2025 and Season 3 Recap (Season 4 Episode 3)

We open Season Four by catching up after a hard, grace-filled year and laying out a clear plan for what we will study next. We share travel, retreats, family loss, surprising audience growth, and the Carmelite themes we will explore with fresh focus.

• season three stretch due to illness, loss, and surgery
• retreats, parish missions, and formation work across several states
• top episode on Jewish marriage customs and the Last Supper
• audience in 80 countries and 700 plus cities
• plans for Brother Lawrence, Teresa of Ávila, and John of the Cross
• desire to teach desert roots of Christian spirituality
• early Church Fathers as a map for modern discipleship
• interest in stitched thematic episodes for easier learning
• Council of Trent creator conference service and networking
• explanation of the semi-province structure and needs

Please consider supporting the Discalced Carmelites of the Semi-Province of St. Thérèse. Links are in the show notes. Pray for us that the Holy Spirit gives us the time and grace to cover these topics well.

Transcript

Cold Night, New Season

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the My Friend the Friar podcast, and thanks for listening. If you like My Friend the Friar and want to support us, please consider subscribing or following us if you haven't already done so. And if you found us on YouTube, then don't forget to click the notification bell when you subscribe so you'll be notified of new episodes when they release. Thanks again, and God bless.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining me and my friend the friar, Father Stephen Sanchez, a disc housed caramelite priest. Good evening, Father.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Good evening, John. A cold evening, too.

SPEAKER_04 0:38

I know. Everything is it's funny that it's about to be snow s well. I don't know if we're gonna get any snow, but it's gonna be like winter storm Mageddon here. Again, yeah. But all the technology is working.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

See, it is it is it is the end. It's the end. The Lord is.

SPEAKER_04 0:59

Yeah, that's how you know it's the end times because everything's working for us. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. And it has been so long since it's been a minute. Yeah, it's a recorded an episode. We have been so busy. I'm actually gonna look. Uh hold on. So we have when do you think? You take a guess. When was the last time we recorded an episode?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Um two months?

SPEAKER_04 1:31

Give me an exact give me a specific date.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Date? I'll tell you how wrong or right you are.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Okay, if we're in January, December, November, what? Thanksgiving week?

SPEAKER_04 1:48

Really? That's your guess?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Sep September 6th.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Oh my word. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:57

Yeah, it's been so long. We've been so busy. So uh this so today we're just gonna get caught up uh with one another, and um, we're gonna do like invite others to yeah, get caught up. Um and I'm gonna throw stuff on the floor. I don't know if y'all can hear that clank in the background. But anyway, um yeah, so I have a uh a friend Robert and uh they on their podcast they do like a year in review kind of thing. Um and I just I don't know why I've always liked those episodes when they do it, and so I just figured we could probably just chit-chat and get caught up and do the same thing because we also have so many people that how awesome. Um I don't know if you can back, come back, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

I was gonna say everything was working and then you left the meeting. Up until up until then.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

But if you didn't stop recording, it's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

We'll just like we'll let it go.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

I kind of like what happened? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

I was trying to click on my calendar to see when it was the last time.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

Yeah, hang up. Um, anyway, yes, I'm done. We're gonna get all caught up uh and and talk about 2025. So this is we're in season four. Can you also believe that we this is our fourth season of My Friend Friar?

SPEAKER_00 3:14

No, I can't believe you talked me into it.

Why Season Three Stretched

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Still can't believe. Uh, yeah, so this is season four. Um and so season three is kind of goofy for us because we had so many things happen. Uh, our first episode of season three aired on January 5th, 2024. And because of everything that went on with mom, it's just like season three stretched. So season three was a little long. Um, you had to take care of your mom.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

We had to pause, and yeah. That was that was a very complicated time to uh moving her from Corpus Christi to Dallas, then and back to Corpus here, and then moving her back to Corpus Christi, then your brother moving from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. Yeah, that was that was a lot.

SPEAKER_04 4:13

Yeah, and it wasn't just busy for me, it was busy for you too. So let's um yeah, so what happened 20 what happened 2024, 2025? What happened during season three? Well, end of uh 2024, mom had a stroke, right? We moved her up to Dallas. Uh 2020 uh at the end of 2024, we moved her back after rehab and stuff, uh, back home. And then uh early 2025, found out I had skin cancer. Yes. Then a little bit later, a little bit after that, um, in April 2025, just before just before Easter, mom passed away. And then so the whole spring was kind of a blur, and then I had surgery to remove the cancer right after. And then we just kind of we kind of played catch up a little bit. Um and then Sophia graduated from high school, moved her into college, right? Uh in in the fall of 2025. So yeah, it's been a lot of what what do they say? Like God gives you he only gives you what you can handle, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

But something like something like that.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

Something like that, yeah. I could use a break, Lord, if if you're if you will it, I would like a nice, quiet 2026. So we will see. But what happened? Uh what what kind of things, what was 2025 like for you at the friary or friare's? Like any what big things took?

SPEAKER_00 5:57

I'm still traveling, so I'm still traveling to Little Rock. Yeah. So it's been a lot of travel, uh a lot of retreats. So we had uh like every January we have our provincial retreat, and usually right after our provincial retreat, I I lead the retreat for the Holy Trinity seminarians, the what we call the Propodudes, the Propodudic Year. Uh so I had that. Then of course, uh taking care of the parish, traveling to Little Rock. Um I did a lot of um oh, I went to the reunion or my high school reunion, did a match for my high school reunion. I was in that was in February. I was 50 years. Oh my goodness. Interesting. And then after that, um in February of last year, uh 2025, I went to give the nuns their retreat, remember?

SPEAKER_04 6:51

Oh, is that when y'all broke them all out and took them to uh the castle?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

No, no, no, no, no. In San Antonio.

SPEAKER_04 6:58

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just remember pictures from the same uh from the the Mary Lake one.

Family Trials And Loss

SPEAKER_00 7:03

And then what happened was uh someone had come visited one of the nuns or uh family had come visited the nuns and exposed her to COVID. So she was isolated, and then all of a sudden, little by little the COVID kept spreading, and then I was I was the nuns were dropping like flies during the conferences, and so then I got sick. Yeah, I I got COVID, and then I had to rush home um uh before I got really, really sick to drive back. And so that was that was crazy. Um that was one of the things then that that happened was uh I got very sick. I mean, I was I was out four I was testing positive for an entire week. Yeah, and that just absolutely crushed me. And then in March, I had to go give a mission in one of the parishes, uh, one of my one of the seminarians that I was a director for, uh, who's uh now a pastor up in Houston, uh Justin, Father Justin. So I went up to Houston to or over to Houston to give a mission that was in March, and then as soon as I got back from there, um I gave a mission at St. Patrick's Parish here in Dallas. So I went from one mission to another mission, and then then in March also I had to go to Little Rock. So the first part was very, very, very, very crazy. Uh and then of course uh April was again Holy Week, then retreats. I gave a retreat for Legatis, and then I went up to Colorado to give uh a retreat in Colorado uh for uh the OCDS group up in Colorado. Um then let me see. I think that was uh pretty much and then I did some more retreats for more secular orders. I know I did uh in May I went to go lead the retreat for the secular order members in San Antonio, and then in June we had our assembly here in uh Dallas, and then June later. The assemblies when I went to the when everybody assembly was the first part, the first part of June, and then in the middle of June I went to the the OCDS Congress in Phoenix, Arizona. Yeah, so uh that was interesting. Uh and then so that's like half the year where it was lots lots of traveling.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

And then of course always parish work, and so that was just so 2025, was that when y'all when you went out to the uh somewhere east and built a chicken coop or something?

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Oh that was when I went to um Georgia.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

Georgia. Was that in 2025?

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, when I was uh my friends in in Atlanta, so they have a place out in the in the mountains of North Carolina. So I was I was out there uh building a chicken coop with a chicken run. Yeah. So uh I've been invited to go back up there and go see the see the girls, the hens. I might go.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

You'll sprinkle some holy water on them so they make lots of eggs.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Yeah. And then uh September of last year, I was back in Colorado. Uh for what? I guess another retreat. I think it must have been. Yeah. Uh for a retreat of the secular order again. So it's just been a lot of retreat work. I know I went to Knoxville too. Um so just a lot of work and then uh uh retreat for Georgetown with CDS in October Excuse me. Um, yeah, lots lots of um sacramental work and retreat work. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:20

Um and y'all have two new well, two novitiates. Uh did when did they become novitiates? Was it in 2025 or was it 2024?

Retreats, Travel, And COVID Detour

SPEAKER_00 11:30

We have um we have um three guys right now that are interested, but they haven't entered yet. We do have brother Vladimir Guadalupe, who has just finished his theology. Uh and he will be oh, he's already graduated in December. He graduated in December, and then he'll be making, he'll be petitioning for his solemn bows, and so be making his solemn bows sometime this year, 2026, sometime. I'm not sure when that's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

Yeah. Um I still want to get that guy on the show just because his name is Vladimir.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Vladimir, yeah. So it's been it's been crazy. So it's been crazy busy, and well, you've been busy as well. So yeah, and then this year, January, we had again we had our our retreat the first full week of January in the right after that went to Victoria to to give the the propodudes their retreat. Uh yeah. So was Father Paul and uh Father Don.

SPEAKER_04 12:31

So yeah, yeah. Well, and um I think it's like knock on wood. Um the nothing has happened really at the castle, but y'all had work done on the friary here or the the chapel here in Dallas.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

That took two years, yeah. So it was a year and a half fighting with the insurance company and a little more than almost, yeah, almost two years uh fighting with the insurance company uh to get that redone. So finally, we just had it finished. Okay, and then I just found out yesterday that there's no heat. The heaters are not working hey, look at that.

SPEAKER_04 13:14

Y'all can be like for real, for real like carmelite monk priests, like with no heat. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 13:22

You you you mean I'm not real now?

SPEAKER_04 13:24

No, you have to you have to only uh write with like a quill pin and a quill.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

There you go. You get one weekend of of like hardcore monastic life. Oh my goodness. Yeah, it's been it's been nuts. And in the in the meantime, we released let's see.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Well, I think in the spring, wasn't it in the spring that I had to that we had the big storm at uh Merry Lake, the all the rain and the Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember, I think that was in the spring, wasn't that in the spring? Yeah, it was like uh flooding in Little Rock.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Yeah, yeah. And there was all the trees there was a tornado like that went through was it cards? Yeah, yeah, East End or End or whatever it's called. Near near East End. Yeah, and it like just missed y'all. Yeah, so that was yeah, that was yeah, thank you, Jesus. Yep, my goodness. Well, so in in with all that going on somehow in season three, we managed 45 episodes, and 43 of 45 had to do with trying to talk about Mary, setting the stage to talk about Mary, just so we could have one episode about Mary. No, um, they weren't all about that, but that was a big part of um of season three. So um our first episode of season three was contemplating the epiphany of the Lord um back on January 5th, 2024. And so um, yeah, definitely some highlights from like season three. We had like uh let me see. Oh, season three is when I had my friend Robert on the the um the episode where he shared when he was sick and he uh was he died uh it for seven minutes before they were they were able to get him back to life kind of things. That was in season three. Uh had a handful of episodes with Mark. Uh Deacon Mark. I need to have him back. I say Deacon Mark, he's uh in the deaconate, but he's uh he's still going as far as I know.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

And he is, yeah. I just saw him the other day.

SPEAKER_04 15:53

Oh, good, good, good, good. Yeah, so I need to have we need to have him back. Um but like in the three times to talk to we had like we were set and just recorded a bunch of episodes all at the same time while we're catching up and he's talking about alien life and stuff like that. Um Betty episodes for sure. But um I just found out the other day that one of my other chirp brothers, uh Peter Ortega, is um entering entering the Diaconit 2. So, or I guess seminary for it. He's he is discerning it as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

So they call it the aspirancy.

SPEAKER_04 16:31

Yeah, so what a fruitful retreat that was to have guys like two guys out of because because the groups, the men's groups that joined or that go on this retreat, they're not very big. Like guys are busy, right? We're busy, we don't have we don't have time for all that touchy-feely Jesus stuff, right? But this group, it really positively changed a lot of those guys, and two of them uh out of the same group looking for or you know, discerning the diaconate, I think is pretty cool. So it might be fun. Deacon Ron.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Deacon Ron is Deacon Ron came from Chirp.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

Deacon Pete came from Chirp. From Chirp, yeah. So um yeah, like all sorts of stuff. But anyway, so uh it might be fun to have uh Mark and Peter just sit down and like I don't know, Deacon nerd at maybe Ron. I was gonna say maybe I can get Deacon Pete or sorry, Deacon Ron, Mark, and Peter, and then you and I can just sit back and eat popcorn and watch. Like we don't have to do any of the talking.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Just throw a couple of theological questions out for the it's like ready go, just let them do it.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Um okay, so pop quiz time. What do you think was the most downloaded episode, the most listened to episode from season three?

SPEAKER_00 17:53

From season three? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

What's funny is because it's it's been back so long. I I don't even know if off the top of my head I could name a single episode. I could tell you some of the things we talked about, but I couldn't I don't think I can name them. What topic? We'll put it in.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Probably um was it introduction to mental prayer? Isn't that what we did? Didn't we do something like that?

SPEAKER_04 18:16

That actually was the last episode of season three.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

The last episode that we were the put out? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

No, the last episode that you put out was introduction to Carmelite Spirituality.

Missions, Parish Work, And Formation

SPEAKER_04 18:28

Oh, no, no, sorry. Yeah, the but the mental prayer was the last one for season three. The Carmelite Spirituality, right? We're in season four, so that's that's why they're close.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Season three, I don't know. What was it?

SPEAKER_04 18:41

The most downloaded episode was the link between Jewish marriage customs and the Last Supper.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Oh, and we talked about the um the blessing cup. Yeah. Is that what it all goes?

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Well, so because we had we had done a couple, right? We had done uh the symbolism between the the marriage cup or the blessing cup, like you're saying, right? And then so there was two episodes back to back about basically about that topic. Um but yeah, the the uh one which was technically, I guess season three, episode 17 was the most. Let's do uh you know what's kind of funny.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

How many countries? How many countries? Tell me how many countries now.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Okay, yeah. This is funny too, because this always makes me think of mom, because mom always thought this was the coolest thing. Uh probably because I think it's the coolest thing ever, too. Um we have let's see, all time. We are at counting the United States. We've been downloaded in a total of 80 different countries slash territories. Nice. Yeah. I can't even say some of them. But what's also kind of cool is that some of them uh Christianity is not on the the the allowed list. Oh so it makes me kind of nervous for them. But it's really cool, I think. I don't know how you get downloaded in a country like maybe a soldier or something. Could be but yeah, 80 different countries, like uh going all the way from like Angola and Cameroon to like Fiji and France. Outside the United States, so the UK is so what's funny is our top five countries right now, the US, obviously, and then we've got the UK, Russia, Canada? Yeah, I don't know why. Russia is number three, and then Canada and Singapore, those are our top five. Singapore, yeah, totally random. And I think uh Russia and Singapore are actually pretty new, so maybe stuff takes time to like trickle over there, but those I think are relatively new to the list. Um it used to be like Italy and Spain were our top countries outside the US, but now those are like I don't know, 10 and uh see nine and ten or something like that. Okay. Yeah, 80 different countries, 726 cities. It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. Um let me see.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

So are you excited about our next topic that we're gonna address?

SPEAKER_04 21:34

I am. I am, and I've been I've been cooking up let me get back in here. I've been trying to cook up some um some episodes, things that have been kind of uh you know on my mind lately and um books I've been reading, things like that. Uh so I'm excited. I'm excited about season four. I'm excited about season four. Something else that was help that uh got a lot of views from season or views, listens, whatever, um, from season three was do you remember when I was like, man, I don't know, like, should I try and just compile like stitch multiple episodes together?

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Oh, yeah, all related episodes.

SPEAKER_04 22:23

Yeah. So I only did it once because um it wasn't really a lot of work, but uh I just it's very long. And I was like, I don't know if anyone's gonna listen to this kind of thing. Um, but I stitched together Sanctity and Justification, like there are episodes from like uh I think they were one of them was from season one, yeah, season one, episode four, and then which is the theology of sanctity, and then the Catholic and Protestant views on justification from season two, episode 21. I stitched them together. It's like an hour and 41 minutes long. It ended up being the number two listened to episode from season three.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Well, maybe it maybe it's helpful for them. Maybe that's something that they like. So instead of searching for things, they sort of kind of put it together according to thematics.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Yeah, because I can't I guess you can't really on uh I like on a podcast, you can't really make uh like playlists necessarily, I don't think. Right. You you can on YouTube, which I actually tried. Speaking of YouTube, this is kind of funny too, because YouTube is like the thing that we do the worst because we don't have any video or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Right, because there's no video.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

Yeah. So we uh but um trying to it's even been a minute since I've even logged in.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

I'm trying to get and I only uh when I listen to the the the podcast, I always listen to it on YouTube.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Oh really? Yeah. Well, we are finally up to 81 subscribers on YouTube. YouTube, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

Yeah, well, there's nothing to watch, yeah.

Repairs, Storms, And Friary Life

SPEAKER_04 24:07

I know. So it's like that I don't I don't think that's ever gonna change unless we get around to figuring out how to do that. And I've just got so many other things, and you've got so many other things to do where it's like good night. Yeah, but uh everyone who's listening, you'll want to help us out. I I don't even know, actually, I I don't even know if it helps us out, but but go subscribe on YouTube and see. I don't know, let's see what happens. Um it's kind of funny. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

So I think I should we should probably since we started on the introduction to Carmelite Spirituality, a general overview. I'm also thinking of doing something on that, especially since we're gonna be talking about Bruh. We're gonna be talking about uh French Brah. Yeah. French Brah. We're talking about Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. Yeah. So uh do some of that. Yeah. That's gonna be more that I don't know. I always get a little hesitant about going into Carmelite spirituality because there's a lot. So it's like, where do you begin? You went to Teresa, you do the beginnings. Uh we talked a little bit about the beginnings. Maybe I should do more about the desert spirituality before we get into anything else. Um but I think sometimes I think like we've already covered that because we talked about going out into the desert. We talked about the martyrdom, right? Because that's kind of uh the desert spirituality, and that's where all spirituality, all of our spirituality comes from the desert, from the east, because that's where Jesus was. So uh surprise. Um and then get into some of the things maybe I can talk about some of the reforms within the order or the attempts of reform. We did a little bit about that too, also. So I don't know. Sometimes I get a little like, what have we talked about? What is what would people be interested in?

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Yeah, you know what's what's interesting though? Because I've been kind of thinking about this too. So um we have I'm trying to find where to say it.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

So we've done a lot, we've done sacraments, we've done the catechism.

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Well, and so like because people discover us all the time. I think, and I also wonder too if that's if that's a turnoff for listeners or if it's something that's interesting. Because just like going to mass, you hear the same things all the time, but eventually something like just the way it's said, or your place in life, or your moment in life, something clicks, right? Right. And so like we have we have like 112 episodes over these, these, you know, it's just starting on fourth season, right? And so I think a lot of times while we've talked about things, sometimes people are just showing up from Singapore, you know what I mean? And they're like, oh, who are these guys? And and it may be so I don't think it's gonna be bad ever to talk about things that we love, even though we've already talked about it before, you know, or things that interest us even though they've already talked about it before. Right, yeah. And it's like we could, and you know this too, you could spend your whole life basically talking about a single topic, yeah, and you're never gonna get through it, right? You could do a whole podcast just on St. John of the Cross, like every single episode, Saint John of the Cross, and you'll never exhaust it.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

No, and there's still there's what's always fascinated me ever since I went to Spain for studies. Like, I'm always interested. It it fascinates me that there's actually journals that come out like biannually or bi-monthly or whatever on Teresa or on John and somebody's you know studying the autographs, somebody's studying the the hand or the manuscript, somebody's finding something in the symbols, or and I'm going, it's always fascinating like people getting PhDs on these things, and we're like, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Yeah, yeah. So I think we just keep on doing what we're doing and talk about the things we talked about. You know what we haven't talked about in a while? We haven't had a good old-fashioned like turn it on and fall asleep while listening to it history lesson in a while. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 28:26

No, we definitely um I think well history is fascinating. This is okay, nerding out, right? So there we go. Complete nerd. Um, when we're driving to Victoria, uh so Brother Paul.

SPEAKER_03 28:41

I mean, brother Paul, father Paul. Father Paul Beckter is uh he's a a a beast.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

I don't know what he's he is such a wonderful priest.

Season Three Highlights And Top Episodes

SPEAKER_00 28:51

He is, and he is so smart. He has his PhD, he has his degree in scripture, right? Yeah. Uh and so he and I were he and I were in the front, and then uh brother Father Don was in the back seat, and so Father Don fell asleep. Paul and I were just Paul and I Pauline were just nerding out, right? And so we're talking about history and and scripture and the history of the scripture, and we were talking and he was he he gave me his whole dissertation on on Samuel, and we were talking about the the book of Samuel and the whole Davidic Solomonic cycle, and so very to me very, very, very, very fascinating, right? And then so Father Paul goes, What do you think? What do you think, Father Don? And he turns around and Don's asleep in the back. These guys are just being nerds. So yeah, but I love talking, I love talking with Paul. He has such great insights, and we can we get excited about talking about stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Yeah, because he he used to be a um um I just the only word I want to say is pastor. He wasn't the head, he was he was at our our parish. He was parochial victory. There you go. Thank you. I couldn't think of the word all of a sudden. So he was at our parish, and when he would do mass, um his homilies, I loved them because he's like, in today's reading, you know, but Jesus says this. Now let's talk about this word, the Greek of this word, and I don't know if everyone starts like glazing over, but I'm just on the edge of my seat, like, this is great. I'm gonna learn something here, you know. But he has such a good way of not just like this is the fact, but like bringing it into the reality of your life, and so you it can you can take it with you, whatever this thing is, right? Um, so I've always loved uh his homilies, and now he's at the um the seminary, yeah. So he's I haven't seen him in the longest time, um, ever since they moved him.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

But he and the way what I love about Father Paul is that he is very humble about his knowledge. I mean he knows a lot, yeah. He's very humble about it. He doesn't go around, he's not he's not pompous about it, or he doesn't try to you know pontificate or anything. He's he's just he's very humble about it. He knows, and so okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

Yeah, maybe we can get him. Uh he and um Joey, I can never say Joey's last name at our parish. They had a podcast for a while too, but when um Father Paul left, it I guess it just kind of ended. Um, but I wonder if we can maybe get some time with him. I think it'd be fun to talk about it, pick an old topic and just be like, nerds, ready go. Yeah. Um, does he still have uh what what what is the state of his beard right now? He keeps it trimmed.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Um he keeps it trimmed. Okay, yeah, yeah. So it's it's it's short. It's yeah, he has to set a good example for the seminarian, so he can't go around with a a long, venerable beard.

SPEAKER_04 32:03

But he can't be a Franciscan all of a sudden or something. Do you remember when it was quite large? Yes, it was amazing. I loved it. And then I guess COVID happened. I mean, he couldn't wear like the little mask thing, right? And so he had to trim it. And for a while he just had the mustache, and it was a very noble mustache. It was it was quite quite full. Um it just cracked me up because it looked so so different than the full beard, and then yeah, now he's just got everything trimmed.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Yeah, that'd be great if we could Father Paul on for a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 32:33

Yeah, I bet we can figure it out. I mean, if we can you right now we're you're you're in the the monastery and I'm at home. So if we can figure this out, we could probably get some time with him to figure that out.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what do you think? Oh, the funny what was the funny thing was we both just like totally freaked out because he I had asked him something about, right? And so of course he was he had to do this, he had to study Greek, he had to study the Syriac and all this other stuff, right? Blah blah blah blah. And all of a sudden he just looks at, he asks me, Do you know any Greek? And I nope, uh nothing. I mean, I I can't read it, nothing. I I can recognize it, right? And he laughed, he goes, Do you know any Hebrew? I said, Well, I took two semesters of Hebrew and I remember you hated it. Don, yeah, Don McMahon. He goes, Don McMahon. He goes, like, that was my professor, and so forth. So yeah, we just totally just nerded out.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

Yeah, you're like, did we just become best friends?

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Yeah, on Hebrew T Yeah, so it was just amazing. So anyway, I love my Paul.

SPEAKER_04 33:36

Yeah, when uh at the the prayers during the liturgy of the Eucharist, that the priest can sing. Um that's my I think even more than than I like Father Paul's homilies, but when he sings the He has a beautiful voice.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Yeah, he has a beautiful voice, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

When he says, The Lord be with you, um and that that whole kind of uh series, whatever, that just gets the way he sings, it gets stuck in my head. Um, and sometimes I'll just be walking around like singing his version of it in my head. So random. So random, but it sounds so nice. So I think that's a that's a good thing. It's a blessing.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 34:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

So we got things to do.

Audience Growth Across 80 Countries

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Okay, good. So what are your um oh here's so here's something from that's gonna happen this year. This is actually pretty cool, and this is I'm gonna throw you under the proverbial bus because you're so busy. Um, so this year, here I think it's in Frisco or McKinney. I think it's Frisco. Oh, yes, yes, yeah. So so uh Trent Horn, who is uh I guess uh author, apologist, whatever works for Catholic answers, has his own podcast, YouTube video, whatever. He's putting on the Council of Trent conference. How cute, how cute. I know, I was like, but um well played, sir. Um but anyway, so at this thing, they're um they are bringing out I think like 40 different um Catholic media or like kind of creators, right? Um and yeah, content creators and stuff like that. So it's basically it's like a a conference for people who are interested in, for people to get to know each other, uh, network, learn from one another, stuff like that, right? Um and so you and I were supposed to be going, and you turned out that you're and everything was working just fine.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Well, I can hear you. Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Okay, okay, whatever. That was weird. I don't know why. I guess it paused recording. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_03 35:59

We'll have to figure it out. Okay, we'll see. You do sound different.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Do I?

SPEAKER_03 36:04

Yeah, a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Okay. Okay, anyway. So, yes, Trent, the council of Trent and your content creators. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 36:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, anyway, we're so I'd I'd signed us up to go just spend the the the day together.

SPEAKER_03 36:18

And now I won't be here.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

Watch and learn, and now you won't be here. Now you're giving a uh you're giving your own conference down in uh with the the Is it Austin? When I'll be in Austin, I think so, yeah, with the the lay uh community in Austin. I think is where you're gonna be. Okay. But anyway, but the cool thing, I guess, is still what uh what I volunteered us to do is to serve lunch to all the content creators. And so um gonna I'll be with you in spirit. Yeah. I'm gonna make a t-shirt with just your face on it is what I'm gonna do. And I'm gonna wear that with an arrow pointing. It says, like, my friend the friar or something. He left me. Yeah, who left me? But yeah, so we're gonna we're gonna cook them lunch and serve them lunch. And I think that's just a wonderful thing to get to do because so many people are doing such wonderful things in the world. So anything that brings people to Jesus and to the church. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:22

So about 2025, you other than that, yeah, any predictions? Anything you think is gonna happen this year?

SPEAKER_00 37:29

2026, you mean?

SPEAKER_04 37:30

Or 2026. Oh my goodness, yeah, it's 2026.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Um I don't know what to, I really don't know what to expect. The world is so crazy right now. This one I think I won't be surprised. I'm like, oh really? So it's kind of like yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see. What about with you and me?

SPEAKER_04 37:56

What do you think? Do a do a My Friend the Friar prediction. For us? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

I think this year I'm really thinking about we should probably do some a couple of serious history, boring sessions, like the history in Europe, uh, that led to the reform of the Carmelite Order, and also then just do some some heavy, some heavy Teresa. I think it'd be really interesting for us. And this year, as actually, this year, starting this past December, the order is celebrating the centenary of John of the Cross's canonization, I think it is. So there's a lot of movement in terms of that. John of the Cross, and there's going to be a plenary indulgence if you go to Spain, to Segovia, to where he's buried. Uh, so all that's going on. So yeah, maybe I don't know. But John of the Cross is pretty hard. It'd be a matter of me trying to figure out a way to introduce John so John is not so confusing to people. I mean, there's a way to read him, there's a way to study him. But some people think that he's he people think he's too hard. But he's not any harder than the gospel. So like it's just yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

So he can't be harder than that Jesus guy. He's not hard.

Season Four Plans And Carmelite Focus

SPEAKER_04 39:25

It's just people he just I think, yeah, I think we could probably spend some good focus between just him and Teresa. Oh yeah. And just be like, we'll we'll we'll we'll be set for the whole year. Yeah. Definitely, definitely. Are you are you gonna go to Spain? No. Are you gonna make a pilgrimage? No?

SPEAKER_00 39:43

No, no, no. I don't need to go. I have I carry his relic with me, so I don't really need to go to Spain, so I'm good. Oh, cool. Yeah. I carry Teresa. Whenever I'm I have it on, I have a relic of Teresa, Therese, and John. So how cool.

SPEAKER_04 40:01

Man, I'd sleep in the thing. I'd never take it off. You may need to this weekend if the heat's not working.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

We'll see tonight.

SPEAKER_04 40:09

Yeah, yeah. I think this year, so I think I think my prediction is gonna be that um I think it we're gonna make one good networking. Your camera's focusing on the cat. Oh, yeah, Bertha's back there. Bertha's by Burphy.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

Bertha's waiting.

SPEAKER_04 40:29

It's just a good kitty.

SPEAKER_03 40:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

So your prediction? I think yeah, we're gonna make uh we're gonna make one good connection out of this uh this uh conference or council of Trent thing. I think something I think something's good good's gonna come from it. I don't I don't know what. Um right, because God always does stuff in the way that you don't think he's gonna do it. So what is he gonna do from it? I don't know. But that's my prediction is something's something's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Something good will come from the Council of Trent.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

It did.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

And it will.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

We got a list of books, maybe. Oh, speaking of books.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

I just finished um Bishop Baron's What Christians Believe. It's a small book. Understanding the Nicene Creed. It is very good. Maybe we should do that. Maybe I'll do that. Maybe I'll talk about the Nicene Creed. Have we done the Creed? I think we did the Creed already, didn't we?

SPEAKER_04 41:35

The catechism? We did I think we did the Creed once upon a time. We gotta go back and look. I feel like, but you know what? Again, like there's nothing wrong. And Bertha's walking all over my desk and like rubbing into stuff, so sorry if there's noise. Um there's nothing wrong with covering a topic more than once. I I have um one of Bishop Barron's books that he released, I think it was like right before COVID came out. I can't remember the name of it, but it was also very small. It was basically like how to dialogue with people um about religious things and and whatnot. And I thought it was pretty good too. Yeah, he has a he has a good like a voice, his written voice. I don't know how else to say it, right? Like the way he's narrative stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's good. I like his stuff. Yeah, I like his stuff. Yeah. And I've been reading, um, I read all of Ignatius' letters, and he's talking about his buddy Polycarp's fathers. I was like, Yeah, well, and I was like, wait a minute, I think I've got that one too. And so I was like, oh look, I've got like the the um whatever it like Polycarp's kind of letters with his like martyrdom kind of all compiled together, and so it was really kind of cool to like read them talking about each other or like referencing each other um in letters and stuff. That was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

Um you better write this down because we're gonna forget.

SPEAKER_04 42:55

We always talk about these really cool topics we're gonna cover and then we're every time every time we have an episode and we say, Oh, we should read this down. I laugh so hard because we never do. And I always, when I hear it, I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, I should I should write it down now since we didn't then, and I still forget. Um, but yeah, I have what was the other thing? Um Against Heresies. Oh, what's oh yeah, Ireneus. Yeah, I started reading his thing. Um, and I I had to put it down just because life got busy with work and stuff, but um, that was pretty cool too. You want to do it?

SPEAKER_00 43:30

You want to do uh a complete nerd out on the early church fathers? I mean, we could do something like that. That would be interesting. I would find it interesting because I love that the rude suburbs of the early church.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

So yeah, well, for me, I I love it too. I say let's do it because I don't know how you can separate. Like, I don't think you can live so much in a moment that you can separate it from everything that's come before.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

You can't because it's organic, it's all connected.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

Yeah. And so it's like, I don't know how you can even say, like, I'm a Christian now without thinking about what that means historically. Um, it's like it would be like l being uh you know citizen of the United States and not knowing about the revolution or the you know civil war or whatever. Like other countries, people who live in other places, they don't need necessarily if you live here, yeah, you should know that these things at least happened, right? Amen. And so yeah, for for me, I don't like because Christian the the church scripture, those things don't make sense to me without the church fathers and without the church historically. Um so that's why I love talking about those things. So I say let's do that. Let's do it. Yeah, write it down. You write it down for me. Bertha, you write it down. I keep throwing the cat off the desk and she just keeps jumping back up. Well, anyway, I think this is this has been fun. It's just been fun to catch up for a minute and uh kind of review.

Nerd Corner: Scripture, Beards, And Chant

SPEAKER_00 45:09

All those all those patient listeners, please pray for us. Pray that God, the Holy Spirit, give us the time and the grace and the light to be able to cover all these things that are part of our Catholic faith as we reflect on everything that makes us a people set apart.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

Amen. Yeah, we definitely need the prayers. We need the prayers for reasons other than that, though. But uh yeah, I think this is this has been good. And and maybe here's another I've got one more prediction. I predict that um because we have the the in the show notes the way uh for people to uh support the friars financially. Um oh, the semi-province of St. Therese. Yes, squirrel, why is it called a semi-province instead of just the province?

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Because it is because of the numbers that we have, because we every pro okay, every province here we go. You asked the question. We were almost done. Every province is allowed to send two members of the province to go to Rome for the election of the general. So because if our province is smaller, our numbers, we they made it us a semi-province because it wouldn't be right for us to have two members to go to Rome for the election of the general when we're small, and you have a province like the the new Iberian province, which collected all their provinces in the on the peninsula. Uh they have you know a couple of hundred friars, and so they're sending two representatives, so it's not right.

SPEAKER_04 47:02

Yeah, it kind of doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

It doesn't make sense so that the order is trying to figure out the order's trying to figure how to do that, so it makes more sense. Anyway, so it's a semi-province, it's not a province. That's why. Because we only send one, we can only send one member to the election of the general, uh, which happens every six years.

SPEAKER_04 47:19

That's fine. Well, now you now you know.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

It's a jury it's a juridical question, so it's more anything else. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:26

Yeah. Well anyway, like like I was saying, there's uh links down in the show notes and stuff like that for for people to support y'all if they choose to support you on top of the prayers. Please, the prayers with some kind of financial thing. Um, so that's that's my my last prediction for 2026, even though I think it's only my second prediction.

SPEAKER_00 47:46

Yes, if Melissa Gates wants to contribute a couple of million dollars to our province, I would be more than happy to take that and use it with the colour.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

Oh, is that is that Bill Gates' wife? Yeah. Is that what her name is? Oh yeah, she was a student here in Dallas.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

She's a student at Ursuline. Oh, really? Yeah, she went to Ursaline Academy, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:05

That's cool. Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah. Again, the more you know. There you go. Yeah, my my prediction is we'll get one. Somebody somewhere in the world will do uh some kind of donation. Generous donation.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

Okay. I'm waiting so we can fix the heater in the chapel.

SPEAKER_04 48:27

The end. All right, Father. I love you. Thanks for hanging out with me today. Good night. God bless everybody. Everyone, yep, thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.