[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Faith Break, a podcast about recognizing God, moments in our everyday lives.
This fall, join our faith formation team, Karen Luke and Anne Gallagher, as we explore the Sunday Mass readings. With four Weeks to Fruitfulness.
This four part reflection series will help you prepare to receive the Word of God at mass and is a companion to our October adult fellowship nights.
The journey will take us through the experiences of receiving God's abundant blessings, to being called to share those graces in love with God's people, and finally to becoming saints.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Faith Break. I'm Anne Gallagher.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: And I'm Karen Luke.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: And we are here for week three of four Weeks to Fruitfulness, our miniseries of our Faith Break podcast.
We are looking at the readings this month of October, and in the past two weeks, we have feasted on the banquet God put before us.
God has equipped us to follow his call with conviction and without distraction. And this week, well, I guess we could say the details of that call get a lot more specific. Yes.
Yeah, I don't know. Karen, do you have anything you want to say to start before we dive in?
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Just dive into what each of the readings are first?
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Let's do it. Kind of overview. Yeah, let's get this first reading over with because it's a bit of a doozy.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: To be honest, the language of the
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Old Testament is just like, so cringeworthy for me.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Sometimes It's a little fire and brimstone y today.
Yeah, it can be a little hard to take.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: But in Exodus, they're talking about how to treat strangers, not just the people that you already like.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:11] Speaker C: So, you know, they were.
If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extraordinaire toward him and demand interest.
So it's this like kind of a fire and brimstone thing, but more of how we can be compassionate towards others.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean, God's talking about how angry he's gonna be and all the things he's gonna do to people who aren't compassionate. And it's a little bit of an intellectual disconnect.
[00:02:39] Speaker C: God's allowed to be wrathful.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: We aren't. I guess.
I mean, on the upside, there certainly can be no confusion about what God is telling us to do in the strongest possible language.
God is demanding, really, that we act with compassion and mercy and love to those who are the most vulnerable.
The alien, the refugee, the immigrant, the widow, the orphan, the poor, everybody at the margins.
Or else.
[00:03:09] Speaker C: Or else.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: And that's the part that it's like, I don't know, but we just gotta take it.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: Okay, I'm gonna digress a little bit.
I'm at that point in. In our society that I am ready for the. Or else.
Like, not for nothing, but the way that we call ourselves Christian and the way that the marginalized are still, after all these years, how they're still treated. And for me, it's really hard because I can't fathom treating somebody that way.
So I don't know how that's in, like, other people's.
I don't know. It's very difficult for me.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: There's something kind of on that, you know, you brought up, like, just the world and the. Not the. Yeah, but the political situation, but how people are treated in our society and around the world. And I was thinking about the way in this first reading, like, it seems almost like God starts with anger and moves towards justice throughout it. Like, as you would think that you would start with compassion and then it would. You would get angry when there was injustice. But in this reading, it's kind of the anger gets expressed first, and then it's like, oh, but because I am compassionate, you know, if he cries out to me, I will hear him, for I am compassionate. Like, God sees and hears the injustices and the ones who are suffering, and it's out of his boundless compassion that he responds for justice. Right.
So maybe it's like a chicken and the egg thing and, you know, not really something we have to worry about. But I've been thinking about it a lot recently in relation to my two kids who are teens, young adults, and we've had a lot of conversations around justice in the last year or two.
And I, you know, I raised them to be this way. Like, I raised them to, you know, learn about Catholic social teaching and to know. I say this with the teenagers in the youth group all the time, almost at every meeting, we talk about how, you know, you are made in the image and likeness of God and God's beloved, and so is everyone else. And that is the foundation of absolutely everything that we believe in. We do. Right? That's just. That's the center of our faith.
But my kids, when they look at the injustices in the world, I see them kind of reacting and it's the polarization in our society. Right.
And it's their age and too, but, like, they're so black and white in their thinking in some cases that it's. It's more black and white than I would be when I disagree with someone on A political issue. Right. And I don't know.
It's hard because they're the. I feel like the injustices in the world are getting worse almost. You know, like, it's just. It's.
But, yeah, that tension between, like, compassion and justice is a real one. I think we all have to contend with. Yeah.
Yeah.
And it doesn't.
[00:06:10] Speaker C: I mean, it's not that we're saying that there's no consequence to the injustice or consequence to the justices, but it is this pull and tug and pull.
Is that what I'm trying to say? I don't even know.
But going further into that, like, what grows in us grows because of our love for God.
And that's the root of it. Right.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: And our understanding, like, when we see the poor, we're seeing God.
[00:06:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: And we've encouraged our kids at church and our kid. Our own kids, to, like, enter into situations where they will be with people who are different from different backgrounds, facing different challenges, who are vulnerable in different ways. And once you let people become real to you in that way, there's no going back from it. Right. Once you see Christ in the poor, your whole worldview gets changed. Right.
And I think about my daughter, especially because she had the opportunity over the summer to go on a mission trip through school to the border.
And she spent a week with refugee families who are looking for a new home. And she saw the wall and she came back. And then in the beginning of the school year, she has a close friend who is.
Who was almost deported the first week of school. And at the last minute, lawyers came through and it was okay for now. But, like, this is real stuff to her. They're real people. It's not an abstract issue in the world. They're people she knows by name and cares about who are in these situations. And I just think that once you see.
Once you experience being part of the human family, it's maybe natural we become a little like mama bear about things. When people who we see as part of our family now are threatened, and
[00:08:09] Speaker C: it's okay to be uncomfortable in those situations.
You know, we're not saying that.
I mean, I'm not saying that just because we're made in the image and likeness of God and we see others being made in the image and likeness of God, that we're not gonna be uncomfortable in situations that we're not gonna be like, should I or shouldn't I?
We still have. We're human.
We're still gonna have those emotions. But it's also the idea that the Awareness is there in you. So maybe the first part is just the awareness of things that are happening.
And then with prayer and growth over time and the comfortability, then you can start to move into going and working in the inner city or. I remember.
I think I talked about this before.
My sister and brother and I, we lived in the city until I was like, four. And then my parents moved us out to the country and we were around a very eclectic group of friends and neighbors and things like that. When we moved out to the. Where we are, where we grew up, it was one.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: There was no more homogenous. Very homogenous.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: And I remember there was a soccer game that we had to play in the inner city.
And I mean, this was less than 30 years ago.
And I remember some of the girls were like, oh, what is that? Like, why are we on this street? I was like, this is life. This is life for a lot of people.
And just the idea of you either A, don't have that experience or B, you just.
I don't even wanna say ignorant of it, but, like, blinders, right. You don't see it because it's not in the community that you're specifically in, but now with social media and everything.
Cause I remember I was talking to my mom, you know, dangerous.
Stranger Danger. Yes.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. From the 80s.
[00:10:17] Speaker C: From the 80s, remember?
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Yeah, the ads.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: So, like, I'm like, mom, there's so much, like, stuff going on now. It was always going on. It's just that we're more aware of it with the news and the social media. I was like, okay, now that we're
[00:10:30] Speaker B: aware of it, it's gonna be so interesting to just watch what happens in the next decade or two. Because now it's like we are so much more aware of injustices happening all over the world. And our young people are much better informed than we were at their age.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: About things happening globally and more educated.
[00:10:50] Speaker C: And they're more willing to put themselves out there and to fight for it.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: I hope so.
[00:10:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I see that. I'm hopeful for that. Okay, so that was the first reading.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: First reading, we know what God wants. He has been clear.
Mercy and compassion to the vulnerable.
Or else.
Second reading.
Thessalonians.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: Thessalonians.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Oh, this. I like this. Okay. So being. We're being called to be imitators of Christ.
And I love this. I'm going to read it from the passage.
You became imitators of us and the Lord receiving the Word in great affliction with joy from the Holy Spirit. And you became a model for all believers.
Why is it, Karen, that affliction and joy are always, like, hand in hand in our faith? Right. Like, it's never one without the other. This is, like, the difficulty and the grace of our faith. Right. It's a paschal mystery.
The dying and the rising are always, like.
They're always connected. You can't separate them.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: You can't move from one thing, you know, without a change.
And sometimes that change is going to cause a lot of turmoil and a lot of questions. But then there is that. Oh, okay.
Sometimes. I mean, not saying that the grass is greener on the other side, but, like, there's a lot of times that you're like, okay, I don't want to change. This is comfortable.
[00:12:39] Speaker B: Yeah, but what if. Right? I know.
Yeah.
[00:12:43] Speaker C: Like, I tell my daughter, affliction and joy, she gets so stressed out on things, like, little tiny.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: She's a senior. So it's like, everything is.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: But I was like, just try even more. So it might be the coolest thing that you've ever done.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: It might be the, you know, you haven't.
Hasn't made you not do something before.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:05] Speaker C: And then afterwards, she's like, oh, my gosh, that was awesome.
I told you.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: I know.
Listen to your mom.
[00:13:13] Speaker C: But the whole. This whole reading, what I like from it is that our faith actually becomes visible.
It's not something that we're just keeping ourselves.
And it reminded me of St. Francis's quote, preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.
So, like, just the whole idea of
[00:13:34] Speaker B: modeling who we are, it's action.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: And that action part.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it. It's so true. It's like.
And isn't everything practical like that, too? Like, I was thinking about this whole idea, you know, the source of our joy, the source of our suffering is also the source of our joy and vice versa. When we imitate Christ and, you know, we're coming off a season as ministers in the church where we've been doing this, like, heavy lift of getting all the fall programs off the ground, and it's a ton of details and organization and coordinating volunteers and content and programs and people. And it's like, there's been so many days where we have, like, kept each other sane because there's just so much going on, and it's. It's a sacrifice. It's suffering. It's hard. But, like, once you start seeing the people.
[00:14:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: And the growth and, like, just that those God moments that happen, like, so worth it. Right? So it's like Our work is so.
Especially in all seasons, but especially in this, like, back to school fall season, I think, like, just.
Yep. There is a lot of suffering and sacrifice, and there's a lot of joy, and they. You can't have one without the other. Right. And isn't it the same, like, in your parenting and in your marriage and in your family relationships and your friendship? I mean, like, everything, it just. Everything is the same. Being in community with people who are, you know, human people.
Yeah.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: You were just talking about the craziness of the fall and things like that. And it reminded me of, like, we say this every year. We're like, oh, my gosh, this is so crazy, and blah, blah, blah, blah.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Next year we're not gonna do this.
[00:15:13] Speaker C: Next year we're not gonna do this. And then we turn around and it's like, what changed?
We don't. Like, in the moment, it's craziness, but afterwards, we don't remember the craziness until we're in it.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: It's like childbirth,
[00:15:31] Speaker C: except we don't have any medication.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: I don't think I had any residents, but it says something about a person. All right. Yeah. Okay. So living this life of purpose in imitation of Christ, it's a full life, but it's not an easy life. And I think this passage is about, what does it look like to be a disciple? What does it mean to imitate Christ with our actions and who we are and to grow in those virtues.
And grow.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: That's the other big word.
You know, we can come to church, we can sit every weekend, we can pray every day.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:16:08] Speaker C: But if we're not having that intentional relationship and modeling it, there is no growth in that.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah. Because it's not just about, like, doing what Jesus did. It's about being like Jesus is so integrating.
[00:16:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: That's what. Next week we're gonna talk about holiness and being saints. And that's what holiness is. The integration. Right. Of, like, acting the way Jesus acted, but being the way Jesus is in love. And the wholeness of it, not just the holiness of it.
Holding both of those things together in love. Because that's what Jesus showed us.
And our path is to become like him. Right.
[00:16:49] Speaker C: And then we move into the gospel, which is one of my favorites.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: More Pharisees trying to trip Jesus up with trick questions.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: Silly Pharisees.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: Which commandment is the greatest?
[00:17:01] Speaker C: And Jesus said to them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your mind.
This is the greatest first commandment.
The second is you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend.
Depend on these two commandments.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: Yep.
Yeah. I mean, these readings are really. They're very useful.
[00:17:27] Speaker C: They are.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: There is a very clear roadmap ahead of us about what we're supposed to do.
[00:17:31] Speaker C: And if you haven't noticed, I'm sorry. Jeff had reminded us last week not to talk over each other, and that's all we've been doing. So my apologies to people who are listening and watching and listening.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of the same thing as what happened last week with the.
The taxes thing. Right. Like, Jesus is saying, like, arguing about the minutia of these things is not relevant. And it's even unhelpful because it's a distraction from, like, getting out there and doing it. Like, we know what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be compassionate. We're supposed to act love like Jesus loves. We know what we're supposed to do. And like, it's still so easy to get just bogged down with these, with things that don't really matter. I'm gonna. I'm gonna share a story that might come back to haunt me, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Because yesterday, two days ago, I sat through a two hour zoom meeting with our diocesan evangelization and catechesis staff, who I love.
[00:18:27] Speaker C: Hi, guys.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: I know you are watching and listening, but. And I asked a question in the zoom chat, which.
[00:18:35] Speaker C: Don't you always tell me not to do that?
[00:18:37] Speaker B: I should have done that.
It doesn't matter. But just to say that this question I should have asked in this. And it was like two hours of policies and procedures of things that we have, you know, to do our due diligence as ministers. We want to make sure everything is safe and above board and that we're on top of things and records are kept. Well, they're all good things. Right. But two hours of this, and I wish the question I had put in the question box was, which of these commandments is the greatest?
So now I can't wait for next year when we have this meeting because it's going to be. I'm going to wait until like the one and a half hour mark and then I'm going to raise the card question.
What do you think our friends would say about that?
[00:19:21] Speaker C: I think they would laugh. I'm not sure if the other people on that call would laugh, but it's true. And we talk about this at our staff meetings.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:19:32] Speaker C: What is the mission of our church
[00:19:34] Speaker B: of Course, you have to do all the adulting.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Is it in procedure? Is it organized?
Or is it the people and being with them and. Yeah, I know.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: I'm not saying we don't need policies and procedures.
[00:19:51] Speaker C: Policies and procedures, but I get it.
When we are in this time of getting our programs ready and things like that, we know what it takes to get everything to run. And then I don't think. I don't really think I love everybody in our parishes, but I don't really think the logistics of what we do.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: It must. Because we make things look so easy.
[00:20:19] Speaker C: Maybe.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: High five.
[00:20:20] Speaker C: Okay, let's just. We'll just end that there.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: I mean, I think all of our co workers have been around us enough to know that it's not easy for us. But.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: But, I mean, isn't that with anything, right? I mean, like, teachers and doctors and everybody. There's things that need to be.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Moms, dads at the beginning of the school year or any time, really, like, just getting the household, you know, up and at him every morning.
[00:20:45] Speaker C: So that also, when my husband asks why the house is kind of messy, I can say, well, which one of
[00:20:52] Speaker B: the greatest commandments, Dude? I cannot believe he asked that
[00:20:57] Speaker C: every once in a while.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: I cannot believe he asked that every
[00:20:59] Speaker C: once in a while.
And, you know, it's mostly because the kids just come in and dump everything, so. But I was like, well, I got bigger fish to fry than.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: Not your problem.
[00:21:10] Speaker C: Yelling at the kids about their backpacks. Okay, I digress.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: Did we.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: The main thing. Love. The main thing is love. Love God. Love others as yourself. Right? Yeah. So that's like the rule of three there.
[00:21:28] Speaker C: You did pose a question that. Yes, I.
How do you show the same compassion to yourself that you show to others?
And I literally almost spit out my coffee because I am way more compassionate and forgiving to other people than I am myself.
[00:21:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I'm telling myself that every rule is, you know, all the commandments are important, and I have to follow every. Do everything perfectly all the time. That's what I'm telling myself.
I would never put that on my kids or our families at church or anything.
[00:22:03] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. So I was like, it's way harder on ourselves.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: I don't. I don't.
So I don't know.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: Right at the end of the day, God's gonna be like, well, did you love me?
[00:22:16] Speaker C: Did you remember?
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Did you love everybody else? Did you love you? Cause I love you.
That's it.
[00:22:22] Speaker C: Like, I go to bed and I was like, oh, my gosh, I never even said hi to Jesus today
[00:22:29] Speaker B: for real.
[00:22:29] Speaker C: And I work at a church.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: It's the only thing that matters. It's the thing that undergirds everything else. Right. Yeah. I mean, I think this week's readings are really.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: They're good.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: They're central. They're central to the whole enterprise of being Christian.
And I love the progression of this four week cycle.
[00:22:47] Speaker C: Yeah, I was just gonna mention that, too. Like, if you haven't noticed, when we first started to where.
Where we're going, it's like, that's what I like about the liturgical year.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: Oh, the lectionary, it's so rich. Like, people really thought about this when they created it. Like, the wisdom of the tradition is. Is a thing we should all be grateful for. Yeah, yeah.
[00:23:06] Speaker C: How it all connects and. And then in three years, we're going to be at a completely different phase in our lives. That what we said today is.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: Gonna be completely different than in three years. So.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: Okay, well, all right. So our mission this week is clear. How can we bring God's compassion into the real world and those who are most in need of our love and care?
Showing up with love for God, others, and ourselves.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Amen. And so, eyes on the prize, everybody. Next week, we're gonna bring this plane in for a landing and we're gonna all become saints next week.
[00:23:43] Speaker C: We already are by our baptism.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: We're going to save it for next week. Save it for next week.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Fine.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: All right, well, have a great week, everybody.
[00:23:50] Speaker C: Bye.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Thanks.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: Thanks for taking a faith break with us today.
Karen Luke and Ann 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] Faith Break is engineered by Jeff Beckett.
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