Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God

And there, in that unlikely place, Jesus finds his first followers. He walks along the Sea of Galilee and sees two brothers, Simon and Andrew, casting their nets. He says to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once, they left their nets and followed him. Then he sees James and John with their father Zebedee. He calls them. (Read more…) Immediately they left thei...

Most myths follow the same general pattern. The arc of the story is that you have a hero who goes on a quest, then in that adventure overcomes great adversity, whether personal or something that happens in their life. Then in overcoming it, they gain profound wisdom. But that is not where the story ends. Because the real power of the myth is that they bring this newfound wisdom back to their tribe...

I am not going to tell you to do not do all those New Year's resolutions. I am just going to say to do this one thing first. Remember that you are beloved. And sit with that for maybe just January. Not just today, but the whole month of January. Just put all the other ones on to February. You can pick those up then, and then you see if you need to do them. (Read more…) Here is my homily for t...

We need to start with small things, but we need to have a vision of what we want. One of the things that human behavior scientists would tell us, the idea of setting goals is great, but it is actually useless when it comes to accomplishing anything. We all can give value to how many of our New Year's resolutions never get really even started, right? Because we have outsized our goals. That is...

It is such a gift to be able to celebrate a meal around the table and just feel the love of family. And it is a gift, but it also requires some hard work, because you have to show up, right? And that is a challenge for all of us, because we get busy with our lives, especially when we move out of the house as children. When you return to the house, you have to show up more than just physically. You...

The only meaning, the true logos, is God. The true logos is what we believe as Christians, the baby Jesus. He is the logos made flesh. That is what we celebrate, that that is the profound meaning. That is a foundation meaning for everything in our lives. God loves us so much that He did not just send a messenger, He sent His very self, His Son. (Read more…)   Here is my homily from the Christmas D...

What I would like you to do today and this week is make a little bit of room, take something away. Because like the branches in that story, we had to clear some of the branches and the grass away. We had to take something out. Can we have just a few minutes less television? A few minutes less playing on the computer so that we leave room for Christ. (Read more...)

The challenge for us as modern-day people, is that we have so much coming at us, so many voices. We have a cacophony of voices and messages. We do not know where or how to listen, and we certainly do not expect to listen to God. We do not ave that same sense that God is speaking to us in those direct ways. We have podcasts, we have videos, we have endless amount of internet voices, and that is not...

Here is what is interesting, what I have learned since then and before, through other many situations. Doubt is not the opposite of faith. We often believe that doubt is the opposite of faith. But it is a part of faith. Doubt is not the opposite of or the enemy of joy. It is part of it. Doubt is part of the process of faith development. (Read more…) Here is my homily from the Third Sunday of Adven...

The prophets are the people who tell us what we need to hear even if we do not like it. Isaiah today which we hear in the first reading and John the Baptist, who we may as well call “John the Isaiah” because he comes on with just as strong a language. They see where we ought to be or could be but we are not quite there yet. But they see it and they tell us, we have to turn around. They build a vis...

And now comes Advent. Now comes the busiest season of the year, when our regular business goes into high gear. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we add shopping, decorating, parties, concerts, and celebrations to our already overflowing calendars. It seems almost impossible to stay awake and attentive when we are running on empty, exhausted by hurry sickness. (Read more...) Here is my homily fro...

Today, we celebrate the Feast Day of Christ the King and the readings bring us back to the foot of the cross. It seems like an odd place to bring us back as we enter into the end of our liturgy year and now enter into to the Advent season as we prepare for Christmas. Yet, that is where it does brings us, to the foot of the cross. (Read more…) Here is the Homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus...

In the cultural view, time is a scarcity. It is an asset that is a diminishing, that we are going to lose some day.  In this cultural view of time, time is running out. We have this sense of everything must produce something.  A view of productivity.  You are running out of time, so therefore you need to use your time well, and you need to stop wasting your time. (Read more…) Here is the Homily fr...

We have to be mindful of how we are serving others in our world today. Because we, you and I, are the church. Today we celebrate an unusual Feast day called the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome. We might say, "Why are we celebrating a dedication of a building?" It is a pretty significant building. First of all, it is the See of the Bishop of Rome, not St. Peter's. St....

Every one of us will take that final journey home someday. But until then, we are called to live this circle of life well. We are called to live it fully, embracing every moment and savor every moment for what it is, whatever part of the journey or the stage of this circle we are on. To never to embrace the next too soon, nor to resist it too much. But to embrace it knowing that our final destiny,...

Today we are honoring our 70 year history. This place was a orchard of apricots. And that is why we have honored it with the very apricots we have here as a reminder of our roots. The soil that produced so much fruit for so many years then became the soil for this parish. Now look at what we have done with the seeds of faith of 70 years of believing, 70 years of toil in the soil of this parish. (R...

When Pope Francis was first elected, you might remember, one of the very first interviews he ever conducted, was from an Italian journalist. The journalist asked, "Who is Cardinal Bergoglio? Who is Pope Francis?" The pope bowed his head and said, "I am a sinner." It was really humbling to hear the pope remind himself that he is a sinner. As he had been exalted to the highest of...

What is most important for today's celebration, is that Luke was a physician. Dr. Luke, as I always like to call him, had a particular view that is seen in his gospels and we see it even today. That view is an incredibly compassionate way to look at everyone he meets. His gospel and his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, portray Jesus as the divine physician.  (Read more…) Here is the H...

My friends, you see, we have to find a way to tune in to God's grace each day. Here is the thing to be very mindful of. Our senses are always at work, whether we am having a good day or a bad day. So we can be grateful to God for those no matter what is going on. (Read more…)

No matter what the secular society says, how wonderful everything is, it is so important that we take the seed of faith that we have been given and that we plant it deep within our soul. And we water it by our faithful attendance like you all are here today. That we keep showing up and that we need to trust, as the Lord reminds us, we need to trust that faith is going to produce much fruit. (Read...

It is humbling to be reminded that we are trying to learn that we are all equal. That that we are all children of God, whether rich or poor, whether we are Catholic or not Catholic, whether we are straight or gay; nothing matters except we are his children. We are all, in the eyes. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share this em...

We have to be wise about what gifts that we have. It is not just about what how much money we have, although that is a gift for sure. But if we can realize that our time is our gift, that we all have only so much time. We are stewards of our our eighty five years that we might get, maybe if we are lucky 90. But for a lot of us, we do not even get that eighty five. (Read more…) Here is my homily em...

We do not need to be scarce about God's love to others. Why? Because there is an abundance. We have an ocean of God's love. And when we have this ocean of God's love, we are called to give it away to everyone. Not just our family and our friends, but indeed, maybe most especially, those who are not pleasant. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Exaltation of the Cross. Plea...

When I say yes to the Lord, I am be promising to become what I already am, the body of Christ. I am committing to “the way” again each and every week. And we see each other to recommmit that same thing again. It is not as much hard work as it is a decision. Once you have made that decision, then we live by that decision. Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life, and the final everything for us....

We come to this table every week. We come humbly, every one of us equal at this table. Myself, you, all the same. Men and women, boys and girls, children of God, coming to the savior to see the same thing. To receive what we promised to become. The body of Christ. Humble servants. Humble tools in the hand of God. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time....