Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God

Life is transient. One minute you are driving along, next minute, boom, the car flies off the road and you are taken out and your life could be gone. Never take life for granted. And we do. 

What today’s reading is trying to do is to wake us up. It says, ‘Listen, look, stop, take it. Pay attention.” Jesus is saying, “Wake up, wake up. I am always here. But pay attention to me. Pay attention now. I am here. Do not wait till the end times. I am here now.” (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to pass it on.

May God take all our loved ones to himself for all eternity. And one day, we will join him as well. Together we will be one in heaven. Until then, we will ask those clouds of witnesses to witness to us their love and help us to carry our grief and each other’s grief. (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to pass it on.

Every time we come to the Eucharist God says that he loves us completely. So much so that he gives us Jesus Christ in his person. I want to quote Thomas Merton. Let me explain first. When the sun is shining bright, you can take a magnifying glass, focus the sun and you can set a piece of paper even on fire. Thomas Merton says that Jesus Christ is the magnifying lens which God gives us so that he can focus his love onto our hearts and set our hearts on fire with his love. (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to pass it on.

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PS - for some awesome time of prayer and reflection, take a look at the streaming sessions of our 2024 Seeds of Contemplation Retreat.

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We should understand the context of today’s reading. This is Mark’s gospel, the very first gospel to be written. And remember it is a continuation from last week’s gospel, where the rich young man comes up to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit kingdom of of heaven?” And he says to him, “Give away everything.”

Then James and John come along. They have given up everything. So they are thinking, I got it. We have given up everything. We are following you.” And so John asks, “Can you give us a place one at your right and the other on your left, key places of honor?” (Read More…)

Here is my homily from the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to pass it on.

We should understand the context of today’s reading. This is Mark’s gospel, the very first gospel to be written. And remember it is a continuation from last week’s gospel, where the rich young man comes up to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit kingdom of of heaven?” And he says to him, “Give away everything.”

Then James and John come along. They have given up everything. So they are thinking, I got it. We have given up everything. We are following you.” And so John asks, “Can you give us a place one at your right and the other on your left, key places of honor?” (Read More…)

Here is my homily from the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to pass it on.

Today there are so many things that draw our attention, distract us from even our own goodwill. We may not even want to be a certain way, but because we send so much time with those things. The question is what do we treasure the most? If somebody were to take away something, we would go, “Oh, no, no, no, no. Not that.” (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to pass it on.

I just returned last night from our pilgrimage and I had a long trip home. I finished the pilgrimage in Greece and Turkey and then I flew to Vienna for a Stanford class reunion. Then I flew from Vienna to San Francisco last night.

One of the things I love to see while traveling is how children and parents interact. God bless the parents; it is a lot of work! You guys know when you are traveling with kids, they push all your buttons. (Read more..)

Here is my homily from the Twenty- Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share with others.

You are not going to win every hand in your plan, in your life. That is just the way it is. You get some really doozy hands sometimes when you are sick and when you are suffering and you have gotten a bad hand, you still have to play the hand. Pick up your cross and come and follow me. You can not just fold the hand every single time. And that is what the Lord is trying to tell us, that he is in every single hand. He will help us play the every single hand. (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Twenty- Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share with others.

In today’s gospel, Jesus moves in close with this deaf and mute man. He moves in real close. And Jesus just does not say be healed or be opened in this case, he sticks his fingers in his ears. He puts his spittle on his tongue. I mean, that is moving in pretty close. He is intimately engaged. It is ultimately what Jesus did in becoming human. (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Twenty- Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share with others.

Henry Nouwen, the great Catholic priest and theologian of modern times, explains this reconnection concept using four words: taken, blest, broken and given. These connects us back to God as his beloved. When we truly discover that we are the beloved of God, that changes everything.  (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Twenty- Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share with others.