The St. Josemaria Institute has partnered with iPray with the Gospel to bring the popular daily Gospel reflections to life on our podcast. iPray with the Gospel is helpful for those who want to use the Gospel for their daily conversation with Jesus Christ.

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The St. Josemaria Institute has partnered with iPray with the Gospel to bring the popular daily Gospel reflections to life on our podcast. iPray with the Gospel is helpful for those who want to use the Gospel for their daily conversation with Jesus Christ.

[ Transcript ]

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In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the readings for the 3rd Sunday of Lent. He recounts the familiar story of how Moses encountered God through the burning bush. We see God reveal himself as a liberator, seeking to free the Israelite people. God reveals himself to Moses by stating his name, ‘I AM’, which is the first time God reveals this in Scripture. God desires a personal relationship with us, and like all relationships, this relationship begins with an introduction. This interaction points us toward Christ, as God will become man through whom he will have a personal relationship with his people. Through Moses, God seeks to defeat the Egyptians and save the Israelite people, prefiguring what Christ will do on the cross — defeat Satan and free God’s people from sin.

Fr. Armenio also recounts the parable of the fig tree. We see Christ personified as the gardener and God the Father personified as the owner. The gardener is advocating to save the fig tree, explaining to the owner that he can cut it down eventually, but it has not yet had its time. Applying this parable to our own life, we see a sense of urgency in the Gospel. Our time here on earth is finite — at some point, it will end. This Lenten season allows us the opportunity to look inward and to begin again: to take advantage of reconciliation, to seek after Christ in prayer, and to reach out in charity toward others.

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The St. Josemaria Institute has partnered with iPray with the Gospel to bring the popular daily Gospel reflections to life on our podcast. iPray with the Gospel is helpful for those who want to use the Gospel for their daily conversation with Jesus Christ.

[ Transcript ]

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In this podcast, Msgr. Dolan shares a reflection on the importance of silence as exemplified in the passage of the Transfiguration of Christ. This Scripture passage reminds us of a popular verse from the book of Psalms, “be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:11). The disciples who witnessed the transfiguration embraced the silence; they did not tell anyone what they had seen. They understood that anything other than silence would have ruined everything. Instead, they held on to the fresh memories they had made. Throughout the season of Lent, we are encouraged to create an interior silence that allows us to enjoy the presence of God.

Pope Francis shares that “the Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work, throughout others, and at every moment. Yet, we simply cannot do without the silence of prolonged prayer, which enables us to perceive God’s language and to see the whole of our existence afresh in his own light” (Gaudete et Exsultate, no. 171). It is our role as Christians to see the whole of our existence the way that God sees it—to see our role in the history of the world and to discover the will of God. As we make these discoveries, we should have the confidence to joyfully live out this way of life.

Lent is a time of purification. The more we take time to think and pray about it, the more we realize the many distractions that are stirring within us. When we embrace silence in prayer, we can get away from the thoughts of what interests us and begin to see what interests God. Silence not only helps us understand the will of God but it also helps us to appreciate those around us and helps us to be charitable. Ultimately, the Lord will judge us on how we use our gifts, and as St. Josemaria shares in The Way, “after seeing how many people waste their lives…silence seems preferable to me, and more necessary than ever” (The Way, no. 447).

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The St. Josemaria Institute has partnered with iPray with the Gospel to bring the popular daily Gospel reflections to life on our podcast. iPray with the Gospel is helpful for those who want to use the Gospel for their daily conversation with Jesus Christ.

[ Transcript ]

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In this podcast, we reflect on the virtue of fortitude as the motivation to overcome temptation. St. Josemaria Escriva tells us that “a task which presents no difficulties lacks human appeal - and supernatural appeal too. If you find no resistance when hammering a nail into a wall, what can you expect to hang on it?” (The Forge, no. 245). In order to win the prize, you cannot dodge the fight that takes you to the end.The virtue of fortitude is essential for the spiritual life and human development. Msgr. Dolan explains the reality of deferred gratification, which is putting off what we want and taking care of what we should do. He explains further that deferred gratification goes hand in hand with gumption, which is the ability to decide what is best in any particular situation and go straight into action. The danger in the spiritual life is abandoning the struggle and simply giving up. We can either view challenges with fear and stress, or we can choose to view them with excitement.

In the Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent, we hear of the temptation of Christ in the desert. Christ, as the perfect model of virtue, embraces the virtue of fortitude when faced with the temptations from Satan. As you go through this Lenten season, how can you strengthen the virtue of fortitude and say ‘no’ to the temptations you face in our own life.

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In this podcast, we reflect on self-denial as a way to increase our faith and relationship with Christ. If we are to follow Christ, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. Self-denial allows us a certain freedom in which we can live out the Gospel message. The goal of becoming a saint takes a serious commitment, one of prayer and Eucharistic piety. We cannot let laziness get the best of us or hold us back from becoming the person we were created to be. Saint Josemaria tells us, “if you don’t deny yourself you will never be a soul of prayer” (The Way, no. 6). We need self-control to be prayerful, loving, kind, generous, and to live a life of holy purity.

Living in a world where we are faced with temptation at almost every turn, self-denial and taking up our cross is of the utmost importance. We are faced with the temptation of the seven deadly sins - anger, pride, gluttony, envy, greed, lust, and sloth. In order to combat these sins, we must not put off holiness indefinitely. Paraphrasing St. Josemaria, he says, “Do it now! Now is the only shot you have. The past is gone, and the future doesn’t exist.”

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As we prepare for the upcoming season of Lent, in this podcast we turn our attention to the life of Saint Paul. Paul, who once led the persecution of the early Christian church, had a profound conversion after encountering the love of Christ and in turn, began to lead the spread of the Christian faith. Paul shows us that we evangelize by giving others a similar experience to what we had when we first encountered Christ. Paul preaches ‘Christ crucified’, that we must ‘put on Jesus Christ’.

During his visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Saint Josemaria Escriva shares that we ‘need more heart’. Josemaria explains that we have become a society in which we idolize work and the creature comforts of this world, when in reality, we must seek to put people first over work. He encourages us to invest in a small community in which we can share in the love of Christ. Josemaria explains that “sometimes you find serious shortcomings in Christians’ lives, but the important thing is not ourselves and our shortcomings. The only thing that matters is Jesus. It is Christ we must talk about, not ourselves” (Christ Is Passing By, no. 163).

During his public ministry, Christ shares with us the analogy that “[we] are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). As Christians, we are always ‘on’. In a popular phrase commonly attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, he emphasizes Christ’s point in that we must “preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words”. In every analogy Christ uses in the Gospels, he never uses speech as an example: “you are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14); “you are the salt of the earth” (Mt 5:13); “I am the vine, you are the branches” (Jn 15:5) - these are just some of the examples. Christ shows us that presence takes precedence over preaching.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells them, “rejoice in the Lord always; your kindness should be known to all (Phil 4:4-5). We see that joy is an expression of charity. The more we experience the love of Christ, the more contagious our joy becomes. If we are to ‘put on Christ’, we should receive the Eucharist frequently, spend time in adoration and mental prayer, and pray the rosary. We must let people see our joy and kindness which will lead them to the love of Christ.

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In this podcast, we reflect on the greatest gift of all: charity. Charity is the foundation for all virtues, for if a virtue does not come from a place of love, then it is for nothing. Saint Paul shares in his letter to the Corinthians that “if [we] speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, [we] are a resounding gong or a clashing symbol. Likewise, if [we] have a faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, [we] are nothing” (1 Cor 13:1-2). The gift of charity is instilled in each one of us throughout childhood. Parents must witness the love of Christ for their children. They must walk the walk so that their children may come to know and experience the love of Christ. In his letters, Saint Paul tells the early church to ‘put on Christ’ as a symbol of their faith. Just as a person can tell if someone is a cop, a nurse, a firefighter, etc. based on the certain uniform they wear, living out the virtue of charity is our sign that we live for Christ. Others need to see Him in us through the way we love.

We foster the virtue of charity by spending time with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. As we spend time with Christ through prayer, our goal is that our “behavior and conversation be such that everyone who sees or hears [us] can say: this man reads the life of Christ” (The Way, 2).

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