Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, everybody.
Welcome to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish podcast with Father Greg and JD Each week, Father Greg and I connect on a variety of topics related to our faith and our parish in Winona, Ontario. We are here to help spread the good news and to further unite our parish community.
This is episode number 18. And this week we're focusing on the Easter season again. As it continues, St. Philip and St. James. St. James, also known as Little James.
And another resource to focus on our faith. Remember, you can find us and we decided it's down there on the Spotify, the Apple podcast, on the YouTube, and the YouTube every week. So please, as Father says, like or subscribe. And we will find your inbox every week. That's not very creepy at all.
What a great week. We're at the Sarah Club dinner last night. What a fantastic event.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: It was.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: And I will confess, among other things, that I did not know about the Sarah Club until it started becoming prominent in the announcements that at Mass.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: But what a fantastic organization. What a beautiful night.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah, they really promote vocations to the priesthood, religious life, deacons, just all the things. It's great. And we had a great meal and we had three tables. This is a side note, but it's just kind of fun.
Like, we had the most tables, I think. Oh, wow. And so when they were listing off the names of, like, who they were welcoming, it was like, whoa. They listed off Father Greg Merkley and it might get Heart of Mary really early. Like, it was like, I think they're trying to, like, send a message of gratitude that we had so many tables.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Got my attention.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: It was fantastic. It was really great night, great meal, great conversation. Bishops both said some great things. Great to hear the stories of those who are about to become priests or consecrated. It's very exciting. So, you know, if you didn't get a chance to join us this year, we hope to be back with even more tables next year.
We'll find out the date whenever we know. And great dinner, great time, great people.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: Excellent. And maybe next year, in the lead up, we do a little bit more of a push.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: I was definitely pushing pretty hard for.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Like, pushing hard for sure. But, you know, as our listenership. Oh, true.
Ramp up and there'll be five or six or seven more people who now.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: That you've been, you can be as enthusiastic and even.
Yeah.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: I did learn a new expression last night. Holy indifference.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Which doesn't mean what I thought it meant. When you first hear those words.
I had a totally different interpretation than what was what was explained last night. So. Okay, that was really cool.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Great.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Well, I do have a quick question before we begin this week. Exciting test your math. How is this for math?
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: One cross plus three nails equals four given.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Isn't that good math?
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Great math.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: That is a Father Greg quality.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Just to multiply that like all in brackets times given.
There we go.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. After math like that, you better start us off with a prayer, Father.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Okay, great. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you for your love for us. And we just ask that you would bless our listeners, anoint us with your Holy Spirit. So we speak everything you want us to and nothing that you don't. We entrust our hearts, our lives, our parish, our listeners to the protection and the love, the care of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the heart of St. Joseph, the protection of St. Michael. And again, we invite the Holy Spirit to lead us and to help each listener to take away what they need most. We pray this in Jesus holy name. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: What a beautiful opening prayer.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: Thank you.
Let us reveal our saint of the week. Each week we feature a saint or several and share some facts about their lives as we strive to live our light, live our light and our mission. As Catholics, we can always look to our Spain saints for inspiration. Slow down.
We do have an all star lineup to choose from this week. We have St. Catherine of Siena, St. Marie de l' Encarnation, St.
Athanasius and St. Philip and St. James.
Now I'm curious. St. Philip and St. James as two apostles are celebrated on the same day. Any background on that?
It just sort of occurred to me on my drive over, I thought, two apostles, shouldn't they have their own day?
[00:04:20] Speaker B: You would think there's a few. There's. I think there's at least another pair.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: That has, you know.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I can't remember. Like I have to double check.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: I'll have to do a deep dive.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: On that because that's a good question. We should look that into that. I actually don't know.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: It occurred to me late, you know, after kind of digging down about each of the two saints and gosh, it's, you know, quite something. The two founding apostles or two of the founding apostles are celebrated on the same day. Anyhow, we have James son of Alphaeus, also known as James the Lesser distinct, distinguish him from James the Greater the son of Zebedee and. Or for those of you who are watching, the chosen. Big James and little James. Love that terminology.
And so we've got James and then Philip, also one of the original 12 from Bethsaida, the hometown of Peter and Andrew. Jesus called Philip directly and he brought Nathaniel to Jesus, declaring him the one foretold by Moses.
And I think one thing they had in common is they both struggled with Jesus identity at first, trying to fully grasp what he was about and what he was bringing, bringing to us.
And I remember a story where Jesus is feeding the multitudes and he tested Philip by asking him where to buy food. And Philip responded with practical doubt, you know, not sure where, about the miracle that was coming. I don't think he saw it coming.
I know both Philip and James reflect the humanity of the apostles, ordinary men chosen by Christ to be the church's foundation.
And their holiness wasn't earned but gifted by God. And Jesus promised them the divine power to heal, cast out spirits and proclaim the kingdom. And these actions were outward signs of a deeper transformation, the gift of God's love to them, which was poured into them to be shared with the world.
And there's a beautiful quote in the Gospel of John that highlights Philip's desire to grasp the essence of God's nature.
And he said, lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.
Yeah, that's simply that. Just show us the Father and that will be enough for us.
And I'm sure at some point in time they both said, jesus, I trust in you.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Probably.
Probably.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: All right, it is time for Ask Father Greg. Each week we respond to a question or several submitted by a listener or questions we make up ourselves.
And our urgent plea to you to please send out some questions so Father doesn't have to just answer my questions and satisfy my curiosities every week. But I'm sure the questions that I have are shared by many who are out there. So I have a few short questions this week.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: And they're all things that have come up this week during other conversations and observations. So, number one, when are we supposed to bring back our palms?
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Great question. The background for this is that traditionally we bring our palms from Palm Sunday back to the church. We don't have to, let's put it this way, if you want to leave it in your home and put it on a wall, or you want to burn it or bury it, because once it's blessed, if something's blessed, you got to burn it or bury it, you can't just throw it in the garbage bin. You got to burn it or bury it to dispose of it.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Good to know.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: So if your palm, you've got a blessed palm, you have the responsibility to ensure it's properly dealt with, which means you either bring it back to us, or you burn it and bury it. Burn it or bury it yourself. I mean, burning it is great. Burying it is. Yeah, you get the point.
So the point of giving it back, though, to the church is that traditionally, and it's even in the Roman missal now, last year's palms will become the upcoming Ash Wednesday's ashes.
And so bring them anytime you bring them for me, I'm gonna put them in the same, like, bin. But I'll be honest with you.
This is gonna sound funny, but unless you tell me this was definitely from this year's palms, I'm not including any palms I get back in the upcoming Ash Wednesday's palms. Because unless I'm certain they're last year's palms, like, I'm not. I'm not using them. I'm not throwing them in the fire. They can go in another fire I'll throw sometime, but not. Not the Ash Wednesday palm generating fire.
So if you do bring them back, I need to know they're all a hundred percent from last year, from the most recent Palm Sunday.
But you can. But as long as you do that for me, anytime is fine. I've already got, like, I always save a few palms, enough for the upcoming Ash Wednesday anyways.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: So technically speaking, I'll survive without your palms. But at the same time, if you want to feel like you're participating in that and know, like, oh, yeah, I'm going to give a palm, and it's going to end up in Ash Wednesday palms. Someone's going to end up on someone's head. Like, that'd be so cool. I've always wanted to make palms on someone's head. So if that's you, bring me back your palms and tell me they're from the most Recent Palm Sunday 1.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: And a beautiful way to contribute to the cycle.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: Of joy, of reverence, to kind of keep regenerating and keep things moving.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And of course, the palms are, you know, we wave them to Hail Christ, our King. And then being burned, used on our foreheads for Ash Wednesday is a sign that, you know, our life is short, our life ends, and we want to live in a way that we're preparing well for death and thinking about eternal things.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Excellent. Okay, second Question.
Why don't we have Bibles in the pews?
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Great question. As Catholics, we love the Bible. In fact, it's the Catholic Church that defined what books go in the Bible.
So we love the Bible, and we would love everyone to have a Bible.
There are very few Catholic churches where there are Bibles in all the pews. It does happen, but it's not common. It's not a bad thing. I think it's a very praiseworthy thing. I think the reason it's not as common is because might already have hymnals or other stuff in the pews. And if you have too much in the pews, I don't know, maybe there's, like, that. Maybe it's expenses. Like, do we have enough money to buy all the Bibles for all the pews? Maybe it's also, if we put all the Bibles in the pews, will they be taken care of? Or will someone, like, just, you know, damage it and vandalize it? And then, like, we gotta go buy a new one anyways.
So I think it's a great idea. And then I guess if you have them in the pews, the question is, when are people using them? Like, is that for random visitors to pray with? Cool, that's great. Or is that for, like, during the homily? Father's gotta say, take out your Bibles in the pew and flip it to page blah, blah, blah. Right. Which is.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Not a bad thing. I think it's a very praiseworthy thing. The question is, when do we use it? How do we use it? How do we pay for it?
So I'd say that most commonly in Catholic churches, there's not a Bible in every pew. However, if you want to sponsor all the Bibles in the pews.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: I'm very open to chatting with you, and I'm very open to your suggestions on how to use them, because I think that's. That is a beautiful thing. So I would happily support that. It's just these are questions on a practical level that I want to address.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: That's what I'm. I'm sort of gathering. It's more of a practical concern. There's not a rule.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Correct. There's no rule against it. Exactly.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: So maybe the Adoration Chapel might be.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: A place where we have about five or six Bibles at least in there, too.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Perfect. Okay, excellent.
Ready for a third question?
[00:11:17] Speaker B: I love these. Honestly, questions are so much fun for me.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: This one came up on something that I saw on the Interweb this week, talking about a parish Priest being responsible for all souls in their parish, not just the ones who come to church, not just the ones who are Catholic and don't come to church.
All the souls, the ones who don't have a religious affiliation or anything like that. So you're responsible for everyone in the parish. That's a pretty significant responsibility.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: So we sometimes think, okay, you're just, you know, responsible for those who are coming and hanging out with you for an hour one of the times during the week. But no, it's. It's much broader than that.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: That's right. That's right.
Yeah. Basically, Canada law puts the pastor of that parish in charge of all of the souls in those boundaries. So every parish has, like, boundaries. Right. Like we're 50 road. Do it road.
And so everything in the parish's boundaries, the souls of those people.
Yeah, the priest has that responsibility. So my job is not just to, like, maintain the church.
My job would be to maximize the number and quantity of. Or, sorry, not that that's the same thing. The quantity and quality of souls in their faith life following Jesus. Right. My goal is to make the maximum number of people maximally live following Jesus in accordance with the church's teaching. So that is true.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: And. And then having a group that will help with evangelization within the church will help push through the parish boundaries and. And help bring more people forward.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:13:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: That's something where we have. On the Part of the big plan. That's right. Part of the big plan. Part of the docket of Father Greg's 10,001 list of things to do. Not complaining. I love it. I love it. Being a priest is amazing.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Okay. And I'll do what I can to add to that list anytime we get together during the week.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Please do.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: But I also would like to take seriously the responsibility to try to help take things off the list and accomplish them as well.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: All right, so I think that's.
I got a bunch more, but let's. Let's move on to resource of the week. I love that this week. This week's resource is actually sitting at home on my desk. It's the rosary.
Rediscover the Rosary by Matthew Kelly. So since it's not there and we don't have it to show this week, we'll pause on that one and maybe we'll slide into Lucia's suggestion of the Amen app.
[00:13:56] Speaker B: Yeah, the Amen app.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Amen for those.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: Same as Octave. The Amen app. The Amen app.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Amen for those.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: Amen space app.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: So the The Amen app. Great app. Loaded with prayers, stories, videos, commentary.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: It's called the Amn App.
Sorry, is that too cringy?
[00:14:22] Speaker A: So I relied on this, actually. I rely on it for daily mass readings.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Great.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: And so they will play the readings and then give you a bit of an opportunity to reflect on what God is telling you through the readings of the day, but also each day. Dr. Tim Gray, who is a leader at the St. Augustine Institute and something more. I just kind of stuck at what his official title is.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: I think he might be like the leader or something like that.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Yep, yep. Sorry. Dr. Tim, if you're watching, I do listen to you faithfully every day. I just, I'm sorry, I don't remember your title right now, but I'll, I'll go back and I'll remember that for next week. Anyway, Dr. Tim Gray does provide daily reflection and his reflection.
Last Friday part that stuck with me was that it was a Friday in the octave of Easter. And he said it's not a fasting day. We did not have to fast that day.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Correct. You can eat mushroom. It's a solemnity, which means you can eat as much meat and celebrate. And once you're on Easter, I mean, you should be fasting a little less and partying a little more.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: True.
But that specific one about not having to fast on that Friday got me to thinking, how do we know these things? And so again, I think one of our emphases is to try to help people with their essential Catholic knowledge and some things that are fundamental to the faith and things that we can do in our regular practice. And I find so often as I'm listening to him give his reflections.
How did I not know that before? And. And where can people access that? So I'm hoping that we can be a channel.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Amen of peace.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: That's according to the hymn, but also a channel for people to.
To learn more about their faith and some of the day to day things that they can. Should do.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: So, yeah, daily reflections, there's. They went through a prayer for Pope Francis period, which is ongoing. They also do a daily rosary that are available through other apps as well. But the Amen app, which is probably part of our.
It's connected with formed too.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Yeah, they're connected with formed is also free.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: Yeah, a nice bonus part too. Yeah.
Okay, so the Amen app.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: Amen app.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: You know, through all good app providers, you can get it for whatever platform that you most often favor.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: So we are into week two of Easter.
So what's going down in the second week of Easter.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: Well, now that we're not in the octave of Easter anymore, there's more saints. As you mentioned, we've got lots of saints this week. Exciting times. And we're continuing this 50 day season of rejoicing in the resurrection.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: Okay, beautiful.
And we mentioned earlier we had the beautiful Sarah Club dinner last night. What other events are happening in our own parish community that are coming up?
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Well, let me look at my calendar. But before I forget, I also just want to say I think I want to try inserting a new segment into our podcast where it's like Father's show and tell or something. Okay, I have an item. But. But it's gonna be quick. It's gonna be quick, I promise.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: Hey, everyone, it's time for Father's show and Tell.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: There we go. But not yet. But first, I'm gonna tell you the. The highlights. First off, we got Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sorry? Well, we had Immaculate Heart of Mary's first communion last Saturday. We have St. Gabriel's First Communion this Saturday, so we're very excited. Also this Saturday, we have two ordinations to the priesthood at our cathedral. Very excited about that. It's always exciting.
And Sunday we've got baptisms, more baptisms. We've got family catechism program, which is great. Just happens that this Sunday is my anniversary of ordination, May the fourth. So this will mark six years of priesthood for me.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: May the fourth be with you.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Indeed. Indeed. Yeah, it's strong. It's strong with this one. Sorry, I'll stop.
And lots of exciting stuff.
We've got our youth night happening, our young adults night happening next week. And then JD and I fly off to Rome and a lot of exciting stuff, as usual, happening. Check our bulletin on our website, which is also we're slowly working on the upgraded, super incredible website. We look forward to unveiling that in due time.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Excellent. Well, none of these events happen in isolation.
There's so many great people doing great work here. Met a couple more last night at the Sarah Club dinner. Who would you like to recognize in the parish this week?
[00:18:52] Speaker B: This week's shout out goes to Marie and Catherine, who are sacristans. They do a lot of setup. We also have other sacristans too.
Michelle and Richard as well, and Natalia. But I'd say Catherine and Marie set up for most of our daily masses, so special shout out to them. We're so blessed to have them. All the sacristans, all the people. We're all blessed.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Excellent.
Thank you. Sacristans, and especially Marie and Catherine, for your work and in helping us have a beautiful place to celebrate. And things are always prepared and ready to go for Father. Father Greg.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Indeed.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: All right, it's time for a new segment called Ass.
[00:19:31] Speaker B: No, that's Father show and Tell.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: Father show and Tell.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. I mean, we can rename it. We just have it. Anyways, you want to guess what this is, J.D. what do you think this is? I'm not going to show you. What do you think this is?
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Gosh.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Well, are you getting sleepy?
It is a key. It is a key. Okay. Yeah, it's a key. Do you want to guess what it's for?
[00:19:48] Speaker A: Tabernacle.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: What Tabernacle.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: The one on the altar.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: No. Well, kind of. Yeah, that's true. Which altar?
[00:20:00] Speaker A: I. My guess was the main altar.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Okay. And that's a great guess. And you're so close.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: This one is the key to the Adoration chapel altar tabernacle, which is used to expose and repose our blessed Lord.
Bishop Crosby asked me to repose our Lord when we have Mass.
And anyways, a lot of people don't know that the key to the tabernacle is supposed to be kept in a secret place. This is canon law. The keys must be kept secret because no one can break into the tabernacle because it's so important. That's your fun trivia fact that.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And what's the secret place?
[00:20:33] Speaker B: I can't tell you, especially down on the podcast.
So that's fun little trivia. I thought that'd be cool.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: All right.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: I also thought I should mention that we have the Chosen series continuing on again. Season 3 starting up Saturday nights again, too. That's cool.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: We're slowly catching up to contemporary world.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: They have played season five in the theaters.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: They're starting to film season six.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Season five coming to prime first, and then it will be released to the chosen app sometime in the spring again.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: That is.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: So we're kind of stalled at the end of season four. Not going to give you any spoiler alerts, but wow.
It's cool.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: And, yeah, super jazzed for season five.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: Amazing. Okay, great. We did it.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: We did it. That is just about all the time we have for today. Thank you for your insights, Father. Let's close with the prayer.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: Sure. In the name of the Father and in the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you so much for the joy of this podcast and our beautiful parish community and all those who make it such a wonderful thing. We thank you for all our listeners. Lord, we ask you to bless us. Bless them.
Help us to hear your voice in our lives, to do your will. And we pray this in Jesus name, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Awesome. Thank you, Father.
And thank you for continuing to remind us that with the warmer weather upon us, exposure to Jesus, the sun may in fact prevent burning.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: Amen. Amen. That's good. It's a good one.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: Thanks also to our fans and friends with nods and ends for joining us again this week through the Immaculate Heart of Mary social media channels, the Apple podcast, the Spotify and the YouTube. If you like our show, subscribe and tell your friends. And if you don't like our show, tell your friends anyway and let them discern for themselves. Have a great week, everyone. We are Father, Greg and J.D. leaving you smarter, happier and more blessed than you were yesterday.
Sat.
