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 Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time - Seeds of Faith
No matter what the secular society says, how wonderful everything is, it is so important that we take the seed of faith that we have been given and that we…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Equal is God's Eyes
It is humbling to be reminded that we are trying to learn that we are all equal. That that we are all children of God, whether rich or poor, whether we are…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Good Stewardship
We have to be wise about what gifts that we have. It is not just about what how much money we have, although that is a gift for sure. But if we can realize…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for The Exaltation of the Cross - Divine Paradox
We do not need to be scarce about God's love to others. Why? Because there is an abundance. We have an ocean of God's love. And when we have this ocean of…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time - Identity First, Then Action
When I say yes to the Lord, I am be promising to become what I already am, the body of Christ. I am committing to “the way” again each and every week. And we…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Seond Sunday of Ordinary Time - Being A Tool For God
We come to this table every week. We come humbly, every one of us equal at this table. Myself, you, all the same. Men and women, boys and girls, children of…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Narrow Gate
The exercise of free will comes with consequences. In other words, when we choose to do bad things and we harm ourselves, these are the consequences of free…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time - All In For The Lord
It is a sense of “all in” that Jesus is talking about in today's gospel. That he wants to set our hearts on fire. He wants us to set our hearts on fire about…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Be Grateful. Be Generous. Be Joyful
We have an internal fairness scale that measures that. And it is true in in life too. That is why I suppose that we have higher standards for those who hold…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for The Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - God Does Not Call the Qualified, He Qualifies the Called
We are all called to go, and we are sent not to be just disciples, but missionary disciples to go forth into the world to proclaim it through our words and…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul - Micro Conversions
Today is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, two towering figures in the church. They literally laid down their lives in proclamation of the faith. But you…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ - We Become What We Receive
Today is the feast of Corpus Christi as we used to call it, the Body and Blood of Christ. It gives a particular reverence to what we do at this table and at…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity - Sacred Symmetry of the Holy Spirit
The Trinity, this sacred symmetry, is all about the flow of love, love from the father to the Son and the Son to the Father. The love that flows between them…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Pentecost - Holy Spirit Goose
There is a certain freedom to how wild geese fly because of the unity that the goose brings to it. A goose never flies alone, they always fly in formation. And…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Feast of the Ascension - The Circles of Our Lives
In Celtic Christian spirituality, we believe, that when we are born, we become a traveler. We move from the invisible into the visible and then journey through…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter - Let the Holy Spirit Come!
The challenge is that we often do not want to listen to the Holy Spirit. We want our own opinion, and we want to what we want to do. What makes us as a church…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter - Neural Pathways of the Heart
Jesus is talking about how they will know us by who we are. They will know that you are followers if you love one another, or if you see this constant behavior…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter - Learning to Listen to the Voice of God
We all just know our mother's voice. It is not that we are not unfamiliar with it. It is just that we may not always be paying attention to it. In the same…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday of Easter - Signs on the Path of Life
The reality is in all of our lives, we sometimes wander from the trail of life, in this journey of life, we do miss a sign or two. We get thrown off, and we…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy and kindness
No matter what, it is always better to be a person of the truth, and if you make mistakes, to tell the truth, to hold yourself accountable to that. It is not…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the memorial of Pope Francis - Joy of the Gospel
Pope Francis called the whole church with that sense of calling us back to the roots of who we are. He kept on bringing us back to Jesus. He kept on calling us…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodGem of God's Grace - Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter
We are called to let the light of Christ shine not only on us and within us, but from us, so that others can see that they have the grace, the gem of grace…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Good Friday of the Lord's Passion - Oil of Our Presence
To watch a hopeless death is one to be avoided at all costs. But Christianity has a response. It may not be the answer we want, but it does have a response…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper - New Perspective: New Model to Follow
My friends, tonight is about service. Can we find a way to serve some other person in our community who feel completely left out? Some neighbor who feels…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion - Defining Moments
The scriptures are a collection of defining moments for the Jewish and the Christian people. They have been put together for the most defining moments of our…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Third Scrutiny - Showing Up
Today, more than ever, we need to be people who are willing to show up, to show up and not save people, not to rescue them, but to be present to them in the…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent - Love Not Lectures
All of us have made mistakes. We have all done something that was wrong, whether a little thing when we were a child or something older. We will always…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday of Lent - Thin Places and Holy Ground
Our lives have become so busy and even about the good things, we can be so busy, we miss God speaking to us at these liminal moments where God is trying to say…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of Godhomily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Second Scrutiny - Darkness Can Be Our Friend
Sometimes the darkness in our lives can be in fact our friend, because it allows us to focus only on what we need to focus on.Today we have this reading, this…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent - Coming to His Senses
Sometimes we find it hard to accept that God would forgive us for our mistakes. Sometimes when we hurt somebody who we really love and we know we have hurt…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday of Lent, First Scrutiny - Living Water for All
We are called to take the living waters, take the bread of life that we receive from here, and to share it with those who so desperately need that fresh living…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday of Lent - Come To Know Christ and Love HIm
“Who do people say that I am?” The apostles first say, you are Elijah or John the Baptist, or one of the other prophets. But then he asks them, he says, “Who…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the First Sunday of Lent - Who We Are Is the Core of Our Identity
How we refocus ourselves this Lent is not about our will. It is not us trying to will ourselves back and pushing away the devil in some dramatic fashion. Just…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for Ash Wednesday - I am a Sinner. I am a Hypocrite
What we do today is put ashes on our forehead. Not to have a badge of honor that says, “Look at me. I am one of the Catholic ones.” We put ashes on our…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time - Love your Enemies
Jesus reorders life. He quotes the golden rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That was in the Book of Deuteronomy as one of the laws of…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Guardians of Beauty and Prophets of Truth
Pope Francis has declared 2025 a Jubilee Year of Hope, a timely reminder that even in the face of immense suffering in our world, we are not abandoned, Jesus…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Limitation to Invitation to Abundance
You can hear a sense of frustration in today’s gospel with Peter. Peter has been working hard all night with his friends, he says they were up all night and…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Presentation of the Lord - The Marian and Christian Way
Mary watched her son suffer greatly. This prediction by the prophet Simeon is very real. The climax of that suffering for her was at the foot of the cross. We…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time - Dialogue With Scripture
Jesus is the fulfillment of the scripture. Jesus is the bright light that leads us to see all other lights. He is the one who enables us to see what God is…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - Abundant Joy In Life
In today's Gospel, Jesus turns everything around. He takes six stone jars fills them with water and turns that water into wine. These jars would have held 20…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Baptism of the Lord - In You I Take Delight
We need to hear this message of delight because we hear all the other messages, all the other negative messages, the competitive ones on online, how good…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Epiphany of the Lord - Change Your Perspective
There are layers of irony here that Matthew is trying to communicate to his Jewish audience, kind of waking them up. “Hey, hello. It is the Messiah. The…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Feast of the Holy Family - Wisdom and Joy: Hold Onto Love
With the passing of time we certainly grow in age, but we do not always necessarily grow in wisdom. There are no guarantees that wisdom comes with age! It is…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Nativity of the Lord - Make Room in Your Heart for The Story of Jesus
Today , we stop and we share what we believe is the greatest story ever told. The story of Jesus Christ being born among us. And right from the very beginning…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent - Hear the Voice of the Father and Believe What we Hear
Mary believed! She just did not just hear, she heard and believed. And so we too must be willing to hear and then to believe what we hear. We will need to hear…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Third Sunday of Advent - What is Stealing Your Joy?
Stuff comes in life and stuff happens! It is hard to, in a sense, frolic and enjoy life. Joy is not about circumstances. Joy is not about what happens to us…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Second Sunday in Advent - Health of the Spiritual Heart
Our parish theme for the whole year is “Be still and know that I am God.” But during the advent period it is to be still and be joyful with the Lord. In the…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the First Sunday of Advent - God Waits For Us
We are called in a more profound way to not try to change all the circumstances outside. We are not going to change the secular world, we are not going to…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - Follow Christ Not Chase The Squirrel
Here is a photo taken by the James Webb telescope. Now, where are we in this universe? We are a tiny little point in the middle of that tiny place, we are so…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time - Love is Transient
Life is transient. One minute you are driving along, next minute, boom, the car flies off the road and you are taken out and your life could be gone. Never…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - Carry the Grief Together
May God take all our loved ones to himself for all eternity. And one day, we will join him as well. Together we will be one in heaven. Until then, we will ask…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time - Magnifying Glass of God
Every time we come to the Eucharist God says that he loves us completely. So much so that he gives us Jesus Christ in his person. I want to quote Thomas…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Open The Eyes Of My Heart
We should understand the context of today’s reading. This is Mark’s gospel, the very first gospel to be written. And remember it is a continuation from last…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Love One Another
We should understand the context of today’s reading. This is Mark’s gospel, the very first gospel to be written. And remember it is a continuation from last…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Letting Go
Today there are so many things that draw our attention, distract us from even our own goodwill. We may not even want to be a certain way, but because we send…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time - ACL, Awe, Curiosity and Love for Christ
I just returned last night from our pilgrimage and I had a long trip home. I finished the pilgrimage in Greece and Turkey and then I flew to Vienna for a…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Life is More Poker Than Chess
You are not going to win every hand in your plan, in your life. That is just the way it is. You get some really doozy hands sometimes when you are sick and…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty Third Sunday of Ordinary Time - Ephphatha! Be opened
In today’s gospel, Jesus moves in close with this deaf and mute man. He moves in real close. And Jesus just does not say be healed or be opened in this case…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - Doers of the Word
Henry Nouwen, the great Catholic priest and theologian of modern times, explains this reconnection concept using four words: taken, blest, broken and given…
Fr. Brendan McGuire - Podcasts that Break open the Word of GodHomily for the Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time - To Whom Should We Go?
We come to church not just for ourselves. We come for the sake of others. If there was only one person here, it would not be a celebration. It is a celebration…