Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

One of the central misunderstandings that the Apostles have with Jesus in the Gospels is the meaning of his identity as Messiah. They (and everybody else) would have conceived of the Messiah in worldly terms: He would be a great (and worldly) king, overthrowing (with violence) the enemies of Israel and enjoying worldly power and honor and pleasures. So this helps us to explain why Peter, whom Jesus praised in last Sunday's Gospel for correctly identifying him as the Messiah, is now so scandalized when Jesus says that he is going to suffer and be killed. (And for all of us sinners, we constantly avoid suffering.) But God so uses suffering in our life to bless and challenge and heal us, making life in Christ a wonderful adventure.

When we hear the account of Jesus's dialogue with the Canaanite woman, we often get caught up on how different Jesus's treatment of this woman seems to be than the other people who request healing. But this itself should be an indication that Jesus is truly doing something new and significant as he heals this foreign woman in a foreign land ... fulfilling the Old Testament prophesies that the Savior of Israel is also the Savior of all Nations!

In today's Gospel we have a couple important images of Jesus: He goes to the mountain from which vantage point he can see the storm the disciples are caught in (as well as the storms of my life!). And he goes to walk in the midst of that storm and reveals himself to his disciples. May we take comfort that Jesus (1) sees and knows everything I am going through, and that He (2) comes to be with me in the midst of the storm.

In the Gospel today Jesus arrives at a deserted place in order to be free of the crowds and to grieve and pray after learning of the death of John the Baptist. In this compromised human state, he discovers the crowds have followed him, and he immediately begins ministering to them. The loaves and fishes are similar. On its face this offering is much too small and poor to make any difference. Yet God uses this pathetic little offering that the disciples make to feed a multitude. How can we discover and embrace this dynamic in our own life?

In this last installment of our summer series on Mary, we explore the Scriptures to discover how the relationship between Jesus and Mary reveals Mary's unique role in the Church!

What does it mean for us to call Mary the "Immaculate Conception", and what evidence is there that this is the case? We reflect on how Mary's sinlessness does not make her less human but more human -- the human being and woman -- the "New Eve" -- exactly as God intended the human person to be.

Today's parable of the weeds and the wheat is perplexing in that the master doesn't choose to uproot the (evil) weeds right away but rather insists that they be left until harvest. He explains that this is for the sake of the health of the wheat. In our own lives, too, God permits some evil to bring about a greater good.

In this summer school reflection, we go through Luke chapter 1 and 2 to reflect on the person of Mary as portrayed in the Bible.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Nation's founding, we reflect on how Gospel values -- together with the freedom to live them out -- can make Christians the best citizens.

In today's challenging Gospel Jesus tells us that we have to love Him about our parents, children, and anybody and anything else in our life. Do we? On it's face this might seem like an unjust demand, but if we consider who God is -- a Communion of Love -- then we understand that by loving God first all of our other loves will fall into their proper place.