Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

9/13/15: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Suffering and our Vocation

How do I approach suffering in my own life? Do I see it as a way to participate in God's desire to save me and to save others? Our vocation is often the way where we meet the Cross--that place of suffering AND joy in which we choose to love--to put the other above myself.

3/15/15: 4th Sunday of Lent: Am I Saved?

3/1/15: 2nd Sunday of Lent: What We Do at Mass

The story of Abraham and Isaac and the account of the Transfiguration both bring us up the mountain...and they help us to understand what we are doing every time we come to the altar of sacrifice. We come to the altar to worship God and to offer Him our lives--and in return--we are nourished with Life itself.

2/22/15: 1st Sunday of Lent: Sin and Destruction

In the story of Noah, it's easy for us to look at the flood as God's punishment for the sins of humanity. But we can also look at it as the destructive consequence of sin on a cosmic level. Sin starts out small and grows as a force in our life, and, if it goes unforgiven and unredeemed, leads to our destruction.

Ash Wednesday 2015: Putting the Deadly to Death

Our Lenten penance is not so much about doing "deadly things" that just make us suffer but about "putting the deadly to death"--doing penance that attacks those destructive habits and attitudes that we've allowed to creep in over the past year.

2/15/15: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Spiritual Leprosy

Today's shocking Gospel shows us exactly what Jesus wants us to do--leave the painful isolation of our sinfulness and go directly to him so that he can touch us.

2/1/15: 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Jesus--Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?

The point of today's Gospel is to affirm the radically different way that Jesus taught--claiming God's authority for himself--teaching and acting in only a way that God can. The reaction of the Jews is understandable: Some thought he was a liar; some thought he was a lunatic; some thought he was Lord. Jesus was not just a nice guy. He forced people to make a decision about whether or not they believed in him.

1/25/15: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Three Traits of a Disciple

Today's Gospel gives us Mark's version of the call of the first disciples. Are we disciples? What does it mean to be a disciple? Today we look at three specific traits of a disciple based on today's Gospel.

1/18/15: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Am I a Disciple?

Today's Gospel tells us of the first sacred encounter between Jesus and three of his disciples. Many of us would say that we are Christians or Catholics, but how many of us would say that we are disciples? Followers of Jesus? This is really what the Lord is looking for...

1/4/15: Epiphany: "Spiritual" but not "Religious"

One of the popular philosophies of the day is that one would embrace "spirituality" but reject "religion." The story of the Magi shows us how all of humanity finds the reason for their existence--their God--in the child at Bethlehem. These "spiritual seekers" become wholeheartedly religious when they prostrate themselves before Jesus in worship and adoration.