Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

8/11/19: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Your Father is Pleased

The first sentence from the Gospel the Church gives us today contains these consoling (and perhaps surprising) words: Your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. How often do we presume that the Father is disappointed in us? Saddened by us? Angry with us? Actually, the Father's stance towards us is always merciful love, and he takes great pleasure in us. Why and how is this possible? Only because of what happens at our baptism, by which Christ marks our soul with His own personal presence. At our baptism and every moment thereafter, when the Father sees us, He sees His Son, and the words that He uttered at Jesus's baptism become equally true for us: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased!

8/4/19: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Matters to God

Today's Scripture readings give us some practical examples of how money, property, and possessions can hurt and even destroy human relationships. The last line of Jesus's parable is telling: "Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God." So the question we must ask is "What matters to God?" What is more important to God: The inheritance a man receives or the relationship with his brother that is destroyed because of the inheritance? In our prayer, let's ASK the Lord what matters to him and make this the focus of our life.

7/28/19: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Importance of Wasting Time (a.k.a. How We Fall in Love)

In today's Gospel, the disciples ask Jesus how they should pray because they see him praying, and he apparently prays in such a way that made them want whatever he had! Today we talk about the necessity of "wasting time" with God and give some practical suggestions on building one's life of prayer.

6/2/19: Ascension Sunday: Why the Disciples were Happy that Jesus Left

Normally when someone leaves us it is a sad occasion, unless we are sick of that person. In Luke's Gospel account of the Ascension, however, we hear that the disciples returned to Jerusalem "with great joy" after Jesus was taken up into heaven. Diving into what it means for Jesus to be taken up into heaven -- Jesus's being taken up into God's existence -- helps us to understand that, at the "right hand of the Father", Jesus can be more present to me hear and now than he could while on earth. So the disciples gained closer a more intimate presence to Jesus when they "lost" him to the Ascension. Truly a "joyful" reality!

5/26/19: 6th Sunday of Easter: How to Restore Peace in our Hearts (a.k.a. The Pirate's Prayer)

Today we hear Jesus say to his disciples, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." The fruit of the Holy Spirit whom the Father sends in Jesus's name into our hearts is peace. Yet how often do we let our hearts "be troubled or afraid"? Worldy anxiety and lack of trust often make our hearts fearful and anxious. So what should we do when we have lost God's peace? 

5/19/19: 5th Sunday of Easter: Love is Proven by Deeds (a.k.a. Why Catholics have Crucifixes)

Jesus gives us two words to focus on in today's Gospel: glory and love. Both of these words can mean different things to us, but the important thing is, what do they mean to Jesus? We dig deeper and find that both find their meaning for Jesus in the gift that he makes of himself on the Cross. Which makes us really happy that our Catholic churches and homes present to us crosses with the dead body of Jesus on it: The moment that he calls his "glory" and the place where he proves his "love".

5/12/19: 4th Sunday of Easter: Imitating the most Famous Belgian Ever

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we meditate on the life of a good shepherd whose feast day the Church in the United States just celebrated on May 10: St. Damien of Molokai. His life shows us how to be happy and how to be a saint -- by making our life a gift.

5/5/19: 3rd Sunday of Easter: Charcoal Fires and Cheetos

One of the intriguing details from today's Gospel is John's inclusion of the detail that Jesus was standing by a charcoal fire when he appears to the Gospels. We talk about the hidden significance of this image and how it leads us to see what brings us to true life: Making a gift of ourselves, which Jesus does for us by giving us to eat his very Body and Blood.

4/28/19: 2nd Sunday of Easter: The Locked Door of our Heart

Today's Gospel finds the disciples bunkered down behind a locked door because of their fear, grief, disappointment, and shame. How often do we lock the door of our hearts when we are experiencing the same thing?! The good news is that when we finally allow the Merciful Lord access, not only can He come in, but He can lead us out... to witness to our faith in the Resurrection.

Easter 2019: Indestructible Life

The Letter to the Hebrews describes Christ's life in the Resurrection as "Indestructible Life". This is the new life that pulses through Jesus's Body and Soul in his Resurrected state, in which he enters into a new dimension of being. How, in the midst of our own darkness and misery, can Jesus's Risen Life touch our life? It is through our doing what Peter did in his own darkness and confusion: Rising. Running to the tomb. Seeking out the encounter with the Lord who has conquered darkness and who wants to bring this light and LIFE into the deadness of our hearts.