August 14, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about leadership that is inconsistent in their decision making. The king showed no real backbone and changed his actions based on who was causing problems for him. This is not what real leadership looks like, we are called to look at this and recognize the failings of weak leaders. In the second reading we talk about needing to be strong in the faith, no waffling and leadership weakness will endure the race. In the Gospel we talk about how we are divided in accepting the peace of Christ, not by countries, but in extremely intimate relationships. We are even at times divided in our own selves between "who I was" and "who I am" after a conversion or a vocation adjustment. Integrating the love and peace of Christ fully into yourself is needed for the next phase of growth in the spiritual life.
August 6, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about remembering the faith of the Patriarchs of Salvation History. The faith of Moses, and the Israelites when they faced Passover. In the second reading we talk about the faith of Abraham, in his waiting for the promises and his willingness to sacrifice the promise received. In the Gospel we hear Christ giving us a parable with the example of what faith should look like. Being obedient to the will of God and being ready for whatever is coming. He then talks about leaders who fail to be prepared and fall into abuse. These are readings that directly address our times, be ready and prepared for what is coming.
July 30, 2019
This week on the podcast Fr Ian and Alanna start out with 2 different perspectives on Ecclesiastes and how to go about reading it and the possibilities of approaching this particular book of Scripture. We have a good disagreement that ends in the same outcome, we just take different routes to get there. The second reading we talk about how we are called to seek what is above and to have heavenly goals so that what might seem like vanity is storing treasures in heaven. In the Gospel we talk about the reality that we are not in control. Hoarding materials, and spiritual gifts will harm you in the end, they are to be given to build up the community.
July 16, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about service through suffering. In the first reading Alanna connects the symbolism of the story to the symbolism of the New Testament. Service in suffering under the "tree" brings forth fruit, and new life. Abraham serves God with a good and ordered attitude and does not complain to the Lord. His service through the suffering brings forth the announcement of the upcoming birth of Isaac. In the second reading we talk about St Paul and when he talks about the sufferings that are lacking in Christ. We discuss what that really means mystically and how we are to participate in it. Specifically we focus on praising God in the midst of our sufferings. In the Gospel we review the story of Martha and Mary, and we touch on the active vs the contemplative life. What was really happening in this story and why did Jesus respond to her in this way? We also touch on how physical busyness can lead to spiritual sloth.
July 10, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about the Good Samaritan. In the first reading we talk about how Moses is telling the Israelites that the answer is not in a far off place, it is in their hearts, given to them by God. To please follow the laws and statutes, in order to avoid the curses just laid out before them. In the second reading we talk about the primacy of Christ and how he is the first, Uncreated, and of the New Creation. The Gospel we talk about Augustine's Allegory of the parable of the Good Samaritan.
July 5, 2019
This week we talk about the readings for the 14th Sunday. In the first reading we talk about the imagery of the comforting mother that Isaiah gives us and how it prefigures our comfort being delivered from the Blessed Mother, and also our Mother the Church. In the second reading we talk about boasting in the cross of Christ. Living in Christ and bearing your sufferings has more to do with your salvation than whether or not you have been circumcised. In the Gospel we talk about how Jesus sends out the 72 elders to go out and harvest for the Lord the prepared "crops". We are both the labourers and the crop. Jesus is giving a lesson also in how to take rejection, and also how to handle rejoicing in success.
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June 25, 2019
This week on the Podcast we talk about Discipleship and zeal. In the first reading we talk about how Elijah throws his cloak over Elisha while he is farming. This seems quite strange to our ears, but it is a call to discipleship that Elisha would have understood in his time. Elisha was allowed time to slaughter and cook the oxen and feed his people before leaving, he destroyed the temptation of ever looking back from this choice to follow Elijah. In the second reading we talk about how the political climate resembles the words of St Paul when he says if you keep biting at one another you will soon be devoured by one another. We have to be careful to not destroy each other. In the Gospel we talk about how, again in a moment of zeal, James and John are clearly wrong. The teaching this week tells us that there will be groups of people who will not welcome us because of Christ, and we are to keep moving forward and not bring down destruction upon them.
June 20, 2019
This week we discuss Gods love. Through the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ. Fr Ian talks about the thought of earning God's love as a motivation for working harder and digging deeper in life. Alanna reminds everyone that technically you can not earn God's love because He loves us perfectly from eternity and cannot love us any more than He does now. It was an interesting conversation thinking about what motivates people to work hard for their sanctification. We talk about the Priesthood of Melchizedek and the sacrifice of thanksgiving using Bread and Wine that continued through the temple eras of Judaism. We talked about the Jewish concept of remembrance in the Exodus Passover liturgy, that ties into the meaning of Christ's command of the liturgical remembrance of the Eucharistic celebration. And finally we talk about the feeding of the 5,000 as a prefigurement of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is also a communal meal.
June 11, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about pondering the Trinity. How it is so difficult to teach the mystery of the Trinity because all examples that we try to use fail. Trying to describe the Trinity is the easiest way to accidentally stray into heresy. We accept by faith and ponder the mystery, and allow it to inform and inspire us. The first reading we talk about how Christ is created wisdom, and how in the mystery and wonder of creation he delights in us. Even in our brokenness. God sees that we are searching for Him even if we are looking in the wrong places. In the second reading we discussed the Theological Virtues of Faith Hope and Love, and how it is a continual process. Suffering creates endurance, this process helps us understand the hope and can finally see the Love that the Holy Spirit has poured into our lives. In the gospel section we discuss how the Holy Spirit informs our hearts and minds, we are not alone in the Church.
June 4, 2019
The waiting period is over and the apostles receive the gift promised! So too, do we receive the Holy Spirit, especially in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. This week on the podcast we talk about how not all experiences with the Holy Spirit are dramatic, some feel like nothing, but we can trust in the power of the grace transmitted in the sacraments. We discuss how the Jewish feast of Pentecost was a celebration of Moses receiving the law on Mount Sinai, and how the new Pentecost is the celebration of the apostles receiving the law of the New Covenant, written on their hearts by the Holy Spirit. We discuss the differences in the Charismatic movement and the contemplative live and the influence of St John of the Cross. The conclusion of that discussion was that our end goal is unity with God, and if those spiritual ways of life become the end, they become corrupted.
May 28, 2019
This week on the podcast we discuss a lot about waiting for the Holy Spirit. Discussing the first reading we ponder the Ascension from the perspective of the Apostles. How did they feel? What were they going through? We discuss how hard discernment is, and how hard it is to wait for the Holy Spirit to act. We discuss the gifts given by the Holy Spirit "so that we may know". We, as humans, have spiritual amnesia, God is always giving His people gifts so that they will "know" Him. This ties into the discernment of spirits and how silence is so important to open the "eyes of our hearts" so that we can come to know God. In discussing the Gospel we go back to the topic of Discernment in daily life and in direction of life in general. How do we know what God wants from us?
May 21, 2019
This week on the Liturgy Live Podcast we talk about the fulfilment of the prophesy of Amos with the inclusion of the Gentiles into the church without Old Covenant necessities. We discuss that there is a difference between some of the laws in the OT that are covenant based, which are erased by the new covenant in Christ, and the laws that are based in Natural Law that can never be changed. We then go into the idea of contemplating Heaven from our second reading in Revelation. Fr Ian suggests in the Easter season we should be contemplating our heavenly destination. The Gospel takes us into the correlation of loving God and being obedient to Him. The Holy Spirit is sent to those who love Him and keep his commandments.
May 1, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about how in the first reading, Peter is no longer under the authority of the Sanhedrin. He is in the Spirit and has the courage to face the punishment that comes from proclaiming the Gospel. We talk about fear of being publicly Christian and how we can process that fear, Imagine and explore the fear, analysing it, and then turning it over the Christ in the Jesus prayer. In the second reading we talk about how the entirety of creation is worshipping the Lamb, and the One who sits on the throne. We touch on the importance of numbers in Salvation History and the Book of Revelation. Then we move to the Gospel and explore Jesus' asking Simon (Peters given name) if he loves him. Jesus accepts the imperfect love of Peter and gives him his mission.
April 19, 2019
This week on Liturgy Live we talk about the closing of Lent and the finishing of the race. That we do not enter Easter rested, we enter Easter exhausted and tested. The first reading we go into the Preaching of Peter to the Gentiles and how important it is for us to hear this Kergyma, Gospel, like we are coming to church for the first time. The Holy Spirit has the power to move hearts this Sunday and we need to pray that He does. Going into the second reading we discuss the responsibility we have to keep our minds on Christ and on the things that are above. That some reject Christ because they do not want this responsibility to change how they think, and then change how they act. In the Gospel we talk about John waiting for Peter and how it is a allegory of the mystical/contemplative life in the church arriving at faith first but having to be patient for the Magisterium and it's teaching.
April 10, 2019
This week on the podcast we go over the entrance into Jerusalem and the problem of suffering in our faith life. How our Baptism, or conversion, is a joyful entrance in to the life of faith, but it is the suffering of the cross that is our path to unity with God. In the reading from Isaiah we discuss the prophesy fulfilled in Christ and how Jesus knew he wouldn't be put to shame, at the same time as the world viewed it as shame. Our perceptions in the world are twisted and the understanding from eternity is what we need to look for. Book suggestion this week is "Consoling the Heart of Jesus" by Fr Michael Gaitley.
April 3, 2019
This week on the podcast we discuss the paradox in the first reading of forgetting things in the past but still being called to remember what God had done for the Israelites. In the second reading we talk about the supreme good of knowing Christ as the end, and we all are still lacking in our formation. In the Gospel we talk about Jesus writing in the sand, the attempted entrapment of the Pharisee's and how in our culture the woman caught in adultery is the woman who has had an abortion. We discuss the movie #Unplanned, and how important it is to see.
March 12, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about the order of conversion that Abram goes through. How he listened to God and believed him, then made a sacrifice and made a covenant with God. We discuss how people throughout salvation history have required signs before they believed and no matter how many signs they were given they still didn't turn their hearts to God. First turn towards God and believe, then recieve the grace and signs and then live in the virtue that is possible only through God. The transfiguration is also a sign that confuses but strengthens the three disciples. They already believed and now have the strengthening miracle to feed their faith. We talk a lot about discernment and consolation vs desolation. We also talk about facing our suffering from a different perspective changes our feelings towards it.
March 8, 2019
This week on the podcast we talk about the lenten practice of fasting. Fr Ian is fired up! The whole point of fasting during lent is to get our flesh in line with our spirit, since "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak". To fast from good things for a time especially food allows us to bring the reality of our emotions and discomfort to the surface and actually deal with them. We talk about the 1st reading from Deuteronomy that discusses why and how to make a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God and that it is important that these fasts are done also out of thanksgiving, not just penance. In the Gospel we talk about the temptations Jesus faces and how he undoes the sins of Adam and the Israelites by resisting the temptations. We have the ability to be with Christ in our temptations because he himself was tempted.
February 26, 2019
This week on the podcast Fr Ian and Alanna discuss the power of our spoken word to reveal who we are. We also discuss how important it is to discern what people say by comparing it to the fruit of their words. It is possible that they are lying and we need to be careful and watchful in those situations. We discuss devoting our work to the Lord and to also pay attention to those fruits. In the Gospel we discuss the need for self reflection to be able to see the beam in our own eye, and how our negative mental patterns are a type of beam in our eye. Recognising that we are angry in the moment is the beginning of the ability to counter the anger.Â
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At the end Alanna announced her new Journal for lent! Preparing for Peace: A Catholic Lenten Journal for Women with Anxiety
February 12, 2019
This week on the livestream Fr Ian and Alanna go down the rabbit hole of Blessings and Woes in the Old Testament Covenant and the argument found in the wisdom literature about how bad things happen to good people. The second reading on the resurrection brings us to our own perspectives on death, Fr Ian dealing with current family medical issues, and Alanna remembering the death of her parents. The Gospel brings us to the blessing and woe of the New Covenant of Jesus that brings the suffering of the good into the equation.
