Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. It's a beautiful Wednesday, January 29th. We are cruising through ordinary time. We are coming up to the presentation of the Lord. And it's time for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish podcast with JD And Father Greg. Each week, Father Greg and I will 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. Happy Wednesday, Father. How are you this week so far?
[00:00:31] Speaker B: It's a good week.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: Did you want to.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Did you want more? Well, life is good. Just getting things off the to do list. Evangelizing, cool new developments, watching God work. Boom.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Living the life.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Living the life, Living the dream, even.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: That's great. I'd love to hear that.
Well, we asked for feedback, and we got it. Yes, indeed, Father. One out of one responder said that, yes, you bear a striking resemblance to St. Francis de Sal.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: There we go. And I didn't even vote, so five outs, two out of two.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: And we did have one right in vote, and that was also in favor. So that's actually two for two.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Okay, there we go. Yeah.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: I do have a quick question before we begin this week. I try to think, what comes after the liturgy?
[00:01:15] Speaker B: What comes after the liturgy the rest of your life?
I don't know. This is a joke. I can tell.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: I thought it was the letter H.
Litter.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: G. Oh, you're so clever.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: That's good. You got me.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: That is another Father Greg quality joke right there. And after that, you better start us off with a prayer.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: Sure. That's great. It's a pretty good joke, though. Liturgy. I'll never hear the word liturgy the same way.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Okay, coming soon to a homily near you.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: That's right. The name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you so much for this day. Your love for us, your presence here with us in our lives as we listen or watch. Lord, we know you're with us. And as always, we lift up any burdens, struggles, concerns, anything we might be carrying at this time, and help us to hear your voice. Help us to find the joy and the peace that flows from being close with you. Bless our family and friends and all that we hold in our hearts. We pray this in Jesus name, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: All right, let's get to it. Let's reveal our saint of the week. Each week we feature a saint and share some facts about their lives as we strive to live our mission as Catholics. We can always talk to our saints for inspiration.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: They have a question for you. Okay, can I, like, do sound effects for each segment? Like when you say saint of the week, can I go? Saint of the week. Saint of the week. Saint of the Week.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: That would add an excellent element.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Okay. Just. Just so you know, I might jump in with things like that. It's a lot of fun for me.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: Well, let's test drive it right now. Let's reveal our saint of the week.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Saint of the week. Saint of the week. Saint of the week.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Each week we feature a saint and saint. A sh. A saint. 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. This week's saint is a patron of learning and universities, and he integrated faith with reason. He was nicknamed the Dumb Ox by his fellow students in Paris because of his size, shyness, and quiet nature. I'm talking about, of course, St. Thomas Aquinas, whose memorial we celebrated on January 28. Born in 1226, he joined the Dominican order, overcoming family opposition, and renowned for his brilliance. He taught, wrote extensively and influenced theology, with his unfinished work, Summa Theologica, remaining a cornerstone. He died in 1274 and was canonized in 1323. And I love this quote from St. Thomas. Grant me, O Lord, my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.
That's beautiful.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Great.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: I've also embraced this quote. Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath, and a glass of wine.
But upon further research, he didn't actually say that.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: I heard that he did, though, so I'm intrigued.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: What he did say was that any pleasure is a remedy for sorrow. Not necessarily the best remedy, but it still works. Weeping is a remedy for sorrow because it provides an outlet for the sorrow. The sympathy of friends is a remedy for sorrow. Good friends are such a treasure. Contemplation of the truth is a remedy. And finally, sleep and baths are a remedy.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: So it's almost the same thing, except for he didn't mention wine.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: He slid in wine, which we can.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Maybe that's just biblical. I mean, that's already clear.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: That's right. It's already there.
Well, it is time for Ask Father Greg. Each week, we respond to a question submitted by a listener or one that we make up ourselves. This week's question kind of picks up from the one from three weeks ago when asked about the hierarchy of the Church, from the Pope on down, this week, we're going to slide into the spiritual word. You know, the prefaces mention archangels and saints and thrones, dominions and powers, along with seraphim and cherubim. In Colossians 1:16, we hear, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. A lot of terms to wrestle with in there. Who are they and what is their hierarchy?
[00:05:27] Speaker B: Father, great question about the angels. So here's an answer that is almost word for word from the modern Catholic Encyclopedia. Because why? Why reinvent the wheel, right? So it says the word angel is derived from the Greek word agylos. In English, angel has come to signify only supernatural beings, beings who mediate between God and humans. Angels praise God. They reveal God's will to mortals and act on behalf of God. Don't worry, I will eventually get to the choirs of angels. But just broad strokes. First, belief in angels has played a significant role in Judaism as well, as is made evident in the Bible. The book of Genesis speaks of the angel of the Lord who stops Abraham, who from sacrificing Isaac. And the angel tells Hagar in the wilderness also some instructions. And so in the Book of Judges, an angel appears to Gideon, and it's an angel who saves Daniel in the lion's den. So these are just a few of many times where the angels show up in even the Old Testament. In the New Testament, angels testify to the power and divinity of Jesus. They announce his incarnation and his birth. They also witness to his resurrection. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus describes 12 legions of angels who await his command. And angels prefigure, sorry, they figure prominently in the Book of Revelation where they announce and prepare for the second coming of Christ and the last judgment. Now, as Christianity developed, a tradition emerged of designating several orders or choirs of angels, and the number of these orders initially varied. However, by the late 5th century, Dionysius the Pseudo Areopagite had put forth the following hierarchy of angelic beings. So this is in order from highest angels to lowest seraphim, which show up in Isaiah, cherubim, mentioned in Genesis and elsewhere. So seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities. A lot of the last ones mentioned in the Epistles of St. Paul and then Archangels and Angels. So the first three Seraphim, Cherubim and thrones, Dionysius said, are dedicated to the contemplation of God. So they just focus on thinking about God, worshiping God. The next three govern the universe, the material universe, and the last three execute orders directly from God. Those were principalities, archangels and angels. So you might be surprised to hear that even though archangel sounds like very high up, it's actually the second lowest tier of these angels. So there's nine choirs here, and the first three, the middle three, and the last three are also in their. Each their own categories.
So there you go.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. Fascinating. Thank you for that kind of breakdown in the archangels. Surprising, as you said, how low they are in the hierarchy, but how much importance they provide for us here and how much comfort they provide for heroes here for us on earth.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: I think I should have had my.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Coffee a bit earlier today, and also I should just throw this in. We all have at least one guardian angel, right? Whether you're baptized or not, you have at least one guardian angel. Sometimes. If people have special missions or special roles in the church or the world, then God will even give them extra guardian angels. This is a tradition that priests have an extra guardian angel, that every parish has its own, like, special angel just for that parish. And so every country has its own guardian angel or special angel, too.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: So.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: So there's a lot of good angels watching out for us.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Have you heard of a guardian angel burning out?
[00:08:58] Speaker B: It's a good question. Thankfully, no. They can't burn out. They don't have bodies. Angels are pure spirits with no gender or body, so they can't, like, get tired. Although, like, I imagine it's. I don't know, maybe it's not always easy being an angel, watching someone do some wacky stuff.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. I was going to say. I think I thought I was on my second or third one.
Oh, gosh. All right. Well, thank you for that, Father. Now, looking ahead to next week, we are smack into ordinary time now. And this Sunday is the presentation of the Lord. And upcoming is a consecration to St Joseph, which could begin on February 15, leading up to the solemnity of St Joseph on March 19.
Anything else liturgically that we should be contemplating in the coming week?
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Well, that's. That's good that you mentioned that. We have the presentation, which is February 2nd coming up, and it used to be the end of the Christmas season, so some people have still been keeping the Christmas vibes going and the Christmas lights up until the presentation, which also has been called Candlemas because it's the day traditionally where we bless candles. So that's Just cool to know kind of good Catholic trivia. And then in terms of March 19th, the solemnity of St. Joseph. Yeah, great thing. If you have never heard of this consecration to St. Joseph Book, I'm holding one for those watching the video. Great, great book. Totally recommend it. And it's kind of like 33 days or so of preparation to get to know St. Joseph and then kind of entrust yourself to his care in a special way. And so, yeah, that would begin February 15th, leading up to the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19th. That day, we're going to have a morning Mass and an evening Mass, because solemnity is a big deal. St. Joseph's a big deal. So we'll also kind of have a special chance in the evening for those who want to come and honor Saint Joseph.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Okay. So consider diving into that as an opportunity to become closer to St. Joseph and his teaching and his role in Jesus life.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: So we're going to get to the resource of the week. And I was thinking, how could we have started this section without first focusing on the Bible?
[00:10:55] Speaker B: Do you mean resource of the week? Resource of the week. Resource of the week.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: That one doesn't roll off quite as nicely, but I still love the echo factor resource. You did a fantastic job in your homily last week of highlighting some resources that are available to us and in the newsletter that is produced at the end of each Mass with a summary of your homily. It's a great set of resources, including Formed, which we covered last week.
So there's a, for our parishioners, that beautiful summary of resources on the back. But each week we'll talk about a different one. And maybe this week I thought we could talk about the Ascension Press podcasts.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Right? Ascension Press, they're. They're doing great work.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Wow. Are you actively. Which ones have you actively participated in?
[00:11:38] Speaker B: So. So Ascension Press or just sometimes called Ascension. They have a lot of, like, podcasts, videos. They've got a lot of kind of really well known Catholic personalities that are kind of under their umbrella. If you Google like Catholic Ascension Press, you'll find so much great stuff.
Bible in a Year podcast was great. Catechism in a Year Podcast was great. The Catechism is a book that summarizes what we believe as Catholics. Rosary in a Year podcast, which is going on right now. It's new. This year is going great. Those are all great. I mean, if I could get everyone to do those, like, their lives would be transformed. It's amazing.
But they also have lots of Great like videos on YouTube and other like. Like Father Michael Schmitz has his own kind of podcast and they just got such good resources that are very catchy, engaging, very like high production value, relevant for our, our time. Anything from Ascension is really good.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm involved right now in the Bible in a year, so I'm working my way, trying really hard to keep up. And the catechism of year I find fascinating.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: So good.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Just learning some of the. Right now we're in the strict background phase of, you know, where has it come from and what are the fundamental beliefs. And also inspired by our parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Rosary in the Year podcast, which is really good.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: It's very peaceful.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: It is very peaceful. And I was expecting to be much more narrow in focus.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: You know, so shelve your assumptions. You know, when you're diving into something like this and just go for the listen and just enjoy being part of that environment for a short while each day and. And pray on it and. And just enjoy it. So any one of those as is a beautiful entry point. And the nice part is they say in a year they're not really tied to the calendar.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Yeah. You can go at your own pace.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, I just, because of how I'm wired, started January 1st and I want to make sure I stay on pace and keep going. But you know, he talks about often, don't worry if you miss a day. You know, just pick it up the next day. Pick it up the next day. And he one comment that he uses quite regularly. The hardest day to pick up your Bible is the day after you don't pick up your Bible.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: It's like, wow, that's very profound. So just. Just to keep going.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: So last week forum this week, Bible in a Year, Catechism in a Year, Rosary in the Year. Any great.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: All great starting points from Ascension.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: From Ascension.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: And that's the RIRI Re Resource of the week.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: That sounded great. Okay.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: It's so much fun.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Keep that one.
There is so much happening in our community and our parish owners, or also known as parishioners, can check the bulletin to keep up.
For everyone else out there, Father, what are some of the highlights of the coming week?
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Sure. Well, we're starting up the Chosen series, season two coming up this Saturday, beginning with the finale of the first season because I myself didn't actually get to see it. So we decided to throw that in. But we'll be watching that Saturday night. So if you're interested in the chosen Even if you've seen it again and again, you still might want to watch it. And then also join us for the chats we have after really great conversations about what was in the Bible, what wasn't, you know, it's really interesting to hear how different people receive the series. So that's the chosen. Saturday nights after the 5 o'clock mass. February 8th, we've got our next young adults event on relationships, discernment and more. And the first one is a lot of fun. We had like 30 young adults out. So much fun. And I'm sure it's just going to get better. February 10th, that's a Monday night. We have our monthly men's retreat or recollection where just a nice time in the evening, just to have some time. I give a little talk and we've got adoration, confessions, some nice time to hang out. It's good for the men. And there's women's retreats that are also done at St. Anne's downtown, in case you were wondering about that. February 12th and 13th you might find neat to know that Bishops Crosby and Lobsing are coming to do the confirmations for our schools. And February 14th is the Hamilton Diocese vocations dance for young adults. There's a vocations night dance thing that's kind of cool. And then I will do a shameless plug for my Rome pilgrimage. May 11th to May 23rd. It's gonna be amazing. It just gets better and better the more I learn about where we're going. And we're making more videos to really attract people to come. It's gonna be great. James is gonna come, I'm gonna be there. And it looks like my dad is gonna come. So if you wanna meet my dad, you can come. If you wanna see just like incredible things, once in a lifetime pilgrimage. Okay, I'm done. My shameless plug. Plug, plug, plug, plug.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Where can we see these videos?
[00:16:11] Speaker B: The videos are just kind of stay tuned to our regular social media and they'll be on there, there. Maybe YouTube and connaissance travel and Tours is the agency that's helping organize this. They've done so many of these types of trips and they've really put together a great package, great deal, great plan. And they do so much work so it can be a little easier for us.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Okay. We did a connaissance tour last year.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: At the Long Beach.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Fantastic organization.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Throw our full support behind them. It was incredibly organized, very detailed and what a. What a changing experience it was. So looking forward to this One as well.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: So come with us.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Come with us. Just follow us. We'll follow you. We'll follow you.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Father Greg, there are so many great people doing amazing work at Immaculate Heart of Mary. Who do you want to recognize in the parish this week?
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Well, this week I thought I would give a shout out to Deacon Joe, who's our permanent deacon. He's the only other ordained person assigned by the bishop to this parish. So it's good to give Deacon Joe a shout out. You know, a lot of people might not know that his official ministry right now is the St. Joseph's Men's Group. That not only does he do at our parish, but he's starting to grow them at other parishes. And it's really helping men come together, grow in their faith, pray together.
It's really great to see, and he really enjoys it. And the men really, you know, have great conversations, great time, praying and learning about their faith. So Deacon Joe has been here longer than me, and I know that he really does his best to help around the parish. So thanks, Deacon Joe, for the good that you do. Here's my shout out to you.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Excellent. Thank you, Deacon Joe. Excellent, excellent work.
Well, that is just about all the time we have for this week. Thank you for your insights, Father, shall we close with a prayer?
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you again for your love for us, your presence in our lives, and all the great things that you're doing in and around us, and the great resources you provide for us, the great liturgical cycle that also helps us draw closer to you and the great opportunities we have to continue to grow in our faith. Bless us. Bless our listeners, our watchers. Bless everyone who in any way is connected to this podcast. And may your Holy Spirit be upon them, their family and friends. And we pray this in Jesus name. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: Thank you, Father. And thanks to our fans and friends and odds and ends for joining us this week. We can probably close off with a big amen, which is probably the only prayer that everyone knows.
You can now find us through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, social media channels, Apple podcasts, Spotify, and the YouTube. And 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 JD and Father Greg, leaving you smarter, happier, and more blessed than you were yesterday.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Bye for now.
