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 might say, that's a sign we need a checkup and we need to get more spiritually healthy. Our spiritual heal...
Oct 16, 2023•27 min
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. Peter explains, when Mary takes our prayer and brings it to her Son, it has more effectiveness. And M...
Oct 09, 2023•32 min
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 is dwelling in us, Christ is unstoppable." He will use us as that divine pathway to spread the Gospel "to...
Oct 06, 2023•28 min
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 reputation for special graces and holiness. However, as Fr. Peter explains, he was not a mystic or visionary,...
Oct 02, 2023•26 min
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 ordinary, secular, daily, and sometimes mundane/repetitive realities, in no way demeans the human person...
Sep 22, 2023•19 min
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 passing by people at their jobs and at work. He is present, he is aware, and he really cares. But you m...
Sep 18, 2023•29 min
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 the difficulties of life, since learning how to deal with suffering is a major step in our personal g...
Sep 11, 2023•18 min
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 into our lives and into everything. In human history, there is a deep line that divides it into two: bef...
Sep 04, 2023•28 min
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 prayer, everything! Prayer produces the fine wine of Christian holiness in and around us. Prayer fills ordina...
Aug 28, 2023•21 min
In this podcast, Msgr. Fred Dolan reflects on how the secret ingredient of contrition gives our spiritual life tremendous dynamism and keeps us joyful, youthful, and approachable because we no longer give excuses for our improper behavior and it restores our proper place in God's eyes. Contrition plays an important role in helping us shake things up and renew our quest for holiness. Contrition also leads us to seek the Sacrament of Confession, which restores and rejuvenates our friendship with t...
Aug 21, 2023•20 min
In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and how this feast is a cause for joy and hope for all of us. Whenever we see the Assumption depicted in art, it's always joyful and beautiful! Why? Because it is a reminder of the ancient teaching that Mary knew no corporal decay, but entered into Heaven and was received by God in body and soul. It fills us with peace to know that she is waiting for us and wants us to come to be with her Son. The Assumption ...
Aug 13, 2023•29 min
In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects upon joy as the foundation for all evangelization and how living joy in our daily lives can lead others to encounter Christ, because He is joy. The particular role of the laity in bringing Christ to the world, especially in the places we live and work, requires that we not only bring the truth of the Gospel to all those who we encounter, but that we always lead with joy and witness to the happiness found in our friendship with Jesus. Fr. Peter shows th...
Aug 07, 2023•19 min
In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio leads us to listen and reflect on the Gospel and the meaning of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and how it continues to transform us today. The Transfiguration of Jesus encourages us in our commitment to discipleship. When we commit to protracted prayer—deep, silent, concentrated prayer—we can see God through the eyes of our soul and heart. The Transfiguration helped the apostles to trust in the Cross—the raw materials that make up our crosses—and to believe t...
Aug 02, 2023•26 min
In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo shares a reflection on the Gospel scene in which Martha welcomes Christ into her home (Luke 10:38-42) and reveals to us the meaning of letting go and letting God into our lives. In the Gospel passage, we notice Martha become caught up in the activity and details of serving Christ which inhibit her from fully enjoying the presence of Christ in her home. This theme is echoed in society today with a strong push for perfectionism in our work and at home. To c...
Jul 24, 2023•31 min
In this podcast, Fr. Fred Dolan reflects on the great gift of unity that God gives to us through His Son: “That they may be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you” (Jn 17:21). Jesus prayed that we may be one, united in God’s love. However, as Fr. Dolan explains, this gift of unity is not automatic. In fact, it is hard work. And, therefore, Fr. Dolan helps us to identify those attitudes that can get in the way of unity, and some of the key ingredients to establishing unity in our lives,...
Jul 17, 2023•20 min
In this podcast, Fr. Fred Dolan leads us to reflect on freedom. Rightly understood, freedom is a gift from God, Our Creator and Father. If we do not recognize that fact, we run the risk of becoming existentially orphaned and homeless. “Do you love me?”, Jesus asks Peter. We hear the Lord looking at each one of us and asking the same thing. The Christian life is a free response, imbued with initiative and availability to this question of the Lord. We are not self-created, but rather, we are creat...
Jul 10, 2023•24 min
In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai helps us to reflect on the distinction between what it means to be productive/successful in life and what it means to be fruitful. Some of us might be productive, but we are called to bear fruit, which frees us from the danger of thinking that our life is useless. Fr. Eric explains, "God said to the first man and to the first woman, when He blessed them, Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply, fill the Earth and govern it. God directs us to be fruitful, but w...
Jul 03, 2023•26 min
In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on St. Josemaria’s last moments on earth and how his docility to the Holy Spirit and good humor until the end led him to have so much effect on people's lives. God granted St. Josemaria a deep spiritual paternity through which he embraced everyone that would come in contact with him. "And since this paternity was completely supernatural," Fr. Eric explains, "it was strengthened by the fact that he went to Heaven. He could continue to exercise that spiri...
Jun 25, 2023•28 min
In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo reflects on how the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us of our "need to have a heart within us that beats at the same pace as Christ's, because that's what it means to be truly human." St. Augustine wrote, “You have made us for you, O Lord, and restless will our heart be until it rests in you.” Fr. Javier explains that "we can interpret this as our hearts will be restless until we actually synchronize our hearts to the heart of Christ." And, our...
Jun 12, 2023•32 min
In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo guides us to contemplate the beautiful gift of the Eucharist in which Jesus fulfills the promise to remain with us and to transform the world from within. The Eucharist, Fr. Javier explains, has "a double effect of restoring the spiritual losses caused by sins and defects and of increasing the power of the virtues. This is what happens when we go to Communion, when we receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord... this food is not transformed into us, we are t...
Jun 05, 2023•35 min
In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo leads us to pray and reflect with humility on the mystery and eternal love of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have been in love, from all eternity, before the foundation of the world," explains Fr. Javier. “Because that love is so great… the Holy Trinity has freely chosen to create us, to have creatures with which they can share this great happiness that the Father, the Son, and the...
Jun 01, 2023•34 min
This week, we're sharing a bonus episode as we end the Month of May dedicated to Our Lady! In this podcast, Fr. Eric Nicolai helps us reflect on the times when our faith and trust in God may seem quite fragile, even weak. In these moments, Fr. Eric explains, St. Josemaria would recommend recourse to little aspirations, glances at images of our Lady and other simple devotions, because these small acts end up awakening something within us. Mary seems to stir up devotion in us. She awakens our fait...
May 27, 2023•28 min
In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo helps us prepare for the great solemnity of Pentecost by guiding us to ask ourselves: What is my relationship with the Holy Spirit? Am I docile? Do I listen? "Wherever the Spirit is, there is newness, there is life," explains Fr. Javier. "There is definitely a difference between what the Apostles were before, and what the Apostles are after they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:1-11). And, "it's the power of humility... of the docility of the Apostles th...
May 22, 2023•35 min
In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on Christ’s last words before his Ascension issuing the commission to his disciples to preach the Gospel to every creature. In fact this commission is a “global apostolic assignment” that will remain until the end of time. It is an assignment, “to make disciples of all nations,” that reaches us today and should encompass every dimension of our lives as Christians. “Out of a hundred souls we are interested in a hundred,” said St. Josemaria Escriva. This...
May 15, 2023•29 min
In this podcast, Msgr. Fred Dolan reflects on the profound role for Our Lady in our lives as Christians and our need “to embrace Our Lady to remind her of how much we love her.” He especially reflects on the meaning and devotion to the Holy Rosary and how it is an expression we can you use to repeat our love for Our Lady “again and again and again.” As St. Josemaria Escriva wrote: “Today as in other times, the rosary must be a powerful weapon, to enable us to win in our interior struggle and to ...
May 08, 2023•25 min
In our podcast of the week, Fr. Donncha O hAodha reflects on the title of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, on this anniversary of the Dedication of the Prelatic Church of Opus Dei (May 2). The church was built by St. Josemaria Escriva as the central church of Opus Dei, the heart of the Prelature, in Rome. And he dedicated it to Our Lady of Peace. Like all of Our Lady’s titles, “Queen of Peace” stems from her motherhood, from being the Mother of Jesus Christ who is our peace. “For he is our peace… he ca...
May 01, 2023•19 min
In this podcast, Msgr. Fred Dolan reflects on the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. The Gospel of John gives us the image of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. This image captures the selfless, sacrificial love Christ has for each one of us. Further, Msgr. Dolan explains that we too are called to be good shepherds in our ordinary lives. We are called to have a constant concern for souls. He encourages us to pray about our role in the lives of others and stresses the impo...
Apr 24, 2023•21 min
In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the continual call toward conversion as we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. Drawing on the familiar story of the road to Emmaus, Fr. Peter encourages us to persevere in our daily prayer and to remain faithful through the moments in which we may not always recognize the presence of Christ. St. Josemaria explains: “Persevere in prayer. Persevere, even when your efforts seem sterile. Prayer is always fruitful” ( The Way , no. 101). View Transcript...
Apr 17, 2023•31 min
In this podcast for the Easter Octave, Fr. Leo Agustina takes us to the morning of the Resurrection when Mary Magdalene first encountered the risen Lord. He reminds us how “we know that it’s the morning of the Resurrection, but she didn’t know that.” Mary was just “trying to cope with the reality of Jesus being dead.” But that morning Jesus spoke to Mary Magdalene asking her, “Why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” In the voice that she recognized, he said her name in such a way that sh...
Apr 10, 2023•26 min
In this podcast, as we continue our Lenten devotions, Fr. Peter Armenio explores the theme of taking up the yoke of Jesus in order to follow him. Following Jesus inevitably entails bearing our cross daily of which suffering is the raw material: “Whether it's emotional, mental, psychological, moral, spiritual, physical, that's the raw material.” We all experience suffering to a greater or lesser degree. The key is not to turn away from suffering or to give up following Jesus when our suffering, o...
Mar 23, 2023•25 min
