Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

Summer School: Introduction to Prayer

We know we should pray, but how should we go about doing it? Is there a deeper prayer than intercessory prayer or the repetition of vocal prayers? Are devotions like the Rosary real prayer or do I need something more? What should I do if I am distracted in prayer? This is the first of three talks on prayer in this Summer School 2025 series.

The Temptation to Put Money over Relationship

Today's readings give us a very strong message: What is important to God is different from what is important to us. We are often caught up in the things of the world and often so attached to worldly things that we risk forgetting God or our neighbor. A specific example the Gospel gives of this is regarding inheritance. How many families do we know where siblings no longer speak to each other because of a dispute over who gets what?! St. Paul reminds us that, since we have been raised with Christ, we must seek what is above, not what is of earth. May we be focused on the things that are lasting and not on the things that are passing away!

How to Pray (according to Jesus)

Today's Scripture readings are all about prayer. Jesus tells us a parable that encourages us to pray with persistence and then stresses the good fatherhood of God, who loves it when we ask for things. In the first reading, Abraham boldly and persistently addresses his concerns and questions to God. But the highlight of the readings is certainly Luke's version of the "Our Father", which reminds us that God does indeed gift us with "memorized prayers", mercifully giving us the words to pray when we don't know what to say.

The Virtue of Hospitality

One of the themes that is often forgotten when we discuss the Gospel scene of Martha and Mary at their home with Jesus is the virtue of hospitality. This is brought home by the fact that the Church pairs this Gospel with the first reading from Genesis, where Abraham and Sarah show hospitality to God Himself, appearing as three men. In another place in the Gospel, Jesus says, "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me!" May we all value and grow in this virtue of hospitality, by which we can welcome others (and, by implication, God) into our homes and, more importantly, hearts.

Free to be Inconvenienced

In today's Gospel Jesus helps us to see who our "neighbor" is (anyone whom God places in our path), and he calls us to be inconvenienced and involved in the lives of those who need help. Reflecting on how Jesus has done this for us, may we say "yes" to his call: "Go and do likewise!"

The Call to Mission and 15 Years of Priesthood

Today's challenging Gospel gives us the opportunity to reflect on God's call to mission for each one of us Christians. What is my mission? In each particular way that God calls us, we are going to experience at times our poverty and weakness that forces us to rely on God's strength and not our own. The harvest is abundant, so may the Lord of the Harvest give us the grace to go out on mission, where we will experience God's power working through our weakness.

The Pope and the Hierarchy of the Church

Whenever June 29 falls on a Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul instead of the normal Sunday in Ordinary Time. When this happens, we have the opportunity to reflect on the nature of the Church and its masculine, hierarchical dimension. This aspect of the Church gives us the grace of the Sacraments and the guarantee of the truth of her teachings. Yet, the constant conviction of the Church is that her nature is fundamentally feminine, as the "Bride of Christ." Learning to be receptive, like Mary, is the key to our self-understanding. May Peter and Mary teach us to be Church!

The Eucharist is the Heart of Jesus

350 years ago, when He appeared to St. Margaret Mary, exposing for her His Sacred Heart, He called His Heart the "Sacrament of Love". He was referring the the Holy Eucharist. When Jesus gives us His Body and Blood, He is giving us His Heart. What does this mean for Jesus? And what does this mean for us who receive Holy Communion?

Trinity Sunday: God is Love

Today we celebrate the central mystery of the Christian faith: That the one God is a Communion of Love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While God never needed to reveal this to us, He did in Jesus Christ. As if this wasn't amazing enough, He chooses to allow us to share with Him the Divine Life by giving us of His Spirit -- the Love which flows between Father and Son.

Inebriated with the New Wine of the Holy Spirit

Some of those who were witnesses of the transformation of the disciples at Pentecost and their joyful praising of God accused them of being drunk with "new wine." The Fathers of the Church says that they were! They were inebriated with the new wine of the Holy Spirit, which results in the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, generosity, etc. May we experience the closeness (and gladness) to God that the Holy Spirit brings!