Stay ConnectedTaste & See is a weekly podcast of heartfelt reflections and meditations on the Sunday readings. Join Zac Wierschem of Paradisus Dei as he guides you into a deeper encounter with Jesus—alongside a global community that prays together each week..
Learn more about Paradisus Dei and our life-changing programs at: paradisusdei.org
Copyright: © Zac Wierschem
For the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zac reflects on Matthew 22:34-40, where Jesus names the greatest commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind," and a second like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Drawing on the painful week he spent hiding the news that he was being sent home from seminary in Kenya, including a basketball game he played without his whole heart, he shows how sin and wounds leave our hearts divided, and how Christ's mercy in confession and the Eucharist makes them whole so we can love with His heart. The episode closes with a meditation in which Jesus speaks to the listener as a mother who knows every wound, inviting them to trade their restlessness and divided heart for His own.
Reflection Questions:
Here's the link to the text of the meditation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qe5X-AsWhG41StvNc4wMbiYcJvitxHeVXRAxP-tR_Xw/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
For the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zac reflects on Matthew 22:15-21, where the Pharisees' disciples try to trap Jesus over paying taxes to Caesar and He answers, "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Drawing on his recent pilgrimage to Assisi, he asks what bears God's image if the coin bears Caesar's, and answers that we do, through our intellect and free will, using St. Francis stripping himself before his father and the bishop as a "living coin" stamped with his identity as a son of God. Since we can't give what we don't possess, Zac says giving ourselves to God means first possessing ourselves in love rather than fear, and the episode closes with a meditation in which Jesus, seeing the Pharisees' disciples approach, forgives them in advance and calls them to remember they bear His Father's image.
Reflection Questions:
Here's a link to the text of the meditation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XkSs4cPAHxG9Ti73yO0UkRnivjRfKPCNvyw7m4LdnGM/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
For the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zac reflects on Matthew 21:33-43, the parable of the wicked tenants who kill the landowner's servants and finally his son, showing how Jesus told this hard parable to the chief priests and elders not to condemn them but to bring them to contrition, just as Fr. Frank once led a hardened penitent to tears by describing her sins as thorns pressed into Christ's head. Zac says that sin is never just rule-breaking but a personal wound inflicted on someone who loves us, and that even the tenants in the parable could have been welcomed back to the landowner's banquet had they repented. The episode closes with an Examen guiding listeners through gratitude, an honest review of where they served God or wounded Christ that day, a moment of receiving forgiveness, and a resolve to love Christ better tomorrow.
Reflection Questions:
Here's a link to the text of the examen: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hj8oe6AMrTL-qpn6Q4hSdT9002xjxdDo4U0z67WPXps/edit?usp=sharing
Here's my email if you want to reach out with your prayer intentions: zac.wierschem@paradisusdei.org
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
For the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zac reflects on the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21: 28-32), unpacking why Jesus told the chief priests and elders that tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the Kingdom before them — because contrition and a changed heart matter more than outward piety. He grounds this in his years as a missionary in Kenya, recalling a single mother who prostituted herself to feed her children, and argues that people sin not to spread evil but because they've forgotten who they are and are searching for love in the wrong places. The episode closes with a first-person meditation from Matthew himself, recounting the childhood bullying and paternal rejection that drove him to tax collecting, and his tearful gratitude at hearing Jesus declare that sinners like him were entering the Kingdom first.
Reflection Questions:
Here's a link to the text of the meditation for you to pray with: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JM6BzaPYj4fMgYIvFXsY0vDFxLLaBJDLYhdLsK3PZNk/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
For the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zac reflects on the parable of the workers in the vineyard, using a childhood memory of sibling rivalry over a Capri Sun to illustrate the difference between demanding what's "fair" and receiving what's freely given in love. He contrasts the grumbling laborer's focus on the dignity of work with the landowner's focus on the dignity of the person, arguing that God pursues each of us at different hours of life not to reward effort but to lift us into our own dignity through grace. The episode closes with a first-person meditation from Benjamin, a resentful laborer numbing a childhood wound with wine, who is confronted by the landowner's piercing question — "Are you envious because I am generous?" — and left transformed.
Reflection Questions:
Here is the link to the text of the meditation to bring into your personal prayer: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JzWWqgOhNVBH3UVTE-L-4ghDOdYfv1tS1_goVfBilzo/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
For the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, marking the podcast's 100th episode, Zac unpacks the parable of the unforgiving servant, using the true story of St. Maria Goretti's deathbed forgiveness of her killer to show how even our deepest wounds are a "smaller debt" compared to the infinite debt of sin God has already forgiven us. He explains why genuine contrition is what moves God's mercy at confession, and why receiving that mercy is meant to transform how we treat those who've wronged us. The episode closes with an original first-person meditation voiced by Noam, the unforgiving servant, who speaks from a place of torment and pleads with the listener not to repeat his mistake of letting mercy touch his eyes but never his heart.
Reflection Questions:
Here's the link to the meditation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TvpJnX-WjvdIphZQe9d25jQkv4aF_38pwmNiqPWJGto/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
For the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Zac reflects on Matthew 18:15-20 and the practice of fraternal correction, arguing that Jesus' opening words — "if your brother" — mean correction only makes sense once we first recognize the other person as family. Drawing on his own relationship with his adopted sister, who has distanced herself from the faith and hurt him deeply, Zac reframes spiritual siblinghood not as a given based on likeness but as an adoption that holds regardless of how the other person acts or looks. He ties this to the sacrament of reconciliation and the Mass as places where "two or three gathered" in Christ's name make His presence real, closing with a meditation in which Christ speaks identity and belovedness directly over the listener before calling them to extend that same mercy to others.
Reflection Questions:
Here's the link to the text of the meditation to bring into your personal prayer and go deeper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11sFeeNHXn8EbfGGuy53U9TqG1p0-pjekzaLj2YXqV5w/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
Reflecting on Matthew 16:21-27, Zac recounts getting sick right before his friend Vince's funeral, forcing him to skip singing in the choir he'd hoped to honor Vince with, and how his frustration at being sidelined mirrored Peter's rebuke of Jesus for embracing suffering. Recognizing himself in Peter's "Get behind me, Satan" moment, Zac realized he had been treating his illness as an obstacle to be resisted rather than a cross to be received as a gift from God. The episode closes with an Ignatian-style Examen guiding listeners to reflect on their own recent crosses, how they reacted to them, and one small resolution to receive suffering differently going forward.
Reflection Questions:
Here's a link to the text of the Examen we prayed this week: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mrcgTAxB7UKCKMb0R8VnetvtNUiWw1-vRoaw5JUmIMc/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
Reflecting on Matthew 16:13-20, Zac shares the story of his late friend Vince — a man who bore juvenile arthritis and many surgeries with faith— and Vince's sudden death just a week after a road trip together, prompting Zac to imagine Christ asking Vince at his particular judgment the same question He asked Peter: "Who do you say that I am?" Zac unpacks how Peter's confession of Christ as "the Son of the living God" was a freely given gift from the Father, not a product of reason, and how that same gift invites believers to go on the offensive against "the gates of hell" through the overflow of joy in their own hearts. The episode closes with a meditation spoken in Christ's voice, assuring the listener that despite their fears of being forgotten or unloved, they are known, sought, and worth dying for.
Reflection Questions:
Here's the link to the text of the meditation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1titdKHhdT-CNArb9nMWfk0-O1hQvPJd_Gu_fdeSDw60/edit?usp=sharing
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Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs here.
The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.
Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music
Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A
This episode pairs Francisco Bayeu's The Assumption of the Virgin with the Gospel story of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28), drawing out humility as the thread connecting both. Just as Mary appears at the bottom of Bayeu's painting despite being assumed into heaven's heights, the Canaanite woman humbles herself to accept being called a "dog" and asks only for crumbs, and both are exalted precisely because of their lowliness. The episode closes with a meditation imagining Our Lady witnessing the Canaanite woman's encounter with Jesus, framing Mary's own self-description as "lowly handmaid" alongside Justa's perseverance and faith.
Reflection Questions:
Here's a link to Francisco Bayeu's The Assumption of the Virgin: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nbow2W0msv8rd74d6L0XfcNIzyHmYCvq/view?usp=sharing
Here's the link to the Google Slides presentation for experiencing this episode as a group: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Udx5GRu9M23yvCLzSsCV25eDb2d0_R4N-E2GG2ctDHk/edit?usp=sharing
Here's the link to the text of the meditation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g4E6-CA4nNPoqMs8bOmGY55MWO_ZN4fEzMgF17b-XVg/edit?usp=sharing
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