St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

What is it like to see an adult who falls or has fallen to the ground?… And what does it mean for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to fall to the ground?Continuing our Lenten series on the Way of the Cross, Fr. Donncha Ó hAodha reflects in this podcast on the tangible way God’s love is shown through his falls and physical weakness along the way to his crucifixion and death. Christ embraces his humanity and falls down out of love and solidarity with us to show that he is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives and that we are not alone in our suffering and death.Along the way, Veronica’s encounter with Jesus reminds us of our need to seek the face of Christ and fix our gaze upon Our Lord as he looks upon us with love, especially when we are faced with our weaknesses and our own moments of falling down. And Simon’s encounter with Jesus reminds us of the need to make reparation by trying to love in return, by living out the three pillars of Lent: prayer, sacrifice, and alms.View TranscriptVisit Show PageSupport the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

Published in 1981, The Way of the Cross -- a posthumous work of St. Josemaria Escriva -- has become a beloved devotion for Catholics worldwide. This season of Lent, we will be sharing a new five-part podcast series from Fr. Donncha Ó hAodha on the prominent themes found in The Way of the Cross that can help us to be renewed and strengthened in Christ’s love through the contemplation of his Passion and death on the Cross.In this first podcast of the series, Fr. Donncha shares a brief history of The Way of the Cross as he introduces listeners to this beloved devotion in the Church. Fr. Donncha challenges us to spend time this Lent to discover how Our Lord loves us and gives himself up for us through his Passion and death on the Cross. Through our meditation on Christ’s pain and suffering, we can come to a deeper understanding and appreciation for the depth of God’s love and can seek to remain close to him in our most difficult moments.View TranscriptVisit Show PageSupport the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

In your decision to follow Christ, how can you become more in love with Jesus and never let that love grow stale?In this podcast, Msgr. Fred Dolan reflects on how the grace received in responding to our vocation to follow Christ gives us a lense through which we can continue to grow in loyalty, fidelity and constancy. With this spiritual outlook, maintaining our daily practice of prayer to keep our focus on Christ, we are encouraged to forge ahead through those moments in which we may encounter spiritual dryness and disillusionment. Msgr. Dolan reminds us that it is also through offering simple aspirations and sticking to a daily plan of prayer each day that we are able to persevere in the face of temptation and remain faithful in our relationship with Christ.Saint Josemaria explains: “You told me that God sometimes fills you with light for a while and sometimes does not. I reminded you, firmly, that the Lord is always infinitely good. That is why those bright days are enough to help you carry on; but the times when you see no light are good for you too, and make you more faithful” (Furrow, no. 341).[ Transcript ] Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the Presentation of the Lord and the Church’s celebration of this feast on February 2. He explains the historical background of the event and what it means for us today, primarily that it is through the Presentation that we recognize Jesus as the Light of the World and we are given the hope of salvation. As disciples, Jesus’s Presentation is an invitation to bask in the Light and to radiate the Light among those we encounter each day, especially those in need of the consolation, joy and peace of Christ.St. Josemaria explains: “We are children of God. Bearers of the only flame that can light up the paths of the earth for souls, of the only brightness which can never be darkened, dimmed or overshadowed. The Lord uses us as torches, to make that light shine out… It depends on us that many should not remain in darkness, but walk instead along paths that lead to eternal life” (The Forge, no. 1).[ Transcript ] Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

In this podcast, Rev. Javier del Castillo reflects on the lives of the early Church martyrs and the way they gave witness to their faith through the simple actions of everyday life. He explains how we too should foster an awareness of our personal sanctification and strive to be heroic in and through our ordinary circumstances. As we respond to the call to holiness with the same faith of the martyrs, we become cooperators in God’s divine plan and witnesses to the love of Christ.St. Josemaria explains: “We have been chosen gratuitously by Our Lord. His choice of us sets us a clear goal. Our goal is personal sanctity. Let us not forget, then, that we are in our Master’s sheepfold in order to achieve that goal” (Friends of God, no. 2).[ Transcript ] Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

How can we live a sanctified life and inherit the gift of eternal life?St. Josemaria explains: “Detach yourself from the goods of this world. Love and practice poverty of spirit: be content with what is sufficient for leading a simple and temperate life. Otherwise, you will never be an apostle” (The Way, no. 631).This reflection from Fr. Peter Armenio offers three practical considerations in applying St. Josemaria’s teaching on detachment: to recognize that God is good and offers a lasting joy, to live out the Ten Commandments so that we can freely choose Christ as our ultimate good, and to foster a spirit of self-giving. By detaching ourselves from the goods of this world, we become a reflection of Christ in the world today and partakers in the joy of everlasting life.[ Transcript ]Listen to the full Day of Recollection for January 2021 online. Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

As we look forward to the New Year and seek opportunities to begin again, we are pleased to begin a new podcast series reflecting on St. Josemaria’s homily The Richness of Ordinary Life, in which St. Josemaria puts before us the goal of personal sanctity and reminds us that the path of holiness lies in the little things of ordinary life.In this podcast, Fr. Leo Agustina draws inspiration from the Parable of the Sower and challenges us to cultivate an interior life full of “rich soil” through which we can produce spiritual fruit and grow in personal friendship with Christ. Fr. Leo reminds us that we do not have to seek out Christ in extraordinary ways, but that we can transform the ordinary moments of everyday life into opportunities in which we can encounter Christ. In doing so, we will find greater meaning and fulfillment in our daily life and work, and allow ourselves to be used as an instrument in the work of God’s salvation.[ Transcript ] Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the Holy Family as the foundation and model of the love of Christ. We are reminded of the greatest event in history – God becoming human, becoming part of this universe. God came into this world through a family, spending the majority of his life in his home in Nazareth. It is through the hidden life of christ that we come to understand the great commandment, “love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13.34). Christ spent the majority of his life putting this commandment into practice at home before spending his final years teaching it to others.Our ‘arena’ in which we can put the love of Christ into action is at home. The homy of a family is a natural setting in which prayer, service, joy, and love, among other virtues, are first taught and lived out. If we seek to change the world, we must first begin at home, in our own corner of the world, exhibiting a love that fosters a family atmosphere. We must also be rooted in prayer. Saint Paul tells us that through prayer, the love of God is poured into our heart. We cannot love like Christ is we do not know Christ. And thus, we turn to the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, “My God, teach me how to love! My, God, teach me how to pray!” (The Forge, no. 66). Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo reflects on the Annunciation of the Lord, as told in the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and invites us to contemplate and imitate Mary’s listening heart. Our expectation, preparation, and contemplation are heightened during these final days of Advent– this is true both as we prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas and as we prepare to receive Christ in the Eucharist. Looking to the example of St. Josemaria, Fr. Javier explains that we can prepare to welcome the Lord by repeating brief prayers or aspirations throughout the day, asking Our Lady to help us listen to the voice of God as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord. Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today! 

In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo reflects on St. John the Baptist to show how, like the saint, we can become active listeners of the Word in our hearts. In particular, this talk aims to persuade you to embrace a lifestyle where there is room for meditation on Sacred Scripture and spiritual reading, such as the lives of the saints and spiritual classics, that can help us grow in our interior lives.Among the recommendations in this talk are three steps to get started on your spiritual reading plan:1. Make Time: Each day set aside time for spiritual reading (10-15 minutes) and Biblical reading (5-10 minutes).2. Take Notes: As you are reading or when you finish, write down what strikes you and what moves you. Also, start writing a list of passages from the Bible that you can frequently take to your prayer - make a top 100 list!3. Practice: What are you going to put into practice— a resolution, a goal, or a small sacrifice— that day (or the next) from your reading? Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you:Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review.Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.orgAlso, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!