The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

Today is the Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, a great Dominican saint and mystic. Since the goal of this podcast series is to deepen personal prayer life with Jesus, I thought it helpful to suggest what she said about prayer.

First, though, if you know little about Saint Catherine of Siena, it might be helpful to read a brief introduction by my fellow Dominican, Thomas McDermott. She was not merely someone who prayed, but someone who had profound and lengthy experiences of Jesus himself in her prayer. These encounters were written down and are preserved for us today. In a word, Catherine was a mystic. Simply put, a mystic has profound spiritual experiences, which can be expressed, as they were for Catherine by relating them to familiar symbolic imagery.

Perhaps most important for our purposes here to understand is what is a powerful image that I think helps us to understand Easter better, and the gift that Jesus gives to us in his crucifixion. Again from Fr. McDermott.

“Catherine’s most important image on which she hangs many of her most important teachings is the crucified Christ as a bridge stretching from heaven to earth. The sin of Adam had destroyed the road to heaven, so out of love the eternal Father made of his Son a bridge so that we could approach him and become like him by sharing in his life, joy and beauty. Catherine frequently reminds us that humanity is made in God’s image and likeness, and that God’s plan is for the divine likeness in us to increase through grace to the point of ultimate resemblance.”

This quote serves as a reminder that for Catherine of Siena, the most important and significant way to describe any human is that a human is made in the image and likeness of God, the imago Dei. Since we sin, and sin condemns us, we need a Savior if we are ever to go to heaven. The profound love of God creates a “bridge” the crucified Christ, which allows us to cross over the gap from earth and heaven created by our sin. As we grow in our prayer life, we are able to cross more and more of the bridge to heaven.

An apt description of the experience of prayer for Catherine is that of being drawn by the love of God to Him. That is the goal of all prayer, of course, but the important point is that we do not draw ourselves. Rather, we place ourselves in the presence of God, who with the gift of grace, draws us more and more towards Him.

It is this reliance on the Grace of God that makes prayer a challenge for some. It is not the case that we simply need to work harder at prayer, or recite more devotional prayers in order to grow in our faith. Rather, prayer serves as the way in which God opens our soul more and more so that sin is forgiven (and removed) and we become more and more clearly the Imago Dei we were made to be.

The value of a saint like Catherine of S

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

A look at the religious makeup especially in the United States can leave Christians feeling morose and sad. Young people are leaving the faith, not to join another faith, but largely to abandon any faith. (They may hang on to “spirituality” as those who are “spiritual but not religious”.) With this decline in religious practice there is also a decline in other aspects of society that have formed a foundation for society. Fewer people are getting married, not just in the Church, but fewer people are getting married at all. While some point to growth in vocations, such growth does not exist.

But the first reading today provides us with hope. Think of the situation that is occurring in the Acts of the Apostles. There is persecution, forcing Christians to flee for the lives (literally!). But does this crush the faith? Far from it. We read, “The word of God continued to spread and grow.” At a time when those who were “faint of heart” might not be inspired to become Christian, “the word of God continued to spread and grow.”

So rather than to cause us sadness, perhaps the appropriate attitude for people of faith is to look inward to ask the Holy Spirit what we can do to facilitate the growth of the faith around us. I need to challenge myself. Do I authentically desire to share the faith that means so much to me? Do I seek to initiate in a gentle way those types of conversations about faith that make people feel I will listen and care? Do I provide hospitality when I see people I do not recognize in my Church? Do I make them feel welcome?

I know I do not do this often enough. Do you do any of these things? Perhaps the reason for people leaving the faith and the decline in priests is that we have kept the beauty, the power, the love of God that has changed our lives too much of a secret. Maybe people have become too familiar with scandals, parish closings, sad statistics, that they have not seen the positive. People who believe in Jesus. People who because of their faith care for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the outcast, the refugee, the migrant. People who bring their significant decisions to prayer, and by doing so feel the peace the world cannot give.

My hope for this podcast series, Spend 5 With Jesus, is that by coming to enter into silent prayer with Jesus, we will move beyond simply being disciples, followers of Jesus (as wonderful as that is) and will see ourselves as apostles, chosen by Jesus to share the Good News with all those we meet.

The readings for today.

It's that time of year. Time when some students who have not been working hard all semester are looking for ways to improve their grade all at once with a few days left in the semester. I think sometimes we do this in the spiritual life too. Jesus tells us over and over again what we need to do, but we choose not to do it, and then ask him why he does not help us.

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

The other day I reflected on the idea of martyrdom and persecution. Today I would like to share what such persecution looks like. Fides.org, the pontifical mission society website, ran this story today. “During the night we learned of the attack against the newly elected bishop of the diocese of Rumbek, Fr. Cristian Carlassare. The Comboni missionary was immediately transported to the hospital in Juba.” In places like the United States, we simply do next expect a bishop would be shot.

The article goes on to say that “Fr. Cristian was beaten, along with the nun who was with him, then 4 bullets were shot in his legs. According to the first reports, the attack was apparently planned to scare him so that he will not be consecrated bishop.” The diocese of Rumbek is in South Sudan, an area that has suffered from years of civil war. In fact, since its founding in 1974 the diocese has been hampered by the war in its activities.

The accounts about the persecution that arose even before Stephen was killed are still impacting what we are reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The persecution is spreading all over the area. But rather than destroying the new Church, it has the opposite effect. The new Church is growing. “There were some Cypriots and Cyrenians among them, however, who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”

It can be the case that in situations like South Sudan, the missionaries provide the people with such a sense of purpose and meaning they are harder to control. They represent a threat to the persecutors. According to Wikipedia, Christians form the majority of people in South Sudan, followed by traditional African religions, with Islam a distant third. So, control the Christian population, especially in places where the war raged on for years, and you can find it much easier to control the country.

Now what does all of this have to do with Spend 5 With Jesus? The reason I share this is that as Catholics and Christians, we must be careful we do not limit our concept of the Church only to the small slice of the world where we live. It can be easy to allow ourselves to think that the way things are in our country are the way things are everywhere. But that is not true.

Now it is probably the case that you are not about to get on a jet plane and fly to South Sudan. But the Cypriots and the Cyrenians were not about to let a little persecution to keep them from preaching. My point is that they did what they could. What can you do for the people in South Sudan, or in other parts of the

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

Such an amazing thing happens in the first reading. Remember that the early followers of Jesus were all Jewish, and as the Church membership grew and encountered non-Jewish people who wanted to become Christian, questions arose about whether the entirety of the Jewish Law needed to be followed, or not. Two aspects of Jewish Law in particular arose. The first, for men, was whether new converts to Christianity who were not Jewish needed to first be circumcised. The second concerned dietary practices. Specifically, did Gentile converts need to follow kosher dietary laws.

This was not small conflict, and I do not think it is an overestimation to say it almost tore the Church apart. In the letter to the Galatians, Saint Paul confronts Peter face to face about Peter’s hypocrisy, as he has not been following kosher laws, but then does. But in today’s account from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter describes the vision he had where God declares for him all foods are clean.

But what is more amazing for me is the confirmation of this vision that Peter describes. Namely, the Holy Spirit descended not just on the Jewish Christians, but on the Gentile Christians as well. And when Peter witnessed the action of the Holy Spirit, he knew he should not stand in the way of God.

I think of this because when I was in the seminary there was discussion about a new attitude for missionaries. Rather than focusing first on a pre-packaged gospel that often was so tangled with European culture is was hard to separate them, missionaries were to begin with a question. “Where has the Holy Spirit already been active?” I think this is an important question, because it reminds us that we do not “bring” God anywhere. God is everywhere. Rather, we witness to God’s actions in the world and live according to his gospel.

And so for me, today’s first reading poses this question: Where is the Holy Spirit active in your life? What is it you can point to that demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is active in your life? And if you cannot yet identify the Holy Spirit, perhaps that is the prayer you can make today. Come, Holy Spirit!

It is also important to search for the Holy Spirit in the lives of others. Where do you see the Holy Spirit active in your children? In your spouse? In your co-workers, neighbors, friends and relatives? Where do you see the Holy Spirit active in the person you simply do not get along with? Imagine how your life could change if you made the search for the Holy Spirit the quest of each day.

We cheapen the word love. We talk about loving our pizza, or our cars, or new articles of clothing, or a haircut, or ... You get the idea. But this is such a bad way to use the word. Real love is a sacrificial love, an action reserved when discussing people and God. At its best, we love God so much this love spills over into loving others. There is nothing more powerful than the love God has for us. God ALWAYS loves us, even though he hates the sins we commit. It is never too late to be that lost sheep found by Jesus the Good Shepherd.

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

Sometimes when crowds get together bad things happen. A natural disaster occurs, and crowds loot. Protests occur, and a small minority does major damage. People are in a group and conversation gets out of hand because of the “group think.” Most would consider “mob rule” a bad form of decision making. Time and again we see that groups that get out of control can be destructive and harmful.

Such is what is happening to Peter. He saw this when Jesus was killed. The chief priests stirred up the crowd to call for Jesus’ death. And it continues in today’s first reading as Peter and John are brought in before the Sanhedrin to face trial for blaming them, the Sanhedrin, for the death of Jesus, even though we are told the real reason is their jealousy of the impact Peter and John are having for curing a cripple and preaching in the name of Jesus.

In so many ways, the story of our society today has to do with the groups we choose to associate with. In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Nate Cohn spoke of sectarian politics. What he meant is that increasingly politics have become more about what tribe you belong to and how you declare the other tribe as evil.

Crowds and groups can have an impact on us. They can influence us to engage in behavior that we would not have even thought about if it were not for the influence of the group of people. In the Old Testament, we see God warning the Israelites about the impact of the group. He says they should not intermarry, for example. It is not because he thinks the Israelites are better than the occupants of the land they will take over, but just the opposite. He knows they will want to be just like everyone else. They will easily seek to be like the people whose land they are coming to occupy.

What is important for us to remember is that there is a significant different from a crowd or a group and a community. Whereas the crowd or group is sometimes spontaneously created and can sweep us away, a community is deliberately chosen and based on shared values and a common commitment to care and concern for others. And a Christian community extends these common values to the proper good treatment even to those outside of the community.

In your life, do you commit to a mob or to a community? Do you seek to live in community as a disciple of Jesus or to submit to the will of the majority? Do you ask Jesus for clarity about how you are to live and treat others, or do you place yourself at the whims of others? Do you seek to identify as a disciple of Jesus, or do you embrace whatever will allow you to fit in with the group? Silent prayer allows us to turn away from the superficial nature of groups to the deep identity and commitment required of true followers of Jesus. Today, ask Jesus to help you to live the values of the gospel, even if they are not popular with the group.

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

When I first started teaching, my thought was that if I could simply present in a coherent and logical way the beauty of the content of the faith, then students would be convinced to follow Jesus and life would be wonderful. But I was naïve. My students needed to know Jesus. Some people really believe that if we people give lots of information about Jesus they will believe. But I had students who knew that material, but they did not believe a lick of it. While some students do believe when theological knowledge is presented, for most, it is the case that they need the relationship first so they know what to do with the knowledge they are learning.

But today’s gospel shows us that sometimes knowledge is not enough. Or, sometimes it is the case that if there is no personal relationship, either with God or at least with the teacher, then it can be quite difficult to accept the message of the faith.

That is what happens today. Jesus is saying something that is quite difficult for people to hear. Unless a person eats the flesh of the Son of God, and drinks his blood, that person has no life in them. These are not easy words to hear. The word that is used for “flesh” is just that – sarx (σαρχ). It is literally flesh, not body. So to eat human flesh and to drink human blood would certainly seem quite strange indeed.

But, not for those disciples who remained with Jesus. They did not know where else they would go. Because they had this powerful relationship with Jesus, they could understand what Jesus meant. Jesus had the words of eternal life. There is no one else who can provide this type of life-giving relationship. Only Jesus.

We are also reminded that sometimes the message of the gospel is hard. Many left after hearing Jesus talk this way. They went back to their previous way of life. There are many passages that are tough. The gospel can be tough because what it asks of us, what it challenges us to do seems simply too much. Love enemies? Forgive seven times seventy times? These seem to be really hard sayings.

It can even be tough to trust Jesus. Sometimes it can seem easier simply to do everything ourselves. To stay in control. To take care of everything on our own. But as humans we are made for more than ourselves. We are not meant to do everything ourselves. We are meant for relationship.

This is because God is about relationship. The Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are a community of love that is so perfect, so powerful, they are one. On a human level, we learn from the book of Genesis that a man and woman marry so that the two can become one.

And so the disciples in today’s gospel remind us that it is Jesus that has the words of eternal life. And so as we spend time with Jesus today, seek to remember that we are made for relationship with God, with Jesus. We are not meant to be alone, becau

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

Who is the least likely person you know to embrace the faith? Who is it that you know that seems so indifferent or even hostile to the faith that you would be quite skeptical to hear that they were not following Jesus and going to Church? Or perhaps more simply, who is the person you do not allow to change or convert? Is there an individual or two that you would never really believe they could change?

For it is not at all difficult to imagine why those Christians who heard that Paul (then known as Saul) joined them that they were more than a little skeptical of the authenticity of this conversion. After all, he was going around gathering up Christians to have them killed. He had the support and approval of the Chief Priests.

Today it is very easy to take this for granted, to see Paul as the great apostle and forget he was the zealous persecutor. It struck me today that Paul exhibits a characteristic of people whose fundamental core beliefs about something are challenged. Often when we begin to doubt those fundamental beliefs, we dig in even harder to show they are true.

Now while it is certainly true that Paul had this dramatic and miraculous encounter with the Risen Christ, and this encounter at least on an audio level was verified by others, I wonder if he had been hearing things about “The Way” and experiencing the first bit of curiosity about its truth. Yet to accept this was to change his way of believing. And that is no small thing.

So what did Paul do? He became so entrenched in his beliefs he was willing to facilitate murder. Rather than debate Stephen, he concurred in his killing. Rather than listen and understand what he said, he feared he might believe. We can do the same. We can find ourselves so afraid of doubt we do not ask ourselves what we doubt. We do not realize that while doubt might lead to conversion, it could just as easily be the case that doubt leads to deeper faith.

The way we can know how our doubt could lead to truth is to trust THE TRUTH, the Lord Jesus himself. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” For us, truth is not a set of philosophical statements, but rather truth is a person. What is moral and immoral is determined not by popular vote, but by our relationship to the Truth, the person of Jesus. Again, as I have been saying, this is why placing ourselves into the presence of Jesus for silent prayer is so important. This is why reading the bible is so important. This is why going to Mass regularly is so important. In each of these examples, we encounter Jesus. And as today’s first reading demonstrates, anytime we are in the presence of Jesus, there’s just no telling what Jesus will lead us to do and be.

The readings for this post can be found by clicking here.

Today’s first reading reminds us that reading the bible is different from reading any other book. Why? Because reading the bible demands that we pray as we read it. While certainly the bible can be read without faith, and even valued without faith, when we read the bible we should do so in prayer. It is, after all, the Word of God. Today’s reading poses two questions: Do we read the word of God, the bible? Do we pray before we do so and do we view reading the bible as a relationship? We hear the word of God, after all, directly when we read the bible.

This is not to say that we should not seek to understand the bible by academic study. Whether this is formal study in a college or high school, or using one of the many tools available to help us to learn more about the bible, like Jeff Cavin’s podcast The Jeff Cavins Show, or other places like Word on Fire, or Dynamic Catholic, you can grow in what you know about Jesus and the Church. We’ve also suggested another podcast, The Bible in a Year Podcast, where Father Mike Schmitz not only reads the bible for us, but helps us to break open the Word so that we can understand it more fully. But academic knowledge alone is not sufficient.

Why? Because we need to reach out to know Jesus. And we do this in prayer. We offer our hearts and souls to Jesus, and when he touches them, we change and grow. It is this prayerful relationship with Jesus that helps us to know what to do with and what to do about the knowledge we gain. It inspires us to make those tough choices not because they are easy, but because they are right.

This is why I am so strongly committed to silent prayer. It is quite easy to say, well, we are good people. I believe many people are good people. Is being good enough? Or does Jesus ask more from us? I do think it is important, especially for people who claim faith in Jesus to reflect on what Jesus wants us to do. And to think about whether or not Jesus would ever ask us to do what we do not want to do. And to ask ourselves when was the last time Jesus ever did so?

For if Jesus does not appear to ever ask us to do what we might not want to do, maybe we have not really heard the voice of Jesus. Maybe Jesus is simply a “teddy bear” designed to make us feel better. But a relationship with Jesus should challenge us. An authentic and powerful relationship with Jesus should make us feel uncomfortable at times.

When I pass that homeless man, perhaps I should be made uncomfortable about whether or not he is Jesus for me. When I am called to make a sacrifice for someone I do not like, even if it is only praying for their well-being, can I do that? Is it ever the case that I can ask, when I di