Holiness for the Working Day

1th Sunday in Ordinary Time, year A. 2026 We are the lost ones. We are all troubled and abandoned. We are the sheep without a shepherd. And in that, He changes everything.  Grâce infinie de notre Dieu, Qui un jour m'a sauvé. J'allais errant de lieu en lieu, Quand Il m'a retrouvé.

A Meditation for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart 

In this series we exploe what it means to be fully human towards a deeper understanding of the Pope's new encyclical on AI. I hope you enjoy, and I hope this summer affords you real rest and active receptivity of reality. 

Corpus Christi 2026

Nice is ignorance with a smile. Kindness is love with a spine. This is the time for a radical revolution of our time, one person, one act, one canvas at a time, a revolution of kindness. 

Feast of the Holy Trinity 2026

Children's homily for the feast of the Holy Trinity 

Feast of the Ascension 2026 I will be on vacation the next two weeks and will not be posting to the podcast. Please pray for me on the journey to Europe and I look forward to posting again soon. All listeners are in my daily prayers. - Fr. James Searby 

What if the restlessness you feel is not a problem to be solved but a compass pointing you home? In this third meditation, we go to the very root of that restlessness: eros. Not the shallow, pornographic version our culture has reduced it to, and not the sanitized, nervously-avoided version some Christianity has offered in response, but eros in its full, ancient, and serious meaning, the primal human desire to satiate in beauty and be happy. We trace it from Hesiod and Homer through Plato's ladder of love, through the boldly erotic imagery of the Old Testament prophets, through the Eucharist itself, and into the great question Thomas Aquinas forces us to face: is your soul ascending toward Beauty-itself, or has acedia quietly starved your desire until the climb no longer seems worth it? Along the way we tell the story of Eros and Psyche, one of the most theologically rich myhts ever told, and we let it do what great stories do: show us who we are, where we are in the journey, and why the Beloved who is already looking for us is worth every impossible task on the way up.

Children's homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter and Mother's Day

6th sunday of Easter 2026 and Mother's Day

5th Sunday of Easter, Year A Gospel John 14:1-12 Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way." Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."

On a dusk walk through Old Town, a chance encounter with a young man swooning outside his girlfriend's window becomes a meditation on one of the deepest hungers of modern life. Drawing on Joseph Pieper, Thomas Aquinas, and the medieval contemplative tradition, this episode explores why only the lover truly sees, and why that matters for everything from friendship and prayer to the quiet poverty underneath all our productivity. If modern life has trained us to move through the world like a camera, objective and detached, what does it cost us? And what would it mean to become a lover again, to let reality actually get through, and sing?

What does it take to stand firm when everything in you wants to fold — not just on the battlefield, but in the garden at Chelsea, in the courtroom, at the kitchen table with someone you love? In this episode we look at fortitude, what Adam Smith called "the uniquely splendid quality of man," through the eyes of Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, and some of the most vivid moments in Scripture, literature, and film. We start where the Church starts us this week — with the apostles, sprung from prison by an angel, walking straight back to the temple at dawn to keep preaching. That is fortitude in its purest form. From there we explore why only the vulnerable can be truly brave, why Aquinas says endurance is a harder and nobler act than attack, and why most of what the world calls courage is actually one of five convincing counterfeits. We spend time with Thomas More, standing quiet and unshakeable before the most powerful man in England, and we ask what his daily courage demands of us — not the grand martyrdom, but the ordinary refusal to smile and nod at what is false. Because there is no automatic victory in human affairs. The victory of truth depends, to some considerable extent, on your defense of it.

Divine Mercy Sunday 2026 Our pain, wounds, fears and flaws are "Transubstantiated" by His Mercy 

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.

Solemnity of the Annunciation 2026

Monday of the 5th Week of Lent, 2026

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.

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. 

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. 

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Gospel Matthew 4:12-23 or 4:12-17 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

This episode explores the fear that sits beneath both creativity and ordinary life, the quiet conviction that we are not enough, that if we stop producing we might disappear. Beginning with Tolkien's line about fearing "so small a thing," the reflection moves through impostor syndrome, perfectionism, and what John Barth called Scheherazade's terror, the belief that silence equals death. From there, it opens onto the Christian paradox that freedom does not come from control, but from surrender. Drawing on Tolkien's idea of eucatastrophe, the sudden turn when grace intervenes after our strength is spent, the episode argues that real creativity, real peace, and real joy emerge only when we let go and place our lives fully in God's hands. It closes with a quiet, moving image of childlike joy at a graveside, a reminder that surrender is not weakness but courage, and that resting in God is the only place fear finally loosens its grip.

2nd Sunday in Ordinary time, Year A  Gospel John 1:29-34 John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, 'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.' I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel." John testified further, saying, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."

What if the reason we feel anxious, blocked, and exhausted is not a lack of effort, but a refusal to surrender? This episode weaves poetry, ancient myth, modern culture, and Christian wisdom into a single question: where does real creativity and real peace actually come from? From the Greek Muses and Plato's divine madness, through Homer and Shakespeare, to Augustine, Aquinas, Tolkien, and Christ in Gethsemane, this talk challenges the modern instinct to control, perform, and self-create. If you feel restless, afraid to let go, or stuck trying to hold your life together, this episode invites you to listen closely, because peace does not come from mastery, it comes from trust.

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2026  

Jesus Christ is not something we watch or analyze; He is an event that addresses us and demands a response. This meditation explores how distraction and passive consumption dull our capacity to behold reality, and how attention, prayer, and creativity restore it. Rooted in the Catholic understanding of Christ as the One who encounters us, this reflection invites a return to seeing, creating, and living in response to Him. Join me in this year of creating and not consuming. Join me on the journey to freedom and encounter.  Join me throughout this year as I post more material on my new Substack account.  @holinessworkingday on Substack.com    

Feast of the Epiphany 2026 Gospel Matthew 2:1-12 When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod,  behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,  "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled,  and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people,  He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea,  for thus it has been written through the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel." Then Herod called the magi secretly  and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said,  "Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word,  that I too may go and do him homage." After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them,  until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star,  and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures  and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,  they departed for their country by another way.

New Years 2026, Feast of Mary the Mother of God 

Feast of the Holy Family 2025  

4th Sunday of Advent  Gospel Matthew 1:18-24 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

How lost we are in the virtuality of life, scrolling through endless doors and borrowed selves, mistaking possibility for freedom, until we wake each day more familiar with other people's lives than our own. Somewhere along the way, we stopped living and began watching, comparing the hidden chaos of our days to the polished front rooms of others, and wondering why we feel so restless, so behind, so unfinished. This meditation is an invitation to step out of the performance, to stop wandering other people's gardens, and to come home to your own life. As we approach 2026, the question is simple and urgent, what if this became a year of freedom, not the freedom to be everything, but the freedom to be real, to clear the noise, and to let God meet you exactly where you are.

Mental prayer is the breath of the plan of life. If the Rosary carries the steady heartbeat, mental prayer is the quiet inhale and exhale of friendship with God. It shifts faith from duty to desire, from "I have to pray" to "I can't wait to be with Him." The episode reflects on the beauty of intimate conversation with the Father. Saint Teresa of Avila once called prayer a close sharing between friends, and this meditation unpacks what that means in real life, where honesty and vulnerability become the doorway to grace. It guides listeners through how to create inner stillness, how to approach God with curiosity, how to listen and be a friend and speak simply, and how to let silence deepen trust. Think of it as an invitation to breathe with God again, and to let prayer become the place where you are known, loved, and renewed; a place where you want to be.