The Friar
These podcasts feature homilies given at Mass and commentaries on various eclectic topics.
Episodes
Tell John what you see. I was really struck in a not so happy way with the results of a survey of priests which suggested that many felt the Church was in a mess. I disagree. There have been worse times. And I still see signs of active presence of God in the world. To be sure, if I believed everything were up to me, I might feel differently. But Christ is still active in His Church and the gates of Hell will never prevail against i...
The thing I am most grateful for is the thing I most wish never happened. How is it someone could speak these words in honesty? Perhaps it is because this person understood the difference between joy, a gift of the Holy Spirit, and being free from any and all suffering.
Continue reading Homily for Sunday, December 12, 2021 at The Friar.
Two days. Two seemingly impossible events. Two outstanding examples that with God everything is possible. Yesterday the Blessed Virgin Mary said yes to being the Mother of God. Today, Juan Diego, despite his best efforts to avoid it, shows us that ordinary people can be vehicles of God's grace.
Continue reading Homily for Thursday, December 9, 2021 at The Friar.
Glass half-empty or half-full? I think that is the wrong question. Isn't it more important to be aware of what is in the glass? In our lives, our souls can be filled with clutter and mess, things that block the Holy Spirit, or like Mary, a soul ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
While there are many ways to divide the book of the prophet Isaiah, one way I like is to divide it as a book of challenge and a book of comfort. Isaiah challenged the people to change their lives, or bad things would happen. When they did not change and bad things did happen, he provided the comfort that God was still with them.
Continue reading Homily for Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at The Friar.
Saint John the Baptist was, to put it bluntly, an odd duck. Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, indicated that he was a classic example of a borderline personality. But it is important to see and understand the ways in which he was a part of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. He ate locusts and wild honey (think Exodus -- plagues and promised land). And he serves as an important intercessor and model for us...
A temptation of mine is to think that if a pray a little bit (intentions) and am basically a good person, meaning I don't murder anyone, then I will be saved. But today's gospel is a stark reminder that what I am tempted by is not enough for salvation. Not only do I need to call on God's name, more than that, I need to commit to actually doing what he tells me to do. I need not only to ask God to strengthen my faith, bu...
Most of what Saint Paul wrote was really dictated. And there are times, when you realize that, where you can see Paul getting really excited. Today is one such example. In talking about the tremendous life that one can receive by believing in Jesus, he says this: But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? ...
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