PODCAST | First Week of Lent: Love Repays Love
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In this podcast, Fr. Javier del Castillo invites us to reflect on how love makes God visible in the world because God gives himself entirely to us. “God is loving us with his 100%. He actually has nothing else to give us, except himself… Think of the Eucharist. There’s nothing else for Him to give.” And so, how can we pay back such great love? With love.
Recalling the Gospel passage of the Widow’s Mite, Fr. Javier reflects on Jesus’ comment to the Apostles: “She has put in from her want, not from her surplus.” This is an example of a worthy response to God’s love to hold nothing back. The only way to love God is to never be satisfied with what we have given up to this point. As St. Josemaria Escriva would say, “love is with love repaid.”
In this podcast, you will also hear how:
• If it is 100% of our love, then it is worthy of God.
• When we are united to God through the state of grace, we are able to love in and through the fulfillment of our ordinary duties.
• It’s a false assumption to think that in any vocation God does not ask us to give him 100%.
• Love is never satisfied with what it has done before because love is not about the logic of the least or the minimums.
• We cannot pay 100% of what we have been given, but we could do little details or pay attention to details of love and affection for others.
Did you enjoy this podcast? Visit “Lent 2023: Repaying Love with love” for podcasts and other resources to accompany you throughout the Lenten season.
Rev. Javier del Castillo
Fr. Javier del Castillo is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei and currently serves as President of the St. Josemaria Institute. He earned a degree in electronic engineering and moved to Rome to complete his ecclesiastical studies, where he was ordained a priest in 2005 and earned a doctorate in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in 2007. He worked as a chaplain in high schools in the Washington, D.C. and Chicago areas for several years, offering spiritual accompaniment to students, parents, and teachers. From 2015 on, he served as the vicar of Opus Dei in the midwest; he was appointed regional vicar of the United States in 2022. He became vicar of the United States and Canada in 2024, following the restructuring of the regions, until his appointment as Vicar General in April 2025.
