The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

The Joy of the LawTranscript This first reading is really an interesting one. It is a return from exile, and so the people that are coming back have had little or no exposure to the Jewish law at all because they've been in exile in Babylon. But they come back, they're excited because they're able to return to their ancestral home, and for the occasion they decide to read and interpret...

Saint Francis Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus. This is Wednesday, October 4th, 2023. I am the friar. It is wonderful to have you with us today. Today is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Francis is really an important figure for Dominicans because we not only refer to Saint Dominic as our Holy Father, obviously our founder, why we're called Dominicans, but we also refe...

Keep your eyes on the goalTranscript We have two really dramatic scenes in the readings today, or at least a description of one and the reality in the gospel. But they're connected, I think, in some way. The first reading is a promise of what awaits the people of God. that people will be, they're in exile, so this is the thing. They're not in Israel, they're not in their homeland,...

Guardian Angels Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus. This is Monday, October 2nd, 2023. I am the friar, and it is wonderful to have you with us today. Today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels, which is really a very consoling feast for me, primarily because it serves as a reminder of just how much it is that God wants a deep and eternal relationship with us, and just how much it is that Go...

The Attitude of Jesus Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Sunday, October 1st, 2023. I am the friar, and it is wonderful to have you with us today. Because that's really, I think, at the heart of what some of the struggle is, is how to strike the appropriate balance between those truths, those principles that never change with those things that sometimes we have to let go of be...

A Saint for our Times Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Saturday, September 30th, 2023. I am the Friar and it is wonderful to be with you today. Today we celebrate Saint Jerome, a great saint, but really an interesting man, really someone who I think could be a great model for us because of the ways in which he worked on his relationship with God and ultimately became a saint. Ul...

How the outside shapes the inside Transcript We don't always think, I think, as much, maybe as we should, about the importance of having buildings and places to worship God and to do the holy things of God.  Think of the difference that, for instance, the school building we're in makes. It shapes and forms us in terms of our lives and in our school, in our community. In fact, we're eve...

Your Mission Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Wednesday, September 27, 2023. I am the friar and it is wonderful to have you with us today.  Today is really a great gospel because it reminds us that at the heart of our baptism is our being sent forth. That really in fact is at the root of the word Mass,  Missae , go forth. That's what we say at the end of Mass.  We send all o...

Is Jesus Rude? Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus. I am the Friar. This is Tuesday, September 26, 2023, and I am delighted to have you with us today.  The Gospel is a rather interesting Gospel, and we might think that Jesus is almost being rude when we look at the way in which he talks about his brothers and his mother in the Gospel because they're out to see him. Now, we know that tha...

God is EverywhereTranscript Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Monday, September 25, 2023. I am the friar. It is wonderful to have you with us today.  The first reading is a very good example of how God can use anyone for fulfillment, for faith, for good things. King Cyrus, in the first reading, is allowing the Israelites, who have been exiled to Babylon, to return to Jerusalem. A...

Homily given at Saint Dominic Priory, Saint Louis, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . Gardening for Jesus I don't know when it happened. I don't remember where it happened. I asked myself, "How did it happen?" I'm talking about those moments where I started to become my father. Well, and my mother to some degree, too.  See, I used to make fun of h...

Homily given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . Sinners, not Righteous Transcript This should be a hopeful gospel for all of us. Saint Matthew, the Apostle, was a tax collector. That put him in a very unpopular group, not just because of taxes, but more importantly because of his dishonesty. Tax collectors...

Homily given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . It's not just a bishop Transcript These readings we've been getting from Paul to Timothy are really about the right order of the church and of authority. Yesterday we heard about the need to pray for those who are in public office, for those who serve...

Homily given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . Authority Properly FocusedTranscript There is, I suspect, something that if any of you are lawyers, you might be aware of as it pertains to educational law. It is particularly important for Catholic schools. It's called the Ministerial Exemption.  And what...

Nicene Creed: God the Father Most of the Nicene Creed is about clarifying how Christians can believe in one God, while at the same time claiming this one God is three persons. This is no small task. As many priests might confess, most homilies on the Trinity fall into one heresy or another. A small look at the early Christian controversies concerning God, seem to have little to do with the first p...

Nicene Creed: An Introduction Before we get into exploring the Nicene Creed, it seems important to consider a few questions. Why do we have a creed? What point does it serve? What is the history behind it? Giving consideration to these questions will be helpful as we start our series on the Nicene Creed. Background When we consider the Trinity, it can be the case that it is so familiar to us that...

Readings for Today .  Listen to our other podcasts . Our Lady of Sorrows Transcript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for Friday, September 15, 2023. I am the friar and I am delighted to have you with us today.  Today we celebrate our Lady of Sorrows. It can be easy to think that Mary did...

Homily given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . That SerpentTranscript We have to read the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, from the eyes of the New Testament. Because as Catholics, what we believe is firstly that salvation was offered to the Jews, and then we were grafted onto the vine of salvation. ...

Homily given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . That Serpent Transcript We have to read the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, from the eyes of the New Testament. Because as Catholics, what we believe is firstly that salvation was offered to the Jews, and then we were grafted onto the vine of salvation....

Readings for Today .  Listen to our other podcasts . From AboveTranscript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Wednesday, September 13th, 2023. I am the Friar and it is wonderful to have you with us today.  Today we celebrate Saint John Chrysostom, who really was just an eloquent sp...

Readings for Today .  Listen to our other podcasts . From Above Transcript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Wednesday, September 13th, 2023. I am the Friar and it is wonderful to have you with us today.  Today we celebrate Saint John Chrysostom, who really was just an eloquent s...

Readings for Today .  Listen to our other podcasts . Gratitude can change your life Transcript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello, this is Spend Five with Jesus for this Tuesday, September 12, 2023. I am the friar and it is wonderful to have you with us today.  I'm so happy today because the first reading is one of, I jus...

Readings for Today .  Listen to our other podcasts Never Forget Transcript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello, this is Spend Five with Jesus for Monday, September 11, 2023. I am the Friar, and it's great to have you with us. September 11, 9/11. It's hard to believe that 22 years have passed since this tremendous event...

Readings for Today .  Listen to our other podcasts . Confronting or Confronted Transcript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for Sunday, September 10th, 2023. I am the friar and it is wonderful to be with you this morning.  Today's readings are a little challenging, I think, because wh...

Following rules must lead to Jesus Transcript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Saturday, September 9th, 2023. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hopefully wherever you are, this is a great day.  In today's readings, we get a little picture of rules, what their purpose i...