Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Joshua Mazrin via phone call on June 18th, 2025. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
You’ve described real estate development as your “St. Joseph job.” How has this vocation helped shape your understanding of holiness in ordinary work?
This job is a contributor to that, but I think the sacramental grace of marriage helped me learn this. So long as my work is morally good or at least morally neutral, that even the most mundane work can be seen as the best work as it is helping to provide for my family. While my apostolate work is important, the ordinary work is to provide for my family. Saint Joseph worked with dirt and wood and maybe stone. And learning how to pray during the real estate development is something I am working on. I am blessed to work a very flexible schedule. My office downtown is three blocks away from the Catholic Church so I can pop in for adoration or Confession.
Fr. LaGrange, in The Three Ages of the Interior Life, talks about how we all have an evergoing monologue in our day. And the challenge is to turn that monologue into a dialogue. And to find the random things and the challenges we face to bring those into dialogue with God.
Your latest book, Led by the Immaculata, dives into St. Maximilian Kolbe’s spiritual battle plan. What’s one surprising insight about Marian consecration that Catholics often overlook?
You know the attitude that surrounds Confirmation being just a graduation step? But really it is a change and a confirmation of our faith. In a similar way, not ontologically, Marian consecration should be a transformative moment. Catholics often see Marian consecration as a mere devotion. But it really should shape your outlook.
Saint Maximilian saw himself as a soldier under the guidance of Mary. The spiritual battle is ongoing. His outlook on this battle was so peculiar to me, Maximilian was going against the actions of freemasonry. The victory is not in destroying people (the freemasons) but to convert them to our side. And Mary is the surest way to convert people to Christ.
As someone deeply formed in both academic theology and practical ministry, how do you balance intellectual formation with spiritual intimacy in your daily life?
It might just be my outlook or my temperament, but my primary intention is never to focus on winning an argument. My first intention with theology is to know God and the end intention is to love God. The primary objective of theology is to know and love God. I think Aquinas is brilliant but he was also very mystical in his prayer life.
You’ve edited over 30 theology textbooks—how do you keep theology from becoming “just academic,” especially when forming students or catechists?
That one’s got to be a grace. I don’t know. I have been doing this for over five years. And I like doing this. Some of the more academic stuff you can get burned out on but I am not doing as much. I genuinely enjoy editing! Your intention has to be Jesus. You are encountering a person, not just an event.
The Holy Spirit plays a central role in your first book. What’s a simple way Catholics can begin to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit today?
I would start by intentionally talking to Him. In an interesting way, the Holy Spirit is the action of God. Anytime God does something it is by the action of the Holy Spirit. So simply ask the Holy Spirit to help learn about Him. Start by rote prayer and then turn those into more conversational, spontaneous prayers. It requires an ongoing relationship to get to know a person and it’s no different with the Holy Spirit.
You founded The Immaculata Institute to continue Kolbe’s mission. What’s the biggest challenge—and biggest joy—of trying to evangelize through Marian devotion in today’s world?
The challenge is getting everything out there because people are distracted by a million different things. We have moved to a culture where we are too busy. Lack of intention, people don’t say yes or no anymore. They say maybe. The joy occurs in that Marian consecration changed my life. And to share that with others is exciting because you can see an intense transformation in others.
If someone has never heard of St. Maximilian Kolbe before, what’s the one reason you’d tell them to get to know him?
The actions on Auschwitz was the icing on the cake. It was the natural actions of how he lived out his life. We live in a time where cultures are influenced by bad things. Saint Maximilian’s response was to do something about it. He was very patriotic in Poland. Originally he thought he was called to be a soldier, but he was actually called by Mary to be a priest. He found his mission, and poured his energy into his vocation. How we actually orient ourselves towards our callings.
Plus he was brilliant (insanely high IQ): as a kid he drew military strategies; and in college drew blueprints for a satellite. He organized a structure with his magazine that grew to 1-2 million subscriptions and organized his monastery to be printing 24/7. He went to Japan with no money and had his magazine in print in a month. He grew his beard as a sign of respect in Japan (it was a cultural symbol of a wise elder).
Maximilian Kolbe was the first Fulton Sheen, the first Mother Angelica. He was the precursor to all digital evangelization and media.
Where can my audience find more of your work?
About Joshua:
A husband and father first, Joshua holds bachelors and masters degrees in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, and has completed PhD-level coursework in Systematic Theology at Ave Maria University. He spent years in ministry as the founder of an apostolate in New York City and later as Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of Venice, FL.
Now, he helps to build up both souls and structures. His “St. Joseph job” is in real estate development, while his passion for theology continues through his work as a technical editor, author, and curriculum writer. He’s edited more than 30 theology textbooks and other Catholic books, and has contributed to diocesan institutes, graduate programs, and national publications.
Joshua is the author of Knowing the Unknown God: A Practical Guide to How the Holy Spirit Will Make You Holy, and his most recent book, Led by the Immaculata, which unveils St. Maximilian Kolbe’s spiritual battle plan for Marian consecration.
He has been featured on EWTN, Catholic Answers, iHeart Radio, popular Catholic podcasts and radio shows, and at international and diocesan conferences on evangelization, apologetics, and spirituality. He has taught theology at multiple levels, helped design graduate programs, and served in academic publishing for international Mariological organizations and other Catholic organizations.
Joshua specializes in Marian theology and devotion, the Holy Spirit, Catholic spirituality, Scripture, and dynamic evangelization. His goal is to help Catholics live a Spirit-filled, Marian-led, radically holy life—whether they’re preaching, parenting, or laying bricks.
