The Restless Hearts Podcast: Recent Episodes
Merrimack College Podcasts
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, July 5, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, June 28, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, June 21, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on Sunday, May 31, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourth Sunday of Easter on Sunday, April 26, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Third Sunday of Easter on Sunday, April 19, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourth Sunday of Lent on Sunday, March 15, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The First Sunday of Lent on Sunday, February 23, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, February 1, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time on Sunday, January 25, 2026. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Third Sunday of Advent on Sunday December 14, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The First Sunday of Advent on Sunday November 30, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, on Sunday November 23, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 16, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from All Souls Day, The Commemoration Of All The Faithful Departed, on November 2, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 26, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 19, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 12, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 5, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 21, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 7, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on August 10, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 20, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 13, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 6, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, on June 29, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from Baccalaureate Mass celebrated on May 15, 2025 for Merrimack College’s graduating class of 2025. You can view the entire Baccalaureate Mass and Conferral of Degrees on Merrimack College’s YouTube channel.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on Sunday on June 22, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from Pentecost Sunday on June 8, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourth Sunday of Easter on May 11, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourth Sunday of Lent on March 30, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time on February 23, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time on February 9, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time on January 26, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time on January 19, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the First Sunday of Ordinary Time, The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, on January 12, 2025. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourth Sunday of Advent, on December 22, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, on November 24, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time on November 10, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 20, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 13, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 5, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 29, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 22, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 15, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 8, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time on August 25, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on August 4, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 21, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 7, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on June 30, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time on June 23, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
The final conference of this retreat calls our attention to those experiences in life that evoke the emotion of happiness because they are meeting our conscious or unconscious needs. Easily overlooked in self-awareness and powerfully reinforcing due to the pleasant and positive emotions they evoke, these experiences may well distract us from our call to be fully human in that they may satisfy desires that do not contribute to our health, holiness, or growth as persons. In contrast to happiness, joy is not an emotion but a choice to be mindful and aware of the goodness of life, the gift of love, and the hope for the fullness of both in eternity. Finally, listeners are invited to review the various stages of life to note how love has come to them, possibly in fragmented and incomplete ways, but still love that calls us to the fullness of our humanity.
Power, which is understood as our ability to influence others, is as pervasive as sexuality in human relationships and is constantly being exercised by everyone over everyone in a myriad of different strategies and styles and often without our conscious awareness that we are both exercising power and having power exercised over us. As such, power can be both very dangerous and very beneficial. This conference invites listeners to reflect on their own relational styles and ways of attempting to satisfy their needs by exercising power and invites them to note whether their exercise of power is effective, ineffective, mutual and respectful, or dismissive and destructive.
In this eighth conference, listeners are invited to reflect on the pervasive experience of sexuality in our lives, the most powerful force in the universe, and to note how its power can and has been used as a destructive force through dominance and control, as a weapon and as a toy, and as something that takes life rather than gives life. At the same time, sexuality is our most direct sharing in the life of the Trinity characterized by free and full giving and receiving for the sake of creativity and love. Aware that sexuality is an experience that can tempt us in many ways to be both less than human and more than human in our expression of it, it also contains within it the invitation to be fully human as it calls us into relationship, self-gift, and love.
With this seventh conference of the retreat the focus shifts from reflections on experiences that evoke emotions to experiences that are universal and pervasive in human life and yet are profoundly prone toward denial, illusion, and a lack of self awareness, while tempting us to compromise the values we profess to live by. In this session, the very noxious and uncomfortable experience of loneliness that typically isolates us from others and cries out to be relieved in a host of unhealthy and even addictive ways is explored as something that can reveal the full truth about our real selves and join us in solidarity with the human race and be a foundational building block of authentic community.
The sixth conference of the retreat focuses our attention on those experiences of life in which we know ourselves to be inadequate, imperfect, and incomplete which inevitably evoke the emotion of shame and the myriad of unhealthy instinctive reactions to which it tempts us, including disappearing, blaming, doing violence to oneself, and shamelessness as well as to the capital sin of pride which is simply the other side of the same coin as shame. It invites consideration that the fully human antidote to shame is the virtue and practice of humility which is defined as allowing others to see us as we truly are and allowing them to make the choice to accept us in love or to reject us, with trying to influence that choice.
Noting that life is filled with loss and so is also filled with the unpleasant and inconvenient emotion of sadness, this fifth conference invites listeners to take note of losses that have been ungrieved and so unhealed, to see loss as an essential part of life and the emotion of sadness as possibly the most humanizing of our emotions, and the reality that sadness is in direct proportion to how much we have loved who or what we have lost so that to avoid sadness is to deny love. While the process of grieving is painful and difficult, the courage to enter it is a choice to be more fully human as sadness reveals love which can move us from emptiness of loss to the fullness of gratitude.
The fourth conference of this retreat invites listeners to attend to experiences in life in which our needs and desires are not met and so evoke the emotion of anger and its instinctive drives toward hostility, aggression, and violence as we assert the satisfaction of our needs as paramount to anyone else and so act in a more than human ways as well as the less than human tendency to see ourselves as undeserving and worthless. The talk suggests that anger properly listened to and understood can be an invitation to the fully human experiences of solidarity with the rest of humanity and its suffering and deprivation as well as a righteous passion to correct harmful and exploitative practices that deprive people of their humanity.
The third conference of this retreat invites listeners to reflect on experiences in life that evoke the emotion of fear and the instinctive responses to fear; namely flight, fight, or learned helplessness may not serve us well in all circumstances (while they may be quite appropriate in others). It further invites us to consider that experiences that evoke fear may well be invitations to trust and so lead us to growth, courage, and faith.
The second conference of this retreat outlines a method of reflection on our experiences so that we can respond to them in fully human ways rather than reacting instinctively in less than human or more than human ways. These steps to health and holiness are; first, to tell the truth about our experience without denial or illusion; second, to engage in honest self awareness using our emotions to reveal our needs and values; third, to be conscious of the values that our mission, call, and vocation in life call us to live out; and fourth, to choose a course of action that will be truly life-giving because it is consistent with our vocation to be fully human.
This and the following nine episodes of the Restless Hearts Podcast were recorded between July 9 and 14, 2023 during a retreat for the community of the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Peace in Columbus, OH. The title of the retreat is “Our Call to be Human as Jesus was Human.” This introductory session invites listeners to focus on the humanity that Jesus shares with us and to see our true human vocation in his true and full humanness rather than trying to imitate his divinity. It points out that being fully human does not come naturally to any of us as being human is hard and filled with anxiety, tension, and unpredictability. It lays the framework for the rest of the conferences by noting how there are two ways to “sin”, namely to choose to respond to life in ways that are either less than human or more than human, both of which deny our true call to be fully human and describes how Jesus’ responses to life are examples of what fully human choices might be.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on June 9, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on May 26, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Fifth Sunday of Easter on April 28, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Third Sunday of Easter on April 14, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Second Sunday of Easter on April 7, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Fourth Sunday of Lent on March 10, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the First Sunday of Lent on February 11, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time on February 11, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time on January 28, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time on January 21, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time on January 14, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Epiphany of the Lord on January 7, 2024. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph on December 31, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Day, December 25, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Fourth Sunday of Advent on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Third Sunday of Advent on December 17, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Second Sunday of Advent on December 10, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The First Sunday of Advent on December 3, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe on November 26, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time on November 19, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time on November 12, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time on November 5, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 29, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
The tenth and final conference of the retreat briefly touches on the significant roles of women in shaping the tradition and life of the Church through peacemaking, study, prayer, actions for justice and holding male power accountable to the fulness of the mystery of God.
The ninth conference of the retreat sifts through the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of St. Paul to take note of the many women given passing mention in these texts while revealing the highly significant roles of leadership, influence, and service played by women in the foundation and spread of the Church.
The eighth conference of the retreat explores the women of the parables of Jesus and how their actions reveal God’s ways to us. After starting with the parables of the woman leavening wheat with yeast, searching for the lost coin, the conference invites us to allow the parables of the persistent widow demanding justice and the ten virgins awaiting the bridegroom to challenge us. Finally, although not a parable per se, the story of Jesus’ response to the widow who gave all she had to live on to the temple is examined.
This seventh conference of the retreat brought to light encounters that Jesus had with particular women in the Gospels that reveal God’s ways in unique and invaluable ways. These women include the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee; Mary of Magdala; the sisters, Martha and Mary; the Samaritan woman at the well; the woman caught in adultery; the women at the cross of Jesus; and the women who were the first witnesses to the Resurrection.
The sixth conference of the retreat turns to the New Testament and begins with a reflection of the very unique and ordinary role of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and of her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and their joyful experience and expression of knowing the ways of God in our lives. It continues with an exploration of how Jesus, a human male, reveals how the fullness of humanity is fully feminine and masculine at the same time.
The fifth conference of the retreat explores the challenges of imaging a personal God as the fullness of gender rather than as either male or female. It calls upon images from the Old Testament, especially Wisdom Literature and the Prophets, to open our imaginations to receive the fullness of the revelation of God’s being in relationship with us.
The fourth conference of the retreat explores the actions of women in the history of Israel from the time of the Judges, the transition to the twin institutions of Monarchy and Prophecy, as well as how heroism displayed by women during times of foreign conquest, exile, and persecution allowed God’s people to cling to freedom. Click here to hear the podcast of this session.
The third conference of the retreat offers reflections on the heroic and essential actions of women making possible the salvation of God’s people from oppressive slavery in Egypt to freedom as portrayed in the Book of Exodus including courageous acts of civil disobedience, calculated risks, compassion and love overpowering oppression, and the hidden but essential role of Miriam; the sister of Moses; before, during, and after the escape of the Israelites from Egypt.
This second conference of the retreat explores the very messy narratives of the Book of Genesis which set the stage for all of the subsequent actions of God’s revelation in history. It explores the roles of Eve, the mother of all the living; Sarah and Hagar, the mothers of the children of Abraham; Leah and Rachel, sisters who were the wives of Jacob; and the very curious but pivotal role of Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah.
This and the following nine episodes of the Restless Hearts Podcast were recorded between June 26 and July 1, 2023 at the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna, NY. During that week, Fr. Ray Dlugos offered a preached retreat for women who are vowed members of Religious Communities. The overall theme of the retreat was “God’s Ways Revealed through Women in Scripture and Tradition.” This first conference introduces that theme and explains how and why it was chosen.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 22, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 15, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time on October 8, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 24, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 17, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 10, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time on September 3, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time on August 27, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time on August 20, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on August 13, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Sunday, August 6, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 30, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 16, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time on July 9, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time on June 25, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 18, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on Sunday, June 4, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from Pentecost Sunday, May 28, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily from Baccalaureate Mass celebrated on May 19, 2023, for Merrimack College’s graduating class of 2023. The entire Baccalaureate Mass and Conferral of Degrees can be viewed on Merrimack College’s YouTube channel.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 14, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 7, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, April 23, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 16, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 26, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 19, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the First Sunday of Lent, February 26, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the sixth Sunday of ordinary time on February 19, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the fifth Sunday of ordinary time on February 12, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the fourth Sunday of ordinary time on February 5, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the third Sunday of ordinary time on January 22, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the second Sunday of ordinary time on January 15, 2023. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for The Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 18, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for The Third Sunday of Advent, December 11, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for The Second Sunday of Advent, December 4, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe on November 20, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time on November 13, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and the Homily from the Memorial Mass for Kevin Salemme in the Collegiate Church of Christ the Teacher on November 5, 2022.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 30, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 23, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 16, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 9, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 2, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 25, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 25, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 18, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 18, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 11, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 11, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 5, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
This episode of the Restless Hearts Podcast includes the Proclamation of the Gospel and Father Ray's homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time on September 5, 2022. You can view the full liturgy of the Word for this Sunday under Daily Readings at usccb.org.
Episode Description: In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, August 28, 2022, the Feast of St. Augustine, he reflects on humility as the grace to hear and respond to God’s invitation that calls each of us to our own, unique place in the world—a grace that Augustine himself experienced and taught throughout his life.
Episode Description: In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, August 14, 2022, he reflects on the conflicts that result from receiving the Word of God, and how we all too often try to resolve those conflicts, not by accepting God’s invitation to deepen our trust, but by trying to silence the message and prevail over the disturbing Good News that Jesus announces.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, August 7, 2022, he reflects on the nature of faith, and how it can give us eyes to see that the way things are now—and how they have always been—is not the way they have to be.
Episode Description: In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, July 24, 2022, he reflects on the prayer that Jesus taught us, and the way that prayers puts us in right relationship with God as well as with others.
Episode Description: In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, July 17, 2022, he reflects on the story of Martha’s effort to serve Jesus and others, and the lessons we all need to learn about service—namely, that while we are all invited to be servants, we are also invited to let ourselves be served and loved by God.
Episode Description: In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, June 10, 2022, he reflects on the story known to many as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and how in it Jesus challenges us to see even our enemies—our “Samaritans”—as capable of neighborliness towards others, and as worthy of our love.
Episode Description: In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, June 3, 2022, he reflects on the differences between the values of the Reign of God and those of the Reign of Satan, and he invites us to attend to which set of values has the greatest influence on us today.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, June 26, 2022, he reflects on the freedom it takes to answer God’s call to drop everything—the freedom, not to do whatever we want, but to choose the path that leads us to God’s gift of the fullness of life.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Corpus Christi Sunday, June 19, 2022, he reflects on the sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ and how, through it, we are invited to notice, acknowledge, and celebrate the mystery of God’s love—which is invisibly present, always and everywhere.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Pentecost Sunday, June 3, 2022, he reflects on what it would look like if the Holy Spirit renewed the face of the earth, and whether or not we are ready for that.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, May 28, 2022, the sometimes ugly gruesomeness of our experience in the here and now, and how we are invited to see beyond it to what is true and real and right: the glory of God, loving God’s creation.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, May 8, 2022, he reflects on how the Good Shepherd communicates a word of love for all, even though some can’t believe God would address us directly.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022, he reflects on the way God’s grace shatters the selves we built for ourselves in order that God’s new thing, Easter itself, may be created in us.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, April 3, 2022, he reflects on the gospel story of the woman caught in adultery, and how being seen by Jesus, loved by Jesus, known by Jesus, and embraced by Jesus, can work in us a new beginning.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, March 27, 2022, he reflects on Jesus’ parable of the father and his two sons from Luke 15:11–32, all three of whom are lost and in need of God’s grace to bring them home at last—just like we all do when we are lost.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, March 20, 2022, he reflects on the stories of the burning bush and the barren fig tree—two metaphors that could stir us to join God in the work of setting ourselves and all of God’s people free.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, March 13, 2022, he reflects on the moments in life’s journey, including those of terrifying darkness, that reveal the dazzlingly bright glory of God.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, March 6, 2022, he reflects on the way hunger, anger, loneliness and tiredness pull us away from truly human living; and how the season of Lent invites us into the experience of God’s loving grace—which alone can feed us, heal us, connect us and give us the rest we desire in the depths of our restless hearts.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, February 27, 2022, he reflects on the events of the week: a snow storm, a military invasion, and God’s constant invitation to treat one another with love, forgiveness, and mercy.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, February 20, 2022, he reflects on the difference between our earthly nature as humans, and the higher nature that is our ultimate destiny—the heavenly nature of the children of God.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, he reflects on the difference between what we consider to be our “blessings” in this life and the true blessings God desires to give us for all eternity.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022, he reflects on the what it looks like to be called by God, and how we might be ready to say in response, “Here I am, send me.”
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, he reflects on the power of God’s Word to speak directly to our hearts, just as it had done to the ancient Jews, especially those who had encounter God’s Word in Jesus Christ.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021, he reflects on the apocalyptic vision of “the Son of Man coming in the clouds”—and what that has to do with God’s ever-present work of making us whole, and making us one.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, October 24, 2021, he reflects on the story of Bartimaeus, who—though blind—is able to see with the eyes of faith that things don’t have to be the way they are and have always been.
In Fr. Ray's homily at Mass on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021, he invites us to pay attention to how God is “ordering” our love and calling us to put our entire worlds at the service of loving God and all of God’s creation.
In Fr. Ray's homily from the Commencement ceremonies held in May of 2021, he reflects on the great question, “What profit would there be for someone to gain the whole world but lose their soul in the process?”
The gospel reading and Fr. Ray's homily from the Mass of the Holy Spirit, which was celebrated on August 30, 2021.
Fr. Ray reflects on the fifth of twelve “We Believe in You” statements: “Your heart has been fashioned to break with compassion and love for others.”
Fr. Ray reflects on the fourth of twelve “We Believe in You” statements: “Your mind is designed to seek and discover truth.”
Fr. Ray reflects on the third of twelve “We Believe in You” statements: “Your body is God's dwelling place in you and among us.”
Fr. Ray reflects on the annual Hands to Help “Back to School Supply Drive,” and shares information about how you can participate.
Fr. Ray reflects on the second of twelve “We Believe in You” statements: “You exist in love, through love, and for love.”
Fr. Ray reflects on the first of twelve “We Believe in You” statements: “You are God’s beloved child in whom God is well pleased and ecstatically delighted.”
Fr. Ray shares some of the prayers he composed for various departments and offices of the Merrimack College community
Fr. Ray reflects on the theme of love, the sixth and final theme from the Augustinian Examen.
Fr. Ray reflects on the theme of generosity, the fifth of six themes from the Augustinian Examen.
Fr. Ray reflects on the theme of compassion, the fourth of six themes from the Augustinian Examen.
Fr. Ray reflects on the theme of humility, the third of six themes from the Augustinian Examen.
Fr. Ray reflects on the theme of gratitude, the second of six themes from the Augustinian Examen.
Fr. Ray reflects on the theme of "journey," the first of six themes from the Augustinian Examen.
Fr. Ray guides the listener through the Augustinian Examen that was created by The Grace J. Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry at Merrimack College.
Fr. Ray reflects on the way that the coronavirus and the social distancing our community is embracing is transforming our Lenten Fast.
Fr. Ray continues his reflection on the call to be fully human, focusing especially on the harmful experience of shame and how it might be transformed into genuine humility.
Fr. Ray invites us into the season of Lent with two concrete ways we might become more fully human — by making use of the Augustinian Examen and by accepting the Sustainability Challenge.
Fr. Ray continues his reflection on the call to be fully human, focusing especially on the experiences of loss and sadness and how they open us up to gratitude.
Fr. Ray Dlugos, O.S.A., vice president of mission and ministry, as well as director of campus ministry at Merrimack College, reflects on our common calling to be fully human in the midst of the dual temptations to be either less than human or more than human.