Dr. Italy

Easter is not a day but a season of 50 days.   The octave - eight days of high celebration beginning on Easter Sunday - is followed by 42 more days of rejoicing concluding on Pentecost.  Here are some ideas for a fruitful celebration of the joy of Eastertide during this extraordinary time while Churches are closed due to COVID-19.

6 minute Podcast by Dr. Italy showing the connection between Easter, the resurrection, and the Eucharist through an examination of the road to Emmaus story from Luke 24.

The Gospel of John tells us that, after the body of Jesus was taken from the cross, it was laid in a new tomb, close to the place where he was crucified.  Yet, when people visit the Holy Land, they are surprised to find out that the tomb is only a stones throw away from the top of Golgotha.  Dr. Italy shares what it is like to visit both places, both inside the same massive Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built in the 12th century by the Crusaders.

On Good Friday, Christians remember the passion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.  This podcast is the second in a three part interview of Dr. Italy, theologian, historian and Holy Land pilgrimage leader, on the events of Holy Week.  This segment focuses on the events of Good Friday, when Jesus is dragged from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium of Pontius Pilate, most likely the Fortress Antonia located at the Northeast corner of the Temple.  Dr. Italy shares what it is like to descend below street level to Gabbatha, the stone pavement, which made up the courtyard of the Fortress and where Pilate condemned Jesus to death.  He then shares the experience of walking through the narrow streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, carrying the cross and witnessing to the passersby.  Finally, he discusses the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over both Golgotha and the tomb of Christ, and what it is like to touch the spot at the top of the hill where the world's salvation was won.

Before thanksgiving was an American holiday, it was a hallmark of the Judeo-Christian tradition.  All ancient peoples gave thanks for creation; only Jews and Christians believe that God acted decisively in history to secure our liberation from slavery.  Eucharist simply means thanksgiving -- and it is the supreme act of worship and thanks for the sacrifice that won our ultimate liberation.

In this podcast from the Sonrise Morning Show, host Anna Mitchell begins by observing that virtually half the Gospel of Luke is taken up by Jesus and disciples journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.  Holy Land Pilgrimage host and theologian Marcellino D'Ambrosio (Dr. Italy) describes what this journey would have been like for the Lord and his followers and what Jerusalem would have been like in the days before the Passover.  He goes on to explain the distinctive location of the Last Supper high in the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem and the strenuous downhill walk of Jesus and the Twelve from the Cenacle to the Kidron valley, and then up to the Garden of Gethsemane a third the way up the slopes of the Mount of Olives.  Jesus capture is described as well as "the sacred Pit," the maximum security cell in Caiaphas' palace complex where Jesus most probably spent the last night of his earthly life.

6 minute podcast in which on the journey of Jesus and his disciples from Bethany, over the top of the Mount of Olives to Bethphage, & down the Palm Sunday Road from there into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey amidst cries of hosanna.

14 minute podcast in which Dr. Italy discusses St. Joseph as an often overlooked hero of the Advent – Christmas story.  He shows how St. Matthew’s gospel presents him as a model of faith. In the Advent and Christmas season, all eyes turn to the Holy Family.  Jesus is the primary, focus, of course, with Mary getting secondary attention.  Often, Joseph remains for us a background figure in the Nativity scene, getting less attention than even the Magi.

If "God so loved the world." how can he possibly send people to hell?  Is he a loving Father or a stern judge? Jesus helps us reconcile love & grace with hell & judgment in perhaps the most famous worlds in the Bible, John 3:16.

Fasting is what most people first think of when they think about penance in general and Lent in particular.  But surprisingly, fasting, as valuable as it is, is probably the least important of the three main groups of Lenten Spiritual Exercises: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving (or mercy). In this podcast, Dr. Italy points out that the real value of fasting is when it is combined with either prayer or almsgiving into a sort of one-two punch at sin and spiritual lethargy.  Some practical examples and tips are offered in the course of the discussion.

Religion is not supposed to be the opposite of spirituality.  But sometimes religion becomes a cold routine, even a business.  The Lord's cleansing of the Temple spells the end of business as usual.  Our religion must be a matter of living faith, zeal and fidelity to the Ten Commandments.

On the Second Sunday of Lent, the church places together the story of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah with the story of Jesus and three disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Together, these stories teach us the meaning of Lenten sacrifice.

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.

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.

We begin the forty days of Lent with the memory of a previous 40 days when sin was cleansed from the face of the earth.  This occurred through a flood which spared only 8 people - Noah & his companions on the ark.  This gives us a hint about the meaning & purpose of Lent and its mysterious link to baptism.  For the first Sunday of Lent, cycle B.

In this 6 minute radio interview with Anna Mitchell of the Sonrise Morning Show, Dr. Italy begins a discussion on the vast topic of how the Catholic Church built Western civilization.  Starting with the indomitable missionary monks of Ireland, he illustrates how they not only saved but helped build Western civilization by preserving and spreading literacy and literature across Europe.  He also discusses how his upcoming Rhine pilgrimage will focus on this theme, and how many of the sites to be visited are crucial examples of it.

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.

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.

There is much more to Jesus' healing of the leper in Mark's gospel than first meets the eye.  Hidden in the story are lessons on the role of suffering and how to respond to it in our lives and the lives of others.

The Bible is not just for Churches and Synagogues. Portions of it are read as literature, even in secular university classrooms. Invariably, when you look at the syllabus of such courses, you find Job.