The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

We have probably become so familiar with Jesus that we do not fully appreciate how radical the claims were that the early Church was making about Jesus. While we might easily be able to see and understand Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises, it was not quite as easy to understand that in the time of the Letter to the Hebrews, today's first reading. To emphasize, in the Old Testa...

Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him Through this sentence fragment we are reminded that above all things, God wants to save us. He wants us to know fully and completely how much we are loved, and he wants us to know that whether we realize this or not, whether we feel worthy or not (truth is we are not, but God saves us) and that all we need to do is to accept this gift...

He warned them sternly not to make him known. One of the more interesting things in the gospel is the fact that Jesus often does not want people to tell anyone he is the Messiah or the Son of God. Jesus wants to keep the secret about his being the Messiah, so that he might invite people into a deeper relationship. At first glance, this can seem a little odd, since so much of the New Testament afte...

Today in the Letter to the Hebrews we read about Melchizedek, " king of Salem  and  priest of God Most High ." You may have even heard, maybe at the ordination of a priest the line, " You are a priest forever in the Order of Melchizedek , which is mentioned at the end of today's first reading. But who is he? We first encounter Melchizedek in the book of Genesis. Abraham, having defeated...

At one point or another you have probably been encouraged to pray to Saint Anthony when you lost something you need to find. So, when people hear about Saint Anthony, they typically think of Saint Anthony of Padua. But the Saint Anthony we celebrate today was a hermit and is often referred to as the father of monasticism. Living in the third century, he had quite a life. Hearing the call to sell h...

We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises. I do more of my exercise at home now, but when I belonged to a gym, shortly after the first of the year there was a repeatable and interesting phenomenon. After January...

How often is it that we think if we can just work harder, pray harder, put in more effort, or simply rely more on ourselves and our efforts, we can earn a little more love? Is there a little belief in us that we earn our salvation? This flies in the face of what we believe about salvation. When it comes to God's love for us, we cannot earn it, we do not deserve it, it is a free gift of grace from...

"Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" I think some of us may not be aware of why anyone would fast. Sometimes we can see it as a dietary tactic, but in my experience it can be the case that we really do not understand why it is we fast, and why doing penance of any kind is valuable in our spiritual life. True fasting and prayer is a...

It is not the easiest issue to talk about because so many people have become so entrenched in their views. Rather than reasonable, rational discussions, when it comes to abortion, it is usually the case that what happens is that we wind up yelling at each other, or worse yet, not even listening to another's position on the issue. While I read it only after I gave this homily, I think this article...

Your creation by God was not an accident. It was not because God was bored and had nothing better to do. From all eternity God knew you, created you, had something in mind just for you. God meant to create you, and loved you into existence. Make this request of God when you pray: God, help me to know your will and to do it.

How familiar are you with the bible? How much are you aware of what it says, what it teaches? Do you know why it even matters that we are familiar with the Word of God? What has kept you from knowing more about it?

What an amazing encounter we hear about in today's gospel. It makes not only for a compelling story, but raises all types of questions about who the friends were, their relationship with the paralyzed man, and the very amazing scene of his being able to walk again. Wow. It may also be the case that if you are thinking about going to confession, you may be worried because it has been a long time an...

Oh, that today you would hear his voice . I try in my life over and over again to get better are being able to listen. Truth is, I like to talk. But what I am ever so slowly learning is that when I do not listen, I miss the chance to learn more about another person. And especially when it comes to prayer life, I lose even more. I lose the ability to learn about God when I talk too much.

When you hear you have a test, it is usually the case that there is a little (or a lot) of anxiety that comes with knowing this. As a child, you probably took them in school. We can be subject to a medical test. There are instances where our job gives us a sort of test. Becoming certified or earning an academic degree often involves a test. And for some, it involves a lot of suffering too. In toda...

When the United States Bishops were discussing how to help Catholic schools present the faith in theology classes, they focused (rightly) on a problem: It was not clear that children understood that Jesus was God. In trying to emphasize the love of Jesus (a good thing) they focused so much on his being a person, there were times when it became the case for some that Jesus was only human. Soren Kie...

What is man that you are mindful of him,         or the son of man that you care for him?     You made him for a little while lower than the angels;         you crowned him with glory and honor,         subjecting all things under his feet. What is interesting about the human being is that each...

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,      I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you      as a covenant of the people,      a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind,      to bring out prisoners from confinement,      and from...

It is most interesting to start paying attention to those things you notice first in your day-to-day life. For, there are certain things we notice that can tell us something about our priorities. And there are other things that only catch our eye when we develop an attitude of actually focusing or looking for something that reflects our priorities. Can you work on setting the types of priorities t...

There are days, in fact sometimes many days, where being encouraged to "Rise up in splendor" seems like something too far away to be real. There are days when it may even feel impossible. But for the prophet Isaiah, the promise is real and the command possible. We can rise up in splendor even in the darkest times. This is about what it is we choose to focus upon in our lives. Do we think about the...

There are a number of questions that can sometimes arise about the Catholic faith from those who believe that only the Bible is the source of anything worthy of belief. There are instances where it can appear that Catholics just pull certain things out of thin air. For some Christians, the idea that we need to confess certain sins, which we call mortal sins, to a priest can be one such thing that...

We can be a culture obsessed with sports. The desire for our favorite team or teams to win is often quite strong. We hate to lose. But sometimes, when we go overboard for our sports teams, I think it is due to not recognizing the ultimate and most important victory: The victory over the world by Jesus Christ. The apostle John, the Beloved Disciple, whose readings we have been hearing, has a deep a...

There is something really important for Catholics to learn. That if we love Jesus, we must, we must, tell others about our love for Jesus. Why? Because this is what Jesus tells us to do. "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with yo...

There is something really important for Catholics to learn. That if we love Jesus, we must, we must, tell others about our love for Jesus. Why? Because this is what Jesus tells us to do. "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with yo...

We live today in a skeptical age. We need to personally experience, see and touch. This has led us to fight about history and what it means. And if our hope is only in this world, then it becomes clear that there is no clear arbiter. There is no place to turn for authority, because too many people have determined they are their own authority. There is a tremendous danger in not admitting God is ou...

One of the shrines I remain most impressed with is the shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. She was a wife and a mother, a convert, a founder of a religious community and a saint. What most impressed me however, was how Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton took the ordinary events of her life, and saw in them an invitation to become extraordinary. Like so many, the great moment of conversion for Saint Elizab...