Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish podcast with father Greg and J.D.
probably Winona's favorite Catholic podcast.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Why are you saying probably?
Do you know of a podcast that is more preferred by Winonans?
[00:00:37] Speaker A: I can't say that I do.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: However, you want to be presumptuous, you want to be humble.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Your homily last weekend was all about humility.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Humility. But humility is truth. The saints say, to live in the truth is humility.
So I think that truth is most likely the case that we are probably the most popular.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: It's true. It's true.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: I know I just said probably when I said we should say certainly, but we. I just see no evidence to the contrary.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: I have to do some deep dive into the data.
We should find out the data and the podcast.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: What is the Winonan podcast vibe right now? Like, who else could be podcasting? We don't even know them, so they. They obviously must not be very well known because we know, like, we're the biggest church in Winona, so we know the most, like, who else is going to a building more than this building in Winona. So we have the highest, like, feedback awareness.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: So if we're treating this as a statistical project, the probability is quite high.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Exceedingly high.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: All right. But that's enough for now. Back to your regular opening.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: I believe we are still here to help spread the good news and further unite our parish.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Definitely true.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: All across Winona.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Amen and beyond.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Today we are in episode number 37. We're celebrating All Saints and All Souls this weekend, St. Simon and St. Jude, and we'll feature the daily Manna as our resource. And I want to ask you about near death experiences.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Awesome. I'm dying to get to that.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Have you had one?
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Not that I'm aware of.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Okay. All right. More on that in just a moment. Remember, everyone, you can find us on the Spotify, the Apple podcasts, and the YouTubes. So please like or subscribe. I realized I was pointing right at the arrow.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Whoa. That's high quality pointing.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: And that's editing. That's beautiful.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Wow. Bonus points for Lucia.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: So please like or subscribe, and we will find your inbox every week with every new episode.
Quick note on our last short, on the Stations of the Cross.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Now, was it a sin to have them in the wrong order?
[00:02:35] Speaker B: No.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: It's just an accident.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: So it's not a.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: If someone did it on purpose. If someone was like, I'm going to mess this up and distract people from prayer, then that it could be sinful, but I don't think an accident like that is sinful. It's like spilling milk. It's like an accident. It's not really. Now, if someone was willfully negligent, just being careless, that would be sinful, but.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: Okay, then cry.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Correct. Okay. All right.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: I do have a quick question before we begin.
Back on more on to sins. Is it a sin to pray for more podcast subscribers?
[00:03:04] Speaker B: No, if we think that's what God wants.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Not my will, but thy will be done, kind of being the unspoken approach.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Okay, so we'll keep asking God and see. Hopefully he'll send them our way.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Excellent. All right, that is a Father Greg quality joke right there.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: That was a joke, sort of.
It was like a playful question.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: It was a Father Greg kind of a joke. Spirit indeed, coming soon to a homily near you.
Please get me out of this with a prayer. Okay.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: The name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you for your love for us and the gift of joy, the gift of friendship, the gift of faith. We ask that you pour out your blessings upon us, our family and friends, our parish. May you just fill us with your holy spirit and guide us. Bless those who listen. May your spirit be with them, especially to comfort them or strengthen them. Guide them through anything that they might be struggling with. We pray this in Jesus. Name the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Thank you, Father.
Well, let's reveal our saint of the week. Each week we have a new saint or saints, and we discuss a little bit about their lives. You know, as we strive to live out our mission as Catholics, we can always look to our saints for inspiration.
So this week we have the feast of saints Simon and St. Jude.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Yes, even today, as we record this, not to give away the secrets of the timing.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: And why are they celebrated together?
[00:04:23] Speaker B: It's a great question. Do you have an answer to that?
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Well, I think it's. What I've seen is ancient tradition suggesting that they evangelized together and were martyred together in Persia.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: That makes sense.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: And the Western church also placed their relics in a single shrine maybe around the 7th or 8th century.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: So that's. That's what I could find.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Right on. They're also both, like, not super known about. Like, they're kind of mystery in terms of their lives.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: So, yeah, there's not a lot about them in the Bible, but we've got St Simon referred to by Matthew and Mark as the canon. And Luke calls him the Zealot for his great zeal for the Jewish law.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Which. And this also distinguished him from the other Simon.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: And the Lord renamed as Peter the rock.
Now, St. Jude is one of two famous Judes, Judas Iscariot, normally called Judas. And I think we often think of Saint Judas Thaddeus.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: That's right, yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: For a long time I had a hard time putting together who St. Jude was. And it was finally over time we realized, oh, Saint Jude Thaddeus.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: Great.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: So he is very popular as the patron saint of hopeless causes and the author of the New Testament book, the Epistle of Jude. So as you said, not much is known about them through the Gospels, but even so, God chose these men, granted them holiness and worked through them in the lives of many in their own time, and continues to work through them today.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: St. Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes, lost causes, desperate situations and hope.
And St. Simon the Apostle is a patron saint of sawyers and. Oh, somebody who works with a saw.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: I was about to say, is that okay?
[00:06:09] Speaker A: I thought so, yes.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: I'm saying they're not called Sawyers.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Ah, you know pronunciation. I didn't review the pronunciation and maybe it should be Sawyer or saw. Er, saw er.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: But anyway, and take the bio. I actually don't know, to be honest with you, but.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Suggesting here that his patronage was linked to accounts of his martyrdom where he was allegedly martyred by being sawed in half.
Ouch.
Didn't do a deep dive in for quotes because they're the apostles. But I think we can agree that something they probably both said, jesus, I trust in you.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: It's quite likely. I'd be very surprised if they didn't say it.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
All right, it is time for ask Father Greg, we have a question.
Yes. One of our listeners wanted to ask a question, secret, secret question from a secret listener and it was about near death experiences. And what does the Church have an official position on near death experiences?
[00:07:11] Speaker B: To be honest with you, I'm not aware of a document of the Church explicitly noting near death experiences. It might be that I don't know about it though, so. But I would say that you are.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: You.
You are knowledge. Indeed you are the font of all knowledge.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Well, those are not quite true, but I do know some things, but I don't know all things. But even so, just knowing what I know from the Church. The Church would say that near death experiences are a very valid thing. That many people, when they die or they're close to death or they actually do die, like clinically. Like sometimes they're brain dead or their heart stops or something and they have these profound experiences where maybe they see the light or they experience God or they go to a place of like perfect love, or they might see like themselves floating over their body and they know they're dead and they start to see other things. And there's a lot of priests and scientists and so on who have done a lot of research on near death experiences and how they really support our faith.
A lot of near death experiences involves a person seeing like God or going to some special place of light. Even across different religions, there's a wide variety of religions that these people experience like virtually the same thing, which says something powerful, that they feel drawn to this place of light, often light.
And then maybe they get sent back. And then also sometimes it's a place of darkness that they feel like they're going to a place of punishment, but then they're grateful to come back. Sometimes there are people like that who say, like, God gave me another chance or something like that. So the commonalities of near death experiences are one of the ways that we could say God is showing through this miraculous gift to people that there is life after death and that there is a loving God. And if you piece all these accounts together, really it aligns 100% with our Catholic faith.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: You have a lot of experience being with people with last rites and at the moment, do you, Are you hearing.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Not hearing, like seeing them have a near death experience?
[00:09:18] Speaker A: How do you experience that with them?
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Let's say this, often I see them experiencing God in a powerful way, especially through the sacraments. They feel peaceful, they feel ready to go home. They feel comforted and consoled.
Note that there are many people who receive the last rites unconscious.
So those people, I don't really have any sign from them per se, although sometimes even you see, like in their body language, they might not say anything, but they just look more calm. It's really profound. But in terms of like seeing someone experience what looks like a live near death experience in front of me off the top of my head, I don't remember much of that, if they were well prepared. Often though, they do look very ready and peaceful and like, hopeful. But I'd say most of the time when the person's actually dying, I'm not usually there because hopefully I've come earlier because that's when the sacraments work and they can profit from them as much as possible.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Okay, that's a nice little insight into that process, too, that I think maybe something we can talk about on a future show. Sort of the process of last rites and that kind of comfort that you bring.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Okay. Well, thank you, Father, and thank you for that question too.
As always, a regular plea to. Please send in your questions by text, email, add a comment to secret notes, slip something into the collection bin. That would be okay, too.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Yeah, it would be.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: So this week's resource of the week is put out by the Canadian Bible Society. It's called the Daily Manna.
And so they put out each month a Bible quote each day to reflect on. And so I've got.
October's here. So today is October 28th, St. Jude and St. St. Simon. And today's is Psalm 85.8a. I will listen to what God the Lord says. He promises peace to his people.
So they give a verse of the day and something to reflect on. I find it helpful to kind of sit with the verse for a little while and then look for a reflection that helps put the.
The verse into context for me. There's a lot of these. A lot of them just for me right now at the stage that I'm at in my Bible knowledge. They come out of nowhere. And so try to put a little bit of context back to it.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: Good idea.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: It's a beautiful little PDF file. We'll just kind of show that up here. So that was. That's October.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: There we go.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And so just a very simple way of continuing and growing in devotion.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: That's good. Yeah. Even if they're not exquisitely Catholic, it's the word of God. And it always is a blessing to reflect on some word of God every day.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: Perfect. Love it.
Okay, so where are we at here this coming week? Oh, yes, in our liturgical year. So we've got Halloween is Friday, and you did a great number at explaining the.
Trying to reinsert Catholicism into Halloween, which people are very keen to separate the two.
So we got Halloween, Friday, Saturday, All Souls Day.
So can you kind of encapsulate their connection with the Catholic Church for us?
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Yeah, in fact, they're. I forget the term, but there used to be a word for these three days. And then we'd also use the word triduum for it. Of course, we talk about, like, the Paschal Triduum or the Easter triduum, which is, you know, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and then like the Easter Vigil, Saturday night, so to speak.
That's like the most important triduum, three days. Triduum is just Latin for, like, three Days. But this is also another, like more minor triduum in the life of the church. All Hallows Eve, Friday night, then All Saints day, which is November 1st, and then All Souls Day, November 2nd.
So All Hallows Eve, the evening of All Saints. We already start reflecting on the saints. And how can I be a saint? Should be a question we ask. How can I live like the saints? And All Saints Day doesn't just mean those canonized saints, which are models and intercessors for us, but also all those who are in heaven are recalled. In fact, we're often thinking of those who are uncanonized saints, all those who are in heaven. I mean, if you're in heaven, you're a saint now because you've been freed from all sin. So only saints get into heaven. You either die a saint or Purgatory makes you a saint.
And so we remember all those who are in heaven. And then All Souls Day, we remember all those who have died. And especially with a view to praying for any souls who are still in purgatory, that place where souls are being purified of any remnants of sin so as to be ready to enter the fullness of heaven. So All Hallows Eve, All Saints, all souls, it's its own kind of triduum, and it really helps us reflect on eternity, on the last things. Where are we going after this life? Are we living our life in a way that is leading us to heaven and helping others get to heaven?
[00:14:12] Speaker A: Wow.
All Saint.
Everyone in heaven is a saint.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Correct. That's quite hopeful indeed.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: That's quite hopeful, yeah. Does that include dogs? Because all dogs go to heaven.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: I'm not going to comment.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Maybe the ones who were blessed here.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Yeah, it's true. I mean, I can't say there aren't any dogs that are in heaven that were especially blessed on it.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Boy.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Francis would be bummed if there are no dogs in heaven.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: I'm sure there's animals in heaven. I'd be very surprised if there's not.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: Okay, right. That's something maybe we can talk about in a future episode too. The place of. Because all those animals at the Nativity scene.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: God created the animals good. They're part of his beautiful plan. And sometimes like, even like kids and near death experiences and so on to connect that. They talk about going and seeing animals and new colors and new whatever in heaven. And so, yeah, that's interesting.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: Maybe lions and tigers or bears.
Oh, my.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: I was like, if I don't say it, will he say it?
I give you a millisecond There's a Wizard of Oz reference for anyone who doesn't know that.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Oh, golly.
Well, Father, there is so much happening in our community. Our parish. Parishioners. Parish honors.
Yeah.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: We are honored to have these parishioners. They are like parish honors.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: They can check their bulletin every week and our online presence. But for everyone else out there throughout the greater Winon area who aren't actively attending us but will be in the near future, what highlights can you share for them?
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Yeah, well, we've got still RCA on Tuesday nights. We've got a great group of people excited to become Catholic. We've got no dogs. There's no dogs in RCIA that might be a little above them. I mean, I'd be pretty impressed if they can understand theology. I mean, not. Not saying you can't teach old dogs new tricks, but just saying that teaching them theology is a bit of a challenge. But anyways, we've also got next week, our.
Our Young adults night on November 8th. We've got our youth night on November 14th, our men's recollection on November 10th, family catechism on November 9th, and just lots of other stuff. We've got our Catholic a Young Adult Speed dating event on November 15th. It's already full of 25 males and 25 females.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Speed dating? Not speed skating.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Yeah, not speeding.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: Winter one. That's.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe. So those are a few things. And check out our bulletin for lots of exciting stuff.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Beautiful. Okay, well, all these great events happen on the. With the efforts of our. Our parishioners here. I got the pronunciation right. That was great.
Because none of this work happens on its own. It's all the great volunteers.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Who would you like to recognize in.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: The parish this week? This week, I'd like to recognize Vilma.
Vilma does an amazing job. She's a lector. She helps at St. Vincent de Paul Society. And she's just a really sweet, friendly lady. And she's a Catholic teacher. Like, Vilma's a really cool lady. So just props to Vilma for being awesome. Thanks for all you do.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Awesome. You're great, Vilma. Thank you. Vilma's also part of the pit.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: Ah, that's right. The parish improvement team, which we just kind of started meeting recently.
So. Yeah.
[00:17:26] Speaker A: That's wonderful.
All right. Well, that is just about all the time we have for today. Thank you for your insights, Father. Let's close with a prayer. Sure.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: 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 the joy of this podcast and the great gift of our parish and our faith. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon each of us. Help us to know that you are here with us right now, that you love us, you're present to us, you care for us more than we know.
Help us to receive that care and love more and more deeply into our mind and heart. And help us to let it overflow by the way we treat others around us. We ask that you would grant this and all the prayers we hold in our hearts, which we make in Jesus name. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: Thank you for that, Father. And thank you for blessing our humble podcast with your heavenly insights. We're still checking to see if our download numbers multiplied like loaves and fishes.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: After does that mean I'm supposed to, like, lift up my laptop and say thanks pedagogne? I won't break it, but okay.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Oh golly. Thanks also to our fans and friends and odds and ends for joining us again this week through the Immaculate Heart of Mary social media channels, the Apple podcasts, the Spotify and the YouTubes.
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.
Until next time, keep the faith, say your prayers, and hey, don't forget to tip your priest with a smile and a Hail Mary.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Thanks.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: Have a great week everyone. We are Father Greg and JD Leaving you smarter, happier and more blessed than you were yesterday.
