put your headphones in listen Yeah, you'll be blessed by you have a shed in the backyard You have a shed in the backyard if you've got a hunting stand up in a tree Yeah, and you want to be by yourself Just anyway spiritual direction comm forward slash events spiritual direction comm forward slash events All of our events are there at least, you know the ones that will be listed short-term for those of you missing our Divine intimacy and marriage retreat, which is this this coming week. We're full. We have no more room and You wish you hadn't missed it. We have Rhode Island later this year and that'll be up in the events area and soon within It's gonna be yeah soon and then Some other areas where we're working out the details will be Bismarck North Dakota. Yeah Ottawa hopefully when it's warm, Ottawa Bismarck when it's warm, hopefully You know, we'll spread we'll come love God's people wherever we need to I was so happy to be in Australia When doing that divine intimacy and marriage retreat when it was in the teens in the teens here Although when we got back was still pretty cold But it was nice to spend a few weeks in Australia So yeah, so all of our events are out there So just keep keep a lookout because there's stuff always rolling out So yeah, and if you're in you know, if you're out of the country and you want us to come We we've made it all the way down to Australia. I don't know how much further you could ever travel Oh, which reminds me. Oh Trinidad Tobago is coming in Trinidad Tobago is right. We don't have the details up But yeah, we're coming we're coming to Trinidad. So anyway, can you do the accent? I can't do that and then I Robert Nugent wants us to come to Ireland as well. I've always wanted to go to Ireland. Yeah, so that There's some good stuff going on there. All right. Last thing I'll tell you we'll jump into the show Exploring the source and summit it's a course on the mass, which is beautiful Chris karstens if you've never had a course from Chris karstens Chris just lights up every room He steps into no matter what he's talking about. He is just a delightful human being knows his stuff like nobody else March 14th 2024 is the I was talking to him briefly at seek. Uh-huh comparing Beards. Oh, yeah, he's he's he's beat me out Oh, yeah. No, he's got a bigger bar. Yeah, he's more fancy. Yeah, we're a little more basic but but I always the thing I always like to say is that You know the the evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of beard in men You hopefully not for women That would be yeah, how to stay single or become single if you had a beard, okay Um So that that course is there it is a school of spiritual formation course Which means that it's super high quality just like our graduate study, but you don't have to do you know The reading is lighter and the and this day in the it's more the homework is lighter. Yeah, all right I think that's it for stuff that we're telling people about There's something else in my brain that I can't oh, you'll notice Jordan's on the show today And that's because he's been a part of the series. He was the reason I read this book So and then later wrote about it and then later wrote about it because I was so inspired by it So I think oh, I just I want to say this one last thing That's what I wanted to say EWTN God bless EWTN We're the gift of us being able to do this on EWTN is just So amazing and so many people don't realize we have a lot of new media and you know And people are you know the new shows popping up everywhere great people doing great things The United States would you know the faith of the United States the strength of the faith in the United States would be nothing Compared if we didn't have mother Angelica EWTN Fulton sheen is another you know main character, you know Father fessio and and those guys over at Ignatius and all that they've done There's this handful of people that have really had a huge impact in their institution So I just want to say thanks to EWTN and tell everybody who's listening if you don't support them do They carry this book in their bookstore and if tooth to very cool things happen If you buy the book from them finding peace in the storm, they'll actually send it to you And you'll be helping EWTN. So please please support EWTN. We're grateful for them. That's it Then we'll jump into the show on your market set go. This is danna Stephanie Burke Welcome to divine intimacy radio your radio Haven of rest your hermitage of the heart your monastery of the mine 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 Jordan Burke what saint are we drawing upon today? Saint Alpons is the gory doctor of the church One of my all-time favorite saints. He's his life was amazing too I don't if you ever studied how young he was when he became a doc it when he got his doctorate in law And I'm not familiar with that. I've heard it, but I don't recall yeah I was in his teens. Yeah, and then when he's in his 20s He's he's he's rocking the whole legal world and then he lost a case Oh, yeah, yeah, because I remember that because of negligence really wrecked him Yeah, but it his reaction to losing that case is he it's really fascinating He goes well I'm gonna go serve the poor and he goes to this Hospital where people are suffering and he just serves them probably processing what happened beating himself up because he was is pretty Scrupulous, but I think he was ordained by 30 You know then so that was like a turning point I may be getting some of the details a little bit off, but fundamentally just an intellect off the chart huge heart Huge love of God. So he's he is also one of my favorites and what I love about him is Teresa of Avila was a big played a huge part in his life and his understanding of prayer. Yeah So I'm wondering how much of that Tragedy that failure Tragedy in quotes, right, but that failure I'm sure at the time it felt like a tragedy to him You know played a role in creating this book because if you think about it, you know It was how he reacted to that situation like what was happening to him. Yeah, right and it Brought about another a greater good. It's quite remarkable, but it's just interesting. Yeah, thank you if that Formed him in I'm sure it did. It was a big it was a big deal because he was super conscientious Never won't you know, he when he's representing people or cases He always wanted to be on the the right side of things the just side of things and and to Make a mistake and he and it all happened in a public context, you know, the other the other his opponent basically went Just kind of set him up and exposed him. Yeah, and so it was humiliating In in every way and so I'm sure I mean It seems as biographers it seems to be that was a turning point where probably a shift in who am I whom? I called to be what am I doing here and then eventually but not very long after he became a He became a priest. So it was a day. Okay, so we're on in terms of finding peace in the storm our discussion is on page 63 and we're entering into a chapter that is super meaningful to me because Santa Fonz is talking about how people respond to bodily infirmities and how they battle with bodily infirmities and you know, what one of the things that He says is No, with excessive infirmity, it's great to call out to your friends I did that recently had a really rough year last year and I said I just need a lot of people praying for me because I'm not getting Well, I don't have the right medical care and all that and And The Lord answered that prayer and I got exemplary medical care people came out of the woodwork saying I'm sorry I'll will help you so that's legit But what what he's saying here. So that's is that a lot of people in his language is pretty is pretty is a little bit a Little bit harsh, but he's saying but there are people who at every, you know kind of illness They want so he says it says it here on page 64 It often happens that some on the occasion of slight illness even slight indisposition Want the whole world to stand and sympathize with them and their illnesses Which I thought was a kind of a brutal comment and you know, probably there was a time in my life when you know When I wasn't feeling good was like I've done that before but you know, it isn't healthy I think it's just clarity. I mean not to not to play semantics with brutality and clarity But I think, you know, especially in our time We have a lack of clarity. Yeah, and it's just a clear. Hey, not always It's not always and we need that sort of kind of shocking statement because it is so doctrinal You know, you talk about difference between doctor doctrinal language and relational language, right? It's not that relational language and sometimes we need that to say like, okay, hold on I need to step back and really analyze whether or not this is worth You know complaining. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you know in reading this Job has been on my mind for a while much what's been the readings in mass. Yeah Yeah, bad and then conversations and this that and the other end This is this is what jumps out to me. He says which page are you 63? So he's saying what claim have we or what obligation is God under to give us a more Brilliant mind or a more robust body Who has ever offered a gift and then lays down the conditions upon which will he will accept it? You know, oh, I'll I'll receive this if only it's it looks like it's the right model Right color right size, you know, otherwise. No, thank you. You can take it back God I I reject this body. I reject this mind. You've given me. Thanks not interested in yeah, and how dare you, right? You know, let us thank God for what in his pure goodness He has given us and let us be content to with the manner in which he has given it given it to us Who knows perhaps if God had given us greater talent better health a more personable Appearance appearance. We might have lost our souls, right? I mean just look at your social media Feed yeah and think about what is it? You know, what is it? You know, what is the scripture verse, you know, what is it profit a man to gain the whole world To gain the whole world and lose his soul, you know What is it profit a man or a woman to have a perfect body perfect mind? Perfect life perfect children perfect children ladies listen perfect children, you know perfect household perfect everything If in the process we end up losing our soul And we need what you're whether you're implying is we need it I mean God knows exactly what I need for my sanctification. He knows that you need to struggle To breathe right and and it crushes me sometimes it pains me. I mean I remember When we were first married I remember as you were suffering because I was getting used to Being married to a man of suffering And and having my head on your chest Begging God To breathe in you to breathe through you as you were suffering You know, that's hard and and people go through that with their loved ones all the time. They're whole, you know My family right now is trying to love and serve my mom Um and her caregiver my dad in in their in their elderly years in their final years You know and and my mom through what we thought was dementia, which now it's clearly Alzheimer's You know we suffer And but I can't question God. I look at that situation and even when I can't be there at her side I'm looking at it going You've willed this you've allowed it for a greater purpose. There's something going on here Well, it's affecting everyone in the family everyone everyone is having to step up and and you know just be The best incredible versions versions of themselves gotta be praised. They are yeah, so, you know, the thing is is we never know So I I think that's really what he's coming at, you know, who are we? You know, I love the the greatest rebuke In the history of you know, salvation history is the rebuke of God to Job like where were you When I set the boundaries of the ocean, where were you when I put the planets, you know And all of that and it's just you sit there and you go. Oh, that's right I'm nothing, you know, praise be Jesus Christ. God gives, you know, he takes away and Blessed be the name of the Lord, right? Yeah, come on your mind Yeah, I'm just thinking about the the idea that there's no salvation without the cross Right and how do people really understand what that means because it's become kind of like a trite saying In a way to a lot of people, but it's the reality is You have to suffer. Jesus is explicitly clear about that in the gospel explicitly clear Take up your cross and follow me. You have to be crucified So would people rather choose their own crosses And not know the potential outcomes because it may seem easier It's like, oh, yeah. No, give me this because I can handle it. I think I can handle it I got my own off switch though, right, right without recognizing that like no, god loves you And he knows exactly what you need to get you to heaven to where you need to be And he's going to prescribe exactly what you need for that to happen And you know what? And it's about trust, isn't it? Right? It's really about, okay You he he is trustworthy. He's a good. I love this phrase He's a good father. It just moves me every time I hear it because because I had a good father You know god rest his soul But of course our heavenly father is perfect in all and all ways And he wants the best for us in all ways in all circumstances And but it's I think when we rail against circumstance. It's it reveals a lack of trust, right? Because we don't think we don't consider This is a gift to us given by him And then we're in then think And he knows what he's doing You know, but but that's but it's hard Yeah Right, but we're we're talking about a level of self-denial You know a complete dying of yourself, you know, I often reflect back And when christ was crucified, he didn't pull his arms in himself protect You know when he's being laid out on that cross and you can look at oh, well, he was tired He was scared. He could have destroyed every single human being in that context. He right and but in his humanity He stretched out. He he allowed himself to be crucified. He laid up on there. He kissed the cross He was mocked for it, right? I love that scene, you know in the passion and if we consider that Then it's this embracing of god's circumstances and rather than railing against ask the question lord What are you doing in this? You know, you're either permitting it or allowing it There's something more here, right? There's something greater here. How do I do it? Just my pain Just my opinion just my discomfort just The disruption to how I thought things were going to be, right? and I just think it's really important because it's often through that question That we begin the journey in the interior life, right, right? It's that's where we begin to say, okay I need to quit just looking at myself And in that question then I become a person of prayer Right and it often become comes with just that one question. It's just that shift from myself My own wants my own needs my own narcissism my own pain my own woundedness To lord, what are you doing here? And what are you asking of me or asking of us in this, right? Yeah shift to an interior life And it's a to shift to peace as well It's it's how you that's why I named the book finding peace in the storm is when you get this That's what happens that you start living it That's what happens as you you realize you're in his hands and he's trustworthy. We get back from the break We're going to continue our conversation Finding peace in the storm reflection on st. Alfonso Seguri's uniformity with God's will by sophia institute press. We'll be right back So we'll just do 13 Um, so i'm going to come in on the top of 65 If you want to look at that really quick just for people who are listening. Hey, jordan We have a bunch of new social media Um Outreach do you want to tell folks about that really quick like what what's out there? What can they find? Yeah, so primarily go on if you're on youtube if you're on facebook look for dan Burke the way of contemplation We're setting up a channel just for your specific content Our we have spiritualdirection.com, but that's such a broad huge huge. So we're we're kind of differentiating the two in a way To make it easier to find because people want to find what you're talking about on certain things. So Dan Burke the way of contemplation, uh, which is on facebook youtube and instagram You know, we have the high calling program. We have spiritual direction on both Oh, you know, let's talk about high calling really quick. Sure. And then we'll jump back into the show high calling What's the url my high calling calm? Yeah Yeah, so folks don't know we have a program where we're helping young men Find their discover their vocation and the whole website is dedicated to that and we we so if you You know of a young man who's discerning the priesthood and you want a a very powerful effective Personal as well. Well, you know, if you got some if there's a guy out there He wants to talk to somebody just get on the site and put your information in and you'll get a phone call From dr. Holcraft who runs the program And uh, or somebody on his team or somebody on his team put all that weight on Yeah, i'm dr. Holcraft, right? But um, anyway, we're helping guys from all over the world Australia and and uh, india and um, ireland and the united states and canada Had so many men come forward and say yeah, i'm interested in the priesthood Help me understand what this is all about. What do i do? And what's cool about it is some guys are afraid to call their diocese It's fine to call the diocese and you shouldn't be afraid but some some guys are nervous They want to talk to somebody kind of separate independent Who say i'm not going to get vacuum cleaner into a collar into a collar somewhere. You want to talk come here? Let me give you this call. Yeah, you know, it doesn't work like that. But um, you don't have to tell your mom. Yeah Or your mom's gonna get mad at you for or your girlfriend. Listen, you don't have to tell anybody you can go look at the side My high calling.com. Anyway, that's a few things going on. Let's jump back to this show This is dan stephanie and jordan berck We're back divine intimacy radio talking about finding peace in the storm reflections on st Elphondus, uh, lagoire's uniform uniform you god's will The most powerful book. So there's a series of books that I love on this topic One is jack philips the most modern one Searching for a maintaining peace just masterpiece. But that book is based on another work by uh, jumpy or decosad Sacrament of the present moment best translations by kitty muggeridge. Just if you're looking for that text that one really Rewired my brain to this topic and then leguri when I discovered it because of you jordan I just went wow, this is the most all three works have uniquely different Perspectives and tones this one's the most bold and confrontational and I'd even recommend, you know If you want if you if you're feeling like hey, I need this really bad Badly I I'd get all three and read all three throw in on union with god from uh, st Gregory the great as well Yes, which is also very similar, but it's more poetic and a little bit easier to Yeah Get into but these books these these saints and I've called jack philip is saying he isn't he's still alive But they really help you to orient your heart and mind to The reality of how god works and when you when you get that Intellectually so you understand it and then you begin to correspond to it Meaning you orient your heart and mind to it and then you choose as an act of the will to say yes to that reality I promise you and you will never come back to me and say you lied or you overpromise You will begin to know the peace that passes understanding. It is the secret To that challenge that we have yeah So, you know before the break we were talking about you know, christ and laying his arms out and and accepting what was happening and I love how um St. Alphonsus talks about this here because christ is our model par excellence, right? So he talks about it here and he says um He says But when there is a case of real suffering like incredible suffering you get that diagnosis Cancer the cancer the loss of a child that you know the death of a spouse You know, yeah, whatever it is your marriage problems financial ruin, whatever it is, right He says We have the example of our lord Who at the approach of his bitter passion may known his state of his soul to his disciples saying My soul is sorrowful even unto death And besought His eternal father to deliver him from it father if it be possible let this chalice pass for him for me Beautiful example, but I think it's important for us to understand christ fully god and fully man jesus Felt all that we feel Way more way more, but he felt it all he wasn't floating through his passion as somebody, you know As a god that was disconnected from and not suffering he entered fully into it And I think that's really important for us to understand. That's why we can trust in him That's why we can trust in in this teaching is that he shows us what to do. He says your sorrow is okay Your heart and your suffering is okay your heart Your heartbreaking and feeling like your knees are buckling under you is okay offer them to me And do as I do join with lord if if you know, I offer you my pain my feelings my suffering my frustrations by anger I offer this to you help me to learn how to carry this cross because on my own I can't do it But with you, I know that I can do it Currently going through meditations on the passion as my my daily mental prayer In a few days ago it was talking about exactly what you were talking about and it was striking to consider the fact that jesus both god and man had allowed himself To feel fully the human emotion in the suffering of the passion As well as the divine suffering that he experienced And those two in combination were really striking and I came to that same conclusion Which is he did this so that he could he experienced the worst that anyone could ever experience We can't we can't even begin to fathom the suffering But he did it so that we can look to him and say you've been through this You know, you know exactly what i'm going through You know, you intimately know exactly what i'm going through. I can trust that you're going to carry me through and help You know, it's missing from a lot of conceptions of his suffering is we think overly about his humanity Or excessively about his divinity as if it somehow Cancelled out his suffering and made his suffering easier, but it actually made it worse significant I think the best example. I've ever heard is have you ever been falsely? I know you've been falsely accused of something now you're falsely accused, but falsely accused as a sinner Who's sinned a lot right who's deserves hell just on I mean all of us do in the basis of a single mortal sin, right? How did that accusation feel to you? Oh, it was extremely painful horrifying. All right. Yeah. Yeah, so can you but the more The more pure you are And the more off the accusation is the more it hurts, right, right? Well, jesus was perfectly pure right the spotless lamb right no sin Perfect love nothing but love never did anything but love Anyone the entire every moment of his life from the point he was conceived allowing himself to become a creature Right, that's like us allowing ourselves to become an ant or some insignificant. I mean really think about it But then perfect love then the weight of all of the sins of humanity past present and future On him it wasn't just about broken flesh on the back Every single wound that he experienced was exponentially More painful to him than it ever would be to us. So imagine so I was talking to someone about this recently I said imagine Jesus as he's being scourged knew the name Of the people who was scourging him right knew their lives. He brought them into existence He brought them into existence. He knew who they were created to be and he was calling them to repentance even in the midst of that Yeah, intimately knew them. Yeah, and someone that he loves Was inflicting that pain upon him right as you said as a innocent too much too much to talk about tell you but Okay. Yeah, finish your right. Well and and so then then he tells us, you know, this petition is totally He should gives us the example of the petition like what do we do when we're in that moments? We're we're not called to be spock. We're not called to stuff this down. We're actually called to ask the lord To release leave it. Yeah, we're actually he gives us an example. You should ask for relief You should ask for this to pass. You should ask for the healing the restoration the deliverance whatever it is that that is being placed on your heart pray for that and then he says then what we should follow up with is Nevertheless, not as I will But as you will yeah, not my will but then Not my will lord your will be if you don't heal me Thank you. Right. That's how I know I need it if you if you don't relieve this pressure in my family You know, bless it be the name of the lord Whatever is your will let it be done and it's that prayer that brings that brings it to perfection Because in that release to god's will then his grace can move We're not grasping. We're not holding on to him. We're not You know thrashing at him, but rather we're releasing It to his mercy to his will which is perfect and his timing is perfect And the thing is is we don't understand that when we're going in through what we go through We don't understand it. So the next step in that process of getting to peace Is uniting your suffering with that of jesus. Yeah, so how do you do that? And we talk about this as catholics all the time offer it up But we don't really know most people are like, what does that mean? Like how do you really do that? Yeah, and it's and it's often used To try yeah, it's like you're suffering offer it up. It's like thanks. I was looking for help, you know That's helpful. Thank you But we actually answer that question like what do you do? So the reader might ask how exactly can I unite my struggles with the suffering of christ? The first step is to make an act of faith Which then turns into a prayer and the act of faith is just a decision Like jesus made that says I choose your will lord and even if you don't like it, that's okay Because if it hurts like hell that it does that's just the reality But you say I choose it and even if you're mixed motives doesn't matter one of the my favorite Prayers in the bible is lord. I believe help my unbelief doesn't matter if your motives are mixed Just as an act of the will say I choose You know, I I accept what you're doing here make an act of faith. It turns into prayer It's simply a decision based on faith to trust god and conform your heart and mind to his will A resulting prayer might sound something like this lord I embrace the suffering for love of you and your holy will Please join my suffering to yours and for the salvation of the world often for me I have names Specific things, you know It's it's crazy to be learning from your son. Who's who's who's just 30 something But you know, uh, jordan told me While last year that he put on his watch a little buzz every hour And I can't remember how do you use that? What did you say you do that for it? Just every hour on the hour it buzzes and it tells me it's a new hour And then I pray I love you jesus my love grant that I may love you always and then do with me As you will I think we talked about it before but it's it's simply just reiterate. It's It's uh a constant reorienting to god Yes, it's getting your compass back But so and that's a leguri prayer by the way out of stations across But what I've done with mine is mine beeps every hour and I and my prayer is All the suffering of the past hour all the suffering of the future next hour I offer it up and join it with your suffering for some specific purpose And I think it's key too because as we've been going through this chapter today I keep thinking about the fact that It's hard for people because we're we're so turned internally, which is just cumbersome and you know sin But do we have a recognition that god is actually with us? And the more that we force ourselves and the more that we realize eventually so force and then to realize Over time that god is with us and he's moving in our lives The easier it becomes to understand these these things But it starts with that like no god is here. He is real. He is acting his hand is moving through these things So these little practices help us to to really recognize that during the day. I think I totally do I mean it it helps to pull me out of whatever junk. I mean and sometimes it's jarring because I'm in I'm heading towards sin or imperfection or some kind of improper orientation to god What he's doing and I'm irritated or I'm frustrated and then you know my thing buzzes into my okay Wait No, that's just a great great thing, you know, have our watch go off and go. Oh, that's right. There's Jesus is in Jesus is lord. Jesus is lord and I'm not him Right. Thank god Well, immediately You'd make a better one than me, but oh, that's very kind So we're we're really out of time. So if you want to uh, get the previous shows On this series, we've done seven prior to this They can find them all out on spiritualdirection.com right and our youtube page Go subscribe too many people are watching and they're not subscribed which is okay, right? But you should we watch it. Yeah, no judgment, but please subscribe. Yeah, a little tiny bit of judgment, but it's Yeah, no seriously it does help the algorithms and you know Anyone knows get to be a faithful catholic out on social media right now is to be opposed So the way you help is by going out to the youtube page and saying Yeah, like subscribe or whatever Del notifications. Anyway, we're all done. So 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 amen