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

We have to be mindful of how we are serving others in our world today. Because we, you and I, are the church. Today we celebrate an unusual Feast day called the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome. We might say, "Why are we celebrating a dedication of a building?" It is a pretty significant building. First of all, it is the See of the Bishop of Rome, not St. Peter's. St. Peter's is the pope's basilica, if you would. St. John Lateran is the See of the Bishop of Rome. (Read more…)

Here is the Homily from Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. I hope you can enjoy it and please feel free to share with others. 

Every one of us will take that final journey home someday. But until then, we are called to live this circle of life well. We are called to live it fully, embracing every moment and savor every moment for what it is, whatever part of the journey or the stage of this circle we are on. To never to embrace the next too soon, nor to resist it too much. But to embrace it knowing that our final destiny, my friends, is eternal life. (Read more…)

Here is the Homily from the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. I hope you can enjoy it and please feel free to share with others.

Today we are honoring our 70 year history. This place was a orchard of apricots. And that is why we have honored it with the very apricots we have here as a reminder of our roots. The soil that produced so much fruit for so many years then became the soil for this parish. Now look at what we have done with the seeds of faith of 70 years of believing, 70 years of toil in the soil of this parish. (Read more…)

Here is a bonus homily from the our 70th Anniversary as a Parish. I hope you can enjoy it and please feel free to share with others..

When Pope Francis was first elected, you might remember, one of the very first interviews he ever conducted, was from an Italian journalist. The journalist asked, "Who is Cardinal Bergoglio? Who is Pope Francis?" The pope bowed his head and said, "I am a sinner." It was really humbling to hear the pope remind himself that he is a sinner. As he had been exalted to the highest office in the church, he brings himself back down to the ground. I cannot help but think that gives us a model of how we are called to be in our lives. (Read more…)

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

What is most important for today's celebration, is that Luke was a physician. Dr. Luke, as I always like to call him, had a particular view that is seen in his gospels and we see it even today. That view is an incredibly compassionate way to look at everyone he meets. His gospel and his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, portray Jesus as the divine physician.  (Read more…)

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

My friends, you see, we have to find a way to tune in to God's grace each day. Here is the thing to be very mindful of. Our senses are always at work, whether we am having a good day or a bad day. So we can be grateful to God for those no matter what is going on. (Read more…)

No matter what the secular society says, how wonderful everything is, it is so important that we take the seed of faith that we have been given and that we plant it deep within our soul. And we water it by our faithful attendance like you all are here today. That we keep showing up and that we need to trust, as the Lord reminds us, we need to trust that faith is going to produce much fruit. (Read more…)

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

It is humbling to be reminded that we are trying to learn that we are all equal. That that we are all children of God, whether rich or poor, whether we are Catholic or not Catholic, whether we are straight or gay; nothing matters except we are his children. We are all, in the eyes. (Read more…)

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

We have to be wise about what gifts that we have. It is not just about what how much money we have, although that is a gift for sure. But if we can realize that our time is our gift, that we all have only so much time. We are stewards of our our eighty five years that we might get, maybe if we are lucky 90. But for a lot of us, we do not even get that eighty five. (Read more…)

Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time. I am sending this from our Pilgrimage to Ireland. I am sorry that it is late this week, but the Pilgrimage has been amazing and very busy. I hope you can still enjoy this homily and we should be back onschedule next week. Please feel free to share this email with others.

We do not need to be scarce about God's love to others. Why? Because there is an abundance. We have an ocean of God's love. And when we have this ocean of God's love, we are called to give it away to everyone. Not just our family and our friends, but indeed, maybe most especially, those who are not pleasant. (Read more…)

Here is my homily email from the Exaltation of the Cross. Please feel free to share this email with others.