St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

In a homily given by St. Josemaria Escriva in the 1960’s he calls all to imitate Jesus’ love for Humanity. What does this call invite us to do today? Fr. Peter Armenio, an Opus Dei priest, enlightens us by mentioning that the call to “Passionately Love The World,” invites us to leave our comfort zone, find new compassion for others, be present for those who do not know that they hunger for Christ, His consolation, and His peace. In turn, our efforts of imitating Christ will ultimately give our lives meaning and we will have found true love.Jesus summoned his disciples and said, "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way." . . . Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" "Seven," . . . "and a few fish. . . . Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.” Matt. 15:32-37We should take note that if we trust enough to give Our Lord Jesus Christ all that we have, as in the loaves and the fish, then there is nothing to worry about for Jesus will always take care of us.Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

Fr. Peter Armenio, an Opus Dei priest, is quoted in this podcast saying, “We are disciples of Christ marked with this unity of life that we give an experience of Christ through joy.”   He challenges us to evaluate our daily lives and see if we can find Christ there in the midst.He stresses that, as Disciples of Christ there should be a common thread that runs through our lives. This Common thread is the manner in which we interact with others through which they can see the presence of Jesus Christ in our very person. Just like the vessels of clay St. Paul refers to when telling the Corinthians that they must hold God within their being in order to be able to give Him to others.We must let others experience Christ through our very actions of love, kindness, affection, and joy then they can recognize the life of Christ alive in us. The receiver of these actions should feel loved through our being present to them.Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

Fr. Peter Armenio, an Opus Dei priest, reminds us that St. Josemaria was inspired by the light of God with the mission to bring Christ into the heart of the entire world in a way that He had never been before. Into a world that is gripped by a culture of death; to be healed by the intervention of God’s Mercy. “God is the same as always. It is men of faith that are needed: and then, there will be a renewal of the wonders we read of in the Gospel” (St. Josemaria; The Way, no. 586).Faith filled children of God are called to participate in this beautiful mission. We are to replicate both the joy and the affection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This can be done if first a well formed interior life of prayer is established, for it is our prayer life that exudes this joy, the light of Christ. Fr. Peter refers to what St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote in his Oration #39 that, “[God] wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shinning in the world.” This is no ordinary light he speaks of; it is a light in which we are bathed in the glory of God. Let us ask Our Blessed Mother Mary to help us enter into the light, the light of her Son, which is nothing more and nothing less than the Mercy of God.Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

Jesus spoke these words, “For I tell you, that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).In this passage, Fr. Peter Armenio, an Opus Dei priest, points out that we must not lack repentance, love for God, and affection and compassion for others, especially those alienated from God. Our Lord calls us to love our neighbor, for when we are loving our neighbor; we are loving God. In the spirit of St. Josemaria Escriva’s charism of living daily life, we can look at this quote from Archbishop Nguyen Van Thuan (1928-2002), when addressing the Lord, “I will no longer look back but do willingly, simply, humbly, and bravely the duties which come from the circumstances in which I find myself, as your will.” Then again, “ I want to turn every minute that remains in my life into an act of love.” These words can become our daily mantra when we are faced with our daily crosses and are struggling interiorly for the strength to carry them.Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

“My Father — talk to him like that, confidently — who art in heaven, look upon me with compassionate Love, and make me respond to thy love.—Melt and enkindle my heart of bronze, burn and purify my unmortified flesh, fill my mind with supernatural light, make my tongue proclaim the Love and Glory of Christ” (St. Josemaria, The Forge, no. 3).Fr. Peter Armenio, priest of Opus Dei, reflects upon the idea of divine filiation, that we have been made children of God through our Lord’s redemption. By being reborn in Jesus Christ through baptism, we become like Christ the Son, through whom God the Father loves us. By growing deeper in our relationship with Jesus, we can grow in our sense of divine filiation and benefit more from the love of God the Father.Divine filiation should serve as a reference point for our lives. Especially through our difficulties and anxieties, we can draw perspective by remembering that we are nothing less than children of God and that our Father is infinite, all-powerful love. This outlook will continue to fortify us through life’s struggles and help us to maintain our interior peace.Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

“I will get up an go back to my father and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants'” (Luke 15:18-19).While making use of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Fr. Peter Armenio, an Opus Dei priest, causes the observer to stop and think about the reason why a soul is moved to repentance. Fr. Peter explains that it is the devout contemplation of the goodness of God and the returning loving gaze of our Lord upon our souls that elicits a desire for profound repentance and thus to have a conversion of heart. If we take time to really consider our actions and are honest with ourselves and with God, we can receive freedom from sin, the healing that God is offering through Jesus Christ through the priest in confession.Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

In this meditation, Fr. Peter Armenio, a priest of Opus Dei, invites us to come to understand the importance of the second most perfect gift that God has given us at the foot of the cross, the Mother of Jesus, the Queen of Heaven and Earth, is also our Mother. He explains through her Immaculate Conception, she had been prepared for the sole purpose of helping us become children of God worthy of being saints.This generosity of God can be seen as we celebrate the 100th Anniversary, October 13, 2017, of Our Mother Mary appearing at Fatima showering us with her “Motherly Love” and asking us to let her help us by invoking her through praying the rosary. It is precisely in this act that Fr. Peter reminds us that the shortest way to Jesus is through Mary.In honoring the graces that God the Father has bestowed upon Our Beloved Mother, let us, “Sing to the Immaculate Virgin, reminding her: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail Mary, Mother of God the Son: Hail Mary, Spouse of God the holy Spirit...Greater than you, none but God!” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, no. 496).Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

In this podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio invites us to reflect upon the cross, particularly as a medium to connect with the Lord.  Highlighting the imprisonment and martyrdom of St. Thomas More as an example, Fr. Peter illustrates that when faced with suffering, we might be tempted to discouragement if we are not quick to embrace the cross or delight in it.  But he reminds us that although suffering is essential for growing in intimacy with the Lord, as long as we are trying to bear it alone, we will struggle.  We need to remind ourselves: “It’s not my cross, it’s his, and he does the heavy lifting."In order to grow in our love for the cross, Fr. Peter suggests listening to Jesus’ words when he told his Apostles to “watch and pray.”  The Lord is our role model in his suffering and agony, since any cross we are enduring, he also endured.  Thus he is our template for suffering; by watching Jesus, our suffering can be lessened and we can grow in deeper unity and intimacy with him through the cross.“The Cross symbolizes the life of an apostle of Christ, with a strength and a truth that delight both soul and body, though sometimes it is hard, and we can feel its weight.”St. JosemariaThe Forge, no. 757View TranscriptVisit Show PageSupport the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

In this meditation from Fr. Peter Armenio, priest of Opus Dei, we are invited to reflect upon the “apostolate of attraction” as the means by which we are to fulfill the Great Commission and lead others into relationship with Jesus Christ. This type of apostolate, as old as the Gospel itself and encouraged by Pope Francis, begins by our faithful witness to the love of Christ: “people need to see us as oases of joy and peace.”   It is our witness, only later accompanied by doctrine, that will prove that Jesus is real.“Whenever sanctity is genuine, it overflows from its vessel to fill other hearts, other souls, with its superabundance. We, the children of God, sanctify ourselves by sanctifying others. Is Christian life growing around you? Consider this every day” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Forge, no. 856). Before our Lord sent the Apostles out into the world, he gave them the new commandment of love, instructing them to remain united with him and replicate his heart. Despite any obstacles and difficulties they would face, Jesus promised them that in following this commandment, they would succeed in sharing the Gospel, since it would be him acting through them. This remains true for us still today; if we remain united to his heart and participate in his life, others will come to know him through our love.Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!

Fr. Peter Armenio, priest of Opus Dei, helps us to reflect upon the means of becoming like Christ using the story of the Rich Young Man (Mark 10: 17-22) as the model. The young man, desiring eternal life, asks Jesus what he must do. After exhorting the young man to follow the commandments, Jesus invites him to “give it all” and become his disciple. It is this invitation that Christ repeats to us as well; how is Jesus calling us to follow him more closely? One danger in the spiritual life can be to regard our life of prayer and formation as a time of personal training or self-improvement. Instead, Fr. Peter reminds us that the goal of prayer and formation is to encounter Jesus and grow more deeply in our love of him and others. By responding to prayer in this way, we will “become Christ” and our lives will be a witness to others, giving them an experience of the heart of Christ. “You lack drive. That's why you sway so few. You don't seem very convinced of what you gain by giving up those things of the earth for Christ. Just compare: a hundredfold and life everlasting! Would you call that a poor bargain?” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, no. 791).Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that our podcast is important to you: Share your favorite episodes with others and leave us a rating or review. Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: www.stjosemaria.org Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please consider helping us keep our episodes free and accessible for all our listeners: Give today!