Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

350 years ago, when He appeared to St. Margaret Mary, exposing for her His Sacred Heart, He called His Heart the "Sacrament of Love". He was referring the the Holy Eucharist. When Jesus gives us His Body and Blood, He is giving us His Heart. What does this mean for Jesus? And what does this mean for us who receive Holy Communion?

Today we celebrate the central mystery of the Christian faith: That the one God is a Communion of Love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While God never needed to reveal this to us, He did in Jesus Christ. As if this wasn't amazing enough, He chooses to allow us to share with Him the Divine Life by giving us of His Spirit -- the Love which flows between Father and Son.

Some of those who were witnesses of the transformation of the disciples at Pentecost and their joyful praising of God accused them of being drunk with "new wine." The Fathers of the Church says that they were! They were inebriated with the new wine of the Holy Spirit, which results in the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, generosity, etc. May we experience the closeness (and gladness) to God that the Holy Spirit brings!

The account of Jesus's ascension into heaven in the Acts of the Apostles gives us the detail that Jesus is taken up in a cloud. From a Scriptural perspective, this is a sign that Jesus is not going "up, up, and away" but rather into God. This actually the meaning of what we profess in the Nicene Creed: "He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father." Jesus goes into the realm of God, which is also heaven. As Pope Benedict taught, heaven is not a place but a person. To enter into Jesus is to enter into heaven.

In today's Gospel Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you." Clearly Jesus is distinguishing his own peace from the peace that the world has to offer, but what is the difference? How can we seek Christ's peace and not simply  what the world considers to be peace?

We recognize our graduating seniors this Sunday at Holy Family, and we have a beautiful Gospel with which to do so. Jesus commands his disciples (and us): "As I have loved you, so you must also love one another." What does Jesus mean by "love" and is his meaning different from the way we usually understand it? Is he commanding us to have warm feelings for each other? To like each other? We explore the various meanings of "to love" in Greek and look at how Jesus uses the word "agape" to define what he means by love.

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, the Church and world rejoice that a new Shepherd for the Church has been named, Pope Leo XIV. The Gospels make it clear both that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and that he Shepherds through Peter (and by extension through the bishops and their priests). May we rejoice today that Jesus is our Shepherd and that He shepherds us through the Church!

In today's Gospel, Jesus is standing by a charcoal fire, and he invites his disciples to come towards him for breakfast. There is a deeper significance going on here, because the last time we saw a charcoal fire in the Gospel, it was in the courtyard of the high priest, while Jesus was awaiting trial. Peter stood by the fire, warming himself, and it was there that three times he denied knowing Jesus. Now at this charcoal fire, Jesus invites Peter to confess his love for him three times, forgiving his previous three betrayals. What a marvelous gift that Jesus gives Peter today: The gift of "re-con-cilia-tion" -- coming eyelash to eyelash (i.e. intimately close) with Jesus again.

Happy Easter! I've finally been watching "The Chosen" series, and I love it. Although it goes far beyond the Scriptural narrative, it makes me think about the personal stories of those who surround Jesus. How did they come to follow Jesus? What is their story? As we hear about the bravery of Mary Magdalene this morning, who not only accompanied Jesus on the Way of the Cross but also courageously visited his tomb on Easter morning, we can wonder, "What is her Jesus story?" What is mine? What is yours?

In today's Passion account from John's Gospel, the author goes out of his way to tells us that the narrative begins and end in a garden. Obviously, the author is hearkening back to the beginning of Genesis and the Garden of Eden. It was there, as a result of man's disobedience, that man lost favor with God and was exiled from the garden. But now in this new garden, the New Adam has responded to God with obedience, thus cancelling out my death sentence for my own disobedience. Let us venerate the cross today with great gratitude, as Jesus has suffered for my sins in order to bring me healing, wholeness, and reconciliation with God.