Shows / Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God
Breaking open the Word of God …Applying it to the lived experiences of daily lifeIn the busyness of modern life, it is sometimes difficult to see and experience God in our lives. Through his homilies, Fr. Brendan challenges and invites us to take a break focus on what the Lord is saying. God is not only present but is opening up the divine story in each of us.
Episodes
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - Grief Is Like a Fingerprint: How to Grieve With Hope
This weekend, I just returned from Napa, presiding over the wedding of my nephew, Dominic, my brother Paul’s son, to his now wife, Molly. It was a wonderful…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Solemnity of All Saints - Heaven Is the Divine Yellow Door
This last week, I visited the school classrooms, like I do once a trimester, and the rule is they can ask anything they want. It works out sometimes…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time - See, Practice, Become: Imitators of Christ
And you were imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the Word of God with great affection, with joy, and becoming a model to all believers. These are words…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Politicians, Tech Titans & God: You Must Choose
A few weeks ago, I led a pilgrimage to Spain with about 40 of our parishioners. We had a wonderful opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Spanish mystics…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time - Nobody Missed Them: Come to the Feast
I recently reread some statistics that I found rather shocking, but probably not terribly surprising. They were from the Pew Research and CARA studies on…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time - Whose Vineyard Is This? Stop Living Like You Own It
As many of you know, I just returned last weekend from a two week pilgrimage to Spain with parishioners. We walked in the footsteps of St. Ignatius, St. Teresa…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Why Do We Keep Score? God Gives Us a Full Cup
My mother used to have problems with some of my homilies, and she used to say so, "You are a bit light on judgment and a bit heavy on love." I would say, "God…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Tear Out the Page: There Is No Ledger in Heaven
I remember 9-11, twenty-five years ago. I was in the rectory at St. Lawrence Parish, as that second plane crashed into the tower, and then watching the two…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time - Stagnant Water, Stagnant Love: Keep It Flowing
When I was growing up in Ireland, you would turn on the tap and have water, just like you guys do, right? The difference is, in Ireland, there is no bill…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - Are You a Believer or a Follower? The Hard Truth
Human behavior scientists maintain that in order to change one’s behavior, the person who actually wants to change needs to desire to change. That sounds so…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time - Not What You Do But Who You Are
I had the wonderful opportunity to visit my close friend and mentor, Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson. Lloyd is a towering figure in the American church, especially…
- Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God
Homily for the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Yellow Door and the God of Surprises
This last week we had a great opportunity as a parish and school staff to go away on a day of retreat. It was wonderful just to be away and to spend a day in…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - God’s Primary Language Is Silence
I just got back from vacation. I had been in Florence for a conference on artificial intelligence for the first nine days, where I gave four presentations over…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - What Mothers Know That the Rest of Us Forget
Last year, when we were on pilgrimage to Turkey and Greece, in the footsteps of St. Paul, we had nearly 50 parishioners. When you have a group of people like…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the 17th Sunday or Ordinary Time - What Is My Purpose Now? The Pearl of Great Price
During the year, at our Men’s Group, we have been reading a book called “The Power of Purpose” by Richard Leider, and in it he tries to articulate what it is…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Reckless Sower: A Love That Will Not Stop
I bring you this homily today from Florence, Italy. I am here with a group of Jesuits from throughout the whole world, those working in formation, bringing…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Turn the Lens of Life to Clarity
One of the great gifts that we have as priests is that we are invited to journey with people in some of the most tender and vulnerable moments of their life…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Do Not Be Afraid: A Father's Faith in Hard Times
Many of you know how much my own father was a hero in my life. He always seemed to have the right thing to say at the right moment. He just seemed to have that…
- Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God
Homily for the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time - Do Your Portion of the Wall
Our conversation led to talking not so much about artificial intelligence, as what this means for humanity. What does it mean for humans to flourish? What does…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ - Gnaw on My Flesh: The Presence We Cannot Outsource
What does it mean for us as human beings to flourish? What does it mean to have dignity as a human person? And what is the common good for all people? He goes…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - Right Relationship: With God, Each Other, and AI
This past week, as I said at the beginning of Mass, has been quite a week for me. It was extraordinary. I had the opportunity to sit in the Synod Hall as the…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomliy for Pentecost Sunday - Holy Spirit Goose 2026
In our Catholic church, we typically think of the Holy Spirit in rather tame terms. We think of the Holy Spirit as a nice peaceful dove coming, fluttering into…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Ascension Sunday - The Fierce Urgency of Now: A Message for 2026
Almost 60 years ago, on April 4th, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King walked into Riverside Church in New York City and gave a speech co-written by Dr. Vince…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter - Why Are We So Afraid? The Spirit Is With You
We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is a gift, and like all gifts, it has to be received. It has to be opened. It has to be unleashed. As Catholics, we…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter - The Way, The Truth and The Life
A few weeks ago, I was scrolling through my phone and stopped at three news clips back-to-back. Three different people, all speaking with total confidence, all…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter - Do We Hear His Voice? Listening for the Good Shepherd
“Do you always listen?” “Oh, listening is a bit of a problem,” they admitted. We hear the voice, but we do not always listen. Why? Because we get distracted…
- Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God
Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter - Walking With Those Who Walk Away
I know that many of you, over the years, have told me how sad you are that your children and grandchildren do not come to church. It is hard, because you…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday of Easter - Cool the Ego, Gentle the Soul
This last week I read an article about a tribe called the San tribe in southern Africa. They are believed to be the oldest continuous culture of human beings…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Resurrection of the Lord - Slow Down and Let Easter Change You
I was talking with a colleague this week, and she said, “God, where has the year gone? It is Easter already, has Lent already passed?” I said, yeah, it has. I…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Good Friday of the Lord's Passion - The Key You Already Hold
They had carried a grudge so long that they had forgotten. It had become like furniture in their house. It was just part of their lives. One leaned into the…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper - The Power of Simply Showing Up for Someone in Pain
One of the great gifts we have as priests is to visit people in their homes and in their areas of vulnerability, in their hospital beds, in their convalescent…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion - The Meaning That Carries Us Through Suffering
And in this worst place of human suffering, he came to a profound realization. Who was it among them that survived? It was not the strongest. It was not the…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent - Stop Keeping People in Their Tombs: Let them Go
I have a friend taking one of those GLP-1 drugs for the last year, and he just looks fantastic. He has shed pounds he has carried for 10, 20, 30 years. He is…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent - Why Your Brain Judges People Before You Think
Whether it is because we know what young people are like, or what old people are like, or because of the color of their skin, or their accent, or their…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday of Lent, First Scrutiny - Why Are We So Lonely? The answer is at the Well
We are the only human species that has survived hundreds of thousands of years. There were many human species, but only we remain. The reason, according to…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday of Lent - Collect the Right Memories
See, it is our choice. And when we choose to remember the hurts, the slights, we choose what will damage us and damage the relationships. It does not change…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the First Sunday of Lent - Three Lies the World Tells Us About Our Identity
If you think about an ordinary social interaction, that you might have at a party or some sort of scene, where you are meeting people for the first time. What…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Renewal of Marriage Vows - February 14, 2026
What amazed me about Cirque du Soleil was how they threw each other with such grace, they seemed to swoop in and pick them up each time, at the right place and…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Swimming in Love and Not knowing It
There is a great story told of a little fish in the ocean swimming around trying to figure out where the ocean is. He comes up to this older, wiser fish and…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time - You Already have What it Takes to Change the World
When I was growing up in Ireland, my father had an expression, just one simple phrase that summed up a person, and it was a compliment. He would see somebody…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Why Humility is the Secret to Real Happiness
The foundational component, what they called a pillar of humility. To be humble before God and know that they are a child of God. Happiness comes from that. We…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - How to be a Peacemaker in a Divided World
And there, in that unlikely place, Jesus finds his first followers. He walks along the Sea of Galilee and sees two brothers, Simon and Andrew, casting their…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - We Are a Religion of History
Most myths follow the same general pattern. The arc of the story is that you have a hero who goes on a quest, then in that adventure overcomes great adversity…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Baptism of the Lord - You Are My Beloved Son
I am not going to tell you to do not do all those New Year's resolutions. I am just going to say to do this one thing first. Remember that you are beloved. And…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord - I Spy with My Little Eye
We need to start with small things, but we need to have a vision of what we want. One of the things that human behavior scientists would tell us, the idea of…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Feast of the Holy Family - Make Room for Family
It is such a gift to be able to celebrate a meal around the table and just feel the love of family. And it is a gift, but it also requires some hard work…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Nativity of the Lord during the Day - The Word was Made Flesh
The only meaning, the true logos, is God. The true logos is what we believe as Christians, the baby Jesus. He is the logos made flesh. That is what we…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Nativity of the Lord at Night - Make Room for Christ
What I would like you to do today and this week is make a little bit of room, take something away. Because like the branches in that story, we had to clear…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent - Courage to Listen and Obey
The challenge for us as modern-day people, is that we have so much coming at us, so many voices. We have a cacophony of voices and messages. We do not know…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday of Advent - Rejoicing in the Midst of Doubt
Here is what is interesting, what I have learned since then and before, through other many situations. Doubt is not the opposite of faith. We often believe…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday of Advent - Turn Around
The prophets are the people who tell us what we need to hear even if we do not like it. Isaiah today which we hear in the first reading and John the Baptist…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the First Sunday of Advent - The Eye of the Storm
And now comes Advent. Now comes the busiest season of the year, when our regular business goes into high gear. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we add…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - We Are Not Numbers
Today, we celebrate the Feast Day of Christ the King and the readings bring us back to the foot of the cross. It seems like an odd place to bring us back as we…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time - Death and Life Eternal
In the cultural view, time is a scarcity. It is an asset that is a diminishing, that we are going to lose some day. In this cultural view of time, time is…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Feast of the Dedication of Lateran Basilica in Rome - Church as Restaurant
We have to be mindful of how we are serving others in our world today. Because we, you and I, are the church. Today we celebrate an unusual Feast day called…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed - Cricle of Life
Every one of us will take that final journey home someday. But until then, we are called to live this circle of life well. We are called to live it fully…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of God70th Anniversary Celebration
Today we are honoring our 70 year history. This place was a orchard of apricots. And that is why we have honored it with the very apricots we have here as a…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Hidden Acts Define Us
When Pope Francis was first elected, you might remember, one of the very first interviews he ever conducted, was from an Italian journalist. The journalist…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Heal Us, Divine Physician
What is most important for today's celebration, is that Luke was a physician. Dr. Luke, as I always like to call him, had a particular view that is seen in his…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodTwenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Awareness- Gratitude-Conversion
My friends, you see, we have to find a way to tune in to God's grace each day. Here is the thing to be very mindful of. Our senses are always at work, whether…