Father Matthew Wiering Podcast

In today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we learn that Peter and John go down to Samaria because of Philip's evangelical success. But when they arrive, they learn that, even though the new Christians there have been baptized, they have not received the Holy Spirit. So what do they do? They pray and lay hands on the new Christians, and the Holy Spirit falls upon them. Here we see the Scriptural foundation of the Sacrament of Confirmation by which we receive the fulness of the gift of the Holy Spirit!

Today's Gospel passage from the 14th chapter of John's Gospel is one of the most popular funeral readings. From one perspective, it seems that he is talking about heaven. Yet upon closer examination, Jesus is using images having to do with the Temple and with Jewish marriage traditions. He is speaking of bringing his disciples into union with him not just at some point in the future after we die but today, at every Mass, as his Bride the Church receives Jesus the Divine Bridegroom in the Eucharist.

On this "Good Shepherd Sunday" we hear Jesus explain to us the difference between good shepherds and bad shepherds, which Jesus calls "thieves and robbers". We have this difference too in the priesthood! The good shepherd/priest goes through the gate, which is Christ, and is completely oriented towards him. His priesthood is based on Christ. But the bad shepherd is in it for himself, not for Christ, and his ministry is not for the sake of service but for his own self-aggrandizement. Let us pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, and may our present and future priests be oriented towards Christ so that through their ministry we can hear the voice of Christ, our Good Shepherd.

In this amazingly rich passage, Jesus walks with two disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The disciples are discouraged and forlorn about what has happened to Jesus, and the accounts that he has been raised have only further confused them. Jesus (whom they do not at first recognize) engages them in dialogue, and then he interprets the Old Testament Scriptures to them in such a way that their hearts are burning within them. But even after this dialogue (prayer) and meditation upon the Scriptures with Jesus, they still do not recognize him. It is only when Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives them bread (exactly the same thing he did at the Last Supper) that He is revealed to the disciples, and this encounter with the Risen Lord immediately changes them. Prayer and Scriptures are essential in leading us to the fullness of the encounter with Jesus, which culminates in the Eucharist, the Mass -- where He reveals Himself to us truly and transforms us interiorly.

On this Octave Day of Easter we reflect on where we have been since Holy Week. The Church walked with Christ as he suffered so dreadfully from the Garden of Gethsemane to the mount of Calvary to the tomb. Every form of human wickedness and dysfunction and disorder descended upon Jesus, crushing and ultimately killing him. What is his first word to those friends who abandoned and betrayed him in his time of need? It is "Peace." On this Divine Mercy Sunday, may we experience the peace of Jesus towards us repentant sinners, and may we give peace to those who have sinned against us!

Every year when we hear the Gospel accounts of the discovery of the empty tomb, I marvel at how different the details are from Gospel writer to Gospel writer, yet they all agree on one thing: It was women who were the first witnesses of the empty tomb and the first to encounter the Risen Christ. This shouldn't surprise us, since it was women who accompanied Jesus throughout the Passion and Crucifixion. Where were the men? They had all ran away out of fear.

As we commemorate the Lord's Supper, we celebrate the two Sacraments that Christ instituted and pass on to the disciples at that meal, by which He remains present in the world: The Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood.

How will you live the holiest week of the year?

Today as we celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation for our young people, the Gospel of Jesus getting "up close and personal" with the man born blind in order to heal him is fulfilled in the Sacrament we celebrate today. Each of the Sacraments involve this aspect of getting "up close and personal" -- Jesus in the person of the priest comes to us in our vulnerability, he comes in close proximity to us and gives us Himself as the remedy for our healing. May we see in the Sacraments our direct access to Jesus the Healer!

In today's Gospel Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The woman's need to visit the well every day is a symbol of her fundamental thirst for love (which is also evidenced in her having had five previous husbands and a current live-in boyfriend -- she is looking for love in all the wrong places)! But, after encountering Jesus, she goes back to town and leaves her water jug at the well, a symbol of her thirst having been quenched. She won't need to keep returning to the water that does not satisfy (nor to the men who did not satisfy). She has found the living water! And the One for whom she has always been searching.

Our first reading today presents us with Abram, who will later be renamed "Abraham". God calls him to uproot his family and servants and flocks and go to a a different place -- to where God does not say but simply says that He will show him. Isn't this a frequent theme in the Scriptures? To the apostles, too, Jesus says, "Follow me," but doesn't say "to where" yet promises to lead them where He wants them to go. Why should it be any different with us? To each of those whom God loves He leads into uncharted and unknown territory ... He will lead and guide and bring us to a place of greater trust and intimacy with Himself.

In this Sunday's "Greatest Hits" of Scripture readings presented to us, we hear the story of how man and woman fell pray to the Devil's temptation and were exiled to the desert wilderness. In today's Gospel, where does Jesus go immediately before beginning his public ministry? He goes precisely into the desert wilderness, in search of the exiled Adam and Eve, but first he must contend with the Devil. Jesus does not waver or cower in fear before the Devil like our first parents did, but he goes forth as a Warrior going into Battle, and he triumphs over the Devil's temptations! Jesus will continue to win each battle against Satan until our Enemy is definitively defeated in the Cross and Resurrection. This is why we begin our Lenten journey with Jesus's first battle against the Devil, and we'll end it with His final one: Jesus's victory over sin and death on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection.

In today's Gospel Jesus takes some broad commandments that many people probably don't find too difficult to follow and deepens them, making them much more challenging. From now on, it's not enough just that we don't "kill anybody". We must love our neighbor in body and soul. It's not enough that we don't sleep around. We must have purity of heart. The good news is that if Jesus commands it, this means it is possible for us -- but only possible if it's actually Jesus who does it: Jesus's charity in me. Jesus's purity in me.

Towards the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses a couple of familiar metaphors: He says to his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth," and, "You are the light of the world." Both indicate that Christians are "for" others, as salt and light are not so much good in and of themselves but rather essential for the effect that they have on others. Regarding the former image, let us consider how the Lord is inviting us to be "salt" in the various arenas of our lives, that, like salt, we may enhance and elevate and make more authentic the diverse areas of life: precisely the effect that Jesus demands that his followers have on the world.

Hearing the Beatitudes of Jesus anew help us to see how different Jesus's plan for building the Kingdom is than that of our political leaders on the left and the right. How tempted we are to construct an earthly kingdom using force of will, rhetoric that demonizes our political opponents, and, in some cases, violence! As we construct our own "kingdoms" on earth, will we use these means of the Evil One? Or the means of heaven, which are the Beatitudes?

In today's Gospel we hear the wonderful and mysterious account of the calling of the first four disciples, all fishermen: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. The act of fishing has a few essential aspects: attracting, hooking, and reeling in fish. The same holds true with the new vocation of these men, who will become "fishers of men": attracting, hooking, and bringing in for God. But before these men can fish for men, they first must follow. They must go with Jesus everywhere he goes. Through sustained contact with him, they themselves will be transformed into "other Christ's", and then the light of God will shine from them as it shines from Jesus. Then they (and we) will become "fishers of men"!

Every year we celebrate this feast in which we commemorate Jesus receiving the baptism of John, which is a baptism of repentance. Immediately this gets confusing, since Jesus was all-holy; he never committed a personal sin. But yet we see him in the Gospel getting in line with sinners. In doing so, he takes responsibility for and ownership not of his own sins but of mine. He drowns my sins in the baptismal waters, and as he emerges from the water, gives me a new life of grace. May our hearts be moved with love today for this totally generous gift from our Savior!

In today's rich feast day of the Epiphany we see the Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in which the Lord's light shines over Jerusalem, and the foreign nations come and worship the true God of Israel. But we also see in the Gospel how the Magi were not able to reach Jesus their destination on their own -- they needed the assistance of those in Jerusalem. Will we in the Church lead the seekers in our lives to Jesus?

Something we often forget is that the Church teaches that Mary is the mother of Christ but she also mothers Christ in us! As Christ was born of Mary 2000 years ago, she still gives birth to him in me and you. May we turn to our Mother in this New Year, that she will love us into greater openness to Christ, that he will be born anew in us!

Again we hear from the beginning of Matthew's Gospel, and we hear from the perspective of St. Joseph. This holy man never speaks a word in Scripture, but we learn from him many things. He teaches us the need for attentive, silent prayer in order to hear God. And once we have heard God, he teaches us decisive, obedient action. St. Joseph, protector and provider for Jesus and Mary, pray for all men!

In our fallen world, we experience dysfunction on so many levels. There is the obvious dysfunction of violence and oppression. There is the dysfunction of my sinfulness. But daily we also experience our brokenness and poverty. What is God's response to all of this? A helpless baby lies in a trough in poverty, sleeping peacefully under the protective watch of his parents. A poor woman and a poor man, deeply in love, gaze with joy and wonder at their child. Merry Christmas!

In this 4th Sunday of Advent we hear Matthew's account of the announcement of the birth of Jesus, which focuses on the perspective of Joseph. St. Joseph's anguish over what to do in light of Mary's unexpected pregnancy is pretty clear. There is a deep suffering there. What we may forget is what he will need to sacrifice in taking Mary into his home: He tacitly acknowledges that the child is his, and he sacrifices his good reputation. But Joseph is unwavering in his obedience to God, and he receives in return his bride and child.