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

During the year, at our Men’s Group,  we have been reading a book called  “The Power of Purpose” by Richard Leider,  and in it he tries to articulate
 what it is that gives us meaning and purpose in our life.  In this book in particular, he says  that once we find this purpose,  in relation to the world’s needs,  and that it is a dynamic process.  I think that insight is very powerful.  It is a process that we come to,  and we know when we get there.  We have this aha moment.

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I bring you this homily today from Florence, Italy. I am here with a group of Jesuits from throughout the whole world, those working in formation, bringing them all together to learn a little bit more about artificial intelligence and how to integrate that into their ministry.

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One of the great gifts that we have as priests  is that we are invited to journey with people  in some of the most tender and vulnerable  moments of their life. In particular, when people get sick, and when they get terminally sick,  they invite us into that very vulnerable part of their life,  and they share the most powerful insights  and the most tender moments ever shared.
 

Many of you know how much my own father  was a hero in my life.  He always seemed to have the right thing to say  at the right moment.  He just seemed to have that wisdom  to always guide in the midst of darkness.

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Our conversation led to talking not so much about artificial intelligence, as what this means for humanity. What does it mean for humans to flourish? What does that conversation look like? It really was a mirroring of the document that Pope Leo announced. 

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What does it mean for us as human beings to flourish?  What does it mean to have dignity as a human person?  And what is the common good for all people?  He goes through a whole hundred and thirty-five years  of the Church’s social teaching  to refocus our energies on that message.

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This past week, as I said at the beginning of Mass, has been quite a week for me.
 It was extraordinary.  I had the opportunity to sit in the Synod Hall  as the Holy Father gave his new encyclical, Magnificat Humanitas, to the world. I am still unpacking the magnitude  of the event in my life,  but there are some things that really stood out for me.  Read More

In our Catholic church, we typically think of the Holy Spirit in rather tame terms.  We think of the Holy Spirit as a nice peaceful dove coming, fluttering into our lives, or tongues of fire settling down on our head. But in Celtic spirituality, it is very different. In Celtic spirituality, it is a wild goose, honking and wild, untamed, fierce and furious, but free.

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Almost 60 years ago, on April 4th, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King walked into Riverside Church in New York City and gave a speech co-written by Dr. Vince Harding, his peer in ministry. For over a decade, he had been the voice of civil rights  throughout the land and had great success.

But on this occasion, he expanded his ministry to speak for justice throughout the world. He spoke about fighting for justice for all, putting a voice to the voiceless, 
even peace to those lands.

We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is a gift, and like all gifts, it has to be received. It has to be opened. It has to be unleashed. As Catholics, we have some work to do with the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are maybe a tad shy in accepting the Holy Spirit as one of the persons of the Holy Trinity.

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A Blessing for All Who Are Mothers

By Fr. Brendan McGuire

To you who have carried life
 in your body or in your prayers,
 who have nursed the wounded knee
 and the wounded heart,
 may the God who whispers,

I will not leave you orphans,

whisper it now to you.
 For you have been His echo on earth,
 the steady gaze across the room,
 the patient love that waited
 to be remembered.

To mothers and grandmothers,
 to godmothers and stepmothers,
 to those still hoping to hold a child,
 to those who have buried one,
 to every woman who has mothered
 a friend, a stranger, a soul not her own,

may the Paraclete walk beside you,
 called alongside
 as you have been called alongside us.
 May you be tenderly held
 by the One who never leaves,
 and never has.

Amen.

© 2026 Fr. Brendan McGuire