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 further unite our parish community.
We are back with episode number 20, focusing on the feast of the Visitation of the blessed Virgin Mary, St. Philip Neri.
And our resource this week is Rediscover the Rosary by Matthew Kelly. And remember, you can find us on the Spotify, Apple podcasts and the YouTube every week. So please like or subscribe.
It's down here. And we will find your inbox every week with new content.
Father Greg, we are back from our pilgrimage.
An amazing 12 days in Italy, still recovering from jet lag.
What are a couple of highlights for you?
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Saying mass with the Pope, Seeing the Pope praying at the tombs of saints.
All the spiritual feels, all the new insights. The Rome culture, beauty.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it was incredible. Incredible spirituality, incredible art, incredible architecture.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: There's some cool people. We went with some cool people.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Yeah. 24 plus or minus cool people.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: The plus or minus reflects not subtracting anybody from our trip, just the guides that we would have had throughout.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Yeah, 24 total, including me and our travel person.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Excellent.
Okay. And huge thanks to everyone who followed along with our adventures while we were away and liked our little one minute contents. We're inspired to continue some of that and we're going to encourage the people who watch those to kind of flip over and check out some of this content too.
I do have a quick question before we begin this week. Great. All about St. Anthony. We got to see St. Anthony's tomb. We prayed in the basilica for a while.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Powerful.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: Do you think, does he put a limit on finding things? Like will he help me find my car keys for the third time this week or does he get you off of it?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: He will. He will. But you should do your due diligence to not lose them.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Okay. All right. That's a. That's a good father.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: He's going to help you try to find the virtue of diligence.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Virtue.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Very good. Very good. He finds many things indeed. Not just objects, as we know.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: That's right. Exactly.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: All right, well, Father, you better start us off with a prayer.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Okay. 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. We thank you for your presence with us right here, right now, wherever we are. We ask that you speak to our hearts and Guide our conversation and make this time fruitful all you want it to be. We entrust it to Mary's Immaculate Heart, saints, St. Joseph, St. Michael, the Holy Angels and saints. And we ask that we would come closer to you through this time. We pray this in Jesus name. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Thank you, Father.
Let's reveal our saint of the week. Each week we do feature a saint and reveal and share some facts about their lives. As we strive to live out our mission as Catholics, we can always look to our saints for inspiration.
Often called the second apostle of Rome, St. Philip Neri, and emphasized personal holiness, humility and service to others, especially the poor and sick. He was ordained a priest and soon became an outstanding confessor himself. Gift with the knack of piercing the pretenses and illusions of others, though always in a charitable manner and often with a joke.
He arranged talks, discussions and prayers for his penitents in a room above the church. And he sometimes led excursions to other churches, often with music and a picnic on the way.
I think if it's. If there's such a thing as a spirit saint, I think we found your spirit saint.
Many people wrongly feel that such an attractive and jocular personality as his cannot be combined with an intense spirituality.
But St Philip Neri's life melts our rigid, narrow views of piety. His approach to sanctity was truly catholic, all embracing and accompanied by a good laugh.
Philip always wanted his followers to become not less, but more human through their striving for holiness. Does this sound like a certain priest that we all know and love?
He was canonized in 1622, and he is remembered on May 26 and honored for his contributions to spirituality, reform and sacred music, including the oratorio.
What is an oratorio, you ask? That was my question.
In their prayer meetings called oratories, music was used as a tool for spiritual reflection. And these gatherings inspired the development of the oratorio as a musical genre.
So there you go.
I did stumble on a website listing maxims and sayings of St Philip Neri, which listed daily meditations to contemplate or virtues to imitate. So I thought that was very interesting. Maybe we can share that with the group as well.
And on his day, May 26, let us strive after purity of heart, for the Holy Spirit dwells in candid and simple minds.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: So Jesus, I trust in you.
He was going to say that, but I wanted to say it before he said, I thought we were going to Say at the same time.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: Oh, golly gee whiz. I had it in bold here to make sure that we don't.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: My copy is in bold, too.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: That's wonderful. So that is St. Philip Neri, Father Greg's spirit saint.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: He is. Yeah. I do appreciate him a lot.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Wow.
All right. It is ask time for Father Greg.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: We all have asked time for Father Greg. It's almost as good as time to ask Father Greg or ask Father Greg time.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Let's ask Father Greg the time.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: I think it's about 4:50pm okay.
What's our next segment?
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Let's ask him a question.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Oh, okay, Great.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Typically, every week we ask a question that is submitted by one of our loyal followers or a question that we make of ourselves.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Please ask us questions. We love questions. We do love questions. I really love questions. Please don't be afraid. There's no bad question. If you've got a question, please help us and help others by submitting it.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Excellent. And Father Greg, we'd like to answer someone else's questions rather than mine each week.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Your questions are good, though.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: This week it's about the rosary, which is a bit of a theme of this week, so, you know, beautifully. It's prayed every Sunday before Mass here at the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We prayed it daily on the bus between jersey jerseys.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: I love between jerseys.
I switch my jersey out every day.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: We'd hardly know it with the cassocks, though.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Yeah. You can't see the jersey underneath.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Who's today?
[00:06:39] Speaker B: I'm a man of faith, so I'm wearing Leafs jersey. No, there's no jersey. I'm just joking with you.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: Oh, golly.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: So do you mean journey?
[00:06:47] Speaker A: We did play pray.
We played the rosary, and we prayed the rosary daily on the bus in between journeys.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Great.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: One day we started and you said in particular, we're just going to start it. We may not finish it, but we'll get it started and see how far we can go. And that kind of blew me away because I had always thought when you.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: Do a rosary, start to finish things, all or nothing.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: And I was quite surprised that you can sort of.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: So tell us a little bit about that.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's totally okay. Like, here I'm going to hold up a rosary because I always keep.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Rosary, rosary, rosary.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: Yeah, hold on. Let's do that again. But once I have the rosary. So let's try this. Let's try this here. 3, 2, 1.
Rosary, Rosary, Rosary, rosary, rosary, rosary. Awesome. Yeah. This is a rosary in case you couldn't tell. So. So, I mean, there's different types of rosary. This is the one I keep in my pocket. I used to keep more chain ones, but they kept breaking. So I have this one that's more stringy cause it never breaks. Had it for a long time.
Someone I know made it. Another priest friend of mine. Busted. Anyways, when you're praying the rosary, it's okay to break it up. Like, you might be like, creed Our Father, three Hail Marys. Our Father, glory be, first decade of the rosary. And then you're like, oh, man, someone showed up and I need to talk to them. So you're not like, oh, man, rosary fail. It's all over. No, you just pause it and then like, okay, you get back in your car, you're going for a walk, or you have some more time, you pick up where you left off, you go. Second decade. Our Father Tint. Hail Mary's Claire B. Phantom of Prayer. And because it's not always easy to get an unbroken period of 15, 20 minutes.
And so it's also nice to kind of help you to keep praying. Like, if you struggle to pray throughout the day, one of the ideas you could take is you say, okay, I don't even try to do it all in one day or one sitting. I just say, hey, like, maybe on my way to work, I do the first bit and maybe a decade of the rosary. That's literally going to take you five minutes. And then maybe you have a break and you just like spend three minutes praying another decade and then you have another break on the way back. Maybe before, after dinner. Before, after bed. Like, okay, you can't pray the after bed. So pray it before bed. You finish it. So, yeah, you can be creative. Many of the saints did that themselves. And that way it's a little bit less intimidating to start, you know?
[00:08:58] Speaker A: And another place to start, just to get over the intimidation, too, could be with something like the Rosary in a Year podcast.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Where he'll do a decade a day.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: That's right. Rosary in your podcast is great. Hey, look at this resource of the week you have.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Oh, look at that. Resource of the week.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Should I turn it around so they can see.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: Turn it around so they can see the resource of the week.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Whoa.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Rediscover the rosary. Matthew Kelly special.
And so he talks a little bit about the history of the rosary. It's long development, some notes about each of the different types of rosaries that you can.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Beautiful, Beautiful. It's really good. I'm reading it right now. It's really good. Honestly, it's good. I'm not just saying that because I'm holding it. It's really good.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: I support this when I find Matthew Kelly does such a great job of introducing concepts. So his Rediscover series with the saints, the rosary, Catholicism and Rediscover Jesus, just quick, not necessarily quick, bite sized pieces. We get that on Sunday at the Eucharist. But he does great summaries and a real positive way of framing prayer or whatever his content happens to be. So this, this week, it's the Rosary and a great introduction. Again, something that can be helpful to get us over the hump of, of starting.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Sometimes to start you just have to start 100%. Can I share something that made me laugh just now?
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Go.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: When you said like rediscover Jesus, it just landed in my head in a way where it's like we found him, like we discovered Jesus. Like, that's why it made me laugh.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: Okay, that was good. That was good. I'm glad to help.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: Well, it is week six of Easter that we're coming in.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: That's correct. We're in the sixth week of Easter.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And Saturday, the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Mary.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: The visitation. Yeah.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: And Sunday is the Ascension.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Yeah. In Canada. Yeah.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: So tell us a little bit about those coming up this week.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: Great. Yeah. So first off, visitation, that's the second joyful mystery of the rosary. We think of how Mary visited Elizabeth and so it's kind of a feast celebrating like the joy of new life, the joy of how God works in the lives of Mary and Elizabeth, Jesus, John the Baptist.
So it's a very Marian but also Christocentric celebration.
Yeah. And then the Ascension in Canada, it's moved to the Sunday before Pentecost. It reminds us of how Jesus ascended into heaven, but he didn't ascend to hide. He ascended so that he'd actually be closer to us. Because in his before the ascension, it's like, okay, Jesus could only be in like one place at a time. But now after his ascension, he can be everywhere in a very powerful way and he can even be inside us in a powerful way.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Beautiful.
I love how in the chosen they depicted the visitation. It was very powerful. That's not a spoiler alert. I mean, it's going to be part of the story whether or not it's where we're at so far in at the parish and watching it. But when you, when you see it, it really will move you as well. It brings that narrative. So Much to life, as many of their stories do.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Beautiful.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Well, there is so much happening in our community. You're diving right back into it after a wee little break for prayer and touring of Italy. Our parishioners can always check on the bulletin to find out what's happening here. But for everyone else out there, Father, what are some of the highlights coming up this week?
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Very excited that tomorrow night I get to see the trailer at Annunciation of Our Lord Parish for this docudrama that I'm in. Very excited.
That's not so much at our parish, but it has to do with me. So, yeah, got the.
I gotta look at my calendar.
It's a lot of stuff.
We've got a school Mass of St. Gabriel on Friday. We've got a wedding on Saturday. We've got the chosen. We've got, as always, confessions and Mass, like we said. Check out the bulletin.
And on Monday, I'm flying to Florida for a priest. Yeah. Like a workshop? Yeah, annual workshop for priests. So I'm going to keep studying, learning, growing, and then I'll come back and.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Is there a particular theme for this one?
[00:13:31] Speaker B: There is, but I don't know it yet.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
It will be shared when the time is right.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: All right.
Well, all of these things that happen don't happen in isolation.
There's so many great people doing great work here at the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Who would you like to recognize in the parish this week?
[00:13:53] Speaker B: You know, there's a lady who helps sometimes on Monday nights as a sacristan for our chant master. Her name is Rose. She's super awesome. Rose is a really good lady. And so she helps out on Monday nights, the sacristan, sometimes. And, yeah, thank you, Rose, for all you do. You are a big help.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: Thank you, Rose. One of the beautiful people who makes this parish as special as it is. So thank you very much for what you do to support all the parishioners and Father Greg.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: Well, that is just about all the time we have for today. Thank you for your insights, Father. Shall we close with a prayer?
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Sure. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, thank you for all you're doing in our lives. Thank you for our friendship with you. Thank you for the ways that each of us are blessed to find joy by finding you, Jesus, finding happiness as we find you. Help us to come closer to you, no matter what our struggles, burdens, fears or sins may be. Help us to be embraced by your mercy, filled with your spirit. And lifted up in your joy. Help our listeners with all they're going through and help them to find you evermore. We pray this in Jesus name in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Thank you for that, Father. Thank you for your insights this week. And thank you for also reminding us that the path to sainthood or on the path to sainthood, it's okay to laugh, just not during the homily. Well, except at the parts where you say something funny.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. Well said.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: And thanks to our fans and friends and odds and ends for joining us this week through the Immaculate Heart of Mary social media channels, the Apple podcasts, 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 JD leaving you smarter, happier and more blessed than you were yesterday.
Sat.
