Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

Today's Gospel gives us the beginning of Jesus's ministry in Galilee, including the call of the first disciples: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. The Lord called each one. Each one answered. And no one's life was the same after that. In our own life, have we felt Jesus speaking to us, reaching out to us? Have we experienced him turn his face towards us, as the disciples experienced in the Gospel? We can all make our prayer that of the Psalmist: "Show us your face, O Lord! Hide not your face from us!"

Today we continue with the surprising event of the baptism of Jesus, this time hearing from the perspective of John's Gospel. Surprising, because everybody else was going to John the Baptist to be baptized as a sign of their repentance from sin and their desire to live a new life. Obviously this wasn't why Jesus sought baptism. In today's Gospel, we talk about why WAS Jesus baptized...

A change of pace this week with a reflection on St. Joseph from our Christmas seminarian retreat. We reflect on the Matthew Chapter 1, which focuses on the perspective of St. Joseph, and show how the chaste marriage between Mary and Joseph is nonetheless a true marriage. Therefore Joseph is patron of husbands and and those who are called to be spouse of the Church: bishops and the priests united to them.

The Gospel account of the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem tells us that these wise men from the East brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In addition to being symbolic of Jesus's identity, these gifts also help us to understand--if we wish to be wise--what gifts we ourselves should make to God.

Today the Church celebrates Mary under the title, "Mother of God." There are so many things we could say about this important theological title, but let's ask today how Mary got it. How did Mary become the Mother of Jesus, the Eternal Son of God? It was by her "yes" to God's invitation. God invites her into a love relationship with Him. She says 'Yes', and by the power of the Holy Spirit, comes to bear Jesus inside of her, and then she bears Him to the world. Isn't this exactly what God wants of each of us too?! That we would become a tabernacle and thus bear and share God to the world. But it starts with our "yes" to his loving invitation!

In the genealogy of Matthew's Gospel, we hear the names of the heroes of the faith who are among Jesus's "spiritual family". Yet Jesus doesn't just come out of a history of saints but also great sinners. We, of course, when we are honest with ourselves, must acknowledge the presence within us not only a desire for God but also a sinfulness that makes it very difficult to become the person we desire to be. What is God's response to so much ambiguity and infidelity on our part? We learn it on Christmas Day. His response to our sinfulness is not anger, or condemnation, or disappointment, or giving up on us. Rather, His response to us is giving us his Son Jesus, the little babe in Bethlehem. If God responds to us with merciful love in Jesus, how will we respond back to Him?

Today's Gospel is the story of the Nativity from St. Matthew, told in the perspective of St. Joseph. If we are tempted to believe that the life of a saint is tidy and drama-free, we can go no further than here. Can we imagine the pain and confusion Joseph felt regarding Mary's pregnancy? Yet he proves himself to be a faithful husband in the midst of suffering. Can we appreciate the magnitude of the task of being father to the Son of God? Yet he trusts God and walks with him, receiving grace even though the task to us seems crushing. What an intercessor he can be for us who are sinners too, we who struggle to be faithful spouses and loving parents.

To the question of John the Baptist, "Are you the Messiah or do we need to keep waiting?" Jesus gives an interesting answer: He doesn't say "yes" or "no" but "look at what's happening around me." And what was happening around Jesus? Miracles. Lots of them. Physical miracles, yes, but also the greatest miracle: Jesus speaking into spiritual poverty and effecting a conversion of heart. Conversion -- a change of heart -- is actually the greatest miracle that Jesus can work in our life. Let us seek to allow Jesus to give us this this Advent!

In the Gospels for the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of Advent each year the focus is on the great Advent saint, John the Baptist, whose life's mission was to prepare the people of Israel to welcome their Messiah. This too is the purpose of Advent: Our preparation -- or to use the Advent imagery of Isaiah -- our making a highway into our hearts -- so the Lord may come and enter. Today we look at how the Mass prepares us to receive Jesus in the Eucharist and how that might translate into our daily spiritual practices during Advent.

Both Jesus and Paul in our readings today exhort their listeners to "stay awake"! Both are encouraging vigilance because of the coming of the Son of Man -- we never know when our life will be demanded of us. Paul elaborates on what this "wakefulness" looks like in the concrete: not in orgies or drunkenness or rivalries or jealousies (in other words, not in serious sins that damage our relationships with God and others) but rather in "putting on" the Lord Jesus. Let us pray for the grace to do that this Advent!