The face of a Holy Hill priest now graces the national promotional ads of Ascension media, the organization behind the chart-topping “Bible in a Year” podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz.
Fr. Michael-Joseph Paris, O.C.D., is co-hosting the new season of Ascension’s popular “Catholic Classics” series. The new season launched Oct. 1, the Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux — and fittingly so, for it is the Little Flower’s beloved spiritual autobiography, “The Story of a Soul,” that will be the podcast’s focus in its third season.
As a Discalced Carmelite of the Province of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Fr. Paris is a member of the same order to which St. Thérèse belonged during her life in the late 1800s.
Fr. Paris, who is the Subprior and Director of Postulants for the Carmelite community at Holy Hill, described St. Thérèse as “a close companion in the spiritual life since I first read her autobiography when I was 20 years old.”
“She inspired in me the confidence to let go of my fears and pursue a vocation to the priesthood,” said Fr. Paris, who grew up in Maryland and became a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., in 2011. “Later, she helped me discern that the Lord was calling me to become a Discalced Carmelite Friar. I have studied her life and writings for a long time now and am always blown away by how fresh and real she is, how her spiritual path can really transform your life.”
In other words, the pressure was on.
“This gave me a strong sense of ‘I don’t want to mess this up’ or make her less attractive somehow for those who are meant to encounter her,” said Fr. Paris, who also said it was “really exciting” to be invited by Ascension to contribute to this program.
“So, I entered this project not only with excitement but also with trepidation and a kind of inferiority complex,” he said. “I feel my littleness very keenly next to the caliber of speakers and writers who work with Ascension. I definitely don’t see myself in their category and it made me hesitate at first. But one thing has kept me going: It is all for Thérèse and, in the end, all for Jesus. I can sense St. Thérèse has had a hand in Ascension reaching out to me, and this also gives me confidence.”
Fr. Paris is also a member of the Institute of Carmelite Studies and a host of the ICS Publications podcast, “Carmelcast.”
This season of “Catholic Classics” will feature a complete reading of the “Story of a Soul” text through daily episodes with commentary from Fr. Paris and the veteran host of the podcast, Fr. Jacob Bertrand Janczyk. A Facebook group facilitated by Ascension and boasting 6,800 members will closely follow the episodes, allowing listeners a place to discuss the book. Ascension is also selling a new edition of “The Story of a Soul” that has been created in collaboration with the Carmelites and features the only fully authorized English translation of the work.
Born in France in 1873, St. Thérèse of Lisieux appealed to Pope Leo XIII to be allowed to enter the convent at age 15. Known for her “Little Way” of allowing God to work in her life in the smallest of gestures and sacrifices, she died at age 24 from tuberculosis. She was canonized in 1925 and was declared a doctor of the Church in 1997 by St. John Paul II as pope.
Fr. Paris’ wish for this season is very much in keeping with the spiritual attitudes of St. Thérèse herself, who wrote in her autobiography that “I’m not relying on my own merits, as I have none, but I put my hope in him who is goodness and holiness himself.”
“My great hope is that, even if we hosts of the podcast can never measure up to what ‘Story of a Soul’ deserves, someone will be touched and will allow themselves to be drawn into a deeper union with Jesus,” said Fr. Paris. “My prayer is that this podcast can help in some way to make St. Thérèse’s ‘Little Way’ be more known, loved and lived.”
Season three of “Catholic Classics” can be accessed everywhere podcasts are available, starting Oct. 1. For more information on the podcast and the Facebook group, visit ascensionpress.com/pages/catholicclassics.
Fr. Michael-Joseph Paris, O.C.D., holds a copy of the new edition of “The Story of a Soul,” which will be the focus of the third season of Ascension’s “Catholic Classics” podcast. (Submitted photo)
