From the Friars (Catholic Christian Spirituality)

May Saint Francis win for us the grace to stay focused on what life is really about: spiritual fruitfulness! Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher ends with a hilarious true story!

Isaiah 5:1-7 | Psalm 80 | Phil 4:6-9 | Matt 21:33-43

Opening school year Mass at Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx NY. Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR. Listen to learn more!

What it will be like when we come before the Creator? Listen to learn more! Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR.

Isaiah 55:6-9 | Psalm 145 | Philippians 1:20C-24, 27A | Matthew 20:1-16A

God always forgives, but do we receive it? Saint Maria Goretti presents the miraculous power of God's love. Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR. Listen to learn more!

Sirach 27:30—28:7 | Psalm 103 | Romans 14:7-9 | Matthew 18:21-35

Have you ever felt like "nobody understands me?" Of course they don't. There exists a solitude within every human heart that is meant for God alone. Listen to this new podcast by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock CFR to learn more.

Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?" Vatican II taught "that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light... Christ, the final Adam ... fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear." (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World | Guadium et spes #22). Listen to learn more! Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR.

Jesus invites us to follow him out onto the water. What does that mean? Listen to learn more! Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR.

Beer, bananas, and candy. What is your daily bread? Listen to learn more! Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR.

According to Jesus, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt 6:21). Learn how to find that treasure and the means to get it. Listen to learn more! Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR.

Jesus taught about the judgement! It is what awaits us all. Listen to learn more. Podcast by Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR.

CCC - 1470: In this sacrament, the sinner, placing himself before the merciful judgment of God, anticipates in a certain way the judgment to which he will be subjected at the end of his earthly life. For it is now, in this life, that we are offered the choice between life and death, and it is only by the road of conversion that we can enter the Kingdom, from which one is excluded by grave sin. In converting to Christ through penance and faith, the sinner passes from death to life and "does not come into judgment" (Jn 5:24).

Pope Benedict XVI - Spe Salvi 47: Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”.