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

We need to start with small things, but we need to have a vision of what we want. One of the things that human behavior scientists would tell us, the idea of setting goals is great, but it is actually useless when it comes to accomplishing anything. We all can give value to how many of our New Year's resolutions never get really even started, right? Because we have outsized our goals. That is called forecasting. What they suggest it might be better to do is back-casting. (Read more…)

Here is my homily for the Feast of the Epiphany. I hope you can enjoy it

God Bless and Happy New Year to you all!.

It is such a gift to be able to celebrate a meal around the table and just feel the love of family. And it is a gift, but it also requires some hard work, because you have to show up, right?And that is a challenge for all of us, because we get busy with our lives, especially when we move out of the house as children. When you return to the house, you have to show up more than just physically. You have to be there emotionally. You have to be there spiritually. And that requires commitment. That requires effort. But that is what family does. Family creates an environment of safety, a place where you are always welcome to come back to. (Read more...) 

Here is my homily from the Feast of the Holy Family. I also include the special blessing for the families of the newly baptized. I hope you can enjoy it. 

The only meaning, the true logos, is God. The true logos is what we believe as Christians, the baby Jesus. He is the logos made flesh. That is what we celebrate, that that is the profound meaning. That is a foundation meaning for everything in our lives. God loves us so much that He did not just send a messenger, He sent His very self, His Son. (Read more…) 

Here is my homily from the Christmas Day Mass. I hope you can enjoy it.

What I would like you to do today and this week is make a little bit of room, take something away. Because like the branches in that story, we had to clear some of the branches and the grass away. We had to take something out. Can we have just a few minutes less television? A few minutes less playing on the computer so that we leave room for Christ. (Read more...)

The challenge for us as modern-day people, is that we have so much coming at us, so many voices. We have a cacophony of voices and messages. We do not know where or how to listen, and we certainly do not expect to listen to God. We do not ave that same sense that God is speaking to us in those direct ways. We have podcasts, we have videos, we have endless amount of internet voices, and that is not even including the television. They are all different stuff. (Read more…)

Here is what is interesting, what I have learned since then and before, through other many situations. Doubt is not the opposite of faith. We often believe that doubt is the opposite of faith. But it is a part of faith. Doubt is not the opposite of or the enemy of joy. It is part of it. Doubt is part of the process of faith development. (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Third Sunday of Advent and as Advent continues, I ask you to join me at St. Simon Parish for the final evening of prayer as we explore what it truly means to find joy in this sacred season. I will guide you to notice where joy is already present and where God is inviting more of it into our lives. All are welcome. Joy awaits.

If you are in the area, we’ll gather again Tuesday, December 16, at 7PM in the Church for 75 minutes of respite, reflection, and renewal. This session will also be livestreamed at St. Simon's Presents. Previous session can also be found there.

The prophets are the people who tell us what we need to hear even if we do not like it. Isaiah today which we hear in the first reading and John the Baptist, who we may as well call “John the Isaiah” because he comes on with just as strong a language. They see where we ought to be or could be but we are not quite there yet. But they see it and they tell us, we have to turn around. They build a vision for us so that we can imagine ourselves on the right trail. (Read more…)

Here is my homily from the Second Sunday of Advent and as Advent continues, I ask you to join me at St. Simon Parish for the next evening of prayer as we explore what it truly means to find joy in this sacred season. I will guide you to notice where joy is already present and where God is inviting more of it into our lives. All are welcome. Joy awaits. 

If you are in the area, we’ll gather again Tuesday, December 9, at 7PM in the Church for 75 minutes of respite, reflection, and renewal. This session will also be livestreamed at St. Simon's Presents.

And now comes Advent. Now comes the busiest season of the year, when our regular business goes into high gear. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we add shopping, decorating, parties, concerts, and celebrations to our already overflowing calendars. It seems almost impossible to stay awake and attentive when we are running on empty, exhausted by hurry sickness. (Read more...)

Here is my homily from the Fist Sunday of Advent and as Advent begins, I ask you to please join me at St. Simon Parish for three prayerful evenings as we explore what it truly means to find joy in this sacred season. I will guide you to notice where joy is already present and where God is inviting more of it into our lives. All are welcome. Joy awaits.

If you are in the area, we’ll gather on Tuesday evenings – December 2, 9, and 16, at 7PM in the Church for 75 minutes of respite, reflection, and renewal. The sessions will also be livestreamed at St. Simon's Presents.

Today, we celebrate the Feast Day of Christ the King and the readings bring us back to the foot of the cross. It seems like an odd place to bring us back as we enter into the end of our liturgy year and now enter into to the Advent season as we prepare for Christmas. Yet, that is where it does brings us, to the foot of the cross. (Read more…)

Here is the Homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. I hope you can enjoy it and please feel free to share with others.

In the cultural view, time is a scarcity. It is an asset that is a diminishing, that we are going to lose some day.  In this cultural view of time, time is running out. We have this sense of everything must produce something.  A view of productivity.  You are running out of time, so therefore you need to use your time well, and you need to stop wasting your time. (Read more…)

Here is the Homily from the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. I hope you can enjoy it and please feel free to share with others.