Continuing our Advent series: In this week’s podcast, Fr. Javier reflects on the virtue of fortitude, which allows us to overcome difficulties when we need to achieve the good. When confronted by evil and suffering in the world, or challenges in our daily lives, we can easily lose our peace and sense of reason. But, as Fr. Javier explains, it is possible to coexist with pain and suffering and not lose our sense of reason when we seek and grow in the virtue of fortitude.

Fr. Javier reflects on the reality that, “suffering is not something we look for; but when it comes, we certainly want what it takes in order to not get bogged down by it.” For this reason, we must look to the virtue of fortitude, and to the Holy Spirit, to be able to do things that go beyond our strength and overcome difficulties with courage.

Download the companion to our Advent series and go deeper to enrich your prayer throughout the week: Be Ready!

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The Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, honoring the dogma that Mary was conceived without Original Sin.

In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on the joy of this great solemnity in which we are encouraged to pray for an increase in our docility to the work of the Holy Spirit so that we may turn away from sin and allow the Lord to work through us as we work to build up the Kingdom of God.

Fr. Eric explains: “Even though we have sin, even though we have rebellion, even though we have those things that lead us away from God, the Lord can transform us nevertheless, and with Our Lady’s intercession, can truly make us into the saints that the world needs today, that the Church needs today, and that we truly want to become.”

[ Transcript ] [ ASL Interpretation ]

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Continuing our Advent series: In this week’s podcast, Fr. Javier reflects on the virtue of justice, in which we are called to give each person his or her due, and how we must foster this virtue in our relationships with God, our neighbors, and ourselves. The virtue of justice challenges us to examine ourselves and see how we can improve on a personal and spiritual level. In doing so, we are able to more freely correspond to the grace of God and will become more charitable in our actions within our everyday life.

Download the companion to our Advent series and go deeper to enrich your prayer throughout the week: Be Ready!

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The St. Josemaria Institute is pleased to share a new four-part series for Advent— Be Ready!—reflections on the four cardinal virtues and how they can help us prepare our hearts for Christmas.

In this week’s podcast, the first of the series, Fr. Javier reflects on the virtue of prudence which lays the foundation for us to grow in practice of the three other cardinal virtues: justice, fortitude, and temperance. The virtue of prudence challenges us to meditate on the life of Jesus so that we begin to acquire the way he thought, felt, and acted within his everyday life. Therefore, we must draw upon the grace received in prayer to help us discern the right action on our journey toward Christ.

Download the companion to the series to go deeper and enrich your prayer throughout the week: https://stjosemaria.org/advent-2021/.

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What does Christ’s teaching by the Sea of Galilee, surrounded by crowds, teach us about the waves that rise up in our lives and our need to keep our eyes on Christ?

In this podcast, Fr. Donncha invites us to meditate upon the Gospel scene of Christ along the Sea of Galilee in which he shows his desire to enter into our lives to dwell in constant communion, conversation, and love with us. He explains that “Christ seeks us out, enters into our ordinary life, and fills the texture of ordinariness with the sublime beauty of his presence.” Therefore, through the divine grace of Christ, we can see our life which was once barren be transformed into something holy and divine. 

As St. Josemaria explains: “Your boat – your talents, your hopes, your achievements – is worth nothing whatsoever, unless you leave it in Christ’s hands, allowing him the freedom to come aboard” (Friends of God, no. 21).

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Are you seeking to draw near to Our Lord more each day?

As heard in the Gospel for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, we encountered the endearing figure of Zacchaeus, a tax collector who had a poor reputation among his Jewish confreres, but nevertheless had a deep desire to meet Jesus. He overcame his shame and reached out to be close to Jesus who was passing by. 

In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on the promptness of Zacchaeus– his initiative and the grace of conversion that he received on account of his own generosity. Fr. Eric challenges us to have this same initiative in our interior life and reminds us that it requires humble examination of conscience and a willingness to begin again. In doing so, we will obtain a lasting serenity and joy found only in the grace of Christ.

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Do you live each day with the urgency and desire to bring the gospel message into your work, family, and social relations?

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio shares a reflection on the value of living an ordinary Christian life in the middle of the world. He prompts us to reflect on the fading Catholic identity in the world today and challenges us to bear witness to the light of Christ in our everyday life.

Fr. Peter explains that: “Catholics, laity especially, have to give people an experience of Christianity, of Catholicism. The Church has to be brought to the workplace and to the family, to the party and to the sports field” because “the ordinary Christian in the middle of the world is, in fact, the true hope of the Church.”

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In this podcast, part of our Day of Recollection resources for the month of November, Msgr. Fred Dolan reflects on fulfilling our divinely given mission. He explains that “this inspired life begins with the awareness that God dwells within us, that he is keenly interested in everything we do, and that he awaits our loving response all day long. The challenge is to maintain that vocation sense every single day.” As we respond to our divine mission, we are strengthened with the grace to become a living witness to the love and mercy of Christ each day.

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Is the Communion of Saints just a comforting idea? Or a true and deeply consoling reality? 

In this podcast, as we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints (Nov. 1) and the Commemoration of All Souls (Nov. 2), Fr. Donncha Ó hAodha reflects on the importance of community in our faith journey as we pursue the goal of eternal life with Christ in Heaven.

Through the sacrament of baptism, we are welcomed in to communion with the Church and united to one another through the mystical body of Christ. We are never alone. Fr. Donncha explains: “The saints are cheering us on. They bear witness to the fact that holiness is indeed possible and that we too are called to that holiness, and that they help us by praying and interceding for us.”

[Transcript] [ASL Interpretation]

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In this podcast, Msgr. Fred Dolan reflects on three key themes from Guardian of the Redeemer, an Apostolic exhortation on St. Joseph in the life of Christ and of the Church written by St. John Paul II. The key themes—obedience of faith, work as an expression of love, and the primacy of the interior life—help us meditate on “the one into whose custody God entrusted his most precious treasures,” particularly as we near the close of the Year of St. Joseph on December 8.

Msgr. Dolan explains: “The goal is not only for us to turn to Joseph with greater fervor and to invoke his patronage with trust but also to keep before our eyes his humble, mature way of serving and of taking in the plan of salvation. The stated goal helps us tremendously to focus on the fact that each of us has as our main mission to continue the work of redemption.”

[Transcript]

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