The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

The Epic Trek to Success You probably noticed I took a little break for Christmas. But now that the new year has started, it is back to writing daily reflections. Why do I call today's reflection "The Epic Trek to Success"? It is because it is important to recognize that regardless of where we are, we can always focus on how to improve our lives, especially when we have the assistance of God's gra...

Chapters 15-19. A question we have probably all asked at one time or another was this: When will I ever use this? We may have asked it in school, or in a lesson our parents tried to teach us or something more. But have we ever asked God to help us to use those things that we have learned in our childhood? And have we tried to ask God to help us discern those things that we learn into a focus into...

"The Quest to find God." Homily given at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, University City, Missouri . This was the thought I was working on as I was flying back to Saint Louis from a home visit. How is it that we find God in our lives? On the flight, as I was reflecting, I encountered what many who fly have probably experienced. There was a baby who just would not stop crying. And that is when the ques...

Christmas Homily 2021 Some of you know that during the season of Advent I read Caryll Houselander’s spiritual classic, The Reed of God. She was challenged never do anything the Virgin Mary would not do. The problem was she could not imagine the Blessed Mother doing anything at all. Sometimes that is the case on Christmas. We fill Christmas with the warm and reassuring. I have believed in the Incar...

Assumption In this last part of the book, Houselander tells a very tender story about a woman who adopted a boy after her son had been killed in the war. “She gave him everything that her son had owned. There was no doubt of her love for him. There could be none for those who saw her face, whether-beaten and lined, marked and sealed with sorrow, and yet shining with quiet happiness. One day a neig...

The Way Saint Thomas Aquinas said that God and the problem of evil is the most challenging problem to the existence of God. For Thomas, the solution is that God only permits evil, when he can bring some greater good out of it. God never causes evil, because God is all-good. But it is true that we cannot always see the good that comes out of evil. Houselander echoes the challenge this brings. But s...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of  Christian Brothers College High School  will write a reflection about Advent. What started as a tiny pinprick of light has become a glorious star. What started as a small concern about the Ark of the Covenant dwelling in a tent has become the arrival of a King whose Kingdom has no end! And if we look ever so carefully,...

Our Seeking If Our Lady spent so much time seeking, what of our seeking? “In our seeking for the lost Child, our contemplation of Our Lady becomes active.” There can be a misunderstanding of what Catholics believe about Our Lady, even among Catholics who are quite active in their faith. This is because some believe that in seeking to imitate Our Lady, and to ask for her prayers, we are raising Mar...

Our Lady's Seeking I spoke already about the frantic search by Mary and Joseph for the lost Jesus. And we have discussed that this quest for the lost Jesus is designed by Jesus himself so that we will always be seeking a relationship with the authentic and true Christ. But it is important that we do not lose sight of those whose life is marked by the searching that is the result of human brokennes...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Advent Reflections “Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.” The response in this morning’s psalm serves as a reminder as we approach the day we have been waiting and preparing for: Christmas. So many amazing things in life are ignor...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Advent Reflections Both readings today give us the voices of Hannah and Mary, the mothers of Samuel and Jesus. I immediately am reminded of the popular expression around Apples and Trees.

Commentary on The Reed of God , Part Three: Idol Idol It is such an obvious question. “How is it that the lives of so many people who profess to be Christian are utterly inconsistent with Christianity?” This is a damning question for each of us. If those of us who profess to follow Jesus cannot live it authentically, why should anyone believe us when we talk about the value of our Christian faith?

Commentary on The Reed of God , Part Three: The Lost Child The Lost Child Commentary on The Reed of God , Part Three: The Lost Child For both parent and child, the lost child happens in what feels like a split second. A slight distraction, and the familiar persons we knew are no longer present. The child searches frantically for his mother or father. The parent does the same searching for son or d...

Remember that this is an autobiography that Augustine is writing, and he really begins at the start. Sometimes we can look back upon previous ages with a certain feeling that they are not as smart as we have become today. Yet is seems the Augustine shows us that our modern understanding of child development was present even in his time. I refer especially to his reflections on his infancy. He arti...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Advent Reflections Advent and the Christmas Season is one of the most exciting and wonderful times of the year. Many people go all out decorating the inside and outside of their homes with Christmas trees, lights and ornaments to celebrate this wonderful...

Homily given at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish , University City, Missouri. Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent In the spiritual classic, The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence writes about finding the presence of God in the everyday things we do in our lives. Can we find God while we are doing the dishes, or can we find God when we are doing the laundry, or when we are at work or sc...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Advent Reflection for Today The Two Mothers Luke 1:39-45 According to Plato, “The beginning is the most important part of the work,” so it is appropriate that the Gospel of Luke begins not with the accounts of John the Baptist nor Jesus, but with the sto...

Et Verbum Caro Factum Est. How beautiful this is! Houselander tells us so beautifully that every sacramental encounter is one of flesh and spirit. Bread and wine are the vehicle for Christ to become really present to us. Water becomes the very way in which we share in the salvation of Jesus in baptism. God forgives sins through the raising of the hands of the priest in confession. Oil becomes the...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Advent Reflection for Today Today’s Gospel focuses on one of the most beloved saints of all time: a man who is depicted in thousands of pieces of artwork, has many institutions named after him, is a figure of many devotionals, and a prominent character o...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Today we have every lector’s nightmare, the genealogy of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew.  It is a list of names tracing the ancestors of Jesus all the way back to Abraham. The list includes the faithful and the unfaithful ancestors of Jesus. &nbsp...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Today's reading brings up points of happiness and excitement. And I think it only appropriate that this reading be shared today, as we approach the end of finals week and the upcoming Christmas break. These happy times spent with friends and family are e...

Homily given at King's House Retreat and Renewal Center , Belleville, Illinois. Today's Homily Tell John what you see. I was really struck in a not so happy way with the results of a survey of priests which suggested that many felt the Church was in a mess. I disagree. There have been worse times. And I still see signs of active presence of God in the world. To be sure, if I believed everything we...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. In today's Gospel, John the Baptist sends two disciples to find Jesus to ask Him to confirm His identity as the Messiah. Jesus responds to the two by healing people around them and then tells them to go to John to report what they have seen.

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. There’s this scene in the 2016 film, Moonlight , that comes to mind with today’s readings. Juan, a man who sells drugs in Miami and who will die in a few years, is teaching Chiron, a young boy struggling to know himself, to swim. The water is beautiful a...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. I often lack boldness in my faith. Whether it is because I am uncomfortable sharing my opinion in matters relating to my faith; or just that I do not want to “make waves,” I often choose to be silent. This was the case with the chief priests and elders i...