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Holiness for the Working Day
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Holiness for the Working Day

Author: Fr. James Searby

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From the classroom to the office to everywhere in between, struggling for goodness & holiness can be a daunting task. In these homilies, meditations, classes & talks by Fr. James Searby, discover the possibility of Holiness for the Working Day.
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Easter 2026  HE HAS RISEN! HAPPY EASTER TO ALL! 
Easter Vigil 2026 HAPPY EASTER! HE HAS RISEN! 
Palm Sunday 2026 Enter this week in silence, get rid of the distractions if only for a week, and allow the Lord to invite you on the Way. 
Some years ago, a simple car ride with my young nephew became something unexpected, a window into the deepest structure of the human heart. His endless questions, his wonder at everything from trees to passing strangers, revealed something we are all born with but often lose, what Luigi Giussani calls the religious sense. In this episode, we trace that childlike openness all the way to the Annunciation, where Our Lady, fully awake and receptive, encounters God in a way that awakens everything and demands a response. Drawing from Giussani, Thomas Aquinas, and Joseph Ratzinger, we explore how vocation is not something we construct, but something spoken to us, and how true freedom is not keeping options open, but giving ourselves completely to what is real and good. This is an episode about wonder, encounter, and the quiet, world-changing power of a single yes.
Be It Done To Me

Be It Done To Me

2026-03-2610:11

Solemnity of the Annunciation 2026
Monday of the 5th Week of Lent, 2026
"If You Had Been Here"

"If You Had Been Here"

2026-03-2421:30

The Raising of Lazerus and the Pondering of Death  5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, year A 2026
A Great Conversation with Fr. Ken Gerasi I am honored to have Fr. Ken Gerasi on the podcast with me. Fr. Ken recently led our lenten parish mission here at the Basilica of St. Mary and our fireside chat was a real treat for me. I am happy to share it with you. This is the link to the video: https://stmaryoldtown.org/searbygeraciconverse/ Fr. Ken Geraci lived the life of the prodigal son for most of his young adult life. Raised in a nominally Catholic family, who only lived the externals of the faith, as a young man, he left the Catholic Church for many years. During that time, he earned a business degree and achieved business success, but made little room for God. God, however, did not give up on him. During this journey, Our Lord presented him with challenges that forced him to question his personal beliefs and to ask the question "What is Truth?" Through a series of conversions, years of struggle, study and questioning, Fr. Ken found his way from agnosticism, to non-denominational Christianity, and ultimately back to the Catholic Church. Fr. Ken joined the Fathers of Mercy in 2006 and was ordained in 2012.
An Ode to Teachers

An Ode to Teachers

2026-03-2445:48

A talk to Atrium teachers in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.  A special thanks for all teachers in this episode. 
In this first part of a meditation on justice, we explore the classic definition given by St. Thomas Aquinas: "reddere unicuique suum"—to give to each person what is due to them. Beginning with powerful scenes from A Man for All Seasons and reflections from Aristotle, Chesterton, and the Christian tradition, this episode examines why justice is rooted in the dignity of the human person created by God. We consider the origin of rights, the meaning of "inalienable," and why justice ultimately begins not with defending our own rights but with giving others theirs. Along the way we reflect on the nobility of the human person, the dangers of societies that deny that dignity, and how justice shapes everything from public life to our interior attitudes toward others. This is the first half of a longer meditation that lays the philosophical and spiritual foundation for understanding justice in our time.
Begin with the End in mind. 
A warm evening walk through Old Town turned into a meditation on something I keep noticing more and more in our culture, the strange fear of growing older. The line between youth and adulthood has become so blurred that many people seem to cling to the appearance and customs of youth long after that season has passed. The old milestones of adulthood have faded or been pushed further and further out, and beneath it all there seems to be a deeper anxiety about aging, meaning, and death itself. In this meditation I reflect on how the classical virtue of prudence helps us see reality as it truly is and teaches us to live in harmony with it. Prudence allows us to accept the season of life we are in with honesty and even with a kind of elegance, rather than pretending to be something we are not. The Christian life ultimately frees us from the desperate need to stay young, because our hope is not in youth but in the eternal life promised by God.
this is part 1 of a series on the Cardinal Virtues. 
Using Desert Power

Using Desert Power

2026-02-2214:54

1st Sunday of Lent, Year A 2026 The Tempation in the Desert 
The healing time of lent  Ash Wednesday 2026
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A and Valentine's Day 2026
This Lent, we step into a type of Groundhog Day and discover that the real loop is not time, but of the heart. Like Phil Connors, we can drift through repetition, chasing comfort and distraction, or we can let repetition become formation. Lent is not a diet, a productivity plan, or spiritual biohacking. It is a training camp for love. It is the joyful adventure of waking up to the ordinary day and choosing to grow in it. It is the season where the mind is reawakened, attention is purified, and sanctifying grace elevates our natural powers so we can truly know Christ and love like Him. This is the school of love, where virtue is formed through daily practice, where the fog lifts, where the intellect comes alive, and where the loop breaks not because circumstances change, but because we do as we journey to Easter. 
This is the last talk in the meditation series on Surrender. 
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