The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

Numerous times a day the introduction is the same. "Let us remember we are in the holy presence of God." Every prayer begins this way. And is seems more and more needed in the world today. Things are not as they should be. That is obvious. What is also obvious, if we are willing to admit it, is that much of the messiness in the world is the result of our brokenness. We sin, and the effects of that...

The homily today is about the challenge to live a disciplined pray life. Going behind the Word unpacks what it means to live soberly.

What does it mean to live soberly? The American Heritage Dictionary offers one definition for the word sober. "Straightforward and serious; not exaggerated, emotional, or silly." What does this mean when applied to faith, or the way we live? Let's look at other biblical verses to see if they offer any clue to what Saint Peter is suggesting in the first reading. Later in his letter, he writes this...

Sacrificing for the One You Love. While it may sound almost like a cliché, love requires sacrifice. And we really do know deeply that there is something very true about this. What good parent would not sacrifice for the sons and daughters? What good friend would not sacrifice for another friend? And yet sometimes it can be difficult to think about our need to sacrifice for God. After all, what cou...

The homily today addresses the two most difficult challenges outlined by Saint Thomas Aquinas concerning God. One is the problem of evil. The other is those who believe humans will come to know everything there is to know. A brief look at the world today indicates the second is still a long ways off. But that same look at the world indicates we need to account for evil in the world.

Make a Good Decision. As we reflect today on prayer for the third time, we do so with the view that today you will have some idea of what it is you are doing to strengthen your prayer life, or at least are in a better position to ask God to strengthen your prayer life during this season of Lent. Maybe it is because I have found such fruit over the past few months of praying with the bible that I t...

Sometimes we can think that if God is with us it means that everything is going our way. Yet Scripture is filled with people that God was with and things were not so great. There is Joseph in the book of Genesis, King David, Job, and others. Sometimes we need the darkness and brokenness so that we can see God clearly.

How to Stop fighting. Anger is all around us. People are yelling at each other at school board meetings, council meetings, in the streets and in public places. It feels like even the simplest disagreements will boil over into angry fights. What is the antidote to this? How is it we can move away from this anger to something more helpful to recognize the common connection we share as humans? I know...

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. The above quote from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans gets at the heart of...

Let's begin be reviewing what it is the Catechism of the Church has to say about prayer. The first thing to acknowledge, in a variety of ways, is that each of us is searching for something deep beyond ourselves. While not everyone may realize this, it is still the case that God calls everyone of us to a powerful relationship. Simply put, God is always the one who initiates this call. We can choose...

What Augustine is trying to solve is the problem of evil. And to be sure, the problem of evil in the world, and the role of God with the problem of evil is challenging. Augustine can see that evil is often the result of human beings doing not so pleasant things. On the other hand, he can witness these same humans make progress in growing into becoming better people.

Important Lesson. You receive more when you give. When I was principal of a Catholic elementary school (a lesson for another day) I changed the celebration of Christmas in the school. The students did not bring in gifts for each other, but they worked to help a poor school in Chicago so that kids there could have the supplies they needed for school.

The homily today focuses on the question that Jesus poses in the gospel. “But who do you say that I am?” This is arguably the most important question we can be asked by the Lord Jesus. Who do we say Jesus is? What are the implications for our life? And how does our answer to this question lead us to follow Jesus more closely?

Making God a priority. How do we go about making God a priority? For when we discuss fasting, what we are really trying to sort out is how we go about getting our priorities in order. So, when we think about fasting, we must guard against making our fasting only a matter of willpower. It must be, rather, about removing idols for a time from our lives and not letting them get into the way of God.&n...

We are starting Day 1 of our Preparing for Lent Novena. We are hoping that these days of prayer will help you to learn just how Jesus longs to have a deeper and more powerful relationship with you. Each day there will be a reflection, followed by some bible verses that may help, some questions to consider and reflect on, as well as a closing section where we will be praying. At the end there are a...

Is faith reasonable? Are we really expected to do what God asks us? We explore ever so briefly the concept of faith and reason in today's Going Behind the Word.

Don't Throw Caution to the Wind . The homily today explores the concept of what it means to live as a Christian, especially when the task seems daunting, even impossible. David has the chance to kill King Saul (who is seeking to kill David) but he does not. The gospel has a seemingly impossible list of tasks that are supposed to be done by those who are Christians.

What is truth? What does seem apparent is the struggle that results from the search for the truth. What is truth? That was the very important question asked by Pilate . The struggle apparent in Augustine is seen in the attempt to reconcile the various aspects of truth. Actors stir real emotions even though the play is fiction. Being a good lawyer demands being crafty. What is real, then? What is i...

In Going Behind the Word we take the time to explore the connection between the first reading from the letter of James about God not tempting us, and the Our Father where we pray, "Lead us not into temptation."

The resurrection must be an historical event, for if it is not, we are still in our sins. If it is not, our faith is in vain. How is it we can reasonably believe the resurrection is an historical event? Today's podcast tells us how.

Going Behind the Word Why do I have to Go to Confession? Can't God forgive my sins? Let's answer the second question first. Can't God forgive my sins? Of course. God is always the one who chooses to forgive sins. Going to confession does not change the fact that God is the agent of forgiveness. And yet, God shares this authority with his Church through the priest . "Only God forgives sins. Si...

The homily today describes how we are forgiven not by what we do, but by what God does. Going Behind the Word describes why the Sacrament of Confession is in fact how it is that we experience forgiveness by what God does and not what we do.

Dangerous gods: Why the "high places" were not so good: Homily for Thursday, February 10, 2022. Homily given at Lasalle Retreat Center , Glencoe, Missouri. Readings for Today . Listen to our other homilies . Dangerous gods The homily today discusses how the people we associate with can either make us better or make us worse. King Solomon allows his foreign wives to lead him into harmful and danger...

Why is it that King Solomon, and other kings, would be tempted by worshiping gods who demanded human sacrifice? In the history of the people of Israel, one sad element of the story is the split of the  kingdoms into the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, Judah. In the northern kingdom, what happened was that the kings that led the people often chose to worship the gods of the...

Perhaps it was because my brother and I helped my mom move into a senior facility that I was struck by the line from the gospel today about ignoring the needs of parents in the name of serving God. Here is what I am referring to when I say this. " For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother , and  Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or moth...