[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. On Today's episode for January 19, 2025.
Karen and Ann avoid getting stuck in a faith ruth by reflecting on the importance of ordinary moments in building a legacy of love.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to Faith Break. My name is Anne.
[00:00:38] Speaker C: And I am Karen.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: And we are co workers, lay ministers, moms, wives, and friends.
And we are here to help you find your everyday God moments.
[00:00:49] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: So today we are. I feel like today's topic is actually just sort of what the entire podcast is about, because we are looking for the extraordinary in ordinary time. So we have just come out of the Christmas season. Last week we celebrated the baptism of the Lord, and now we are in that the shorter period of ordinary time between the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent at the beginning of March. So, yeah, so we have a couple of quiet winter months where we're not in a high liturgical season. We're just back in ordinary time, spending time with Jesus as he's doing his public ministry.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: I like what you said about the extraordinary in the Ordinary because we have these highs of Advent in the waiting, and then Christmas, and then after we have the 12 days. Right. Christmas doesn't end on December 25, but these were extraordinary moments that really pull out who Jesus was and what he was meant to be and who we are called to be.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: So I don't even like the word ordinary in this because there's more to it than just, okay, waiting for Lent, right?
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Yeah. We're not just, like, hitting the pause button for the next three months or two months until we can jump into the next big season. But I think there's a lot of wisdom, too, in the Church's cycle of the liturgical year, just because our lives are like that, too. Right. Like, we have high moments, we have feast days, and we have low moments when, you know, like, things are just really hard. And I think for me, sometimes it's whether it's a high point or a low point, it can be easier to find God in those times than in the ordinary. Like, small O ordinary times. Because when things are going really well, when you're in a high point, you.
[00:02:46] Speaker C: Know, don't even think about it.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: You're filled with gratitude, you're filled with joy. It's easy to give praise to God in those moments. And when you're in difficulty, I think we can draw close to God for comfort and for peace. But just when you're in the grind.
That's where the challenge is.
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Yeah. Remember, we talked about, like, I don't even remember which one it was, but we talked about how being grateful for making dinners or breakfast, like, your everyday moments, like, oh, I'm so grateful for having to do laundry today or whatever, and it's like, ugh. But we need those moments, because I think it also helps us be more grateful in understanding where God is when we do have those highs and lows, that it's not just this monotonous life we live.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Right. And I think with this particular, you know, this shorter period of ordinary time, it hits in, you know, January and February, which, I mean, there's really no quiet months when you're a parent with busy kids and a job and everything. But in the wintertime, I think there is sort of a little bit of a sense of quietness, at least in the world around us, in the natural world around us anyway.
So I think in this part of ordinary time, it can be a nice call to just sort of take.
Take some time after the holidays.
[00:04:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: But before everything gets going again in the spring, to feel a little grounded.
[00:04:18] Speaker C: After Easter, you get, like, Mother's days, graduations, Then it's summer, all this stuff. It's like, doot, do, do, do, do.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:25] Speaker C: And then Advent.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:26] Speaker C: Where we bring it all back in.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: But, yeah, so the whole liturgical year is like, this cycle of ups and downs. And so now we're in. We're in kind of, like, a stretch. We're in kind of a calm stretch. So.
Yeah. So that is where we find us.
Karen, what, in your, like, everyday faith life helps you, you know, on just, like, an ordinary day, what are the things that keep you going?
[00:04:55] Speaker C: My family, really, like, it's. It's a.
The things I do, I do for me, but for them. And I think, like, it just helps navigate and puts things. If I didn't have them, I probably would be such a bum.
I would, like, literally, I wouldn't have.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: To adult quite so much if you didn't have the kids in the house. Right.
[00:05:21] Speaker C: But, like, I was talking to Jeremy the other day about that. I was like, what did we used.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: To do with our free time when.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: We were first married without kids and we would come home from work? Like, I literally could not remember that. And it wasn't even that long ago. I know, but they keep me grounded, even though it's crazy, but I think them. And then, obviously, the daily prayer, and we're very blessed that we can just walk into the chapel.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Or yeah.
[00:05:56] Speaker C: You know, that I think also grounds me is the ability to go to daily mass and just be in the presence of co workers that have the similar values and things like that.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah, we have a lot of blessings working for the church.
[00:06:17] Speaker C: We do.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: I definitely, I feel you that having the chapel right there and you know, I don't go in every day, but I do sometimes go in if I just need 5 minute, 5 minute break, go sit down, be with Jesus, get back to my day. It's a huge blessing.
[00:06:35] Speaker C: It is just like resets and the regrounding and it's like, okay, this is not only. This is what I'm like, because we're unique. Right. Like, this is our.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah, most people don't have that.
[00:06:50] Speaker C: Right. But like our livelihood is also our ministry.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:55] Speaker C: So like sometimes I don't even feel like it's my job.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Right.
[00:07:01] Speaker C: Because it's my calling.
So it's like a weird, A weird situation.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: Yeah. But I was thinking about just the way that the years flow and you know, we're still in January, so we're like at the very beginning of 2025.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Here where we have all these hopes.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: And we have all these hopes and dreams. But like to look and like I started in ministry in 2000, that's the year I graduated from college. So it's like 25 years I've been.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: I'm right behind you every day and.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Behind you coming to work at the church and you know, even as a parent. Cause our, you know, our teens are. Our kids are teens now. Well, Connor's now, but our older.
But like, have you ever heard the people say like the days are long but the years are short?
[00:07:52] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: And I've just really been thinking about that lately because it feels so true. Because like at the same exact time I feel like I blinked and like decades passed. Right.
And like you were saying, like, not like what did we do when we were first married and didn't have kids? Like that was like 20 years ago. I don't know.
But like all those years were made up of days. Days where we woke up and we brushed our teeth and we drove to work and we dealt with whatever was, you know. And then when our kids came, we were feeding them and caring for them and all like just the daily tasks that make up a life.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: I don't know. I just.
The reassurance that all of that is holy is very comforting. Cause I think for me the temptation can be like, to think those small things don't matter. Oh, yeah, right. Because you're folding laundry every day. You know, my kids get up.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: You do it every day.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: Listen, I do one load every day.
[00:08:59] Speaker C: Oh, I need to take tips from you.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: That's how I keep my head above water. But, you know, and you gotta make dinner every day. My kids get off the bus and they're like, what are we having for dinner? I'm like, I don't know. What are you gonna make for dinner today? Like that, you know, it just. It never ends. Those. Those details of life never ends. The garbage always has to be taken out. The bills always have to be paid. And even the things we do for work, the programs we run are, like, the highlight of what we do.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: Right.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: But there's so much administrative stuff that we just do in the background that you just gotta deal with.
[00:09:36] Speaker C: And we're both in this position now. We've talked about it before, but I'm sure a lot of our listeners and friends are in the same position. Like, we're in that sandwich generation.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:48] Speaker C: So not only are we continuing our care for our families or whoever we have that relationship with, you know, we're not singling out just families, but you also have the relationships with your parents and aunts and uncles and, if you're blessed, still grandparents.
So it's like this weird, yeah, I gotta do this. But then having the blessing of being able to have all that other stuff that you need to deal with.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Right. I remember this was like somebody's TED Talk. I don't remember who it might have been. Like, Brene Brown. I don't. But she was talking about the cathedral. Have you heard this, like, storyboard? So I'm not gonna tell it right, but the kind of. The moral of it was, you know, how, like, the cathedrals in Europe took, like, decades to build.
[00:10:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: And so, like, the people who started them never got to see the fruits. Never got to see the fruits of it. And, like, so many people over the years contributed, you know, like, architects and artisans and just people doing the grunt work, like, so many people over so much time contributed to make this beautiful thing that will be around forever and will house people's prayers. Right.
But when you're lifting that stone, that one stone, minute after minute, day after day, it can be hard to see what you're really doing, like, what you're really contributing to. And I think as parents and as ministers, it can feel that way a lot. Right. Like, you're just. You get focused on the bricks that you're lifting every day, and you forget what you're really building. Yeah. And so, yeah, this talk I heard, like, many years ago was just an acknowledgement, like, God sees what you are doing every time you lift a brick. And God sees what you're building with all of these pieces that are coming together.
So I think that's our call in Ordinary Time is just to keep the perspective that even though we're just doing one load of laundry at a time, we're cooking one dinner at a time, we're handling one budget meeting at a time or whatever it is, that it all is working together to create something that matters to God.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: You know, and matters in our end, too.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:14] Speaker C: Like, we talk about legacies or what do you. What are we, you know, in Advent, we talked about traditions.
And I think it's so funny because I was.
I'm the youngest in our family, and I am the most stuck on tradition.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: I wonder if that's common. Cause my little sister can get.
[00:12:36] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. And my brother and sister traditions, too. We gotta move on from this. Cause it's not working. I'm like, no, we have to be at mom and Dad's on Christmas Day. Like, that's not gonna happen.
But it's having those moments. And I just had a baptism prep meeting with a new family and all the. I love babies.
But I was like, it's never too early to start those traditions and to, like, start molding and building whatever legacy you want to leave and have that. Those relationships and those building blocks of what it means to be not only parents, but a spouse and a friend. You know, there's a lot that goes into it. And like, we were talking about the next two months. It's really short in Ordinary Time. But we are going from, like, the high of Advent and the Christmas blessings and the family and the gatherings and all of that to carry us through into this time of reflecting on everything that has just happened.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
It's funny, you know, you're talking about the sandwich generation.
[00:13:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Stuff. And, like, the being working. I just. I have this feeling that right now it's like high summer in the seasons of our lives. Right. Because even though we're in winter time now and the days are short, like, in terms of the span of our lifetime, like, we're packing so much work into every day right now that it's, you know, it's high summer. If we were farmers, we'd be, like, out there every day in the soil, working things and tilling things.
[00:14:23] Speaker C: I'd be totally fine with that.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: It's like, just don't Blink though, right? Cause you know it's not gonna last forever. Like, we've talked before, like, our kids are gonna be out of the house one day not too far from now.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: We talked about that yesterday. We realized that, like, both of our oldest are gonna be at a milestone next year for their birthdays.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:14:42] Speaker C: And I was like, how?
How did that. And when I first had Emma, people were like, oh, it goes by so fast. I'm like, ah, whatever, whatever. And now it's like, I know. Wow. Yeah, it did. And then my mom even says that. She's like, I can't believe not only that you are in your 40s. She's talking to me. But I have a 20 year old granddaughter.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Right.
That's just totally unfair.
[00:15:11] Speaker C: That's weird.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: It's like I always say, f, I had a birthday recently. And Father Mike, our retired pastor, takes my birthdays even harder than my dad does because he hired me back at Good shepherd when I was 22, coming right out of college. So he's known me like my whole adult life. And every time I have a birthday, he's just like, what are you now, 35? And I'm like, nope, this is not what's happening here.
[00:15:36] Speaker C: Well, yeah, because then it's like this inevitable. It makes him older. And I remember when I got invited to one of my old youth group kids weddings.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: I'm like, no, you're still like 16.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: I know.
[00:15:53] Speaker C: And I have become that person. Like when I see my cousin's kids, like, oh, I remember when you were this, oh my gosh. I'm doing what I always hated my aunts or my mom's cousins doing to me. Yeah. That's what happens.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:16:10] Speaker C: But in the ordinary.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: In the ordinary.
[00:16:13] Speaker C: We haven't discussed our God moment.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: I was just remembering we haven't had our God moment. We usually begin with that. Should we do it now?
[00:16:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it'll be good. Cause I mean, it ties into remembering the moment. So what is yours?
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Oh, okay. So I had a God moment this morning. I got a text message from a mom, a mom of a teen in our program who was checking about where she could drop her kids NCYC registration form. Cause we're in the process of getting our pilgrim group together for that. And we have an early deadline coming up.
And so it was a God moment because this wasn't necessarily someone I would have thought, like, hadn't mentioned to me before that they were interested is kind of new to us. So it was just one of those, like, oh, you know, you get to see the seeds being planted. And then you texted me and you were like, oh, we got our first registration for the Alpha program, which is coming up this spring. So, you know, we're in the winter here in Ordinary Time. But, like, I can see that God is planting seeds that are gonna bear fruit in the future. So I just love those little moments when you get.
[00:17:24] Speaker C: It's so awesome. I'm in this, like, thing with NCYC because I was like, I really wanna go and help, but I was like, there's other people that need to experience it, so I gotta figure this out myself.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: We'll figure it out.
[00:17:38] Speaker C: If you haven't been to ncy, oh, my gosh. It's such. That's awesome.
But my God. My God moment actually happened on Sunday.
I was working with the Religious Ed. We had a religious Ed class, and I walked into church to start greeting people, and I saw my mom and she showed up for Mass, and I was like, oh. And she's like, can you sit with me? And I'm like, I don't know, because I was in the middle of a bunch of different stuff. And then it just. It worked out and I sat with her and no one disturbed me.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: It's a Christmas miracle.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: I did not have to plunge a toilet. I did not have to add toilet paper. I did not have to.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Nobody passed out.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: No one passed out. Nothing.
We were talking with somebody and they're like, you know how sometimes you just reach out and hold hands at Mass? And my mom, she would just like, randomly hold my hand and, like, squeeze it at certain moments. And, you know, it was just so nice to just be in that space.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: With my mom.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: And so, yeah, it was.
[00:18:52] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:18:52] Speaker C: It was great. I was like, oh, God is. God is good with Christmas miracles.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: So, yeah, that's a great, like, Ordinary Time moment too, I think, because, like, coming to Mass every week, I mean, it's different for us because we work for the church, so we're always working. But that's part of our ordinary routine as Catholics, right? We show up for Mass every week, even if we don't really feel like going or even if it's not really seeming like it's feeding us. We still show up when we show up for each other and we show up for the Eucharist, and we know that that bears fruit in our life, in our lives over time.
I think Ordinary time is a great time to think about what routines work for us.
[00:19:37] Speaker C: I don't know what that word is.
[00:19:40] Speaker B: This is where our personality differences are gonna.
[00:19:43] Speaker C: I am totally type B. I just, I wake up, I'm like, hey, what needs to get done today?
[00:19:51] Speaker B: Okay. For me, the routine is helpful. You know my routine.
[00:19:55] Speaker C: I know, I love your routine.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: You know, like daily, I think just having, like, if I didn't have a routine, I don't think I would ever do anything. I don't think I would ever like, especially like prayer time. Like, I just, I know myself and I know I will get carried away with other things that need to get done and I won't like.
So I guess I would just, you know, it doesn't need to be. We don't all need to go on a week long retreat every year. If you can, that's fantastic. And you should totally do that. But like, God will show up in small moments in your everyday if you just give a little space and a little time. And so if there's just any little thing you can commit to for this period of ordinary time, I would encourage people to do that. And one thing we haven't talked about a whole lot on the podcast lately is the whole idea of spiritual direction.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: Oh yeah.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Because that's something in my life that has definitely helped me to walk through ordinary time and also the highs and lows of my life. But I've been meeting with a spiritual director pretty much monthly for years and I think having somebody in that role in our lives can be just a great gift. Yeah, A lot of people in our parishes come to that for the first time if they are doing the 19th annotation retreat, which is Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life.
But it's a good practice for everybody. And I think we have some resources on our websites if you are looking for a spiritual director. We have some people and friends who do that.
[00:21:34] Speaker C: Yeah. And for those that don't know like what a spiritual director is, it's different than like a therapist or anything. They try, you talk and they try to help you figure out your God moments and where you might have missed a sign or something or which direction you want to move into.
I will say I miss going. So when I did the spiritual exercises, I had somebody and we met weekly and it was like I was so excited to go. And then after, just because of my spiritual director, she was so involved with the direction, the Ignatian spirituality, that I couldn't continue to see her. So that was like, oh, bummer.
But not everyone can commit to that timeframe. So if you have a personality like me, that's Just like, hey, even a five minutes before bed. Or we're doing this.
We're recording now, but my tree is still up, even though it's after Christmas.
But that's my. I love my 15 minutes with my Christmas tree lit or I put candles on and just everything is quiet. And with the chaos of the world and all the noise that we are bombarded with, Even if you just turn off your radio in the car and drive to work in silence.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, using your commute. You could use your commute in so many ways. Like, you could have silence if that's what you needed, or try it if.
[00:23:23] Speaker C: It makes you nervous.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: Right?
[00:23:26] Speaker C: Right.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Cause it's a limited period of time. Right. You have an exit strategy. You could listen to Christian music. You could listen to a podcast like this one on your commute. But, like, finding those pockets of your day where you can just kind of allow the Holy to arise and just kind of bless your ordinary moments.
[00:23:48] Speaker C: Because it's in the quiet that we hear or try to hear. It's the whispers. We talked about that on some of our other podcasts with the prophets. You know, they heard everything through the wind and the whisper and quiet.
And I get nervous with quiet.
I always feel like I gotta fill.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Fill it with something.
[00:24:16] Speaker C: Fill it with something so that I like to challenge myself with that. Cause I think it's good if I'm always just praying one certain way.
I feel like it gets monotonous or then it starts to not feel like I'm praying. Like, if I'm just listening to Christian music, it's like, oh, am I really praying? Or I'm just like. It's in my background. So if you try to challenge yourself to do something a little different, even if you don't do it for an extended period of time. Yeah, that's how I tried it.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: So we need routine. Some of us. Some of us don't. But we also need breaks from the routine. And I think for me, having a routine makes the time when I break it even better, you know, like, more special and stuff. So, I mean, try something new at church. There's tons of stuff going on. Sit. Some are different all the time. Oh, my gosh. What? Sit in a different pew at church. Never. We're Catholic. We don't do that. But we do. Like, you know. Yeah, try something new.
[00:25:13] Speaker C: I do.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: You don't go on a retreat.
Watch the chosen. Karen will tell you. Right.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: We have Alpha coming out.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Yep. Lots of things. Lots of things.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: Lots of things going on.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: So, yeah, in ordinary Time, it doesn't have to be boring.
[00:25:29] Speaker C: Right.
Because there are a lot of times boring.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: Right.
I was thinking about Jesus in Ordinary Time, and to be honest, I haven't really. I didn't look a whole lot at the lectionary readings for this period. I just kind of wanted to think about things a little bit more broadly. But, you know, I think it's worth remembering that Jesus had a grind, too. I mean, he was. His public ministry lasted three years or so, during which time he.
He didn't have really a home base. Right. He was kind of an itinerant preacher wandering around healing people and teaching people and sharing the good news.
But he had to get up and do that every day and figure out every day where God was calling him, how to use his hours.
[00:26:23] Speaker C: But he always manages to leave his group and find time for prayer.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: Right, right. So the model of Jesus working every day. Yes. But also stepping away so that he had those moments with God that sustained him through his ministry. This is a great time of year to draw close to Jesus in his ministry years, too. You know, and even thinking about. I know we already did a whole episode on the missing years, but, you know, for decades, he was a tradesman. Right. He got up and worked with wood and built things and must have spent a whole lot. There must have just been a whole lot going on in the background of his mind and his heart getting ready.
[00:27:10] Speaker C: Doing laundry and dishes and going to the market, making dinners.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:27:17] Speaker C: So they're great examples all around.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: And think about for, like, Jesus and his disciples who were traveling, they were a traveling ministry. Think about the logistics of getting everybody fed and housed every day. I mean, that must have just been a whole watchful.
[00:27:34] Speaker C: It was chosen. Yeah.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: It's not like Jesus didn't have the same daily challenges that we all do. We do.
[00:27:39] Speaker C: They had to put up their tents every night.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:27:42] Speaker C: Could you imagine, like.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: No, I would not be in.
It's kind of like camping, though. So you might like that.
[00:27:48] Speaker C: Oh, I would totally. I would. Oh, yeah. In an instant.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:52] Speaker C: I could do that.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: You could.
[00:27:54] Speaker C: I could do that.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: Yeah. So just. I think the challenge in the ordinary moments can be extraordinary. Yeah. To be grounded and to be so grounded in God that we can agilely move where his call takes us.
Even if we've been. I think, for. I mean, we're in our 40s. Right. So we're like. We've been doing the same thing. I mean, we look great, but we've been doing the same thing every Day for decades now. Right. Do you ever just be. I'm not saying, like, we should air our life crisis.
[00:28:26] Speaker C: No, you just totally, like.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: But, like, I've had a whole lot.
[00:28:30] Speaker C: You've been at it for a long time.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: And do you ever look at, like, what are the next 20 years gonna be?
[00:28:35] Speaker C: Like, no, I don't.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: That's a different podcast episode.
[00:28:41] Speaker C: No, I don't. Like I said, I am type B. I just, like, I get up, I do my day, I go to bed. That's it. And then I wake up and I.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Just do it all again.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: Do it again in a different way. Like. Yeah, I think the future for me, like, kind of stresses me out because I have no control over it.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:04] Speaker C: Right. And so it's like, what? What? That anxiety that I get from thinking about the future doesn't help me in my present, and I've had to learn that.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:18] Speaker C: So I'm just like, okay, just stay in the present. Stay grounded.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: And, well, that's a grace.
[00:29:24] Speaker C: I'll deal with it when it comes.
Because then I just. I get too anxious.
So I don't. I don't know. I don't know what I'm going to do.
I don't know what I'm going to do in 20 years.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: Well, hopefully we'll still be putting a podcast out every week.
We'll be a little more wise.
[00:29:45] Speaker C: You'll have to do it from my camping spot in the Adirondacks because that's where I'm retiring.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: It's fair.
I did find a couple scripture passages for ordinary.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: We should probably tie that back.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Should we wrap this up here with some scripture?
So here's one I thought was just about kind of like everyday discernment.
[00:30:05] Speaker C: All right.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Like, where is God's call in, like, just the ordinary days? So this is Ephesians 5:15 to 17.
Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons, but as wise, making the most of the opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
I like that. Kind of like listening carefully to our everyday and being like, where are you calling me in this guy?
[00:30:35] Speaker C: The best part of that scripture passage, try to understand. Try. You won't probably understand.
[00:30:42] Speaker B: Just try. Just try.
[00:30:44] Speaker C: It's like, we know you got a lot going on here today. Just try.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: You're probably not going to get it right, but do your best.
God is so understanding with us.
Oh, here's one. Here's a great one for Catholics.
Do you have a Catholic grandma. Who ever told you to offer it up?
[00:31:04] Speaker C: Oh, yes.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Okay, so this is Romans 12:1. I urge you, therefore, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. And, you know, we laugh about that as Catholics. Like, it's something, you know, you stub your toe and your grandma's like, just offer it up. But, like, it's a bigger mindset that, like, every day is a sacrament. Right. It's like the best thing about being Catholic is that we have a sacramental spirituality, which means, like, grace is everywhere. Grace is everywhere all the time. And so we can offer up every moment, but in a good way, not in, like a grouchy, guilt ridden way, in a joyful way.
[00:31:48] Speaker C: I think we have a lot of people coming to that understanding because, like, at St. Catharines and Transfigurations, we are joyous people.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:02] Speaker C: Like, okay, I'm biased. I know that's where we work. But going to other. And I'm not in the. In the country, let's just say.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:32:13] Speaker C: Or other. Whenever I travel.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:16] Speaker C: There's.
I don't know what it is, and I'm not. I am probably being biased, but there is something joyous and welcoming and just there's a different feel.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: We really try to show up with that energy.
[00:32:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: Every week. Not just the people who work there, but the people who worship.
[00:32:38] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think that not only does that draw people to worship with us, but I think they generally want that joy in their lives. And you can see it in their participation. You know, it's not just like, oh, check this box, because I have confirmation or communion. It's like they are wanting that joy to live out in their lives.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Okay, last word. Here it is. You just segued it. John 10:10. This might be my favorite verse in the entire Bible.
[00:33:14] Speaker C: Really?
[00:33:15] Speaker B: This might be.
[00:33:16] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: I have come so that you might have life and have it more abundantly. God wants us to have life to the full. Right. This was the theme to World Youth Day in Denver in 1993 when I was in high school, which was my conversion experience, one of many. But that was like. So I have always remembered this verse and taken it as a motto, but like, yeah, just. God wants you to have the most life in every day of your life. The most love, the most joy, the most peace.
[00:33:46] Speaker C: We need to end with that.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: The most community.
Yeah.
[00:33:49] Speaker C: The most of everything.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: So make the most of your ordinary, extraordinary moments this week and this whole season.
[00:34:00] Speaker C: Amen. Thanks, everybody.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: Have an extraordinary week. Bye.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: Thanks for taking a faith break with us today. Karen Luke and Anne Gallagher are lay ministers with the parishes of St. 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 Faith Break each week in Studio on YouTube or on your favorite audio podcast or music app.
