[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Faith Break. Finding God moments in your everyday. Each week on Faith Break, hosts Karen, Luke and Ann Gallagher bring spiritual refreshment to your Daily Life.
It's February 23rd. Spring is on the way, and Lent is just around the corner.
This week, Karen and Ann offer a rundown of the many upcoming opportunities in our faith community and invite you to spring forward with them in faith.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to our weekly series of Faith Break. I am Karen Luke.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: I am Anne Gallagher.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: And we are ministers, friends, wives, moms.
Did I miss anything? Are we anymore?
[00:00:54] Speaker C: No, that's enough.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: And today we are talking about spring.
[00:01:01] Speaker C: So it's. It's still February, everybody. And we know that in our neck of the woods, it could be snowing through March and maybe even into April. You just never know. But we also know that we are about to turn a corner on the calendar and in our liturgical year, and we know that spring is on the way. So this is our spring preview episode.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Cause we have a lot going on.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: In our faith community this spring.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Lent is going to be coming, like.
[00:01:29] Speaker C: 10 days from now.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: And I know we felt like we just got done with Christmas, but fortunately, this isn't one of the years that it's like, the closest.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: The earliest is pretty late this year.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: It is late. So we have a little bit of a breathing room. But as always, we like to start our. Because we're trying to find God in our everyday lives, so we try to find a God moment. So, Ann.
[00:01:52] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Do you have a God moment?
[00:01:54] Speaker C: I do have one.
And yes, I had a really cool God moment and actually relates to one of our upcoming programs. So I'll talk more about the program later on in the episode. But Damian, who is former staff member, she teaches over at McQuaid. She's a, you know, parishioner and a huge mentor of mine, put me in touch with somebody she knows from the McQuade community who is a certified Ignatian yoga instructor.
And she had the idea that we could collaborate and work together to do a Lenten retreat that includes. Includes movement and lectio and Ignatian meditation. And so I met with this person. Her name is Tracy. And I met her for the first time last week. And it was one you remember when you meet someone for the first time and you sit down, we're working on a project and tossing ideals around. But it was like, why haven't I met you sooner? We were so into the ideas we were talking about, and faith. It was just awesome. So I am super excited to. To put Together, this retreat for our faith community with her, and to see how this goes and just to see how we might collaborate in the future. But I just love it that, like.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: It'S interesting, like, those two things together. Yeah.
[00:03:10] Speaker C: And so, like, I had, you know, a friend and mentor who kind of matched. She was, like, the matchmaker for this little. This new connection. And I'm excited to see how we can work together for our faith community. I think it's gonna be really awesome.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: That's cool.
[00:03:21] Speaker C: But it was just one of those conversations where, like, in it, you just have a.
A connection with someone and from a faith perspective, and. Yeah.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: It's a total grace moment. How about you?
[00:03:32] Speaker B: So I had another grace. I had a grace moment as well.
So when you talk to somebody about everything that's going on, and sometimes they're like, well, I'll pray for you, and then you go your separate ways. Right. And do you ever wonder, like, if they actually pray for you?
[00:03:51] Speaker C: Yes. And I feel guilty for sometimes not remembering to pray to people who said that, too.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Okay. So I was in this meeting with a staff member, and we got done talking about what we needed to, and she noticed that I was kind of feeling a little. Or looking a little just defeated. And she asked if everything was okay. And so I was just talking to her about some stuff that's been going on. Just like everybody, you know, there's ebbs and flows of motherhood and wifehood and everything.
And so she. You know, we were just talking about it. I was like, all right, well, thanks for meeting with me. And I got up to left. She goes, oh, sit your hiney down. Let's pray. And it was like, okay, you know, and just. She prayed for me. She prayed for the situation.
And then in turn, you know, we just prayed for each other. And it was just this. I was like, oh, yes, this is what it means.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: This is what to be a team.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: To be a team and to support each other, but also just to be Christ to each other. And for her to be like, not saying, oh, I'll pray for you, and then let it go. But she's like, uh, sit back down.
[00:05:04] Speaker C: We're praying right now.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: We are going to pray right now. And it was just like a wait and just a reminder that I should be doing that with people more, too.
[00:05:17] Speaker C: Isn't that a great reminder that at those moments where you. I mean, it's so easy to have, like, superficial interactions with people, but when you can have those deeper connections, like both of our God moments today actually were about having a deeper connection with somebody outside of the or. It could have just been like a work, you know, a task you were trying to complete.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: See, God is. God is good.
[00:05:38] Speaker C: God is full of surprises.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Full of surprises.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: Yeah. Oh, I love it.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Okay, so even though we're still in February.
[00:05:44] Speaker C: Yep. Here we go.
We're going to pre game spring.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: We're gonna pre game spring, and spring is not our favorite season.
Right. You're more of a fall with me.
[00:05:55] Speaker C: Fall is my favorite season.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:58] Speaker C: I actually don't mind winter. I grew up in this part of the country. The cold doesn't really bother me all that much, you know, I'm fine.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: The cold never bothered me anyway.
[00:06:06] Speaker C: Yeah. I feel you, Elsa.
Spring. I do like spring, though, because I think I kind of like the in between seasons. Like, I like the feeling of things changing. I like the idea of, like, opening the windows for the first time. My family thinks I'm absolutely nuts because I'm that person who will open the windows when it's like. Like the first 40, 50 degrees.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:27] Speaker C: Made me all, like, just, you know, and I like, anytime the year gives me a chance to, like, refresh, I feel like I need it.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:06:37] Speaker C: Whether it's the new school year or, like, the new calendar year or, like, springtime, like, just give it to me. I will. I need a new start, like, repeatedly all the time throughout the year. Summer's when I struggle.
Yeah. Summer's when I opposite that way.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:52] Speaker C: So. But I'm like, all right, I'm ready for spring.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: I feel like spring, everything's just mush and brown.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: Well, March is the worst month.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: I like the end of spring when, like, the flowers pop up and, like, you can start to do some gardening. But, like, when the snow melts and it's just.
[00:07:10] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I think March is definitely the worst month.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: But anyway, I. I'm.
[00:07:14] Speaker C: I. It's muddy and slushy, and we're all. Yeah, but here's the good news.
Like, we have so many cures for your, like, seasonal affective disorder going on at the parishes. I mean, it is an embarrassment of riches happening this spring.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: At our two parishes. So we're going to just kind of do a rundown, I think. Yes.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: And the really cool thing about these opportunities is that not everything is going to be for everyone.
And so if you're not into a weekly thing, then there's day things or, like, random stuff. So, yeah, let's get into it. We start Lent on Ash Wednesday.
March 5th, March.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: So coming up in a few weeks.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: And we are going to be having a soup supper.
[00:08:07] Speaker C: This is a fantastic St. Catherine's tradition that I got to experience for the first time the last few years. And I love it.
I love it.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: It's super fun.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: Tell me what happens. You've been doing it longer than I have.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Yeah. So what we've been doing is you sign up and you don't have to bring a soup. You can just come and eat. But if you would like to make a soup, we ask that it be vegetarian, obviously, because Ash Wednesday for fasting.
[00:08:32] Speaker C: And abstaining from meat.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: But you can bring a crock pot. Thank you. That's the word I was looking for. Crock pot of soup. Whatever kind of soup you want, as long as it's vegetarian. And we have amazing volunteers who help set up and they make little name cards for all the soups and you can try a scoop or two or 10.
But it's just a great way to come together as community and meet some new people, meet old people.
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Yeah, it's really not a big deal. We'll have like, some activities for little ones and some discussion questions, which is.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Really funny because very low key when you said that, because in previous years we've geared it towards families. So if I've had a Lenten Jeopardy. Game. And of course I was like, well, maybe we won't do it this year because we've been doing it for however many years. And wouldn't you know, last year was the year that we didn't do it. And I got all these people like, hey, we wanted to play Jeopardy. Because last year this other team won and we wanted to beat them this year. And I was like, okay, so Jeopardy Will be back.
[00:09:43] Speaker C: We'll be debuting Fun.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: Um, and then of course, we come down and we'll attend Mass together.
[00:09:51] Speaker C: So dinner's at 5:30 on Wednesday, March 5th.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: And then mass is at 7:00. This is all happening at St. Catherine's right?
[00:09:58] Speaker B: But that's only one of the four opportunities.
[00:10:02] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, we have.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Yeah, we have other opportunities for service.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: We're not gonna run through the entire Ash Wednesday liturgical schedule.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: You'll be getting a mailing of everything. But I just wanted to make note that it wasn't the only time.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Soup supper is super fun. And I like, have we had the conversation about how soup is the best food?
I don't know, but I feel like soup is the best food. And for me to go someplace where there are like 12 different soups you can just like have like a little bit of olive. It's so much fun.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: And it probably will be cold. And like soup on a cold day is just great. Now, this is all generational, so kids, families, older adults, and the entire community.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: This is for basically everybody.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Everybody. It's free.
We do ask. We'll put out like a sign up. Genius. If you want to make soup or just to register. But it's free. But we just need to make sure we have enough soup for everybody. Oh, and people bring bread too.
[00:10:57] Speaker C: So soup and bread.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Soup and bread.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: Simple meal. Simple meal together.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Delicious. Cause we have some amazing chefs in our parishes.
[00:11:07] Speaker C: Super fun.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Amazing.
But the next one I am so excited about.
[00:11:16] Speaker C: Can I talk about this one?
[00:11:17] Speaker B: I definitely want you, but I want to introduce that.
[00:11:19] Speaker C: Okay, you introduce it. Yes.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: So Alpha is a program that Ann.
Well, it's a national, worldwide, international program.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: We'Re launching for the first time.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So go ahead.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Okay. So Alpha is.
Alpha is a place for people to come and talk in a non judgmental community about all the big questions in life. Okay. So it's run all over the world in churches, it's run in prisons, it's run in like school, all different places.
But it is an 11 week series that you can come to and be part of a small group. And each week there is a meal, a video discussion and a video talk and then discussion in your small group community, which is the same throughout through the whole program. So you really do get to know the people in your small group. It is the same small group, same small group each week. So you form really good relationships with the people in your small group.
The topics are sort of like covering all the big questions of life and faith. And it's done in a way that is meant to be very welcoming to people who maybe are questioning faith, trying to find a community. Don't really know where they fit in or just want to look at some of the basic questions of faith in a. In a community with other people. So we did sort of a pilot run this summer with young adults who were graduates of our youth ministry program.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: They are awesome.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: And you were. Yeah, you got to hang out with them and come with us on the overnight, which was amazing.
And so it was really cool to pull together some of these young adults who I hadn't seen much in a couple years maybe because they're all off doing their adult thing and to form this community. It was really, really great to see how people got close together. They really got closer to God. And I don't know the Holy Spirit was very, very active. So we're going to be running this not just for young adults, although it is an attractive program to young adults. We hope young adults will come join us. And it's going to be Wednesdays at 6:00 at St. Catherine's we'll start with a meal and do the video and the conversations. And we will be providing childcare so parents can come together together if you want to experience Alpha together. And Karen's gonna be running some stuff for the kids.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: So I took some of the programming from each of the talks and came up with stuff for the kids to do. So the kids will hear the same theme that the parents are talking about. So it'll be great conversation, like on the ride home or just incorporating in your daily life. But they will be in their own little room after dinner. So we're all going to share dinner together.
Teens are going to help, so our confirmation and other volunteers will be helping. Everyone is case certified, so don't get nervous.
But the other cool thing that we failed to mention, it's free.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: Oh, yes.
Yes. So sign up now, because we're starting this program on March 12th, so end of February is the perfect time to sign up. Like I said, this is not just for young adults. This is for adults of all ages, all walks of life. And this is also a really good place to invite a friend who, like, maybe isn't a churchgoer yet, but you could come in with your friend and be in a small group with them.
So this is a great thing to invite somebody new into our community to join us for. So I hope that all of our parishioners will consider coming, maybe not even just for themselves, but to come with a friend who needs. Who needs a little community support and to be with, you know, grow closer to God.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And all the information is in the bulletin on our website. Website, weekly email. Just click register. Even though we're asking to register. It is free. Dinner is free.
It's gonna be great. So, yay. Come here.
[00:15:21] Speaker C: So, yes, definitely come for Alpha.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Yep. One thing that we mentioned during your God moment.
[00:15:30] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: Is our Ignition yoga retreat.
[00:15:34] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: And I wasn't in on this meeting. All I know is that I'm totally coming.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: Yes. You totally need to sign up. You need to sign up. So we haven't, at the time we're recording this, we haven't completely flushed everything out, but I have a pretty good idea about where Tracy's gonna go with this. So on Saturday morning, April 5, at Transfiguration Traci Boers, who's on the faculty at McQuaid, is going to guide us through a morning of prayerful breath, gentle movement, and reflection on the scripture stories around Jesus's last day on earth. So part of what prompted us to invite her to come and do this program for us was that, you know, our parishes have a long tradition of, of doing the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. Every year we do the 19th annotation, which is a retreat in real life over the course of the whole year where participants do an hour of prayer and they meet daily. An hour of prayer and meet with a spiritual director weekly. And it's divided into four movements that bring you through all of Jesus, Paschal, mystery, life, death, resurrection, and your life call as a disciple. Okay, so that's. It's coming from there. But we realized because we've been doing the 19th annotation for so long, that now we have all these people who have completed it, completed it, and are still hungry for more Ignatian spirituality. And we have people who might be interested but not ready to make the full commitment to doing the full 19th. So we're going to be making a concerted effort in the months and years to come to provide more opportunities to explore Ignatian spirituality in sort of bite sized snippets. So for this particular mini retreat, it's going to be an exploration of the third week of the exercises. If you're someone who is familiar with that, and if not, that's fine. Come and get a taste of it. We're gonna be especially focused on the people who stood with Jesus during his Passion.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:17:31] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think what Tracy's gonna do is it's gonna be a mix of like reading a scripture passage, reflecting on it, and then she's gonna have a breath practice and a gentle yoga pose that relate to the scripture passage. Yeah, And I do wanna say too that this is not. You don't have to be like an experienced come to this retreat because I'm signing up. It's gonna be a way to pray with movement. It's gonna be accessible to everybody. You know, no special equipment or anything like that. So. Perfect.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Is there a cost for this one?
[00:18:01] Speaker C: By the time this airs, all those details will be.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Okay, so there is a cost. Just.
[00:18:05] Speaker C: Yeah, it will be minimal, but there'll be probably. This is definitely one you wanna register for ahead of time. So keep your eye on our website bulletin emails for registration information for the Ignatian Yoga Retreat.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: This is such a great time Like Lent to do this. Yeah. I mean, with Advent, you're like waiting and preparing and it's like joyous. But Lent, it's so hard to get into the joyfulness of Easter.
[00:18:40] Speaker C: Yeah. It can seem really like penitential.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: Yes. It's like really like.
But like having these movements with it and doing it in a way that is more reflective but in a group setting is going to be fantastic.
[00:18:55] Speaker C: Yeah, I can't wait.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome.
Okay, so I'm going to jump because I don't know when we're going to have this.
[00:19:01] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: But during COVID we still are.
I created shadow stations.
[00:19:14] Speaker C: Yes. This will be for Holy Week. Right?
[00:19:15] Speaker B: This will be for Holy Week. And I'm jumping because we might even put it up early. I don't even know. But because we couldn't come and celebrate the Stations of the Cross together, Father Rob and I painted scenes of each of the stations on white cloth, like huge. I'm talking about like 10ft by 10ft, like 10ft by whatever.
And we set them up in the community center at St. Catherine's and it's all dark in the community center except the light shining on each of the stations. And there's a meditative book that you can walk. Just walk through the stations individually.
So they're almost like life size. It's really.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: They're really cool.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: It's really cool.
You know, I will pat myself on the back. Cause that was kind of a cool idea.
[00:20:09] Speaker C: I think you guys even got like an article in the Catholic Courier maybe.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: When you first did.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: They're really impressive. And what I love about it too is it's something that when we put them out, they'll be out like for several days. So it's not like you have to come at a certain time to do a certain thing. It's on your own time and they'll be different.
I think you even had different. You had prayers for children, some for adults. Like different choices that you can use to walk you through the station. So it's very self guided, Very self guided.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: And we just add like a sign in book just so we know who came. And it was really cool because when we did that, we didn't do it last year.
We decided to wait a year. But when we did do it, we had people from all over the diocese. So it was really cool just to allow people to have a different way to pray that they haven't prayed before. So we'll have that out during Holy Week. So keep an eye out for those dates. And times.
[00:21:14] Speaker C: Okay. We have on Monday nights during Lent, Lent and evening prayer. This one flips back and forth between the two parishes. So definitely check the parish calendar. We're not going to go through that today.
Lent and evening prayer is Monday nights, all through Lent, and is a great, quiet way to take a breath. Yeah, it's quiet prayer. There'll be music and readings. Yeah. But it is.
It's also kind of short, so it's like. I think it's maybe half an hour long. Come on Monday nights, if you just need to take a breath.
Usually, like, it's nice and dark and cozy. You know, they'll put candles and stuff put out, and the lighting will be very reflective and just kind of like quiet and meditative prayer to give you a little bump in your week.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: And it's not where you have to, like, carve out a whole hour. You know, just stop in. And the cool thing is they're different each week, so you can come to all of them or just one of them.
[00:22:14] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: But the last night on the.
I think it's the 14th. I could be wrong.
The last Monday will be our reconciliation service. And I think that's important to point out because obviously with Lent, we want to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation.
And we are called to celebrate at least once a year, if not more.
But we invite priests. If you haven't been to reconciliation in a really long time, this is like the perfect time to do it.
We have readings, we have a homily reflection, and then time for individual confession with a bunch of different priests that we invite from different parishes. And they're all super cool priests, so it's just nice to. And we have cheat sheet cards. So if you have never been or you've only been once, when you made your first reconciliation, you made your first reconciliation, which is. Okay. I'm not. I mean, I. You don't even want to hear my first reconciliation story.
[00:23:23] Speaker C: I think I do.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: We have cheat sheet cards that, like, explain what to say, when to say it, what to do. It's very welcoming.
[00:23:33] Speaker C: The priests are not going to be judgmental.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: No, they are not.
And it's just a great way to free yourself up for the celebration of Easter.
And if you're nervous and you don't know about it and you want to look at the stuff ahead, just give us a call and we can provide you.
[00:23:52] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: So.
[00:23:53] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Yeah, we definitely want you to do that.
And then we have two other talks, like series.
[00:24:00] Speaker C: Yes, Two other speaker series.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: Two of our amazing, beloved, talented sister Barbara Moore and Dr. Joe Kelly.
[00:24:11] Speaker C: So, yeah, this is. They're such neat people, both of them.
I'm gonna let you talk about Sister Barbara because I know you know her better, but. So Dr. Joe Kelly is a retired theology professor from Nazareth who was my.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Teacher when I went.
[00:24:22] Speaker C: I was wondering if you ever had him.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Yeah, he was hard. Just saying.
[00:24:26] Speaker C: Was he a hard grader?
[00:24:26] Speaker B: He was a hard grader.
[00:24:27] Speaker C: Did he ever tell you? I knew him from growing up at St. Thomas Moore Parish and we were on the parish council together when I was a teenager and he was an adult on the parish council. And that's how I met Joe. He's so cool. So anyway, he's a retired theology professor who. He comes out and he does these a couple times a year. Speaker series on different, usually scriptural topics. So this Lent, he's going to be taking a special look at the Beloved Disciple in the Gospel of John on Sunday mornings at Transfiguration, right after the 8:45 mass. I think it's going to be the four Sunday four of the Sundays in March.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:25:05] Speaker C: So that's a really great opportunity to come to Mass and stick around for a little extra something afterwards.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Is there a sign up for that?
[00:25:12] Speaker C: There will be.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, I think signups for all this stuff. Just check the. Yeah, just check the bulletin.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: I'm just asking because with Sister Barb, you don't have to sign up, just come.
[00:25:23] Speaker C: Oh, you can come. I think they just want numbers and stuff.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Okay, perfect.
[00:25:26] Speaker C: I just feel free to come and stay. Yes, for sure.
And talk about Sister Barb because I actually don't know her.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: Oh my gosh, she's such a firecracker. Like, she's awesome.
But unfortunately, I don't know what she's talking about as we are.
[00:25:41] Speaker C: Cause this is so early.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: But she does something similar. She'll take scripture and tear it apart and really talk about how it relates to your daily life.
What it means, what it meant back then, what it means now. That type of, you know, similarity. For a Sister of Mercy, she.
You wouldn't gather sometimes that she's. She's so down to earth.
[00:26:11] Speaker C: Dude, those sisters are all like just amazing, right? Yeah, they're just. I love them all.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: As an entire group, they are.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: They are firecrackers for faith. Right. They just, they live it, they breathe it and just. It's awesome.
So those will be Saturday mornings of Lent at St. Catherine's at usually 10 o'clock in the morning.
The cool thing about Sister Barbs is that they will be recorded or live streamed.
So you can either go into the chapel and be present during that time or check the St. Catherine's website and you can view them later on. But Dr. Joe Kelly is not gonna be. So if you wanna hear him, you have to go in person.
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Yep.
Okay.
[00:27:03] Speaker B: And then there's more.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: Okay, finish us up.
[00:27:06] Speaker B: Well, I just wanna say we are very blessed this year because I'm working with two really special kids to welcome them into the Catholic Church. So they are going to be fully initiated on Holy Saturday.
Baptism, communion, confirmation.
I'm just gonna do a push for Holy Saturday Mass.
[00:27:28] Speaker C: Let's do the whole triduum.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:27:30] Speaker C: The whole triduum, but yes, I'll back up. You back up.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: Okay. First, I'm gonna start with the Chrism Mass on Tuesday.
[00:27:37] Speaker C: This is all. Now we're in Holy Week. We're talking about.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: Now we're in Holy Week. What some people don't know is that the oils that we use for our sacraments are blessed on Holy Tuesday at the cathedral by Bishop Matano or by the bishop, whoever is in charge at that time. And then that oil is dispersed to all of the parishes in the diocese. So the oils that we have in our spot are the same oils that are at Transfiguration, that are at St. Louis, that are at Southern Tier. Every church. And every year we get new oil. And so it's just. If you've never been. It is just a really nice, sacramental.
[00:28:27] Speaker C: Universal, large church, a large church experience.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: Of our symbols that we use.
[00:28:32] Speaker C: And anybody can go, and anybody can go.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: So that's that. And the reason why I brought that up is because the oils are used on Holy Saturday. So I just wanted, you know, that's cool.
Holy Thursday.
Do you want to talk about Holy Thursday?
[00:28:48] Speaker C: I'm just going to talk in general about the whole triduum because I know it's something actually not a whole lot of Catholics, I think, do. But if you've never experienced all the Triduum liturgies, just try it once. I think this year, Holy Week is actually also the school break week. So it might. If you're not traveling, it might be easier for families and teens to come to some of the Holy Week liturgies. But between, like, Holy Thursday Mass, the Good Friday afternoon service and the Easter vigil, we consider that in the church just like one big long liturgy split up into three parts, and it'll cover, like, basically the entire story, the entire sacred story of Old Testament, New Testament, the Paschal, mystery and salvation history. All together. It's the whole story.
Beautiful music, a lot of special rituals we only do once a year, like the washing of the feet. We do something special on the dressing of the altar on Holy Thursday, the veneration of the cross on Good Friday, and then the Easter vigils when we welcome everybody and all the new people into the church celebration.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: I'm getting chills just thinking about all the symbolism incorporated in those three days. Because it's just like the culmination. And before I started working for the church, I never went to a Holy Saturday mass. I was like, I'll do Easter morning. And now it's like, oh, yeah, I prefer the vigil. I prefer the vigil.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: I mean, I love it all, but I really like the vigil.
[00:30:22] Speaker B: It's just, like I said, the culmination of everything, and it's just wonderful. And at the Easter vigil, we will be celebrating the sacraments for our two teens that are gonna be initiated into the church. And we have one adult who will be making their first communion and Confirmation. So it's very, very special. So think about coming.
[00:30:42] Speaker C: So I just wanna say, I think that's the end of our list, right?
[00:30:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the end of our list.
[00:30:46] Speaker C: It occurs to me that that might be sort of overwhelming. I know I can feel a little bit overwhelmed thinking about how busy we're gonna be in the next few months. But, like, let's just keep in mind, too, that Lent is meant to be, like, kind of like a spring cleaning of the heart, right? So you do not need to feel obligated to clutter up your schedule with all of the things we just threw at you. Right? This is a menu of things that are meant to appeal to, like, all the different types of people who are part of our faith community.
And we focused a lot, I think, on programs for adults this year. Well, obviously, all of our children's programming and teen programming is going to be continuing throughout Lent, but you don't need to do it, all right? And sometimes even doing less is better. So, like, maybe pray on this. We're giving you this list a week and a half out before Lent even starts, so that, you know, you have the time to, like, kind of maybe pray. Pray through this and think about what you want your Lent and your Spring to be like.
And just to create a little bit more space for God to move. Right. I think we think about spring cleaning of the heart as, like, kind of like a decluttering time.
Maybe this is the Lent we actually do the.
Did you ever do the 40 bags in 40 days.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:59] Speaker C: Thing.
Maybe we'll do that this year.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: I shouldn't say I have done it. I have heard of it.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: We did it one year, Manny. It was before we moved into the new house many years ago. I think it's time. I think I probably said that last year around this time, and we just didn't.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: So 40 bags in 40 days is basically decluttering your home.
[00:32:18] Speaker C: You take a bag out of your house every day, whether it's garbage to donate or whatever.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: Whatever. We should probably do that.
[00:32:27] Speaker C: But what I like about it is it sort of sacramentalizes the whole spiritual thing that's going on. Right. So you should. Hopefully, if Lent is. If we're doing Lent. Right. We should feel lighter in Lent.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:39] Speaker C: Rather than heavier.
So. Yeah. Think about where God's calling you this season to lay some things down, to create maybe some room for some new things to grow.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Yep. And new family traditions and all of that.
[00:32:54] Speaker C: We got some scripture.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:57] Speaker C: Springtime. These are more like spring themed scriptures I thought we could just throw out there for fun.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:33:03] Speaker C: You wanna go first?
[00:33:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm gonna pick James chapter five, seven.
[00:33:06] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Because anything with the word patient in it is calling to me.
So James chapter 5, verse 7 says, Be patient, therefore, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. Be patient with it until it receives the earthly and late rains.
Just breathe.
[00:33:31] Speaker C: The plants grow in God's own timing.
[00:33:34] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
[00:33:36] Speaker C: I'm going to do Isaiah 35:1, 2. The wilderness and the parched land will exult. The desert will rejoice and bloom like the crocus. It shall bloom abundantly and rejoice with joyful song. That was the theme of a youth ministries conference I went to a million years ago in Las Vegas.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: That's a really interesting place. I did miss that one. But that's an interesting place to have youth ministers.
[00:34:01] Speaker C: It was because we were actually in the desert.
[00:34:04] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:34:04] Speaker C: And so the theme was all about, like, that the desert will bloom. Right. So I love that for Lent, like, you know, you're stuck on, like, a youth ministers conference being in Vegas. It was interesting, but, like. Yeah, like, that's what Lent's about. Right. Bringing new life into, like, the dried up. And that's a whole thing. We didn't talk about our Lenten theme and journey. There's gonna be a lot coming. A lot coming about, like, the Lenten theme. So.
But I think this whole, like, new life walking through.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:32] Speaker C: Different Seasons in our lives is gonna.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: Come, more to come, and the patience of just waiting and.
[00:34:39] Speaker C: Right.
[00:34:39] Speaker B: I mean, it's similar. I mean, we do have that similarities of Advent to Lent, but yeah, just.
[00:34:45] Speaker C: God can bring surprising new things even in the driest land.
[00:34:50] Speaker B: Yeah. In the midst of chaos.
[00:34:52] Speaker C: All right, pick another one.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: Okay.
Zechariah 10. 1. Ask the Lord for rain in the spring season. The Lord who brings storm clouds and heavy rains, who gives everyone grain in the fields.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: It's like the biblical equivalent of like, April showers. Bring me flowers.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: Right. So I guess my muddiness of March.
[00:35:14] Speaker C: When you're stomping through the mud all.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: March long, I'll just keep thinking of the rains and the fruit.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: We ask God for this rain that.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Will be coming, all the beautiful flowers that are going to be coming out after all. Right.
[00:35:27] Speaker C: Here's a real hopeful one from the Song of Songs, which is an interesting book of the Bible, all full of love poetry. Okay. So see, the winter is past. The rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth. The time for pruning the vines has come, and the song of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines give forth fragrance. Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come like God's spring invitation to us to just go, like, traipsing through the meadows with the flowers and the turtle tubs.
[00:36:06] Speaker B: I didn't get that. I was stuck on pruning the vines, like, right. Being lighter.
[00:36:13] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: Get rid of just like.
It's so much harder to do than just to say you're gonna do it. Like, in honesty. The concept of 40 bags in 40 days, I'm like, yeah, I totally could feel that.
[00:36:27] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: But then the actually, like, doing it. Doing it. Yeah, that's gonna be difficult, but I love it. Well, you do.
[00:36:34] Speaker C: You. You know what? Don't get overwhelmed. You do the pick. The one thing God's calling you to do from this whole giant list.
[00:36:40] Speaker B: Yeah. So the idea of this, again, not to be overwhelmed with what we're offering.
Pick and choose, pray on it, and see where God has taken you this Lent.
[00:36:51] Speaker C: You can also just listen to this podcast every week and we'll take good care of you. We're going to be doing a whole Lenten exploration the next month or two. So. Yeah, definitely. Stay tuned for further Lenten reflections. Right here, too.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: Yep, we got you covered.
[00:37:07] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: Thanks for watching or listening and we'll see you next time.
[00:37:12] Speaker C: See you next time. Have a great week.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: Bye.
[00:37:15] 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] or transfigurationpittsford.org Engineering Today is by Jeff Beckett. Join us for new episodes of Faith Break each week in Studio on YouTube or on your favorite audio podcast or music app.
