Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

3/4/18: 3rd Sunday of Lent: What Makes God Angry

In today's Gospel we see a side of Jesus that we rarely see in the Gospels: He is angry--so much so that he overturns the tables of the money-changers who are in the Temple area. In today's homily we explore why Jesus responds like this and what it is that makes God angry.

2/25/18: 2nd Sunday of Lent: The Point of Christianity is not to become a Good Person

The transfiguration--or literally, from the Greek word used in the Gospel, metamorphosis--of Jesus manifests his divinity to his disciples. Why did Jesus appear to the three radiant with white light, an appearance which both attracted them by its beauty and made them fearful by its shocking strangeness? The Fathers of the Church tell us that Jesus revealed himself in this way so that his disciples would remember the revelation of his divinity while he is enduring his passion and not lose faith. But by anitcipating the resurrection in this way, in which he would be manifest in a glorified body, Jesus is also revealing to the disciples their own destiny: If they suffer and die with him and for him, they would be raised by him, and their own bodies would be glorified... This is the destiny and dignity of every Christian! Let us remember this truth as we endure our own passion!

2/18/18: 1st Sunday of Lent: On Temptation and Sin and what is truly Human

Today's Gospel is the short account of the temptation of Jesus in Mark's Gospel. If Jesus is the "New Adam" as St. Paul said, then we look to Jesus to see what is truly human. The fact that Jesus was tempted helps us to remember that this is a truly human part of life on earth--being tempted. So we ought not feel ashamed because of the fact that we have unwanted thoughts and temptations: Many of the saints have suffered such things. The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was like us in all things but sin (cf. 4:15). This tells us what is truly unnatural to man: Sin.

Ash Wednesday 2018: Lent as a Preparation for Death (a.k.a. A Tribute to Dr. Don Briel)

As ashes our placed on our heads, we hear these words: "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return": A little reminder at the beginning of Lent of our death so that we remember what our fasting and praying and "repenting" is all about: Living well so that we might die well so that we will live eternally well in heaven.

2/11/18: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Lessons from the Man with Leprosy

There are two things that we can learn by watching the man with leprosy in today's Gospel: (1) Recognizing his desperate need for God, he boldly goes to Jesus and asks for healing, and (2) putting one's trust in what God wants and thinks best rather than what we want and think best. Do we do this?

2/4/18: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Tell Jesus Immediately

There's a detail in today's Gospel that we should notice. When Jesus goes to the home of Simon, his disciples "immediately" tell him about Simon's mother-in-law, who was sick with fever. And Jesus heals her. This is the habit that God wants us to develop: the habit of going to Jesus "immediately" whenever another is in trouble...or when we sense trouble inside ourselves...

1/28/18: 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Paul on Marriage and Celibacy

Today's 2nd reading from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians gives us part of Paul's response to what was a big and important question at the time: Does the Gospel permit marriage (and marital relations)? This may seem like an odd question to us, but there were different forms of dualism that were common in the times of the early church that said that the body was bad and anything having to do with the body (like sex) was bad. Combine this with the fact that the Gospel was totally new to the Gentile converts to Christianity, and they were trying to understand and live it completely. Combine this with the fact that Paul himself was celibate. In today's Gospel we talk about the gifts of marriage and celibacy and what St. Paul says about them.

1/7/18: Solemnity of the Epiphany: The Desire for God Planted in Our Hearts

In the Magi, who were pagan philosophers or astrologers "from the East", we see the model for what we must do as we experience within ourselves the desire for God, put there by our Creator. They journeyed hundreds of miles in order to discover the One who had been drawing their hearts to Himself. Let us renew our own desires for God and not suppress or numb them! And then let's let those desires lead us to the Son of the God of Israel. "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O God".

1/1/18: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: Emptying Out Our Hearts

The Liturgy today talks often of Mary's being "virgin", which she was in both body and heart. Her virginity bore fruit precisely because she was "empty"--empty of herself so that she could be totally available to God, who filled her with Himself. How full are we of so many things other than God! Today we reflect on what we need to be emptied of so that our hearts can be available for God.

12/31/17: Feast of the Holy Family: Offering Jesus Back to God (a.k.a. Why We Go to Mass)

Today we hear the Gospel of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. By presenting the Lord in the Temple, Mary and Joseph fulfill two of the requirements of Jewish Law: they make the necessary purification offering in the form of two turtledoves (the offering of the poor) and the presentation of their first-born son, who belongs to God. Focusing on this offering of Jesus at the Temple helps us to recognize when we do on Sunday when we go to our own "temple" -- in the Eucharist we offer ourselves to God and He offers Jesus back to us.