The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

It can be easy to say we do not believe in God. Or, it can be easy as well to take the love of God for us for granted. Imagine if married couples ignored each other because they said, "I know they love me." Or imagine children saying the same to their parents. We can do this with God. While it is true that God loves us infinitely, in a way we cannot grasp, it does not mean we do not need to seek to be open to receiving that love. We must avail ourselves of the grace he gives us so we can experience his love and live in that love.

Here are the readings for today.

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

Generally speaking people do not admit when they are jealous. Somehow, we learn early that this feeling is something unpleasant and not to be acknowledged. This leads, at its worst, to horrible actions. People in relationships can cause harm to others when they are jealous. People who are jealous can waste so much energy thinking about something they do not have. Jealousy is usually accompanied by feelings of anger, envy, and frustration. Put simply, jealousy is simply a miserable emotion.

The readings for Today.

An authentic relationship with Jesus does not mean we cannot trust our intellect. But it does mean we need to believe in miracles. Nicodemus can accept the authority of Jesus' teaching, but the idea he would have to be born from above is too much. Do you believe in miracles?

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

While I do not hear it as much anymore, there was a period of time where Christians (especially Evangelical Christians) would ask others if they had been born again. If the answer was yes, often individuals would identify themselves as “Born Again Christians.” Interestingly, however, they are making the same mistake that Nicodemus made as recounted in today’s gospel. In fact, the phrase that was translated “being born again” is a mistranslation. Here is what Jesus said. “You must be born from above.” There is a little play on words here as the word for “again” and “above” are similar in Aramaic. What Jesus is saying to us is that we must be born “from above.”

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

It is understandable that with the world we live in today we feel afraid. There seems to be an ever-increasing amount of anxiety in our lives. Studies bear this out. Our mental health is not so good. And there are many reasons for this.

Over and over God has set things up for us that we might know and be aware of his love for each one of us. And, at least for me, it feels like over and over again I sin. Yet fortunately for all of us, Jesus is a God who forgives. Here are the readings for today.

Do you remember these two sports calls? Here’s the first. “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” How about the second? “Swing and a ground ball, stabbed by Foulke. He has it, he underhands to first -- and the Boston Red Sox are the world champions. For the first time in 86 years, the Red Sox have won baseball’s world championship. Can you believe it?” Both of these are sports quotes. The first, especially if you lived in the United States was from the 1980 Olympics. These two quotes are from sports calls. The first was in 1980 when the United States Olympic Hockey Team defeated the Soviet Olympic Hockey Team in Lake Placid, New York. The second was the radio call by Joe Castiglione from WEEI (Boston) in 2004 when the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years in Saint Louis. We toss around the world miracle today quite easily.

The readings for this post are from Saturday, April 10, 2021.

“They recognized them as the companions of Jesus.” Would it be the case that you would be recognized as a companion of Jesus? The other day it was about recognizing Jesus. But today it is about being recognized. The way in which Peter and John are recognized goes from what may appear to be insulting (“perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men”) to complimentary, as those recognized to be companions of Jesus.

You can read the post at https://thefriar.org/2021/04/09/spend-5-with-jesus-companion/.

“There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” The name of Jesus. One thing that feels to me like it has changed is the ease at which people use the name of Jesus in a derogatory way. It is a curse word among too many today. But in today’s reading, the name of Jesus is the name that saves. We read, “It was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean … in his name this man stands before you healed.” Namely, (no pun intended) it is the name of Jesus that saves. And used properly, it is a name that saves. Used improperly, we commit a sin. https://thefriar.org/2021/04/08/spend-5-with-jesus-the-name/

Peace. It seems to be so elusive today. We seem so angry. We seem at each others' throats. There seem to be so much violence in the world. Shootings, Domestic violence, wars. It is no surprise that Jesus wishes peace to his disciples and to us.

Readings for Today

Given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. You can subscribe to our podcast by clicking the link of the podcast providers we list on this page, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also sign up for our newsletter and to get notified every time we post by entering your email address at the top of the page.