The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

Readings for Today .  Listen to our other podcasts . God Has a Plan 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 8th, 2023.  Today is the birthday of the Blessed Mother, and it is a special day for us to celebrate.  By the way, Spend Five with Jesus is our daily refl...

Given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Listen to our other homilies . Mass of the Holy Spirit: All I am saying . . . Just give Jesus a chance When the Powerball or Mega Millions has a very high jackpot, people all over the United States are eager to buy tickets (sometimes a lot of them) in the hopes that they will win an awful lot of money. It is absolutely...

Homily given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . Who are we? Two individuals are featured in today's gospel. One does what he should, the other what he should not. The challenge for each is to recognize who it is they serve. It is a good question for us too. Who are we? And whom do we serve? Transcript T...

Homily given at  Christian Brothers College High School , Town and Country, Missouri.  Readings for Today .  Listen to our other homilies . Firm, yet compassionate. John the Baptist was a man of principle, taking the spiritual life seriously. Firm in his resolve to follow Jesus, yet compassionate in understanding the mercy of Jesus. Firm in standing up for what is right, but compassionate in deali...

You are loved more than you know How was it that Saint Bartholomew was so convinced that Jesus was the Messiah? After all, he had only heard about him from Philip, and all it took was Jesus’ recounting this event that convinced him. Perhaps it was because in this encounter, Bartholomew knew that he was loved, and that in Jesus’ wanting a relationship with Bartholomew it meant that Jesus only wante...

In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. How often is it we have been told, "One person can really make a difference." And how often is it that we can...

"Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth." At first glance, it can seem to be the case that the desire of the people to speak one language could have all kinds of benefits. Think of how much easier it would be if without effort we could understand the words that anyone else on the...

Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and return to the LORD; Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls. Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; We shall say no more, 'Our god,' to the work of our hands;...

But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. How dramatic. Jesus is doing miraculous things. The Pharisees are jealous. The actions of God are being done without their approval. The purpose of the Jewish Law was to provide fertile ground in the soul for a relationship with Jesus. It is not to slavishly follow rules and to control others. The...

In every way, God is about life. God tells us he does not want the sinner to die. God desires all people to be saved. Jesus spends so much of his time seeking out and searching for the lost. The sinners, those on the margins, those who have little or nothing except brokenness. He assures us that ultimately those who follow him will be well. It can be easy in our own life to forget this. When broke...

"However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children." The word tradition means to hand on, or to hand over. And this "handing over" is an important aspect of the spiritual life. Moses warns the people...

They stood up for their beliefs and found themselves in a fiery furnace. Hotter than normal. Punished by a selfish and mean king. But as they stood in the fire, they remembered the most important thing. They remembered it all depends on God. The three heroes in today's first reading are all about remembering the good things God had done for them. In exile, serving a brutal king, they remembere...

“My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.” Wash and be clean. Just as I observed yesterday, whenever we read about water we should immediately be attuned to a reference about baptism. As Saint Augustine said, the New Testament is hidden in the...

We boast in hope of the glory of God. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. The world needs hope. There is no doubt about it. All around us we see brokenness. All around us there are broken relationships, violence, war and poverty. Fortunately this season of Lent reminds us there is reason to hope...

Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins; You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, As you have sworn to our fathers from days of...

Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him. The toughest emotion to admit, and perhaps to deal with is jealousy. When we see someone who is treated better than we think we should be treated, or we wan...

Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD. I have a hard time trusting others. Even though things do not always go as well when I do things myself, I find it so much easier to only have to count on myself. This is not at all the best, especially in the spiritual life. Whom do you trust? The first reading puts before us a very clear choice. Do we trust...

Remember when you were a little kid, and a grown-up or a friend was telling you something you did not want to hear, and you put your hands over your ears and said, "I can't hear you!" While certainly much more serious, that is what the people are saying to Jeremiah as they seek to kill him. They do not want to hear what Jeremiah wants to say. Or, even when they ask him to tell them w...

Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow. Justice is when people get what they deserve. While we can think about this definition and think it refers only to those who do wrong things getting what they deserve, it also refers to people receiving the...

Reflection on the Eucharist This was a reflection given to the Saint Louis Chapter of the Lay Dominicans on Sunday, March 5, 2023. The topic was the Eucharist, the Body of Christ. Using John 6, there is a movement from the multiplying of the loaves to Jesus as the bread of life, to the Eucharist itself, when disciples are told unless the eat the flesh (in the Greek sarx) of the Son of Man and drin...

done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws. We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land. Justice, O Lord, is on your side; O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you. But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassio...

Bear the hardship of the gospel Beloved: Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. Too often I think the feeling is that following Jesus should be something easy. Further, following Jesus should be something that makes everything go perfectly in our lives. If we follow Jesus, we should experience goodness. All the time. Everywhere. Hardship? Not at all. But...

Readings for Today Pray for the persecutors If anyone says that it is easy to be a Christian, then that person has not read the gospel for yesterday and today. Wow. Without neglecting the love of neighbor, Jesus expands this love to include even your persecutors and enemies. And that is not quite so easy. It is much easier if we can keep people in black and white categories. The good guys over her...

Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD.  Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live? I am not going to lie. There are times where I wonder if I am really serious about repentance and conversion. It is often the case I confess the same sins over and over again. Do I really have the desire to turn away from sin? I think I do...

" Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the LORD. She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, from morning until evening, and said: "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you, for I am taking my life in my hand." Queen Esther is in a bad situation. The king has signed a decree to have all...