St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

Today on the podcast... We reflect on the virtue of faith and the power of fidelity--habitual/ongoing faith--to help us be fruitful imitators of the Apostles who worked miracles and attracted people to Jesus Christ. Like the Apostles, we need to exercise a certain kind of faith that can be attained by entering into the Heart of Christ through three entranceways: the Eucharist, the Cross, and the Word (meditating on the Word of God and mental prayer).“Stir up that fire of faith. Christ is not a figure that has passed. He is not a memory that is lost in history. He lives! 'Jesus Christus heri et hodie, ipse et in saecula', says Saint Paul. — 'Jesus Christ is the same today as he was yesterday and as he will be for ever'” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, no. 584).Our desire for fidelity will also lead us to ask Him like the Apostles: Lord, what do you want us to do? We will feel a desire to give ourselves fully to our Christian vocation which is the collective vocation of the Mystical Body of Christ to evangelize and attract people to Him through our friendship, charity, and counsel.We ask Our Lady, through her intercession, that we be enlightened on how to be more faithful by giving of ourselves more to the will of her Son, Jesus 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! 

Ninety years ago, on October 2nd, God showed Opus Dei to the young St. Josemaria Escriva. It happened in an instant, he fell to his knees dazzled by all that God had just showed him. On this anniversary, our desire is not simply to celebrate this milestone in the history of Opus Dei but also to learn from the operating system of this faithful instrument of God’s providence. To relive the path taken by St. Josemaria will help us to desire the virtue of magnanimity—greatness of spirit and largeness of heart—a genuine craving for great and noble ambitions and adventures:St. Josemaria Escriva realized early on that God had a plan for him, that He wanted something from him. How could he find the answer? Where should he seek it? He set out to search above all by listening to the Word of God.Sacred Scripture, the Word of God, speaks to us today and we need to seek out our place in it to find our path.“Magnanimity means greatness of spirit, a largeness of heart wherein many can find refuge. Magnanimity gives us the energy to break out of ourselves and be prepared to undertake generous tasks which will be of benefit to all. Small-mindedness has no home in the magnanimous heart, nor has meanness, nor egoistic calculation, nor self-interested trickery. The magnanimous person devotes all his strength, unstintingly, to what is worthwhile. As a result he is capable of giving himself. He is not content with merely giving. He gives his very self. He thus comes to understand that the greatest expression of magnanimity consists in giving oneself to God” (St. Josemaria Escriva; Friends of God, no. 80).What was the secret that would not let St. Josemaria slow down? An overwhelming sense of being a child of God and the confidence and boldness that this reality entails.Tell Our Lord: “I really have no idea of the undiscovered qualities that I have—maybe this is my chance to discover the hidden greatness in me. This is a chance for me to be ready for great undertakings and to pass on to young people a great openness and eagerness for great ideas.”A resolution from this reflection: “To protect our times of prayer ferociously.” 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! 

Today on the podcast… We contemplate how, the renewal of the church many years ago, began in the monasteries with intense prayer of loving Christ and living a life of penance.  Now, St. Josemaria Escriva says to bring that contemplative prayer into our daily lives, in the thick of things, at the party, on the soccer field, at the library, in the court of law, and at home. In our personal relationship with Christ let us ask him:To transmit His light through us in the form of joy, affection, kindness, and the spirit of service.To find us in the silence of our prayer.To truly help us learn to be contemplative in the middle of the world.Let us ask Our Lady to help us throughout the day to contemplate on the real presence of Christ in our lives –to pray without ceasing. 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! 

Today on the podcast... In celebration of the anniversary of the founding of Opus Dei (October 2, 1928), we reflect on the early life of St. Josemaria Escriva and the historical circumstances that led him to receive the special light from God to found Opus Dei.This light from God helped St. Josemaria to see:It is possible to create a civilization of love—to bring Jesus Christ in a new way into the very heart of the world amid a culture that is antithetical to the Gospel.God was giving St. Josemaria the grace to change the world should he choose to follow this light and its certain path.The burden of changing the world falls on the shoulders of lay men and women who are called to bring Christ into the modern world.The transformation of the world can only happen if the laity are saints, if they are true contemplatives—someone who is habitually in dialogue with the Lord. But if they are not true contemplatives then they will be transformed by the world.As St. Josemaria Escriva wrote:“How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, no. 2).“You must inspire others with love of God and zeal for souls, so that they in turn will set on fire many more who are on a third plane and each of these latter spread the flame to their professional companions. What a lot of spiritual calories you need! And what a tremendous responsibility if you let yourself grow cold! And — I don't even want to think of it — what a terrible crime if you were to give bad example!” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, no. 944). 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 September the Church celebrates the feasts of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14th) and Our Lady of Sorrows (15th).On today's podcast we prepare ourselves for the celebration of these feasts with the help of Our Lady by observing her example during the Passion of her Son and contemplating her at the foot of the Cross. Our Lady of Sorrows places us at her side, before Jesus on the Cross, to help us mature in our share in the mission of her Son. Bringing us to the Cross means helping us to face up to the difficulties of life, since learning how to deal with suffering is a major step in our personal growth. And, it means sharing in the mission of the redemption of Christ, which gives great depth to the purpose of our lives. Therefore, at the foot of the Cross: Ask yourself: How do I handle difficulties? Do I dig deeper to find its deeper meaning?Contemplate the great miracles of Jesus and see how most of them were messy.Consider: If we don't have the Cross, what are we left with?Ask for the grace of great serenity, joy, and efficacy in your mission to co-redeem with 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! 

On today's podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo, Vicar of Opus Dei in the Midwest (USA), offers a timely reflection on the current crisis in the Church and how we can respond to all of it by turning our sadness and anger into prayer. Like the disciples who were fearful that they would perish in the great storm (ref. Mark 4:38-41), we too should instinctively look to Jesus for help as we face the waves of scandal that leave us profoundly perplexed. Within the silence of our hearts, the Holy Spirit will give us the answers as we pray to know: Why is God allowing this to happen? Is God with us? Where is God in all of this? We will come to the realization that this time of difficulty is a time of justice and mercy. The crisis has to provoke the emergence of saints because we are all called to be saints who need to recommit ourselves to being faithful disciples, to rediscovering our priestly souls, and to spreading the joy of the Gospel. This time should also lead to a renewal of the Church as a missionary in the world, committed to evangelization where we disappear and only Christ shines.“Let us ask Holy Mary, our hope, to kindle in us a holy desire that we may all come together to dwell in the house of the Father. Nothing need disturb us if we make up our minds to anchor our hearts in a real longing for our true fatherland. Our Lord will lead us there with his grace, and he will send a good wind to carry our ship to the bright shores of our destination” (St. Josemaria Escriva; Friends of God, no. 221). 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 September 12th the Church celebrates the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.On today’s podcast we reflect on Mary's role and mission as a mother to give us the very best:  To help us in all of our needs- physical, emotional, and spiritual.To unite us with her Son, Jesus Christ.To win for us the grace to desire to be saints.Mary shows us that we can have confidence in her intercessory prayers when she spoke to the servants at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). And that we can trust that she will see that our prayers are answered as long as they are compatible with God’s plan for our salvation.Our goal, therefore, is to imitate Mary’s holiness. We ask her to be a part of our spiritual life-- helping us to connect with her son, Jesus Christ, and to become instruments of evangelization, serving and attracting others to Him. 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! 

Today on the podcast… Faced with the present crisis of the Church, we are guided in this reflection to look to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Truth, for light and hope. Today we find ourselves in a similar situation as the Disciples of Jesus when he unveiled his teachings on the Eucharist in the Gospel of John (Jn 6:60-71). Many of the disciples felt that what Jesus was teaching was a hard saying and they turned away from him. What we see going on in the Church today is in a certain sense a very hard saying too; the answer, however, is not to turn away from Christ but to react the way Peter did and tell him: “Master, to whom shall we go?” (Jn 6:68).We want to read the signs of the time and see what Our Lord wants to tell us: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).The Church’s Founder is perfect; the constitution and law of the Church is Christ Himself; the Sacraments are perfect… The Truth that the Church teaches has no contradiction— it saves and liberates, and it is perfect.It is not about the ministers, the Church is about you as much as anybody else. We are called to change the world and the solution is Jesus Christ.Throughout the 2,000 year history of the Church there is a pattern of death and resurrection and then transformation… Now we have this crisis, but the Church will emerge because the Church is Divine.We should pray that those who act in His person are purified and act faithfully.“An act of faith: Nothing can prevail against God! Nothing can prevail against God’s people! —Don’t forget it.” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Forge, no. 219)“Don’t lose heart. Carry on! Carry on with that holy stubbornness which in spiritual terms is called perseverance.” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Forge, no. 220)“Fill yourself with confidence. The Mother we have is the Mother of God, the Most Blessed Virgin, the Queen of Heaven and the World.” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Forge, no. 273) 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! 

Today on the podcast… The Lord asks that our holiness exceed that of the Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-36). We recall that the Pharisees were a virtuous people who lived the moral law, prayed many times throughout the day along with fasting and almsgiving. But the Lord wants us also to love as He has loved—a love that reveals through our actions that we are His disciples. Desiring union with the love of Christ requires that we prioritize the formation of our heart's mission: to be humble, charitable, and pious in our actions and not just go through the motions.There are three components to this formation: Ask the help of the Holy Spirit to assist in our formation to be effective right where we are—in our piece of the world—our family, workplace, social acquaintances, and fellow parishioners.  We must be a light to others. Be salt to those around you affecting change in their lives and a desire to live the words of Christ— “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” (Matthew 7:24). Ask our Lady to help in your formation and you will be assured of being formed according to the heart of Christ; thus your actions will be such that it may be said of you: "This person reads the life of Jesus Christ"; "This person lives the words 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! 

On August 22nd the Church celebrates the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.On today’s podcast, we reflect on the coronation of our Mother as Queen of the Universe. And, how as children of this Heavenly Queen we can learn to follow her example of reigning: Mary our Queen trusted all that the Lord spoke to her, and her answer remained a constant yes. Teach us to respond to the Lord with complete trust. Mary our Queen serves-- for to reign one must serve. Teach us to be faithful servants. Mary our Queen walks with purpose and usefulness. Teach us to follow in your footsteps being useful to the 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!