By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"We have those lifegiving waters," Father Perry tells us for the 17th episode of our Sunday Homilies podcast. "All we have to do is taste it. To drink of it, and to experience the life that Jesus wants to give."

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"This story isn't for them; this story is for us," Father Perry tells us for the 10th episode of our Lenten podcast. "We know the story ... of the passion and death. So why do we hear it again, told to the Pharisees and scribes? I think, like all of scripture, it's because it becomes a mirror for us. When we can look at somebody else's faults and say, I'm no better — that's progress. As we look at these stories, we're asked to look at ourselves. Is any of this stuff in me? We look at the story and find ourselves in it. And maybe that's our salvation to admit our own sinfulness and our need to grow, especially in the gift of love."

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"If people are evil ... — if they are not caring, not generous, not nice, not helpful, accepting — that just keeps increasing in them," Father Perry tells us for the ninth episode of our Lenten podcast. "If they're like that at 20, wait till 40! They'll be double that. And 60? Worse! But the rich who are rich in goodness, kindness, and love and generosity, they tend to keep becoming more of that. So, again, loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, forgiving everyone. And we get this whole time of Lent to taste that stuff."

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"The secret is: Let God in. Let God's grace come in and do its work. And if we just listen, and if we just open up, wonderous things can happen to us," Father Perry tells us for the eighth episode of our Lenten podcast. "Jesus is not saying what do to and what not to do; he says more — it's not what you do, it's how you do it. That's the secret."

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"Living with revenge and payback and that ugliness is death to the soul. We got to find and live in forgiveness, and healing, and peace," Father Perry tells us for the seventh episode of our Lenten podcast. "It's amazing how we cannot forgive the tiniest things."

Por Padre Perry D. Leiker, párroco

"'Ciudadanos del cielo," que tremendo esta expresión. Entonces la gloria prometida en nosotros está expresado en esto," nos dice Padre Perry para nuestro décimo sexto episodio de nuestro podcast de homilías dominicales. "Somos una parte del cielo, y el cielo está en nosotros. Entonces tenemos la gloria que fue presentada finalmente en la resurrección de Jesus. ¿Creemos eso? ¿Sabemos eso? ¿Sabemos que tenemos parte del cielo que vive en nosotros — especialmente cuando escuchamos a Jesús?"

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"The Bible is also the place where God is met many times in darkness. And probably that's where we meet God most profoundly. We do it in joy and singing and praising and praying," Father Perry tells us But boy, when darkness hits our life — illness, sadness, or just a disarray of our lives — that's where we really, really have to be people of faith, and that's where we really have to be transformed by our faith. And that's what happens to Abraham today. Do we experience an inner voice that is so clear that after hearing it, we se everything differently?"

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"If we're doing things to please God, and then think that if we please God, God will love us more and give us more grace, I don't think there's evidence of that in the scripture," Father Perry tells us for the fifth episode of our Lenten podcast. "Rather, I think because I know God loves us even when we sin; because God love us even when we mess up, because we know God loves us no matter what. Does not that make us want to do more good? It's the fruit of love."

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"Praying isn't getting what you want, it's what you need. God gets us what's good for us. And when we have to face the troubles of life — and they're there for all of us, well all get our share," Father Perry tells us for the fifth episode of our Lenten podcast. "The point is, do we do it with faith? Do we do it with hope? Do we do it with confidence, and are we really, really receptive to God's tremendous blessings and his grace?"

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

"I think the Egyptians made their own hearts hard. And I think that's true of all things in our life," Father Perry tells us for the fourth episode of our Lenten podcast. "If we listen to God, and if we walk with God, and if we work with God, the grace and blessings of God will pour into our hearts and lives. But if we don't, we choose the opposite; we do it to ourselves, and that, I think, is what the word is saying. If we don't appreciate gifts that are given to us — we got something, but we didn't appreciate it — it doesn't have much value, does it? By appreciating what we receive, and mainly most of all from our God."