Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

This Sunday we hear the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. While the most obvious meaning of the parable is the moral lesson for us to come to the help of others, there is a deeper, symbolic meaning. Looking at the symbols Jesus uses we can see that he is the Good Samaritan and the sinner is the one left wounded and humiliated. We see not just THAT we should come to the rescue of others but how Jesus rescues US.

I’m today’s Gospel Jesus sends out his Church ill-equipped and unprepared for their mission except one thing: The disciples who are sent out all know Jesus. And God will give them the grace they need to be successful on the mission. Today we hear some practical advice about how to bring the Gospel message to our family, friends, and coworkers.

Friends, this weekend, instead of reflecting on the Sunday Mass readings as I typically do, I felt the Holy Spirit moving me to talk about what everyone else is talking about: the decision of the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade. May our whole nation, whether liberal or conservative, come together to support the dignity of every human life.

Today’s Gospel finds Jesus with a huge crowd of people, and he miraculously provides for their physical hunger. At Mass we see how Jesus miraculously provides not for our physical hunger but rather for our spiritual need. As Jesus satisfied the empty bellies of the people, in the Eucharist he heals and fills the broken hearts of those who approach him with faith.

On Trinity Sunday we celebrate the radical secret that God kept hidden for thousands of years, which was only manifest in the fullness of time, when his own Son took on human flesh and announced the coming of a third Person who also shared equally in the divinity of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit. And this very Love that flows between Father and Son has been poured into our heart.

Our last Mass with our seniors was the Memorial of St Bernardine of Siena, who left his legacy and mark on Siena by inspiring many to place a symbol of the name of Jesus over the doorposts of their homes and businesses. 500 years later many remain. What will be YOUR legacy?

Today’s Second reading for this Ascension Sunday is taken from the letter to the Hebrews, and the book’s author has an interesting interpretation of the event of Christ’s Ascension into heaven. He sees Jesus, like the human high priest in the Temple, entering into the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the dwelling place of God. But Jesus does not enter like a human high priest with the blood of a bull or goat, but rather with his own blood, effectively atoning for the sins of the whole world and of all time. Now Jesus continues his priestly ministry of reconciliation through the men he has called to act in his person here on earth until we all attain to be with Jesus in heaven’s inner sanctum.

Today we use the Gospel for the 7th Sunday of Easter, taken from Christ’s great “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17. Christ prays a number of times “that they might be one.” Do we live out Christ’s desire for unity in the Church?

“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” Jesus says these words when he sees Judas slipping out of the Upper Room to betray him to the Jewish authorities. It might seem like a strange moment to claim glory. Yet this is precisely what Jesus came to do: To give up his life for us on the Cross. To Jesus, this being-for-others is his glory. If we love as he loves, we will discover God’s glory in the same way.

In this homily from the 2nd Sunday of Easter we talk about what it means when Jesus says in Revelation, “Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever”. Jesus is not talking about simply his human soul but also his human body, a point emphasizes by all of the Resurrection accounts. Today we talk about how the resurrection of Jesus’s body tells us about the importance of our own body.