Season of Expectation

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to Faith Break. Finding God moments in your everyday. Each week on Faith Break, hosts Karen Luke and Anne Gallagher bring spiritual refreshment to your daily life. Advent is a time of waiting and joyful hope for the coming of Jesus into our world. This week, as we celebrate Mary's immaculate conception, Karen and Ann reflect on Mary's story as a model of expectant faith, responsiveness to God, and courage in answering God's call for her life. [00:00:46] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Faith Break. I am Anne Gallagher. [00:00:50] Speaker C: And I'm Karen Luke. [00:00:51] Speaker B: And we are coworkers, friends, moms, wives, all of those things. And we are here every week to help you find your God moments in your everyday life. Yes. And today is a very special episode. [00:01:05] Speaker C: And you're in the beautiful blue. [00:01:07] Speaker B: Yes. So we are. We're in the Advent season. And today is special because in addition to speaking to our parish communities, our diocese is going to be collaborating with us on this episode. So we're going to be part of our Diocese of Rochester Advent calendar, digital Advent calendar. So we might have some new listeners and watchers today. So if you've never seen us before. Hi. [00:01:33] Speaker C: Hello. [00:01:33] Speaker B: Welcome. [00:01:34] Speaker C: Excuse my voice. I usually don't sound like this. [00:01:37] Speaker B: Karen's fighting off a cold. Remember on Friends when Phoebe had the. She liked the way the cold made her voice sound when she was singing. So she had tried to keep the cold for as long as you can. [00:01:47] Speaker C: No, I don't want to keep this for as long as I can. [00:01:50] Speaker B: Well, so we start every week by sharing our God moments. Would you like to share your God moment to get us started? [00:01:57] Speaker C: So the other day we had off for Veterans Day. Thank you all vets out there. And I took that day my God moment. [00:02:06] Speaker B: I wholly napped like Joseph. [00:02:10] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. I probably got more sleep yesterday than I've had in like, two weeks. [00:02:16] Speaker B: It was just, like, awesome. [00:02:18] Speaker C: I would read a couple pages and then I'd fall asleep and then I'd wake up and I'd read a couple more pages of a book. [00:02:23] Speaker B: And you slept okay the next night. [00:02:24] Speaker C: Oh, but I slept right through. [00:02:26] Speaker B: That's awesome. [00:02:26] Speaker C: Yeah, I probably could have slept all day, too. [00:02:28] Speaker B: You must have really needed it. [00:02:29] Speaker C: Yeah, and I felt a little guilty. Cause both of the kids were home. [00:02:34] Speaker B: But they're big kids now. [00:02:35] Speaker C: I'm like, you know what? They don't need my. [00:02:38] Speaker B: No. [00:02:39] Speaker C: You know, I did make a snack, so there was food and stuff. [00:02:42] Speaker B: But you've covered your bases. They're fine. [00:02:45] Speaker C: Yeah, it was great. [00:02:46] Speaker B: Oh, good. [00:02:47] Speaker C: So what about you? What was Your. [00:02:48] Speaker B: You know, mine might be a little bit controversial, but I'm gonna say it anyway because this is where I saw God this week. But we had. We had the first snowfall this week. No, I love it. We woke up early, early in the morning, and we have these big windows in our living room space. And you know how when there's a snow on the ground, like, the light is just different? And even though the sun wasn't up yet, when we got up, like, you could just see it was just. I don't know. The reflection of the snow in the house was beautiful, and I just. It was beautiful. And, you know, God is present with us in the beauty of nature. And I know a lot of people don't like the snow, but I love having all four seasons. And I always think the first snowfall is a grace moment. So that was my guide moment. [00:03:41] Speaker C: Yay. Now, are all the leaves on top of the snow now? [00:03:46] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, now, you know, it's fine. [00:03:48] Speaker C: Now it just looks messy. But, hey, life is messy, right? [00:03:52] Speaker B: Right. It's not, like, March messy. [00:03:54] Speaker C: No, that's true. That's true. [00:03:56] Speaker B: Beginning of the winter, messy. All right, so today we are here to talk about Mary. [00:04:02] Speaker C: Mary. [00:04:03] Speaker B: We have done multiple episodes on Mary over the course of the podcast, and when the diocese came to us and asked us if we could do a podcast around the Immaculate Conception, we were just like, sure. But I'm gonna try really hard not to be too repetitive of things that we've shared about Mary in the past. Just because we're fangirls, we've, like. I don't know. There's just so much to say about. [00:04:32] Speaker C: You know, it was so funny when they asked. I'm like, why don't you just go back to the archives? Do we need to do a new one? [00:04:38] Speaker B: We're gonna check. We're just. [00:04:40] Speaker C: We do. [00:04:40] Speaker B: Okay. So we are gonna be honoring Mary today and all of her awesomeness. So we need to set. First of all, anytime you talk about the Immaculate Conception, we have to set the record straight and say we're not talking about Jesus's conception. [00:04:56] Speaker C: Correct. [00:04:57] Speaker B: We're talking about when Mary was conceived without original sin. [00:05:01] Speaker C: Correct. And her parents are Anne and Joachim. [00:05:05] Speaker B: Yes. [00:05:05] Speaker C: And I knew that. Well, I know that now. I didn't before when I was working at St. Anne on Mount Hope. [00:05:12] Speaker B: Yes. [00:05:13] Speaker C: I remember one of the first questions that I got asked was, do you know why it's named St. Anne and why there's a picture of this other guy? And I was like, no. And the priest was Looking at me like, okay, we got some work to do. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Time to learn about your patron saint. [00:05:29] Speaker C: But, yeah, so St. Anne's on Mount Hope. There's St. Joachim, St. Anne, and then Mary. Yeah, it's like a little mini holy family, but of the other family. [00:05:39] Speaker B: The original origin story of the family. Holy family. I love it. Okay, so we're talking about Mary's immaculate conception today. We also, throughout this season of our podcast, are talking about all the seasons of life. So the other theme for today is Advent as a season of expectation. [00:05:57] Speaker C: Yes. [00:05:58] Speaker B: Because this is the time we are waiting in joyful hope. We are anticipating the birth of Jesus as Mary did. And. Yeah, but so I was thinking about this idea of expectation. [00:06:12] Speaker C: I always think of expectation is so negative. [00:06:14] Speaker B: It's a word that has a positive and a negative meaning. Right. So I thought maybe we could spend some time teasing out the different. How we experience expectation and expectations differently and also how Mary did, too. So that's kind of what we're here to do today. [00:06:31] Speaker C: Yeah. I was talking before we actually started filming, I was like, you know, we're talking about all these expectations that I know dads probably have, too, but we're moms, so I don't know. So I'm speaking as a mom. The expectations of a mom and a wife and provider. [00:06:51] Speaker B: Right. For any of us. [00:06:52] Speaker C: For any of us. [00:06:53] Speaker B: Right. [00:06:53] Speaker C: And I was like, dude, Mary was 14, 15 years old, and. Yeah. And. Right. [00:07:02] Speaker B: And everything else that was what was. [00:07:05] Speaker C: You know, I'm working full time, I'm running around. It's like, what expectations did Mary actually have? But then I was like, wow, wait a minute. There's a lot more. It wasn't just material expectations. [00:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So let's talk about the Immaculate Conception as, like, a doctrine. And we don't want to get too, like, philosophical argument. Yeah. We're not gonna, like, argue the doctrine or anything today, but we like to approach things in a spirit of wonderment and quest, you know, holy wondering, questioning. Because I think where people can get kind of tripped up with the. The idea of the Immaculate Conception was that Mary was conceived without original sin because she was going to be mother of Jesus. But we also know that Mary had free will. Like, the thing that is, like, at the core of her being is the yes she gave. So she couldn't have given a yes if it was just written in stone from before she was born. And she didn't have a choice in it. She did have a choice in it. [00:08:08] Speaker C: Right. [00:08:10] Speaker B: So that's kind of like. It's A tricky thing to hold both of those ideas in your brain kind of at the same time. But I think it's just really important that we remember that when we're talking about the Immaculate Conception that it's not that God didn't force her into this. [00:08:27] Speaker C: Right. She wasn't told it was going to happen. [00:08:29] Speaker B: She wasn't forced into it. She got, you know, invited and she made her own. Yes. But what he did was he equipped her with what she would need. [00:08:41] Speaker C: Right. [00:08:42] Speaker B: To answer the call. [00:08:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:08:44] Speaker B: You say that a lot that God doesn't. That's one of your key things. [00:08:47] Speaker C: That's one of my things. Yeah. That God. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the call. [00:08:53] Speaker B: Right. And so that's true for all of us. And it was true for Mary, too. So. Yeah, because, like, what you said, like, all mothers are dealing with impossible. With an impossible task of raising a human to be the person God made them to be. Like. And for Mary, even more so because it was Jesus. Right. Like, she was gonna need all the patience and all of the. All the presence and all of the humor and all of the just, like, compassion to raise him. Right. [00:09:31] Speaker C: You know, we also have to think about Anne and Joachim. Like, they weren't young. They were in. They were older. And we don't hear a lot about their experience with what happened. [00:09:49] Speaker B: Right. It's not in the Bible. It's not in the Bible. So we don't have full. Like. But we can imagine it. Right. [00:09:55] Speaker C: Anne must have. God must have came down and talked with Anne and Joachim in the same way that he talked to Mary and Joseph. [00:10:05] Speaker B: Sure. You know, but the legacy of faith would have gone back. [00:10:08] Speaker C: Right. Because if that was just, like, done, then there wouldn't have been the. Anne and Joachim wouldn't have been able to process or give Mary the upbringing to be able to handle all that. [00:10:23] Speaker B: The skills, the virtues, all of that. Right. [00:10:25] Speaker C: So, like, what did that look like? [00:10:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:28] Speaker C: And what was. You know, we laugh at. Not really laugh, but Mary was 14 when she had that experience. Ann was, I think, in her, like, 80s or so. We don't know. [00:10:43] Speaker B: We have no idea. Yeah. [00:10:44] Speaker C: Just like Elizabeth, Like, I think it was all like this. [00:10:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:10:47] Speaker C: And it's just. [00:10:48] Speaker B: It's so. [00:10:50] Speaker C: It's a wonderment to think about, to. [00:10:53] Speaker B: Ponder these things in our hearts like Mary did. [00:10:56] Speaker C: Yeah, well. [00:10:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, one of the things we've talked about before, too, is, like, with Jesus and with the Paschal mystery, like, he saved us on the cross, but he saved Us by his whole. Like his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection. All of it was grace. Right? And for Mary, too, I think that this idea of the Immaculate Conception kind of gets at that in a roundabout way. You know, it wasn't just at the moment when she said yes to being Jesus mother. Her whole life had been graced right before that too. Right. And, you know, we. We like to talk about God having dreams for our lives that we can choose to participate in, rather than the idea of, like, a plan. Because a plan is. [00:11:41] Speaker C: You do it. [00:11:42] Speaker B: Step is step one, step two, step three. [00:11:44] Speaker C: Right? [00:11:44] Speaker B: And, like, you can't deviate from it. But God, that's not how God works. God invites us with freedom into a possibility that he hopes we will grow into. And. And he gives us what we need to become our truest selves and to follow him in the way that he's calling us. So, yeah, what a gift to have all of these stories of people from Scripture just like, to remind us how God's working in our own lives, too, through this season. [00:12:22] Speaker C: And what I like about it is that even though what happened thousands of years ago, it can still be relevant in our lives today. Right. I mean, I'm sure Mary had a lot of stuff going on that she was doing, especially what she was doing when she. When Gabriel came to her. [00:12:41] Speaker B: Right. [00:12:41] Speaker C: It's like. And we have a lot of stuff that we're doing. [00:12:44] Speaker B: She was probably planning her wedding. [00:12:47] Speaker C: Right? And I'm thinking to myself, like, how. [00:12:49] Speaker B: Does this fit in? You know? [00:12:50] Speaker A: Right. [00:12:50] Speaker C: And I'm thinking, like, just taking the time to breathe during the day and. [00:12:56] Speaker B: To find these God moments, especially in Advent when it's. Especially in December, it's so busy, you. [00:13:01] Speaker C: Know, and to focus on what Christmas actually means and not making sure you have all the cookies baked and all the presents wrapped. Like, it's not. It's not about that. It's about the joy and the hope and the anticipation and just, like, breathing. [00:13:19] Speaker B: And just the relationship. I mean, you talked about holy napping. We always say Joseph is the holy napper. But Mary, I love to think of her as a model of, like, responsiveness to God, like, and receptivity. What are the things? So I'm not on social media much anymore, but when I do go on Facebook, I find I'm just scrolling and what I'm watching is dance videos. Just bear with me for a minute here, okay? [00:13:52] Speaker C: I'm totally. I'm right there with you. [00:13:54] Speaker B: These dance. So there is this style of dance called west coast swing and they do these, like, competitions. And so it's not like jumps and twirls and, like, you know, when you think about, like, swing dancing, all the big lifts and stuff. But what it is, is they'll be partnered with a random person and given a random song, and they have to create a dance that's completely improvised, right? [00:14:20] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:14:20] Speaker B: And some of the couples are actually married couples who are dancing. Like, sometimes they get paired together, and sometimes they're paired with total strangers. And I find it fascinating to watch these couples because, you know, like, traditionally, it's like the guy is leading the girl, but when you watch them, you realize it's much more of a conversation than that. And even if the guy is taking the lead in the usual steps, a lot of the time, it's the woman who, by her body language is cueing some of. Like, the. More like the tricks or the spins or the things that are like. And I just. I love watching these videos because to me, it's like prayer. Like, this is what I want my prayer to be like. Like, I want to be as responsive to God. His nudges, like, when he just maybe a little nudge of the hand or a direction of the gaze or something like that, and they're. I want to be so responsive to him that I can create a beautiful. That we can create a beautiful dance together. Right. And. But it's not just him telling her what to do. It's a dialogue, and it's something they create together. And I think when I look at Mary's life, she and God created together. You know, Jesus's childhood and his family and his experience of being a person in the world and. Yeah, I don't know. I just think that's something I really love about Mary. [00:15:58] Speaker C: That's a really good analogy. You have all these good, like, visual analogies about it. [00:16:06] Speaker B: So now that's maybe in 2026. I'll have to, like, see if there's any place locally that I can try this out. I think Brian would go for it. [00:16:14] Speaker C: Brian would totally go for it. [00:16:15] Speaker B: I think Brian would go for it. Okay. Anyway, that was a little bit of a tangent. [00:16:19] Speaker C: No, it wasn't. It was great. [00:16:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. So the Immaculate Conception and this idea of, like, expectations. Right. So, I mean, you could look at the story of Mary and be like, well, it was expected that she was gonna be Jesus's mother, right? [00:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:16:34] Speaker B: But she had the freedom to create that reality her own. So there's, like, a difference between, like, external expectations and, I think, internal expectations. Like, I Was thinking about her life. And like, how did Mary deal with those external expectations that we talk about as like moms and working moms? [00:17:00] Speaker C: Not only that is now she's pregnant out of wedlock. [00:17:04] Speaker B: Exactly. So you can. [00:17:05] Speaker C: Like that. [00:17:06] Speaker B: How did she handle society's expectations? Wow. She. [00:17:10] Speaker C: Well, she went to see Elizabeth. [00:17:11] Speaker B: She didn't care about society's expectations for her at all. Once she had the call from God, she. Right. She just. Nothing was going to stop her from doing what God asked her to do. Even though every expectation of her society and, you know, maybe even her family too. We don't know. I mean. And you know, were they around when she was pregnant? Did they communicate with Elizabeth to get her out of town and have a safe place to be for those months? I mean, like, who knows? You could like really prey on that for a long time. But she did not hesitate, Right. To do what was, you know, not condoned by the society she was living in. [00:17:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:17:59] Speaker B: Brave. [00:18:00] Speaker C: That was very brave. And I mean, in that time it was something completely different. Right. Would have been stoned or. [00:18:09] Speaker B: Right. When Joseph says he's gonna divorce her. [00:18:13] Speaker C: Quietly, Gabriel comes and he's like, no. [00:18:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:17] Speaker C: And then to have to have that expectation of, you know, Joseph, what is everyone else gonna think? [00:18:24] Speaker B: The expectations on him. He carried those expectations for them a lot. Yeah, absolutely. [00:18:30] Speaker C: And then internally, like, how do you deny God? How do you be like, yeah, no, this isn't gonna work. [00:18:38] Speaker B: I know, right? So she had an internal call that was where God was speaking to her that was stronger than all the external expectations that would have limited her or just kept. Kept it from happening. I always. [00:18:57] Speaker C: I don't know, I like, I always wonder, like, if we always joke, like, if God came back or if Jesus came back, like, that's what we're. [00:19:07] Speaker B: How would he be received? [00:19:07] Speaker C: How would he be received? [00:19:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:09] Speaker C: And I'm just thinking, like, if a young girl was like, hey, God, talk to me, we're just like, okay. Like, that just goes to show we have been not conditioned, but we have been taught to love all. And maybe we may not think, society wise, that it's acceptable, but it has happened. [00:19:39] Speaker B: Yes, right. [00:19:40] Speaker C: It could happen. And that's what we hope will happen. [00:19:44] Speaker B: We hope and we hope that we would be responsive. [00:19:47] Speaker C: Right. [00:19:48] Speaker B: We would be responsive when we get called. [00:19:50] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:19:51] Speaker B: Right. [00:19:52] Speaker C: You know, but like, we were not. [00:19:53] Speaker B: Immaculately conceived, so we don't always to come through in that way. But yeah. And internally, you know, the other thing about expectation is like, on the one hand, you have the External, like the weight of the world, society's expectations, or. [00:20:09] Speaker C: Your every day, all day on the shoulders. [00:20:11] Speaker B: Yes, all of that. But then the other sense of expectation is like. That's like the joyful waiting, the. You know, we've talked about Mary's trust and what Elizabeth says to her, you know, blessed are you who believed that what God said to you would be fulfilled. Right. So Mary had the expectation of God that God was gonna be with her every step of the journey as she responded to his call. That's another great way. She's a model for us. Because I can really struggle to trust in terms of, you know, when things seem unclear and all that. So, yeah, there's a lot of ways you can kind of get at this mystery a little deeper. Right. Different unexpected ways, like to give. [00:21:06] Speaker C: Not giving up the control, but like, just allowing God to work. [00:21:14] Speaker B: Yes. [00:21:14] Speaker C: Without you interfering so hard. [00:21:18] Speaker B: I'm not good at that. I know, right. Because we make our plans. [00:21:23] Speaker A: Right. [00:21:24] Speaker C: But it doesn't. I mean, that's like just what we tell. What we tell the kids about praying. You can pray for X, Y and Z. It doesn't mean that X, Y and Z is going to be given to you and given to you when you want it. [00:21:38] Speaker B: Yes. [00:21:39] Speaker C: You know, and the trust and the love that Mary had to be patient. [00:21:46] Speaker B: Right. [00:21:47] Speaker C: And to wait and to trust. And it's like, yeah, okay. In the world, chaos, chaotic world that we're in. [00:22:00] Speaker B: Right. [00:22:01] Speaker C: I don't think it's that much more chaotic than it was back then. It just had different. [00:22:05] Speaker B: I don't know, it's pretty chaotic out there right now. I don't. [00:22:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:22:11] Speaker B: I mean, there's just that. Well, that's part of, I think, the weight of the expectation we experience in the contemporary. In this world we're living in, you know, I mean, we don't live in a village where the people who are in the village are, like, the only people that we know. That's true, right? [00:22:26] Speaker C: Yeah, that's true. [00:22:27] Speaker B: We have so much to distract us on our phones and even just trying to keep up with news that's important. But, like, it's. There's so many much. And so I don't. I mean, I trust that God is with us today the same way God was with us with Mary and Joseph back in the day. But, I mean, things are complicated now. And I think that just is another challenge because it's. When you're dealing with expectations like you really. It's really discernment. You have to decide what you're Gonna give your attention to and what yeses you're gonna give. Cause you can't say yes to all of it. Right, Right. So I think as like, working moms in ministry today, that's a constant struggle for us is to know what do we really need to say the deepest yes to? And what can we just be like? We don't. We're not gonna worry about that. [00:23:28] Speaker C: It's so funny that you brought that up. Cause I was talking with Pam, our music director at St. Catherine's and she says, you know, there's the holy yes, and there's also the holy no. [00:23:38] Speaker B: Right. [00:23:39] Speaker C: And I was like, oh, my gosh. [00:23:41] Speaker B: Amen to that. She says. [00:23:42] Speaker C: You know, and we had this whole conversation about the expectations of us and why we say yes instead of no. And I mean, granted, I didn't want Mary to say no. Right. We don't want Mary to say no. But maybe there were other no's. [00:23:59] Speaker B: There were yes. [00:24:00] Speaker C: There had to have been other nos. [00:24:01] Speaker B: She said yes to God's call when Gabriel appeared to her. But that yes was also a no to something else. A no to a lot of other things. [00:24:10] Speaker C: Right. [00:24:10] Speaker B: Yeah. And to have that kind of clarity in our prayer life about, like, what's the yes God's really asking for and. [00:24:19] Speaker C: What God is asking. Not what I'm expecting God to be. [00:24:24] Speaker B: And most of our yeses aren't, like, you say one yes and this, like. I mean, like, yes, when we get married, that's a big yes. You're gonna keep that yes forever. Right. But, like, most of the yeses we make, I mean, it's a million decisions a day. Right. So it's. It is this, like, sense of being constantly, like, listening, paying attention. [00:24:44] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:24:45] Speaker B: And responding, you know? [00:24:48] Speaker C: See, I think that's where I falter. [00:24:50] Speaker B: Oh, me too. I don't. [00:24:52] Speaker C: I don't wait and listen. I just react. [00:24:55] Speaker B: Oh. [00:24:56] Speaker C: And that is. You know, I have so hard gotten into. It's gotten me into trouble so many times with just the reaction or feeling of guilt. [00:25:08] Speaker B: Yep. [00:25:09] Speaker C: You know, like, I know it's covered, but I feel like I have to still be there. [00:25:16] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:25:16] Speaker C: I mean, it's like. But do I. And then you have this, like, sense of. Of this guilt and, like, struggle. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Right. [00:25:26] Speaker C: And I don't know where I was going with that other than, oh, yeah. The reaction. [00:25:30] Speaker B: Reaction is so, like. I feel like it's so easy to be in a constant state of reacting 1000 to whatever emergency is right there. And, yeah. We need practice in being responsive, not reactive. Because half the time our reactions aren't even. They might not even be linked to the other person's expectation. They might be our own feelings. Right. And like, maybe what I'm obsessing about is not at all what that person was really trying to get at. You know, it's just complicated. So. Yeah, but like Mary. Mary was responsive and she was intentional in her yeses. [00:26:13] Speaker C: She waited for the whole entire thing that Gabriel was saying. [00:26:19] Speaker B: And she had questions. [00:26:20] Speaker C: Right, Right. How can she followed up? [00:26:22] Speaker B: Yep. [00:26:23] Speaker C: But she waited and she was patient. And I, I have this like, thought in my head that if Gabriel came down to me and he's like, you're going to be the, you know, whatever. I'm like, no, I'm not like, right. Not even waiting to hear the rest of the story. I'll just be like, nope, that's not happening. [00:26:38] Speaker B: What are you talking about? I know. Yeah. [00:26:41] Speaker C: And I'm 45, not 14. You know, like, that's still. I love bringing that up to kids because it's just like this, like, mind blowing experience for them. [00:26:53] Speaker B: Right. [00:26:53] Speaker C: Because they don't relate to Mary. They relate to Mary as a mother figure. [00:26:57] Speaker B: Right. [00:26:58] Speaker C: Not as she was a teenage. She was my age when. [00:27:02] Speaker B: Yeah. When we talk to teams about Mary being a teenager, that, that can be a really cool. [00:27:06] Speaker C: It is really to see. Wait, what? [00:27:09] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and you know what? The other thing about that I was wondering about with the Immaculate Conception in Mary is like, okay, conceived without original sin, but that doesn't mean she like, like emotions aren't sins. Right. Like, so she experienced emotionally everything every other human experiences. Right. So it doesn't mean she was this like, perfect person who never had internal struggles. That's not, I think, what the teaching is getting at. It's getting at the fact that like, she, she was given what she needed to, to follow the call. Right. But it doesn't mean it was easy for her to do that. You know what I mean? Like, so, like, we have raised children. Like, we know those moments that you have raising your kids that are amazing and we know the ones that are like, really challenging. [00:28:08] Speaker C: And I didn't lose my voice from yelling at my children, I promise. [00:28:12] Speaker B: But like, yeah, the Holy family, I am certain. I am certain. Was not just like, well, we talked about that before. I know. [00:28:20] Speaker C: When Jesus just decided to go back to the temple. [00:28:23] Speaker B: Yep. [00:28:23] Speaker C: It's like there was. [00:28:25] Speaker B: Didn't you know how it had to be? [00:28:26] Speaker C: There is no way. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, everybody. There is no way that Mary was Calm, cool and collected during that time. [00:28:34] Speaker B: No. And like, you do see in that story, too, we're getting a little off the rails, but it's okay. It's almost like the banter, like the intimacy of that mother child relationship. And like, we don't have lots of stories of them together, but it carries through. Like the wedding at Cana, when he tries to tell her it's not my time yet. And she says to the steward, like, do whatever he tells you. It is your time. [00:28:58] Speaker C: You know, I mean, they're only 14, 15 years apart. [00:29:02] Speaker B: Yeah. It's just so, there's. So. Scripture is so rich. And when we let ourselves, you know, in the Ignatian style, just like. [00:29:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:11] Speaker B: Let our heart immerse ourselves in it. Let our hearts and our imaginations run with wherever God's grace is going to take us. I don't know, it just can be really exciting and beautiful. And so I hope that this week, when you guys are celebrating your Advent, when you're waiting in joyful hope and a spirit of expectation that, like, you can just spend some time with Mary and think about, you know, how she, how she danced with God throughout, not just the moment of the Annunciation, but throughout her entire life and Jesus's entire life. Like, it's just a whole lifetime of grace. Right. So. [00:29:51] Speaker C: Yeah. So this Advent season, just challenge yourself, you know, what expectation of the world can you just let go this year? Maybe it's not. I mean, I'm not saying let go of everything at once because then you'll really freak out, but maybe you don't need to make 26 dozen cookies to pass out to the neighbors this year. [00:30:10] Speaker B: Right. [00:30:11] Speaker C: You know? [00:30:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:13] Speaker C: So take it internal. [00:30:15] Speaker B: Listen to. [00:30:16] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:30:16] Speaker B: Where. Where you're what God's expectation is for you and what God's invitation is for you, and then trust that God's gonna give you what you need to fulfill that call. [00:30:31] Speaker C: Yep. [00:30:33] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know. Do you have anything else you want to bring up about Mary or. [00:30:37] Speaker C: No, not that we haven't already talked about. Yeah. [00:30:42] Speaker B: Okay. Well, thanks everybody for watching or listening. We will be back every week with new God moments, new questions, new seasons of life, and we wish you all the best in this season of Advent. [00:30:56] Speaker C: Hi. Thank you. [00:30:57] Speaker B: Have a great week, everybody. [00:31:00] 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 Faith Break each week in Studio on YouTube or on your favorite audio podcast or music.