St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the readings for the 3rd Sunday of Lent. He recounts the familiar story of how Moses encountered God through the burning bush. We see God reveal himself as a liberator, seeking to free the Israelite people. God reveals himself to Moses by stating his name, ‘I AM’, which is the first time God reveals this in Scripture. God desires a personal relationship with us, and like all relationships, this relationship begins with an introduction. This interaction points us toward Christ, as God will become man through whom he will have a personal relationship with his people. Through Moses, God seeks to defeat the Egyptians and save the Israelite people, prefiguring what Christ will do on the cross — defeat Satan and free God’s people from sin.Fr. Armenio also recounts the parable of the fig tree. We see Christ personified as the gardener and God the Father personified as the owner. The gardener is advocating to save the fig tree, explaining to the owner that he can cut it down eventually, but it has not yet had its time. Applying this parable to our own life, we see a sense of urgency in the Gospel. Our time here on earth is finite — at some point, it will end. This Lenten season allows us the opportunity to look inward and to begin again: to take advantage of reconciliation, to seek after Christ in prayer, and to reach out in charity toward others. 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! 

The St. Josemaria Institute has partnered with iPray with the Gospel to bring the popular daily Gospel reflections to life on our podcast. iPray with the Gospel is helpful for those who want to use the Gospel for their daily conversation with Jesus Christ.[ 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, Msgr. Dolan shares a reflection on the importance of silence as exemplified in the passage of the Transfiguration of Christ. This Scripture passage reminds us of a popular verse from the book of Psalms, “be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:11). The disciples who witnessed the transfiguration embraced the silence; they did not tell anyone what they had seen. They understood that anything other than silence would have ruined everything. Instead, they held on to the fresh memories they had made. Throughout the season of Lent, we are encouraged to create an interior silence that allows us to enjoy the presence of God.Pope Francis shares that “the Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work, throughout others, and at every moment. Yet, we simply cannot do without the silence of prolonged prayer, which enables us to perceive God’s language and to see the whole of our existence afresh in his own light” (Gaudete et Exsultate, no. 171). It is our role as Christians to see the whole of our existence the way that God sees it—to see our role in the history of the world and to discover the will of God. As we make these discoveries, we should have the confidence to joyfully live out this way of life.Lent is a time of purification. The more we take time to think and pray about it, the more we realize the many distractions that are stirring within us. When we embrace silence in prayer, we can get away from the thoughts of what interests us and begin to see what interests God. Silence not only helps us understand the will of God but it also helps us to appreciate those around us and helps us to be charitable. Ultimately, the Lord will judge us on how we use our gifts, and as St. Josemaria shares in The Way, “after seeing how many people waste their lives…silence seems preferable to me, and more necessary than ever” (The Way, no. 447). 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! 

The St. Josemaria Institute has partnered with iPray with the Gospel to bring the popular daily Gospel reflections to life on our podcast. iPray with the Gospel is helpful for those who want to use the Gospel for their daily conversation with Jesus Christ.[ 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! 

Explore the virtue of fortitude in facing temptation and challenges. Learn about deferred gratification and gumption in making decisions. Discover the importance of not giving up in the spiritual journey. Be inspired by the example of Christ in overcoming temptations. Strengthen your fortitude this Lent season.

In this podcast, we reflect on self-denial as a way to increase our faith and relationship with Christ. If we are to follow Christ, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. Self-denial allows us a certain freedom in which we can live out the Gospel message. The goal of becoming a saint takes a serious commitment, one of prayer and Eucharistic piety. We cannot let laziness get the best of us or hold us back from becoming the person we were created to be. Saint Josemaria tells us, “if you don’t deny yourself you will never be a soul of prayer” (The Way, no. 6). We need self-control to be prayerful, loving, kind, generous, and to live a life of holy purity.Living in a world where we are faced with temptation at almost every turn, self-denial and taking up our cross is of the utmost importance. We are faced with the temptation of the seven deadly sins - anger, pride, gluttony, envy, greed, lust, and sloth. In order to combat these sins, we must not put off holiness indefinitely. Paraphrasing St. Josemaria, he says, “Do it now! Now is the only shot you have. The past is gone, and the future doesn’t exist.” 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 prepare for the upcoming season of Lent, in this podcast we turn our attention to the life of Saint Paul. Paul, who once led the persecution of the early Christian church, had a profound conversion after encountering the love of Christ and in turn, began to lead the spread of the Christian faith. Paul shows us that we evangelize by giving others a similar experience to what we had when we first encountered Christ. Paul preaches ‘Christ crucified’, that we must ‘put on Jesus Christ’.During his visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Saint Josemaria Escriva shares that we ‘need more heart’. Josemaria explains that we have become a society in which we idolize work and the creature comforts of this world, when in reality, we must seek to put people first over work. He encourages us to invest in a small community in which we can share in the love of Christ. Josemaria explains that “sometimes you find serious shortcomings in Christians’ lives, but the important thing is not ourselves and our shortcomings. The only thing that matters is Jesus. It is Christ we must talk about, not ourselves” (Christ Is Passing By, no. 163).During his public ministry, Christ shares with us the analogy that “[we] are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). As Christians, we are always ‘on’. In a popular phrase commonly attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, he emphasizes Christ’s point in that we must “preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words”. In every analogy Christ uses in the Gospels, he never uses speech as an example: “you are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14); “you are the salt of the earth” (Mt 5:13); “I am the vine, you are the branches” (Jn 15:5) - these are just some of the examples. Christ shows us that presence takes precedence over preaching.In his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells them, “rejoice in the Lord always; your kindness should be known to all (Phil 4:4-5). We see that joy is an expression of charity. The more we experience the love of Christ, the more contagious our joy becomes. If we are to ‘put on Christ’, we should receive the Eucharist frequently, spend time in adoration and mental prayer, and pray the rosary. We must let people see our joy and kindness which will lead them to the love of Christ. 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, we reflect on the greatest gift of all: charity. Charity is the foundation for all virtues, for if a virtue does not come from a place of love, then it is for nothing. Saint Paul shares in his letter to the Corinthians that “if [we] speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, [we] are a resounding gong or a clashing symbol. Likewise, if [we] have a faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, [we] are nothing” (1 Cor 13:1-2). The gift of charity is instilled in each one of us throughout childhood. Parents must witness the love of Christ for their children. They must walk the walk so that their children may come to know and experience the love of Christ. In his letters, Saint Paul tells the early church to ‘put on Christ’ as a symbol of their faith. Just as a person can tell if someone is a cop, a nurse, a firefighter, etc. based on the certain uniform they wear, living out the virtue of charity is our sign that we live for Christ. Others need to see Him in us through the way we love.We foster the virtue of charity by spending time with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. As we spend time with Christ through prayer, our goal is that our “behavior and conversation be such that everyone who sees or hears [us] can say: this man reads the life of Christ” (The Way, 2). 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 celebrate National Marriage Week, we reflect in this podcast 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 home 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 can not love like Christ if we do not know Christ. And thus, we turn to the words of Saint 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! 

On this podcast we reflect on beginning a new year and what it means to begin again. During this time of prayer, we want to ask ourselves: What can I do to make these twelve months ahead spectacular?First, we want to accelerate to the finish, which means hastening towards our goal of Heaven. This brings up the topic of strategy: How do we go about doing it? Jesus Christ shows us the way. He said to be perfect like His Heavenly Father is perfect and He gives us the gift of forgiveness of sins— the sacrament of confession. The Lord is telling us that when we begin again, when we give Him a chance to forgive us, He is filled with joy because we allow Him to exercise His mercy. As a result of the sacrament, we will reflect joy and serenity because of the marvelous gift of mercy. St. Josemaria called it the sacrament of joy because it guarantees our turning back to God and restores our divine friendship with Him.This reflection should inspire us to make the resolution to do whatever it takes to go to confession regularly. It should also inspire us to ask Our Lord to help us find the right time and way to bring up the topic of “beginning again” among our friends and coworkers, especially a friend who is hurting. We want to be like the faithful friends who carried the paralytic man to Jesus; his sins were forgiven and he was brought to life (Mark 2:1-12). We want to pray about that friend (or friends) during the coming weeks, knowing that our friends will never forget us for having helped restore them to life. 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!