Dr. Italy

Saint Joseph always appears in Manger scenes during Advent and Christmas time and even has a special Solemnity or Feast in his honor, St. Joseph's Day, March 19.  But he is so often neglected that St. John Paul II decided to write a special teaching about his role as foster-father of Jesus.  This essay makes a case that St. Joseph teaches us some crucial things about the nature of faith that we can't afford to forget.

Imagine: you are ten years past customary retirement age.  It's time finally to kick back and relax.  You live in a great city where everything is at your fingertips – shopping opportunities, cultural events, all your relatives and lifelong friends.  Suddenly an unknown God appears and tells you to pack up, uproot your life, and march into an uncivilized wilderness.

In this Lenten podcast, Matt Swaim asks Dr. Italy about his new book, 40 Days, 40 Ways, A New Look at Lent (Servant Books).  In response, Marcellino D'Ambrosio explains the book's aim to help people break out of "same old" stale Lenten patterns. The book does this by offering forty fresh ideas of how to combine prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  The goal is to make us new people by the end of the season.

7 minute interview of Dr. Italy by Anna Mitchell of the Sonrise Morning Show, on St. Polycarp, one of the most fascinating of the Apostolic Fathers, those who pass on to us what they heard from the apostles of Jesus.

The Temptation of Jesus in the Desert is the gospel of the first Sunday of Lent. The purple color of Lent symbolizes penance, but also royalty. As we remember how the first Adam was tempted and failed his test, we rejoice that Christ the King, the New Adam, triumphed over the tempter. We celebrate that we, sons and daughters of the same heavenly King, can also win the battle against temptation. A reflection on the scripture readings for the First (1st) Sunday of Lent, Jesus' temptation in the desert, liturgical cycle A (Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Psalm 51, Romans 5:12-19; and Matthew 4:1-11).

This 18 minute Lenten podcast from the Catholic Connection addresses the forty days of Lent and the hidden symbolism behind the number 40 which reappears in so many places throughout the Sacred Scriptures.  Show host Elena Rodriguez, pinch hitting for Teresa Tomeo, asks Dr. Italy to uncover the mystery of why Lent has 40 days and what this tells us about how we are to approach the season.

We so often condemn the Pharisees that we totally miss a sneaky way that we are often like them.  The hard saying of Jesus "if you hand causes you to sin, cut it off" is a kind of shock therapy to wake us up to the way we are hard on other's faults yet quite soft on our own.  It's time to take aggressive action against evil and say "no thanks" to the near occasion of sin!  For the 26th Sunday in Ordinary time, cycle B.

Podcast excerpted from radio interview in which Dr. Italy offers some reflections on the apparitions of Mary to lowly shepherd girls in Lourdes in 1858.

You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, proclaims Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.  This seems to indicate that there is an essential role for passion, excitement and fire in the Christian life.

In this 15 minute podcast, Dr. Italy discusses the meaning of the ancient feast of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the temple by Joseph and Mary.  The righteous Israelite, Simeon, being advanced in years, rejoices to see the child he recognizes to be the one to bring the light of truth & salvation to all people.

In this 7 minute podcast, Dr. Italy discusses St. Thomas Aquinas and what he teaches us about the roles of faith and reason.  For his feast day on January 28.

7 minute Podcast on why the Church celebrates the Conversion of Saul of Tarsus, aka St. Paul, with a special feast.  Dr. Italy on the Sonrise Morning Show of EWTN.

When people today hear "St. Anthony," they usually think of the 13th century miracle-working Franciscan who is best known for finding lost objects.  But a thousand years earlier, there lived the first St. Anthony who was also a miracle worker in a most remarkable way.  This Anthony, an Egyptian, was a leader in the movement called monasticism.  Giving away property and privilege to follow Jesus into poverty, Anthony left the comfort of civilization to go alone into the desert to battle the devil in imitation of Jesus Christ.  Anthony prayed, healed, and fought many battles, not only against demons, but against the Arian heretics who denied the divinity of Christ.  In this podcast you will learn about his impact upon the entire Roman world through the book written about him by another famous figure of that era, the great Athanasius.

Everyone has heard of the river Jordan, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.  But few know much about it or can visualize it. Dr. Italy has taught on the banks of the Jordan upwards of thirty times over the past twenty years.  Here he paints a visual picture of the Jordan emerging in far North Israel from the base of the snow-capped Mt. Hermon, and flowing downhill to the Sea of Galilee at the location of the ancient town of Bethsaida and just  a short distance from Capernaum.

Everyone knows the story of the first of the Lord's "signs" -- how Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana at the request of Mary, his mother. But there is more to the story than at first meets the eye.

This commentary on the Feast of the Epiphany uncovers the meaning of the term epiphany and explains why the Magi -- Caspar, Balthasar, Melchior, the three kings of Orient riding camels and carrying gold, frankincense, and myrrh -- are found, complete with crowns and camels, in every nativity scene.

January 1 is a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics.  Not because it is New Year's day, but because it is the octave (8th day) of Christmas.  This feast of Mary, the Mother of God, brings home the reality of the incarnation. In Jesus, the Creator truly became man.  And that man had, and still has, a mother.  So affirmed the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in AD 431.

14 minute podcast in which Dr. Italy describes the town of Bethlehem and the field of the Shepherds at the time of the birth of Christ.  Helps bring the Christmas story alive as we read of the little town that was the city of David. At Christmas we sing "O little town of Bethlehem."  But what was this town like at the time of Jesus?  And how likely is it that the Church of the Nativity, on Manger Square, is built over the actual birth site of Jesus.  What is it like to enter and explore that church and to descend into the cave that is traditionally regarded as the place where Mary gave birth to Christ?

We all know the elements of the Christmas story: Caesar's census and Herod, shepherds and Magi, ox , swaddling clothes & manger, a stable and not room in the inn, Bethlehem and the Prince of Peace.  But underneath each of these people, places, and things, there is deeper meaning that often goes unnoticed.

John the Baptist is often thought of as a stern, grim figure.  But as a matter of fact, he could be the patron saint of joy!  Maybe that's why is is the focal point of the gospel for Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday, the third (3rd) Sunday of Advent.  Joy comes only through humility and repentance. On the third Sunday of Advent, the penitential purple of the season changes to rose and we celebrate "Gaudete" or "Rejoice!" Sunday. "Shout for joy, daughter of Sion" says Zephaniah.  "Draw water joyfully from the font of salvation," says Isaiah.  "Rejoice in the Lord always," says St. Paul.  "Do penance for the judge is coming," says John the Baptist.