Informações:
Synopsis
From a colorful and varied background as a professor of theology, a father of five, business owner, and professional performer Marcellino DAmbrosio (aka Dr. Italy) crafts talks, blog posts, books, and videos that are always fascinating, practical, and easy to understand. He is a popular speaker, TV and radio personality, New York Times best-selling author, and pilgrimage host who has been leading people on a journey of discovery for over thirty years. For a fuller bio and video, visit https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/dr-italy.
Episodes
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Holy Spirit, Promise of the Father
18/05/2024 Duration: 08min6 minute podcast in which Dr. Italy explains why Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Promise of the Father” and how God’s promises are fulfilled in the gift of Pentecost which is repeated in every baptism and confirmation.
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Pentecost Power
15/05/2024 Duration: 15minWithout the Pentecost, the gospel is not really "Good News." Many people actually experience Christianity as bad news. The Ten Commandments were impossible for even King David to keep. Though Christians are justified by grace through faith and receive friendship with God as a pure gift, they are still called to live the gospel lifestyle, as portrayed by the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. Trying to do this on will-power alone is a pure recipe for guilt and frustration.
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Fatima & Camino Pilgrimage Cruise to Portugal & Spain
13/05/2024 Duration: 05minIt's been a long time that travel and freedom have been restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But restrictions are about to be lifted so it will be soon time to celebrate.
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The Ascension - He who Humbles Himself will be Exalted
08/05/2024 Duration: 08min6 minute podcast on the Ascension of Jesus Christ as the illustration of Jesus' words - he who exalts himself shall be humbled and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. Featuring Dr. Italy and Sonrise Morning show hostess Anna Mitchell.
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Love Unlimited - Cornelius & the Business of a Universal Church
03/05/2024 Duration: 05minSome view the Catholic Church as multi-national corporation. If so, its DBA should be love unlimited. In contrast to ever natural love, the love that should categorize the life of the church is charity, agape, God's love which is, like God, universal, infinite, without limits or boundaries. This is illustrated by the story of the centurion Cornelius, a reading for the 6th Sunday of Easter B.
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Holy Family during hidden years
01/05/2024 Duration: 12min12 minute podcast that describes the lifestyle of the Holy Family in Nazareth during the “hidden years” before Jesus launched his public ministry. The four gospels tells us very little about the life of Jesus between his birth and his baptism besides his presentation forty days after his birth, the flight to Egypt and return to Nazareth, and his pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his family at age 12.
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Saul of Tarsus - From Sour Grapes to Fruit of the Spirit
26/04/2024 Duration: 05minSaul of Tarsus the Pharisee to Paul, the apostle - both life and fruit were transformed when he met the Risen Lord . His story tells us where the sour grapes of egoism and violence comes from, and how it can be changed into the fruit of the Spirit.
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Why the Trinity Matters
22/04/2024 Duration: 15minThe Trinity is the central dogma of the Catholic faith and is equally important to Orthodox and most Protestant Christians. Yet it is a mystery, something that we as limited human beings can never understand. So does that mean we can just believe it but basically forget about it and focus on more practical things, like morality? Not at all, says Marcellino D'Ambrosio (Dr. Italy) on this episode of the SonRise Morning show. If we fail to make progress in understanding the Trinity, we will never understand ourselves or understand what love is all about. In this age in which marriages and families are falling apart, we need more than ever to understanding Trinity since this mystery of loving unity is the key to recovering unity, love and stability in our families.
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Is Jesus, the Good Sheperd, the Only Savior?
17/04/2024 Duration: 05minThe image of Jesus as the Good shepherd is a comforting one in the minds of many. But some of those who first heard Jesus describe himself in this way were deeply disturbed. For it seems that Jesus is setting himself up as the only true Shepherd and savior. People still find this claim disturbing. "What about other religions?," they ask. For the 4th Sunday of Easter, cycle B.
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He's no Ghost - Easter and the Gnostic Gospels
10/04/2024 Duration: 05minOn the first Easter, the Risen Lord makes clear to his frightened disciples he not a ghost or specter and in so doing shows why the gnostic gospels are bogus and did not make it into the Bible.
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Feast of the Annunciation, God Becomes Man
08/04/2024 Duration: 05minThe Solemnity or Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord is celebrated on March 25. Here, in his typically lyrical language, Leo the Great ponders the unfathomable mystery of God becoming man in the womb of a Virgin, at the moment of conception. Through the Father's love and Mary's faith, the divine Word became flesh and dwelt among us, assuming a full human nature.
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Divine Mercy Sunday and the Sacrament of Mercy
05/04/2024 Duration: 05minDivine Mercy Sunday or the Octave of Easter presents us with one of the most famous of gospel stories -- the story of Doubting Thomas. But it shows us how and when the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, aka "confession," was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ -- and why.
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Celebrating Easter - the Octave & the Season
02/04/2024 Duration: 05minEaster 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.
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Easter, the Resurrection, and the Eucharist
31/03/2024 Duration: 10min6 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.
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Visiting the Tomb of Christ
30/03/2024 Duration: 12minThe 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.
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Good Friday & the Via Dolorosa
29/03/2024 Duration: 14minOn 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.
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Passover, Thanksgiving and the Eucharist
27/03/2024 Duration: 08minBefore 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.
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Holy Week, Holy Land
25/03/2024 Duration: 12minIn 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.
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Mount of Olives and the Palm Sunday Road
22/03/2024 Duration: 08min6 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.
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St Joseph Model of Faith
18/03/2024 Duration: 14min14 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.