Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Podcast with Father Greg and jd. 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 community. This is episode seven, and we'll be talking about Saint Agatha and featuring another great resource to help us with our fee. Now, remember, you can find us on Spotify, Apple podcasts, and the YouTube every week. But really, why find us when you can subscribe and we can find you every week? So just click that subscribe button wherever you're watching or listening.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: So we can find you.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: So we can find you.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: It's not creepy at all.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Well, I'm sort of thinking more in a lost sheep kind of sense, but.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Totally, we're here to find you, to serve you, make it easy for us to find you.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Excellent, excellent, excellent. What's exciting on this Wednesday for you, Father Greg?
[00:00:56] Speaker B: I'm living the dream. I've got cool people here.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Where are they?
[00:01:02] Speaker B: There's one. There's one. And. Yeah, things are good.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Excellent. I'd love to hear that. Well, I love an adventure, and I know that you love an adventure. Also, it's probably time to introduce Lucia, our Paris social media coordinator, who also has taken on the roles of editor, videographer, filmographer. She is awesome. I'm sure there are many other roles that she does that I just didn't say.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Right now, Lucia is behind the camera, and if she ever wants to appear, we'll let her appear.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Okay. Yes. We'll just summon her and she will appear.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: There we go.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: I have a quick question before we begin this week. Do you know the Pope's favorite musical note?
[00:01:42] Speaker B: The Pope's favorite musical note?
I don't know.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: That would be the Holy See, I think.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Oh, the Holy See. What makes it the Holy See?
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Because it's the Popes.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Okay. If the Pope plays the C, it's the Holy See.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Indeed. Indeed it is.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: That's. That's pretty good. The Holy See. That's a good note.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: It's another Father. Great quality joke right there. After that, you better start us off with a prayer.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: There we go. Happy to. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God, we thank you for always being with us and watching over us. We thank you for all the ways you bless us and guide us, and we just again, lift up our needs and our families and friends, those who are listening to you. Lord, may you help them, to make them aware of your presence and of your love. Right with them where they are. Bless our podcast. Inspire all we do. Bless our parish community and strengthen your church. We pray this in Jesus name. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, Father.
Well, let's reveal our saint of the week, shall we?
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Reveal, reveal, reveal.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Each week we reveal and feature a saint and share some facts about their lives as we strive to live at our mission. As Catholics, we can always look to our saints for inspiration. St. Agatha this week. She was a Christian martyr from the third century Sicily, known for her unwavering faith and courage, kind of a hallmark for saints. She was persecuted for rejecting the advances of Roman officials and endured brutal torture, including the mutilation of her breasts. Despite her suffering, she remained devoted to God, praying for strength. She's venerated as the patron saint of breast cancer patients, nurses and bakers. Her feast day today, in fact February 5th, honors her sacrifice and steadfast faith. I love this quote from Saint Agatha. Jesus Christ, lord of all things, you see my heart, you know my desires possess all that I am you alone, I am your sheep. Make me worthy to overcome the devil.
Such a simple quote, such a simple prayer, but hits on such an important aspect. Devil's out there. And so whatever help we can get to combat and to keep him at bay is necessary. What a great little prayer to be able to help do that.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: And. And also Lord. And Jesus knows, knows our desires. He just knows. So if sometimes you don't have the courage to speak them, understand that they already know.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Amen. Yeah. God hears our desires of our heart. Yeah.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: Okay, it is time for Ask Father Greg. Each week we respond to a question.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: Question, question, question by a listener.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: I don't know. It catches me off guard every time. I know it's coming.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: That's part of the fun.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: So it's either going to be a question from one of our listeners or one we make up ourselves. This week's question comes from a young person who wants to come to church but is hesitant. So what would you tell them about their first visits to church? How. How would you help them get in the door? Not meaning opening the door because ushers and our great team do that. Now, we could also include this for not only a young person, but for, say, an adult. The lost sheep in our parish. I remember Isaiah 43, 1819 reminds us of God's promise to erase the past and create a new future. Do not remember the former things. Or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
So what say you, Father? How would you. How are you going to help these people?
[00:05:27] Speaker B: Yeah, Excuse me. I think. I think that there's a lot of things we could say, but just going back to the core of this question is someone wants to come back to church but is hesitant. You know, there's lots of reasons we could be hesitant to come church. Lots of reasons. Maybe we've been hurt by someone in the church. Maybe we've heard of bad things members of the church, even leaders of the church have done.
Maybe we have a lot of questions about the teachings of the church and we're not sure. Maybe we wonder if when we go to church, people will welcome us or if they'll just leave us alone. Or worse, if someone might give us an eye that we find discouraging. There's lots of reasons why someone could feel discouraged from going to church. Maybe the shame of their sins, maybe they feel unworthy. And there's lots of other reasons. And it's first good for us just to notice those reasons and to be able to acknowledge them.
And then we have to put all those reasons in the context of the fact that Jesus loves us so much that he gave us the church. Jesus, in Matthew 16:18, he says to St. Peter on you I am building my church. Ekklesia, which is the gathered people of God, which is the pillar and bulwark of the truth. Truth. St. Paul says to Timothy 1st Timothy 3:15, the church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth. So the church is a gift from Jesus and he protects the church. Is every member of the church perfect? No.
And the famous G.K. chesterton once said, if you want to join a perfect church, go ahead. But it won't be perfect anymore because we are not perfect either. And we have to remember that the church is a place where we are all welcome no matter what we've done, where we've been. I myself, as a person who used to make fun of, not proud of this, but in my lack of knowledge, I made fun of my friends who at the time are going to church. I didn't know. And you know, God is merciful. Whatever we've done, wherever we've been, the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. As Pope Francis says, people don't go to church because they think they're perfect. They go to church because they know they're not. Because they know they need help. So it'd be easy to say, well, church is full of hypocrites, so I don't want to be there. Well, truth be told, probably all of us have a little bit of hypocrisy in our life, but maybe we can go to God to get some help for that. And the scripture is very clear that God wants us to gather together while the Lord's day to worship him, to do this in memory of me and to receive his grace. And even before we had the canon of scripture, we had the church. The church is what God gave us. The Bible through the church is a place of healing, of comfort. And I get to see this as the priest so often. So if anyone is hesitant to come to church, just let's say that's understandable. That's understandable. In a broken world with sinners in the church, that's understandable.
But look further than that. See more than the sinners, see more than the broken, see God, see his arms of mercy, see his welcome, hear his call, hear him want to pick you up and carry you, the lost sheep on his shoulders, home and come to church. And I bet you're going to find it's a lot better than you might in your catastrophizing think. Maybe you actually experience a very warm welcome. Maybe you experience really kind people. We're blessed at my parish and really every parish has so many wonderful, kind hearted, generous people who are really trying to follow Jesus. And they will inspire you. They inspire me. So don't give up. And also come and ask the priest if you have questions about the faith or whatever it is that makes you hesitant to come to church. I really encourage you. Talk to the priest. Like, I'd love to meet you. Anyone here listening? Come and make an appointment with me. I would be so happy to chat with you, hear your questions, answer them, address your concerns. Questions are good. That's how I came to be where I am too. So just know that you're understood. God understands. God meets you where you're at. He loves you, he welcomes you, he calls you home. And we have this little sign out in front of our church says welcome home. And I've had a lot of people tell me that that really moved them and that it was part of how they felt drawn to our church. So just know the church is your home too. And if it's not perfect, help us make it better. Because you are important. Every person, you can make the church better. You have gifts from God. We need your help, and you are so welcome. No matter what is going on in your life, we're here to support you. We're a family, the family of God. So I hope that some of that is helpful to anyone who either is personally wondering about the church, or maybe we all have friends and family, and this could inform our approach in how we try to help invite them back.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Wow. That answers going into the ask. Father Greg hall of Fame.
Beautiful.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: God bless you. Thank you.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: We just need a starting point, you know, just show up.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Maybe. Maybe that's a starting point. Show up, sit in the last pew.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Sit back, relax, listen and observe and start to feel the flow. Just start somewhere. Yeah, start somewhere. What a. And what a great way that you've expressed how they can overcome the hesitation. So hall of Fame, first ballot nominee automatically. But it also brings up the point that it's really important for us to talk more about God, Jesus, and our faith. And Father Mike talks about not being afraid of using big words. And I often kind of shake my head a little bit at some of the big words that keep appearing.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Do you mean Father Michael Schmitz on, like, certain podcasts?
[00:11:10] Speaker A: On a certain podcast, yes. So he. He referenced the Nicene Creed and how they use the word consubstantial.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: He said, why not just say one in the same with. He said, I think that was the wording at one time. But. But using the big words kind of pushes our vocabulary a little bit and makes us do some research, right?
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Yeah. It stretches us in a good way sometimes and.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: And makes us learn. So. So I'm no longer afraid when I see big words. I think, okay, this is an opportunity for me to dive in and for me to learn. But speaking of talking about our faith, that comes into our resource of the week, these Talking Point Christian Edition conversations with purpose. So they're these cards that can just open up a conversation with your family, with your friends, with your local parish priest, with a videographer, perhaps.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Can I see one?
Resource, Resource. Resource.
Whoa. This is cool. So I think because this is my first time talking about this, I think these are a series of cards that just help you to have fruitful conversations, and they're nice little questions to talk about with whoever you're with. Is this correct?
[00:12:16] Speaker A: This is correct.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Wow. Do you want me to ask you this question?
[00:12:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: I think it's a good question.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: All right, lay it on.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Here's the question for jd. What is the most comforting part of the Bible to you.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Oh, I'm going to get the number wrong, but I'm going to say it's the 150 times where it says be not afraid.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Sure. That's awesome. It doesn't give an answer, obviously.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Totally opinion questions now. So there are four categories. There's the. You pick from your faith journey.
So where we think back over our lives and reflect on where you've seen God working and how he has changed you. That's all you're going.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: The green category is the world around.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: Us feel like they should be paying us for, like, advertising.
Where's our sponsors tech cards?
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Maybe that was the phone call that we missed.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Maybe.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Maybe there's a section on personal beliefs to an opportunity to really understand what you believe and talk about specific topics. And there are some. There's a section on Bible truths.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: That's so cool.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: And so let's.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: I'm actually super interested in these because if I hang out with people, it's nice to have something that keeps you having a fruitful conversation lest it get on a wacky track.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Oh, this is cool. This is like an actual trivia question. Wait, are you giving. Should you be asking me this?
[00:13:36] Speaker A: Yes, I should.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna pretend I didn't see anything.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: I'm gonna put it in the back of the.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: This looks like so much. Honestly, this would be a really fun activity.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Who wrote the Bible?
[00:13:47] Speaker B: Who wrote the Bible?
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: I'm gonna guess. I'm just gonna make a wild guess. I don't know what that says. I'm guessing that part of the answer is God or the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Ooh, people who were taught by the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: People who were taught by the Holy Spirit. Inspired by the Holy spirit according to.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: 2 Peter 1, verse 21.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: There we go. Oh, nice. Even gives a scripture quote.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Yes, it does. For each of those.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Oh, man, this is so much fun. Can I see one?
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Random, random one. I promise we're not going to spend all day on the podcast playing this. It's just kind of fun. Whoa.
Oh, whoa. This is called the personal beliefs thing. This is a very edgy question.
Do you think there is one God, multiple gods or no gods? Why do you believe that?
[00:14:32] Speaker A: I'm going with one. And that's a foundation of one God.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: One God, one God.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Is that the correct answer? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Oh, fascinating. But just the. You know, I suppose we're not going to have too much of a controversial conversation with that one here, but for. For a family who's maybe starting out on their journey.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Or friends who are kind of multiple faiths.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Bring up the conversation and see where it goes.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: That's so cool. This is called Christian. What do you call this again?
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Talking point.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: Christian talking point. Cards. Talking point. That's awesome. Can I buy these off you?
[00:15:09] Speaker A: It can be a church donation. Whoa.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: That's an amazing donation. No pressure. No pressure. Don't feel coerced because you're on the podcast.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. Okay.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: We really sold those. Well, but I'm really. I want those.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Aren't they fun? Okay. All right. Coming soon to a dinner party near you.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: I got to bring those when I get invited for house blessings.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: All right, well, let's move on to the liturgical calendar. We are cruising along in Ordinary Time.
So what. What should we be focused on now?
[00:15:41] Speaker B: What's.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: What's coming up in. In our liturgical lives? Life's lives?
[00:15:46] Speaker B: No, it's fun to mix the new words with s on the end.
So Ordinary Time, it's still green. And as I said at the beginning, green means grow. Green means go. Like, go forward in our faith. Like, a green light tells us to go. And it also symbolizes hope, traditionally green. So this is a jubilee year of hope. So every weekend. I mean, this last weekend, we had the Feast of the Presentation, so we didn't see much green there, but we're really kind of trying to grow and go deeper to God, and that fills us with hope. And every Sunday, the scripture passages provide real, deep content for our reflection and to really both inspire and often challenge us so that we continue to grow and mature in Christ. St. Paul says that he wants us to reach the full stature of Christ, and in that sense, we're always growing, we're always learning. So to be honest with you, I can't say there's any, like, mega highlights of Ordinary Time that are coming up that I'm currently aware of, but I would just say every Sunday in Ordinary Time, I think, is a super underrated, extraordinary time to grow closer to God, to grow, to go forward, to hope in Him. And we want to make that posture of just expecting to grow from the Sunday Mass part of our regular routine.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: Go and grow.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: Grow and go. Love, that rhymes both ways, no matter how you slice it.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it's totally a flow.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Totally the flow. To go and grow.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: Yeah, bro.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Could be a new rap of the week.
There is so much happening in our community and. And our parish, of course. What do you want to draw attention to for parish Events today.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Here's a rapid fire of some upcoming things or cool things, I think.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: Rapid fire. Rapid fire. Rapid fire.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, there we go. You did it. That's so good.
Okay. As usual, we have RCA on Tuesdays. I'm just always so excited as our many people are preparing to become Catholic. Chosen series on Saturday nights picks up again. Season two, a lot of fun. February 8th, our next parish, Young Adults eventually event on relationships, discernment and more. And February 10th, our little monthly men's retreat of recollection. Always a great time. February 12th and 13th, we've got bishops Crosby and Lobsinger coming for the confirmations of those in our schools. That's exciting. February 14th is the Hamilton Diocesan Vocations Night. There's a dance. I'm going to be there. I'm not going to dance. Please don't think I'm going to dance.
Me and a few other priests and a lot of young people. That's February 14, February 28, we're hoping to have our parishes kind of first youth group in a while. And more information is going to be coming about that. And March 1st, Bishop's Charity Dinner. If you want tickets to come with me and others to that, Bishop Crosby will be there. That's really cool. And as always, my Rome pilgrimage plug, where you can hang out with JD and I and travel to Rome and experience the. The Pope and the Sistine Chapel and just countless incredible places. Come and hang out in the Coliseum. Okay. May 11 to May 23.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: And attend a live taping of the show.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, live. Exactly. We should like, just like record the whole year's worth of.
Hey, it's been half an hour. We're over here anyways. Okay. That's my summary of some cool upcoming things. Excellent, guys. Always check our parish bulletin for lots of upcoming events.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Wonderful.
With all those great activities. There are so many people doing great work in the parish. Who would you like to shout out this week?
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Who would I like to shout out this week?
Lucia. We already gave you a shout out, I think, right? Yeah. Okay. We can't give you another shout out. Yeah. For the podcast. We didn't give you a podcast shout out. All right, well, I'm going to. I assume that's true. Maybe I was saving it till now, so. So I hereby give a shout out to Lucia. It's a very long distance shout out. All the way behind the. It's like five feet. And so we're really grateful to Lucia. She does an amazing job. If you've noticed any cool Graphics on our social media, things like that and on these videos, like you've seen her work. So we're really, really grateful and blessed. So a well deserved shout out to Lucy.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Like the whole show just got 100% better.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Just feels way better. That's great.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: As soon as Lucia put hands on.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: It, yeah, she's like, guys, can I help you out a little bit?
[00:20:09] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: Oh, that's wonderful. Oh, that is just about all the time we have for today.
Thank you for your insights. Father, shall we close with a prayer?
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. God, we thank you so much for, as always, just being with us, journeying with us. And thank you for helping us to be inspired by the example of St Agatha and her courage. Thank you for helping us to reflect on how you welcome everyone to your home, the church, no matter what their story is. And you offer love and mercy. Thank you for sharing how we can inspire great conversations amongst our friends and family with resources like we talked about and how in any way, we can always continue to draw closer to you week by week and growing and just growing and going closer to you. So bless us, bless our listeners, bless everyone we know and help us to grow and go ever closer to you, filled with new hope. Bless all our listeners. We pray all this in Jesus. Name the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Thank you, Father. That's like a summary of the entire episode in one prayer. That's beautiful. Should do that every week.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: Maybe I should do that every week.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: If you missed something earlier, just listen to the final prayer.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: Don't tell them that. It'll help you reach it to the end after they listen to it on three times speed.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Well, thank you to our fans and friends and odds and ends for joining us this week. Love working with you, Father. Many people, they feel that they're on a stairway to heaven, but with you, it's like an escalator.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: That's good. I'm glad that's less work for them.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: The express version.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: As we said earlier, you can find us on the Immaculate Heart of Mary social media channel, 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 Father Greg and JD Leaving you smarter, happier and more blessed than you were yesterday.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: Bye for now.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: So long.
