Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell argues that the Christian life under grace is a journey of being reordered from within—through a formed conscience, rightly governed desires, and a humble acceptance of God’s love—so that the soul can move from vulnerability and disorder toward purity of heart, virtue, and union with Christ.
This lecture was given on March 14th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell, O.P., entered the Order of Preachers in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1970. He is a professor and spiritual director at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD. He previously taught at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC; St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA; and the Angelicum in Rome. He serves as the vice-postulator for the canonization of Blessed Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, and Venerable Rose Hawthorne, O.P., the foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
Keywords: Apatheia, Capital Sins, Conscience, Grace, Humility, Purity Of Heart, Self-Knowledge, Thomistic Ethics, Virtue, Virtue Formation
