The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Do you know that you are called to holiness? Do you know that you have a host of saints praying on your behalf? Jesus loves you more than you can comprehend. Jesus helps you with grace to answer the call. Open your heart to him. Jesus will do the rest. Readings for Today

Given at Saints Joachim and Ann Parish, Saint Charles, Missouri. Today is Halloween, a fun time to pretend. We can pretend we are someone or something else. But, it is also the case that we can pretend in our faith. That is not at all innocent. Today's readings remind us that if our worship is to be authentic, then it needs to lead to our conversion. Readings for Today

Given at St. Dominic Priory, Saint Louis, Missouri. Note: The readings used in the chapel today come from the Dedication of a Church and are not the readings of the day. A beautiful church or chapel is helpful to encountering the sacred. But it is not a guarantee. The beautiful exterior of the church building achieves its purpose when it leads to interior conversion. Every Mass is an action of the Trinity, and we encounter the Christ in the Eucharist. Pray that the beauty of the building leads to the beauty of your soul.

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Choices. They are made all of the time. Employers choose which people will be their employees. We choose where we go on vacation. And today Jesus chooses apostles. But just as all of our choices do not always work out, we know that among the 12 apostles chosen there was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Jesus loves you more than you can imagine. He chooses you. And accepting his grace means that you too can live with him for all eternity. Readings for Today

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Hope. It is a theological virtue. Ever wonder why? Take a look at the world today. There is violence. Oppression. The poor go without. There is crime. People suffer. It can be hard to hope in a world such as ours. And that is why it is a virtue. Because as a virtue, we must repeatedly be people of hope. Our hope is a statement of faith that God is more powerful than sin and evil. Readings for Today

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. I imagine the most terrifying moment in the life of new parents is when they first take their son or daughter home from the hospital. Now what? Being a parent is a wonderful, yet I suspect sometimes overwhelming experience. In the very high vocation that is motherhood, I suspect that the desire to see is most important. To see what kind of mother God wants a woman to be. To see how a woman becomes a woman of faith. To see that motherhood is about mistakes, joys, sorrows and pride. Readings for today

Given at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, University City, Missouri. Early in my life as a priest my focus in prayer was on action. What could I do? What plan could I develop? What program would so excite the parish that we would have to have so many Masses on the weekend it would be hard to imagine saying them all? When I was first a priest if Jesus had asked me "What do you want me to do for you?" the answer would have been to tell me what to do. But today more and more I am realizing it is not firstly about what to do. That comes later. Lord, what I want is to see. To see YOU. Readings for Today

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. We cannot commit to following God and to not following God. Yet, sin is addictive. Despite our best efforts to accept God's grace, we turn our backs on God. The wonderful truth, however, is that God never stops loving us. No matter how broken, how much our lives might feel like a mess, God always loves us. So, choose to follow God.

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. For me the hardest temptation to resist is to believe in the spiritual life everything is up to me. I want to be in control. I want to make the decisions. If I think hard enough, plan long enough, use enough intelligence, than it will all work out. I say I trust in God, but in reality I do not. It is because I do not trust enough in St. Paul's message in the first reading. That Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, is more powerful in giving grace than our sinfulness. Thanks be to God this is true! Readings for Today

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. One of the most challenging aspects of Christian life is the problem of evil. In fact, Saint Thomas Aquinas called it one of the most difficult topics concerning God. Why is there evil in the world with an all loving God? While certainly it is clear that some evil comes from humans, there are other evils that seem unfair. A small child has a terminal illness. The people of Haiti, so desperately poor, suffer from a powerful earthquake. Is there an answer? Listen and find out.