St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

In our meditation of the week: Fr. Peter Armenio helps us to enter into the season of the Lent with a desire for becoming good repenters. And he shares the easy steps for coming back to Christ and beginning again. Although we might believe that God must be sick of us for doing the same sinful things all the time, Fr. Peter reminds us that Our Lord never gets sick of us because he loves us infinite...

In our meditation of the week: Fr. Peter Armenio helps us to pray about the sacrificial and redemptive true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and how we should make the greatest treasure of the universe the center of our life. The source and summit of the Christian life is the Eucharist. Therefore, as Fr. Peter explains, "everything hinges on the Mass. In a certain sense, every devot...

In this meditation: Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on how holiness is like the seeds that Jesus speaks about in the Gospel. Holiness grows in each one of us, but it grows by being in a constant state of converting; that is, we are all a work in progress. Conversion requires an overhaul of our lives and a complete change of heart. And, as Fr. Peter explains, step number one is to speak with Our Lord an...

In our meditation of the week: Fr. Javier del Castillo reflects on the lives of the early Christians and martyrs and the way they gave witness to their faith through the simple actions of everyday life. He explains how we should also foster an awareness of our personal sanctification and strive to be heroic in and through our ordinary circumstances. The call to holiness is a real gift from God, th...

In our meditation of the week: Msgr. Fred Dolan speaks to us about our love for a good vocation story-- that amazing moment when someone's life is changed radically. There is something very special about people who have discovered what it is that God has in store for them. Msgr. Dolan explains that the mission that Jesus offers us can change our life and fill it with light. It all comes down...

In our meditation of the week: Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the greatest gift that we have from God-- the supernatural virtue of charity. Many of the Mass readings during Christmas, Epiphany and the following days, remind us that God really wants us to think about charity. We are especially reminded of Jesus's desire that we, his disciples, should be known by the love we have for one another...

In this meditation for Christmas Day: Fr. Leo Austin helps us to contemplate the first nativity scene. Entering into Bethlehem and the stable, he invites us to look first of all to Mary and Joseph and to learn from them. All they had were each other (unity), poverty and happiness. In their simplicity, Mary and Joseph are telling us that we don't need anything but each other. We don’t need any...

In this podcast for the Fourth Sunday of Advent: Fr. Leo Austin guides us in our prayer as we near the end of the Advent journey that is bringing us closer and closer to the day of Jesus's nativity and to the day that changed history forever. Our Lord, in his providence, has been leading us towards the destination that is the encounter with him. There are 7 billion people on the planet right...

In this podcast for the Third Sunday of Advent, Fr. Leo Austin encourages us to continue our interior journey this season -- a journey to (re)discover our vocations by asking ourselves the deeper questions of life: Who am I? What's my identity? What's the reason of my existence? St. John the Baptist was asked a similar question to which he immediately answered, “I am not the light, but c...

In this podcast for the Second Sunday of Advent, Fr. Leo Austin reflects on the invitation we receive this season to go to the desert-- a mysterious and quiet place where we can meet Our Lord face-to-face without distractions and without hiding to contemplate our lives and specifically our vocations. Even if he already knows everything, it is good for our relationship with Jesus Christ to open our...

In this podcast for the First Sunday of Advent, Fr. Leo Austin offers an inspiring meditation to help us focus not necessarily on what we are going to give to Jesus, but on the gifts that Jesus gives to us. He is not asking us to be perfect. He is inviting us to a relationship with him saying, "Come to me." Advent is a preparation for an encounter. It's not about being scared or ten...

In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on the authority of Christ as King of heaven and earth to help us renew our desire for Christ to reign deeply in our hearts and to proclaim with the saints and martyrs, "Long live Christ the King!" The Solemnity of Christ the King was established in the 1920s by Pope Pius XI in response to the great rise of secularism in which people increasingl...

In this podcast, Msgr. Fred Dolan guides us to pray and ask God to help us to stand back to take a look at our life on earth and to realize that our time here is very short. The great project of our life is gradual transformation into another Christ, explains Fr. Fred. We long to change and to be transformed. Therefore, a sign that we truly and passionately want to be fully alive is our willingnes...

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reminds us of our invitation as disciples of Jesus Christ to connect with God through the humanity of Jesus, especially through the Gospels and through the geographic area revealed by the Gospel itself. Like Christian pilgrims throughout the ages, Fr. Peter shares how he had always dreamt and aspired to the possibility of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and...

In this podcast, Fr. Donncha Ó hAodha guides us to pray about the gift of the month of November. It is a great gift because it gives us the opportunity to focus on reality, to focus on the truth and love of God, and to recover our perspectives on our own journeys through time and to eternity. This is important, as Fr. Donncha explains, because when we elevate and perfect all the bits and pieces th...

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on how our faith and fidelity can increase through our genuine self-giving to the will of God. Faith is more than just believing or trusting. An ongoing faith or fidelity requires us to go beyond the limitations of our experiences and of our intellects in order to give ourselves more to the will of God and to our vocation as Christians. And, as Fr. Peter...

In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai leads us in a time of reflection and prayer to check up on our spiritual health. He explains that when we are spiritually healthy, we are grateful and cheerful. But when we are not, even the smallest thing drives us crazy. All those times when we're kind of irritable, restless, disconcerted, really worried about how things are going to turn out, what people m...

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio challenges us individually to answer the question, Why must I pray the Rosary? October is the month dedicated to Our Lady through the Holy Rosary. Our Lady herself has asked us to pray the rosary in the battle against evil and to win sinners back, ourselves included. She wants our prayers because they connect us with her Son-- she is the shortcut to him. As Fr. P...

BONUS EPISODE OF THE WEEK - In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the commemoration of the canonization of St. Josemaria Escriva (October 6, 2002).  The commemoration of feasts and anniversaries are designed for conversion and inspiration from the Holy Spirit to connect with Jesus Christ in a closer way. As Fr. Peter says, "although we may feel like a zero or insignificant, if Christ...

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio shares how God desires everyone to be a recipient of his message to become saints in the middle of the world and to change the world. This message probably sounds familiar to us today, but it was an unprecedented message in the Church in the early 20th century. In 1928, St. Josemaria Escriva was a young priest in Spain who since seminary had developed a reputatio...

In this podcast, Fr. Donncha Ó hAodha reflects on how the universal call to adoration is the source of our happiness and the source of our true human flourishing and maturing. We can achieve our fullest human and spiritual potential insofar as we worship and adore God with our whole being and with our lives. The universal call to adoration, to give all the glory to God, especially through our ordi...

In this podcast, Fr. Leo Agustina invites you to imagine inviting Jesus to dinner as he passes by you at home, your dorm, your office, your kitchen, or your desk. Would you welcome him and listen to him? Would you allow him to open your horizons and give meaning to your whole life? This was the way of St. Matthew (also called Levi) as we read in the Gospels. Jesus was sending a huge message by pas...

In this podcast, Msgr. Fred Dolan reflects on Our Lady, the Woman of Sorrows, and how contemplating her during the Passion of her Son and at the foot of the Cross helps all of our worries and sufferings to pass away. 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 t...

In this podcast, Fr. Leo Agustina helps us to prepare our hearts for the feasts of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8) and Mary's Holy Name (September 12). Her feasts remind us, like St. Joseph, that God is also telling us, “Do not be afraid to take Mary” (Mt 1:20). Mary is a wonderful reality that makes us want to do like St. Joseph, like St. John the Apostle, and bring her...

In this podcast, Fr. Donncha Ó hAodha offers a profound reflection on St. Josemaria Escriva as a great teacher of prayer to help us renew our awareness of the essential nature of prayer and how transformative it is. In society, we tend to measure things by people's doings and achievements. But what ultimately gives value to any life is communion with Christ. Without prayer, nothing! With pray...