[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Faith Break, a podcast about recognizing God moments in our everyday lives, with hosts Karen, Luke and Anne Gallagher.
This week, Karen and Anne, welcome friend and colleague Margie Benza to reflect on the scriptures for the third week in Lent.
God providing water in the desert for the Israelites and Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.
We share a spirit of gratitude for the many ways that God has been present with us.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Hi, everyone. Welcome to Faith Break. I'm Karen Luke.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: And I'm Ann Gallagher.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: And we are friends, ministers, wives, moms, everything in between. And we have a very special guest with us, Margie Benza.
[00:00:54] Speaker D: Thank you. Yay.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: Our friend and colleague.
[00:00:57] Speaker D: So good to be here.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: And she's gonna help us find God moments in our everyday today. And we are here already in the third week of Lent.
Feels like we just had Christmas, but this is how it goes every year.
So our gospel reading today is the Woman at the well. So this will be a lovely conversation to have between three women working together.
And yeah. So we look forward to continuing our Lenten journey and some conversation together.
[00:01:26] Speaker D: Wonderful.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: Thank you for coming, Margaret. It's so fun to have you.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: So we always like to start podcast time or our conversations with a God moment.
So I know Margie was my spiritual advisor when I was going through nation spirituality. So, Margie, you are always for a God moment. Would you like to share with us today?
[00:01:50] Speaker D: And this is a very powerful God moment for me. I have been working from home since October and just went back to masses just about three weeks ago now.
And I did not expect this God moment.
I was at mass with everybody, and just having being among the people was just so wonderful. And that in itself was such a gift, and I was so grateful for that. What I didn't expect is when I went to communion and people had been bringing me communion over these months, which was a gift in itself. But that powerful moment of carrying Jesus back from being served, it was so emotional for me. And I could so feel the presence. I mean, I still get a little emotional when talking about it so much. They had to go into the chapel where it was quiet, and just sit with Jesus. Amazing, because I truly felt the presence of God. Just saying, here you are, I'm holding you, I've been holding you, but now I'm holding you among the people in the body of Christ.
And it just was a very powerful moment. And what a gift to have that gift of Eucharist as a constant reminder that we carry that with us all the time.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:03:03] Speaker D: But that moment of actually being able to go and receive with your people all around you.
[00:03:08] Speaker C: Right.
[00:03:08] Speaker D: Such a gift with everybody around me, surrounded by everybody. And at the beginning of Mass, just seeing everybody gathered as the body of Christ and being part of that was too much.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: Because it's so great that we have streaming masses for people who can't get there. But it's not the same.
[00:03:24] Speaker D: It is not the same. And as you said, it's a gift that we can do that.
It's a gift that I had people into my home that we could share the Eucharist. But being amongst the people and just feeling the presence of God, that was definitely a God moment. Yes.
[00:03:38] Speaker C: Well, it's so good to have you back.
[00:03:39] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:03:40] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:03:40] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Thank you for sharing.
[00:03:42] Speaker D: Thank you. Yes.
[00:03:43] Speaker C: Karen, you want to tell us about your God moment?
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Yeah. But it won't tell.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: Yes, it will.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: God is God.
[00:03:48] Speaker D: That's okay.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: When I was coming home from church on Saturday after had just listening to the teens do their witness talk, I kept seeing straight lights, just like vertical lights.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: Christmas lights.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Nope. They were in the distance and it almost looked like a spotlight was coming up.
I was like, what the heck? But it wasn't just in one spot. It was all over the horizon. I was like, okay, are the UFOs coming? Like, what's going on? And I didn't think much of it other than it was pretty. And then the next morning I woke up and there was this thing on Facebook on our Gananda communicates.
It was a natural phenomenon. When it gets so cold and there's a full moon, the ice crystals in the air reflect the moonlight.
[00:04:39] Speaker C: What?
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Yes. It was the coolest thing.
[00:04:42] Speaker C: I wish you'd gotten pictures.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I don't have a picture, but there is a picture I will show you.
[00:04:47] Speaker C: I've never heard of that.
[00:04:48] Speaker D: Me either.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: That's why I was just thinking it was the parking lot lights or something going. Going on at. You know, but it was like a natural phenomenon. And then afterwards I was like, oh, that is perfect. So that was my God moment. It was also like a God in a. Aha. It was something more than just what I had originally.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Like the glory of God in creation and all that.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Very cool. It was really cool.
[00:05:13] Speaker C: Okay, so mine. I woke up this morning with a song in my head.
And I pray with music a lot, but this. And I did really good going to bed last night. I have a hard time going to bed early, but I went to bed early and I had had like a full eight hours. And I woke up and it's a song that I. We don't sing it in our churches. It's not a liturgical song. But when we were at ncyc, I heard.
I went to a workshop with Steven Grisano, who's a Catholic, you know, speaker and musician. And it's not his song either, but he was singing it. And it's called the Goodness of God.
And the lyrics go, all my life you have been faithful and all my life you have been so, so good. With every breath that I'm able, I will sing of the goodness of God.
And the versions I was able to find online are kind of twangy and praise music. Y But when he did it, he was. It was just him and his guitar, and it was very quiet.
And I remember sitting there at NCYC listening to him sing this song and having this flashback to, like 30, over 30 years earlier when he came and did a youth conference in our diocese. And I was 16 and I was on the teen leadership committee, and he had me do this, like, skit that was part of his talk and part of his. And now I'm like, you know, in my late 40s, watching him at the youth conference that my own daughter is at. And she's the same age I was when that moment happened. And I was like, all my life you have been faithful, you know, like, and just that full circle moment coming into, you know, this time in my life where I'm like, I can look back and see, even in the things that were hard, that God was there through it and to come at things with gratitude.
I think that'll segue into our readings for the day. So that was my little God moment this morning. And then I had to listen to the song, like, 20 times on the way to work, of course. So, okay, so this is the third Sunday of Lent already. And already. And in our gospel reading, we have Exodus.
This is the story of.
So Moses and the Israelites are in the desert.
God has freed them from slavery in Egypt. He's parted the seas, and they are trying to find their way home.
And the people are thirsty, and in their thirst, they start complaining, God, why did you make us leave Egypt?
And Moses cries out to the Lord, what shall I do with this people?
[00:07:59] Speaker B: I like that. This people. What do I do with them?
[00:08:03] Speaker C: And then eventually, God instructs Moses on how to provide water for the people. So that's our first reading. And then our gospel reading is Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, which is so rich and so long.
We can. There's just so many ways we can go with this. But before we kind of dig into. Either of you guys want to say anything about these readings in general before we.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: I'm going to let Margie start because you guys have heard enough from me. Oh, no.
[00:08:34] Speaker D: I appreciate everybody's insight now. You know, honestly, when you think about Moses in the desert and the people complaining, we are so, and myself included, sometimes so wounded we can't see the gift of what is in front of us because we're just feeling our humanness so deeply and we just want things to be over or we just want to be comfortable or we just want it our way. And that's very difficult. And when we're complaining, but sometimes the complaining turns into prayer of supplication.
Lord, please take this feeling away from me.
Please take this and change my life.
And the hardest part is according to your will.
And that is sometimes so deeply difficult.
But again, as Anne said, God is always faithful. God is always with us along the way.
And how do we find ourselves in the midst of that? I think that is very difficult sometimes, even with our woundedness, even with our sadness, whatever we carry emotionally.
But God is always faithful. And this reading is, you know, he's parting, making water, he's doing this, he's doing that. And people are still complaining.
[00:09:50] Speaker C: I'm so thirsty.
[00:09:51] Speaker D: Where's our gratitude? As Anne said, where's the gratitude? And we have to bring ourselves back to
[00:09:57] Speaker C: when they say, like, is God in our midst or not? Well, look around.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: That just happened.
[00:10:02] Speaker C: Yes, God's in your midst.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:10:04] Speaker C: That's how you got here.
[00:10:05] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: It's reminding me of Eric's homily on the Beatitudes when he was talking about, you know, we're blessed even in that discomfort. And I never thought about it that way.
And it was like, okay. And I think it's okay that
[00:10:25] Speaker C: we
[00:10:26] Speaker B: are human and I think it's okay that we can complain. But Margie, like you said, bringing that into a prayerful thought and not losing sight of God and what is good.
[00:10:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I think too, for people working in the church who love the church so much, but also can see the humanity of the church, you know, of all the people in the church, that when Moses is like, what am I supposed to do with these people? And like, it's so hard when sometimes we've spent time bringing something forth in our parishes and people and we hear complaints, sometimes we hear a lot of gratitude. I don't mean to make it sound like we hear a Lot of gratitude. But sometimes, you know, there's always.
[00:11:13] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: There's always human nature. Yes. Right. And so, like, I just find it so comforting to know that even going back all through scripture, that God's Moses was like, yeah, yeah. His prophets and the people who were called to lead and like, it was not easy for them. People have always been people. And.
[00:11:31] Speaker D: And I think too, 40 years in the desert, when you think about 40 years and they're finally coming out, you're finally coming out. You know, the gratitude. That is true. Yeah. Very true. Yep.
[00:11:42] Speaker C: Yeah. I knew. I guess over 40 years, anyone would have their patience test.
[00:11:45] Speaker D: Understood.
Very true.
[00:11:48] Speaker C: Did we ever ask the Internet how long it takes to walk from Egypt to Jerusalem? Like, if you were just to put it into your gps, we'll look that up for another good exercise. I'm pretty sure that it's not. Your ETA isn't 40 years.
[00:12:04] Speaker D: I'm not thinking.
[00:12:05] Speaker C: I'm thinking there might have been some detours.
Yeah. Something happened.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: You probably had lots of kids. I don't want to walk today.
[00:12:15] Speaker C: Are we there yet?
[00:12:16] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:12:20] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay. So. Right. So that's our first story we have.
God is providing water for the thirsty in both of these readings. But in the first reading, it comes from a place where the people are bickering and quarreling and demanding things from God, dare we say. Right. And then in the Gospel reading, gosh, there's so much. We're not going to have time to talk about all of it. But it's the Samaritan woman.
It's the noon in the middle of the day, and Jesus is waiting for her to come and draw her water so he can ask her for a drink.
And then they have this whole conversation and.
[00:13:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:13:06] Speaker C: So any first thoughts about things you want to say about her?
[00:13:09] Speaker B: My first thought is that if you need a visual representation of this scene, you need to watch the chosen.
Just Google woman at the well chosen. And it is the epitome of. It just brings every emotion out of what it means. But I just. I love how Jesus is just waiting. You know, he's just like, I'll sit here until she realizes that she's not as bad as she thinks or anyone else thinks.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: Well, because noon would not be the time to go. A respectable woman would be going to the well. They would have gone either in the morning, the crack of dawn, when it was cool out. So she. Yeah.
[00:13:47] Speaker D: And she's a Samaritan woman. Right. Who would never approach Jesus.
[00:13:50] Speaker C: Yes. The things separating them are culturally and Just religiously gender all of it.
[00:13:57] Speaker D: So many pieces that would obstruct her from being there with Jesus.
And Jesus waits.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: Maybe they couldn't have had the conversation if anyone else had been there.
[00:14:07] Speaker D: Why she came at noon, why she came at noon. Spirit, I said, was moving her without knowing it.
And when you come to the. I mean, when we talk about coming to the well, we automatically think we're being filled with water.
And even ourselves and our own spirits. How do we take our own fill of water? Not that I want to get off the subject, but I mean this. When I think about this reading, I think about how does Jesus fill me? How does Jesus wait for me? When do I come at noon to the water? In those times when I. It's, you know, the heat for me may not be the heat, but the heat of the moment.
And where Jesus is calling me, where I don't wanna go, but I'll go in the midst, I'll go because Jesus is calling me. Hesitantly, sometimes. But that fill of water, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and how God fills us. And for me, that well is my prayer life.
And sometimes I get off track. Jesus is always waiting.
Come, come. Jesus always has the invitation.
And Jesus too, as in the Samaritan woman. We all have our sins. We all are not. No one's perfect. But Jesus waits for us. And just having that prayer time and getting into the depth of the love of Jesus and forgiveness and mercy and kindness and compassion, that's what the compassion of Jesus for. This woman has changed her life.
[00:15:29] Speaker C: Isn't it neat how you can come back to the same story year after year and read it again with new eyes and get something. Just get something new and fresh out of it every time.
When I was reading this in preparation for today, he offers her living water, but first he asks her to give him water.
So when you talk about showing up for prayer, that's you giving Jesus the invitation. Water.
Giving him a drink.
[00:15:58] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:15:59] Speaker C: And then his response is abundance.
[00:16:03] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:16:04] Speaker C: Showering of living water. Right. Not to clean water.
Yeah. So sometimes when we get fed, it's because we first, you know, we didn't want to show up to do all the things we had to do today, but we did. And it was in those interactions we had with people that God feeds us.
[00:16:20] Speaker D: And where we see God. And at the end of our days, when we're sitting there at the end of our day and going through our day in the Ignatian way, you examine, where did we see God? How did God fill us and how did we fill God? By caring for others.
And that's very true. Yeah.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: How about you? Anything?
[00:16:43] Speaker B: You know, I'm a chosen girl.
But in the scene that I like is before this even happens, where Jesus and the disciples are walking to the town, and he's like, I'll catch up with you later. Like, he already knew.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: He showed up for her when he knew she would be there.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: And the fact that he didn't push her and waited for her to feel comfortable is what I. You know, he was always there, even in concern, distrust.
And that's. I've always had Jesus as, like, my best friend who will always be there, but will give me space if I need it type of thing. And I just like that image of him. Like, yeah, you can give me the water. And her offering herself to him, too. And how many times have we fed others?
But there hasn't been anything. Not that we do things for people for that return, but, you know, if we're constantly feeding others, how are we feeding ourselves?
And just the whole notion of Jesus just sitting there and waiting, it's just the.
For me, just a perfect image of,
[00:18:01] Speaker C: well, isn't he always sitting there waiting for us to show up?
[00:18:04] Speaker B: He doesn't need to be in a while.
[00:18:06] Speaker C: What I love about every time I return to this passage, I'm just struck at the tone in their conversation and how there's so much back and forth. It's almost like banter.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Yeah. She challenges me.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: She's like, I'm gonna give you living water. And she's like, you don't even have a bucket. And, like, I can just. You know, when you show up to prayer with Jesus, like, for me, anyway, like, sometimes I can really get grounded, and sometimes I just will be like, okay, you better show me what you have. What is going on today? Because this is beyond what, you know, like, just that familiarity and the back and forth. And, like, it just feels like a real.
A conversation among familiars. Right. And I can just picture sometimes when I'm talking to God, that he's looking at me kind of patiently. Like, maybe he's kind of amused at my. You know, whatever's going on and I'm throwing at him. And I just, like. I love that about it because it can be a hard passage to read because it's so long, Right. And there's, you know, complicated.
And we sit at length. These readings get longer and longer as we head towards Easter.
But there's such a wealth in returning to that passage over and over, you
[00:19:16] Speaker D: know, I Think, too. I often think about when I enter into this prayer, when she walked away after this conversation.
How she must have felt in having this brief encounter with Jesus and what Jesus did for her in that moment.
I just think of her surrendering to it, but also the weight that must have come off of her shoulders to know that she was loved by God.
[00:19:44] Speaker C: And so much so that she runs back to that village where everybody hates her.
[00:19:48] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: And tells them everything, shares the story.
[00:19:52] Speaker D: And isn't that what we're called to do? And they believed, yes.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: She built, like, the bridges that that Samaritan woman built between. It wasn't even just. It was about her and Jesus, but it wasn't only about her and Jesus.
[00:20:03] Speaker D: Correct.
So when she turned around to walk away, we always have a choice. Do we share it? Do we not?
Do we do as Jesus asked or do we not? And what the gift of faith that brought to that village and who Jesus was. He's trying to spread the word of who I am. And that was a small miracle in itself.
[00:20:22] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:22] Speaker D: It wasn't the big, large miracle that everyone could see that we so love in those stories, but it's the small miracles that come into our life that change us so beautifully. To go out and spread the word.
[00:20:33] Speaker C: Talk about being like, you know, a stone in the pond that just like, ripples outward. That's what her. Her witness gave.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: And I love that it was somebody not appropriate, like, scandalous. And it just. It verifies for me everything about Jesus that I love.
You know, he's always going to those that are marginalized, and he's always reaching out for those that have no faith. He's not talking to the people who would already know.
[00:21:08] Speaker C: Right.
[00:21:09] Speaker B: He's calling each one of us at our own journey, at our own time. And I just.
[00:21:16] Speaker D: Beautiful.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: It just makes. It just makes me feel better for me, knowing I'm human, but I'm still.
[00:21:24] Speaker C: And we see as this Lent progresses with our Sunday readings, like. Like him pushing those boundaries just more, more and more and more. Because we're going from. In these next few weeks, we're going from, like, the woman at the well. Next week we'll have the man born blind. Then we have Lazarus, and then we have Good Friday. Like, he just keeps pushing the margins, pushing those margins and the expectations.
[00:21:46] Speaker D: And this connects me also to Mary Magdalene.
[00:21:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:51] Speaker D: When you talk about the chosen Karen, that is one of my most favorite episodes. I think it's season three when she, as she calls it, falls off the wagon. Yes. And she comes back to Jesus tent and Peter and Matthew go out to look for it because she's so loved. Where is she? Where is she? And comes back and she just falls apart in his arms that moment. And just. It's just such a beautiful moment of God's true mercy and how he connects these women in all of these stories.
And for us to really take a look at that. And how is the connection between these women and us in the days that
[00:22:30] Speaker C: we live, our foremothers in the faith.
[00:22:32] Speaker D: That's exactly right. Yes. I mean, there's so many.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: Season three of our podcast, Two Women in Faith.
[00:22:38] Speaker D: I mean, Ruth and Edith, he had all these things so much, but it is true, the connection. And Jesus keeps offering that connection.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:45] Speaker D: And just a reminder of who saw Jesus when he first came to the tomb.
[00:22:51] Speaker C: All four gospels are in agreement.
[00:22:53] Speaker D: But, I mean, I think that's something too, that we can hold on to as a life of a woman, a wife, a mother, whoever or whatever our call is to be in that strength of the word from Jesus.
[00:23:05] Speaker C: Right. Because he saw, well, all of these women, but for the woman at the well, he saw who she was as a person.
And none of her, the roles she played or that, you know, took her
[00:23:18] Speaker D: exactly where she was. Right. And that's what Jesus does for each of us, is take us exactly where we are today.
No expectation, but the invitation to come to the water, you know, it just made me think.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: I've. I don't know if you two have had this question, but some of my friends have been like, how are you still Catholic if women are from the outside?
You cannot be this, this, and this. And I says, well, that's not my calling.
I'm not called to be this, this, or this. I'm called to be who I am.
But this is why I stay in the faith, is because of my relationship with Jesus and the Eucharist and it's not about everything else.
But, Margie, what you said about, you know, the importance of the women and
[00:24:05] Speaker C: their look around our churches. Just look around.
[00:24:08] Speaker D: Right.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: You know, but I don't know. Have you ever.
What's your response to that?
[00:24:14] Speaker D: Well, I get that question, too. I do get that question, too. And mine is about my relationship with Jesus. And the same as you said, what is my call?
And how many times have I discerned that through the years just because of this happening or that happening, and really a struggle sometimes with that call.
But knowing, as we said earlier in the first reading, God keeps showing up. What's the God moment, too, when we started with that. God keeps showing up to me.
And that discernment. If we really go into that thoughtful, prayerful discernment, God keeps calling me back.
[00:24:45] Speaker C: Yes, I know.
[00:24:46] Speaker D: To be with the people.
[00:24:47] Speaker C: We keep asking, is this really what you want?
Carry on.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:52] Speaker D: Show me the way. And trusting, that's the biggest thing, is surrender and trust.
[00:24:56] Speaker C: We've talked a lot about the relationship between trust and hope and gratitude and hope. And I think even in today's second reading, we have the hope.
[00:25:04] Speaker D: Hope does not disappoint, Right?
[00:25:07] Speaker C: And sometimes when you're in a place where it's feeling like a lot or you're feeling, it's hard to hope. I know I, like, have phoned a friend to both of you at different times. I've been like, talk me off the ledge.
I need to find some more hope and trust and gratitude. Because right now all I can hear is the complaining in the desert. And sometimes it's me complaining, and sometimes it's other people's complaints.
[00:25:28] Speaker D: Well, and as Karen said, too, with doing. And all three of us have done the spiritual exercises.
And the base of that is finding God in all things.
And in finding God in all things, sometimes it's in the complainer, sometimes because it makes us stretch ourselves, too.
And we're all called to the mercy and compassion and forgiveness of Jesus. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's harder. And in the church in these last years, it's been harder, let's be honest. But it's been the gift of faith that has carried me through, and the gift of hope, the biggest. The gift of hope. And in these last challenging months that I've had, it is my faith that God has just so called me. And I say to cling to Jesus.
And I have been clinging to Jesus, and Jesus probably is very tired right now.
That's the gift again. I know we keep saying about gift and gratitude, but truly, isn't that what our life is to be? Praise, worship, gift and gratitude?
And for us, and the wisdom of God is in that call to us as women.
And we answer the call faithfully and toward the best that we can do. God's not looking for perfection. He's looking for, as I say, participation.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: Presence.
[00:26:38] Speaker D: Yep, presence.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: Show up.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: I was talking to a parishioner, a mom, the other day, and I was just like, hey, have you listened to our podcast yet? And she's like, I have, but not as much as I should, because I really love hearing the female perspective of moms and women in the church where I'm at, all the other podcasts or people I listen to, it's either men or women who are retired or women who don't have kids. And I need, I need that grounding, that moment, that moment together. Yes. And so I really do feel that, you know, we have a sisterhood very
[00:27:22] Speaker D: much and it's showing up for each other, as Ann said.
And I've done the same thing. Talk me off the ledge today, please.
And you know, there's Jesus, there's God in the face of the other person at the end of the other line that you're talking to.
[00:27:35] Speaker C: Well, it's really like, I know I've walked into both of your offices before and been like, is God in our midst or not?
[00:27:40] Speaker D: We just remind you this.
Let me help you with that.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: Or is he like the mom that's bringing their kids to mass?
Oh, yes. And the baby's crying and you just go up and you just take the baby. Beautiful moments, you know. And I know when it happened to me, I'm like, oh, thank you. Another person who can care for my children.
[00:28:02] Speaker D: Isn't that true?
[00:28:03] Speaker C: You have one family that comes in with two babies in car seats and one Twins.
[00:28:07] Speaker D: They're twins. And one in the arms and I call them the football player.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: He is adorable.
[00:28:13] Speaker D: He's so cute. But you know when you talk about
[00:28:14] Speaker C: what it takes to get here, when
[00:28:16] Speaker D: that's your life and 8:45 in the morning.
[00:28:18] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:28:18] Speaker D: Think about that faithful. And that's when I say gathered as the body of Christ. We're each individually gathered, but as one.
And not to mention another God moment. But it brings to mind when you said about kids. Last Sunday was right before we got ready to go down the, down the aisle in the processional. And my little sweet four year old friend comes running into the liturgy. Margie Marcus. That's what I. And just hugs me.
[00:28:41] Speaker C: Talk about I know a God moment
[00:28:44] Speaker D: and talk about also affirming your call.
We also have those moments in our life as women ministers and I think that's important to remember those when we're. That's why journaling is such a gift
[00:28:56] Speaker C: I have to go through so you can remember things.
[00:28:57] Speaker D: That's very true.
[00:28:58] Speaker C: Note them and then you have a grace recorded. Very true. For when it's on. Remember all these times God came here.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: It's like Facebook in review, year in review. I always love when it like your memories of today. And I was like, oh, I didn't
[00:29:14] Speaker D: remember that that happened.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: But that was a great time.
[00:29:18] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay. I don't know, guys. We covered a lot today.
[00:29:21] Speaker D: Thank you so much.
[00:29:23] Speaker C: Do you have any last minute.
[00:29:24] Speaker D: Just appreciation for the both of you.
[00:29:26] Speaker C: I'm so glad you came on.
[00:29:28] Speaker D: This is wonderful.
[00:29:28] Speaker C: We have had a lot of good friends on this.
[00:29:31] Speaker D: Well, thank you for the invitation. It's been wonderful. But just also getting that camaraderie, that being together for each other in moments
[00:29:39] Speaker C: of Sister, you will. Various times. S. Together.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:29:42] Speaker D: And we do. We do.
And that's the G. Yeah. So we thank you.
[00:29:46] Speaker C: Well, thank you for being here, Margie.
[00:29:48] Speaker D: This is wonderful.
[00:29:49] Speaker B: This is a great way to celebrate Lent Week three, you know, and we do. I mean, when we say celebrate, I think people like, oh, Lent. It's a time for, you know, grim and deep thought.
Yeah. And I don't know, I think it's a time to celebrate.
[00:30:09] Speaker D: Well, Jesus calls us to celebrate the gospel values of kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and example.
Yeah. So I agree with you 100%. It should be celebrated in that way of the word that is given to us.
[00:30:23] Speaker C: Okay, well, thank you, Margaret.
[00:30:24] Speaker D: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:30:25] Speaker C: Thank you, everybody, for listening or watching. And we'll be back with you next week.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Bye.
[00:30:31] Speaker D: Bye.
[00:30:31] Speaker C: Happy Lent.
[00:30:33] 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] thanks to our special guest today, Margie Benza.
Faith Break is engineered 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.
