Episode Transcript
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Hey everybody. Welcome to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish podcast with father Greg and J.D. probably Winona's favorite cat Catholic podcast. Each week Father Greg and I connect on a variety of topics related to our faith at our parish in Winona, Ontario. And today is the sped up version of the show. As there's a big long lineup for confessions on this Tuesday night, we are here to help spread the good news and to further unite our parish community. This is episode number 41, celebrating a couple of things. Our one year anniversary of starting this podcast. Congratulations. Happy anniversary and Christmas.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Indeed. Starting tomorrow night.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Starting tomorrow night where all is calm until about 4pm tomorrow.
Yes, Advent is a season of waiting. So we'd like to thank you for waiting an extra week for this episode.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Remember, you can find us on the Spotify, the Apple podcasts and the YouTubes. So please like or subscribe and we will find your inbox with new content as soon as it's ready.
I have a quick question before we begin.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Getting really busy for you.
Do you run on Holy Spirit or just strong coffee right now?
[00:01:34] Speaker B: I think both are helpful.
The Holy Spirit's number one. But God has also given us the gift of coffee.
And God calls us to use all the natural and supernatural means to do his will.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Natural and supernatural. Okay, that's a good one. I got to make a note of that.
I have another quick question.
Is it harder to keep Christ at the center of Christmas or to keep puns out of the homily?
[00:02:03] Speaker B: I think the first one.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
Excellent. Well, those are Father Greg quality jokes. Almost stumped him on that one.
After that, you better start us off with a prayer. Sure.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your love for us.
We thank you for our parish and our listeners. And we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and guide us through whatever we might be going through, especially as we approach the Christmas season. Lord, may your comfort, guidance and blessing be upon us as we rejoice in the birth of Christ and allow him to lift us up with the joy that comes from him, even in the midst of any struggles we might be going through. We ask this in Jesus name, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Amen.
Well, let's reveal our saint of the week. First, your thoughts. What do you think of our saint of the week?
[00:02:51] Speaker B: The saint of the week, St. Jesus of quiet Roads. I've Never heard of that saint. But is this a real saint or just a JD chatgpt? Hallucinated saint.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Yeah, that would be a hallucinated saint.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Is this like, after your fifth cup of coffee, you come up with, let's.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Invent a new Jesus? Yeah.
And because there's enough saints of the.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Church, and you know what's a great name for a saint?
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Jesus of what?
[00:03:16] Speaker B: I don't know. Of Quiet Roads.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: So totally authentic.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: It sounds like you were on a long walk.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: St. Jesus of quiet Roads.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: So what is this? This is just to kind of like pull my chain and see what happens a little bit. Okay.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: But there are no saints celebrated during the Christmas buildup either. Oh, correct.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Kind of. Kind of. Not like today is technically Saint John Canty.
So it's just that the saints, instead of optional memorials, they kind of bumped down into something even smaller, which is called commemorations, which you can still note them at Mass. Like Tonight, I'll mention St. John Canty in the opening prayer in air quotes. I won't just mention him in the homily. He will be liturgically noted at the very beginning of prayer. But after that, there's no prayers mentioning his name in the Mass.
But it is true that December 17th and on any saints are really kind of super low key. The most low key. You could mention a saint in the Mass.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: So it's in that sense that it's Quiet Roads and that Jesus stands out.
I get your point.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Now to, gosh, to have achieved sainthood but still be low key, which is.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Almost true humility as expressed through liturgical celebration.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: How about that? Okay, well, St. Jesus of quiet Roads could have said the following.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Walk slowly enough so that love can keep up.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: That's not a bad. Is this what ChatGPT gave you again? I can tell.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Oh, totally. Yeah.
Biography, everything.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Stop basing all the podcasts on ChatGPT.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Oh, gosh, no, no. Only the fictional parts. Only the fictional.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: As long as we can say they're fictional. And hopefully they're still helpful for our listeners, because if they're not making them happier, smarter, more blessed, then it's all a sham.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: And I totally agree. And I think we've been pretty clear that this is a fake saint.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Okay. Okay, sounds good.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: But I'm sure he would have said, jesus, I trust in you. Or me, I trust in you.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Wow. I don't know what to say.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Oh, boy.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: But I do appreciate your silliness, and I do like being. And that I can understand and appreciate.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. Okay, so maybe let's get to a question.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Okay. Let's slide to Ask Father Greg. Each week we respond to a question submitted by a listener or one that we make up ourselves. And this is a regular appeal to. Please send in questions. And we do have some.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: Great.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: We'll get to those in our next episode because I have a couple of Christmas based ones.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Excellent.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Actually, before our question, I want to take exception to a question I asked the last time we were together. And your response? I asked about rosary meditations.
And my question was meandering around, as they sometimes do, and it was getting around to asking whether a rosary meditation that's not based on one of the actual mysteries as described, whether they count.
And we talked about this back and forth. We joked a little bit about it, but afterwards I felt I can't miss the crux of the matter that all prayer is really meaningful. Of course they all count.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Yes. Correct. All prayer counts in the sense that the Lord is pleased. And if it's authentic prayer, it's drawing us closer to God.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: He's not sitting there saying, that's not a rosary.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: That was outside the bounds. No graces for you.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: He's going regular prayer, not rosary prayer.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Okay.
Okay. Let me ask you about the X in Xmas.
I used to get really hot and bothered, you know, don't use X, put Christ back in Christmas. And then I learned Greek.
So is it okay for us to use Xmas in that sense?
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Like, obviously it's.
I think it's a chi. Yes. Yeah.
So that's just the Greek X and it's a symbol for Christ. So when you look at the Paschal candle, usually there's a chi rho, which looks kind of like a P and an X, and it's an ancient symbol of Christ.
And so Xmas. You could say that if we often denote Christ through the chi rho and an X is a big part of that and you have Xmas.
I think as long as the intention is Christian and positive, I myself am not going to chase people down over it because some people might think, oh, they're taking Christ out of Christmas. But I think a more historically nuanced perspective doesn't need to read that in per se.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
It was a big turnaround for me when reading the Greek origins and seeing. Wow, that's really okay. It's not. And as you said, it's really, ultimately what's in people's hearts is. Is going to work.
Now, you mentioned that the Pascal candle has a. Looks like A P and an X.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Gosh.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: But not all of them have it. But I'd say traditionally the Paschal candle does have that.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Holy cow. Because growing up in. I went to French churches for a number of years and always in my mind constructed that the P and the X are the first and last letters of peace, which is pen.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: So how about that? Okay. Learn something new every day here on the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish podcast.
A couple of other questions for you, if you don't mind.
First one is a nice soft one. How many O's are there in Gloria?
[00:08:25] Speaker B: I think this is a joke, but. O, o, o, o, o, o, o.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: O, o, o, o, R. Oh, I just have one.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Gloria, why did you ask me this question?
You can get dyslexic question for the next question. How many syllables, Gloria?
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Glory. Ah, Sounds like three to me.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: This is where you go in with the glo, which has 18.
There we go.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: This was a good trick question. You got me on that one. I didn't know this one.
That wasn't in the script.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: No, no, that was skillfully left out.
All right, let's quickly jump into our resource of the week. Another Matt Kelly. I got most of the Matt Kelly library going, and this week is his book, Slowing down to the Speed of Joy, which is a simple art of taking back your life. And he advertised this as a advent build up and for the season. Beautiful. And it came with this beautiful companion journal.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: And so there are guided sections. I'm on day 23 right now, starting on December 1st and so day 23. So every day there's a short reading to do in the book, and I want to get to the 23rd to see what we're doing today. It's been so long ago since I did this. All right. Leisure is the essential. Is essential to the human experience. So there's a little bit of a writings. And he asks a couple of key questions.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: And what his.
I guess what his main focus is to slow down. And that busyness steals joy.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: Right. Too much business takes away that breathing space to.
To think, to reflect, to experience Christ.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: So constant activity, the distractions keep us from clarity, peace, and meaningful living. And it's important to develop intentional habits which will create happiness. So he's guiding us through making good daily choices, setting up routines and priorities to shape a joyful life.
And I guess more importantly, as it relates to our purpose for being here, is that slowing down will help deepen the faith. Our faith and purpose.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that's a good point. Not only for Advent and next year's Advent, if you want to use this book as a resource, but a general point that we need to slow down, we need to create space. We need to have unbooked time where we just leave space to think, to reflect, to pray.
And that really allows the Lord to come in in ways we cannot foresee. And it's part of us surrendering control. Is creating space without a full plan.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Brilliant. Yeah, you hit on a couple of key points that I didn't even tip you off to. That's wonderful.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: There we go.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: One great line that he uses is that if the devil can't make us bad, he'll make us busy.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. And then that's how he knocks you off the straight and narrow gradually.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: And there was a good question earlier on in the book, too, asking, is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?
So it's a good reflection question.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Yeah, very obviously it's meant to be the first one and not your spare tire.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Goes without saying here especially, but it's.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Still worth saying it in case someone wanted to know for sure that Father supports the steering wheel prayer approach.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Oh, goodness. Well, holy cow. Jesus birthday is in two days.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Lots of great celebrations here in church. I know there's decorating happening today. It's going to be beautiful.
I have a few more questions to ask you about.
[00:11:47] Speaker B: Okay. You got a lot of questions.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: I do have a lot of questions.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Okay, that's good.
I have a question for you.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Can I tell you another reason why X is in Xmas?
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Because the Greek word for Christ actually starts with X.
And that's why xp, they're actually the first two letters of Christ in Greek. And that's why chi and rho are used as symbols of Jesus. And so that's why Xmas X is just the first letter of Christ in Greek. So it can just be a very Greek way of saying Christmas. Anyways, that was my question and I am happy to have shared that. Go ahead now.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Okay. We talked earlier about the 12 Days of Christmas and that they really don't start until Christmas.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Correct. 100%.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: What is the significance of the number 12?
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Well, A, there's the apostles and tribes of Israel, but also B, there's the song is actually meant to be a kind of hidden, sneaky way of Christians who are in persecution to share about the gospel in symbolic ways. And I can't remember exactly what each of them. Like the four is the four gospels Maybe you looked into it. I don't know if you're.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: No, it's more just thinking about very low key, like 12 days between Christmas.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: And it's also 12 because December 25th to January 6th, which would be traditionally epiphany can be six days or 12 days.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: 12 days.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: So if you include like the 25th to 31st and then like first to sixth, it's exactly 12 days, which.
Now that said, we don't restrict Christmas to those days because in the new calendar, epiphany can be a little bit more variable now.
So in any case, 12 Days of Christmas has various origins and purposes. Yeah.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Okay.
How many birds are given during the 12 days of Christmas?
[00:13:46] Speaker B: I'm sure you figured that out, so just tell me.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: 364.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: 364 birds.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: That is not true love. That is an assault.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: An assault. Someone who really wants to give birds. They are flying high.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: And the source, and it was a Catholic source, was saying that the five golden rings are actually linked to ring necked pheasants.
So they're actually birds contributing to the 364. Okay, here's a nice one for you. What feast is celebrated on January 1st in the Catholic Church?
[00:14:17] Speaker B: The solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Holy day of obligation.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: Yes. In Canada.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: All right, so good to know. For everyone to know.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Yeah. There's only two holy days of obligation, Canada, Christmas and January 1st.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: All right, good.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Which can be fulfilled by going on the eve of whether Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Perfect.
Okay. One more question. In the narrative of Jesus birth, how many times do angels say do not be afraid?
[00:14:44] Speaker B: I shouldn't.
It's kind of a random number, but I'm going to guess at least four or five.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Yeah, four. Yeah. According to this site anyway. Okay. Totally Catholic site.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Four times Catholicfacts.com JD's page.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: But goodness, that's a lot of time to say do not be afraid.
But it always seems to proceed something transformative that's coming.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: And please, you know, hang with us. Do not be afraid. This is going to be good.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: That's the colloquial translation.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: That's right. The common English Bible version.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Do not be afraid, Joseph. Do not be afraid. Barry Shepherds, do not be afraid.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Oh, lost my train of thought, but I'm sure it's. I'll get it back on the rails here in a second.
Coming up in church. Well, we've got a bunch of masses this weekend. Anything else that you want this Week.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: This weekend. This weekend, yeah.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Very busy time.
Any other events that you'd like to highlight?
[00:15:45] Speaker B: Well, we've got our last RCA session for the year tonight. We're really happy, as always, about how many want to become Catholic.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: We've got our Christmas Masses. We're very excited to celebrate the birth of Christ with everybody. It's gonna be wonderful.
And then, you know, if we looked at the next.
Next week, I'll be going with Peter, Seminarian Peter, to a gathering of seminarians and priests on Monday, kind of a Christmas gathering. So it's a nice thing. And then we've got next week in the middle of the week as well, as you mentioned, Mary Mother of God, on December 31st and January 1st.
And so just some. Some special celebrations. And I think it's a time, as you said, to slow down and just drink it in and deepen our prayer and let these mysteries wash over us and deepen our relationship with Jesus.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: Come spend some time in reflection in the church.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: And there's always a little bit of extra food and everything right now. So, you know, if you want that little extra workout, come to a couple more Masses. You can stand, sit, kneel, reflect.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: Right. So it's always. It'll all work out for us really well.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: There are so many people doing great work here at the parish. Who would you like to recognize this week, Father?
[00:16:56] Speaker B: I really want to recognize.
I have two. Two kind of categories. One is I really want to recognize all those who are setting up and decorating for Christmas and all those who are going to help with the Christmas stuff, whether it's again, decorations, music, altar serving, lectures, extraordinary ministers, ushers, and all the other behind the scenes people, people who make the Christmas experience that much more meaningful for everyone. They deserve a shout out. And I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful parishioners at our parish. The second person I really want to give a shout out to is St Nicholas, who came and really, really showed his love for Jesus here at Immaculate Heart of Mary. Honored me with some time. I mean, that's really humbling and really impressive. Out of all the Catholic churches he could stop at, he stopped here.
And I don't know if, like, his sleigh just broke down and he randomly showed up here. I don't know.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: I think that was very purposeful.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: I saw a reindeer, like, trying to get back off the ground, and I think he was taking the opportunity just to squeeze a little more prayer into his day. But it was. It was really an honor to be with him. So shout out to St Nicholas and I tried to encourage him to like us and follow us on Spotify, so I hope that he's gonna listen to this.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: All right, well, check the deets then. Yeah, excellent. So cheers to our parishioners, everyone helping behind the scenes, and Saint Nick.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: And let's hear some extra loud singing this week. Yeah, that would be outstanding.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Come and join us.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: All right, that is just about all the time we have for today. Thank you for your insights, Father. Shall we close with a prayer?
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Yeah. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you for your unconditional love for us. As we draw close to the birth of our Savior, we do so aware that he was born for each of us. Born to set us free from sin. Born to lavish your divine love on each, each of us. Born to take our hand and strengthen us through life. Born to show that he is willing to be so humble and so approachable so that we may be more able to draw close to him.
Born so that one day he would die on the cross for us and rise again so that we could have a share in eternal life. And so, as we draw near to this great mystery of our salvation, God, we humbly approach that prayer, precious baby Jesus, with awe and wonder, with gratitude and thanksgiving, and with a renewed desire to follow him, to see him in each person.
May you bless our listeners and our parish. May you guide us and help us to be open to all that you wish to do in our lives.
We ask this through the prayers of Mary, St. Joseph, St. Michael, all the saints, and in the name of Jesus, who is Lord forever and ever.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: That was a great closing prayer.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: Thanks, man. Thank you, Jesus.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Father. And thank you for lending us your voice and your vocation. You really provided us with a spiritual stocking stuffer today.
And thank you for being our North Star.
Thanks also 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 podcast, 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. Let them discern for themselves.
Until next time, stay holy, stay hopeful, say your prayers. And hey, don't forget to tip your priest with a smile and a Hail Mary. Have a merry Christmas, everyone. We are Father Greg and JD Leaving you smarter, happier and more blessed than you were yesterday.
