The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

Saint John the Baptist was a powerful preacher.  So powerful in fact that many wondered if he might be the Messiah. Some scholars suggest that this original belief is the reason why John the evangelist goes to some length to differentiate Saint John the Baptist from Jesus. Saint John the Baptist continues this differentiation in today's gospel. He is clear about his role, to baptize with wate...

Never forget you are a beloved child of God. There is a lot of brokenness in our world. There is a lot of brokenness in us. There may be a lot of brokenness in you. But remember, Jesus has conquered sin and death. Most people who desire to become the person God has created them to be can easily recognize the brokenness. We can see all too easily, I think, our shortcomings, our failures, our sins....

One of my favorite Geico commercials shows why Pinocchio would not make a good motivational speaker . Namely, it was not possible for him to be a liar. But in today's first reading, Saint John makes clear that the real truth comes from a person, namely Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

If you have a friend in the Blessed Mother (and you do) than you have both the model of a believer and a powerful source of prayer. Mary, the Mother of God wants to do all she can to introduce you to her son, Jesus. So let her. Mary is the exemplary model of faith, and probably at no time for us more than today. We are busy, we move fast, we chase every brand new thing that comes along. We want it...

When John writes about his faith relationship with Jesus, he is often dramatic to help us to see just what is at stake when we think about our faith. He tells us quite plainly that the end is near. And he warns us that there will be those who are working against a relationship with Jesus. So, be on guard. But John is also quite reassuring. While the end is near, we also know the end. The Christmas...

If there are people I ache for especially, it is those people whose family has not been a source of love, but rather one of pain, abuse, and difficulty. While none of us come from a perfect family, sadly there are those who come not only from an imperfect family, but a downright harmful family. And so I try to be sensitive to the reality that on certain days, or when the Church uses good and helpf...

I do not keep the commandments. There, I said it. I wish I did. So did Saint Paul. He saw the good he wanted to do but does the thing he does not want to do. Too often in my own life I can say the same. So am I a liar? Well, yes. I claim to believe in Jesus, but too often instead of doing what he wants me to do, things he knows are for my best, I choose to reject that and sin. So why am I telling...

Many people are not aware that I have a sister who died when I was four years old, and she was five. She had a variety of medical issues, and so that she was able to go to God so quickly was a blessing. Her life was filled with a lot of surgery and time in the hospital. Moreover, my sister never would have talked and never would have walked. And there are those who could ask the question, of what...

The apostle John, the evangelist, is a wonderful man of faith. If his brother James could be described as a "go-getter" John is the one who is more like Mary, the Mother of God, treasuring things in his heart. If Peter is seen as impulsive, John is more reflective. He does not go into the tomb right away, but when he sees, he believes. John has a privileged place in the heart of Jesus, if, as many...

Today we see the best and the worst. Stephen whose faith is so deep that he gives his life for it. And Saul, who has become so unable to see God at work in the world that he concurs in the killing of the deacon and disciple, Stephen. Stephen is at his best because he is filled with the Holy Spirit. And I would like to suggest that Saul is at his worst because he does not yet know Jesus. He knows a...

One of the hallmarks of living with Dominicans (also true when I was a Diocesan priest as well) is the type of theological discussion that often does not lend itself to resolution. One such conversation for me was a discussion about whether the Incarnation or the Resurrection of Jesus was more important. Another was the appropriate end to Mass in a parish, instrumental or closing hymn. I have noti...

There are days when I wonder where the Church is headed. What will the future look like? I get sad when I see the division between people who claim to follow Jesus. And there are times when I can let these feelings of sadness get away from me. It seems to me that the division in the Church arises from an inability to remember. An inability to remember that our faith does not depend upon us. It is...

It can be so hard to keep our eyes focused on the will of God in a world that seems filled with so much brokenness. Life is hard. It is filled with suffering. At times it can seem that for some there is nothing about it that can be seen as happy. However, so much of our relationship with God and our view of the world turns on what we choose to focus upon each day. For all of the challenges of bein...

We all have a plan. Each one of us has an expectation of how it is things will turn out in our lives. Even more, we want to control how it is things will turn out in our lives. We hope our family will do this, or have this, or become this. We hope we will become able to control our job, our tasks, the things we do. We want to control the larger world too. We wish that our political party could dec...

In a broken world, it can be difficult sometimes to find causes for joy. We look and it can be the case that all there is around us is doom and gloom. And will it ever end? The answer is that it only ends when we recognize in our lives the holy presence of God. In a Lasallian school, there is a constant reminder about the holy presence of God. We are reminded that in everything we do, everywhere w...

I did not realize the power of this encounter nor its place in salvation history until I listened to Fr. Mike Schmitz discuss this on The Bible in a Year Podcast . But once I heard his commentary, I cannot see the story from today's gospel any other way. In his commentary, he draws a parallel between King David, Mary, John the Baptist, and the Lord Jesus. In 2 Samuel 6:2, David arose to see the Ar...

The simple answer for King Ahaz is no. He does not want to listen or to know. He does not like what he is hearing from the prophet Isaiah. He wants to go with the logical and the reasonable in trusting the major power Assyria. So, under the guise of following God, Ahaz rejects God.

Young children have a magical feel when it comes to Christmas. So much of what surrounds them at Christmas is just unbelievable. There are so many magical things. Lights. Santa. Elves. For me, Christmas is a holiday for children. But in the midst of all of this, it is so easy to forget the real magic of the season. The faith story is so familiar it can be the case we lose the sense of magic that s...

When most of us think of sacrifice or penance, usually Lent comes to mind, when many choose to sacrifice by giving something up, something we really like. We may not think about how self-denial is a long part of any attempt to grow spiritually.

When most of us think of sacrifice or penance, usually Lent comes to mind, when many choose to sacrifice by giving something up, something we really like. We may not think about how self-denial is a long part of any attempt to grow spiritually.

We see two different instances where the presence of God becomes clear, and the request made by God seems difficult. But we equally see two different responses. There is the evil King Ahaz, who chooses not to follow God but rather his own desires. And there is Joseph the righteous man who willingly takes Mary as his wife when asked to do so.

When was the last time God called you to do something you did not want to do? It may be you thought the challenge was too great, or perhaps it was simply something you did not want to do. Potentially you thought it a bad idea.

Each year during Advent, there is a reading of the genealogy of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew. Matthew's genealogy starts with Abraham, which represents the beginning of the covenant, the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations.

For most of us it does not take too much memory to recall what it was like as a little kid waiting for Christmas to arrive. And if it was the night before, the waiting almost seemed unbearable. It hardly seemed possible we would ever be able to fall asleep. Can you imagine what it would be like if waiting on our salvation felt the same way? What would it be like if we got just as excited in waitin...

Jesus appears to make to statements that at first glance seem like they could not both be true. I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John. This seems pretty clear. John is a pretty important person, who was the answer to God's statement, Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you. And this does seem to be an important role, announci...