August 4, 2026 • 20 mins
In today’s podcast, Fr. Peter Armenio reflects on the charity of God as “fuel” that enables us to seek holiness in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Our receptivity to God’s grace increases as we continue to strengthen our relationship with him through prayer and the sacraments. The grace we receive fills our life and will overflow into our relationships with one another, leading those we encounter closer to Christ.
As St. Josemaria explains: “Charity is not something we ourselves build up. It invades us along with God’s grace, ‘because he has loved us first’. We would do well to fill, to saturate ourselves with this most beautiful truth: ‘If we are able to love God, it is because we have been loved by God.’ Ask God boldly for this treasure, for the supernatural virtue of charity, so that you may practice it even in the smallest details” (Friends of God, no. 229).
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, amen.
My Lord and my God, I firmlybelieve that you are here, that
you see me, that you hear me.
I adore you with profoundreverence.
I ask your pardon for my sinsand the grace to make this time
of prayer fruitful.
(00:31):
My Immaculate Mother St.
Joseph, my father and Lord, myguardian angel, intercede for
me.
It's important that humilitycome before charity, because
humility creates the stagingarea of love.
All the good intentions in theworld cannot enable us to love
(00:56):
if there is too much self-love.
We all have self-love, but weneed to keep ridding ourselves
of that self-love.
And I probably as we keep atthis game of centering our lives
around Christ, we understandSaint Teresa of Avola, who says,
(01:16):
not to be taken verbatim orliterally, that bearing
humiliation willingly is worthmore than days of fasting.
That doesn't give us a pass fromfasting.
But Therese of Avala says thatit's that humility.
(01:37):
And seeing in the life of thesaints and special focus on
Saint Jose Maria, I've beenfortunate to meet people who
know him, knew him.
And they all say somethingsimilar.
(02:01):
Tremendous amount of warmth.
Tremendous amount of affection.
Joy.
In fact, he was naturally, I'dsay tough.
(02:23):
Given the situation of hiscountry.
But he'd break down into tears.
If someone of the work or intouch with the work suffered a
(02:43):
serious illness or passed away.
And he would kind of boast that,you know, I love you like your
mom does.
And he said, I the reason I cando that, he says, is that I see
the blood of our Lord in you.
(03:07):
And he said that we shouldnever, I'm paraphrasing in
informal American, that weshould never write ourselves
off.
Because we could write ourselvesoff.
Well, I'm not a very lovingperson, or I'm not a very giving
person, or I'm not a veryfriendly person, or I'm not a
very affectionate person.
Yes, you are.
(03:30):
Yes, you are.
It is a question, though, ofrefueling in love.
He says that love for others andcharity for others and joy are
(03:53):
intimately linked to how much wedeal with the fountain of love,
the well of love, which is theheart of Jesus.
So much emphasizing the truth inthe church.
This by Francis and especiallySaint John Paul, this mercy of
(04:15):
our Lord.
Let's look at what our Lordwants of you and me.
The gospel is directed to all ofus personally.
He's ready to cut the apostlesloose into a hostile world.
(04:42):
Where speaking aboutChristianity is like speaking
Chinese to a group of Italiansor Spaniards or Greeks.
And our Lord is not stalling.
Why don't you just teach us whatto do?
(05:04):
If you were an American Lord,you would talk about diet, you
would talk about learning newlanguages, you would talk about
getting in shape.
You know, there were no cars orplanes or trains, so you had to
be in decent shape to climbthose mountains and submit
yourself to the harsh climatesof those different parts of the
empire.
(05:26):
Just warn us what's gonnahappen, too.
We're gonna be severelybutchered.
No, I want just you gotta gethave you have to have one thing
clear.
You live this counsel, thiscommandment, it's gonna work.
(05:48):
That's what you gotta do.
It's not easy.
You have to give peoplehabitually and perfectly, but
nevertheless, truly, anexperience of the heart of our
Lord on some level.
(06:14):
That's why he washed feet.
I'm sure that set the apostleson edge.
Here's your last night.
And you're doing this.
What's the point?
We're incredulous.
We're befuddled.
(06:38):
When he washed their feet andtaken his garments and resumed
his place, he said to them, Doyou know what I have done to
you?
Yeah.
We're very uncomfortable aboutwhat you've done.
You've gone too far.
(06:58):
This is way off.
You call me teacher and lord,and you are right, for so I am.
If I then your Lord and teacherhave washed your feet, you also
ought to wash one another'sfeet.
(07:19):
Well, I have to ask you, Lord,because it sounds great as long
as I don't have to do it.
I can do it symbolically on HolyThursday.
But I have to translate thatfootwashing disposition and
actions into my daily, ordinarylife, like Jesus did in
Nazareth, like Joseph did, likeMary did.
(07:44):
You translate this.
Truly, truly, I say to you, aservant is not greater than his
master, nor is he who is sentgreater than he who sent him.
If you know these things,blessed are you if you do them.
I do know these things.
(08:04):
But what does that mean?
And he resumes it, he summarizesit.
The new commandment I give toyou that you love one another
even as I have loved you.
That you also love one another.
By this, all men and women willknow that you are my disciples
if you have love for oneanother.
Okay.
(08:25):
That's what worked, boys.
Maybe I could illustrate thiswith an anecdote because, you
know, I like like you, we haveour favorite saints.
I, you know, St.
Maximilian Colby, I love him,St.
Therese, Ida Stein, Padre Pio,of course, St.
(08:48):
Jose Maria.
So we, you know, Mother Teresa.
But I I don't know, I'm the Lordhas not called me with
extraordinary charisms to foundanything or lead the charge like
that.
I'm grateful that he hasn't.
(09:09):
But I read this, and then Iguess the Lord wants me to share
this with you.
I'm plagiarizing another priest,but I had read it before about a
woman who ran a pizza parlor inBoston or on the outskirts of
(09:29):
Boston.
She was a widow.
I don't think she made all thatmuch money.
She made enough to becomfortable.
And died in her early 80s.
And so there's an article abouther.
She would bake the pizza andwaitress and receptionist, she
(09:52):
was everything.
I mean, she had other peopleworking there.
And the narrative goes thatpeople loved her because, in
spite of all the customers, allher clientele, you felt
extremely special.
(10:12):
And you got the sensation thatshe didn't have anything to do
but hang out with you.
And you know, you're waiting foryour food and wants to know how
you're doing, and maybe shecould give you, you know, a
special topping and easyengaging conversation with kids
(10:33):
and playing with little babies,and she just would do that with
people.
Everybody felt very special withher.
And everybody thought, well, Ihave a special relationship with
whatever her name was, Mrs.
Donato, I think.
And the Lord called her out ofthis life, like all of us will
(10:54):
be called out.
And for her wake, now the moralof the story is, listen, you
know, what you don't want isjust five people coming to your
wake.
That's totally irrelevant.
That's not the point, how manypeople come to our wake, and
it's not a reflection of howholy we are or how unholy we
(11:16):
are.
But in her case, being workingthere for almost 60 years, or
that you had to wait two and ahalf hours to pay respects at
the wake.
The line was just out wayoutside the door.
(11:36):
And the funeral mass wasbursting at the seeds.
The priest loved her too.
She was just a one, and youknow, there's an article about
her being a wonderful humanbeing, didn't write speeches.
She was not an Uber woman, shewasn't terribly beautiful, she
(11:56):
wasn't that well educated.
She ran a pizza parlor.
East Coast pizza's pretty good,though.
So she ran that.
And she touched so many lives.
That was the point of thearticle.
You know, the it's just a womanrunning a pizza parlor, the
(12:21):
impact she had on people just bybeing very human, very
affectionate, and making a fussout of each person coming.
Now I gotta be who I am.
I'm not running a pizza parlor.
But I do want to be, that's whatJesus is commanding me, and that
(12:45):
is kind of tailored toAmericans.
Let's evaluate ourselves.
That's not a question of a guilttrip or getting discouraged with
ourselves, but this is what hesays.
I need to be known by mycharity, by my love.
What's step number one in doingthat?
(13:08):
It's not magic, but it's it'sit's completely indispensable.
You could do the same thing.
Some people think I havepreternatural powers of reading
a heart.
I don't, just for the record.
(13:30):
And you could do the same thing.
People see, they want somedirection.
And I said, You've been prayingthis week.
How do you know?
I just know you've been doingthat meditation that I've been
badgering you about.
(13:52):
And sometimes I say, I have afeeling you were not.
Pray, you haven't beenmeditating.
I have a feeling that youhaven't.
Oh my gosh, I said, You'recorrect.
How do you know?
I said, I just know.
So I scare people a little bit.
(14:13):
And I eventually say, Well,listen, I mean, there's that
that sparkle is not there, thejoy is not there.
And this is compatible withsuffering.
You just got, you need to talkto our Lord more.
And the more you talk to him,the kinder you're gonna be, the
(14:33):
more charitable you're gonna be.
Perfect?
No.
Do we have to work at it?
Yes.
Because Paul, who's alwaystalking about charity in all his
epistles, says something veryenlightening.
We've heard this, we've readthis.
Uh Romans 5.5.
(14:55):
He talks about charity as if itwere fuel, as if it were, you
know, some liquid poured intothe receptacle of your heart.
Let me just recite it.
The love of God has been pouredinto your hearts by the Holy
Spirit.
(15:17):
That's what Paul means when hesays, put on Jesus Christ, put
him on, put on his love.
And you can't love with hisheart unless you speak with him
and draw that love out of him.
And I would say charity issymbolized by the crucifix, by a
cross.
(15:37):
And you build a cross in inorder.
There are two necessary steps.
One step comes before the firstone.
You can't place the horizontalbar before you place the
vertical one.
(15:58):
The vertical bar is a symbol ofraising your mind to our Lord.
That has to come first,otherwise, you can't hang the
horizontal.
The horizontal beam signifiesloving one another.
Traditionally, I can't love oneanother unless I have that
(16:20):
vertical thing beam first.
The horizontal hangs on thevertical.
If the vertical is a toothpick,it doesn't hang.
And so don't write yourself off.
Peter, don't write yourself off.
(16:40):
You just gotta draw more out ofour Lord.
One more point.
unknown (16:51):
St.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Jose Maria says this is sounds like Francis wrote it,
but he didn't originally anyway.
Long faces, coarse manners, aridiculous appearance, a
repelling air.
Is that how you hope to inspireothers to follow Christ?
(17:16):
So, in this culture that is notinherently Christian right now,
we need to really lead withChrist.
We need to reveal Christ.
(17:45):
Church is in difficultsituations, case for 2,000
years, but right now we're inour own difficult situation.
And there's a certain claritythat what the Vatican Council
taught, what St.
Jose Maria saw on October 2nd,the hope of the church is the
(18:06):
laity.
Doesn't mean we priests are offthe hook.
But we've got to bring our Lordinto the workplace, into the
society here, into the street,onto the sports field, into the
party, into the politicalsector, every every capillary of
society.
And they have to make Christreal through prayer.
(18:32):
We read one last point inquotation from St.
Jose Maria 917, the way.
If you are an apostle, thesewere these words of the
(18:52):
disciples of Emmaus should risespontaneously to the lips of
your professional companionswhen they meet you along the way
of their lives.
Lord, may that happen.
Help me make a resolution tospeak with you because it's
about others.
It's not about me.
And my prayer life is a serviceso that I'm empowered to love
with your heart and have yourjoy with my temperament and
(19:14):
personality and with my manyflaws.
And when I love with your heart,I'm giving my friends, my
family, you.
Mary, pray for me.
Pray for all of us, so that werise to the occasion and that we
sincerely seek to love as he hasloved.
(19:37):
I thank you, my God, for thegood resolutions, affections,
and inspirations you havecommunicated to me in this
meditation.
I ask your help and put theminto effect.
My Immaculate Mother St.
Joseph, my father and Lord, myguardian angel, intercede for
me.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, amen.
My Lord and my God, I firmlybelieve that you are here, that
you see me, that you hear me.
I adore you with profoundreverence.
I ask your pardon for my sinsand the grace to make this time
of prayer fruitful.
(00:31):
My Immaculate Mother St.
Joseph, my father and Lord, myguardian angel, intercede for
me.
It's important that humilitycome before charity, because
humility creates the stagingarea of love.
All the good intentions in theworld cannot enable us to love
(00:56):
if there is too much self-love.
We all have self-love, but weneed to keep ridding ourselves
of that self-love.
And I probably as we keep atthis game of centering our lives
around Christ, we understandSaint Teresa of Avola, who says,
(01:16):
not to be taken verbatim orliterally, that bearing
humiliation willingly is worthmore than days of fasting.
That doesn't give us a pass fromfasting.
But Therese of Avala says thatit's that humility.
(01:37):
And seeing in the life of thesaints and special focus on
Saint Jose Maria, I've beenfortunate to meet people who
know him, knew him.
And they all say somethingsimilar.
(02:01):
Tremendous amount of warmth.
Tremendous amount of affection.
Joy.
In fact, he was naturally, I'dsay tough.
(02:23):
Given the situation of hiscountry.
But he'd break down into tears.
If someone of the work or intouch with the work suffered a
(02:43):
serious illness or passed away.
And he would kind of boast that,you know, I love you like your
mom does.
And he said, I the reason I cando that, he says, is that I see
the blood of our Lord in you.
(03:07):
And he said that we shouldnever, I'm paraphrasing in
informal American, that weshould never write ourselves
off.
Because we could write ourselvesoff.
Well, I'm not a very lovingperson, or I'm not a very giving
person, or I'm not a veryfriendly person, or I'm not a
very affectionate person.
Yes, you are.
(03:30):
Yes, you are.
It is a question, though, ofrefueling in love.
He says that love for others andcharity for others and joy are
(03:53):
intimately linked to how much wedeal with the fountain of love,
the well of love, which is theheart of Jesus.
So much emphasizing the truth inthe church.
This by Francis and especiallySaint John Paul, this mercy of
(04:15):
our Lord.
Let's look at what our Lordwants of you and me.
The gospel is directed to all ofus personally.
He's ready to cut the apostlesloose into a hostile world.
(04:42):
Where speaking aboutChristianity is like speaking
Chinese to a group of Italiansor Spaniards or Greeks.
And our Lord is not stalling.
Why don't you just teach us whatto do?
(05:04):
If you were an American Lord,you would talk about diet, you
would talk about learning newlanguages, you would talk about
getting in shape.
You know, there were no cars orplanes or trains, so you had to
be in decent shape to climbthose mountains and submit
yourself to the harsh climatesof those different parts of the
empire.
(05:26):
Just warn us what's gonnahappen, too.
We're gonna be severelybutchered.
No, I want just you gotta gethave you have to have one thing
clear.
You live this counsel, thiscommandment, it's gonna work.
(05:48):
That's what you gotta do.
It's not easy.
You have to give peoplehabitually and perfectly, but
nevertheless, truly, anexperience of the heart of our
Lord on some level.
(06:14):
That's why he washed feet.
I'm sure that set the apostleson edge.
Here's your last night.
And you're doing this.
What's the point?
We're incredulous.
We're befuddled.
(06:38):
When he washed their feet andtaken his garments and resumed
his place, he said to them, Doyou know what I have done to
you?
Yeah.
We're very uncomfortable aboutwhat you've done.
You've gone too far.
(06:58):
This is way off.
You call me teacher and lord,and you are right, for so I am.
If I then your Lord and teacherhave washed your feet, you also
ought to wash one another'sfeet.
(07:19):
Well, I have to ask you, Lord,because it sounds great as long
as I don't have to do it.
I can do it symbolically on HolyThursday.
But I have to translate thatfootwashing disposition and
actions into my daily, ordinarylife, like Jesus did in
Nazareth, like Joseph did, likeMary did.
(07:44):
You translate this.
Truly, truly, I say to you, aservant is not greater than his
master, nor is he who is sentgreater than he who sent him.
If you know these things,blessed are you if you do them.
I do know these things.
(08:04):
But what does that mean?
And he resumes it, he summarizesit.
The new commandment I give toyou that you love one another
even as I have loved you.
That you also love one another.
By this, all men and women willknow that you are my disciples
if you have love for oneanother.
Okay.
(08:25):
That's what worked, boys.
Maybe I could illustrate thiswith an anecdote because, you
know, I like like you, we haveour favorite saints.
I, you know, St.
Maximilian Colby, I love him,St.
Therese, Ida Stein, Padre Pio,of course, St.
(08:48):
Jose Maria.
So we, you know, Mother Teresa.
But I I don't know, I'm the Lordhas not called me with
extraordinary charisms to foundanything or lead the charge like
that.
I'm grateful that he hasn't.
(09:09):
But I read this, and then Iguess the Lord wants me to share
this with you.
I'm plagiarizing another priest,but I had read it before about a
woman who ran a pizza parlor inBoston or on the outskirts of
(09:29):
Boston.
She was a widow.
I don't think she made all thatmuch money.
She made enough to becomfortable.
And died in her early 80s.
And so there's an article abouther.
She would bake the pizza andwaitress and receptionist, she
(09:52):
was everything.
I mean, she had other peopleworking there.
And the narrative goes thatpeople loved her because, in
spite of all the customers, allher clientele, you felt
extremely special.
(10:12):
And you got the sensation thatshe didn't have anything to do
but hang out with you.
And you know, you're waiting foryour food and wants to know how
you're doing, and maybe shecould give you, you know, a
special topping and easyengaging conversation with kids
(10:33):
and playing with little babies,and she just would do that with
people.
Everybody felt very special withher.
And everybody thought, well, Ihave a special relationship with
whatever her name was, Mrs.
Donato, I think.
And the Lord called her out ofthis life, like all of us will
(10:54):
be called out.
And for her wake, now the moralof the story is, listen, you
know, what you don't want isjust five people coming to your
wake.
That's totally irrelevant.
That's not the point, how manypeople come to our wake, and
it's not a reflection of howholy we are or how unholy we
(11:16):
are.
But in her case, being workingthere for almost 60 years, or
that you had to wait two and ahalf hours to pay respects at
the wake.
The line was just out wayoutside the door.
(11:36):
And the funeral mass wasbursting at the seeds.
The priest loved her too.
She was just a one, and youknow, there's an article about
her being a wonderful humanbeing, didn't write speeches.
She was not an Uber woman, shewasn't terribly beautiful, she
(11:56):
wasn't that well educated.
She ran a pizza parlor.
East Coast pizza's pretty good,though.
So she ran that.
And she touched so many lives.
That was the point of thearticle.
You know, the it's just a womanrunning a pizza parlor, the
(12:21):
impact she had on people just bybeing very human, very
affectionate, and making a fussout of each person coming.
Now I gotta be who I am.
I'm not running a pizza parlor.
But I do want to be, that's whatJesus is commanding me, and that
(12:45):
is kind of tailored toAmericans.
Let's evaluate ourselves.
That's not a question of a guilttrip or getting discouraged with
ourselves, but this is what hesays.
I need to be known by mycharity, by my love.
What's step number one in doingthat?
(13:08):
It's not magic, but it's it'sit's completely indispensable.
You could do the same thing.
Some people think I havepreternatural powers of reading
a heart.
I don't, just for the record.
(13:30):
And you could do the same thing.
People see, they want somedirection.
And I said, You've been prayingthis week.
How do you know?
I just know you've been doingthat meditation that I've been
badgering you about.
(13:52):
And sometimes I say, I have afeeling you were not.
Pray, you haven't beenmeditating.
I have a feeling that youhaven't.
Oh my gosh, I said, You'recorrect.
How do you know?
I said, I just know.
So I scare people a little bit.
(14:13):
And I eventually say, Well,listen, I mean, there's that
that sparkle is not there, thejoy is not there.
And this is compatible withsuffering.
You just got, you need to talkto our Lord more.
And the more you talk to him,the kinder you're gonna be, the
(14:33):
more charitable you're gonna be.
Perfect?
No.
Do we have to work at it?
Yes.
Because Paul, who's alwaystalking about charity in all his
epistles, says something veryenlightening.
We've heard this, we've readthis.
Uh Romans 5.5.
(14:55):
He talks about charity as if itwere fuel, as if it were, you
know, some liquid poured intothe receptacle of your heart.
Let me just recite it.
The love of God has been pouredinto your hearts by the Holy
Spirit.
(15:17):
That's what Paul means when hesays, put on Jesus Christ, put
him on, put on his love.
And you can't love with hisheart unless you speak with him
and draw that love out of him.
And I would say charity issymbolized by the crucifix, by a
cross.
(15:37):
And you build a cross in inorder.
There are two necessary steps.
One step comes before the firstone.
You can't place the horizontalbar before you place the
vertical one.
(15:58):
The vertical bar is a symbol ofraising your mind to our Lord.
That has to come first,otherwise, you can't hang the
horizontal.
The horizontal beam signifiesloving one another.
Traditionally, I can't love oneanother unless I have that
(16:20):
vertical thing beam first.
The horizontal hangs on thevertical.
If the vertical is a toothpick,it doesn't hang.
And so don't write yourself off.
Peter, don't write yourself off.
(16:40):
You just gotta draw more out ofour Lord.
One more point.
unknown (16:51):
St.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Jose Maria says this is sounds like Francis wrote it,
but he didn't originally anyway.
Long faces, coarse manners, aridiculous appearance, a
repelling air.
Is that how you hope to inspireothers to follow Christ?
(17:16):
So, in this culture that is notinherently Christian right now,
we need to really lead withChrist.
We need to reveal Christ.
(17:45):
Church is in difficultsituations, case for 2,000
years, but right now we're inour own difficult situation.
And there's a certain claritythat what the Vatican Council
taught, what St.
Jose Maria saw on October 2nd,the hope of the church is the
(18:06):
laity.
Doesn't mean we priests are offthe hook.
But we've got to bring our Lordinto the workplace, into the
society here, into the street,onto the sports field, into the
party, into the politicalsector, every every capillary of
society.
And they have to make Christreal through prayer.
(18:32):
We read one last point inquotation from St.
Jose Maria 917, the way.
If you are an apostle, thesewere these words of the
(18:52):
disciples of Emmaus should risespontaneously to the lips of
your professional companionswhen they meet you along the way
of their lives.
Lord, may that happen.
Help me make a resolution tospeak with you because it's
about others.
It's not about me.
And my prayer life is a serviceso that I'm empowered to love
with your heart and have yourjoy with my temperament and
(19:14):
personality and with my manyflaws.
And when I love with your heart,I'm giving my friends, my
family, you.
Mary, pray for me.
Pray for all of us, so that werise to the occasion and that we
sincerely seek to love as he hasloved.
(19:37):
I thank you, my God, for thegood resolutions, affections,
and inspirations you havecommunicated to me in this
meditation.
I ask your help and put theminto effect.
My Immaculate Mother St.
Joseph, my father and Lord, myguardian angel, intercede for
me.
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