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

When I say yes to the Lord, I am be promising to become what I already am, the body of Christ. I am committing to “the way” again each and every week. And we see each other to recommmit that same thing again. It is not as much hard work as it is a decision. Once you have made that decision, then we live by that decision. Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life, and the final everything for us. (Read more…) 

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

We come to this table every week. We come humbly, every one of us equal at this table. Myself, you, all the same. Men and women, boys and girls, children of God, coming to the savior to see the same thing. To receive what we promised to become. The body of Christ. Humble servants. Humble tools in the hand of God. (Read more…)

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

The exercise of free will comes with consequences. In other words, when we choose to do bad things and we harm ourselves, these are the consequences of free will. We do silly things, silly things happen, and we pay the price for it. But also on the other hand, when we choose to do good things, and not only good for ourselves, but good for everyone else, there also are good consequences. Positive consequences versus negative consequences.  (Read more…)

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

It is a sense of “all in” that Jesus is talking about in today's gospel. That he wants to set our hearts on fire. He wants us to set our hearts on fire about God and about his message of love for this world. And he says that I wish the whole earth was ablaze with a sense of passion that we could understand what he is trying to say. Now, Jesus is not Pollyanna. He knows that if you do become that on fire for the Lord, it is going to cause division because when you are all that on fire. (Read more…)

We have an internal fairness scale that measures that. And it is true in in life too. That is why I suppose that we have higher standards for those who hold higher places in office. Especially the way we we regard our politicians, we have high expectations for them. Regardless of what party they are in, we have a certain sense of violation when they do not hold up their highest standards. We feel like they are not doing what we expect. (Read more…)

And speaking of gratitude, I am grateful to have had a few weeks away on vacation and it was great. I needed the rest. But it is so great to be back home among friends and celebrating Mass with everyone.

So here is my homily email from the Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share this email with others.

We are all called to go, and we are sent not to be just disciples, but missionary disciples to go forth into the world to proclaim it through our words and actions. I sometimes fear that we are a little insecure, and we think that we need theology degrees or we need to be qualified as professionals. That that you need to be somehow more trained than others, but that is not the case. (Read more…)

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

Finally, I will be on vacation for the next four Sundays and there will be no homily. Please keep me in your prayers and be assured you will be in mine.

Today is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, two towering figures in the church. They literally laid down their lives in proclamation of the faith. But you know, Peter and Paul were not perfect people. We remember Peter's famous threefold denial. There he was, the closest of the apostles, and he himself denies Christ. And then Paul, who was once called Saul, was a persecutor of Christians. He had Christians tortured and beaten and killed in the name of righteousness. (Read more...)

Here is my homily email from the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Please feel free to share this email with others.

Today is the feast of Corpus Christi as we used to call it, the Body and Blood of Christ. It gives a particular reverence to what we do at this table and at the Eucharist, our primary purpose for gathering us in thanksgiving. I am grateful for all of you being here, but it is hard for me to know there are so many more who are at home choosing not to come, not to offer thanks to God. (Read more…)

Here is my homily email from the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. Please feel free to share this email with others.

The Trinity, this sacred symmetry, is all about the flow of love, love from the father to the Son and the Son to the Father. The love that flows between them is the Holy Spirit. It is a beautiful sort of understanding. It is about this sacred symmetry and the the rhythm of life. (Read more…)

Here is my homily email from the Solemnity of the Most Holy trinity. Please feel free to share this email with others.

There is a certain freedom to how wild geese fly because of the unity that the goose brings to it. A goose never flies alone, they always fly in formation. And when geese fly, they fly in a “V” formation. Those who are at the front expend 70% more energy than the ones on the wings. They will readily get pretty tired, and then they move to the back of the V formation. Each one will take their role at the front. (Read more…) 

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