St. Patrick Catholic Parish Podcast

In this homily given on the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (July 5, 2026), Father Mathias preaches on why God hides himself from the proud but reveals himself to the humble.  Because the proud are self-focused and self-reliant, they are not open to reality, they are not open to change.  As such they become blind to God and what he offers us.  But the humble are open to reality, they know they need G...

In this homily given on the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time (June 28, 2026), Father Mathias preaches on one of the most difficult teachings of Jesus: whoever loves parents or children more than him is not worthy of him. The human race is divided on its response to Jesus. Some accept him and follow him, others do not. That creates tension in families and causes temptations to compromise and love famil...

On Father's Day, June 21st, 2026, Fr. Joshua Fons gave his last homily at St. Patrick's. (He will be moving to East Lansing to serve the student parish for Michigan State) In this powerful homily, he unpacks the mission and vocation of every father, and what makes fatherhood so essential. Fathers teach us our place in the great story, they show us how to live in this world, how to love,...

In this homily given on the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time (June 14 , 2026), Father Mathias preaches on Psalm 100 and why we are to sing a joyful song of praise to the Lord at Mass. After outlining why singing at Mass is one way we actively participate in divine worship of God at Mass, Fr Mathias outlines several common reasons why we might resist singing to the Lord at Mass: we mistakenly believe s...

On the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 7th, 2026, Fr. Joshua Fons invites us to walk with the Israelites in the Desert. What seemed like a time of hardship, was actually a training ground in trust, a time when they had to learn that they had a God who cared for them and provided for them. The Lord does the same with us, he allows us to wander in the desert so that we can encounter his provision, par...

In this homily given on Trinity Sunday May 31st, 2026, Father Mathias preaches on the fact that God, who is Father Son and Holy Spirit is love itself.  Drawing from the Gospel, Father reminds us that God is for us and not against us; he has come to save us from our sins, not to condemn us.  Father challenges to avoid a false spirituality of fear that has crept back into the Church masquerading as...

On the Feast of Pentecost, May 24th, 2026 Fr. Joshua Fons challenges us to look to Pentecost for the source of the Church's renewal. Pentecost is part of our tradition, in fact, it is the very start of our Church. To ignore Pentecost is to ignore what Christ has given to us: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who gives us the courage and strength to live out the Church's mission: making di...

In this homily given on Ascension Sunday (May 17, 2025), Fr Mathias preaches on one of the reasons why Jesus ascends into heaven: to obtain the promise of the Father and baptize us in the Holy Spirit. This is what he died to do: to immerse us into the very life of God and to bear witness to him.  Essentially, Jesus wants everyone to be baptized in the Holy Spirit As Catholics we believe we receive...

On Mother's Day, May 10th, 2026, Fr. Joshua speaks to the moms of the parish, inviting them to reflect on the gift of their Vocation. In particular, the ways we are tempted to not see our Vocation as a gift from God, but rather as a burden, a reward, or a waste. From that place, Christ wants to bring renewal. The key to that renewal lies in the words of St. Peter "Beloved, sanctify Chris...

In this homily given on Sunday May 3, 2025, Fr Mathias preaches on the common priesthood that belongs to all baptized Christians and applies it to the lay faithful.  Indeed, exercising our common priesthood is central to how we worship God.  Father offers two tips on how to do this well:  1) Do everything in your life as an offering of love to God. 2) Unite your offerings of the week to the offeri...

In this homily on April 26, 2026 (Good Shepherd Sunday), Fr Mathias preaches on Psalm 23 and applies it to Jesus being our Good Shepherd. We really can trust in Jesus as our Good Shepherd to give us peace, rest, refreshment, protection, and guidance. Father then outlines various aspects of the Devil's psyops campaign to get us to not follow Jesus the Good Shepherd.    To access the presentati...

On the Third Sunday of Easter, April 19th 2026, Fr. Joshua breaks open the story of the Road to Emmaus, challenging us to put ourselves in the shoes of those disciples. They were downcast, because they had their own plan for how the Messiah was going to do his thing, and it seems like it failed. But they didn't plan for the Cross. We do the same: we have a plan for our life, a plan for what i...

In this homily, given on April 12, 2026, Dcn. Peter encourages us to celebrate the Easter season. He notes that we often remember to observe Lenten practices but forget to celebrate the Easter season. He brings up three pillars that the Early Church used to live out Easter: Eucharist, the Holy Spirit, and community. He encourages us to rely on the same three pillars to celebrate Easter. His practi...

**Due to a technical error, the audio of this homily is poorer than normal.** On the night Jesus gave us the Priesthood (Holy Thursday, April 2, 2026), Fr. Joshua invites us to reflect on the famous phrase from St. John Vianney: "The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus." The priesthood reveals the heart of Christ for his Church, and it is his gift to us. Though often misundersto...

In this homily on Good Friday (April 3, 2026), Father Mathias breaks open the prophesy of Isaiah 53 that Jesus took upon himself the sins and guilt of the human race.  Helping us see Christ's love for us on the Cross, Father ends his homily with a prayer.

In this Easter Vigil homily, delivered on April 4, 2026, Dcn. Peter reflects on St. Paul's words that we are dead to sin and living to God in Christ Jesus. Many people might respond in two ways: wondering how being dead to sin is relevant to their life or feeling like these words don't apply to them. Dcn. Peter describes life under slavery to sin and death and proclaims that Jesus'...

On Easter Sunday (April 5, 2026), Father Joshua invites us to take St. Paul's words as our personal motto: "If you have been raised with Christ, seek what is above." These words were lived out by one of the founders of the University of Michigan: Father Gabriel Richard. After the city of Detroit was destroyed by a fire, he rallied the rebuilding, penning Detroit's motto: we hop...

In this Easter Sunday homily on April 5th, 2026, Fr Mathias preaches on the Resurrection of Jesus.    We don't have to be afraid of death because Jesus is alive.  After sharing about how Jesus is still delivering people from evil and healing the sick today, Father exhorts us to respond to Jesus with faith, repentance and baptism, so we can be with him forever.

On Palm Sunday, March 29th, 2026, Father Joshua invites us to be shaken out of our routine, just like the people of Jerusalem were shaken by Jesus' entrance. This isn't just another Sunday of another week: this is the holiest week of the year! We must give an answer to the question asked in the Gospel: "who is this?" Who is Jesus? Is he my savior and Lord? Is he the center of m...

In this homily on March 22, 2026, Fr Mathias preaches on the the raising of Lazarus and reflects with us on Jesus's response to Martha and Mary's line: "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died."  To Mary, he responds by weeping with her for Lazarus. To Martha he responds by revealing himself as the Resurrection and the Life and seeks to draw out faith. Father e...

On this third Sunday of Lent, Fr. Joshua calls out all the grumblers: those who grumble about the state of the World, the Country, the Church, and the state of their own lives. Instead of grumbling, he invites us to hope. To hope in the Love our Father who has given us access to his heart. To hope like the women at the well who, in spite of her difficult circumstances, hoped for a Messiah. Hope is...

In this homily on March 1st 2026, Fr Mathias preaches on the Transfiguration of the Lord as an invitation to go up the mountain with Jesus to encounter him.  Father exhorts us everyday to pray "from the heart" so God can reveal himself in our lives.  He ends the homily challenging us to understand our Lenten Penances as occasions of going up the mountain to encounter Jesus. 

On the first Sunday of Lent, February 22nd, 2026,  Father Joshua points out that while you sometimes feel like your problems are unique, or your life is singularly challenging, you actually aren't that special. This is a good thing, because t means we aren't alone. We share in the brokenness and sinfulness of our first parents, Adam and Eve. And the wounds that affect our heart today go...

In this homily, delivered on February 15, 2026, Dcn. Peter reflects on the truth that our origin is a gift, that we are called to make a gift of ourselves now, and that we are promised a life of self-gift in heaven. However, very often, people fall short of living out this beautiful dynamic of self-gift. Instead, they turn to lust, which grasps instead of receives, uses others instead of loving th...

We each have assumptions and ideas about what "the good life", a life of happiness looks like. In this homily, given on February 1st, 2026, Fr. Joshua Fons encourages us to consider our sources: are they reliable? What if we are wrong? What if we have been chasing the wrong things? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus starts off with the Beatitudes, the keys to happiness, and he doesn'...