Episode Transcript
[00:00:23] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish podcast with Father Greg and JD. Yeah, probably still Winona's favorite Catholic podcast.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: We hope so.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: And now available in bite sized segments.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Did anybody reach out to you about with another Catholic podcast in Winona?
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Not yet.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: All right. Okay. There's your challenge. We want to work with you.
And of course, we're here to spread the good news and further unite our parish community. And this is week number or episode number 47. We are celebrating St. John Paul II and I want to ask you about the rosary and an upcoming Catholic Women's League event.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Remember, you can find us on the Spotify, the Apple podcasts, and the YouTubes. So please like and subscribe and we'll fill your inbox with new content as soon as we have it ready. I do have a quick question before we begin.
Have you ever heard of a dentist leaving their practice to join the priesthood?
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Yeah, it's actually one of my friends.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Yeah. All right.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: And do you think his patients thanked him for his past oral care?
[00:01:24] Speaker B: I think they definitely did. And they probably would thank him for his pastoral care too.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Okay, so he's two for one.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah, he's two for one.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: That's awesome. I love when a story comes together like that.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Yeah, it was true. Who knew he didn't expect that one.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Indeed, a Father Greg quality joke right there. After that, you better start us off with a prayer.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Sure. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, we lift up our hearts, our lives, our souls, our vocations, our parish. Everything to you. Yes, you fill us and bless us with your Holy Spirit. Give us wisdom and bless our viewers and listeners with your presence, your peace, your comfort, your guidance. Guide us today and always. We ask this in Jesus. Name the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Thank you, Father. Let's reveal our saint of the week. Each week we feature a saint and share some facts about their life as we strive to live out our mission as Catholics, we can always look to our saints for inspiration. And this week we'll focus on St. John Paul II with a papal motto of Totus tuis, meaning totally yours. Dedicated to Mary, of course. St. John Paul II, frequently called the Rosary his favorite prayer and brought a major revitalizing spark to the devotion in the 21st century.
And in 2002, he declared the year of the Rosary and authored an apostolic letter. Yeah, one of those letter.
In it, he introduced the five new mysteries, the luminous mysteries, of course.
How has St. John Paul impacted your life?
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I think he's impacted my life by impacting so many people's lives. But Theology of the Body, so many of his documents, veritatist splendor, which is a document of morality, what's right and wrong is very beautiful. Yeah, I mean, we could go on all day.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Well, and when we focus on the rosary as a big part of our parish as well, the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. He continued to lend prominence, which was already there, to Mary's Immaculate Heart.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Of course we should share a quote. It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness. He's waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you.
I think he may have also said,
[00:03:25] Speaker B: jesus, I trust in you, definitely, because he can. And I say, Faustina.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Okay, so there we go.
Okay, well, it is time for Ask Father Greg. Each week we respond to a question submitted by a listener or a question that we make up ourselves.
And we seek Father's wisdom and guidance.
So this week I want to ask about a couple of coincidences that have happened. So quick, focus on the Bible basics for Catholics. Great book, Great book by John Bergsma. And so started it again. And one of the focuses is on all the different covenants that God has had with humanity. And the very beginning, they focus on mountains and how all the covenants had a mountain involved. So I start that on Saturday. We get to the reading on Sunday and the first reading from Isaiah up on a mountain. I thought, okay, that happened. And then another one last week was having read the passage where Peter talks about how time is for God and that comes up the very next day in the chosen, that exact same passage. Can you help me understand how those
[00:04:34] Speaker B: coincidences, what to make of that? Yeah, I, I think that anyone who is really immersed in the Bible and trying to learn will see this a lot. And sometimes it's just coincidence because yeah, there's a lot of similar themes in the scriptures and it is God's word. So it is going to relate to us all the time. But also, yeah, sometimes those little God incidents are God kind of little. Just drop a little sign that he's here, he's watching you, he sees you and he loves you and he wants to speak something special to you.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: I love that term, God incidences instead of coincidences. Well done.
Our resource of the week is the rosary.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Wow.
Peak rosary, which is top tier resource,
[00:05:11] Speaker A: which is fitting for October being rosary month and St. John Paul II. And there we go. A Little pocket rosary there for visual aid.
Father, what brings you joy about the rosary?
[00:05:25] Speaker B: I think just reflecting on the different mysteries is so powerful. Like, you know, there's infinite depth in every mystery. Like, the more you think about, okay, what was it like for Jesus to be born? What was it like for Mary? What was that like for God to make that plan? Or what was that like when Mary visited Elizabeth?
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Or what was that like when Jesus was lost in the temple? Or, you know, like, there's infinite history and theology and experience, and we can imagine what that was like. And also, I like to ask myself, what can I take from this mystery that will make me a better person today?
Right. What can I take?
What. What virtue or good habit or inspiration can I take now from this mystery? And that helps me feel more connected to the mysteries, too, and help them bear fruit in my life.
Or sometimes I just. If I'm tired, I just. I just picture myself in the scene, and I'm just sitting on a rock watching the scene, and I'm like, hey, I'm here with Jesus and Mary. That's enough for me right now.
Excellent.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Well, I want to double down on the rosary and that theme and ask, is it ever part of Mass? When does it fit into our celebration?
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Yeah, it's not part of the Mass, but it could precede or follow.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Okay, all right.
And preceding every Mass here, the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a little wee bit of a rosary.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Yeah, it disposes us, I think, well, for the graces of the Mass. Like, the more we come early before Mass, the more our heart, our soul just settle. They start to become more fertile ground for the seed of the Gospel that we're going to hear and the other graces God is going to pour on us at the Mass. So.
And plus, the more we pray the rosary with other people, there's a power in praying it together.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Oh, for sure.
Is there a number of rosaries that we should be doing in a day?
[00:07:09] Speaker B: I hate to say Christian, but yeah, no, no, I think that's fair. Like, when Mary appeared at Fatima, she definitely said, pray the rosary every day. Now, it's important for us to know that previously the rosary was considered to be all 15. Then it was 15 mysteries. Now it's 20 mysteries.
So there were people who would regularly pray, like, all 15 decades. Right now, for us, I think a good target is to aim for one whole rosary where you pray with the mystery set for that day that's most customary. Like, today happens to be Tuesday. It's the Sorrowful Mysteries. Wednesday's glorious, Thursday's luminous, Saturday's joyful, and so on. I think it's a good goal. And that's not easy at first. You got to work your way up there. But I find the more you do that, the more you just feel so good and things start to go better. Like it's an act of faith to do that. Because you might say, oh, I could put that 15, 20 minutes into something else.
But, I mean, maybe there we can invest some time in the Lord and watch how he multiplies our time.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Ah, brilliant.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, let's shift to events at the parish now. And at the end of October, there's a Catholic Women's League retreat. But spoiler alert, not just for the women of the parish.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: What?
[00:08:21] Speaker A: So what gives with that?
[00:08:22] Speaker B: I didn't even know. But I'm happy that everyone's available and able to go. That's great. Yeah, I support that. You don't have to be one or the other to host and welcome people to a retreat. So the more the merrier. 100%.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: If the CWL president were here, we could ask her about this event.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: I bet she'd have something to say. Do you want her to say something?
[00:08:41] Speaker A: I think it would be great. I think it'd be awesome.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: I think she's happy to watch on
[00:08:46] Speaker A: the behind the scenes or feed us some content.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Well, I think we can just say if you would like to come to an amazing retreat to get closer to our Lord, it is on the amazingly well scheduled date of Friday, October 30th.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: From 9 to 12.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: October 30th. And our focus from 9 to 12, focusing on Mary, a great model for all of us. Check it out.
We'll have mass and then we can stay and pray and hang out, make some friends. It's a great time. And if you tell me the secret password. The secret password is rap for me on that day. If you tell me rap for me on that day, I will write a rap for you.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Awesome.
Well, that is just about all the time we have for today. Thank you for your insights again, Father. Let's close with a prayer.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Sure. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you for this day and this time to reflect with you on Saint Pope John Paul ii, the rosary retreats, and other ways we get closer to you. Fill us with your spirit. Bless our listeners, those who view this, and bless our parish to be everything you want it to be. We pray this in Jesus name in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Thank you Father.
And thank you for sharing your wisdom, your faith and your wonderfully good humor. And thank you for reminding us that the best way to make a long story short is not to tell it.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: There we go.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: Thanks also to our fans and friends and odds and ends for joining us this week through the Immaculate Heart of Mary's social media channels, the Apple podcast, the Spotify or the YouTubes. If you like our show, subscribe and tell your friends. If you don't like our show, tell them anyway and let them discern for themselves. Until next time, stay holy, stay hopeful, say your prayers and don't forget to tip your priest with a smile and a Hail Mary. Yes, please have a great week everyone. We are Father Greg and JD leaving you smarter, happier and more blessed than you were last time.
