Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

In today's Gospel, Jesus reveals himself to be the "anointed" one, or, literally in Greek, the "Christ". Jesus's anointing was manifested at his baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended upon in the form of a dove. This is what is signified when we are anointed with Chrism at our baptism: the truth that the Holy Spirit has descended upon us, making us a "Christian": another Christ. So Christ's mission that he receives at his anointing as priest, prophet and king he shares with us when we are baptized. How do we live this mission in our daily lives?

At the end of the miracle of the changing water into wine, the Gospel writer tells us that in this first of Jesus's signs he "revealed his glory". Rightfully, this might cause us to wonder, "What's the big deal?" At first glance, this miracle certainly doesn't seem as important as the many others where Jesus exorcised a demon or healed or raised from the dead. But when we read beyond the surface level of John's narrative, the symbolic reading of the story help us to understand what's really going on here: Jesus is revealing himself to be the fulfillment of the many Old Testament prophesies of God's intention to marry his people. He does this in Jesus, the Divine Bridegroom, who weds his Bride, the new Israel, the Church, who is here represented and summed up in the person of Mary. The Wedding Feast at Cana is indeed much more than meets the eye!

While we are accustomed to thinking about the story of the Epiphany as a charming narrative, it is full of symbolism and very deep in meaning. In this homily we take a look at who the magi are, how this helps us understand the meaning of the text, and the symbolism before the magi's prostration before Jesus seated in Mary's lap, in the house.

On this Octave Day of Christmas, we celebrate the Mother of God. Today's Gospel starts off with the simple yet profound narrative, "The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem". These simple, hungry souls went quickly to Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means "House of Bread". What an apt description of us when we come--hungry, poor, and needy--to Mass to encounter there and be fed by the One who calls Himself the "Bread of Life".

Today's first reading brings us back to the dramatic story of the birth of the great Old Testament prophet Samuel. Samuel's mother Hannah had struggled with infertility for years until God finally answered her anguished pleas for a child by giving her a son. Before she conceived Samuel, she made a promise to God that, if He gave her a son, she would offer him back to the Lord to be consecrated for His service. And Hannah, generously, kept her promise. What we see in Hannah is a spiritual principle found through the Scriptures -- what St. John Paul II called "the law of the gift". If we want to receive from God, first we must give.

What strikes me again and again as I read and reflect on the story of Christ's birth is the poverty that surrounds the circumstances of his birth. From his poor parents to the poor shepherds who were the first visitors to the fact that his parents were too insignificant to merit a room at the inn and had to settle for giving birth in a crude stable. Yet isn't this precisely what brings us hope each year at Christmas? That because he came into the poverty of the world, I can have assurance that he desires to enter into the poverty of my heart. The question for us today is, "Are we willing to be counted among Christ's poor? Are we willing to be needy enough to need the hope and healing that only He can bring?"

In today's Gospel of the Visitation, we see how Mary, at an extremely dramatic time of her life, makes a gift of herself in service to her elderly cousin Elizabeth. In doing so, she gives Elizabeth (and John in her womb) the gift of Jesus dwelling within her. God desires that we too would live in imitation of Mary, making a gift of our self and, in doing so, giving the gift of Jesus to another. To do so would be a beautiful gift we could make to Jesus this Christmas!

In today's Gospel we have featured once again the great Advent figure, St. John the Baptist. Last week we saw how he directed the people to repent of their sins in order to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, their Savior, into their hearts. Having repented, today we hear how the people asked, "Now what do we do?" What should we do? A great question for us to make as we continue to prepare to welcome Christ anew into our hearts this Christmas.

The great Advent figure presented to us in the Liturgy is St. John the Baptist. His job as bridge between the Old and New Testaments was to announce and prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, their Savior. What did this preparation consist of? Quite simply, repentance. People flocked to John, leaving the city of Jerusalem and venturing out into the wilderness to find him at the Jordan. And there he dipped them into the river's waters, signifying death to sin and their old life and their emergence into their new life. And they confessed their sins. If we are only to do one thing this Advent to prepare for Christ to enter our hearts anew this Christmas, we can receive our instructions from John the Baptist.

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, first and foremost, does not refer to the virginal conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary, as many presume. It refers to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother (traditionally called "St. Anne"). Mary was preserved at the moment of her conception from the disease that the rest of us inherited at our own conception: Original sin. While some question why it matters either or way or presume that this teaching was the arbitrary idea of a Pope who decided to impose this belief upon Catholics, the idea comes from the Scriptures and the Church Fathers who interpreted the Scriptures and was the subject of Christian conviction for many centuries prior to the doctrinal declaration in 1854. In this homily we talk about why it does matter that Mary was sinless and why it needed to be this way.