Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

2/17/19: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time: A Blessing to be Poor?

In today's Gospel we have a very challenging teaching from Jesus in which he says, "Blessed are you who are poor..." And then a little later he says, "Woe to you who are rich..." This is precisely the opposite of how we are accustomed to thinking about poverty and wealth. We think that wealth is a sign of blessing, and we make it -- or at least being comfortable -- a priority in our life. So how do we wrap our mind around what Jesus is saying here? And how do we strive to live this challenging word?

2/10/19: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Letting Jesus into our Boat

Today we have as our Gospel the powerful story of the call of Simon Peter. He lets Jesus into his boat and lets Jesus take him deeper. Jesus gives him a mission after Peter confesses his unworthiness. This is our story too... if we let Jesus into our boat!

2/3/19: 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Whether We Suffer or Not We Live Under God's Protection

In today's Gospel we have a very dramatic scene where Jesus's fellow townspeople listening to him at the Nazareth synagogue are initially delighted with his words and then very quickly filled with violent rage towards him. The other place where we see this sudden "flip" in feeling toward Jesus is on Palm Sunday, when the crowds initially sing hymns and lay down palms for Jesus as he enters Jerusalem and then one day later are clamoring for his death. The climax of today's Gospel sees Jesus escape unharmed from the violent crowd while three years later he would surrender himself, suffer the violence, and die. So was the Father protecting Jesus today but not during his Passion? Why not the suffering today and why the suffering in three years? These questions regarding the life of Jesus prompt questions regarding our own lives and the lives of our loved ones: Why does God shield us from suffering only to allow suffering at a different time?

1/27/19: 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: What the Baptism of Jesus Has to Do with Us

In today's Gospel, Jesus reveals himself to be the "anointed" one, or, literally in Greek, the "Christ". Jesus's anointing was manifested at his baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended upon in the form of a dove. This is what is signified when we are anointed with Chrism at our baptism: the truth that the Holy Spirit has descended upon us, making us a "Christian": another Christ. So Christ's mission that he receives at his anointing as priest, prophet and king he shares with us when we are baptized. How do we live this mission in our daily lives?

1/20/19: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Deep Meaning of the Wedding at Cana

At the end of the miracle of the changing water into wine, the Gospel writer tells us that in this first of Jesus's signs he "revealed his glory". Rightfully, this might cause us to wonder, "What's the big deal?" At first glance, this miracle certainly doesn't seem as important as the many others where Jesus exorcised a demon or healed or raised from the dead. But when we read beyond the surface level of John's narrative, the symbolic reading of the story help us to understand what's really going on here: Jesus is revealing himself to be the fulfillment of the many Old Testament prophesies of God's intention to marry his people. He does this in Jesus, the Divine Bridegroom, who weds his Bride, the new Israel, the Church, who is here represented and summed up in the person of Mary. The Wedding Feast at Cana is indeed much more than meets the eye!

1/6/19: Solemnity of the Epiphany: What the Wise Men have To Do with Us

While we are accustomed to thinking about the story of the Epiphany as a charming narrative, it is full of symbolism and very deep in meaning. In this homily we take a look at who the magi are, how this helps us understand the meaning of the text, and the symbolism before the magi's prostration before Jesus seated in Mary's lap, in the house.

1/1/19: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: The Shepherds Went in Haste to Bethlehem

On this Octave Day of Christmas, we celebrate the Mother of God. Today's Gospel starts off with the simple yet profound narrative, "The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem". These simple, hungry souls went quickly to Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means "House of Bread". What an apt description of us when we come--hungry, poor, and needy--to Mass to encounter there and be fed by the One who calls Himself the "Bread of Life".

12/30/18: Feast of the Holy Family: What We Want to Receive We Must Give

Today's first reading brings us back to the dramatic story of the birth of the great Old Testament prophet Samuel. Samuel's mother Hannah had struggled with infertility for years until God finally answered her anguished pleas for a child by giving her a son. Before she conceived Samuel, she made a promise to God that, if He gave her a son, she would offer him back to the Lord to be consecrated for His service. And Hannah, generously, kept her promise. What we see in Hannah is a spiritual principle found through the Scriptures -- what St. John Paul II called "the law of the gift". If we want to receive from God, first we must give.

Christmas 2018: The Christmas Message is for Poor People like Me and You

What strikes me again and again as I read and reflect on the story of Christ's birth is the poverty that surrounds the circumstances of his birth. From his poor parents to the poor shepherds who were the first visitors to the fact that his parents were too insignificant to merit a room at the inn and had to settle for giving birth in a crude stable. Yet isn't this precisely what brings us hope each year at Christmas? That because he came into the poverty of the world, I can have assurance that he desires to enter into the poverty of my heart. The question for us today is, "Are we willing to be counted among Christ's poor? Are we willing to be needy enough to need the hope and healing that only He can bring?"

12/23/18: 4th Sunday of Advent: What Gift will You Give Jesus this Year?

In today's Gospel of the Visitation, we see how Mary, at an extremely dramatic time of her life, makes a gift of herself in service to her elderly cousin Elizabeth. In doing so, she gives Elizabeth (and John in her womb) the gift of Jesus dwelling within her. God desires that we too would live in imitation of Mary, making a gift of our self and, in doing so, giving the gift of Jesus to another. To do so would be a beautiful gift we could make to Jesus this Christmas!