Catholic Classics
Welcome to Catholic Classics from Ascension! Each season we'll read through a great Catholic spiritual writing providing insightful commentary and practical guidance along the way. Informative and enriching, these 20-30 mins episodes will allow you to learn from the Catholic Church’s most revered saints and teachers as you seek to cultivate your spiritual life. In season three of Catholic Classics, join Fr. Jacob Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph Paris as they read and explain Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In her “Little Way,” St. Thérèse shows us that, despite our weakness, (or perhaps because of it) God can make us saints through unbounded confidence in his love. Find out more about the Catholic Classics podcast at ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics.
Episodes
September 17, 2025 • 31 mins
Fr. Mike Schmitz joins Fr. Gregory Pine for a special conversation about Season 4 of Catholic Classics! Beginning October 22, 2025, Fr. Mike will guide listeners through The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. Together, he and Fr. Gregory explore this spiritual classic's structure and central themes, highlighting why it has been of enduring value for Catholics throughout the centuries.
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April 22, 2025 • 25 mins
A new "Catholic Classics" season with Fr. Mike Schmitz is coming this fall! In the meantime, Ascension has released a new book in the Catholic Classics series titled "Saints of the First Monasteries." Fr. Boniface Hicks, a contributor to the book, joins Fr. Gregory Pine to explore the key patristic texts featured in the book and the lives of early saints, including St. Anthony, St. Benedict, and St. Basil. They highlight the signif...
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October 29, 2024 • 30 mins
As a conclusion to this season of Catholic Classics and to the life of St. Thérèse, Fr. Michael-Joseph provides an introduction to the epilogue of Story of a Soul. His introduction is followed by the reading of the epilogue. In the epilogue, we are given an account of the final months of St. Thérèse’s life.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text "SOUL" to 33-777.
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October 28, 2024 • 27 mins
What does one reflect on in the days leading up to death? In these last pages of Story of a Soul, St. Thérèse is also very near to the day of her death. She reflects on prayer being the source of all good. She writes about intercessory prayer and how the people entrusted to us can be our treasures. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph offer their final insights into the text and the life of St. Thérèse.
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October 27, 2024 • 33 mins
It can be challenging to let the small things go. For St. Thérèse, it was the small things that she saw as the greatest opportunities for love. She recounts in these pages several instances where she struggled with the behavior of fellow sisters in the convent. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph explain how St. Thérèse’s perception of herself was not necessarily scrupulosity, but an understanding of who she was and how God l...
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October 26, 2024 • 34 mins
Not many people would describe prayer as something simple. However, the way in which St. Thérèse describes it conveys the possibility of simplicity in prayer. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph reflect on prayer as friendship with God and how prayer may not be easy, but it can be simple.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text "SOUL" to 33-777.
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October 25, 2024 • 31 mins
Love is not always easy. In fact, love can be very hard. In this final chapter of Story of a Soul, St. Thérèse is drawing near to the end of her life. As she does, she contemplates the mysterious depths of charity. She ponders what it means to love and how Christ loves through us. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph discuss how each of us is called to live charity. They remind us that there is always an opportunity to love.
T...
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October 24, 2024 • 38 mins
Are there people in your life that you struggle to get along with or even be around? St. Thérèse admits in her writings to there being sisters within the convent that she struggled to show charity towards. She uses these examples to reflect on Christ’s love acting within her.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text "SOUL" to 33-777.
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October 23, 2024 • 38 mins
A common temptation is the temptation to doubt. St. Thérèse was faced with this temptation in a significant way and she explains it within her writings. She also shares insight on fraternal charity. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph ponder some of the triggers that may have contributed to St. Thérèse’s trial of faith.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text "SOUL" to ...
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October 22, 2024 • 36 mins
Are relationships ever easy? In her third manuscript, St. Thérèse focuses on her life in Carmel. She shares about the new prioress and how she gets along with the other sisters in the convent. St. Thérèse also begins to describe her trial of faith. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph use St. Thérèse’s writings to draw the distinction between the virtue of humility and the virtue of magnanimity.
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October 21, 2024 • 33 mins
What is my vocation? This is a question St. Thérèse pondered even after entering Carmel. As she continues to convey her Little Way, St. Thérèse contemplates the vocation of love. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph discuss how the vocation of love is for all and that this vocation does not require a felt love, but is, instead, an act of the will.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholic...
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October 20, 2024 • 33 mins
What is the Little Way? Today’s reading brings us to the second manuscript of Story of a Soul. This manuscript is also known as the charter for the Little Way. Within her writings, St. Thérèse expresses to her sister Marie some of what God has revealed to her as well as her intense desire to love. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph also discuss the dream that St. Thérèse has of Ven. Anne of Jesus.
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October 19, 2024 • 39 mins
For some, doubtful thinking can be very distressing. As St. St. Thérèse continues to experience dryness in her spiritual life, she is also plagued with doubts, including doubts about Heaven. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph encourage us that even in times of struggle, we can persevere with faith and hope just like St. Thérèse.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text...
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October 18, 2024 • 37 mins
St. Thérèse recounts a trying time within Carmel during which almost the entire monastery was overcome with influenza. During this trial, St. Thérèse experienced death very closely as a number of nuns who fell ill did pass away. St. Thérèse recounts the tasks that fell to her as she was one of the few that was not bedridden. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph discuss St. Thérèse’s challenge with dryness in prayer and what ea...
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October 17, 2024 • 31 mins
Change almost always brings challenges with it. This is true for St. Thérèse as she begins her life in Carmel. She expresses some of the challenges she faced in this drastically different way of life. However, she also shares how she sought growth in virtue through all of it. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph explain the typical stages of religious formation.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpre...
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October 16, 2024 • 29 mins
The day has finally come! Today’s episode brings us to a pivotal moment in St. Thérèse’s life: her entrance into Carmel. St. Thérèse describes her final moments with her family and the emotions she felt as she bid them farewell. She also describes what her reception was like at Carmel. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph reflect on these moments as well as their own experiences of entering religious life.
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October 15, 2024 • 34 mins
Even a young person can offer great wisdom. In these pages, we walk with St. Thérèse through the aftermath of her encounter with Pope Leo XIII. She reveals her patience with the will of God and her refusal to be discouraged. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph discuss how there is never a good reason to delay a pursuit of holiness.
To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or te...
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October 14, 2024 • 36 mins
Seeing the city of Rome through the eyes of a saint is a delight. St. Thérèse provides the details of her visit to Rome and some of the sites she visited. She writes of the most significant part of her time in Rome: meeting Pope Leo XII. She describes the visit itself but also her feelings through the whole process. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph reflects on how St. Thérèse must have been tempted towards discouragement, ...
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October 13, 2024 • 35 mins
The world holds so much beauty and wonder. In today’s reading, we go with St. Thérèse as she begins her pilgrimage to Rome. She outlines what it is like for her to be out in the world and seeing some of nature’s beauties for the first time. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph explain the significance of what St. Thérèse shares in these pages, especially, praying for priests, Our Lady of Victory, and the impact of nature’s bea...
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October 12, 2024 • 24 mins
The growth of an individual can happen very gradually, and therefore, be unnoticeable. In the case of St. Thérèse, her growth is quite tangible. It is clear in her writing that she is making conscious efforts to overcome her timidity. This is clear in her visit to the bishop as she requests his special permission for entrance into Carmel. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Michael-Joseph discuss St. Thérèse’s experience of meeting the bish...
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