[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 Karen Luke.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: And I'm Anne Gallagher.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: And we are here to talk about our mini series, Fruitfulness in the year or in the year? In the month of October.
[00:01:06] Speaker C: Heading in, we're in the November 1st now, looking at November 1st
[00:01:13] Speaker B: and breaking it down and how we can prepare ourselves better for Mass and also tidbits on our daily lives on how we can incorporate what the readings are teaching us and letting us dive into this.
So we are at the All Souls Day final week. The final week of.
[00:01:33] Speaker C: Yes, we're bringing it to a conclusion.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: So we have looking back four weeks ago, we had the banquet God set in front of us. Full of the graces sustaining us, God's fed and strengthened us.
Two weeks ago, we were equipped for mission. God gave us a title and armed us. Yep. But yep. Called us into service and convicted us that we could do it.
And last week he was clear about the nature of the assignment. So there can be no confusion.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: You are compassionate or else love God
[00:02:09] Speaker C: wholeheartedly and love others as ourselves. And now we get down to the business of living a life of holiness, the lifelong journey of becoming saints. Which is great because this Sunday today is All Saints Day.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: One of saints, one of our big favorites.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: It's one of my favorites too. And it reminds me, or this holy day reminds me, that we're gonna be transitioning into a whole new liturgical season soon. In a couple weeks too.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: So it's like Advent is coming.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Advent is coming whether we like it or not.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: We like it.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:02:44] Speaker C: But let's maybe we can, before we get into the readings, just talk a little bit about the communion of saints. I know we've done this on the podcast before, but it's such an important part of our lives as Catholics, this idea that we are part of a sacred family that extends throughout space and throughout time.
And we're just part of something that's so much bigger than ourselves. Right.
What do you like about the communion of Saints?
[00:03:08] Speaker B: So there's Two.
Two things that happen in our.
One in our liturgy and one in our sacraments.
So in the liturgy on Holy Saturday, when we have our candidates and catechumens coming into the Catholic Church, after the baptism, before Confirmation, we sing the Litany of saints.
[00:03:34] Speaker C: I love it.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: The litany of saints is so beautiful to me. And it's basically just a list of all the saints. And after each one or three or four, we say, pray for us. And I just love the notion that there's like, thousands of saints praying for us, even more.
And Fulton Sheen now is.
[00:04:00] Speaker C: Yes, we have.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: I know.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: Big news in our diocese happening this month, so.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: So I just love the idea that there's more.
It's bigger.
[00:04:12] Speaker C: It's everyone who's been in history, and it's everyone around the globe, all of the believers. So no one is alone.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: No one is alone.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: And I think one of the readings we aren't getting today, but is one of the saints readings. There's a great cloud of witnesses is the image. So we have this whole cheering section in heaven, basically, as we run this race of discipleship on Earth. We have.
We have all of this support and all of this love behind us. It's so awesome.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: And.
During baptisms, we have this. And Deacon Eric always says it. He tells us this, actually at every Mass, he tells that story of the one priest, the daily mass.
And the priest was out at the store, and somebody says, oh, how many did you have at daily mass? And he's like, we had thousands. And they're like, what? And he goes, well, physically, we only
[00:05:07] Speaker C: had four, but, man, the entire communion of saints was there at every.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: It's basically standing room only at any Mass and any baptism.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: Fantastic.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: Any sacraments. And it's just. Yeah. So that's. What. What do you like about.
[00:05:21] Speaker C: Well, I just. All that stuff I just said. Right. And I like.
And the idea that to be a saint, I mean, we have canonized saints who go through this whole process, and we've talked about that before, but really a saint is just anyone who's in heaven. Right. So it's the. It's the ultimate destiny of all of us that we're all working towards. Right. So saints are not just.
They are people to look up to, but they're not just people who had it perfect.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:50] Speaker C: All of. They're all of us at our final destination. Yep.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: One of the things that I like, as I was researching over the years, it's like they explained saints as, you know, they're not simple people who did extraordinary things.
They were people who allowed God to do something extraordinary in their ordinary life.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Fantastic.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: I love that. Okay. That makes me feel better. Like, when I think of it that way, I was like, oh, yeah, I'm totally a saint, for sure. You know, so.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: All right, cool. Let's look at the readings.
Okay, so the first one is from Revelation.
And, you know, there's a lot in there, but I think my favorite line is when this. It's presenting this image of heaven as a great multitude which no one could count from every nation. Race, people, and tongue. So this idea that, like, in heaven, in the communion of saints, there's complete diversity and also complete unity.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:51] Speaker C: Right. Like, it's all of the differences together. I just think that's beautiful. Everybody belongs.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: That was one thing that hit me, too. The diversity of the crowd. All coming with different stories, different personalities, different experiences, but all have moved toward that relationship with God and still continue that. I was like, wow, that's like.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: And that's like. When you look at the microcosm of the parish. Right. Because I think a lot about. Because we're so in tune to parish life. Like, parishes are just.
They're sort of like families in that if you're doing it right, you're gonna have a lot of love and a lot of support, but there's also gonna be all the humanity in there and, you know, the different types of personalities that people have. And you're in my seat for a baptism.
This is my pew.
But, you know, like, that's that image that, like, we're all different. You know, one of my favorite things about parish life is seeing, you know, the little kids and the older people and people. All different kinds of people coming together for one purpose. Right. So even in. If you look around at Mass on Sunday, like, that is an image of the communion of saints when you look around you. Right. And all of its differences and all of its humanity and, you know, just in the practicalities of.
Yeah. Each person's uniqueness, it's a joy and an affliction. Just like we talked about last week. Right.
Because people are people.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Yes. Yep.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: So first reading, then our second reading, we hear from John.
And this is talking about, we don't have to earn God's love. It's just automatic.
[00:08:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: And that's a hard concept, I think, for me sometimes, like, even as you
[00:08:52] Speaker C: can, you can't earn it, in fact.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Right. Yeah.
[00:08:54] Speaker C: It already.
The love was there first. Right.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Like, but sometimes I feel like there's still stuff I have to do to make it better.
Right.
Like, as a mom, you never know what unconditional love is until you have that idea.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Like, there's nothing you could do to make me love you more, and there's nothing you can do to make me love you less.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: But I may be disappointed.
[00:09:18] Speaker C: Or else. No, I'm just kidding.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: But, I mean, you almost feel like sometimes, I don't know, I shouldn't.
Me, for me personally, sometimes I feel like, okay, if I just do this, it'll make up for what I did over here.
[00:09:35] Speaker C: Well, because, like, the thing is, like, God loves us completely and totally and unconditionally, no matter what. But, like, the flip side of that is we do need practice in loving like God loves. Oh, right. So that's the other part of this reading is like, yeah, God has see what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called children of God. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Right. Like we will one day, but we're not there yet. So this whole idea of, like, we're already loved, but we're also not yet perfectly loving.
Right. Like this. Again, we're already loved, but we don't love perfectly yet. That's a lifelong process of growing in holiness. Right. And discipleship and in imitating God, like we've been talking about for the last few weeks. Right. So we're beloved and blessed by God now, and we have a lot of growing ahead of us.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: As we work our way to the communion of saints. Right.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: But God sees what we are already becoming before we see it. Yeah.
[00:10:37] Speaker C: It's all there in God's.
God's outside of time. God sees it all already.
That's why it's, like, for God. We're already the communion of saints. Right.
Yeah. Reflections of mind, blown love. I mean, yeah, but already and not yet, we are ending. We're getting close to the end of the liturgical year where we start hearing that our Mass readings being more, you know, they're leading to Advent. They're leading to the end and to the beginning.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: So.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: And then our Gospel, which is one of my favorites.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: All right, so we have the Beatitudes.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Yes, the Beatitudes.
[00:11:15] Speaker C: I was thinking about this, and I was like, you know, I remembered the homily Eric gave a couple of months ago on the Beatitudes. And I'm like, I got nothing else to say.
Go to the website and watch his homily.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: Can we clip his homily and just insert it here now? Okay. Jeff's nodding his head. But.
[00:11:32] Speaker C: Well, so, yeah. So the Beatitudes are like, you know, blessed are they who are poor in spirit. Why don't you go read them to us?
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
[00:12:24] Speaker C: So this is the list of what holiness looks like, what it means to be blessed. Right. But, like, they don't all seem like blessings, right?
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: And this was what Eric's homily from a couple of months ago was all about. Last time this reading came up in Ordinary time, I think there's so much
[00:12:42] Speaker B: to us, you have the worldview that we live in, that strength is having control, and success is getting ahead in life, and happiness automatically equals avoiding difficulty. And money will make you happy.
[00:12:59] Speaker C: And even from a Catholic perspective, being holy means. It's almost like this idea of merit badges.
Holiness looks like saying a rosary every day or going to confession all the time, or like, we have things we think of as being holy things, and they're not bad things, but they're not. The Beatitudes are a whole different level of what it means to be holy and whole and blessed in that way.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: And it also goes. It also reverts back to those that are most in need.
[00:13:32] Speaker C: Right. To be holy is to be humble, to have humility before God, and openness before God.
Yeah. And there's, like, just a quietness, a stillness, I feel like, underneath a lot of these things.
But some of them are really difficult. Like, to be persecuted, to mourn, to be a peacemaker. Not easy. You know, I mean, I think we probably all have different seasons in our lives when one of these Beatitudes is more in line with what we're experiencing. But.
Yeah.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: And when we're looking at these, just as the list, it feels bigger than it is. So, like, if we're gonna practice the Beatitudes in our daily life and become disciples and walk with and live this maybe being a peacemaker is choosing not to escalate an argument at home with kids or a spouse.
You know, it doesn't necessarily mean being a peacemaker to split up a fight that you have, like out in the road.
Being merciful might mean giving someone another chance or allowing them a second chance.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: Right. Yeah.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
Being meek might mean listening instead of always needing to have the last word.
[00:15:10] Speaker C: Ooh, preach, sister.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Hungering for righteous might mean speaking up when someone's being treated unfairly.
[00:15:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: And, you know, comforting those who mourn is simply just sitting with somebody who is hurting instead of trying to find the perfect words or solution.
[00:15:32] Speaker C: Right.
Yeah.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: These are all things, you know, when we hear them in this list, it seems too big.
[00:15:41] Speaker C: Yeah. And it's interesting too, that the first one is the poor in spirit, because I feel like that's maybe one of the harder ones to define. Like, what does it mean? What does it look like to be poor in spirit?
And I don't really know other than maybe it's.
I have this image of like holding things in open hands, like understanding that it's God who provides.
Yeah, God will provide. Right.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: And the humbleness of knowing that we might not always have the right solution or all the right answers or needing to have an answer.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
Yes. And to contrast this with, like last week we talked a lot about like imitating Christ and that it's doing things right with our actions, loving actions, as well as being, you know, loving like Jesus. But these beatitudes are not things that you do.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: Yeah, right.
[00:16:39] Speaker C: You know, like even like looking at the one. Like those who mourn. You talked about comforting those who mo.
But the comforters, it doesn't say blessed are the comforters. It says, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Like, that's a whole different level of receptivity. Right. And this was the one that was like. Because I'm, you know, we. This is kind of a mourning season for me. We were, we came up against the one year anniversary of my mom's death. It came in the same week as the birthday of a teen we lost several years ago. And like in the same three days, I, A woman showed up at church who is connected to my, My.
A lifelong friend of mine who died three years ago. And she came up to me after mass and I had never met her. And we. So I had this like this recent kind of constellation of grief anniversaries and encounters. And it's like, yeah, we've been working. I've been working through all these losses. So, like, I've been mourning, but, like, I was blessed because I was comforted by the community, and I was blessed in my mourning because it meant that I had loved and experience love. And like, so I don't know, these Beatitudes, are they present a model of holiness that is not a to do list. Right.
So taken together, these readings, the last four weeks are, you know, they present a real balance between, like, receiving God's graces and sharing them.
But then there's a whole nother, like, cycle, you know, like the cycle just completes. Like we're always receiving and turning that love into love for others. And. Yeah, it's just, it's really, it's really beautiful. I don't know. Was there one of the Beatitudes that you were identifying with?
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Which season? I know in this moment, I, you know, not.
Not particularly. I think maybe now that I said not particularly.
We talked last week about injustice and justice, and I think right now my biggest thing are the peacemakers. Like, I'm just trying to raise awareness of things that are happening that should not be happening in this time.
[00:19:00] Speaker C: That's last week's first reading.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:02] Speaker C: The justice.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think right now, blessed are
[00:19:05] Speaker C: the peacemakers and hunger and thirst for justice.
[00:19:08] Speaker B: And hunger and thirst for. Yeah, it's just, you know, I.
I have people who are like, oh, did you hear the news? And I'm like, no, I stopped listening. And then I was like, why did I stop listening? Oh, because it's sad. But I have, I have to be informed people. You know, it's. It's like the cycle of just randomness. And I.
And we were talking about two of our, Two of the guys that went down to Kentucky.
We were talking with them, and one of them was like, if I had unlimited time, I would have come home repacked and went right back down to finish what we started.
And I was like, you know, like, I want, I want that.
[00:19:54] Speaker C: Like, I think as we, you know, as we kind of wrap up this four week series, what I'm taking away from it, looking at these, the progression as a whole of the four weeks is like just this idea that there is a cycle and a balance to us receiving God's graces and then doing right. So we have to do and then we have to receive. Right? So it's this, like, it's action and it's contemplation. Right. These are the practices that make up a holy life and that make us holy. It's both about what we do and about what we be, what we don't do, what we receive.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:35] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Sometimes it's harder to receive.
[00:20:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: Like we were talking, well, we were talking last week about are you compassionate? Can you be compassionate to yourself? I was like, I feel like I can give and then all of a sudden I can no longer give because I have forgotten to.
[00:20:56] Speaker C: Right. But that's the like four weeks to fruitfulness.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:58] Speaker C: To be fruitful, in order to grow, you need water, you need soil, you need sunlight, you need care. Right. So you need to receive all those blessings and then you can bear fruit.
Right. And then the cycle just repeats over and over every year. Right. And that's the life of the saints. Right. It's never over.
We're always holding the blessings and the afflictions together and growing more, receiving more graces and bearing more fruit and.
Yeah. So I hope that as we leave you guys after this four week series that this has been fruitful for you.
Karen, do you have any last final things you want to say?
[00:21:38] Speaker B: Jeff is going to pull out Deacon
[00:21:39] Speaker C: Eric's homily, put it somewhere and put
[00:21:42] Speaker B: it somewhere where we can where you guys and ladies are able to share receive that.
But no, I just enjoy growing.
We never stop growing and learning. And that's what I love about our faith, is that we don't always have to have all the answers. Sometimes we just need to sit in the silence and hear what God has to offer us.
[00:22:09] Speaker C: Yep.
So that's the end of our series, Four weeks to fruitfulness. But this is just the beginning of our lives. Living our lives as saints.
We will be taking a couple of weeks off, but we will be coming back with an Advent series. So keep your eyes out for that in a few weeks.
And I also wanted to mention that if you missed the Wednesday nights when we were gathering to talk about these readings, this month we are having a faith community night on All Souls Day Monday. So if you're looking at this, this is the episode for November 1st. On November 2nd, come join us for we're gonna have a prayer service for All Souls Day and taco night. Yes.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: And we're gonna taco about the saints.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: Yep. And we're hoping to do another four week series of community dinners and small group discussions in Lent too. So you'll have another chance later in the year to, to join us live in person with our community gathered. So thanks for being with us.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: Thank you everybody.
[00:23:14] Speaker C: We really appreciate it and we'll catch you again soon.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Thanks. Bye.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: Bye.
[00:23:19] 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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[00:23:59] Speaker C: Sam.
