Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

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.

12/25/17: Christmas 2017: A God Who Comes in Poverty and Weakness

Whenever we hear the moving story of Christmas, we are faced with the question, "Why was it this way?" Why didn't God choose that his Son would be born into the world in much better (and cleaner) circumstances? We would never have chosen for our child to be born in this way ... yet that seems precisely the point. The things that we work so hard to attain in this life -- wealth, power, popularity, pleasure -- mean nothing to God. And the fact that he comes into the messiness of the world mean that he is willing to come into the messiness of my life...

12/24/17: 4th Sunday of Advent: A Faithful God who Keeps His Promises

Today's first reading brings us back to one of the most important texts in the whole Old Testament... the promise that God makes to David that he will set his heir upon his throne, and that his dynasty will last forever. This promise looked to be in serious question during the Babylonian Exile, when, for all appearances, the Davidic line ended. But God proves himself to be a faithful God who keeps his promises when the Angel announces to Mary that her Son, through Joseph, would sit on David's throne -- the fulfillment of the thousand year-old promise!

12/17/17: 3rd Sunday of Advent: Is it possible to rejoice always?

Today's reading from the 1st Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians has Paul making a very bold and seemingly unreasonable command: "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks." What does Paul mean when he says, "Rejoice always"? Is that to pretend that at times in life we do not experience great sadness and heartache? The Christmas mystery -- the Incarnation of the Son of God -- helps us to understand how it is indeed possible to "rejoice always".