Fr. Andrew’s Daily Mass Homily Podcast – Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent
The prophet Jeremiah calls us to listen to God – opening our hearts to the Lord’s word – and the Psalm reminds us not to harden our hearts. May the the words of Christ inspire us to draw near and allow God’s grace to work in our lives.
3rd Sunday of Lent Readings – Year C
The Lord is blunt and direct in the Gospel today: we are called to repent…or perish. The life-and-death quality of this command reminds us that God’s grace is ready to wash us clean – if we open our hearts through repentance and turn to the Lord. As God directed Moses and led the people from slavery to freedom, may we discover new life in Christ when we repent and believe in the Good News.
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Fr. Andrew’s Daily Mass Homily – Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent
With help from some 4th graders from Mrs. Peterson’s class at Cathedral School, Fr. Andrew looks at how God can take bad things and bring about great goodness.
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Fr. Andrew’s Daily Mass Homily – Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent
Daily Mass Readings – Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent
“Practice what you preach” means simply that the words we say are mirrored in the actions we do. Sounds great, right? Yet that short phrase challenges us all to live as disciples of Christ – aware that our lives are constantly proclaiming a message. May people see and hear God’s grace shining through us!
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Study: Reflect on a time when you were forgiven. What steps took place to make it happen?
Pray: Is there something in your life that’s prompting you to repent? Ask the Lord for the strength to do it!
Serve: Is there a situation in your life that you can help bring healing and reconciliation? How might you be an instrument of God’s grace?
3rd Sunday of Lent Readings – Year C
Here’s a quick recap of the readings this week:
On the one hand we hear how God takes pity on our plight, has great mercy, and longs to heal and love us. On the other hand, we also hear the crucial need to repent – to turn away from our sins and draw near to the Lord.
Remember this: God requires our repentance so that we can freely receive his mercy and forgiveness. Reconciliation means nothing if we aren’t sorry for what we have said and done. What’s more, without repentance we cannot begin to comprehend the unconditional love of Jesus on the Cross.
So what is our path to repentance? Consider these basic steps:
The Lord is calling us – out of his awesome grace, mercy, and forgiveness – to repent. Make this Lent extra special, and may all of us take the time to review our hearts and be about the business of God’s healing love.
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Fr. Andrew’s 2nd Sunday of Lent Homily Podcast
There are moments in life that change and transform us – mountaintop experiences – that lead us in new and powerful directions. Just as the Apostles encountered God’s grace on the mountain, so too we can be guided by Christ as we open our hearts to the Lord’s prompting both within and without.
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Study: Describe a moment when you felt that God was particularly near. How did you react?
Pray: Ask the Lord for an open heart to recognize and understand Christ’s presence in your life.
Serve: Do you have a prompting right now to help another? Is there something or someone in need of your aid?
Fr. Andrew’s Homily Podcast
Have you ever had a first hand experience of God’s grace? An encounter or perhaps a moment when you felt particularly close to the Lord? For some people, even talking about the experience can seem awkward if not downright difficult. We know in our hearts that something profound and beautiful happened, but how do we share it? How do we communicate our personal event to another?
Abraham, Peter, James and John had an experience that would reshape their lives. Abraham believed in God and forged a covenant of faith. The three apostles went up the mountain with Jesus and came down dazzled by the sight of Moses and Elijah speaking with Christ as the Father’s voice thundered in their hearts.
Did it change them? Yes! Did it have a powerful impact on their lives and through them on others? Absolutely. Are these types of experience essential to follow the Lord? Of course not. But when they come they bring the potential to reshape how and why we live.
Some people are blessed with a “mountaintop” experience of faith. They encounter the Lord in a life changing way and rewrite the script of their life to follow a new direction. Others faithfully follow the path that is set before them, trusting in the God’s guidance to direct their steps down a well marked road.
While every person will have great or small moments of grace, perhaps today we might consider how the Lord is speaking to us. What are the signs, circumstances, situations, and people that help us recognize the presence of Jesus Christ? How might we adjust our vision to see God at work in our hearts?
The Lord continues to speak in our world. May we listen! Christ’s grace continues to change lives. May we see it! As we continue to embrace the season of Lent we open our hearts and ask for the wisdom to comprehend how God is present. May our response be filled with a lively faith as we follow Jesus!
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Ashes are common in our daily life – every fire leads to them. But note these two qualities:
Welcome to the reality of sin: The ashes we wear are an outward sign that we wish to turn away from all that soils our souls and harms our hearts. May the words we hear today help us to seek the cleansing life that comes from Christ. The words are clear:
Repent, and Believe in the Gospel!
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Study: Reflect on a moment when you were in a critical need. What pulled you through?
Pray: Ask the Lord for grace regarding a difficult situation.
Serve: How can you be a helping hand to another?
Let’s take a look at these readings that help us kick off Lent:
Have you ever been in trouble? Serious trouble? End of your rope? Lost? Confused? Abandoned? Scared? Feeling like you cannot breathe because the air has gone out of your chest? Feeling utterly alone?
You’re in good company. People of faith for over 3000 years have called upon the Lord in their darkest moments – seeking guidance and strength.
And God provides. We don’t have to look very hard to find examples of pain and suffering, hardship and loss, struggle, catastrophe and sin. We also know that there are no promises that life will be easy and free from pain. What we know is simple: God walks with us and sustains us in our moments of need.
Of course this is only a half truth – God walks with us always! God never leaves us, but for some very human reason we seem to call out loud and strong when we recognize our need for the Lord. Isn’t it odd that we “get it” when we are in need…that many of us who dedicate our lives to Christ see much more clearly when the truth is self-evident?
Perhaps not. Perhaps what this first week of Lent shows us is that our need for God (always present in our lives) is most easily observed when we cannot hide from our need. For when we are in trouble, we are confronted with the clear and obvious reality that it is only with the Lord’s grace that we can be guided and sustained. In the times of our testing we discover both our limitations and the Lord’s love.
What are you facing in your life right now? What requires your own personal admission and acceptance of Christ’s mercy? Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble!
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If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Study: Recall a moment where you felt that God was prompting you to action. What motivated you to act? What held you back?
Pray: What grace do you need to carry out your current tasks? Storm heaven for the strength you require.
Serve: How can you make an ordinary action extraordinary? How can you do a little thing with great love?
5th Sunday of the Year Readings
Fr. Andrew’s Homily Podcast
The readings incorporate the theme of being sent on mission:
In all these cases some common points surface:
These are beautiful thoughts as we sit on the doorstep of Lent! Friends, God continues to call us – providing grace – that we might respond and offer our lives for service in the world. So let’s turn these points around from our perspective:
May our words follow the example of Isaiah in the first reading today: Here am I, Lord…send me!
Catholic Inspiration – Podcast Archives of Homilies & Talks
