Our Lady Of Lourdes Podcast

Fr. Brian Larkin preaches about the readings for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time on November 7, 2021. -- -lepta (Greek) — coin (two lepta = 1 quadrans) -quadrans (Latin) — Roman coin (one quadrans = 1/64th of a denarius) -denarius (Latin) — one day's wage for average person in ancient world -"For, remember, you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD, your God, redeemed you from there; that is why I command you to do this. When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; let it be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD, your God, may bless you in all your undertakings. When you knock down the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not go over the branches a second time; let what remains be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you pick your grapes, you shall not go over the vineyard a second time; let what remains be for the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow. For remember that you were slaves in the

-You can't love God if you don't fill your mind with thoughts of Him; if you're not attentive to Him. You can't do it. -Fr. Brian -shema (Hebrew) — hear -(Deuteronomy 6:4-5) -The load-bearing wall of your life, is the love of God.... If you don't have that, if you take that wall out, it might stand for a little bit, but nothing else in the end will make sense. This is the centerpiece of everything—not just for Christians. The way that God created humanity, brothers and sisters, He made us so that this is the center of our existence. -Fr. Brian -He did not create you for a life of comfort, or a life of success, or a life of power, or a life where you did some great things. God created you to participate in this mysterious, beautiful, mystical word. This word we call love. And that's the reason you exist. -Fr. Brian -Real love means that I know how to sacrifice for you, it means that I choose you, even when it's difficult. Love is not just that feeling, it is something much more beautiful and something muc

Fr. Witold Kaczmarzyk preaches about the Gospel for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 24, 2021. -- "The blind man replied to him, 'Master, I want to see.' Jesus told him, 'Go your way; your faith has saved you.' Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way." (Mark 10:51-52) -"He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus." (Mark 10:50) Holding on to this cloak was the key, that was everything he had. So actually throwing aside his cloak, he took a 100 percent risk to leave everything he had. -Fr. Witold -Each one of us has this kind of cloak in our lives, whatever it is. This cloak says that this was something that the blind man depended on. All his happiness was there. That's what each one of us has in our lives, this kind of self-sufficient, "I can do whatever I want," I'm holding onto something, I don't need God. -Fr. Witold -For each one of us, there is something—this kind of cloak that we hold onto—and we need to find it out and make a decision like the blind man. T

I am not your priest. Jesus is. And that's such good news.... You and I need to pray with this more. We have to drink deeply of the reality that we have a high priest that is the greatest priest imaginable. —Fr. Brian -"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession." (Hebrews 4:14) -"Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins." (Hebrews 5:1) -"Aaron shall offer the bull, his purification offering, to make atonement* for himself and for his household." (Leviticus 16:6) -The good news of the New Testament, and what Hebrews is all about, is that our sacrifice is not a bull or a goat. It's Jesus Himself. Whatever your sin is tonight, whatever you've done, whatever the brokenness is in your life, whatever that message is that Satan is whispering in your ear—when he tells you that your sin is too great, or that your heart is too corrupt—what

Lord, I want your joy, your generosity and your freedom. That love that just emanates, it radiates from you. Jesus I want that life; Lord, do I want the lifestyle that goes hand-in-hand with the life you give? -Fr. Brian Larkin Readings for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time "If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus." (John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry) "'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'" (Mark 10:17) Lord, I want your joy, your generosity and your freedom. That love that just emanates, it radiates from you. Jesus I want that life; Lord, do I want the lifestyle that goes hand-in-hand with the life you give? -Fr. Brian "I want that life. But then I think about the lifestyle behind it. While I was up watching The Man in the High Castle and drinking red wine until midnight (hypothetical scenario, I promise...), they ate celery and water for dinner and went to bed at 9 p.m..... The reality is, I want the life, but I'm not willing to ad

Fr. Sean Conroy preaches on the readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 3, 2021. -"Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis 1:26) -"God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good." (Genesis 1:31) -"The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him." (Genesis 2:18) "The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man." (Genesis 2:20) -"So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman. When he brought her to the man, the man said:“This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man this one has been taken." (Genesis 2:21-23) -From the side of Adam is the birth of woman, just as fr

Fr. Brian Larkin preaches about the readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, particularly Mark 9:38-48, on September 26, 2021. -Jesus calls you and I not to be haphazard about our Christian life, but to be intentional in fighting against temptations to sin. -Fr. Brian -"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna." (Mark 9:43) -You and I, we don't compromise with sin, we make war against sin.... We have to be intentional in the battle against sin. -Fr. Brian -"If I, who seem to be your right hand and am called a priest and seem to preach the Word of God, if I do something against the discipline of the Church and the rule of the Gospel so that I become a scandal to you, the Church, then may the whole Church in unanimous resolve cut me, its right hand, off and throw me away." (Origen) -We follow one God, we follow one Church, we do not follow people who veer too far off the track of what Jesus and His Church teaches

Fr. Brian Larkin preaches on the readings from the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 19, 2021. -"Taking a child he placed it in their midst." (Mark 9:36) -paidiá (Greek) — child, or servant -"Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.'" (Mark 9:35) -The Gospel teaches that one human soul, one, is worth more than all the created universe. -Fr. Brian -The greatest Christian heresy of all of our history is called gnosticism. -Fr. Brian -Gnosticism is already being addressed in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians, 1 John -The reason gnosticism is so dangerous is because it has so much truth in it. But then it distorts it. -Fr. Brian -gnosis (Greek) — knowledge -Gnosticism is the belief that some kind of wisdom, knowledge or polished mysticism will save you.... The Gnostics couldn't handle the cross. -Fr. Brian -Christianity is not a collection of wisdom, it is not a moral law, it is not good advice. Chri

Fr. Witold Kaczmarzyk preaches on the Gospel for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 12, 2021. "He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days." (Mark 8:31) "Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.'" (Mark 8:32-33) "And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter said to him in reply, 'You are the Messiah.'” (Mark 8:29) Who is He for you? Not for the world, but for you. That question has to be answered by each one of us. -Fr. Witold ​You have to, each one of you, has to take up your own cross. Which is not easy. We don't like, as human beings, we don't like suffering. No one likes it. We always take painkillers.... St. Peter is trying to be a painkiller for Jesus. -Fr. Witold If you do not und

Notes for Fr. Brian Larkin's homily on the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 5, 2021 Paul Claudel, French poet + playwright (b. 1868 - d. 1955) -Many of the mistakes we make in life and the problems we have in life come when something is off and we don't perceive something correctly.... If you don't see straight, if you don't hear correctly, brothers and sisters, if your senses are off, you cannot live in the world as you should. -Fr. Brian Physical healings in the Bible are almost never just about physical healing. -Fr. Brian -"Make the heart of this people sluggish, dull their ears and close their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart understand, and they turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:10) -"And [immediately] the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly." (Mark 7:35) -"He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on him and asked, 'Do you see anythi

I think that you are here because you believe that this man, on the cross, was killed because of you. He chose to be killed, out of love, and He stayed. So now it's really time to do the same. Fr. Witold Kaczmarzyk

21st Sun. of Ord. Time | Do You Want To Leave? | 8.22.2021 | Fr. Witold Kaczmarzyk by Lourdes Denver

Homily #1 John 6 is the place in the New Testament that Jesus teaches most extensively about the Eucharist; every Catholic should know this chapter of the Bible. "For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." (John 6:55-56) "'I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.'" (John 6:51) "Then the LORD God said: 'See! The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil! Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever?'" (Genesis 3:22) The fruit of the Tree of Life, Catholics believe, is the Eucharist. It is the memorial of the death of Jesus Christ. When you come to Mass, you are at the crucifixion of the Son of God mystically and sacramentally. Homily #2 If you are a real Catholic, a question that you cannot help but ask yourself is "Lord, what do yo

"I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; that is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life." (Ephesians 4:17, 20-22) "'Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!'" (Exodus 16:3) "Jesus answered them and said, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.'" (John 6:26-27) "So Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'” (John 6:32-33) Life is not just

"Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples." (John 6:3) "A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches." (Genesis 2:10) Mount Sinai; Noah's Ark; Abraham on the mountain with Isaac; Mount Zion Throughout Scripture we have these mountains, we have these mountaintops on which incredible things happen....These mountains are a place of transcendence, a place in which we encounter the living God. -Fr. Sean Conroy "Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.' So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat." (John 6:11-13) The Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke synoptikos (Greek) — "seeing everything together" "The Institution narrative

“Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.” (Third Commandment) "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul." (Psalm 23:1-3) "The world will never be satisfied with what you give it. The world is always going to demand more of you. It will never leave you alone, it will never back off, it will never require less of you than it does today....The world will want to fill every single space of your life and claim ownership over it." -Fr. Brian Larkin If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Joffe Numeroff Invasive brown tree snakes (National Geographic) "'Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.'” (Mark 6:31) "If you do not have rest in your life, you will never find joy in your faith." -Fr. Brian Leisure the Basis of Culture, by Josef Pieper Rest is not not doing work. We tend to think that rest is either the absence of work, or its restful activity. Here's the thing, it's not. Rest is a state of soul.

Trust is really the heart and source of perseverance. If I do not trust, I will not persevere. Fr. Witold Kaczmarzyk **Notes from the celebrating priest's homily will now be sent out every Monday, along with a video recording of his homily. If you think someone else would benefit from diving a little deeper into Sunday's readings, forward this email along, or have them sign up for the Lourdes' Flocknotes. If you have any questions, please email admin@lourdesdenver.org. Thank you, and God bless!** Readings for 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time "He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two." (Mark 6:7) You do not need to be a priest to spread the good news. As you know, that's a job for all of you because you were baptized and became members of the same body. -Fr. Witold Kaczmarzyk "He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic." (Mark 6:8-9) To be an Apostle is to be sent.

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Death is not the friend of the Christian; death is the enemy of God. He will conquer death on the last day for all of us. Fr. Brian Larkin **Notes from Fr. Brian's homilies will now be sent out every Monday, along with a video recording of his homily. If you think someone else would benefit from diving a little deeper into Sunday's readings, forward this email along, or have them sign up for the Lourdes' Flocknotes. If you have any questions, please email admin@lourdesdenver.org. Thank you, and God bless!** Readings for 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time "God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living." (Wisdom 1:13) "For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all." (1 Corinthians 15:16-19) "Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly

Vocation Director, Fr. Ryan O'Neill We believe in absolute truth, objective truth, and we reject relativism Truth is a person, and we know Him. Transcendentals: beauty, truth, goodness, and mercy Cathedral in Montreal The Church proposes the ways to goodness, and will guide us along the way. "Don't be surprised by evil; come rest in the shade." —Fr. Ryan O'Neill Parable of the Mustard Seed FOCUS—Curtis Martin (an example of the Mustard Seed) Augustine Institute—(Tim Gray) Seminary was failing miserably, and Archbishop Chaput revived it—Mustard Seed Archdiocese of Denver is only great when we embrace the mustard seed, because grace is at work within it. "'Do little things with great love.'—That is what makes the Archdiocese of Denver good."—Mother Teresa & Fr. Ryan O'Neill expounds on this idea. "'Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of His name.' Embrace the mustard seed." Rome converted—over a thousand year period—because they embraced the mustard seed. Pride Month: Love the sinner; hate the