Unveiling Christianity
These conversations at Holy Family Parish in Parma, Ohio seek to encounter and share the beauty, goodness, and truth of God and the Church.
Unveiling Christianity
"Celebrating Easter!"
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Hello, hello everybody, and welcome back to the podcast. I'm Father David. Mark Turnus. This is another episode of Unveiling Christianity. And uh yeah, we're excited to be back with you. We're actually gonna be recording this on Good Friday today. So we had some things earlier in the week with uh holy week kind of stuff, so we had to shift around a little bit. So so this episode I think is gonna come out on tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02Tomorrow morning if I can if I can get home and produce it in time.
SPEAKER_00I I have I have faith. Okay, okay. But uh yeah, so this will come out on holy Saturday morning. So either happy almost Easter or if you're already past the Easter Day, happy Easter to you. Happy Easter. So beautiful, right? So how's the how's the week been for you so far, Mark?
SPEAKER_02Good. I I I can't come up with a it's been very good. I've been very blessed this week. Uh it's it's been full. It's been it's been very uh very good week.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's great. So I uh started the week uh not only with palms um but with ramen.
SPEAKER_02All right. I don't I I think I'm gonna need a little bit of back background here. You ever had ramen before? Or if it's if it's the food I have.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like yeah, yeah, not like the packaged ramen. No, I can't.
SPEAKER_02That that has a little bit too much sodium in it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's true.
SPEAKER_02But um, yeah, I my my son, Will, uh is is practically addicted to that stuff. He he eats it a lot, but the good stuff at you know, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's gotten more popular the past number of years. I mean, I just in general Asian food, I think, and and uh everything has been gotten a lot more sushi and stuff. It was gotten a lot more popular.
SPEAKER_02So it brings ramen up. I have to know.
SPEAKER_00You have to ask, right?
SPEAKER_02What I just did.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, we had the Palm Sunday liturgy on uh on Sunday, obviously. And uh it was great. I after that in the in the afternoon, I had a chance to be together with my family. It was my brother's birthday, my brother Dylan. So he's two years younger than I. So uh he usually likes to do something different uh for his birthday. So instead of like, you know, the uh the the the standard pasta or steak or something. Okay, okay uh he likes ramen, so so there's this place in Strongsville in the mall. It was it was uh pretty good. So it's big old bowl. Do you know it? Do you know the place? I remember the name. Yeah, yeah. I apologize.
SPEAKER_02It wasn't uh Sachwan Gourmet or no okay.
SPEAKER_00I forget the name uh Strongsville South Park Mall. Yes, so okay. But it was really good. Just I mean, ramen is just a big, obviously, big bowl of soup with all kinds of goodies in it.
SPEAKER_02So very good.
SPEAKER_00But yeah. So we'll have to have to go sometime.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we should we should look back at at the week, maybe a little bit palm starting it with Palm Sunday. You you uh how was your palm sundae? Uh it was good. Uh yeah. I forgot to grab a palm though.
SPEAKER_00That's not good. How could you forget to grab a I don't know. I was there was a big table full of I was concerned about everything else. I was like, Well, you know what? You were concerned that everybody else got one. Everybody got one and that they were all blessed and and everything, so but it was like uh it was like on Ash Wednesday I forgot to get ashes at the Mass.
SPEAKER_02That's even worse.
SPEAKER_00I gave I gave everyone else ashes, but then I realized halfway through the day, oh I go. Didn't anybody t tell you, point to your forehead and say what's going on? Yeah, yeah. In general, yeah. No, so no, it was it was good. How about how about for you?
SPEAKER_02Um it it was really nice. I I did get palms and uh I took them home that afternoon. I put them up in my home and I I did it the the exact same way my parents did, I guess they taught me. Um and it's almost the same, my my home where I was born and raised is long demolished and gone. But if you go down the hallway to the bedrooms in my current home, just like in their in their home, uh there's a large crucifix, and I stick them somewhat behind them in a in an attractive way.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, people do all c all kinds of things with the palms, right? Yep, yeah. I've never been a a palm origami kind of person.
SPEAKER_02That that one I I get the cross, but I mean they make all kinds of things with palms, and I'm like, eh.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. They should they should just be uh a point of remembrance of Palm Sunday.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But anyway, I forgot my palms. So but uh yeah, I was focused on the blessing, so and we were talking before. There's a little clarification, you know. So the the the palms aren't blessed when you come into the church, right? We have them out on the table.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00But the blessing at the beginning of Mass, you know, will will bless all of the palms.
SPEAKER_02So you can grab them on the way in, even though they're not blessed. Sit in the church, and even though they didn't get hit by the holy water you're sprinkling them with, they're all you're still good to go. Okay. That's that's a good clarification.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're still good to go. So for next year, if you have any questions and things. So but that's why I I blessed the ones on the table. But I also did the sign of the cross in both directions, you know, into the gathering space, but also into the church. So I mean the the water itself is is is significant. So what is holy water in in in the case of blessings? You know, it's a sacramental, right?
SPEAKER_02So it's a not a visible sign.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not a sacrament. It's a sacramental sign.
SPEAKER_02It doesn't the the holy water doesn't have to hit your forehead when the priest blesses the congregation. Yeah, I mean to be blessed. Yeah, it's important.
SPEAKER_00It certainly helps to sanctify things, it helps to symbolize, you know, in a way that we can observe, you know, the transference of grace of God's life to this object that we are blessing, right? So it's important, but to say if you didn't get hit with holy water, if you can if you didn't get touched, or your palm didn't. You don't need to call the priest back. Still blessed. Still blessed. So very good.
SPEAKER_02Another thing I did on Sunday, on Palm Sunday, and if you listen to the podcast, you'll you'll remember last week I said I was gonna do this, and I did. I swapped out my medal and I I uh I put a a cross, a crucifix on, and I'm wearing the crucifix every day, and I normally wear it under my shirt. I I wear it outside of my shirt this week. Um and I said last time, I said this, you the the only way you can't ignore the cross. You can't ignore, you can't get around it. The only way to salvation is through the cross. So I forced myself to look at the cross a lot this week, and I think we're gonna do that this afternoon very much in the service today.
SPEAKER_00So be reminded of it and remind others, right? Yes, yes. And uh yeah, not just a cross, but a crucifix.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, wear the crucifi wear the crucifix if you if you're gonna wear anything.
SPEAKER_00So right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so that that was uh that gets me to past Sunday, but then the week just went on from there. Yeah. How about you? For sure. What was what was good? You did the Chris Mass.
SPEAKER_00Right, we did the Chrism Mass, right? So on Tuesday, uh we met at St. Sebastian's, right, down in Akron. It was really it ended up being really cool. That's a very large church, right? It's a pretty large church, and the campus is um Brother Valenchek has done a great job of keeping up with the campus, and there's parking all around us. They have uh brick roads around around the uh parish. Actually, new brick roads. They uh worked with the city and uh and everything. So it's it's kind of a historic thing in the area and the roads were getting dis in disrepair. And uh yeah, they actually convinced them and worked together to get new new brick roads on Mole Avenue. So but it was uh really beautiful and it it turned out really well. There was a lot of it's just good to be together with all the priests and uh you don't you know you don't get to see a lot of the guys most of the year because we're all just you know involved in our parishes and go in different directions and stuff.
SPEAKER_02So you you sounded last last podcast that you were really looking forward to that, and I'm glad it was nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I do. Yeah, and then it was a really beautiful mass, so he we renewed our promises, and then he did all the oils and everything. And he I I reflected in my my homily yesterday for Holy Thursday. You know, it was kind of cool how he tied Akron kind of into the into the homily and everything, insofar as you know, Akron was the rubber capital of the world. And you know, in order to have all these, you know, uh bridge stone and firestone and all this rubber making, you have to have oil, right? So oil that comes from you know, whatever it is, hundreds of millions of years of decomposition of fossils. But yet, you know, the the church's oil that we use in the the sacraments comes from olives. And and the reality is there has to be a breakdown of the olives, you know, so that they have to be crushed, you know, in order to bear the oil and and and everything. Um but it was kind of cool how he tied you know the history of Akron and oil kind of into kind of into what we were doing. Obviously, it's helpful to have tires, right? But it's even more important and uh and essential to have you know God's life within us. And yeah, I just kind of reflected, you know, so it was kind of cool jumping ahead to Holy Thursday, just reflected on how and it really struck me this year in particular how you know through the sacraments, in a sense, this is God's chosen way of how he shares himself with us in a very potent, a very particular way.
SPEAKER_02Very visible way, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. That it's really through the crushing of all these natural elements that they can be transformed into something else, and that's how he shares himself with us. You know, so whether it's the olives, you know, with the sacred chrism, uh, there's a aromatic balsam, you know, is put into it that makes it smell beautifully, but what balsam is the resin from flowers where it's really so it's the breakdown or the the crushing of flowers, and then obviously then with the Eucharist we have the bread and the wine. How do you get bread and wine?
SPEAKER_02The crushing of the grain.
SPEAKER_00Crushing of grain and wheat and the crushing of grapes. So I kind of reflected on like being crushed and outpoured is how certainly Jesus then lived in his life in a whole host of ways, but then ultimately on the cross he allows himself to be to be crushed and to be to be surrendered and given, and then uh through that life flows into the world.
SPEAKER_02So it's really I thought it was a a beautiful homily you gave, and I'm I'm I'm glad I understand the link to your chrism mass uh in your homily. So that was uh very, very nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, so it was it's it's I mean, and that's the thing. I think one of the things I've just found so beautiful about Catholicism is that everything is connected. The more you learn, you more you realize how everything is everything is connected, everything makes sense.
SPEAKER_02And that's kind of like you know, we started this podcast with the book from Trent Horne and things, and you know, we start in the basement with what is truth and and just everything builds upon it and everything is connected, and the more you learn, it's just I don't know, it's just really amazing the the interconnectedness, and I mean not even just Old Testament and New Testament, but everything in the New Testament is so connected to each other, it's so logical and and smart and holy and good.
SPEAKER_00Couldn't have made this up, right? Yeah, because yeah, because even in the you know the first reading from the Mass of the Holy Mass of the Last Supper, um, the Lord's Supper, you know, it's the the reading from from Exodus, you know, of the Passover meal and everything. And you know, how and how that symbolized the sacrifice that was going to take place later and and all these very uh particular things. Uh but no, it's cool. I um actually shared in the Mass uh too yesterday, uh just kind of going in so so you have Eucharist and priesthood, you know, being crushed and poured out and and you know how in priesthood you symbolize that that's symbolizing the ordination mass in a particular way, you know, as there's the prostration, so all the candidates, you know, all the men being ordained will lay down on the uh the floor of the cathedral. And it's this posture of surrender, it's this posture of everything and and you know, I and I shared too, yeah, there there have been moments and and being a priest and being a pastor where I kind of have felt crushed, you know, by the situation or circumstance or you know, whatever. But you know, ultimately as we approach that with with faith and with God, it's not a bad thing. It's it's him working through us and purifying us and everything. And but ultimately it's not just about priests, it's about you know, also married couples who lay down their lives for each other. It's also about you know, lay faithful and single people who just give their lives for God, you know, very radically and intentionally, and it's through all those moments that we experience that He recreates us and and everything.
SPEAKER_02So I I think in the in the secular world surrender has a kind of a bad connotation because it connotes weakness in the secular world, but it it it requires a significant amount of of bravery and courage to surrender to God. Right. And that's what you're doing when you're lying prostrate on the floor. Right. You're totally surrendering yourself to God, and that takes courage.
SPEAKER_00Right. And that's what the scripture, the line in the scripture, you know, he became weak so that we could become strong. Yep. Right.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then um and then I did share uh too the kind of the detail about the so the chalice that I have, you know, the the cup, which actually uh if you don't know, chalice comes from the word calyx, which is actually the the it's a part of a flower that holds the in the the interior.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I know where you're going here, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm kind of holding um i not like a not like a Venus flytrap, but there's like a there's a there's a calyx, it's an actual flower. It's like the harder outside shell that uh that protects and contains the interior. So that's that's where the word chalice comes from. You know, so it it it contains, you know, uh obviously then the precious blood and everything. But on the base of my chalice, uh it's really beautiful. My mom's family gifted me my grandparents' wedding rings, and so I had them fixed to the bottom, the base of the chalice. Just as a reminder. Yeah, I mean, whether it's priesthood, whether it's marriage, it's about you know this being surrendered, this being crushed and and and offering your life, and then through that, you know, life comes into the world either by way of humans or by way of the spiritual life, you know, kind of both and but I um there was one thing I I forgot to mention in the Mass too, that uh the homily, but another place you know, with you know the Eucharist and priesthood and Jesus and this reality of being crushed and being poured out, but there's another place this particularly happens or it can be uh appreciated is you know, the priest will pray the words of consecration, right? So he'll pray the words, you know, this is my body, this is my blood, you know, given for you. Ultimately these are the words of Jesus, right? Yes. But it's also a real sense that Jesus has chosen this man to be a priest, he's using his humanity to share himself with the world, right? So in a sense it's kind of a twofold meaning. But it's almost, you know, the priest himself is saying that personally, you know, for his parish. But and but Jesus is ultimately saying it too. So yeah, in a sense, you know, this is my body, this is my blood. And as priests we're called to to live that out.
SPEAKER_02So And the the two most beautiful words in the English language at the end of that is uh the the last two words for you. Right? I mean, it's just like wow. Those last two words are amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. So we just want to reflect further on the Holy Week. We got some some feedback from from some people that you know they really appreciate our last podcast. So we just kind of wanted to push this podcast a little later in the week and reflect on it a little more. And yeah, we have the Good Friday Liturgy coming up this uh this afternoon and Holy Saturday, and of course the food blessing, you know, on Saturday afternoon. You can't cannot have that. That goes way back. Right. I mean, it goes way back to my parents. I love the smell of incense. But I have to say, if there's anything that might possibly be better, it's the smell of bread and meat. I I can't imagine the and the church. You don't want to have the blessing before lunchtime, probably. So it's uh it's a good moment. All right. Well, so with that, um, that's kind of our Holy Week banter for today. But we wanted to just talk a little bit about Easter, right? So maybe listening to this in the beginning of the Easter season and uh not just like what is Easter, I think we obviously know it's the the resurrection of Jesus, but you know what does it mean to celebrate Easter, right? Insofar as it's not just one day, but it's actually an octave and then also actually a season. So just like Christmas, we reflected on how there's the octave, there's the eight days, you know, that follow uh the celebration of Christmas. That's actually each day is a celebration of Christmas itself. Again. You know, the octave of Easter is the same thing. It's it's the celebration of Easter Day itself. The the prayers of the church and the rituals are all the same, you know, uh each each day of the octave, uh, because liturgically it's the same day. Uh but then but then after there's a whole season of Easter. How many how many days of of Easter are there?
SPEAKER_02There are more days to Easter than there were in Lent. There are 50 days in Easter, only 40 days in Lent.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah. So it's a longer season, actually, right?
SPEAKER_02A longer period of time.
SPEAKER_00So we so we have a lot of opportunity to celebrate uh Easter. Okay, so what is it what do it means to celebrate Easter, right? That we don't just acknowledge it. We don't just like you know have it as little placards on our windows and uh and things, but it's actually a season that we're we're invited to enter into, just like Lent.
SPEAKER_02So I wanna I want to interject something here. It might not fit, but I want I want uh people to think about it, thought about it a lot. There's a uh quote from Pope Benedict, and he said, the resurrection is not a theory, the resurrection is not an idea, it's a reality, a reality that changes everything. And I just if we if we just kind of come to grips with that over the over the Easter season, that everything has changed.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, no, that's really good. No, thanks for sharing that, Mark. That's a beautiful quote. Um, because that gets to the point, right? Right. So this isn't just a holiday, this isn't isn't just an event that happened in the past that you know we like. This is a reality that changes each and every if because if if this is true, uh then it changes everything. It's like C.S. Lewis, like if uh if Christianity is true, or if Christianity is not true, you know, the resurrection didn't happen, this is all pointless. Right. But if but if it is true, then it changes everything.
SPEAKER_02Yes, something happened that day. I mean, if you go back and look at that day, that that that Sunday, that or that resurrection day, right? Something definitely happened, and that changed everything.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, and because it happened, Jesus wanted to touch every part of our life. Not just certain parts of our life, you know, not just an hour on Sunday morning, if we can say. Right? He wanted to be able to touch each minute of our day, right? So that as we live with him, he can live with us, you know, in a in a sense, and we can realize his presence with us. So so that's be the question. So, how are we entering into the reality of Easter? How are we entering into the reality of the resurrection? How are we open to that and fostering that in our lives? So, so maybe we can have some kind of some tangible things to kind of throw out here.
SPEAKER_02I would even start by saying a word that comes to mind to me is is uh urgency, urgently. I mean, I want to I want to actively and urgently engage, like on that Sunday, if you if you read those readings, the the apostles, they're they're all running. They're they're running to the grave. Mary's running to the grave, Peter and John are running to the grave. So there's something urgent about getting involved in this season that I think is important to me at least.
SPEAKER_00No, that's a good point because I think it's like Lent. You know, if we don't have a plan at the beginning, right? You're not gonna have a plan.
SPEAKER_02Don't wait. You know, I'm not gonna wait. I'm I'm starting already to enter the season.
SPEAKER_00Develop a plan now, even if it's a a couple small little things, you know, those couple small little things done intentionally over time changes things, right? Okay, so what it would this look like? So we were talking about this before, and there's something kind of something fun to share here. So so in Lent, you know, we have the three disciplines of prayer, fasting, uh, and almsgiving. So, you know, coming closer uh to God and to others, you know, through love, through giving our lives in prayer, you know, coming to know God's presence more in our lives and and all of that. Fasting, you know, changing our relationship with with things in the world. So going without things so that we're not dependent upon them, we're not living for them. Uh, and then to allow that going without as an intercession or prayer for other people. And then almsgiving, you know, as we're going without, also pressing into love, also pressing into charity and service and identifying those people around us who need help. So I would say, you know, we could have a similar approach in Easter that we had in Lent. Maybe there's three things we can do. Rather than prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, I would say we could do prayer, feasting, and almsgiving. So, yeah, we're continuing the prayer, right, that we have. Uh, we're not just stopping, right? Maybe we continue uh the those prayer practices that we've done because they're they're good for us, right? They help us to grow.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Uh and then almsgiving, you know, that we are, you know, still pressing into, you know, loving other people and serving and charity, um, not because it's just helping us to grow, but now in the Easter season, because it's a fruit of what we have received. It's because you know Jesus has risen and so he wants to share his life with us, and so we're gonna continue to do that. But the difference would be uh in this on the in the middle one, feasting and fasting, right? Right. So uh what do you what what do you think the difference between they're close?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I actually actually wrote it down. I encourage you you to write it down, uh listeners. Um, prayer feasting and almsgiving is so close to prayer fasting and almsgiving.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, so uh it's kind of funny, it was where we're doing this out. If you look at It the difference between f fasting and feasting is one letter. Right. And that letter is E. And we could say, what does that E stand for?
SPEAKER_02What's the difference?
SPEAKER_00But Easter. Yeah. Right? Wow. Look at that. There you go. There you go. So fasting, we're going without. But feasting in the Christian sense is not gorging. Right? It's not, it's not like going the polar opposite way. So we gave up chocolate for at for Lent. So then we're going to eat a pound of chocolate every day. Or we gave up alcohol, you know, for Lent. So we're going to get drunk every day. Like that's no no no. That's not the point. That's not it. That's not the point. That's not it. So our feasting is really entering into the goodness of these things, but also with a sense of virtue, of holiness, of moderation, right? So that we can still truly enjoy them and we're not being, you know, uh enslaved by them again, right? Correct. So it's it's feasting, right? And you know, in a sense, too, you know, Jesus himself was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard in the gospels by the Pharisees, right? Many times. So yeah, feasting is not a bad thing, but obviously there's no sin in Jesus, right? So it's still, even though it was maybe something he did frequently, uh, it's never something he did sinfully. Right. So it's still keeping it in check. And he did those things really because it was about the relationships, it was about the time spent with other people, not about the thing itself.
SPEAKER_02There's a big distinction there, yeah. By doing doing it in in a uh appropriate way for the right reasons. Yeah, in moderation.
SPEAKER_00So so fasting uh and feasting. So I kind of found that a fun way to enter into. So maybe we can think about, you know, what does it look like to pray, to feast, and to uh to still still give alms in this time. And like we said, you know, so there's the octave, there's these eight days uh of the Easter, immediate Easter season that we can continue to celebrate, and you know, maybe there's something we do each day that's that's fun, you know, getting an ice cream cone or taking the kids to the playground, you know, doing something a little extra or different, you know, that is kind of just rejoicing and then just in the gift of life and what we and what we have, right? Uh but then also, you know, Sundays, you know, that you know, Easter Sunday is certainly important, but then there's just gonna be a number of days of the the Sundays of the Easter season. You know, what does it look like for us to continue to live those Sundays as if they were, you know, little Easters? You know, insofar as you know we still have worship, uh a part of it, but we also have time for family and and rest.
SPEAKER_02You know we we can live our Sundays a little bit differently, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. Because I know that's just one of the that's one of the challenges. Everyone's busy, right? Uh everyone's flying around in five million directions, doing good things, but you know, we all don't necessarily have a lot of time for for for family and rest. So what does it look like to make make our Sundays really for for God and family and rest? You know, what does it look like for that? And it might mean we have to maybe reorient some of our some of our week a little differently so that we can we can make that space. Right.
SPEAKER_02Go back go back, everything's changed. So there we can we can change some things up as we move forward in the Easter season.
SPEAKER_00Right. Right. So anyway, that's some things I thought of. What what what maybe what do you if you had a sense of entering into Easter and and all these things, what would you focus on, Mark?
SPEAKER_02When I say we have 50 days, and and 50 days is is uh a lot of time, and I that that concept of time comes to me, just spending the time to linger, uh, especially during the octave, to linger on what happened on Easter Sunday, and just kind of spend the time to experience that fullness. So it's like entering a swimming pool in the summer. You you don't just jump in and get right out, you you linger in there, you enjoy it. And yeah, I think that's a big thing for me to do, particularly this first week. Yeah, just take the time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like the hot tub. Yeah, you know, you want to you want to sit in the hot tub for a while.
SPEAKER_02Look at looking at the Grand Canyon, you know, you don't just stand there and okay, let's go. I mean, take it in. You want to linger, and I think there's so much uh to Easter, obviously.
SPEAKER_00That's a good image, actually. Uh standing in front of the Grand Canyon. It's it's there, it's it's accomplished.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, you you don't just get back in your car and go. You just I want to just I want to look at it from a different angle. I want to walk over here and look at it. I just want to linger with it. Right. And and that is to me the start of entering into mysteries. When then because that's just a really big concept for me. Enter how do you enter into a mystery? I don't know, but I think that's a good start for me.
SPEAKER_00No, I think that's a great that's a great way of looking at it. Right. Anything else you think you want to do?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I think oh I there there's a lot of things I'm gonna do, but they're like maybe a little bit more practical. I didn't know if you were on that. Yeah, I mean, um what uh one of the things I'm gonna do, well, there's a couple of things I'm gonna continue doing uh that I that I did in Lent. And and it would be like I I started doing an extra mass or two. Actually, in Lent I did two extra masses, not extra masses, two weekday masses, um, every every week. I'm gonna continue to do that uh hopefully during the entire uh Easter season. I'm gonna I'm gonna read Acts of the Apostles because I've read it once, it was a long time ago. There's so much depth in there on what the apostles did right after Easter and how they started the church and and that sort of thing. I'm gonna maybe uh did a little uptake in my uh Eucharistic adoration. I'm probably uh probably the greatest thing is to prepare for for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. No, that's great. Yeah, I think practically for me, um, yeah, I think it's continuing to press into some of the things I was doing. But even some thinking about something different, you know, you know, I'll admit, you know, my prayer life was a bit challenged, you know, in in Lent, just with just the busyness of the season and lots of different things. So I really want to focus on really making time for my morning holy hour, you know, and really, really focusing on that time. I think that's that's really important. And and also focusing on, you know, uh the other word we had we were thinking about rather than feasting was was just fun. You know, and even rest, you know, a sense of playing my guitar, uh, you know, just doing doing things like that, getting outside and you know, running is such a a way that I reset and now that it's a little warmer, doing some cycling and really pressing into those things that are that are good rather than kind of staying on the treadmill of work and and everything, understanding that there's gonna be a lot of things. I mean, it's a it's still a busy season with the school, you know, and getting near the end of the year and all kinds of stuff. But uh yeah, no, I think pressing into those things that I know are for are good for me, even if I have to make sacrifices in other places, it's helping to, you know, God wants to give us life, right? And we have we have our obligations and our duties, and you have to do those things, but you know, to be pressing into that prayer and prayer and play, I suppose, probably is what I want to focus on in Easter.
SPEAKER_02So today today in this this season, I'm gonna I'm gonna let God you and I have talked about this. Let God love me, let God save me. Um, because uh my one of my uh favorite saints is Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, and she taught me um to love anything. You have to let God love you first. So I think it's kind of that mentality that I'm gonna take with me uh on on the beginning of these 50 days. Yeah, and then paying attention to what comes up and how exactly comes along. What good things that happen, you know? Yep. Nothing is an accident.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, but then lastly, I think you mentioned Pentecost, you know, which is really that's the uh that's the end, right? So Penta cost is fifty days, right? So it's the coming of the Holy Spirit on upon the upon Mary and the disciples in the upper room, right? Yes. Which we're gonna have uh our confirmante uh uh confirmed here pretty pretty soon in May, too. That's exciting. Looking forward to that. But yeah, I think maybe another way we enter into Easter is like what is our relationship with the Holy Spirit? As you're talking about Acts of the Apostles, you know, noticing how the Holy Spirit works in the Acts of the Apostles.
SPEAKER_02Look how it affected them on Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00Right. How do their lives look different and talk about change? Yeah. Like what does it look like for us to invite the Holy Spirit intentionally in our lives? Maybe that's a morning practice. It can be as simple as you know, praying the words, Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02It's it's not that hard. It's to invite something is it's just just to say, Come into my life. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00But to make that a practice.
SPEAKER_02And make that a statement. Wake up every morning and say that.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02How how hard is that to do? You say you there's your prayers. Holy Spirit, come into my life today.
SPEAKER_00Ta-da.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00So well, good. Awesome. We got a little game plan for our Easter season. All right, let's jump to our gospel, uh, which will be uh the gospel from Easter. There are a couple different uh a couple different options depending on when you go to Easter Mass, uh, or which parish or time of the day. There's one for the vigil, there's one for I think early morning, and one for the day. There's a couple different ones. So we're gonna read the one from John twenty. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, O Lord. On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we did not know where they put him. So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter, and arrived at the tomb first. He bent down and saw the burial claws there, but did not go in. When Simon and Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial claws there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial claws, but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed, for they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Anything strike you from this account of the resurrection?
SPEAKER_02I I mentioned it earlier, uh, and it's so very obvious. Um it's the uh the urgency that uh I mean they had to be very, very um confused and nervous, but uh she ran uh to the grave and then and then the the detail, you know, uh Peter and John are running and and and Peter was or John was running faster than Peter. I guess he was a little younger or a little more physically fit, but they they make that that distinction in the in the gospel uh of of this urgency. So I think that uh I pray about that that I can keep uh Easter an an urgent thing and really move into it quickly, not wait for the 50th day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, I think uh my word would be mystery, you know. So it it says, you know, they saw and believed, but yet they did not understand the scripture. So you know, so there's this believing but not fully understanding, which I think is then an invitation to obviously they went back to where they were coming from, what was their conversation like, you know, and all these things, and then Jesus was to appear a bunch of times after this. But you know, yeah, entering into this thing that I don't fully understand, but inviting God's presence in it. And I think that's kind of what uh yeah, just what this Easter's Easter season's about. All right. Any um prayer intentions?
SPEAKER_02Today I'd like to pray for all new families, all uh little little babies and their moms and dads, uh the the uh new Catholic families out there, the new Christian families, uh that they can experience Easter to the fullest and uh experience their Sundays of worship family and and hopefully rest.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna offer a prayer for anyone who's uh lost a loved one, you know, at this time. That could be a really hard time with uh with the holiday and with all these things going on. And you know, people in our parish or people other parishes, uh we did have uh a longtime prisoner pass away, and his funeral will be on on Tuesday of this week. So even then it's kind of a difficult thing, you know, in the octave of Easter to be celebrating a funeral. Uh, but uh Bob Bob Dank, uh who's a prisoner, loved long time, and his son is Father Michael Dank, who's a son of the parish, and he's passed over at uh St. Matthias uh and everything. So yeah, just prayers for the rose of his soul and any other any others who have passed away, and just for their families that they may, in a sense, too, just have a consolation uh of God's presence and his promises and uh and the resurrection too. So all right, let's pray. Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, amen. Good and gracious God, heavenly Father, we just give you thanks and praise. Uh we give you thanks and praise for Jesus, uh, for his love, his resurrection, his entering into suffering and death, so to bring us life. May we be filled with your grace and your presence today. May we know uh the power of your resurrection uh in our lives as you redeem us in all of our particular places where we we may struggle and uh know darkness or pain, that we are not alone, uh, that you ultimately will be with us uh and lead us to heavenly life. We ask this all in your name. Amen. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. All right, everyone. Well, thanks for being with us today. Uh certainly happy Easter to all of you and your families and everything. Uh, and kind of a little disclaimer, speaking of rest uh and and everything, we were gonna take a week off the podcast and everything. I'm gonna take a couple days a week, a couple days away this next week and and all that. So uh so enjoy the rest uh a little bit.
SPEAKER_02But make sure you come back.
SPEAKER_00But make sure you come back. We'll be no worries. We'll be back the next week and and we will continue on with very providentially uh speaking about mission. So we'll reflect back on the mission from Deacon John and his wife, Carolyn, uh, and um continue to press into this Easter season. Very good. All right, thanks so much, everyone. Have a good day. Happy Easter.