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

Jesus reorders life. He quotes the golden rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That was in the Book of Deuteronomy as one of the laws of the Lord. But he takes it a step further. He deepens it and calls his disciples, the ones who call themselves Christian, to have a higher standard, a deeper reality. He says it is not enough, to love just your family. (Read more…)

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

Pope Francis has declared 2025 a Jubilee Year of Hope, a timely reminder that even in the face of immense suffering in our world, we are not abandoned, Jesus always accompanies us and most especially in our times of suffering. The cross stands at the center of our faith, not as a symbol of defeat, but as a sign of ultimate hope.  (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time. I apologize for the lateness of this which I delivered while on a pilgrimage to Rome. I hope you can still enjoy it and please feel free to share with others.

You can hear a sense of frustration in today’s gospel with Peter. Peter has been working hard all night with his friends, he says they were up all night and caught absolutely nothing. Then here comes Jesus. Remember, Jesus is a carpenter and he is telling the fishermen what to do. You can see how outrageous this sounds. So you can imagine what Peter is feeling, “Like really ? Put out again? Really! I have been working hard and I know my job. I know this Sea of Galilee pretty well and I have been doing this fishing thing a while.” (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time. This weekend we launche the Annual diocesan Appeal as well a Baptism. Please feel free to share with others.

Mary watched her son suffer greatly. This prediction by the prophet Simeon is very real. The climax of that suffering for her was at the foot of the cross. We have to examine this because it is very important how Mary suffered. It was not just that she suffered but how she suffered and gave witness to us. (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Presentation of the Lord. I am sorry this is later than usual as I was away giving a retreat at Sts. Peter and Paul in Rocklin, CA on From Here to Eternity: How to Live and Die Well.   Please feel free to share with others.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the scripture. Jesus is the bright light that leads us to see all other lights. He is the one who enables us to see what God is fulfilling in our lives. So Jesus, in a sense, God becomes our north star, if you would, that we look to seek in this sky of lights.  (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Third Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to share with others.

In today's Gospel, Jesus turns everything around. He takes six stone jars fills them with water and turns that water into wine. These jars would have held 20 to 30 gallons each. Just to give you an understanding of how much wine we are talking about. He produced 600 to 800 bottles of wine! That is a lot of joy! (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Second Sunday of Ordinary time. Please feel free to share with others.

We need to hear this message of delight because we hear all the other messages, all the other negative messages, the competitive ones on online, how good everyone else is and not how good we are. Let’s combat it with a message of love. Let’s say to one another “You are my beloved one, with whom I am well pleased, with whom I am delighted.” (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Baptism of the Lord. Please feel free to share with others. Happy 2025 to all of you!

There are layers of irony here that Matthew is trying to communicate to his Jewish audience, kind of waking them up. “Hey, hello. It is the Messiah. The Messiah was born. You need to go to Jerusalem. You need to leave Jerusalem and go to Bethlehem.” But they missed the point. Why did they miss the point? It is because they are so rooted in their own belief, their own perspective. (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Epiphany of the Lord. Please feel free to share with others.

Happy 2025 to all of you!

With the passing of time we certainly grow in age, but we do not always necessarily grow in wisdom. There are no guarantees that wisdom comes with age! It is one of those things that is an opportunity for us, but we have to apply the lessons that happen in our life in order for us to gain the wisdom from those moments. (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Feast of the Holy Family. Please feel free to share with others. 

I hope you are enjoying this time with family and friends!

Today , we stop and we share what we believe is the greatest story ever told. The story of Jesus Christ being born among us. And right from the very beginning, there is a twist. And the twist is that God, the Author of life, the author of the Book of Life, enters into the story himself. He becomes one of the twists. (Read More)

Here is my homily for the Nativity of The Lord. Please feel free to share with others. Merry Christmas to you and yours!