St. Josemaria Institute Podcast

In this meditation for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Fr Javier del Castillo reflects on the Gospel of the day (Luke 1: 26-38) and invites us to prepare our hearts for Christmas by striving to have a listening heart like Mary. “This Advent we have to adapt the same kind of contemplative listening of Our Lady to be able to listen to the whisper of God that comes to us” and “to prepare a place for Him in our hearts.”Advent is a time of expectation, preparation, purification and contemplation— this is true both as we prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas and also as we prepare to receive Him (daily or weekly) in the Eucharist.Reflecting on the life of St Josemaria Escriva, Fr Javier explains the ways that he would prepare himself for Mass every day. Among them was the practice of repeating brief prayers or aspirations throughout the day; for example, the prayer of the spiritual communion, which St Josemaria learned as a young boy: “I wish my Lord to receive you with the purity, humility and devotion

In this meditation for the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Fr Javier del Castillo reflects on the profound meaning of this passage from St Paul - “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). “We ought to rejoice. This is something really important, absolutely necessary, to rejoice in the Lord always because the Lord is near." "This presence of the Lord is the cause of our joy because it makes us joyful and makes us happy… not only when things are going well… always, no matter what… and then we can radiate our cheerfulness to others… doesn’t matter what’s happening on the outside… what matters is that we be close to our Lord. And only insofar as we let our Lord be close to us can we be truly joyful, cheerful, and can we radiate cheerfulness to others.”To have this joy and cheerfulness starting this Advent and Christmas we can follow three steps:1. Prayer2. Forgiveness3. Service (Jesus, others and then yourself)Support the showTHANK YOU FOR LISTENING!Let us know that o

In this new podcast from the St. Josemaria Institute, Fr Javier del Castillo reflects on St John the Baptist to show how, like the saint, “we can become active listeners of the Word in our hearts.”In particular, this talk aims “to persuade you to embrace a lifestyle where there is room for reading and meditation on Sacred Scripture or other spiritual reading, like the lives of the saints and other spiritual classics, that can help us grow in our interior lives.”Among the recommendations in this talk are the three steps to get started on your spiritual reading plan:1. Make TimeEach day set aside time for spiritual reading (10-15 minutes) and Biblical reading (5-10 minutes).2. Take Notes As you are reading or when you finish, write down what strikes you and what moves you. Also, start writing a list of passages from the Bible that you can frequently take to your prayer - make a top 100 list!3. PracticeWhat are you going to put into practice— a resolution, a goal, or a small sacrifice— that day (or the next) fro

As we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th), Fr Javier del Castillo's homily, “Stella Matutina", helps us to reflect on the meaning of this special title of our Lady, "Morning Star", and how Mary “entrusted herself entirely to God, and in this we can hope to imitate her on our way to holiness.”“Stella Matutina” (Morning Star) is a homily by Fr Javier del Castillo given on the Eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at St. Mary of the Angels Church in Chicago, Illinois (USA) in 2010. 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!

As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States, Father Javier del Castillo reminds us in this meditation, as St. Josemaria Escriva also often did, that we ought to thank God always by habitually making frequent acts of thanksgiving, acts of gratitude.“We were never asked by God to come into existence,” Fr Javier explains, “everything we have— our talents, our virtues, even our defects— all have been been foreseen by God, allowed by God, given to us by God so that we can fulfill the single mission that we have received from before the foundation of the world, as St Paul would say, in giving glory to God. ‘Thank you Lord for everything because everything is good.’” And as we strive to maintain a constant spirit of gratitude in our lives we will realize that "thanksgiving enlarges our hearts to receive even greater gifts from 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. St

As we celebrate the Feast of All Saints on November 1, Fr Javier del Castillo helps us in this meditation to reflect on:- What is the Communion of Saints- The variety of saints (each unique in their way of holiness) that make up the Communion of Saints- How we participate in the Communion of Saints through our common union with Jesus Christ- How “Thinking Globally. Acting Locally.” can help us to grow in holiness as we care for the needs, struggles, pains, etc., of those near and far away from 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!

In this meditation for October 2, a special anniversary in the life of St Josemaria, Fr Javier del Castillo explains how God showed St Josemaria his vocation to be the founder of Opus Dei and the prayers and circumstances that led up to that moment. Inspired by this anniversary, Fr Javier explains how we too are lead to ask ourselves: "What does God want of me?" "What does He want me to do?" And he offers practical ways in which we can answer those questions through our daily life and work.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, Father Javier del Castillo contemplates the origin of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the meaning of suffering, and how both the little and big crosses in our lives are opportunities to be united in humility to the cross of Jesus Christ. As Father Javier explains, “God didn’t come to get rid of suffering but to give meaning to suffering with His cross… the meaning of 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!