Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

Unless a Grain of Wheat...

In John Chapter 12 we encounter Jesus at the height of his career. He has just raised Lazarus who had been dead four days in the tomb. When he enters Jerusalem for the last time, crowds gather to sing and wave palm branches in celebration. In today's Gospel we see that even the Greek-speaking Jews who have traveled a great distance to Jerusalem have heard about him and are trying to see him. Everybody is talking about him, and many desire to crown him King of Israel. It is at this moment, when Jesus has so many eating from the palm of his hand, that he announces how he, the Son of Man, will be glorified: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it will yield a rich harvest. Whoever loves his life loses it, but whoever hates his life will save it for eternal life." To say that this is not what the crowd is expecting Jesus to say would be an understatement. Yet Jesus is showing us the secret to new life in Christ: We must die to ourselves every day, so that Christ will live anew within me.

You are Loved

In today's Gospel we hear the magnificent verses from John 3:16-17: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him." The 2nd reading from St. Paul is so similar: "God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions..." What do we believe God's attitude towards us is? How do we believe God feels about us? Do we believe he is disappointed, or frustrated, or angry, or indifferent? May the Word of God transform our mind so that we may believe that -- even when we are dead in our sins -- God has only one disposition towards us, which is love.

You are a Temple

In today's Gospel Jesus turns over the tables of the money changers and drives out those who were selling livestock outside the Temple. He did this not because there was anything objectively evil going on but because he could sense that worldliness had invaded the sacred space of the Temple. When he sees disorder within God's house he has no time or tolerance for it but must drive it out. If this is true for the Temple in Jerusalem, which is merely a sign and foreshadowing of its fulfillment in the person of Jesus, how much more is this true when Jesus finds disorder within me, who St. Paul calls, "a Temple of the Holy Spirit." May we cooperate with this purifying work of Jesus and he sees and drives out evil within us!

I Want to See

In today's Gospel of the Transfiguration, the appearance of Jesus changes in front of the disciples. He appears dazzling with light, and the disciples are bedazzled! What's important for us to understand is that Jesus himself doesn't change at the Transfiguration, but the vision of the disciples does. They see him anew, as God. He is "God from God, light from light." Being able to see with the eyes of faith will change everything for them, especially as they go back down the mountain to "normal" reality, and especially as they witness Jesus suffer and die. May we too be granted true vision as we experience our own cross!

What to do in times of Temptation

It might surprise us where the Holy Spirit sends Jesus immediately after anointing him at his baptism: He drives him into the desert to be tempted. He did this so that Christ could enter fully into our fallen humanity, including into those aspects which are most painful and humiliating for us. Here it is important to distinguish between being tempted and falling prey to temptation, which is to sin. As the author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, Christ was tempted in every way that we are, but he remained without sin. What consolation it is that Jesus knows the difficulty and struggle of our most intense temptations! May we learn to run to him (and not away from him) with confidence every time we find ourselves tempted.

You Cannot Soil God

One of the easy-to-forget details in the account of Jesus's healing of the man with leprosy is the fact that both the man and Jesus act in ways that were completely taboo, that would have been unthinkable in the time and culture of Jesus. The man comes right up to Jesus (which he was not supposed to do, lest he come in physical contact with another person and render them unclean (and perhaps communicate the deadly disease of leprosy in the process)). And Jesus, rather than running as fast as he could in the opposite direction, reaches out and touches the man. According to Mosaic Law, this would have rendered Jesus unclean and would have excluded him from public worship and from close contact with others for a period of time. But what happens instead? We see that Jesus is so clean that he can never be soiled but can only render clean those who approach him with confidence. So we should never hesitate to bring our uncleanness directly to him -- so that he will make us clean.

What to do When we are Angry with God

The story of Job is the story of one who speaks very directly to God in the face of the sufferings he is experiencing. Pope Francis calls the Book of Job a "prayer of protest"! It is brutally honest prayer. Throughout the Scriptures we encounter those who openly share their suffering with God, which includes, anger with God, confusion over his ways, and even a sense of being abandoned by God. May we imitate these voices as they teach us to pray more and more honestly from the heart, which will only open the way for a deeper and more real relationship with the One who knows and understands us from the inside.

Can Someone be Called to be Single?

Today we focus on our 2nd Reading from Chapter 7 of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. There he says some very counter-cultural things. He talks about marriage as not merely a natural good but a real charism (grace) and call from God. And, perhaps more counter-culturally, he talks about the celibate single life as a real charism (grace) and call from God. Most surprisingly of all, he says that he prefers the single life to the married life and says earlier in this chapter that he wishes "all would be as I am" (i.e. single). In this homily we talk about the unique gift of the single, celibate state and how we must adjust our mindset in order to be conformed to the Gospel.

Jesus Calls Fishers of Men (a.k.a. Being Good Bait)

In today's Gospel Jesus call his first four Apostles, all fishermen. These will be the first bishops and priests of his Church. Why does Jesus choose a seemingly disproportionate number of men with this particular vocation? Precisely because these men understand the basics of evangelization. They know how to put good bait on their hook to draw in the fish. To be fishers of men, they will have to be like Jesus, attracting men to their self. To be good "bait" will be for them to be more and more conformed to Jesus. This is the call of every baptized person and, especially, of every priest.

Epiphany: What the Magi Teach Us about our Journey of Faith

The identity of these Magi "from the East" is very mysterious, but what we know for sure is that they were seekers, looking for God. Once they recognize Him in the sign of the Star, they take action, making the long and difficult journey to Israel. Losing sight of the Star, instead of succumbing to discouragement they seek out the direction that they need. Soon the Star reappears, and they "rejoice with great joy". Upon finding the Christ, they worship him and offer gifts in sacrifice. Finally, they start back for their home country, but they do so as changed men. Now themselves are lights who will lead others to the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. How much do these Magi have to teach us about our own journey of faith!