Living Sacrifice: Growing in Faith Through Scripture and the Mass
Living Sacrifice is a weekly Catholic podcast hosted by Fr. Christopher Mahar. Drawing from the Sunday Gospel, Sacred Scripture, the Catechism, and the Church’s liturgical tradition, each episode explores how Catholics can grow in faith, prayer, discipleship, and friendship with Jesus Christ. Topics include the Mass, the sacraments, Scripture, Catholic spirituality, the saints, suffering, salvation, and the Christian life.
Episodes
166 episodes
Parable of the Weeds and Wheat
By listening to Christ, in prayer and in the practice of virtue, we are called to grow and bear fruit in God's Kingdom.
Parable of the Sower
Jesus is the seed that is sown, the Word made flesh. He is the seed that falls to the ground and dies in order that our lives may be transformed. God grants us grace to cooperate with Him in bearing the fruit of spiritual life, one ...
Humble Beginnings
God raises up the fallen world we live in by the abasement of Christ and His willingness to embrace the humiliation of the cross. In St. Matthew's Gospel this weekend Jesus invites us to come to Him and be yoked to Him, so that we can lea...
God's Tender Love
Jesus reveals to us the Father, who is always faithful and always cares fro us as we live the Christian life. The God who was with Jeremiah, and the Twelve Apostles, will also remain at our side to care and protect us always.
Heirs to the Kingdom
Jesus consecrates us and calls us to share in the royal dignity of the Kingdom of Heaven. At our baptism we are anointed with sacred chrism and share in the life of Christ, priest, prophet and king. Like the Apostles in the Gospel t...
Corpus Christi: The Feast of God's Presence
God accompanies us on our pilgrimage home to eternal life. He provides for us, protects us and helps us to cooperate with Him so that we can persevere on our way home to Him.
Necessity and Contingency
This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, God who reveals Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the history of our salvation is identical with the way and the mea...
Pentecost: Which Outpouring?
This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We see this outpouring in the Acts of the Apostles, in St. John's Gospel, and in a multitude of remarkable ways in the New Testament and in the...
Eternal Life
Jesus reveals to us, in the Gospel of St. John, what eternal life consist of: "Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ."
God with us, God in Us
God, in an amazing way, dwells among His people in the person of Jesus Christ. His Apostles and disciples listened to His voice and were strengthened and encouraged by Him in a deeply personal way. When He ascends to the Father, He ...
Heaven's Dwelling Place
Jesus goes to the Father's house, heaven, to prepare a place for us. It is He who is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6), who even now gives us new life in Baptism and the Eucharist. God dwells among us even now, and prepa...
New Horizons
The risen Christ, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, opens the Scriptures to us and reveals Himself in the breaking of the bread. May the encounter with Christ in the Mass open for us a "new horizon" and a move us on to a "decisive direct...
Divine Mercy's Source
Divine Mercy comes to us through the wounds of Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus appears to the disciples in the Upper Room and entrusts them with this ministry of mercy when He gives the Apostles the power...
The Eighth Day
Christ rises from the dead on the "first day of the week" or the "eighth day." God writes a whole new beginning into the story of humanity and invites us to enter into the death and resurrection of Christ through Baptism.
Passion for Life
Christ dies in the Passion as a culmination of a life entirely poured out in love for the salvation of the world. He teaches us, in His gift of Himself in the Eucharist at the Last Supper, in His surrender to the will of the Father in Get...
Life in Christ
In Baptism, Jesus raises to new life all who believe in Him and gives us new and everlasting life. He establishes a friendship in which we can believe and trust in Him, spend intimate time with Him and share in union with Him the in the B...
Gateway to Life
Baptism is the gateway to life in the Holy Spirit, the door through which we enter to encounter the sacramental life and all that God has in store for us. The healing of the man born blind is an image for us, anointed and washed, and grow...
Marriage and the Well
Jesus encounters the woman at the well, seeking her and the Samaritans. He unites us to Himself and calls us to fulfill our responsibilities as His Bride, the Church. He gives us His body and blood to united Himself to us, now and i...
The Word Transfigured
The Father speaks to us in Sacred Scripture, announcing "The is my beloved Son, in who I am well pleased; listen to Him". We can listen to the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, in our suffering, in silence and in His sacrifice.
Transgression and Gift
Through the transgression of the Divine Law, Adam and Eve brought sin and death into the world. Through His gracious act of love, Jesus has brought life and salvation to us. This Lent we seek to allow Christ to live and move in us a...
Hearts on Fire
Over 1,000 times in Sacred Scripture, the heart is named as the place of encounter between God and humanity. Christ desires to change our hearts and to prepare them for that encounter with Him that will enable us to live the Christian lif...
Salt and Light
The Church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, preserving the culture from corruption and illumining God's plan for all humanity. Jesus challenges us this weekend, because "a city on a mountain cannot be hidd...
Blessed Perspective
God sees our suffering and looks upon us with great compassion. But He sees much more than just suffering; He sees the blessed life that we are being called to and already gives us a share in that beatitude, right here, right now. ...
