The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

As we look to these next chapters, Augustine is pondering the very nature of God. And what he discovers is that there is much about God that to his mind seems to be a paradox. God fills the earth, yet does not contain it. God is in all things, but is not all things. We owe God a debt, but God never loses anything. Even though we cannot pay the debt, God is no less complete. Moreover, the actions o...

Homily given at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish , University City, Missouri. The thing I am most grateful for is the thing I most wish never happened. How is it someone could speak these words in honesty? Perhaps it is because this person understood the difference between joy, a gift of the Holy Spirit, and being free from any and all suffering. Readings for Today

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. As an English teacher, I am interested in the creative processes of the writers I like to read. Before I actually studied the matter, I imagined that a writer, struck by the muse, would retreat from normal life to some secret, perhaps exotic location, en...

Commentary on The Reed of God , Part Two: Fugue What is a fugue? While musicians and those who know more about music than I do might frown at my simplistic definition, a fugue is a musical piece where two separate musical parts are quite different from each other and yet because of the talent of the composer are brought together in one mix of beautiful sound. Moreover, it is generally the case tha...

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri. While there are many ways to divide the book of the prophet Isaiah, one way I like is to divide it as a book of challenge and a book of comfort. Isaiah challenged the people to change their lives, or bad things would happen. When they did not change and bad things did happen, he provided the comfort that God was s...

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 reading, we hear about John the Baptist and his prophetic ministry to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” When I think about John the Baptist (and really any historical or modern prophet), the phrase, “comfort the afflicted...

This is a commentary series on The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander . With the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception happening tomorrow, it seemed like a good time to begin reflecting on a book I have read to help me each season of Advent, namely, The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander. While the book is still under copyright, and hence, I cannot share it in text or audio, it is readily available...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Once again, O LORD of hosts,    look down from heaven, and see; Take care of this vine,    and protect what your right hand has planted,    the son of man whom you yourself made strong. Psalm 80:15-16 The anci...

Commentary on The Reed of God , Part Two: Et Homo Factus Est I remember when I was in the seminary there was a theological debate that asked whether the Incarnation or the Resurrection was the more significant event. And as seminary debates go, this became quite serious. But it was quite foolish. The two events are intimately connected, for without one the other has no significance. For it is the...

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 readings touch on the importance of following God and his word no matter how difficult it may be. In the first reading from Isaiah, the Lord says through the prophet, “If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river...

Commentary on The Reed of God , Part One: Advent Mary is a key figure of Advent. As a Dominican, I pray the rosary every day. But there is still something wonderful about encountering Mary anew during the season of Advent. There is the young woman who encounters the angel and says yes to God, not because of knowledge (she first asks how what will happen to her is even possible) but through faith....

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri. Two days. Two seemingly impossible events. Two outstanding examples that with God everything is possible. Yesterday the Blessed Virgin Mary said yes to being the Mother of God. Today, Juan Diego, despite his best efforts to avoid it, shows us that ordinary people can be vehicles of God's grace. Readings for Today

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri. Two days. Two seemingly impossible events. Two outstanding examples that with God everything is possible. Yesterday the Blessed Virgin Mary said yes to being the Mother of God. Today, Juan Diego, despite his best efforts to avoid it, shows us that ordinary people can be vehicles of God's grace. Readings for Today

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Today is the feast of St. Juan Diego, and the readings for his memorial speak both  to his character and challenge us evaluate our own character during this time of Advent. In the first reading, we hear some powerful assertations from St. Paul. He r...

This is a commentary series on The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander . Commentary on The Reed of God , Part One: Fiat How it is that we like the story of an underdog coming out on top. Life does not always have many such stories, but when we become aware of one, it helps us to believe in something wonderfully good. Things seem more right with the world. And we are filled with hope that we can ente...

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri. Glass half-empty or half-full? I think that is the wrong question. Isn't it more important to be aware of what is in the glass? In our lives, our souls can be filled with clutter and mess, things that block the Holy Spirit, or like Mary, a soul ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Readings for Today

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri. Glass half-empty or half-full? I think that is the wrong question. Isn't it more important to be aware of what is in the glass? In our lives, our souls can be filled with clutter and mess, things that block the Holy Spirit, or like Mary, a soul ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Readings for Today

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. The Church presents us with the stories of two women – Mary and Eve – both conceived without the stain of original sin but with two entirely different responses to what God is asking of them. First, we look at Eve’s response to God when the serpent quest...

This is a commentary series on The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander . Part One: Emptiness Emptiness. The first chapter of Houselander’s book states that emptiness is the beginning of contemplation. See, when we consider a reed, we recognize that a reed has a hollow emptiness. It is this emptiness that makes a musical reed produce beautiful music. Nonetheless, it is empty. We live in a world today...

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 message from Isaiah is one of hope and comfort. It comes at a time in Israelite history when they had been exiled from Israel by the Babylonians. A time when hope was desperately needed. The Israelites are called to do this by making straight the...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. Today, in the Gospel, Jesus healed a paralyzed man. However, the Pharisees and Scribes that are watching said Jesus spoke blasphemies but were in awe after the paralyzed man rose and walked away carrying his stretcher. This Gospel teaches a very importan...

Background At the beginning of Augustine's Confessions is a reference to Pelagius, who shares a belief that is probably common to many even though it is heresy. Namely, Pelagius believed that we were able to achieve our salvation by our own efforts, that we were not wounded by Adam's sin. On some level it can be seen as a popular image of God holding a scale, our good works on one side of the scal...

Homily given at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish , University City, Missouri. Saint John the Baptist was, to put it bluntly, an odd duck. Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, indicated that he was a classic example of a borderline personality. But it is important to see and understand the ways in which he was a part of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. He ate locusts and wild ho...

Each day during the season of Advent students, faculty, and staff of Christian Brothers College High School will write a reflection about Advent. The prophet Isaiah tells us in the first reading about how God heals the wounds of his people. God expresses that in all the difficulties everyone is having, he will provide anything and everything to help meet their needs. An example I really liked was,...

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, there are blind men who wish to be healed. Jesus asks, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him.” When I read this quote from today’s gospel, this quote stood out to me the most. How were the 2 blind people ab...