Best Wordcast Podcasts (2024)

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God is Most Present in the Place We Try Really Hard to Avoid | #1434 15:43

16h ago15:43

15:43

Ordinary Time, 14th Sunday (B) Life is not meant to be easy. The more we try to live a comfortable life, the more miserable we become. When Jesus comes to save us, he doesn't come to take away our pain and suffering. He comes to suffer with us and to suffer for us. Have you had a moment yet when God became real for you? For many, it happened when t…

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The Biggest Blessing from 17 Years of Priesthood | #1433 15:01

3d ago15:01

15:01

Ordinary Time, 13th Sunday (B) Disintegration, disharmony, dis-ease, destruction... this is spiritual death. Through the envy of the devil it entered the world. As long as we remain in the devil's company we will experience all these things. It's not that Jesus hands out cures to this or that problem; Jesus himself is the cure. When we are in his c…

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Fathers Use These Two Tools to Change the World | #1432 16:57

22d ago16:57

16:57

Ordinary Time, 11th Sunday (B) What would you wish for if you only had one wish? I know exactly what I would wish for: that men would be good fathers. About 90% of the issues that wander in my office can be traced back to men who failed to be good fathers. We have a severe crisis of childhood, which is rooted in a crisis of fatherhood and motherhoo…

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Stop Playing the Blame and Shame Game | #1431 11:46

29d ago11:46

11:46

Ordinary Time, 10th Sunday (B) We are the only critter in creation not comfortable in it's own skin. Why do humans wear clothes? The Bible says we started with original innocence. But then we rejected God's Fatherly authority and all started playing the Blame and Shame Game. Jesus refuses to play the game. He lives a life of simplicity, innocence, …

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Blood Brothers | #1430 14:03

1M ago14:03

14:03

Corpus Christi (Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ-B) This weekend the Diocese of Green Bay implements Bishop Ricken's pastoral instruction that allows the common cup on select feast days. We receive the whole Jesus no matter how we receive Communion, but Communion under both species is a fuller symbol of Jesus giving himself compl…

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An Infinite Inheritance Awaits Us | #1429 13:57

1M ago13:57

13:57

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (B) God created everything, but nothing created God. God simply is. There is no other God but him. The Trinity means that God is love and he is always pouring himself out in love. Made in the image and likeness of God, we are made for a community of love. We can only truly fulfill our calling if we learn to live f…

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The Holy Spirit Responds to our Vocations Crisis | #1428 13:27

2M ago13:27

13:27

Pentecost Sunday • God wants to breathe life into us so he sends the Holy Spirit. We may not realize that when we desire true love, community, peace, and guidance, we are really desiring the Holy Spirit. We can always draw more life from God, so our prayer each day should be, "Come, Holy Spirit!" This weekend, Bishop Ricken ordained six men to the …

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The Ascension and the Gift of Motherhood | #1427 13:56

2M ago13:56

13:56

Easter, Ascension (B) Jesus ascends into heaven. The ancients understood that he is now seated at the vantage point, from which he can see all things and direct his servants to victory. He has made our captivity his captive and has given gifts to men. These "gifts" are the prophets, Apostles, teachers and Evangelists that serve God's people and bui…

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We Love Mary Because She First Loved Us | #1426 15:16

2M ago15:16

15:16

Easter, 6th Sunday (B) Twelve of the last 14 years I have made a walking pilgrimage to Champion Shrine, the only approved Marian apparition site in Canada and the USA. This year I was hoping to join the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage for a few miles, but they are doing very few miles. I got my walking fix by completing my first ever Walk to Mary, …

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Grafted and Pruned (First Communion Homily) | #1425 6:50

2M ago6:50

6:50

Easter, 5th Sunday (B) Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We were grafted onto Jesus at our Baptism. We must remain in Him and draw much life from Jesus. The branches need pruning. The gardener must get rid of overgrowth so the energy from the vine can go to making good fruits. Fathers need to be good pruners of their family. They need so s…

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The Good Shepherd Calls Turkeys Like Us | #1424 15:08

3M ago15:08

15:08

Easter, 4th Sunday (B) Turkey hunting in the state of Wisconsin opened this week. A turkey hunter is pretty much the opposite of the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd knows us personally and loves us so much that he lays down his life for us. The Good Shepherd calls his sheep. The first call or "vocation" that every Christian receives is the call of…

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Five Places Jesus Wants to Give You Peace | #1423 12:34

3M ago12:34

12:34

Easter, 3rd Sunday (B) "Peace be with you," says the Risen Jesus! Here are five places Jesus wants to give peace: 1) Your past. The gift of new life means we no longer have to worry about our past. 2) Our future. The Risen Jesus will meet us at the end of our time and lead us to eternal life. 3) Our sufferings. We will have the strength to endure w…

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The Wounds that Heal | #1422 12:52

3M ago12:52

12:52

Easter, 2nd (Divine Mercy) Sunday • At the resurrection of the dead on the last day, our wounds will all be healed. So why does the Risen Jesus still have wounds? He is the healer, the medicine for all of us. The seal must be broken so his life can flow into us. Jesus lives his whole life without wounds. But in his passion he experiences all our wo…

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Easter Pancakes | #1421 14:34

3M ago14:34

14:34

Easter Sunday Morning • Little children need lots of help and support. As we grow up, we become more independent. We move from needing our mom and dad for everything to needing them almost never. We seem to think the spiritual world works the same way: we "grow up" from praying all the time to only calling God when we are really, really desperate. …

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What Is Jesus Worth to You? | #1420 8:08

3M ago8:08

8:08

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion • An item is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Something that is rare, unique, or has special value might fetch more than you would imagine. What am I worth? If we let the world set our value, we will always find ourselves being cheated. Imagining bringing yourself into the Antiques Roadshow. Jesus looks…

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You Should Wash Her Feet | #1419 14:18

3M ago14:18

14:18

Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord's Supper • We often think of the past and the future as a straight line. Jesus is seen as an historic figure. Easter is a re-enactment of Jesus' death and resurrection. We might also conceptualize Jesus as a future event, his second coming in judgement. Meanwhile, we try to follow his example of a sin-free life until…

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The Passion Reveals Our True Colors | #1418 9:23

4M ago9:23

9:23

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (B) The people of Jerusalem are rolling out the red carpet for Jesus. By laying down their cloaks, they show their willingness to lay down their lives for Christ. In the Garden of Gethsemane, a young man leaves his linen cloth behind and runs off naked into the night. How many of us willing follow Jesus when Christ…

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The Real Mission of a Catholic Priest | #1417 12:13

4M ago12:13

12:13

Lent, 5th Sunday (B) Being a priest in the modern world is very challenging. You need to live celibacy in a culture soaked in sex, convince Catholics to come back to Mass, teach the next generation not to abandon the faith like their parents did, save all the marriages, win the culture war, keep the buildings open, convince young men that this is a…

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The One Commandment that Does Not Make Sense | #1416 12:03

4M ago12:03

12:03

Lent, 3rd Sunday (B) The first three commandments are all about love of God and the last 7 are about love of neighbor. They all make perfect sense, with the exception of the third commandment. Why would God command his people to take a day off, especially people who were living hand-to-mouth? God rested on the 7th day. We, who are made in the image…

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The Most Disturbing Passage in the Bible? | #1415 17:35

4M ago17:35

17:35

Lent, 2nd Sunday (B) There are a number of disturbing passages in the Bible. This might be the most disturbing of all: God commands a father to sacrifice his son. In a kind of reverse psychology, he is teaching us not to engage in human sacrifice. There are people that live life with radical trust in God. They believe that God is good, and that the…

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Out of Order | #1414 14:33

5M ago14:33

14:33

Lent, 1st Sunday (B) Creation reveals a sacred order (hierarchy), with God at the top and human beings above the rest of creation but below God. We are part of a sacred order and we also have a sacred order within us. Man is a unity of body and soul. Except that we don't often experience ourselves as a unity. We tend to experience the body and soul…

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Be My vaLENTine | #1413 10:22

5M ago10:22

10:22

Ash Wednesday • Anyone can say, "I love you." How do we know if someone really loves us? Real love is when someone wants what is best for the beloved. And true love is when the lover is willing to put his beloved first. We know that Jesus is True Love because he sacrifices himself for us. If we truly love Jesus, than we will not just say, "I love y…

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Sin is Contagious—Lent Holds the Cure | #1412 13:51

5M ago13:51

13:51

Ordinary Time, 6th Sunday (B) The leper must remove himself from the community in order to save the community. Jesus is the source of healing for the leper, who can go back and be a blessing to his community. We often think of sin as a private matter. But the seven deadly sins not only hurt us, but they are also toxic to community. Think of the way…

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Does Talking About Anxiety Make You Anxious? | #1411 21:01

5M ago21:01

21:01

Ordinary Time, 4th Sunday (B) The APA tells us: Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure... Anxiety is not the same as fear, but they are often used interchangeably. Anxiety is considered a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse threa…

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Understanding God's timing 28:29

6M ago28:29

28:29

Sometimes we can get conflicted about the promptness of God to act. Can we be too fast or slow for him or can he be too slow or fast for us? We look into the concept of understanding God's time in this podcastBy info659

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Five Ways We Can Hear God's Voice | #1410 16:01

6M ago16:01

16:01

Ordinary Time, 2nd Sunday (B) In today's first reading, Samuel hears a call from God. Perhaps we don't want God to call and interrupt, or perhaps we are try to discern our vocation an we wonder why God doesn't call. We need to listen with our heart. Here are five ways that God commonly speaks to us. Nature. The world around me is speaking to me of …

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Eucharistic Epiphany in Cowley, Alberta | #1409 14:58

6M ago14:58

14:58

Epiphany of the Lord (Three Kings Day) On December 29, the Holy Eucharist was stolen from the Most Blessed Sacrament Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Oshkosh, WI. Since Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, was this a theft, or a kidnapping? I recount for you the miraculous recovery of a stolen host in Cowley, Alberta. Father and the other searche…

1
Walking with God 30:01

6M ago30:01

30:01

In this podcast, we examined what it means practically to walk with God, it's purpose and obstacles. Join the conversation!By Global Gospel Channel

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Dealing with a lying spouse 29:21

6M ago29:21

29:21

In this podcast, we examined the reasons spouse can lie to each other and how to handle it.By info659

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Entrusting Our New Year to the Mother of God | #1408 12:13

6M ago12:13

12:13

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God • Today we celebrate a very controversial title of Mary. Two Patriarchs disagreed about whether it was wrong to call Mary the Mother of God. The Council of Ephesus in AD 431 settled the debate in favor of this title. We could not possibly honor Mary any more than God honored Mary. God raised this humble servant …

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Perfect Love Casts Out Fear | #1407 18:26

6M ago18:26

18:26

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (B) We each image God in our own way. But we also image God when we form a community of persons in the family. When bonds of family love are secure, we can experience a pervasive sense of peace and joy. Family members are able to thrive and develop to their full potential. This heals the core wound…

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The Gift That Everyone Needs But No One Seems to Want | #1406 13:36

7M ago13:36

13:36

Christmas Day • God created the whole universe. Then God created us in his image and likeness. You might think that between the two, God's goodness would be abundantly obvious. But humans throughout history have believed some pretty strange things. So God decided to reveal his face in the person of Jesus Christ. The wise men present him with gifts …

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Watch for God's Healing Truth and Love | #1405 15:36

7M ago15:36

15:36

Advent, 4th Sunday (B) Fr. Michael's patience helped to heal my wound of abandonment. After I got healing, I was able to be patient with him, too. We were made by Love and for Love. But we didn't trust God and we started grasping for whatever we could get our hands on. God sends his Son Jesus to heal us at the very root. Jesus helps us to accept Go…

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Watch for God's Answer to the World's Problems | #1404 12:14

7M ago12:14

12:14

Advent, 3rd Sunday (B) If we sat down to list all the things that are wrong with the world, we would be here a while. Then we look at Christmas and it makes very little sense. How does one day with family opening presents fix any of the world's problems? The first Christmas makes even less sense: one more mouth to feed, and a homeless family. You m…

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Watch Out for The Misunderstanding | #1403 16:44

7M ago16:44

16:44

Advent, 2nd Sunday (B) Watch out for fake news, and for calumny. Always check the sources! Before sharing information, ask yourself three questions: 1) Is it true? 2) Is it good? 3) Is it useful? Lies can damage relationships. Don't believe me? Ask the Hallmark Channel! Just when a couple starts to believe in the possibility of love, their relation…

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The Gift of Being a Giver | #1402 10:23

7M ago10:23

10:23

Immaculate Conception • Mary was conceived without sin in the womb of her mother. Let us break this dogma down into two pieces. First, where did sin come from? God is a giver. When he made us in his image and likeness, he made us to be givers, too. Our first parents got tricked into taking something that didn't belong to them. They felt ashamed and…

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Watch! And Remember What God Has Done | #1401 11:30

7M ago11:30

11:30

Advent, 1st Sunday (B) Last week I spoke about the three questions that will be on your Final Exam. If we are busy doing the things we are supposed to be doing, we have nothing to worry about. But are we really doing what Jesus told us to do? That is the question for our Advent season. We know that God is with us. The world that surrounds us is His…

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These Will Be The Questions On Your Final Exam | #1354 17:00

8M ago17:00

17:00

Christ the King of the Universe (A) It's the end of the world and we all need to pass the final exam. If you have come to church the last three weeks, you now know the test questions. Are you Wise or Foolish? What have you done with the gifts I gave you? How have you treated the poor? The King of Kings is seated on his glorious throne and all the n…

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The Final Accounting | #1353 12:13

8M ago12:13

12:13

Ordinary Time, 33rd Sunday (A) In the Parable of the Talents, the master only cares about money. He is thrilled with his servants who have learned to do as he does. The third servant is terrified of losing his master's money, and gets exactly the thing he was trying to avoid. Our master is Jesus. What does Jesus love? He as certainly not a lover of…

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Are You Wise or Foolish? Here's How You Can Tell | #1352 16:33

8M ago16:33

16:33

Ordinary Time, 32nd Sunday (A) The intellect is the faculty of the soul that is attracted to the truth. Everything looks true at first, but only that which as genuinely true will hold up to scrutiny. We need to develop good intellectual habits to scrutinize and retain only what is true. The will is the power of the soul that is moved by the good. S…

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Healthy Sexuality Leads to Freedom and Peace | #1351 12:33

8M ago12:33

12:33

Ordinary Time, 31st Sunday (A) In today's reading, the priests have "...turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction." God says, "I, therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people." And finally, the people themselves, "break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers." Imagin…

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Have Your Friends Ever Met a Christian? | #1350 9:32

8M ago9:32

9:32

All Saints Day • St. Philip Neri was called the "Second Apostle of Rome." Most people in Rome in the 1500's were infatuated with worldly pleasures and the pursuit of power, fame, and wealth. They had decided being a Christian was boring. But there was one little problem: even though they had all grown up Catholic, most people had never met an actua…

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What Does "I Love You" Really Mean? | #1349 14:54

8M ago14:54

14:54

Ordinary Time, 30th Sunday (A) We should love God and neighbor. But what do we mean by love? Too often the words, "I love you," actually mean, "You make me feel good," or "You look useful to me." Since God is love, we can only really learn true love from God himself. For God, love is sacrifice. The crucifix is the most perfect image of true love. T…

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The One Thing That Does Not Belong to God | #1348 17:23

9M ago17:23

17:23

Ordinary Time, 29th Sunday (A) The king of Persia doesn't know God but finds himself an agent of God's plan to restore the Jews. The leaders of Israel know the true God, but refuse to cooperate with His plans. If Jesus really speaks the truth, shouldn't they be listening to him? Cesar is not a god, but God allows him to exercise power, so we should…

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Is Your Heart Ready for the Playground? | #1347 15:39

9M ago15:39

15:39

All are welcome in God's kingdom. We have to not only accept the invitation, but also allow us to be transformed on the inside. The playground is ready for you. Is your heart ready for the playground?

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Don't Be a Turkey in the Vineyard | #1346 13:03

9M ago13:03

13:03

Ordinary Time, 27th Sunday (A) All parishioners are asked to turn in a stewardship pledge card on October 22nd. Our annual commitment to Stewardship is not about giving more, but being more intentional about what we give. Am I truly grateful for the gifts God has given me? Am I using those gifts in a way that glorifies God and blesses others? This …

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Second Chances to Serve God | #1345 12:02

9M ago12:02

12:02

Ordinary Time, 26th Sunday (A) The chief priests and the elders of the people are living lives of selfishness and vainglory. Would you rather have a priest who tried to be good, even if he didn't always succeed, or a priest who was just good at looking good? When a bunch of guys get together, we tend to compare, compete, and complain. We all want t…

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Hoe Your Own Row | #1344 9:49

10M ago9:49

9:49

Ordinary Time, 25th Sunday (A) It's not fair! We are perfectly happy with our lot in life until we compare ourselves with others. I feel blessed and grateful that I get to live here and serve all of you. Until I look at other priests and think, "He's got a better deal than me." God is generous. We need to be grateful and not envious. Bishop Barron …

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L'eggo my Ego! | #1343 12:20

10M ago12:20

12:20

Ordinary Time, 24th Sunday (A) Sometimes, we must do things that are counter-intuitive. When out water-skiing, don't pull the handle closer to your body. If you feel isolated and disconnected, you need less screen time, not more. If you worry what people will think of you, then you need less control, not more. Forgiving my brother is counter-intuit…

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Sometimes You Love from a Distance | #1342 16:35

10M ago16:35

16:35

Ordinary Time, 23rd Sunday (A) The Lord be with you! It is easy for us to forget that God is with us every day. Christmas reminds us that God-is-with-us, not just for 33 years, but forever. The Eucharist reminds us that the Word becomes flesh, and not only in our churches, but also within us. Remain in His love! If I want to truly love others, I mu…

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