Don’t Just Listen
One
Don’t Listen
Yes, I am grateful that thousands upon thousands of people listen to this Daily Rosary Podcast. But more listeners is not the goal. Your transformation and mine is the goal. Our holiness is the goal.
Holiness has two parts: God comes to dwell in our soul, giving us a real participation in His divine life, primarily through Baptism and the Eucharist. We are gradually changed from vice to virtue, from selfishness to love.
The Rosary is supposed to be a meditation on the Word of God, not just a repetition of words while the mind wanders. Catholic meditation is about spending time with God in friendship, and it is about conversion. Conversion means changing from bad, sinful habits, vice, to good habits, virtue. We meditate so God can change us. The meditations on this Rosary Podcast are not spiritual entertainment. They are not meant to inspire you, impress you, or simply give you something to think about. They are meant to change you.
Here is the fundamental truth of the spiritual life: we are not changed by insight, but by repeated concrete acts. Truth only transforms us when it is practiced day after day until it becomes a habit. Every human life is being formed by habits. Repeated bad actions become vices, and vices make us vicious; they make us restless, unhappy, and eventually miserable. Repeated good actions become virtues, and virtues make us peaceful, flexible, generous, joyful, beautiful human beings who reflect Christ that other people want to be around.
No one stays the same. If we are not intentionally forming good habits, we are being deformed by bad ones. Catholic meditation exists for this reason: to let the Word of God confront our lives, convict us to stop a bad action, then inspire us to practice a good action until we make it a habit, that is, a virtue. This is how we convert from selfishness to love over time. This is how moral conversion happens. This is how holiness unfolds, slowly, concretely.
Two
The Steps of Meditation
So, if I don’t want you to listen, what do I want you to do? Catholic meditation always follows a simple, demanding pattern: Read. Reflect. Resolve.
Step one: Read or listen to the Word of God. As soon as something strikes you, pay attention. That is where God is addressing you today.
Step two: Reflect or think about what struck you. Try to understand it. Apply it to our life by asking: Am I living this or not? See the gap between what Jesus is saying and how you are living. Ask: What bad habit is preventing you from living this? Pride, vanity, envy, sloth, anger, greed, gluttony, lust, etc. And practically, what am I going to do about it today? What good action am I going to practice today? That is the resolution.
Step three: Resolution. Choose one concrete good action that flows directly from what God showed you. Practice it deliberately today. We all remember a parent saying, “Didn’t you hear me?” We heard them. We just didn’t do what they said. Listening to God means doing what He tells us in meditation. Without a resolution, meditation remains incomplete.
Three
Transforming Power of a Resolution
Jesus said his family are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice. Luke 8:21. Meditation isn’t complete until it leads to a practical resolution, something specific we will do today to live more faithfully to God’s Word. Meditation forms convictions in the heart, but it must move us to action. As St. James says, we are called to be doers of the Word, not hearers only. Jesus himself warned that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven.
A resolution isn’t just a good thought; it’s a concrete action. For example, “Today I will avoid gossip by speaking kindly or remaining silent.” Or, “Today I will not give in to anxiety but entrust my concerns to God.” A good resolution is small, concrete, and realistic. If it cannot be done today, it is not a resolution, it is a wish. With a daily resolution, good actions become habits that turn into virtues, making us more like Christ. Without a daily resolution, bad actions become habits that turn into vices, making us more and more vicious over time.
Four
Let’s Practice
Let’s practice Catholic meditation together. Listen carefully to this single line from the Gospel, “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
Listen to it again. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
Now notice what strikes you. Is it: judging? Condemning? Forgiving? Do you feel resistance to any of these? Do specific people or situations immediately come to mind? That reaction is not accidental. That is where God is addressing you today. Reflect. Ask yourself honestly, “Where am I judging others—in my thoughts, words, or tone? Where am I condemning—writing people off, labeling them, replaying their faults? Who am I withholding forgiveness from, even in small ways? What is preventing me from living this Gospel today? Pride? Self-righteousness, Anger? Woundedness? The desire to be right?”
Five
Resolution
Reflection is meant to lead to action to a resolution. Choose one concrete act flowing from this Gospel to practice today.
Today, I will not speak negatively about one specific person, even if others do. Today, when I feel the urge to judge, I will choose silence instead of commentary. Today, I will say one kind or charitable thing about a person I normally criticize. Today, I will stop replaying one offense and entrust it to God whenever it returns. Today, I will refuse to label or write someone off, even interiorly, and treat them with basic respect.
Practice this deliberately today. If you practice judgment, you become more judgmental. If you practice mercy, you become more merciful. No one stays the same.