In Episode 2 of Power of the Cross, Michael Dubruiel guides listeners through the First Week of Lent, inviting a deeper engagement with the Cross as teacher and guide. Building on the foundations laid in the opening episode, this reflection turns toward conversion as a lifelong process and emphasizes the importance of approaching Lent slowly, attentively and prayerfully.

Michael draws from the Gospel temptations of Christ, showing how each temptation reveals something essential about Christ’s mission and, in turn, our own. The Cross teaches us not only how to endure suffering, but how to discern rightly, to recognize misuse of our gifts and to redirect them toward love and service. Through Scripture, lived examples and practical steps, this episode highlights how prayer, repentance, reconciliation and love unfold day by day when we face the Cross honestly.

The First Week of Lent becomes a school of discipleship where listeners are invited to expect Christ first in the Eucharist and then in the people they encounter, especially the forgotten and the wounded.

Michael Dubruiel died in 2009. These recordings, made in 2008, have been remastered to improve audio clarity and are shared with the permission of his wife, Amy Welborn.

1. How do I tend to approach conversion: as a single decision or as a daily, ongoing response to Christ?
2. Which of the Gospel temptations of Christ most speaks to my own struggles and desires?
3. In what ways do I resist learning from the Cross rather than simply enduring it?
4. How does the Cross reveal the proper use of the gifts God has given me?
5. Where might Christ be inviting me to recognize Him more clearly in the people I encounter this week?

Michael Dubruiel’s book The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life is currently available in Kindle format.

You can find the book here:
https://amzn.to/4rTMBK9

To explore more of Amy Welborn’s books and writing, visit:
https://amywelborn.wordpress.com/books-by-amy-welborn/

In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on St. Benedict’s promise that perseverance leads to joy. As the Prologue draws toward its close, Benedict speaks of running on the path of God’s commandments with hearts overflowing in the delight of love. The spiritual life is not sustained by pressure or strain, but by love that slowly reshapes the heart. Through steady, ordinary faithfulness, what once felt heavy becomes lighter. This episode explores how perseverance, rooted in Christ, opens into quiet joy and freedom.

Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue §21 (RB 1980)

“As we progress in this way of life and in faith,
we shall run on the path of God’s commandments,
our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.”

“Curramus via mandatorum Dei, corda dilatata et inenarrabili dilectionis dulcedine gaudentes.”

Hebrews 12:1, RSV–CE
“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”

1. Do I approach perseverance as strain or as steady love?

2. Where in my life does faithfulness feel heavy, and what might change if I rooted it more deeply in love?

3. How have small, repeated acts of obedience shaped my heart over time?

4. What does quiet joy look like in my daily responsibilities?

5. How can I carry an ordinary task today with steadiness rather than resistance?

Copyright © 2026 Kris McGregor. All rights reserved. No portion of this content may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted in any form, including audio, print or digital media, without prior written permission from Discerning Hearts®.

As you begin, take a deep breath and exhale slowly. For at least the next few moments, surrender all the cares and concerns of this day to the Lord.

Say slowly from your heart “Jesus, I Trust In You…You Take Over”

Become aware that He is with you, looking upon you with love, wanting to be heard deep within in your heart…

From the Holy Gospel of St. Luke 5:27-32

Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him.

In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’

What word made this passage come alive for you?

What did you sense the Lord saying to you?

Once more give the Lord an opportunity to speak to you:

Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him.

In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’

What did your heart feel as you listened?

What did you sense the Lord saying to you?

Once more, through Him, with Him and in Him listen to the Word:

Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him.

In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’

What touched your heart in this time of prayer?

What did your heart feel as you prayed?

What do you hope to carry with you from this time with the Lord?

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Steps to Take as You Follow Christ

Ask—How does viewing Jesus as my savior from death help me to face head-on the deaths of loved ones and even my own death?

Seek—Fast from passing judgment on anyone today. Realize in this little dying to yourself, you are opening yourself to see others as God sees them.

Knock—Meditate on Revelation 1:17-18

When I saw him, I fell in a dead faint at his feet, but he touched me with his right hand and said, ‘Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of the underworld.

Imagine Jesus touching you with his right hand and lifting you up from your death. What other areas of your life are dominated by death rather than the life of Christ Ask Our Lord to free you from all death.

Transform Your Life—Do not shy away from death. Attend the funerals of loved ones and use the experience to engage your faith in Christ. Pray for others, ask the saints to pray for you, seeing in them living examples of the promise of Christ to save us from death.

Michael Dubruiel’s book The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to Your Life is currently available in Kindle format.

You can find the book here:
https://amzn.to/4rTMBK9

To explore more of Amy Welborn’s books and writing, visit:
https://amywelborn.wordpress.com/books-by-amy-welborn/

Check out more at the Discerning Hearts’ Michael Dubruiel page

Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright (c) 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc. Reprinted by Permission.

In this episode of The Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Life, Kris McGregor reflects on St. Benedict’s striking question: “What is sweeter to us than this voice of the Lord inviting us?” As desire becomes clarified, the heart grows capable of recognizing God’s voice as gentle, steady, and life-giving. Benedictine formation teaches that God does not overpower the heart but invites it. His call is recognized not in anxiety or urgency but in peace. This episode explores how learning to recognize the sweetness of the Lord’s voice shapes discernment, trust, and daily response.

Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue §15 (RB 1980)

“What, dearest brothers, is sweeter to us than this voice of the Lord inviting us?”

“Quid dulcius nobis ab hac voce Domini invitantis nos?”

Matthew 11:28, RSV–CE
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

1. When I think of God’s voice, do I imagine pressure or invitation?
2. How do I distinguish between anxiety and the steady peace that accompanies God’s call?
3. Where in my life have I experienced a quiet attraction toward what gives life?
4. What prevents me from trusting the gentle invitations I sense in prayer or daily circumstances?
5. How might responding to small invitations throughout the day deepen my ability to recognize the Lord’s voice?

Deacon James Keating reflects on the Stations of the Cross as a profound meditation on Christ’s suffering and its connection to human woundedness. Through this devotion, believers unite their burdens with Christ, allowing His love to transform their struggles into a path of salvation. The first station, Jesus’ condemnation, reveals His silent acceptance of injustice, a model for enduring suffering in communion with God. Pilate represents those who reject truth for self-preservation, while Jesus remains steadfast in His mission. His silence before Pilate and His choice to embrace the cross demonstrate perfect love, teaching that God enters even the darkest places of human suffering to ensure no one is abandoned.

As Jesus receives the cross, Dcn. Keating highlights medieval writings that portray Him as willingly taking it, seeing it as the culmination of His love for humanity. His embrace of suffering stands in contrast to human tendencies to resist crosses in life. The lack of compassion from those placing the cross on Him reflects the tendency to project guilt onto others rather than face personal sin. Jesus receives every aspect of human experience, including jeers and rejection, so that all may be reconciled in His love.

1. How does uniting our personal burdens with Christ’s suffering in the Stations of the Cross deepen our understanding of redemption?
2. In what ways do we, like Pilate, struggle to acknowledge and stand by the truth when it challenges our self-interest?
3. How does Jesus’ silence before His accusers reveal the depth of His love and obedience to the Father?
4. What fears or attachments keep us from embracing our own crosses with trust in God’s will?
5. How does Jesus’ willingness to carry the cross inspire us to accept suffering as a means of sanctification?
6. In what areas of our lives have we “washed our hands” of responsibility instead of courageously choosing truth?
7. How can we cultivate a spirit of humility and surrender, following Jesus’ example in His Passion?
8. What role does the Holy Spirit play in helping us bear our own trials with faith and perseverance?
9. How does reflecting on Jesus’ rejection and suffering help us approach our own experiences of betrayal and loneliness?
10. In what ways can we pray for the grace to receive and carry our crosses with the same love that Christ showed?

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