What is prayer? And maybe more importantly for preachers—what are we inviting people into when we stand in the pulpit and speak about it? As “Preach” continues its Lent 2026 series, we turn to the three classical pillars that shape the season: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In this first conversation, focused on prayer, Ricardo da Silva, S.J. is joined by Amy Ekeh, Director of Mission Advancement for the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, retreat leader, author and adjunct instructor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Sacred Heart University. Amy is the author of several books, including:

 Stretch Out Your Hand: Reflections on the Healing Ministry of Jesus

Come to Me, All of You: Stations of the Cross in the Voice of Christ

 Lent: Season of Transformation

Timecodes:

0:00 We can’t be afraid to ask for God’s help

1:25 Who is Amy Ekeh?

2:50 Prayer is relational

7:57 Prayer is nurtured in community

14:30 Good preaching requires you to know your congregation

16:53 Ask for healing! The people in the Gospels did.

21:38 Jesus’ Gethsemane prayer

26:16 Carving out space for silence

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As “Preach” begins its Lent 2026 series, Ricardo da Silva, S.J. sits down with liturgical theologian Anne McGowan to ask a foundational question: what is Lent for — and how do these practices reshape our faith, not just our habits for six weeks? Together, they trace its history from a two-day fast in the early Church to the 40-day season we know today, and explore its theological arc in the Sunday lectionary—from temptation and transfiguration to water, light and life, and finally the passion that leads into Easter, where new Christians are baptised and the faithful renew their baptismal promises.

0:00 Introducing the Lent 2026 series

2:30 Meet Anne McGowan: why she loves the liturgical year

6:20 You can’t understand Lent without Easter

8:10 The history of Lent: from two days to 40 days before Easter

10:40 Lent: a season of challenge and joy

15:05 Compunction and joy: do we have to choose?

20:55 The Sundays of Lent explained: from temptation to the passion

31:13 Preaching the whole journey of Lent

34:49 Preaching more than just the Sunday readings this Lent

36:22 How to come alive this Lent

A Preacher’s Guide to Holy Week: These are long liturgies. Be brief!

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“Things are happening [in Minnesota]  that my friends and family elsewhere are really having trouble understanding,” Laura Kelly Fanucci says,  “because the media is saying one thing, and all these partisan politicians are saying another thing.”

“But sometimes I think what Jesus [is saying in the gospel], is that when you are close to the center, sometimes you will know things about the mystery of God that are going to be difficult for other people to understand.”

Award-winning author, Laura Kelly Fanucci, joins host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., to share what she has been preaching on her Instagram account @thismessygrace since U.S. federal immigration agents fatal shooting of  Renee Good, and later, Alex Pretti. After attending Mass the Sunday following the killing of Renée Good and hearing no mention of it from the pulpit at her parish, Laura began offering three-minute homilies on Instagram.

In this conversation with Ricardo da Silva, S.J., Laura offers practical advice for preaching in this historical moment marked by violence, terror and community upheaval. In her daily Scripture reflections on Instagram Laura models how to thread the needle of preaching the gospel and responding to surrounding events, without slipping into partisan rhetoric.

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Every year we take out the nativity. We arrange it carefully. Mary. Joseph. A baby in a manger. It feels sacred—one of the last spaces in our world left untouched.

But contemporary retellings challenge that calm. This year in Dedham, the Holy Family was removed and kept in the sanctuary for protection from ICE. In Evanston, the baby Jesus wrapped in emergency thermal blankets, his hands bound with zip ties. A few years ago in Bethlehem, a Lutheran pastor placed the Christ child on bomb rubble. We demand these displays be removed.

But what if the real danger isn’t the frame we construct—traditional crib or contemporary protest? What if it’s that we’re so busy fixing on one perfect pageant or one protest image that we miss the actual context of Jesus’ birth? We assume Mary and Joseph were turned away. Luke doesn’t say that. The Holy Family is welcomed into a warm home, pressed shoulder to shoulder with people doing all they can to make space. The house owner says: this is all we have. And it’s accepted. God is born there.

Ricardo tells us in this surprise Christmas Eve homily: God does not wait for us to clear space. He enters even when lives are full, when schedules are packed. Still, room is found. That’s the nativity we are living and called to live.

This is Ricardo’s final episode before moving to Rome in January to join the Jesuits’ international communications team. He’ll continue hosting Preach from there. We’re taking a brief break and will return just before Ash Wednesday with a new Lenten series. Please fill out our listener survey—your feedback helps shape what comes next. Merry Christmas!

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“I really appreciate it when the truth is spoken very plainly,” says Tsh Oxenreider. Homilies that cut to the chase—and call us to conversion now. Host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., speaks with writer and podcaster Tsh Oxenreider about what active waiting means during Advent; sitting with discomfort, resisting the rush to Christmas. They explore the traditional meanings of the liturgical weeks—joy in week three, love in week four—what penance looks like in this season, and the O Antiphons. Tsh speaks directly about what she needs from preaching: homilies that tell the truth plainly and call us, here and now, to confess our sins and get right with God.

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This week on Preach, we’re offering an Advent treat. Host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., sits down with fellow producer Maggi Van Dorn for a rare on-mic conversation about the spiritual power of Christmas carols. Drawing on their work as producers of another America podcast, “Hark! The Stories Behind Our Favorite Christmas Carols,” they reflect on what these songs can teach preachers:

that the liturgy is more than the homily.

that beauty itself does theological work: it’s not just what is said, but how it’s delivered. The structure, rhythm, and form—whether in music or a homily—carry meaning and touch the heart.

that good preaching must reach the heart before the mind.

After their conversation, we bring you the second episode of “Hark!” Season 5: “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

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“I’m thinking about the end of time in another way,” says Ann Garrido. “Because end can mean the conclusion, the finish, but it can also mean the purpose.” For 25 years, Ann has taught homiletics, pastoral theology and catechetics at Aquinas Institute of Theology, written 10 books and spoken at more than 350 gatherings.

A longtime catechist in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd movement, Ann offers her reflection for a planned Advent reconciliation service at St. Thomas More Parish in Decatur, Ga. She begins with a conversation from the parish atrium about the end of time—children offering answers like “God will be all in all” and “there will be peace,” before one boy insists his paradise is “hamburgers.” From there, she moves into Isaiah’s peaceable kingdom and the real work of reconciliation: making peace with those closest to us—whoever our ‘X’ is, the sibling we fight with, the friend we’ve fallen out with, the neighbor who drives us crazy.

Part of the “Preaching for the Sacraments” series, host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., speaks with Ann about what distinguishes Advent reconciliation from Lent. Ann looks to the ancient roots of confession, where the early “confessors” proclaimed faith rather than only naming sin: “What we’re really confessing is our belief in a God who can heal and work out things that we ourselves are not gonna be able to fix.” Ricardo echoes this reframing: “Perhaps it's helpful not to think of it only as a confession of sin, but really also a confession of faith that we go there to proclaim our faith in a God who heals the impossible.”

Ann also reflects on a recent glioblastoma diagnosis and how it has sharpened her sense of call and taught her to preach from vulnerability—without making herself the hero of the story.

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The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome—a feast about a building—can intimidate preachers. The temptation? Mention it briefly and move on to the readings. But Sylvester Tan, S.J. says this feast is worth the work of preaching well.

In this episode of “Preach,” Sylvester, a Jesuit theologian and local superior in Dallas shares his homily for one of the few feasts that actually replaces the regular Sunday liturgy when it falls on a Sunday. Then he joins host Ricardo da Silva, S.J. to reflect on three challenges: How can preachers use history without boring people? “Our faith is a historical faith,” he says, “and history is always messy. God doesn’t reject history; he works through history.”

They also discuss why we shouldn’t skip difficult feasts—“Where we get uncomfortable, there’s always an invitation to go deeper”—and how to preach about divine anger without losing sight of divine love. 

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Auxiliary Bishop Adam Parker of Baltimore has confirmed more than 10,000 young people—and he wants his brother bishops to know what a gift the sacrament can be. In this episode of “Preach,” he shares his confirmation homily built around Jesus’ question to Peter: “Who do you say that I am?” Then host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., asks him for a fervorino: If he were standing before his brother bishops, what brief, heartfelt exhortation would he offer about preaching for confirmation?

His answer: Remember that confirmation is a unique opportunity. Many in the pews aren’t regularly connected to the church—so preach the invitation to relationship with Jesus Christ. Make the gifts of the Holy Spirit practical and real, drawing from your own life. And “make our own humanity as bishops visible to the candidates.” Let them see you’re not just presiding ceremonially, but walking with them as their shepherd.

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“You are loved, warts and all.” Bishop Emeritus Patrick J. McGrath of San Jose said it at every confirmation—and liturgist Diana Macalintal never tired of hearing it. In this episode of “Preach,” she recalls a bishop’s confirmation homily that “quickly devolved into an exploration of sin and evil,” complete with exorcisms and damnation. Like composing music, this preacher “did not emphasize the right notes—the right message,” she says. “Confirmation is all about strengthening the goodness that is in there, giving us the grace to do the hard things, to do the beautiful things in the world.”

But don’t avoid reality either. “For those who are being confirmed, these are oftentimes teenagers where real life is life and death. Whether it is or not, it is drama all the time.” Name those struggles, she urges, “in the context of this gift of the Spirit and how they can do their part in the mission of Christ.”

Diana also challenges a common assumption: there's no obligation to choose a saint's name at confirmation. Church teaching honors our given names as "icons of a person." At St. Columba in Oakland, Calif., her historically Black parish, "for so many, their ancestors' names were taken away" during enslavement. "Honor the names that are given," she says, "because somebody loved that child enough to give them that gift."

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