The Vine with Joe & Katie Devine
Welcome to "The Vine" with Joe and Katie Devine, where we embark on a journey through the twists and turns of life, love, and faith in our formative twenties. Join us as we candidly share our triumphs, trials, and everything in between, inviting you into our world of learning and growing together. Through heartfelt conversations, we navigate the complexities of marriage, relationships, and spirituality, reflecting on our missteps and milestones with humility and grace.
As branches of the same divine Vine, we embrace the power of community and the guidance of faith, aiming to inspire and uplift our listeners as we collectively journey toward greater understanding and connection. Welcome to a space where vulnerability meets wisdom and where, together, we discover the beauty of being intertwined in the vine of life.
The Vine with Joe & Katie Devine
Heaven's Group Chat: Walking with Humans on Earth AND Heaven
Have you ever felt the unmistakable presence of someone walking beside you during life's most challenging moments? In this heartfelt conversation, we dive into the extraordinary companions who have shaped our spiritual journeys – both the saints in heaven and the ordinary people on earth who've guided us through uncertainty and joy.
We share how our relationship with the saints transformed from distant historical figures to intimate spiritual companions during our season of infertility and medical struggles. Saint Faustina's honest spiritual diary taught us to suffer well, while Saint Thérèse's "little way" showed us how to find God in life's simplest moments. The tangible signs of their intercession – like roses appearing at pivotal moments of discernment – remind us that heaven is actively involved in our earthly journey.
Saint Peter's story of repeated failures and ultimate leadership resonates deeply with those of us who get in our own way spiritually, while Saint Joseph's quiet, behind-the-scenes faithfulness offers a counterbalance for those who crave recognition. Beyond the canonized saints, we explore how ordinary people like Grandma Josie, Mr. Rogers, and C.S. Lewis have profoundly shaped our understanding of faith through their examples of genuine love, emotional intelligence, and intellectual curiosity.
As we prepare for major life transitions – a new home, a baby on the way – we're discovering that slowing down and recognizing God's presence in our current circumstances might be more important than constantly seeking the next spiritual achievement. The "humans of heaven" remind us that holiness comes in countless forms, and that we're never truly alone on this journey of faith.
Ready to discover the saints and spiritual companions waiting to walk alongside you? Join us for this intimate conversation about the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us all.
An exclusive from Dery Media Podcasts. Explore diverse perspectives and enrich your knowledge at derymedia.com. Telling stories that matter, sparking meaningful discussions.
Good morning.
Speaker 2:Good morning, it is morning.
Speaker 1:It is currently 834 in the morning. Wow On a.
Speaker 2:Saturday, no less.
Speaker 1:I know it's weird.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Vine everyone.
Speaker 1:I'm Katie.
Speaker 2:And I'm Joe.
Speaker 1:And we're back. We're back, surprise.
Speaker 2:That's right. It is yet again either the first or third Monday of a month.
Speaker 1:Favorite Monday of the month ever. Yeah, we are back for a pretty like fun, lighthearted episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I feel like this is fitting because, oh, you're going gonna get mad at me for skipping our peak and fit again. It happens every single time I just like to do a little brief. Here's what you're getting yourself into, okay, but it's gonna be fun just because we are like moving into our new house and I've been thinking a lot about this like I really, really want like a gallery wall uh-huh of like the saints oh, that's cool that have. I've told you this I don't think so yes, I have I feel like we've been.
Speaker 2:Your pregnancy brain must be firing on like a hundred, right now I know that I've told you this.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is not we've been disagreeing on almost everything like whatever, I'm going to do it regardless and I just really want, like, a gallery wall of, like, all the saints that have, like, walked with us through this journey and like got us to where we are and we'll continue to walk with us. So that's a little sneak peek into what we're talking about. Are just, you know, the saints and the people that we've been to and we'll be right back after this break.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was like wait is something wrong be right back after this break.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was like wait is something wrong. No, no, no, I was like leading it into that, but, um, okay, that's our sneak peek and we can now get into our peaks and pits, since you're so antsy I'm not even antsy, you just forget about it every time, like you would have just forget about it all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, don't at me like I'm some. You know I'm the like. We have to do it. It's like no, come on now all right.
Speaker 1:Well, let's do it okay, you go first okay, peak and pit um, I'm gonna start with my pit okay I just feel like this week I might have said this last time oh, you know, here's my real pit.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I went for a jog.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:On Tuesday and I've been like trying to stay active and trying to maintain like some kind of normalcy, and if it means I have to modify what I'm doing, as long as I'm doing that thing then that's all that matters.
Speaker 2:So I'm like modifying.
Speaker 1:I'm like not running as fast, not running as far. But I just want to say like I can still run and I ran on Tuesday morning feeling great, Felt like I was an athlete Zoom in. I was like this is so great, Like I'm pregnant. I'm more than halfway through. I'm running so fast Like I could do this the whole time.
Speaker 1:And then I look at my watch and it was like my average mile. Now, granted, I don't run fast anyways, so this is not that much of a surprise, but it was pretty slow. It was like 16 minute mile yeah, hang on, hang on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you were not normally super fast when you were running, but you I mean there were points where you're averaging like a nine or ten minute mile on long runs on a good day.
Speaker 1:But 12 minutes, probably my average, for being realistic, 16 minutes. However, is a walking pace I was walking, I guess I, but I swear to you, I felt like I was sprinting it's like the wind is like whipping at your back. That's how I felt and like my arms were doing, like I was in formation to be running.
Speaker 1:Like all the things. And I was in fact not running. And the worst part is like I didn't run that far, like a little bit less than a mile, I mean a little bit less than two miles. And I went into work that day I was like debilitatingly in pain, like in horrible pain all day, like my hip was hurting, which sometimes my hip would hurt when I was running like long distances. I didn't run long, I ran less than two miles, 16 minute mile. I felt like I had run like a full marathon, like my left.
Speaker 1:You are pregnant, so I know and that's what I was coming to is this, I think, might have to be my last jog, because it was so much pain tough. I'm still sore. It is now friday morning, and so that was my go on walks I know, and walks are just as good for you like.
Speaker 2:I just have to remember that I think walks are actually better, scientifically better because they're not so hard on your joints and honestly running like a pregnant lady's hips exactly.
Speaker 1:I mean, running is just for the impatient person who wants to get it done quicker, and I I have to accept my reality like that's just not not where I'm at anymore yeah, so there's my pit.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm so sorry for you for that on the flip side you're pregnant.
Speaker 1:That's exciting, and it's, it's okay, it's. We have to make the adjustments and I'm fine with that. But, um, on the flip side, my peak, while you were gone this week, my mom and my dad and my grandma came up, which was nice. My grandma doesn't normally come up, but she came, she visited, they stayed for like two nights and, um, it was just nice to like see them, see my grandma, my mom. I convinced her to go to a bar three class with me and how was that?
Speaker 1:and that was just fun like. It felt like a mom-daughter date, like we. I was a little nervous because she doesn't love workout classes so I was scared I was gonna scare her away, but it was very like. It was just lighthearted, fun. Lots of modifications that we both had to do, but again, I'm like, as long as I'm trying and putting myself out there, if I have to modify.
Speaker 2:Do you think mom will go back with you?
Speaker 1:I think she wants to, but she obviously doesn't live here.
Speaker 2:So there's not a lot of bar three classes in Newberry, south Carolina, so saluda yeah.
Speaker 1:So it was fun, though it was just like a sweet little thing we got to do together and then, and then we saw Allie. That day just felt like a normal, like family day, like we haven't had like a spontaneous family day, like we see family a lot, for sure.
Speaker 2:Very true.
Speaker 1:But it was just so spontaneous and fun and I felt like a child again. So that well, that's exciting. Yeah, that was my peek and pit. How about?
Speaker 2:you, that's very good. I will say Very good Very very good, I would say my pit this past couple weeks. I'm trying to think about really where to like dial it in. I'm trying to think about really where to like dial it in. I just think like the pressure is the wrong word, because I don't really feel the pressure. It's like not pressure but just the weight of like a lot of the big changes we have coming up.
Speaker 2:I feel like have started to like settle in on me a little bit and so it just got me like there wasn't anything like I can specifically point to but I just felt like I was kind of in a weird mental funk, a little bit Just like well, yeah, you know you hide it, as an Irish Catholic male I have to repress all emotion, keep it under for the rest of my life and bottle up and, you know, die of a heart attack at 74.
Speaker 1:Yeah, see deep For the rest of my life and bottle up and, you know, die of a heart attack at 74. That went far. Yeah, see deep.
Speaker 2:No, but I and like I ended up going to and I will say this is honestly probably my peak I went to a general confession slash, spiritual guidance with a priest and talked through it with him and I think it was just like the dichotomy of starting the week feeling like this kind of I don't know gloom I don't know what it really was, but like this it's like gosh. There's just so much changing that's about to happen. I think it was just anxiety and a little bit of fear, which I normally don't feel towards like the future and towards change, and I think that was just a weird feeling for me, because you know I love change like I really do love change and it was just like change that we have to just wait for, like we know it's happening and it's kind of daunting because we can't do anything about it right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm an action person, yeah um and so talking through it with the priest, though I think was really good. He gave me which um I guess I'll talk about now, cause I you know well this is our opportunity to um but I really liked it. What he said was things were going like Katie and I buying a new house, having sold our house, work going, you know well, for the two of us, us being pregnant and having a, you know, a kid in the future. He was like, with a lot of those things going well, he was like God is most likely not calling you to make drastic changes to your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He was like my guess is, god is calling you to see him more in the life you're currently living and I just, I mean, I think that's really sound advice and it's like not anything super crazy. But I do think there's this like maybe gut reaction where a lot of times in our lives we're feeling like, oh, I'm dissatisfied, we have to make a giant change. We, I think, are normally that where it's like, oh, if there's any dissatisfaction, well, let's just reshuffle the whole deck. But him saying that I was like you know he's probably right Like I should do better just to focus on, you know, improving my faith life maybe at the margins right now, versus trying to, you know, completely uproot my faith life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, I think we both um we both have been feeling that, but acting upon it very differently elaborate.
Speaker 1:I had no idea that you were feeling that way, but I feel like I've been pretty open about I feel like we need to be doing something like utilizing our time. Like we don't have the baby yet, so like this is all the time that, like this is the last time we'll like have these quiet months together. Like what do we do? Like do we pray? Like a 75 day novena, like what do we do? And um, anyways, I I've just been like anxiously trying to find some way to like dive into this like deeper and prepare my heart. If I can't prepare anything else, like how do I prepare my heart? Which I don't think is a bad mindset, but my mindset was almost like I'm not doing enough.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I kind of like that he had said that to you. Like you are right where you need to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, like I think we constantly and this is you know something, you and I go through a lot. I'm sure a lot of other people like you constantly feel like you want to be bettering yourself, which you should be like, you should want to be growing, but I don't know. I think there's like a hyper fixation, and I fall into it all the time of like wanting to you know when's your next promotion, when's the next house you're gonna buy, when's the next you know spiritual retreat, even like we even do it with our faith, though it's not just monotism.
Speaker 2:It's like when's the next spiritual retreat you're going on, like, when's the next time you're going to consecrate yourself to whatever saint or mary, or the holy eucharist, or like, when are you doing that next thing? And I imagine, like, so we're gonna um, well, I won't spoil our topic quite yet, but I already spoiled it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, okay well, we're gonna talk about saints and people who have, like you know, have had influenced our faith lives.
Speaker 2:Um, but like you think about the average, you know believer in the, you know 1200s, you know when, like a lot of these saints, became super famous, not famous.
Speaker 1:They like actually didn't get famous until they were dead for like hundreds of years.
Speaker 2:But like I don't know, their lives were probably just a lot slower paced, and there's nothing wrong with that, you know.
Speaker 1:And they accomplished so much in their lifetime. You know, yes, things are so easily grasped at in the time period we live in, like we can do a million things at once, whereas it would take somebody, not even 10 years ago, a full day to figure out the answer to their question.
Speaker 2:I know that's a super vague explanation, but I could just ask ChatGPT and Google and this and I'd get three different answers within like two minutes or like, think about, like, where you know a lot of the early saints when they had to travel, they literally it would take them months or even years to travel to different places yeah, like there's no, you can't take a highway. What I'm doing now?
Speaker 1:for the next month.
Speaker 2:I'm on a buggy you can't take a plane in the 1400s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. So, naturally, I think a lot of people feel the same way we do we're not doing enough because we're so used to accomplishing so much in a short time period. But maybe it's funny now that you mention it we love change so much. Like. It's funny now that you like say mention it, like we love change so much. Like we're about to enter into a season where, yes, a lot of stuff is going to change, but we're going to stay in this house for a while. We are probably both going to stay in our jobs for a little while.
Speaker 1:We're going to have this baby I'm quitting, by the way, I'm just kidding you're not allowed to quit wow I'm sorry, um, we're gonna have this baby and of we're going to have this baby and of course, there's going to be a lot of changes in that aspect of like our family dynamic, but, but we're going to be in this spot for a while.
Speaker 2:For a long time.
Speaker 1:And we're going to have to learn how to be content with that and like we might not be progressing in your career or my career. I was like so anxious to go back to school and like do all this stuff. And now I'm like you know what? Let's just like enjoy, Do.
Speaker 2:I have to work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, let's just enjoy. I'm already thinking about like, the next half marathon. I want to like start training for, which is not a bad thing, but it's just like slow down, like this life is good, you don't need to do a million things I completely agree so uh, side note, look how cute oliver looks right now he's on the couch. Oh, he's like got his leg draped down. He's like look at me everybody he's being a little cutie. You might hear him later. I'm sorry if that happens, yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, katie who is? So we decided we would do two saints and two non-saints who have impacted our faith lives positively.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to talk about two saints, but I kind of want to mention all of my favorite saints.
Speaker 2:All right. Well then you give us one to start off with.
Speaker 1:Okay, I I. So they said I'm going to talk about two saints, but I just feel like I'm going to talk about all of my saints.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go into detail with everybody, but this is just a fun. Like ever since you mentioned you wanted to talk about this. I'm like gosh, like I've been waiting like for a for a reason to talk about, all, like reflect on, just like the people, not only the people in our lives that have walked through like this life with us so far, but also like the humans of heaven that have walked through with us and like I like that.
Speaker 2:Did you come up with that?
Speaker 1:I didn't. There's a book called humans of heaven okay, I think january jane shop if you want to buy it. Anyways, I just, I love that idea because I don't feel like we really cling to the saints until we were, like, desperate for help yeah, that's fair and I.
Speaker 1:We always knew they were there, they had great stories, but it like I don't think we really developed a relationship with them on a personal level until we wanted to walk this walk with them yeah and so I think, going into like our infertility phases, all the doctor's appointments, all that stuff, we were so desperate for somebody to like walk with us, that knew what we were going through, whether, like they had suffered something similar or, who knows, just in general, had the wisdom to walk and pray with us for us, and I felt so much graces and like, so filled, like I just really think that's the only way like we could have gotten through it, are you OK?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry, I'm just adjusting, don't worry about me.
Speaker 1:He's flailing off of his chair.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to fix the chair.
Speaker 1:This is a great time to do that, but yeah, so anyways, I was just happy that you brought this up. So, with that being said, there are a lot of saints that I want to talk about. Joe wants me to get right to it.
Speaker 2:Well, no, just give us a name.
Speaker 1:Okay, so St Faustina.
Speaker 2:Okay, nice.
Speaker 1:So St Faustina and St. Therese are the two that I feel like go hand in hand, and then, of course, the Virgin Mary.
Speaker 2:Okay, so go with St Faustina first. So why her?
Speaker 1:St Faustina. I just feel like St Faustina, like knew how to suffer well, and if you know anything about her story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, give us a little background. Well, I wasn't prepared for that Okay, then don't give us a little background.
Speaker 1:But she's just, if you've read any of like her diaries, i's a it's a hard read because it's just sometimes I feel like hard to comprehend. But so it's taken me a long time. I'm not even done with it yet, but just the way that she like suffered through her lifetime but like never complained about it and just like offered it to god, um, I just felt like it was a really beautiful thing that I wanted to take away from from her, um, from her. Then St Therese I feel like also balanced that out with I didn't have such a dramatic suffering story.
Speaker 1:Like we had our normal struggles and things that people go through. But St Therese lived a very simple life. If you have heard of her then you know she's considered like the little flower, like she's like this. She was, I mean, pretty much a child when she was deemed a saint.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um and she just lived like a really simple life and like everything she did, she like saw the beauty of god and even though nothing really dramatic happened, she wasn't a martyr. Like she just lived her life and loved god and like. That's why I think she was such a great saint was because a lot of us live that same life and don't know how to simplify our life and see the beauty in that. And so I think I wanted to combine those two saints.
Speaker 2:And form a mega ultra saint yeah.
Speaker 1:And just like utilize both of their like spiritual influences in my own journey.
Speaker 2:So I really like St Therese because I think for both, like one of the things you know, we didn't find out, I think, until maybe later on in our lives and this isn't like the most uncommon thing in the whole world for two Catholics you know, who come from Catholic families, to have happened. But both my mom and grandma and members of my family prayed the novena to St Therese quite frequently and I believe your family also did. And one of the cool things about you know her being known as the little flower. When you pray her novena, usually you not usually, you know you never know with these things but a lot of times you will see a flower well, she's known to show you roses yeah, and so, like it has happened a couple times with different stuff with us, like even early on in our dating, where didn't I get you roses one time when you were praying?
Speaker 1:I can't remember, I'm sure you did, but anyway, there's always like that's not an uncommon story, like I'm even now remembering, like I think we've had that happen and like other couples, we know who, like you know, somebody will be praying, like the I think the most memorable time for us was when we um when I was discerning yeah and I I don't remember like the timing of everything, but I went to adoration at like in chapin and I just went there to pray and my grandmother was buried at that church and so I also went there to visit grandma josie, and I think you had brought her flowers yes right, yes, and like a couple hours before, yes and then I was like this is like, this is my sign, like this is it, this is like my gift from St Therese, like I need to reach out to him.
Speaker 1:And so I'm sitting in adoration and I was like, hey, do you want to come? And you like ditched your mom at dinner or lunch and came right over to adoration and so like that was really special, like just seeing like the flowers that you brought my grandma, I was asking for saint therese's intercession and also asking for my grandma to pray for me throughout all this because I was just so confused as to what to do and it was like a full circle moment.
Speaker 1:It was like, oh, this is everybody pointing towards, like yeah and like that vocation to marriage um, what did you?
Speaker 2:so you read saint uh faustina's diary, correct?
Speaker 1:I haven't read at all you haven't read it is a heavy read. Yeah, it is I haven't.
Speaker 2:I haven't, to be fair, I haven't read any of it. I know I need to but it's, it's really insightful.
Speaker 1:It's just like a good like you mean like a chapter a day, not even yeah what's the like?
Speaker 2:and I should know this, but I I really just don't. What's the like? The crux of her story in the diary really putting me on the spot here like what's? Like, I'm asking, like, what's it about?
Speaker 1:basically, it's literally okay, I'm gonna butcher this so bad, but it's literally her diary, so she like goes through. You read her like genuine thoughts and prayers to jesus. Okay, and there was a time, I think, that she was under so much turmoil that she is it like spiritual warfare?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, like you read through all her spiritual warfare and then she was like in so much turmoil that she's like I don't want to do this anymore. And one of her entries is, like Jesus told her I need you to keep writing, I need you to write everything. And so she, essentially under the guidance of God, wrote this whole diary. You read through her sufferings, her joy, joy, her like true, authentic thoughts about jesus.
Speaker 2:So she's not afraid to be like I don't like I don't like him right now, so it's it's more so like it's meant to show just that honest dialogue. Yeah, okay, okay, and it's cool because it's relatable.
Speaker 1:but you also like she. The way that she describes like her suffering isn't necessarily like I was beaten to death and da, da, da, da, da. It's like I'm having these thoughts and it's like eating me up on the inside and I don't feel like I'm doing it justice at all. I definitely read into it, but I need to read it. It's just, it's like it kind of you read it and you're like oh, I feel that way it's meant to be in a way, I'm sure, a little discomforting reading it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in a good way, the same way that you know when you look at, like, the label of a pack of goldfish and you're like I really shouldn't be eating that, yeah, but okay, that's good to know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have it and honestly, it's been a while since I've dove into it, but I do think it's a good companion to have. If you're looking for something to inspire you, cool. Okay, I've talked enough, your turn.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be super basic here with my two choices.
Speaker 1:I don't appreciate the simplicity.
Speaker 2:What do you mean?
Speaker 1:You're hammering me with questions.
Speaker 2:Well, you can hammer me with questions, I'm not going to so my first is saint peter um, and I think I've talked about this on the podcast before, but the reason I picked saint peter is so he is my confirmation saint um. And the reason I picked peter is I've always felt very aligned with saint Peter Not that I was going to be Pope or even have a modicum of the faith he did.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, listen, you never know how the world will shape up. No, I don't want to be Pope. He loved God, but he always was his own worst enemy. And I just like, when you read the Gospels and you see how desperately Peter wanted to be important, both in a good way and in a bad way, and then you know he kept failing and failing and oftentimes he was the disciple, I feel like kept failing and failing and oftentimes he was the disciple.
Speaker 2:I feel like that Jesus was rebuking, like when in his scripture, when you know whether it was him denying Christ three times or, hey you know, cast out on the other side of the boat, like I feel like Peter just was always the one who's like standing in line, like God, I'm going to do this for you, and then he'd like go out and try and do it, and it would be like an absolute mess. All right, goodbye, katie. We love you. I'm coming back. I'm coming back, okay? Well, katie's leaving, so we're going to take a quick break. Oh, never mind, she's back, I'm not leaving very long.
Speaker 1:She was leaving for very long.
Speaker 2:I had and I knew oliver was gonna freak out. Oh okay, well, that's good to know. Welcome back everybody from the non-break.
Speaker 2:Um. So yeah, I was monologuing, trying to stall about saint peter, but that is where I feel like I am with saint peter, so, um, anyway, he's my confirmation saint. I just really I just like the idea of like the I don't know the leader and somebody who's in charge but had to grow, go through a lot of growing pains, and like I feel very much like I get in my own way, like I am my own worst enemy in my faith all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and it's cool that, like he was chosen to be the leader.
Speaker 2:And I like reading.
Speaker 1:Like his. Well, you exactly that and like. That's why I see that association with you and why you chose him. But it's just cool that he was such a good leader and yet we know his brokenness. Yeah, so very vividly displayed, and God still chose him.
Speaker 2:I don't think we give enough credence to at least I don't think I did for a long time. He literally denied christ three times like, kind of in front of him, like to like not necessarily to his face, but I mean actively saying I don't believe in him, like this is not true, you're lying.
Speaker 1:I was never with that man and it was probably even just thinking about it, like what I would have done. I probably would have done the same thing in that situation. It was probably just out of fear. Of course, you know, and it wasn't like you know, he regretted it like immediately, but like he was self-protecting he was. It's just so hard to like, choose, like that kind of humility, but then god, turned that into the spiritual rock that he built his church on yeah and like I, I just think that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Like if peter can come back from that and become again the rock that the church is built on, then we can come back from anything. Yeah, um, so that's, that's my saint number one. Saint number two you won't believe it, saint joseph, um, so I think in the holy family over here I know we really are and I I think I asked my mom one time. I was like, was I named after saint joseph?
Speaker 2:and she was like well, not really she's like, so I just like the name joseph, um, but I also think what I like about St Joseph is the opposite of St Peter. Is that sorry, got a cough? We're really on one today.
Speaker 1:No, you are.
Speaker 2:I am on one. You don't hear from St Joseph. Yeah, like you, never. He's just a constant presence. And I'm going to concentrate myself to St Joseph before we have our baby, and I'm excited to do and I'm excited to learn more about him and to like dive into a deeper relationship with St Joseph, because I feel like that's a mantle. I want to carry um as well, like, I want to be like peter where I want to be in charge and I want to be the one you know spearheading, saying like, you know to be candid, like isn't it nice to be the one who's important you know? But then you look at saint joseph and ultimately, like, he's the one that's like so unimportant in the story, but the story doesn't happen without him yeah, you know the the, you know he raised Jesus.
Speaker 2:You know Like. I think that's also something.
Speaker 1:Like he just quietly raised him in the background. Yeah exactly. And like he took care of Mary.
Speaker 2:Like he was the, he did the front work of the work, Mary.
Speaker 1:I mean Mary. Well, I can't say he did the front work of the work, but like he was her rock and that is like such a beautiful depiction of like the family that we should I want to be your all striving for you are my rock.
Speaker 2:He's literally crying right now I am actually tearing up a little bit, but no, I I think that's like. That's what I love about saint joseph. Is that like because I know I'm just not a quiet behind the scenes leader and that's something we can learn a lot from him?
Speaker 1:yeah, and mary was like the same way. I mean, yes, mary probably gets a little bit more attention in the bible, okay, she gets a lot more attention.
Speaker 2:A lot more attention, but even deservedly so deservedly, what is?
Speaker 1:it. She only spoke three times in the new testament and like the last time we hear for her from her is at the wedding at cana. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:I could be wrong, yeah because I don't think she's spoken to at the cross, but I don't think she responds I I don't actually know that for sure, but somebody, like we were just having a discussion with a group of people and someone mentioned that and I thought that was so cool, like just the idea that, like, the last thing we really hear her say is like her asking jesus to perform his first miracle at the wedding at cana.
Speaker 1:Like it's like she had such a major influence on his life and doesn't, like you know, doesn't get all the attention, all the credit, and I don't think she wants it like. She wants jesus to be known and glorified through everything that she did, and that's why I feel like it's such a beautiful thing to either consecrate yourself to mary or joseph, or both, because by doing so you learn how to love jesus better yeah, I mean what better way to do so than to ask his parents like how did you?
Speaker 1:do this what's so special about this guy?
Speaker 2:That's very true. That's very true. All right, Now that we just talked about family. So we wanted to do some saints, but we also wanted to do.
Speaker 1:Just like ordinary people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ordinary people slash, people who you know, maybe were know thinkers or theologians or spiritual leaders or people in our lives or whoever it was.
Speaker 1:So um, you want me to go? No, no, I'll go, since you just went. Um, okay, wait, I put myself on the spot, okay, I think for sure there's so many people that I could think of, but I wanted to do one like family member that's really close to our hearts, and then one just like unrelated person that I have found a lot of, just like peace and joy, from listening to. So first I'm going to go with my grandma, josie, which you know. You know, grandma's human. She's not a perfect human being we're neither of us. Nobody here is perfect but I just love what she stood for. She's the reason that I have such a deep devotion to Mary.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:She's the namesake of our daughter.
Speaker 2:This is true Mary and Josephine.
Speaker 1:Mary and Josephine, not me I know, it depends on who's asking right, yeah, you can say I mean, if you don't know the person, you can be like yeah, my daughter's name look at me being saint peter. I want to be the rock um, but she was like the matriarch of our family and truly like showed us what it meant to be like your mom's mom my mother's mom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she showed us what it meant to be like the glue of of a family you know and like not like the holy family of a very broken family. Yeah, yeah, and she did so in a holy way and so and she died fairly young, like she was only 70, um, but I remember, I don't know.
Speaker 1:One of, like, my most favorite moments is sharing with her the song that I wrote to Mary, but also having dedicated that to her as well, just because, of the inspiration that she brought to me in Mary, and we were sitting at the piano and I'm singing this song to her and I had told her in that moment like I want to name my first daughter after you, You're going to make me cry.
Speaker 2:I've just been real tearful yeah, so emotional at nine o'clock in the morning rollercoaster of emotions.
Speaker 1:Um, and I sat with her on the piano that we have in our house, which is super special to me, um, and I just love that I was able to tell her that in person and like show her this song and like that song is.
Speaker 2:Did she cry?
Speaker 1:I, you know, I can't remember, I don't actually no emotion, yeah, she I don't know, she's just, she's so funny, um, but it was a special moment and I'll remember it forever and I love that I'm gonna be able to, like, not only see that in my daughter, but share this song with her and like yeah and grandma josie, like I mentioned earlier with that story of how you know, joe and I came after the saint teresa's, like novena and what brought us together.
Speaker 1:After I was discerning, like I have asked her for her intercession and prayers forever and still to this day, and like I, I do feel like she has been praying for us and walking with us.
Speaker 1:And she's not here but she's walking with us and so she has been a very like an ordinary person that I look up to, but also somebody that I've reached out to spiritually, and then I guess it's like a group of women, I don't know, none, neither specific is, to be honest, I get them all confused. But the Abiding Together podcast has been oh nice. I just have been like I've always. Naturally we love podcasting, so I like listening to podcasts.
Speaker 2:This is true.
Speaker 1:And I like listening to, like the spiritual podcast, like I love hearing other people's insights and wisdoms, like we would not come up with the things that we came up with without the help of mentors and other people and books and whatnot. Um, and podcasts, I just feel like, are an easy way for me to connect to people. I feel like I'm like sitting there with them, listening to them talk what's the podcast again?
Speaker 1:abiding together. Okay, it's with like heather, kim, oh, um, sister miriam, and there's another girl, I can't remember her name, but they just have like so much wisdom. Yeah, and I love listening to them and like you can find anything that you need to hear just by listening to the millions of episodes that they have out. And this is actually we're doing one of their series on like daughter, sisterhood, mothers, with the Bible study that I'm in, oh, that's cool and it's just been so fruitful, like I just I think I like I know a lot, and then I listened to them and I'm like wow.
Speaker 2:I know nothing.
Speaker 1:I know nothing, and it's been. It's been like a crutch for me, and a good crutch, like something to keep me anchored, to listen to and look forward to throughout, you know, my life. So those are my two things, two peoples.
Speaker 2:I would say for me thank you for asking. Um, wow, she didn't even like it. She didn't even like the joke Wasn't funny. Joke, um, wasn't funny, yeah, no, she just didn't hear it, she wasn't paying attention. Um, so my two um, I love my family and they've impacted me very dearly, but the two that I would say have made me kind of shape my spirituality. I would say number one and katie's gonna laugh when I say this is mr rogers I.
Speaker 1:I knew that was kind of the mom you were going to go with, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think I just love Mr Rogers because he had such a gentle spirituality and even when you watch his old show, he never specifically says I am a former pastor. Let me tell you about jesus christ like he, but the way he had he taught kids how to handle issues and emotions was a very christian way of doing so and I think, just like his gentleness and his passion for wanting the world to be a better place and to help people handle their emotions and I think that's like the most just, coolest impact that I think he has is like hey, just because you're feeling something doesn't mean it's like worthless, you know, you need to deal with it. It needs to be handled Like, just because a four-year-old is angry, you know, because they can't have pizza for dinner for the eighth day in a row, just because, yes, we as adults know that that's silly doesn't make their anger any less real. So how do you handle that? And I just know that helped me in my faith life as I like got through being.
Speaker 2:You know all sorts of emotions, whatever. You know all sorts of emotions, whatever. You know, whether it was sad or angry or scared, I knew I was like okay, how can I work through this right. These emotions are real, they are valid. How do I overcome them? And, thinking back to, like Mr Rogers, honestly that was some of the things that helped me. The other person I would say is CS Lewis. I love CS Lewis and my favorite book of his is actually I mean, it's very well known, but it's not the most common my favorite book of his is Joyful Christian.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's very popular.
Speaker 2:But it's not. I mean the Screwtape Letters, mere Christianity, like I feel like those are the two big ones. Yeah, I feel like those are the two big ones, yeah, and the reason I love A Joyful Christian is because you get to see him just kind of like talking about random stuff and you know, I think his there's Oliver, it's because Allie's here.
Speaker 2:Hi, allie. Well, hang on, what are you doing? I'm letting Oliver out, okay, I've been so secretive about it, but, um, well, no secrets anymore. Um, I love mere christianity because I feel like I get a little insight to how he thinks and like that is to me more important when I'm like looking for somebody to like guide me or looking for guidance. I want to know how people are thinking, and you get that in A Joyful Christian. You get a very contemplative, faithful man thinking through different issues and topics, and I just like the name A Joyful Christian.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've never finished any of his books.
Speaker 2:They're so heavy.
Speaker 2:I finished Screwtape's Let letters I think I did, because that's like a storybook yeah but the like, just like the like, the wisdom reading books, I'm like, oh, this is hard yeah well, that's true, they're not like joyful christian, it's like just a collection of papers and memos and essays and stuff, so like. It's not like a I don't know what. The collection of papers and memos and essays and stuff so like. It's not like a I don't know what the word you're not sitting down. It's not a page turner, you know yeah um well cool.
Speaker 1:Well, that's who impacted our faith lives yeah, and then for you to do your own research on later. Um, I just wanted to mention all the other saints that, like I, go ahead my gallery wall to look like okay, let it rip obviously mary, saint faustina, saint therese um saint gerard we definitely need saint gerard fertility. Saint ann, mary's mother um, saint jude, saint Joseph, of course, and gosh, I'm trying to think I was hoping that I had this.
Speaker 2:Peter.
Speaker 1:These people memorized. I know I'm just trying to think of like the, because most saints have like novenas that you can specifically and I don't think I did- one for St Peter, but maybe you did, I did. Yeah, okay, st Peter.
Speaker 2:I think I even did a novena to St Patrick.
Speaker 1:Did you? Yeah, oh, and St Carlos Acutis.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's true. No, he's not a saint yet, but blessed.
Speaker 1:Blessed Carlos Acutis.
Speaker 2:Don't get us canceled.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:Pope John Paul II. Saint Pope John Paul II, Favorite quote of my entire life.
Speaker 1:Go ahead.
Speaker 2:I can't remember it off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:Oh, we can't say that then.
Speaker 2:It was don't ever give up on hope.
Speaker 1:Hang on, see, now you're going to make me. You can finish that off later. And then I want to say there was another non-saint yet, but I can't think of her at the top of my head. But yeah, I don't know. I just, in case you were wondering, the community that we have not only in like our lives, like just the lives we're currently living, but like the community that we have found in heaven, I just feel like is worth noting. Okay, you have the quote.
Speaker 2:I do. I plead with you never, ever give up on hope. See, it's gonna make me cry, man, I'm so emotional today. Never doubt, never tire and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.
Speaker 1:That's a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's awesome. He's literally the coolest person ever. All right, I have a marriage meeting for you. Great, let's do it. And I thought this would be fun Because I didn't know this and I think that you will know some of it, but maybe not all of it. So a lot of famous saints. I wanted you to guess what their birth year was and if you are within, 50 years's gonna be so bad if you're within 50 years, I'll give it to you I'm not gonna get any of these right, so saint, uh, saint augustine is he like in the 100 700?
Speaker 2:I'll give you a hint. He's in the hundreds, which I didn't realize. I thought saint augustine was like.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I was correct, I was.
Speaker 2:Well, you were kind of correct. So what's your guess? I'll tell you, he's in the hundreds 700 AD. He was 354. Wow, you got to think about that. St Augustine was 1,700 years ago.
Speaker 1:No, how do we know he's real?
Speaker 2:I mean, we know he's real. How do we know he's real? I mean, we know he's real, I know, I know. How do we know November 13th 354?
Speaker 1:Yeah, how do we know?
Speaker 2:That's just a date that we chose. Hey, blame Google, ai. All right, st Francis of Assisi.
Speaker 1:That one's a bit closer to us.
Speaker 2:I mean he is closer, he's not in the hundreds. You are correct, he's not in the hundreds.
Speaker 1:I he's not in the hundreds. You are correct, he's not in the hundreds. I want to say, like the 1700s, Am I really off? 1181. So he's a lot older.
Speaker 2:He was not alive during the American Revolution.
Speaker 1:I don't know, gosh to me, like 1181 and 700, isn't far away from each other, yeah but St Augustine was 354. Oh, yeah, so basically he was.
Speaker 2:He might have been closer to St. He might have been close. He's almost closer to us than he is to St Augustine 1700.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2:St Thomas Aquinas. I'll give you a hint he's pretty close to he's older. I mean a hint.
Speaker 1:He's pretty close to he's older, I mean younger, he's sooner, I don't know what the right.
Speaker 2:He's more recent than St Francis, but he's pretty close to St Francis.
Speaker 1:He's pretty close, so like 1500.
Speaker 2:I would even say a little closer.
Speaker 1:What 1300.
Speaker 2:1225.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's like really close. Yeah, you're close enough, I'll give you 1300 no, no, I mean like that's like really close to saint francis, not oh yeah, like 40 years yeah I said what 1500? Yeah, okay, um saint teresa of avila okay, that is not who I'm thinking of, you're thinking of therese, of lisieux, no no, I was thinking, tinking, I was thinking of tinking, saint mother theresa.
Speaker 2:I was like that's like yesterday, that's true um saint theresa of avala okay, right, she, it's theresa, not therese, right no, no, it's theresa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, oh, 1500 bingo really nailed it. No, I'm being that serious, born in 1515 okay okay, they had.
Speaker 2:Just they had columbus had just discovered america. For the europeans isn't?
Speaker 1:that crazy.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, there you go that's it. That was what Google had readily available, that I don't have to search. I tried on Wikipedia first and it had the list of every single saint and there's a lot of them and it's in alphabetical order, and I was like, nah, we'll see our faves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but yeah, mother Teresa, that's another one I'm missing. I definitely asked her for help. What's the that poem?
Speaker 2:I thirst. Well, no, you're interrupting me. I definitely asked her for help. What's?
Speaker 1:that poem. I Thirst Well no you're interrupting me, I wonder what that's like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I could never imagine the. Do it Anyway, I know it's originally. Oh, it's something about doing the dishes Well it has almost nothing to do with doing the dishes. It was hung in a lot of her uh comments and uh here. I'll see if I can find it isn't it like anyways yeah that's like the title but it originally I think it was thought um that she wrote it, but I don't think she did. I think it's just attributed to her. Yeah, let's see. Okay, here you read it because you can finish us off.
Speaker 1:All righty, it's called Do it Anyway. People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. When you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight what you spend years building. Someone could destroy overnight Build. Anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God. So good, it's great. All right, guys. Thank you for joining in. Sorry that I kept interrupting the podcast.
Speaker 2:That was my fault.
Speaker 1:I was trying to be very discreet about it, but Joe did not allow me to be.
Speaker 2:I was just very confused. I was trying to be very discreet about it, but Joe did not allow me to be Well, I was just very confused.
Speaker 1:But we appreciate you tuning in and let's keep growing together.
Speaker 2:Bye y'all.
Speaker 1:Bye, thank you.