In Your Embrace

20 March 2023 | St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Menlo Park, Calif.

Celebrating the solemnity of St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church (and fresh from our community celebration of St. Patrick, patron of the seminary, last Friday!), I share some thoughts about St. Joseph’s spiritual fatherhood and his role as father for each one of us in the Christian life. Then we continue our journey with St. Teresa into the fifth dwelling places and the state of conforming union. With Teresa, la maestra de amor divina, I share the fruits of this stage of prayer and address a question about the role of loving relationships and evidence-based therapy alongside contemplative prayer in the healing of the soul. 

Opening music: “I Bind unto Myself Today,” written by St. Patrick, composed by C. F. Alexander, sung by the Choir of Trinity College, Melbourne, 2006. All rights reserved.

6 March 2023 | Second Monday of Lent | Menlo Park, Calif.

This week on the podcast, I share about the “dark night” which marked the beginning of Lent here, as well as my petition for Holy Orders and plans for ordination. We catch up with the Dickens Chronological Reading Club on Dombey and Son, the first book of Dickens’s “second act,” and then dive into the fourth dwelling places of the soul with St. Teresa, the beginning of the supernatural way of prayer.

Today’s Word: “Keep on praying and never lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

Opening music: “Prayer of St. Ephraim,” sung by Presvytera Pat Tsagalakis, Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church, Shoreline, WA, 2017. All rights reserved.

This homily was given at Byzantine Divine Liturgy at Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church, South San Francisco, CA on Sunday, March 5, 2022, the Second Sunday of Great Lent.

27 February 2023 | First Monday of Lent | Menlo Park, Calif.

On this very special episode of In Your Embrace, in honor of the recent five-year anniversary of the podcast, I’m joined by my friend and fellow seminarian Ramón Camacho to discuss the question: What would you say to yourself ten years ago if you could see him today?

Today’s Word: “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him. (Matthew 9:11).

Opening music: “Do Not Be Afraid,” composed and directed by Philip Stopford, sung by the Ecclesium Choir, 2012. All rights reserved.

20 February 2023 | Seventh Monday in Ordinary Time | Menlo Park, Calif.

As winter shades into spring and we stand again on the threshold of Lent, I share some thoughts on this season as a new beginning, as well as two recommendations for spiritual reading (see the links below)! Then we continue our journey into the third dwelling places of the interior castle and consider the dispositions needed to receive the gift of infused prayer.

Today’s Word: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live” (Ezekiel 37:5).

Links:

Opening music: “Kyrie,” from Missa Presulem ephebeatum, composed by Heinrich Isaac, sung by Cappella Mariana, dir. Vojtěch Semerád, 2019. All rights reserved.

13 February 2023 | Sixth Monday in Ordinary Time | Menlo Park, Calif.

Where do we go with our weariness? On this night walk under a starlit sky, I share about the need for Sabbath rest and time away with the Lord. Then we revisit the Dickens Chronological Reading Club with friend of the podcast Rachel Murphy, discussing Martin Chuzzlewit as a “problem novel” and the conditions for the possibility of conversion.

Today’s Word: “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Opening music: “Manducaverunt,” communion antiphon for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, sung by Bros. Stefan Ansinger and Andrew-Thomas Kang, O.P., 2023. All rights reserved.