Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

Words Appropriate for a Funeral ... or a Wedding?

Today's Gospel passage from the 14th chapter of John's Gospel is one of the most popular funeral readings. From one perspective, it seems that he is talking about heaven. Yet upon closer examination, Jesus is using images having to do with the Temple and with Jewish marriage traditions. He is speaking of bringing his disciples into union with him not just at some point in the future after we die but today, at every Mass, as his Bride the Church receives Jesus the Divine Bridegroom in the Eucharist.

Good Shepherds and Bad Shepherds

On this "Good Shepherd Sunday" we hear Jesus explain to us the difference between good shepherds and bad shepherds, which Jesus calls "thieves and robbers". We have this difference too in the priesthood! The good shepherd/priest goes through the gate, which is Christ, and is completely oriented towards him. His priesthood is based on Christ. But the bad shepherd is in it for himself, not for Christ, and his ministry is not for the sake of service but for his own self-aggrandizement. Let us pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, and may our present and future priests be oriented towards Christ so that through their ministry we can hear the voice of Christ, our Good Shepherd.

Prayer and the Scriptures: Essential but not Enough

In this amazingly rich passage, Jesus walks with two disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The disciples are discouraged and forlorn about what has happened to Jesus, and the accounts that he has been raised have only further confused them. Jesus (whom they do not at first recognize) engages them in dialogue, and then he interprets the Old Testament Scriptures to them in such a way that their hearts are burning within them. But even after this dialogue (prayer) and meditation upon the Scriptures with Jesus, they still do not recognize him. It is only when Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives them bread (exactly the same thing he did at the Last Supper) that He is revealed to the disciples, and this encounter with the Risen Lord immediately changes them. Prayer and Scriptures are essential in leading us to the fullness of the encounter with Jesus, which culminates in the Eucharist, the Mass -- where He reveals Himself to us truly and transforms us interiorly.

God's Response to Human Wickedness

On this Octave Day of Easter we reflect on where we have been since Holy Week. The Church walked with Christ as he suffered so dreadfully from the Garden of Gethsemane to the mount of Calvary to the tomb. Every form of human wickedness and dysfunction and disorder descended upon Jesus, crushing and ultimately killing him. What is his first word to those friends who abandoned and betrayed him in his time of need? It is "Peace." On this Divine Mercy Sunday, may we experience the peace of Jesus towards us repentant sinners, and may we give peace to those who have sinned against us!

Easter: The Women Showed Up ... Where were the Men?

Every year when we hear the Gospel accounts of the discovery of the empty tomb, I marvel at how different the details are from Gospel writer to Gospel writer, yet they all agree on one thing: It was women who were the first witnesses of the empty tomb and the first to encounter the Risen Christ. This shouldn't surprise us, since it was women who accompanied Jesus throughout the Passion and Crucifixion. Where were the men? They had all ran away out of fear.

Holy Thursday: Jesus in the Priest

As we commemorate the Lord's Supper, we celebrate the two Sacraments that Christ instituted and pass on to the disciples at that meal, by which He remains present in the world: The Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood.

How Will You Live Holy Week?

How will you live the holiest week of the year?

Jesus Gets Up Close and Personal

Today as we celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation for our young people, the Gospel of Jesus getting "up close and personal" with the man born blind in order to heal him is fulfilled in the Sacrament we celebrate today. Each of the Sacraments involve this aspect of getting "up close and personal" -- Jesus in the person of the priest comes to us in our vulnerability, he comes in close proximity to us and gives us Himself as the remedy for our healing. May we see in the Sacraments our direct access to Jesus the Healer!

We're Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

In today's Gospel Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The woman's need to visit the well every day is a symbol of her fundamental thirst for love (which is also evidenced in her having had five previous husbands and a current live-in boyfriend -- she is looking for love in all the wrong places)! But, after encountering Jesus, she goes back to town and leaves her water jug at the well, a symbol of her thirst having been quenched. She won't need to keep returning to the water that does not satisfy (nor to the men who did not satisfy). She has found the living water! And the One for whom she has always been searching.

Jesus Takes Us Into Uncharted Territory

Our first reading today presents us with Abram, who will later be renamed "Abraham". God calls him to uproot his family and servants and flocks and go to a a different place -- to where God does not say but simply says that He will show him. Isn't this a frequent theme in the Scriptures? To the apostles, too, Jesus says, "Follow me," but doesn't say "to where" yet promises to lead them where He wants them to go. Why should it be any different with us? To each of those whom God loves He leads into uncharted and unknown territory ... He will lead and guide and bring us to a place of greater trust and intimacy with Himself.