[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Faith Break. Finding God moments in your everyday.
Each week on Faith Break, hosts Karen, Luke and Ann Gallagher bring spiritual refreshment to your Daily Life.
It's May 11th. Happy Mother's Day. This week, in honor of all who Mother Karen and Ann celebrate Mary's fierce faith, courageous choices, and beautiful relationship with Jesus.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Faith Break. My name is Anne Gallagher.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: And I'm Karen Luke.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: And we are co workers, friends, moms, wives, partners in crime, ministry, ministry crime. And today, we are helping you find the God moments in your everyday. And especially we're doing a special Mother's Day episode for in honor of Mary today.
[00:01:05] Speaker C: Happy Mother's Day.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Happy Mother's Day.
Yeah. So this will be a fun one, I think. I have. We've fangirled about Mary on the podcast before, but I think today we're going to kind of think especially about her as a mother and how we relate to her as moms ourselves. So. But let's get started with our God moments. Do you have a God moment?
[00:01:30] Speaker C: I've had so many in honors of Mother's Day, I'm gonna shout out to my mom and just. She is every. Like, she's just.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: She's my happy person.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Yes, she is. She's my happy person. And sorry, Jeremy, but, like, she can snap me out of things. And remember that one time when you were talking about Bridget snuggling with you?
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: I still snuggle with my mom.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Aw.
[00:02:05] Speaker C: It was just like, over Easter, we went over for dinner, and it was just her and I in the kitchen, and she just came over and gave me this great big hug, and she's like, you're doing such a great job.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: And I'm like, so nice.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: Thanks, Mama.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Aw, I love that.
[00:02:23] Speaker C: And then, of course, my sister walked in. She goes, am I doing a good job, too?
Yeah, sure, you are, too.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: But I'm a little sad this year because my mom is going to North Carolina for Mother's Day.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: You're gonna have to do something at your own special time then.
[00:02:41] Speaker C: It's my godson's baptism day, so I get to spend it with him. So that's fun. But what's your. Do you have.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Actually, I have one about my mom, too.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: Do you have a Mother's Mommy's Day?
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Because, you know, my mom is not, like, the most technologically advanced person. I have sent her links to the podcast once or twice, but when she came over for Easter the other week, she hadn't gone to Mass, but she'd watched the livestream on. I think she watches it on the Parrish website rather than going directly to YouTube, because that's how she does it. But it autoplayed our Easter podcast right after the end of the mass streaming.
Good job, Jeff, if that was you. It worked on my mom because she was late coming over because she finished watching the Easter podcast episode, and she was like, you know, telling us how. How much she liked it and how smart and we are like, you know, so that was really cool.
[00:03:45] Speaker C: Thanks.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: So I don't know if she's gonna be able to find it otherwise. Let me jump in the note. Just do that every week, the website. Okay. Cause that's how my mom finds it.
But. Yeah.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: Isn't it nice that our, like, I'm very blessed that my mom lives.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Oh. Close by.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: 10 minutes from me, for sure. And this is how close we are as a family. Like, the kids will text my mom or they'll text me, and they're like, can you bring me a snack to school? I'm like, I'm at work. No. And then all of a sudden, I get a text from my mom. Just dropped off snacks to Emma for school. Wow. Are you kidding me?
So cool. It's very.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: Thanks, mommies.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Thanks, mommies. All right, so Mary. Mary is Mom. There's so much to say about Mary.
Oh, well, who is Mary to you, Karen? Like, when you think of Mary? Cause I think for Catholics especially, like, the whole idea of Mary is so.
I don't wanna say loaded, but it's, like, huge.
[00:04:56] Speaker C: It's a loaded question.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: Right? So, you know, and a lot of people who aren't Catholic, I think, make some assumptions about.
That was a Mary pun.
I'm gonna let it pass. About what we believe about Mary. That might not be the act.
Right.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: Yeah. And we don't pray. Like, Mary is not like another.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:19] Speaker C: God. You know, it's. We intercessory pray.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: We ask her to pray for us.
[00:05:24] Speaker C: Pray for us.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Like you ask your mom to pray for you. Right.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: Yeah, so it does.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: But, like. Yeah, so. But when you. It's like getting past all of that, what do you, like, when you think of her, what do you think of?
[00:05:37] Speaker C: I just think of Mary.
It's hard with Jesus.
He's like my buddy. But Mary, it seems like for me, she's the start of it all.
And she's just there. Like, I don't have a. This may sound really bad, but I don't have, like, this.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Like, an image or something.
[00:06:08] Speaker C: Yeah, like an image yeah.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: So she's like. She's super cool. I love Mary. I pray the rosary. You know, I do all that.
But to me, she is. She's Mary.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: She's herself. Yeah. I think we, like. I don't want to say stereotype Mary, but, like, I think sometimes the, like, the more traditional. Some traditional ways of thinking about Mary will emphasize, like, her humility or, like, she's meek and she's obedient. And to me, I look at what she did in her life and, like, what scripture shows her to be, and I'm like, she was fierce in her faith.
[00:06:47] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: And she was courageous in her choices.
[00:06:51] Speaker C: Brave.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Brave. Brave. And, like, revolutionary in some of the words we have from her, too. So I hope we're gonna have time to get into all that today. Wow.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: Thanks.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: I really think, like, she. Yeah. Her strength, her courage, her prophetic nature are all really important things about Mary that I think as contemporary, modern women trying to juggle everything can be really encouraging for us.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: And I mean, we talked in Advent that she was only 13 or 14.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Right.
[00:07:24] Speaker C: And we talked in Lent that she was younger than 50 when Jesus died.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Right. Well, wait, let's.
[00:07:32] Speaker C: He was 33.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: But, yeah, so we do get, like. We get her lifespan in a way. Obviously, we don't for Jesus. Cause we're more focused on his, like, three years of ministry. But we do. We see her as a young teenager, young woman, a young mom, and then we see her at the death of her child.
Yeah.
So we're gonna get into all that today.
So that was just like, kind of laying the groundwork of who is. Who is Mary? So let's. Let's look at these stories from her in scripture. And, like, what do you want to say about. Like, do you have a favorite? Which one do. Should we go chronologically or should we just, like, bounce back and forth?
[00:08:09] Speaker C: I think we should just bounce back and forth because there's.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: You do one and I'll do one.
[00:08:12] Speaker C: Two. I have two. Okay. My first one. And maybe their hearts are the same. That would be weird. They might be. But one of my favorites is when Jesus stayed back at the temple.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: I mean, listen, we did an entire podcast episode just on that one story, basically, didn't we? When we were talking about Jesus as a young person, we talked about that story a lot. I know.
[00:08:37] Speaker C: That's one of my favorites. Cause she's like, where were you? And I see that so many times to, like, my kids, like, in the store.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Do you think we relate to that? So much because, like, that's the only story we have when Jesus was a teen or a tween. And, like, we have teens and tweens right now. So we're like, no. Cause I always see Mary at that stage of parenting that we're at today. I think is like, no, I think.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: I've always liked that story because I've just. I liked her.
Maybe it's going back to what you said. Like, she wasn't meek or mild at that point. You know, she was just, like. She was mad.
And, you know, it just gets me. It just gets me. Her humanity as a mother and, like, all the stupid stuff my kids do. And I. I'm just like, yeah.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: I mean, the challenges of raising the Son of God were real, right. For her. Like, I love just thinking about, like, what did that look like in the everyday, Right? Like, it's just so hard to raise your own kids. I mean, like, we love our kids if we try to be good role models. We try to give them values and things and, like. But, like, they still. Just watching them try to find their way around life is like.
[00:09:55] Speaker C: The other day, I don't even remember.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: She went through it. My point is, like, she went through everything we go through as the parent.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: I don't even remember what it was, but it was. I said something to Connor, and I'm like, I never would have done that.
And my mom and dad were there, and they just laughed, and I'm like, what are you talking about? I never did that. And then they gave me, like, three examples of something similar that I had done, and I'm like, that's awesome. Okay.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: Do you remember the time when.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: Thank you. That you just pointed out that to my son, who.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: I just said that now he's got ammo.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: Now he's got ammo, and he's got other ideas.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. It's so true.
[00:10:36] Speaker C: What about you?
[00:10:39] Speaker B: All of them. I mean, like, yeah, and we did. I think we did talk a lot about in one of the Advent episodes.
Like, her. Yet Mary's yes. At the Annunciation. So I probably won't talk about that one too much today.
But just as, like, what I get from that story is her Mary is a model of, like, discernment and decision making and trust, right? And, like, you know, angel drops out of the sky, tells you you're gonna be the mother of God, and she's like, well, how can this happen?
[00:11:13] Speaker C: Right?
[00:11:14] Speaker B: And then she says, yes, right? So. But, like, she was in dialogue with the divine call, right? Like, she. It was. I don't know. She's very active to me, I think. I think about her, like, saying this yes to God, and, like, it just how.
I mean, it was dangerous for her to do that, right? To, like, say yes to having a child who was not her husband's child, you know, before she was like. It's just she. I don't know. She's very. She's very brave, and she, you know, she chose it.
[00:11:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: She chose to be with Jesus every step of the way. And we know some of the stories of what that was like from his early years. You know, that one when he was a teenager, but also, like, in his ministry. She followed him. She's there. She pops up, you know, from time to time during his ministry, and certainly at the foot of the cross, which we'll get to. But.
Yeah, so just. I think when I think about Mary, I think about all the yeses she made, starting with that first one, but knowing that that was just as, you know, marriage and motherhood is like. It's a call every day, and it's like, you know, no days off.
Not that she would want them. But, like, you're saying yes, not just to a job, but to becoming. To become a mother to someone is like, yeah. So going back, that changes your life forever. Oh, yeah. So. Yeah.
So the Annunciation, but, like, how about the visitation when she visits Mary? That's one of my. When Mary visits Elizabeth? That's one of my favorite stories of her in the Gospels, because.
Oh, for lots of reasons. And we talked before about, you know, blessed are you who believed that what God promised you would be true. But can we talk about the Magnificat, the prayer that she prays after that? It's.
I mean, I'm not going to read the whole thing, because that's long. But, you know, it starts. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. God has done great things for me. And then it goes on. And, like, she talks about how God raises the lowly and brings down the powerful. And, like, in the words of that prayer, like, these two pregnant women are just, like, praying for the, like, destruction of every earthly power. Like, it's an incredibly radical prayer.
[00:13:42] Speaker C: Women are powerful. I mean.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: She knew who her son was gonna be, though, to me, the fact that she prayed that prayer before he was even born, she knew what kind of a messiah he was going to be. He was going to be a messiah for the. For the poor. It wasn't going to be about earthly power. It was going to Be about being with the people who are the least and speaking hope and freedom to them. And, you know, a lot of people didn't get what Jesus was all about, even the ones who thought they did, you know, but she really saw him. She knew. She knew. She knew what was going to happen and who he was gonna be. So I just find that really powerful.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: Were you ever pregnant around the same time as any of your friends?
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: Oh, see, I wasn't. We all.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Well, yeah, sort of, but we don't. We lived in different cities, so it wasn't.
[00:14:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't think I didn't have an experience where having, like, a close friend who I saw frequently throughout the whole course of the pregnancy.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: Yeah. I was thinking that, like, when you were talking about their. Their moments together when Elizabeth and Mary were both pregnant and just being able. You can share those experiences with other people, but.
So my one best friend was pregnant a year before both of my kids, so we were never pregnant at the same time. And then our other friend was, like, seven years after.
But I don't know. I still get giddy when people tell me that they're pregnant, and it's just like, we.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: So it's so funny. You know, I have a group of girlfriends from college that I. That are really important to me, and one of them. We were actually pregnant at the same time, but we lived in different cities.
But we actually. Our firstborns are born on the same day.
[00:15:29] Speaker C: No way.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So we were both in labor at the same time. And so the text. The text thread that was going on that day, and, like, it was really funny because, I mean, I had a. This is like. I don't know. My labor was fine. It was. You know, but hers was really fast. So, like, I had texted in the beginning of the day, and so everybody was, like, praying about it. And then, like, at the end of the day, Kate was like, surprise. I had a baby today too.
Like, so. Yeah, that's awesome. That was. Wait a minute. It wasn't our firstborn. It was. Her firstborn was born the same day as Bridget.
[00:16:06] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: They share a birthday. So my second born, her firstborn. But, like. Yeah, that was kind of fun.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: All right, I want to talk about Mary and her determination at the wedding of Cana.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Yes. Let's do it.
And I think such a good story.
[00:16:25] Speaker C: You know, you listen to our podcast. You know, I'm a fan of the Chosen, and I think that this scripture passage made it so much more awesome because I watched.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:40] Speaker C: How they recreated it in the chosen was just like, man, you know? And we're talking about when the. The wine ran out.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:16:51] Speaker C: And there were jugs of water. And Mary's like, oh, just give it to my son to do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells you to. Like, she's just like, yeah, whatever. And Jesus is like, it's not my time. It's not my time. And she's like, well, if not now, when? Like, let's get this party started. And just her, like, her trust, the trust that she had in him before, he had his own trust in himself.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:20] Speaker C: And how many times, like, as a mom, do we give a little nudge? Yeah, come on, little baby. Fly, fly.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: Do whatever he tells you.
[00:17:28] Speaker C: And. But then also, like, the trust yourself that if it doesn't go well, that you're still there for them.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:38] Speaker C: You know, like. But of course it went well. And I just. I just.
Her encouragement for him, even though she knew he was going to die, she was still encouraging him through his ministry.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Right. And to put that story in context, like, you know, sometimes when we hear stories in Mass, you don't always know, like, where they fall, but, like. And that's from John 2, I think. But it's the first sign. It's the beginning of his ministry. So it's not like she just was trying to help these people who had no wine. And Jesus can work miracles. Like. No, no. She was telling him, it's time. It's time for you to start now.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: Oh, you know, I mean, like, that's such a.
Yeah. It's such an important moment. And, like, especially. Cause you think of, like, he was, like, in his 30s by now.
[00:18:29] Speaker C: Yeah. So, like, 30, still living at home.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: All right.
[00:18:33] Speaker C: Jesus, he's like, come on, it's time. You gotta start doing your thing.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: No, but really, I think it was support. Right. Like you were saying, like, you can. It's time. Yeah, here we go. Cause, yeah, they both knew where it was gonna end.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: And. And we're at that time of the.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Year, right, in Easter season here, where.
[00:18:55] Speaker C: Our high school seniors and college seniors are getting ready to adventure off. And as much as we want them to stay, I know we're just like, oh, okay, you can go. But you see the fruits of everything. And she knew that that's.
That's what needed to be done.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that story.
[00:19:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: I mean, we talked about the Nativity in our east during our Christmas episodes, too. So I think. I mean, we've done it. We did Holy Family episode and a whole One on Jesus's early years. So some of the stories about Mary we've talked about quite a bit, but I don't think we've talked about Mary at the cross.
[00:19:41] Speaker C: No.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Much.
[00:19:42] Speaker C: I don't think so either.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Maybe a little bit in our. In the Palm Sunday episode, but, yeah, crushing. Right? And we have so many, like, images and art, painting and sculpture that are, you know, famous. But, you know, the whole idea of the Pieta and the image of Mary holding Jesus body as he's taken down from the cross, but, you know, the fact that she followed him every step of the way and was there at the foot of the cross, what does that do as a mother when you have to watch your kids suffer? Right. I mean, even if it's just they're little and they broke their wrist. Like, I remember when my kids broke their wrist when they were little and, like, how hard that was. But now they're teenagers, and when they're hurting, it's a whole nother thing.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: And it's only gonna get.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: And you can't fix it harder. Right. Like, the things you can't fix as a mom when you see your kids suffering.
That's something that now in my life, I feel like, drawn to Mary at the foot of the cross. Yeah, right. Because she just. And she's so steadfast.
[00:20:50] Speaker C: I love the relationship and the connection that her and Jesus have always had, you know, but especially at the cross where he knows he's not even thinking about his suffering. He's watching out for his mom.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: I know, I know.
[00:21:07] Speaker C: And he tells John to take her as his own. And he's like, I'm not even thinking about what's happening to me.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Some of his last words were all about taking care of his mom.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: Taking care of his mom.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Do you ever think about too, like, her? I mean, I guess we have some stories or some traditional ideas about where Mary was while the early church was growing, but I think the idea that she was with John and then John became one of the great founders of the church. Gospels, letters. There were communities that grew up around John later. And we know she was with him because Jesus made sure she had somebody and that John had somebody. But I wonder, in these resurrection stories we're doing through these weeks, where was Mary and all that, and how did she support the early church? Cause she must have stayed in the life of the church. She would have been active, especially with John, while he was building his community. And, like, can you just imagine? They must have come. They must have all gone to her for advice. Right. And for support. Because she was Jesus mom. Like, she was mom to all of them, I betcha.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: Now, I just thought, we don't hear that Mary is at the table reclining with them. When he appears to him. No, when he appears to him after.
And then Thomas, we talked about, like, Thomas was the only one who didn't see him. And maybe Mary didn't.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Or maybe that's the private story we don't have. You think Jesus didn't come back and say hi to his mom?
[00:22:41] Speaker C: I would assume so.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: He did. He did. He totally did. We just don't have it in Scripture.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: That's sad. I want it in Scripture.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: I think there might be a tradition about that, about the unrecorded resurrection. I'll have to do a little more research on that. But, like, yeah, you got me curious now to think about Mary's continued role as a leader in the church even after the resurrection.
[00:23:02] Speaker C: You know, maybe he wanted that moment with her.
[00:23:06] Speaker B: Private.
[00:23:07] Speaker C: Private. Right. And how many times do we just want to.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
So cool. Yep.
Oh, well, there's so much, you know, what about? You mentioned praying the rosary.
[00:23:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: I wonder if you can talk a little bit about. Because I have rosaries that are important to me, and I have them in places. Like, I've got one at my desk and one in my car, and they all have stories around them. And I love the idea of the mysteries of the Rosary and using that as sort of a.
It's like an Ignatian imaginative meditation on scripture passages, really, of important moments in the lives of Jesus and Mary, but also like the repetitive praying of the hand, like the actual physical structure of the praying the rosary is. I don't do that in my own personal devotion quite so much. But can you talk about the rosary a little bit and you teach it to kids, too?
[00:24:04] Speaker C: I do, yeah. I love the rosary. I like the repetition of it. I like having the beads in my hand.
But what's really interesting is my senior year of college, I did an internship at St. Anne's Nursing Home, and I was on the Alzheimer's unit. And one of the things that I would do would be once a week, pray with these ladies and men at the Alzheimer's unit. And they couldn't remember what day it was, but they remembered every bead, every mystery, and it was just. It was a beautiful.
That was one of my favorite times to pray the rosary was with them because they just.
They were so dedicated to it. And to remember those words in a time of not remembering other Things, Yeah. Was just so sweet to be a part of. And yeah, the.
Interestingly enough, the more times when I do it, it's like late at night when I can't fall asleep and I'll have it. And I think just the repetition, it's just very calming and very peaceful.
I don't have all the mysteries memorized and there's different days you do differently. The different ones. So every Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday or Thursday.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:25:39] Speaker C: But. So you do have to have like a little script thing. But I don't know, I just. I find it very peaceful. And maybe because my grandparents prayed the rosary a lot and there was always that example of them praying.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: The rosary is something I turn to sometimes when there's a crisis or in a moment of almost emergency or when you can't find the words to a prayer. Having a prayer that's there that you can just get into and something about the rhythm of it too, like you were saying, is very soothing and calming. And it feels like almost you're being held by the prayer rather than you're seeing the prayer. So in case people are wondering about the mysteries of the rosary, we have four types of them. The joyful mysteries are actually all the. All of our favorite Mary scriptures we just talked about. Those are basically the joyful mysteries.
We have the sorrowful mysteries, which are all around the passion of Jesus and the Cross.
The glorious mysteries follow like the Resurrection and the Ascension, Pentecost, the Assumption and the coronation of Mary in Heaven. And then we have the luminous mysteries, which are kind of new, like I think John Paul II second gave us.
[00:26:55] Speaker C: They just came. Yeah, not just came, like in the history of the church that was over talking, like.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: But they have to do more with like the min. Moments in the ministry of Jesus that revealed something about who he was, like his baptism, the transfiguration. Those are some of the luminous mysteries.
The wedding at Cana, one of them.
[00:27:13] Speaker C: And you don't, like, you don't just say the mystery.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: Right.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: There's like a passage for each of the scripture passages and then like kind of meditate on that during that part. So it's not like, oh, luminous mystery.
You know, the buddy Nick Kino.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: It's kind of about creating the space to live into the stories a little bit.
[00:27:35] Speaker C: I mean, if you wanna. You don't necessarily have to do the mysteries, but it is nice to have that connection.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's just a little.
[00:27:44] Speaker C: Oh, and if you don't have a rosary, we have lots of them.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: We can hook you up.
[00:27:49] Speaker C: We can Hook you up?
[00:27:50] Speaker B: Yep.
Do you want to say anything more about what do you think Mary was like as a mom?
[00:27:57] Speaker C: I think she was super cool. I do. I think Jesus had her wrapped around his little finger, and she just was just like, what am I gonna do?
Maybe, because that's how I feel with my son.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: She must have had some combination of humor and joy and levity and then also, like, just been really intentional. I feel like. Yeah, in how. Because if I were the mother of Jesus, I would be really scared that I was gonna screw it up somehow.
[00:28:33] Speaker C: You were going in a bubble.
You are not going to.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: I'm trying to picture, like, if Jesus was in therapy in his 30s or something.
[00:28:43] Speaker C: I think I would be more worried, like, that he would perform miracles at, like, age 7. Like, oh, I'm hungry. And then all of a sudden, he's got food in his bed or something.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: Well, that's my point. You'd have to teach him about, like, all the normal human stuff, but then you have to teach him how to figure out all the divine stuff, too. I mean, we're laughing about it, but that is an impossible job. Right?
[00:29:07] Speaker C: We say that because, first of all, we're not Mary.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: I know.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: And Mary, I think, was grace with everything that she needed from God to handle Jesus. And that's why I, like, when Jesus gets lost, because it's like she almost forgot who he was and that he. The humanity.
The humanity of him was real at that point. Like, she did not think of him as God. That why would he be there? He's just a kid. He should be with me. And.
Yeah, so I think she had it all set, but I think she. I can just imagine, like, her throwing up her hands in an argument, like, oh, fine. Okay.
And her. And Joseph, like, I can't do this right now with him.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: I love it. I know. Well, she. I just. I. She carried all of the joy, and she carried all of the sorrow that he carried. Right. And so.
And she, you know, so, yes, she grew into a knowledge of who he was. Right. There's that line.
She pondered things in her heart as he grew in wisdom, age, and grace. Yeah, right. So they were kind of growing into it together. Right. And.
Yeah. So, like, the weight of the responsibility must have been heavy, but the graces must have been abundant. Right?
[00:30:40] Speaker C: Right. Yeah.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Kind of like it is for all moms, I think, you know, she's thinking.
[00:30:44] Speaker C: About Anne and Joachim. Anne's parents.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: Mary's parents.
[00:30:50] Speaker C: Mary's parents, yeah. Like, where were they in all that?
[00:30:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:54] Speaker C: And how do they think about, you know, how. How were they involved or not involved?
[00:31:02] Speaker B: And.
[00:31:05] Speaker C: I kind of pictured them as like, my mom's parents.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: Your grandparents, Right? My grandparents, yeah.
[00:31:12] Speaker C: You know, like, the stoic. Like, this is what needs to be done. And I could just see Jesus just run in circles around them, but then they would laugh because it's.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: You know, there's so much richness in all of Scripture. But I just. I don't know. I love to think about all these stories, like, imaginatively and go a little deeper. You have this gift of the Ignatian spirituality in our parishes and, you know, just, like, how cool it is in our faith that we get to have the freedom to explore in this whole world. Right. Of. Of Scripture and in our. The sacred stories that have been passed down to us and like, that. The people who have gone before and, you know, Mary's, like, preeminent among them. Right. But like, that. They're real people to us. Right. They're part of the communion of saints, and we're all.
We're all in it together. Right. And, like, just to, you know, as we continue to grow in faith, our relationship with, you know, all the. All three people in the Trinity and also all of the people whose stories we get through our faith tradition can just. Like, there's no bottom to how deep you can go with all of this. Right. You can. So that's just like. It's just so rich. I just wanted to.
[00:32:32] Speaker C: And I was just thinking as you were talking about that. I was just thinking. And I don't know why I never thought about this before, but when God says, you are made in the image and likeness of me, I'm like, oh, my gosh. That means that I made in the image and likeness of Mary and Joseph and all of the ancestors. Like, I never thought about that that way.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And the communion of saints, it's like.
[00:32:56] Speaker C: Oh, we are blessed.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: We are so blessed. I just. I love it. And, like, yeah, there's. No matter where you are in your life, you can look at the life of Jesus, the life of Mary, the life of the apostles, the lives of the saints, and find a connection there. Right. Yeah. So I think when we talk about, like, Catholics, you know, Catholics love Mom, Catholics love Mary. Like, it's because she's real to us.
[00:33:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: She's part of the family.
And.
Yeah. So, anyway, I want to. I have a Mary joke I've been waiting to tell this whole time.
[00:33:35] Speaker C: Okay, I'm ready.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: It's.
It was actually, like, a meme I saw so it's kind of a visual one, and it was just a picture, like a cartoon of Mary. And there's, like, little kid Jesus, and he's tugging on her robe. And the title is, like, the first Rosary. And it's just Jesus. And he's going, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. 10 moms.
[00:34:02] Speaker C: That's better than the rock coming over.
And as a mom, you know that. That repetitive mom, mommy, mom. Right. It's just like.
[00:34:14] Speaker B: But now texts mom, mom. I get, like, so many repetitive, repeated texts from my kids.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: I'll get.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: And then they move to the capital letters.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: Yeah. And then they move to, like, one M and 18 O's.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: Exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point.
[00:34:35] Speaker C: The other day. Okay, this is. I'm just gonna tell a mom thing. So the other day, I'm laying in bed. Jeremy is down on the couch reading. Connor comes. He's gotta pass the kitchen to come into my. My room.
And he's like, can I have apple slices?
And I was like, sure, go cut up an apple.
But the way you cut them, it's so delicious.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: I was like, did you fall for it?
[00:35:05] Speaker C: No. So as I'm talking to him, Jeremy's coming up the stairs. I go, you know who else cuts apples really good?
[00:35:11] Speaker B: Your father.
[00:35:13] Speaker C: Go ask him. And so he goes, but he doesn't cut him like you. I was like, I'm not getting out of bed right now.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: So. Dear Kiss, do you ever joke with Jeremy or tell him about the things your kids will text? Like, we have a text thread that's Bridget and Brian and I. And then one that's like, Liam and Brian and I. And then there's, you know, like. So sometimes they'll ask both parents for something.
[00:35:37] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:35:38] Speaker B: But sometimes they only go to Mom. Your kids do this?
[00:35:41] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. 1,000%.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:35:43] Speaker C: I think that I can't unless I'm not in the house.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:50] Speaker C: Jeremy is always the second person to be asked, and that's sometimes he's third.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: Because your mom will go to Grandma. They go to Mom, Then they'll go to Grandma.
[00:35:59] Speaker C: And sometimes I get passed. Sometimes they go right to my mom and my poor mom. Like, we'll be at her house, and the kids are like, oh, can I have water? And she's like, oh, sure, they can get their own water. You don't have to get up. But I guess it's.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: And that's what Catholics do when we pray the rosary. We're going to Mom. We're going to mom. So I think that's probably a good place to go. Oh, my gosh. I love that we covered a lot about Mary. Is there anything we didn't say about Mary that you want to say?
[00:36:29] Speaker C: No.
Just try thinking of her in a different way if you haven't.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think, too, as moms, you know, Mother's Day, we tend to think about what it means to be a mom and just her as someone who understands, who can understand us as moms, all the moments of our children's lives.
So to all the moms, the blessings and the challenges of all of that.
[00:36:56] Speaker C: To all moms and sorrows, all of the women who are not moms but are like moms, all the women who.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: Mother us in all the different ways they do.
[00:37:06] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:37:07] Speaker C: Happy Mother's Day and happy Mother's Day, Mary.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks, everybody. We'll see you next week.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: Thanks for taking a faith break with us today. Karen Luke and Anne Gallagher are lay ministers with the parishes of Saint Catherine of Siena in Menden, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration in Pittsford, New York. More about our parishes, including weekly live streamed Sunday Mass, can be
[email protected] or transfigurationpittsford.org Engineering Today is by Jeff Beckett. Join us for new episodes of Faithbreak each week in studio on YouTube or on your favorite audio podcast or music.
