St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

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 un...

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...

On this podcast we reflect on our personal journey to follow Jesus Christ. To follow Jesus is a journey and this is why he says he is the way (John 14:6). And, the geography of this journey is the human heart--our hearts. Like the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), our journey begins by contemplating the love of the Father, how good we have it at home, and we repent for underestimating the infinite mer...

Today on the podcast a reflection on the words of Jesus : “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on...

On this podcast we are invited to contemplate the apostles' first encounter with Jesus Christ and how that experience was an encounter with the love He had for them. Jesus is human love with a human nature--the Word made flesh. After Jesus' first conversation with Andrew and John, Andrew left the Lord's house a new man and he want out to find his brother, Simon Peter, and brought hi...

This time of year is an especially spectacular and special time to penetrate the question: Who is God? What can we know about God? On this podcast we are invited to reflect on the mystery that our God has become one of us and how every prayer and reception of the Sacraments focuses on this incredible Truth. We [could] begin answering these questions by focusing on the suffering and solidarity of J...

As we prepare for the season of Advent, we share a reflection on the fruits of the Holy Spirit: peace and joy. And how with these gifts we are called to create bright and cheerful homes and environments like the home of the Holy Family in Nazareth. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22,23).  The gifts o...

St. Josemaria Escriva wrote that: “A very important characteristic of the apostolic man is his love for the Mass” ( The Way , no. 528). Today on the podcast, we listen and reflect on the Sacrifice of the Mass, the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and how it is the center and summit of our spiritual lives. Our belief in the Eucharistic Sacrifice comes from God. We don’t achieve that belief...

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated annually in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November. On today’s podcast, a reflection on the significance of this holiday and how it is a reminder that we ought to thank God always by habitually making frequent acts of thanksgiving– acts of gratitude. “We were never asked by God to come into existence. Everything we have— our talents, our virtues, even o...

On this podcast, we listen to the words of Jesus in the Gospel of St. John and reflect on what it means to our calling in life (vocation): "Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, becaus...

On today’s podcast… We contemplate the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians to learn that the face of the early Church was primarily made up of ordinary men and women. But we soon come to see that their "ordinariness" was distinguished by a holy anxiousness and sense of urgency to bring the Gospel to every corner of the world. Like in every era, we are witnesses of great suffering...

The Gospel for the Solemnity of All Saints is Jesus’s sermon on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). This Gospel communicates to us that the individual has to be the message that speaks about Christ to others. And, to be able to speak about Christ, our conviction and desire for holiness needs to be sustained by savoring Christ’s friendship and His message.“It is impossible to persevere in a fervent ev...

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 W...

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 take...

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 relations...

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 th...

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,...

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...

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 i...

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...

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 o...

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 Lo...

Today on the podcast… How does God want us to view the virtue of faith? If we look to the Gospels, our Lord shows us many examples that will help us to see, like the Apostles (Lk 15:5-10), that the virtue of faith is connected to miracle working. Our Lord wants us to see that He needs our faith—our life of fidelity and self-giving—to work miracles: Our faith and correspondence to God allow us to b...

In a few days, on the 15th of August, the Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother. She is the woman clothed with the sun, the moon is beneath her feet, and is crowned with twelve stars. We love her tenderly and through her actions she shows us what a life of faith looks like. What it means to become filled with trust and a joy that unable to be disturbed by difficul...

Today on the podcast...How can we achieve a constant dialogue with God to help us live our Christian vocation to discipleship? Our Christian vocation by virtue of baptism is to spread the Kingdom of God--to attract people to Christ. This work of discipleship and evangelization is a work of a lifetime. To carry out this work, we need a daily plan to help us keep in constant dialogue with God--prayi...