The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

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From Above

Transcript (A New Feature!)

Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy!

Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Wednesday, September 13th, 2023. I am the Friar and it is wonderful to have you with us today. 

Today we celebrate Saint John Chrysostom, who really was just an eloquent speaker. In fact, the name Chrysostom really means golden tongue. He was that effective, that engaging, that convincing. 

And I think today's reading kind of speaks a little bit about what his task was on one level and reminds us of what our lives need to be about as well. It's a tough thing sometimes to keep our attention focused in the right direction and on the right things and that's what Paul is talking about today in his letter to the Colossians. 

"If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above." Now what does that mean to be raised with Christ? Well, namely, it is to be baptized, to be a beloved son or daughter of Jesus Christ, which raises us, elevates us, to become beloved sons or daughters of God. 

And that is something that is really good. We need to be raised with Christ. It's an important characteristic for us because Christ is seated then at the right hand of God. And so we're challenged then to focus our attention not so much on just the day-to-day stuff that we do need to do, but more importantly to direct our eyes, to direct our attention, to focus our life on what is above. As a matter of fact, this contrast between above and below is one that is quite familiar, particularly in the Gospel of John. 

You might remember that stretch where Jesus and Nicodemus are talking about being born again, whereas Jesus is talking about being born from above. Now I don't speak Aramaic, but I'm told that the words for "above" and "again" are very similar in Aramaic, and so it's kind of a play on words. 

But it is really interesting to us because in that same gospel, when the temple curtain is torn in two, it's torn from above to below. It's oftentimes translated from top to bottom, but it really is above to below. And it's an indication that the death of Christ was so powerful it ripped us under the connections between heaven and earth, and then ultimately restored them. And that's what we celebrate. 

So where are your eyes today? Well, if you need some kind of way of measuring, well how am I doing with looking from above? Paul doesn't leave that to chance. In fact, he He talks about the things that we need to put away, those earthly things that are not helpful to us in developing this relationship with Jesus. They're not the kinds of things that are in fact going to be effective for us. 

So what does he mention? Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, an agreed that is idolatry. We also must put away anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language. need to stop lying to one another, and we need to take all these old practices and remove them. And that's really the challenge, isn't it? I don't know about you, but at least some of those things on the list I find kind of continue to be a part of my life again and again, even though I have been raised in Christ because I've been baptized. 

The beauty though of our relationship with Jesus is that it is not just that we need to avoid these things and Jesus will love us. Jesus will love us. And precisely because we often don't avoid these things, and because Jesus loves us, we have the invitation to God's mercy and forgiveness. When we sincerely desire to allow Christ to change our lives, we receive His mercy and His forgiveness. And that is absolutely beautiful. It is absolutely tremendous. 

Maybe today, spend a little bit of time just thinking about the love and mercy of God. And ask God to change your lives, to change your hearts, to change your soul, so that you can have a loving and powerful relationship with Him.

Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts.

Gratitude can change your life

Transcript (A New Feature!)

Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy!

Hello, this is Spend Five with Jesus for this Tuesday, September 12, 2023. I am the friar and it is wonderful to have you with us today. 

I'm so happy today because the first reading is one of, I just think it's a tremendous reading. I was going to say one of my favorites, but I can't really say that. I say that a lot of times about the readings in scripture, but today really kind kind of touched my heart today and I hope that that comes through and what I share for you today. It's Paul's letter to the Colossians and it just really is beautiful I think. 

And so what he's describing is the qualitative way in which our faith changes us. That it's not just that we get a little bit more knowledge so we're smarter. It's not just that we feel better about ourselves. When we are baptized into the Lord Jesus, into his Church, it qualitatively changes who we are. We become a beloved son or daughter of God. It's completely different, the person that we are. And that's what Paul is getting at in today's reading. I mean there's just so many beautiful phrases here, but what he says is, "As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted in Him, and built upon Him, and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." 

There's so much to focus on here. First of all, that we walk in Christ. And what I see that is that when we're doing whatever it is we do on a normal day, what we do on those days is we are always seeing the world through the eyes of our baptism, through the eyes of Christ, rooted in Him, built upon Him. Everything that we do comes out of this amazing change that Jesus affects in us through our baptism. 

But the last line is really what I think, maybe because I'm trying to focus on this more and more in my own life, namely to be abounding in thanksgiving, or abounding in gratitude. One of the things I've tried to do each day is to think about those things that I should be grateful for, those things that I should be thankful for, because too often I focus on things that are not helpful for me. I have tried to become more a person of gratitude.

I think about things that cause anxiety in my life. I think about in my life things that I can't change or I don't have control over or I think about things that make me angry or frustrated. But really, I think what Paul is reminding us is that if we are really rooted in Christ, if we are really walking in Christ, then quite honestly what we should be doing is abounding in Thanksgiving. 

In other words, to be looking around seeing all the ways in which Jesus changes our life. The ways in which Jesus can change our attitude, the way we see things, the way we treat others, the way we even view other people. All those things can be changed if in fact we are grateful for what we have been given. 

Because oftentimes when we focus on not being grateful or when we aren't grateful, we tend to find ourselves in our life looking at what we don't have or wishing what we don't have. We have this difficult situation at work. I wish it wasn't true. We have something really challenging that we have to complete I wish I didn't have this product or this project. We looked at this thing or that thing that we might want to buy and they're focused on what we don't have expecting that somehow when we buy it our lives will be changed for the better. 

That in fact it will fill the emptiness of our heart. Now I'm not suggesting we don't ever buy things but what I am suggesting is that if we buy things with the view that these things will solve all of our problems or make life completely different than we have completely missed...

Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts

Never Forget

Transcript (A New Feature!)

Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy!

Hello, this is Spend Five with Jesus for Monday, September 11, 2023. I am the Friar, and it's great to have you with us. September 11, 9/11. It's hard to believe that 22 years have passed since this tremendous event. 

Every generation has, it seems, those events that just simply are so etched in our experience that we remember them vividly. For a certain generation it might have been the bombing of Pearl Harbor or when John F. Kennedy was shot. For my generation, it is September 11th. 

I think everybody knows where they were on that horrible and tragic day. I think everyone remembers just how life-changing that event was. That for those of us who had gone so many decades without any attacks on American soil, it had happened to us. 

At first there was the shock. Then there was the type of identification that said this is really awful. There was the heroic example of firefighters, policemen, first responders. There were those who gave of themselves so tremendously, not only on the day of September 11th, but quite frankly for many years after there were many who suffered terrible health difficulties because of their resolve. 

It led to so many people recognizing that life was tremendously fragile. I remember the weekend after 9/11 the church was really full. There were so many people who had decided to come to church because they didn't know what else to do. They knew all of a sudden that we were not invincible. We needed one another and we needed God. 

Of course, like most things, that kind of faded away. People forgot, went on with their lives. But every September 11th, I think about the people that were heroes on that day, who imitated the call of Jesus to give their lives for people they didn't even know, let alone love and care for. 

I think that on every September 11th, there is an invitation for each one of us to ask ourselves where is Jesus in my life today? Knowing that our lives are fragile, knowing that we don't have all the answers, knowing that in fact something horrible could change our life at any moment, where is Jesus? Do we seek Him out? Do we search for Jesus in our lives? Do we think about Jesus and how He longs to save us and how much He loves us and how much He cares for us? 

The events of September 11th led to a great patriotism in the United States. Truth be told, it should remind us that in many ways we are all connected. Our actions impact not only ourselves, but people all over the place, the people we live with and care about, the people that we love, today, as we remember these events. Let us think in our own lives about how we can invite Jesus into our hearts for He so so longs to have a deep and abiding relationship with each one of us.

Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts.

Confronting or Confronted

Transcript (A New Feature!)

Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy!

Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for Sunday, September 10th, 2023. I am the friar and it is wonderful to be with you this morning. 

Today's readings are a little challenging, I think, because what happens in them is a difficult topic sometimes. I think that when we find ourselves in a situation where we need to confront someone because they're not behaving well, the challenge, quite honestly, is how to go about it in a way that's going to be helpful to both of us. 

The first reading and the Gospel really talk about this kind of conflict. What do we do when someone we love and care about needs to be challenged? They need to be confronted because of some kind of bad behavior. In my experience, the challenge is that people are either good at confronting or changing, but not always both. 

Here's what I mean. It's easy sometimes to point out the faults of others. What's interesting is oftentimes when we point out the faults of others, we're really focusing on what we see in others that we don't like in ourselves. And so that's a rather interesting dynamic. 

But there are also people who won't confront at any cost because peace is the ultimate value. Neither leads to spiritual growth. Confronting someone without being able to be confronted is really not a helpful thing at all. It's a one-way desire for growth. The person that can confront but cannot be confronted, in fact, is shutting off growth, shutting off those kinds of things which would help us to grow in our relationship with Jesus to become better people to become more like Jesus himself. 

But equally damaging is the opposite extreme where we simply decide we're gonna keep the peace at all costs. We're not going to care very much at all whether or not there is a conflict. We're gonna ignore it. We're gonna pretend it's not there. We're going to run the other way. At its worst, this leads to the worst kind of passive-aggressive behavior.

And there really is no best. Because the same things are likely to happen, and we are likely to go off by ourselves and grumble at behavior that we really refuse to confront. 

Jesus is giving us the pathway to love. What does he do? First of all, he suggests a method that has at its heart a desire for the growth of the person who's doing something they shouldn't. It is not a case that Jesus says embarrass them as much as you can. Start simply a one-on-one conversation, maybe a couple of other people who love and care about this individual to reinforce what is going on. And even then, if not that, then go to the church. Maybe the church can help someone to change. 

And then there's a tricky line. Someone just recently pointed this out to me and I found it very interesting. If they won't listen to the church, treat them as they would a tax collector or a sinner. And I always thought, well this means they shouldn't be treated very well at all. But someone pointed out that it was Jesus who was saying this and how did Jesus treat tax collectors and sinners? 

He treated them in a way where they were always People who could grow He treated them in a way Where they were always able to experience his mercy. He never gave up on them. Today, if you have someone in your life who is difficult or challenging, first pray for them. Ask God to help you to demonstrate clearly that you love them and you care for them. But also ask God that you may be open, so that you may also see how it is that you need to change your life.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

Following rules must lead to Jesus

Transcript (A New Feature!)

Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy!

Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for this Saturday, September 9th, 2023. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hopefully wherever you are, this is a great day. 

In today's readings, we get a little picture of rules, what their purpose is, why we have them, when should we follow them, are there times when we don't have to follow them. That's really what is at the heart of our gospel today. The Pharisees were very much about rules. The word that describes who they are literally means to set apart. And they were looking to set themselves apart because they wanted to reform Judaism. 

It was not the case that they were horrible or bad people in and of themselves. But they really were strict in what they believed to be the important rules that must be followed. Certainly, it is the case that the Sabbath and not doing work on the Sabbath was a very important rule. It served a really good purpose. Maybe it is even more important today in terms of serving its purpose than it was at the time that God instituted it. 

We need to rest. It's important for us to take a break, to relax, to look at our lives, and to think about what it is that we need to do to be healthy. But there are instances where it may not be the best interpretation of the Sabbath. 

I remember when I was in the seminary, there was a priest who was talking about this very point, about doing what was unlawful on the Sabbath, and he recounted the difficulty he had early in his priesthood because the thing that he found quite relaxing woodworking was not allowed to be done in the community where he lived. It was considered work. It was considered a violation of the Sabbath, even though for him this woodworking provided the wonderful opportunity to relax from his normal job of being a professor of graduate theology. 

This is what Jesus is getting at in today's gospel as well. Certainly rules are important and we need to follow rules. They help to guide our lives. They keep us "from going off the rails." But the purpose of religious rules is always for us to be drawn closer to the Lord Jesus in a relationship. The purpose of the rule is far more important than the rule itself. 

We must think about our own lives and think about the ways in which we are called to live a good life that brings us closer to Jesus and enters us into a powerful relationship. Today, think about the rules that you follow and ask yourself how is it that the rules of the spiritual life that you apply to yourself. Or, (how) the rules of the Church, in terms of how we should behave, and what we should do and what we should think, how is it that these rules lead you closer to the Lord Jesus.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts.

God Has a Plan

Transcript (A New Feature!)

Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy!

Hello and welcome to Spend Five with Jesus for Friday, September 8th, 2023. 

Today is the birthday of the Blessed Mother, and it is a special day for us to celebrate. 

By the way, Spend Five with Jesus is our daily reflection. I realize it hasn't been daily as of late. We had some things that kind of made that a challenge for us, but hopefully we are back together in looking at things. A new feature, the recording will feature a transcript, which is one of the improvements we've made to this, but it also means that maybe it won't be quite as formal as it was when it was written in advance and then recorded. 

So today we celebrate the birthday of Mary. Why is today an important day? Why do we celebrate birthdays at all? Well part of it is an awareness that we need to hear again and again. I think it was Sister Miriam James at the SEEK conference last year that said something that I've often repeated. It is good that you exist. It is good that you exist. 

Even when we sin, it is still good that we exist, even though the sin is not something that's good. God still loves us when we sin, even though God does not love the sin. So there is a certain part of celebrating a birthday or celebrating someone who is alive, that people who love and care for that person, well they want to acknowledge that something wonderful has happened in the life of that person, that it is good that they exist. 

But today's time with the Blessed Mother, as we celebrate her birthday, helps us to remember something maybe a little bit more, namely this. Not only is it good that we exist, but God God has a plan for us. God has a plan for us. God has a plan for the world. Let that sink in for a minute. God has a plan. And that's what we encounter in the readings that we could choose today for Mass. God has a plan. 

In the first reading from the book of the prophet Micah, we read this. The Lord says, "You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel." It's a promise. It's a plan. God has a plan. I know it can be the case that sometimes it doesn't seem like there's much of a plan. Or if there is a plan, it's not a very good one. 

There's so much that really is difficult in our lives. There's so much that's hard in our lives. There are accidents, there are illnesses, there is violence, there is war, there are broken relationships, there's brokenness in ourselves. But truth be told, what we hear today from the prophet Micah is this plan for our salvation. That all of those things we don't like, all of those things that are not so great are not the final word on the story. 

That the final word on the story is the salvation of Jesus extended to all of us. It was God's plan. And God's plan is one that even when things go bad, God's plan is such that he can bring good from those things that are not so great, not so good. Today, think about the plan that God has for you and ask for the grace to accomplish that plan in your life. And ask the Blessed Mother to pray for you so that you can realize what it is that God's plan is. Happy birthday, Blessed Mother, Mary, the Mother of God, and happy day to each one of you as you seek to discover the plan that God has for you.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Listen to our other homilies.

Mass of the Holy Spirit: All I am saying . . . Just give Jesus a chance

When the Powerball or Mega Millions has a very high jackpot, people all over the United States are eager to buy tickets (sometimes a lot of them) in the hopes that they will win an awful lot of money. It is absolutely amazing what we will take a chance on, even if the odds are stacked against success. But when it comes to faith, it can be very difficult for some to do the same. We have all kinds of excuses for not taking a chance on Jesus, but what have we got to lose?

It's very rare that it's the case that I change a little bit about what I'm going to say the morning of a homily. Usually I'm prepared and I know what I want to say, and that's a good thing. But this morning, when I glanced through the headlines in the newspaper, I saw that three high school students from Ladue High School died yesterday in a car accident. 

And I thought to myself, wow, how many lives have been changed by something that occurred in a matter of a few moments? I always think first of their parents, the parents of these kids who died. Because I think to myself, that's just something I-- not for example, I don't have children of my own, but even if I did, or maybe especially if I did, that's every parent's worst nightmare. And I don't care how old your children are. 

And then I thought of their friends. And I thought to myself how their lives have changed. People that they were probably just joking around with, now not here on this earth. And I thought to myself, precisely because of moments like this, when everything changes and not for the best, "Do we need to have something that we can depend on?" 

Certainly the people who grieve and mourn the loss of these kids will have friends and relatives and so forth to depend on. Despite the support and despite the fact that life will go on, the parents, quite frankly, will probably never be the same because their children are no longer alive. And I say all this not to start us on a downer in terms of the Mass of the Holy Spirit, but it seemed quite appropriate for what I was intending to say today.

You know, a few weeks ago, the -- I don't remember if it was Mega Millions or the Powerball, but one of them was well over a billion dollars in terms of its prize. And I suspect that there were people who thought, you know, maybe I'll buy a ticket. What harm could there be? There were probably people who said, "Well, if I really want a good chance to win, I'll buy 10 tickets." Or maybe 100. Even though, I think Ms. Schupe could tell you, your chances of winning if you buy a Power Bowl ticket when it's over a billion dollars, given the number of people that buy tickets, you could buy probably a million tickets and not really increase your odds all that much. 

My quest today is to ask you to think about something. The interesting thing is when it comes to buying a Powerball ticket and winning, winning the big prize, for many individuals, their lives get worse, not better. And surprisingly, for many, when they win a big lottery prize, their lives get worse financially than they did before they won, which seems so odd. But they're not used to money. They don't know what to do with it. They think that it's going to be infinite, and they'll always have it. 

And so I'd invite you today to think about what is it and who is it that you depend upon. Who is it that you depend upon? If you're like me, it can't just be myself, even though that seems to be the easiest way to go about things. I only have to rely on myself and that seems like a good thing. I screw up all the time. Depending just on myself, that would mean that quite frankly I'd be doing all kinds of things that are wrong...

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Readings for Today. Listen to our other homilies.

Who are we?

Two individuals are featured in today's gospel. One does what he should, the other what he should not. The challenge for each is to recognize who it is they serve. It is a good question for us too. Who are we? And whom do we serve?

Transcript

These stories that Jesus tells, to kind of help us to understand what it means to live His way of life, the way of the kingdom, are really stories that help us to understand something that's kind of beyond who we are. 

On one hand, we can look at some of the things that Jesus says, like, "Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors," and we can say, "Well, you don't live in the real world. That's not the way it works. You've got to understand if we pray for our persecutors and love our enemies, well, they're only going to take advantage of us."

In today's story, we get a sense that ultimately in the kingdom of God there will be accountability. There will be an understanding that we're not living a life that is completely our own. It has been given to us by the Lord Jesus. It has been given to us for a particular purpose. It has been given to us because God loves us. It has been given to us, and so we need to recognize that in order for us to feel happy, fulfilled, we need to recognize that God's way of life is the only path that can bring that about for us. 

We know that sometimes we fail. The difference of the two is I don't think that they were one was perfect and the other was not. One understood he had a profound responsibility to the one he served. The other did not. Today, let us recognize our profound responsibility to serve the Lord Jesus and in so doing to discover who we truly are.

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Readings for Today. Listen to our other homilies.

Firm, yet compassionate.

John the Baptist was a man of principle, taking the spiritual life seriously. Firm in his resolve to follow Jesus, yet compassionate in understanding the mercy of Jesus. Firm in standing up for what is right, but compassionate in dealing with the brokenness so much a part of people's lives. Can you be both firm and compassionate?

Transcript

This story is probably very well known to us. It's been recounted in an opera and in many other instances. (It is) this bizarre situation where the girl wants the head of John the Baptist on a platter at the urging of her mother. I can't say that in any universe this would be considered a normal family. 

It hardly seems like this would be the request that a girl of any age would want to make, even if her mother suggested it. John is a powerful example to us because he demonstrates courage. 

The reality is it's very difficult to stand up for what is right when we face challenges. If we're in a group of people that agree with us, then it's not so difficult. We're simply stating what everybody else believes. 

But if we find ourselves in a group of people that do not share our beliefs, then it becomes more difficult. Then it requires a gift of the Holy Spirit. It requires courage for us to stand up for what is right. John the Baptist was an interesting disciple of Jesus, obviously a relative, but on the one hand, as we see in this recounting of the story of Herod, a man who was very, very clear about his convictions and willing to act on them. 

And yet, at the same time, his message had to have enough compassion and care to attract tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes because people came to him recognizing that in what he had to say there was the gift and the opportunity for new life. 

This is the way it can be for us as well. The real challenge is to open ourselves to the gift of the Holy Spirit so that when we're proclaiming the good news, we can do so both with conviction and compassion.

You are loved more than you know

How was it that Saint Bartholomew was so convinced that Jesus was the Messiah? After all, he had only heard about him from Philip, and all it took was Jesus’ recounting this event that convinced him. Perhaps it was because in this encounter, Bartholomew knew that he was loved, and that in Jesus’ wanting a relationship with Bartholomew it meant that Jesus only wanted the infinite best for Bartholomew.

Transcription

How often is it that we sell God short? We say things like, "Well, you know, if God really knew me, or if someone else really knew me, they'd think differently of me." 

How much is it the case that our expectations get lowered about what God promises us? Well, I hope I just sneak into heaven. You know, that'll be enough. 

You see, God has great things in store for us. And if there's a lesson from the readings today, it is that they are wilder than our wildest dreams. That in fact, it's a glorious, glorious picture that is painted for us of what God wants for each one of us because he loves us more than we can possibly know or imagine. 

Nathaniel is inspired because Jesus knows something. I don't quite know why this inspired him to agree with Philip, but he does nonetheless. He agrees. He's known by God. It's not that God loves us and doesn't know us. It's that because God knows us, he loves us. He made us. He knows of what we are capable. He knows what we can do. 

His love for us is so powerful and so strong it can forgive even the most difficult sin. And really the only sin God can't forgive, that unforgivable sin, is the sin that says God can't forgive me. God's rich and deep in mercy and his love for us knows no bounds. And so let us ask the Lord today to help us to believe that a little more.