SPEAKER_01: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Heart of the Homily Podcast brought to you by St.
SPEAKER_01: Augustine Church and Student Center.
SPEAKER_01: We are so delighted that you're joining us.
SPEAKER_01: We have an amazing topic that we're covering today.
SPEAKER_01: So welcome back, Father Vigoa.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to be here.
SPEAKER_01: And your voice sounds great.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's much better.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, this weekend was a little touch and go, but it it's it's much better.
SPEAKER_00: I was watching the podcast from last week, and uh I said, oh my gosh, I can even hear myself swallow.
unknown: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00: Swallowing so hard.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I apologize to everybody for clearing my voice a thousand times.
SPEAKER_01: For being human.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you should apologize.
SPEAKER_00: So but today you have your tea.
SPEAKER_00: Someone uh someone actually wrote me and said, Why don't you have like a cup of water or some tea?
SPEAKER_00: So today I brought some hot tea.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome, good, good.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you sound much better.
SPEAKER_00: So I I it's not that I felt bad, but it's uh the voice is better.
SPEAKER_00: Good.
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Well, um, we're gonna start off just kind of getting into um what the homily was about yesterday.
SPEAKER_01: And so you actually focused on the first reading, which normally you kind of pull from the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So was what was the inspiration for that?
SPEAKER_01: And then maybe we'll read a little bit of what the first reading was about so we can give some context.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that I don't usually use the first reading, or if I do, I combine it with all the readings or combine the first reading with the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times I I love to focus on the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But when I started praying with the scriptures, I really love this first reading, and it just spoke to me.
SPEAKER_00: I said, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it on the first reading.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, nice.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're gonna hop into it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we're reading from the book of Exodus, Old Testament, um, chapter 17, verses 8 to 13.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and before we read, it's Amalek, Emalek.
SPEAKER_01: Emalek.
SPEAKER_01: Emelech, Amalek.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: My Old Testament uh names are a struggle, so let's see how we do.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Some from the book of Exodus.
SPEAKER_01: In those days, Amelech came and waged war against Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Moses therefore said to Joshua, Pick out certain men and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle.
SPEAKER_01: I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.
SPEAKER_01: So Joshua did as Moses told him.
SPEAKER_01: He he engaged Amalek in a battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and her.
SPEAKER_01: As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight.
SPEAKER_01: But when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.
SPEAKER_01: Moses' hands, however, grew tired, so they put a rock in place for him to sit on.
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, Aaron and her supported his hands, one on each side of the other, so that his hands remained steady until stuck until sunset.
SPEAKER_01: And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
SPEAKER_01: That is an intense image in battle underway.
SPEAKER_00: And it's something that we see in the Old Testament over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: But two kind of big themes came out of the readings for this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: Or at least one of the things I I love is when people come at the end of Mass and say, This spoke to me, or um, how powerful this, or um and so from talking to people, I think that one of the the two themes that were were were resonating with people.
SPEAKER_00: Well, one is the inner spiritual battle that people see.
SPEAKER_00: And then the other thing is prayer, the importance of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And um, do we pray enough?
SPEAKER_00: And why do we pray?
SPEAKER_00: And when I was thinking today on the way here, one of the questions that I was thinking about talking about is why does God ask us to pray even when we feel like nothing's happening or nothing's changing?
SPEAKER_00: And then what does it mean to keep your arms raised when your strength is gone?
SPEAKER_01: That's such an important question.
SPEAKER_01: And actually, I had a conversation last week.
SPEAKER_01: That was the question was I feel like I know God hears my prayers, but I don't see the results that I want.
SPEAKER_01: Or how do I how do I keep praying when I feel like I'm getting tired?
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people go through that.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people ask that question, which is so human and so um normal.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it goes back to something that we spoke about last week where we want to control everything.
SPEAKER_00: And so God is teaching us the difference between control and relationship, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because when we pray, we're being stretched, we're being shaped, uh, our hearts are being stretched to trust, uh, to be to look beyond what we can see.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that I tell people a lot is prayers is prayer is not magic.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's it's about a relationship, it's it's communion with God.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to treat prayer as magic.
SPEAKER_00: You see, uh here in Miami or in uh South Florida, there's Santeria or there's other voodoo or this or that, where they where it is magic, where where magic or black magic is inserted into a religion.
SPEAKER_00: And so um there's that tendency to want, like you just said, have results right away.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, God's not listening, God must not love me, God must not be uh uh here or present in my life at this moment.
SPEAKER_00: And I there's so much that we can learn uh in our own life about fidelity and staying the course.
SPEAKER_00: Um, that it's all about teaching us, teaching how to walk in the ways of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I wanted to clear up, though, and and one of the parishioners was the one that uh kind of wrote me an email and alerted me to this.
SPEAKER_00: I had said in the homily that, because I started the homily with this reference to church Winston Churchill.
SPEAKER_00: He gave this phenomenal uh speech to graduates at Harrow School in 1941.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't at Oxford, it was at Harrow, and Harrow was uh the school where he attended.
SPEAKER_00: But he everyone was expecting him to go in there and we need something eloquent, long, and and powerful.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to remember that it was one of the 1941, some of the darkest days in World War II.
SPEAKER_00: And so they were looking to him.
SPEAKER_00: And um he gives this speech about never give in, never give up.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it wasn't rhetoric, it was resilience, but he was talking from experience, this this hard experience that he was living.
SPEAKER_00: Um but what I wanted to try to do is that Churchill's persistence mirrors Christian persistence.
SPEAKER_00: And that's how I kind of why I wanted to start with him and kind of end with him, because um what we see at that time, that very dark time in history, is that the world didn't need this uh polish speech.
SPEAKER_00: What it needed was courage.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in the same way that God doesn't ask us for perfect prayers.
SPEAKER_00: What God is asking us is for fidelity.
SPEAKER_01: Fidelity and that and persistence.
SPEAKER_01: And in that persistence, something changes in us because we're continuing to show up and continuing to be with God and pursue Him and really trust Him.
SPEAKER_01: I think trust only grows with that continually like being available to trust the Lord and to be persistent in our prayers.
SPEAKER_01: What would your um I guess in that struggle of the question of like, why do I pray when I feel like things don't happen?
SPEAKER_01: What would be some of your advice if that's kind of like why be persistent when I feel like you know it's not happening or God's not listening?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think what I I say to that, and then a lot of people ask that question, I say stick with it because you're learning how to be faithful, you're learning how to trust, you're learning uh there's a bridge between perseverance and actual result.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's that bridge, um, and and that's where the Lord is is stretching you and also teaching a lot about who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that prayer is more for us than it is to God.
SPEAKER_00: And so but there's so many different elements to all of that.
SPEAKER_00: But the key to that is to stick with it.
SPEAKER_01: And it seems like too that prayer is something that needs to mature as our life of faith matures.
SPEAKER_01: Um and like you were referring to earlier about like thinking prayer is magic, um, you know, God's not a vending machine.
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times when we even growing up, we treat God as a vending machine, or that's as far as we get in our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when there's like this whole beautiful ocean of like teach the of the church helping us pray like more deeply, more at the heart, more interiorly, um, that transforms us.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it that's that persistence is keys to to go the journey of learning how to how to pray and also uh to really grow in grate trust of the Lord's presence in your prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I think that if you are persistent and you continue, and it's like that that muscle that we were talking about before, stretching the muscle, I think that if you continue to do that, you get to a place where it's now maturing faith.
SPEAKER_00: You were talking about that earlier.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we get stuck in that second grade communion formation that we received when we did our first communion, if that's that's what we know about religion, then it's gonna be a struggle.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be hard.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's gonna, we're gonna see faith as uh or or prayer as magic, and I didn't get what I want.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's uh being upset or being angry with God or being separated with God, or easily falling into sin because there's no formation, there's no growth, there's no maturity.
SPEAKER_00: And so there has to be this kind of decision to make.
SPEAKER_00: I want to grow in faith.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Because we talk about that all the time at St.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine's.
SPEAKER_00: There's gotta be formation.
SPEAKER_00: It can't be just very elementary to what we learned when we were in children in school.
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's why all of our retreats are important and different workshops and formation nights that we have.
SPEAKER_00: It's not enough just to come to Mass on Sundays.
SPEAKER_00: There has to be this interior decision to say, I want to grow.
SPEAKER_00: I want to learn.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we learn and grow, it's going to only help us in the hard times.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that resonates even with my own story.
SPEAKER_01: We're in college when I came back into the faith, and part of it was realizing that I was 18 years old, but I was praying like I was five, you know?
SPEAKER_01: I was hearing the prayers of five-year-olds and being like, well, that's exactly how I sound.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm 18, and so but something's off.
SPEAKER_01: And really uh been reading the lives of the saints and reading some of the documents of the church.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, prayer sounds awesome to them, but that's not my experience, you know?
SPEAKER_01: And so it was really this call and invitation of like, okay, I really need to grow in my like a greater faith and understanding of prayer to be able to grow in that relationship with Christ and develop a rich life of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Um and the good news is that we're made for it.
SPEAKER_01: Like every human person is made for prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And I love when people are having a conversion, when people, when they're sitting in the pews and they're they're allowing the homily to touch their hearts and to stretch them and to say, I want more, I want to know more about this Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And and so that's when it begins to that's the magic.
SPEAKER_00: That's the the real magic that happens, or the spiritual magic that happens, is that uh we begin to have this aching that's always there, that hole that only God can fill.
SPEAKER_00: And so the uh we begin to say, Oh Lord, I want to know you more.
SPEAKER_00: And the gifts and the fruits that come out of that, just that just leaping forward a little bit to desire uh to know him more.
SPEAKER_00: And and in that you begin to grow and mature your faith.
SPEAKER_00: But you need formation.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what the parish should be.
SPEAKER_01: And something that comes to mind from your homily yesterday, I know this line I feel like is something that it stood out to me and for for many.
SPEAKER_01: You said the the greatest battlefield is within you in your own heart.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Can you share what are you what were you saying about that?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Because I think a lot of times people think like, oh, the battle's like outside, like things are outside of me.
SPEAKER_01: And so you're kind of calling even like the battle is within.
SPEAKER_01: So can you maybe elaborate a little bit more?
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that what I was trying to say there is that there are amaleks everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Because yeah, we were talking yesterday about a figure in history.
SPEAKER_00: And but that figure in history mirrors our day-to-day because there has to be some, and we were talking about this just two seconds ago.
SPEAKER_00: There has to be something in me that says, I want more.
SPEAKER_00: Like Paul says, the good that I want to do, I don't do, but the bad that I don't want to do, I still do.
SPEAKER_00: Um, sin is attractive.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is some feels good.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is beautiful in the sense that if it wasn't, I wouldn't be sinning.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: And so there is a tug of war that people have.
SPEAKER_00: Some have it harder than others, or because then there's addiction, there's uh vices, there's just some ingrained behaviors that that people can't shake.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so there's all of this that happens with uh the outside world where I say there's amaleks everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And an amalek could be someone at your office that's undermining you, or or uh, or even being the type of person that causes you to sin or or invites you into sin.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's society or systems in place that that's an amalek.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things that I was trying to say in the homily is you gotta identify that amalek in in your life that's causing you to stray, that's causing you to sin um because it's there.
SPEAKER_00: And then what's happening is that that interior spirit uh spiritual battle that you're saying is um it's there, and I gotta figure out how to fight it because there is gonna be a tug of war.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a tug of war.
SPEAKER_00: And sitting in the confessional, I can tell you some people, for some people, the tug of war is a lot harder than for some for others.
SPEAKER_00: Um but it's beautiful because even those who have the strongest battles are the ones who are most committed to fight this tug of war between good and evil, between the amaleks.
SPEAKER_00: Um but it can be exhausting.
SPEAKER_00: It can be exhausting for someone, and that and I think that that's how when someone falls back into sin is because it is so exhausting.
SPEAKER_00: And and there's so much that we could talk about, even with psychology and and what what others say, but um there's there's wounds and there's pains that come from our past, and and we want to self-medicate with all different sorts of types of things.
SPEAKER_00: And so those are our battles, interior battles that and a lot of people battle these uh in secret or alone or or in the dark or or in uh behind closed doors where no one knows what they're we're they're going through.
SPEAKER_00: Um but I do think that the biggest battle that we're going to have in our life is in our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And that's um I think first even being aware that there's a battle going on.
SPEAKER_01: Because I think that's um an awareness and not a lot of people have.
SPEAKER_01: They just kind of go with the flow and like this is as good as it gets to be so um, you know, conflicted inside that there's like that's just life.
SPEAKER_01: And I think um part of the the great news of living the Christian life is being able to know like that's not as good as it gets, that like the Lord has more and like healing and restoration is possible as we follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And some of that is quieting what's going on inside.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that the battle, you know, is something that we fight, but we are more strong on the victory side, like allowing Christ to be our victory.
SPEAKER_00: But I have to say that it it can be exhausting if you're really doing the hard work.
SPEAKER_00: And you can't live off adrenaline.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where a lot of people think that, oh, I I got this, because we live in a Tylenol world.
SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by that is that you're adding, oh, you know, just take that, or you got that, oh, just do this.
SPEAKER_00: Or it's all we we live in a society for quick fixes.
SPEAKER_00: And so what I want to say is that it can't depend just on adrenaline.
SPEAKER_00: I can do this, I can I can fight it, I can make it happen.
SPEAKER_00: You need grace, and that grace comes through prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that and prayer is usually a slow transforming process, which isn't the quick fix, quick fix, which is why getting frustrated in prayer is very easy.
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people deal with that, you know, where we live in a world that things are so at your fingertips.
SPEAKER_01: And prayer is relationship, you know, so it develops and it deepens, and the perseverance and like all those things draw out from us um places that we need healing and places that we need trust.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's it's kind of the opposite of what you want.
SPEAKER_00: And when you Right And, you know, I tell people all the time you're going through a difficult time or you're going through a uh something uh hard, it's go and sit in the Blessed Sacrament and don't rush it.
SPEAKER_00: Just sit.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I bet you when you walk out, you go back into your car, you're gonna feel a little bit better.
SPEAKER_00: It may not all be resolved, you may not, but you're gonna feel a lot better.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and Father, some of the that reading that we read, it talked about Moses' arms being tired and like him having the support of um Aaron and Ur.
SPEAKER_01: And like you kind of drew from that many things about kind of how Moses represents um, like is a sign of the church.
SPEAKER_01: Could you share more of like what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Because that was very inspiring.
SPEAKER_01: Like the people that you listed off that is like represents the church, you know, in prayer and perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of the things that when I was praying through this, it's so what's probably one of the most powerful metaphors of the church to see Moses with his hands lifted up.
SPEAKER_00: And while he had his hands lifted up, Israel prevailed.
SPEAKER_00: And when he grew weary and the arms began to fall, well, Amalek was winning the better of the fight.
SPEAKER_00: And it comes to show us that the church needs people praying, right?
SPEAKER_00: That it is this network of a living, uh, a living body that intercedes.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's it's not it's not just the saints in heaven, it's ordinary people holding up each other in unseen ways.
SPEAKER_00: And I I remember when I was in the seminary, I had a spiritual director who was very hard on us in the sense that he was giving some hard truths and he would say, You don't feel like praying, you're confessing that you're not doing your brewery.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the church depends on it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just you and Jesus, just, oh, everything, me, me, I need this, I need that, or help me with this, or help me with that.
SPEAKER_00: The church needs you to pray the office because the church survives on prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you are praying, you're lifting up the whole universal church.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I said in the hobby is that right now there's people praying for you that you don't even know.
SPEAKER_00: And I know it's true because I have gone all through Rome and I would, you know, when you do those, uh, they they say to pay for mass intentions.
SPEAKER_00: I went to every single church I would pay for, uh, pray for the parish of St.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine's.
SPEAKER_00: So who knows?
SPEAKER_00: Right now, some priests could be celebrating a mass for the the for the people at St.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine's.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So it's you never know if someone is praying for you.
SPEAKER_01: That's so interesting because I think some of the lies that are easy to is like, uh, my prayer doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like some people don't even think to pray for their community or pray for the church or pray for their priests is kind of like, yeah, but my my prayer doesn't really matter.
SPEAKER_01: But what you're saying is it does.
SPEAKER_00: I don't really believe that prayers do anything.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen results from prayers or I see it as as magic.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you think of it in those terms, yeah, well, then prayer doesn't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: Why do I need to pray for these people?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I I think it's a real call to um, like you were sharing, even like the church at prayer, being able to know like the priest has a specific role in that.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, nuns do, but then like the mom at night, you know, the dad in the morning, like that everyone has a place to um a part to play in praying for the community of the church, that it's not just me and Jesus and like my personal prayer, but we do have a place to to step in and to pray for the needs of the world, to pray for our neighbors, to pray for our church.
SPEAKER_00: And um, well, I love that image of that we uh we are the vine uh and uh Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, and that we're all connected.
SPEAKER_00: It's all connected to that main, main vine, and um we're all connected in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And when one member of that body suffers, we all suffer.
SPEAKER_00: I remember uh when I was in the archbishop's office, there was something very difficult that was going on at the time.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember the archbishop calling me into his office and said, call the sisters down in uh in Hyalea, the cloistered nuns, the Carmelites, and ask them to pray specifically for this intention.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a sister that they rotate, and so it's constant.
SPEAKER_00: There, there's a sister that sits before the blessed sacrament and is praying for the intentions of the church constantly.
SPEAKER_00: And I found that so powerful.
SPEAKER_00: I said, wow, this is a very serious issue, and he is asking this nun, this beautiful sister, to sit before the blessed sacrament or the community to take turns praying for the church.
SPEAKER_01: Because prayer works, and that's like such an example, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I think um that is so encouraging to know that someone is always praying for you.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember when I realized that myself, um, realizing, especially during my uh after my conversion in in college, I was like, oh my gosh, there's cluster nuns praying at all hours of the day and the night.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's why a lot of stupid things I didn't do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, they must have been praying for like, you know, college girls that weren't doing what they should do and getting in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: But like, you know, I really looked back and like I was saved from a lot of things that like it was only God's mercy that I, you know, didn't trip into.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but people were praying for me.
SPEAKER_01: And I prayer matters.
SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, because you could say you have faith, but perseverance proves it.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Perseverance proves that you have faith.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy to say, oh yeah, I believe, or do the work.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's encouraging.
SPEAKER_00: It's a steady, daily choice to keep praying, to keep showing up, even when it it feels dry.
SPEAKER_00: Perseverance uh turns faith from uh an idea in your head into uh a trust that now lives in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and and persevering prayer, I think your faith matures because that relationship is growing.
SPEAKER_01: And then also sometimes your prayer changes.
SPEAKER_01: I know for myself, like if I'm praying for something specific, as I keep praying and praying and praying, ultimately sometimes my what I'm asking for actually like shifts to like the deeper that is there, like what I actually need.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so that perseverance is key.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord is like working with us and you know, transforming our heart and you know, drawing out what we're really asking for, which is ultimately more of Him and more of the Holy Spirit really giving us the eyes to see and um you know, the heart to see what God is doing in our life.
SPEAKER_00: Very powerful.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I loved uh is when I was walking out from mass, uh a couple people said this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh one one lady said, Father, let me, I want to tell you that uh I'm gonna keep praying because I want to keep your arms up.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a beautiful thing?
SPEAKER_00: That is really beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you shared actually very beautifully, Father, that you said that because you're very vulnerable in your homily when you mentioned um that at different moments when you're struggling or you feel weak, that you do like you have a confidence that the church is praying for you, that your community is praying for you.
SPEAKER_01: And you sharing that, I think, in your homily was really powerful because I think people woke up.
SPEAKER_01: I think it was kind of like a wake-up call of like, you know, you're involved in our community, but are you praying?
SPEAKER_01: Are you praying for Father?
SPEAKER_01: Are you praying for the needs of like our small little church, you know, and like what God is doing?
SPEAKER_01: And I think that investment of not just attending mass and receiving, but now being like an active participant of like, I'm praying for the needs of our community.
SPEAKER_01: Like that shift is gonna be a game changer, I think, in just what's gonna happen in our little area.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do love that.
SPEAKER_00: And it's what I was trying to convey is that when you see Moses there with his arms raised up, it's every priest uh behind the altar with his arms raised.
SPEAKER_00: And we need people, uh especially uh our parishioners, to say, I will pray for this parish.
SPEAKER_00: I will pray for this community, I will pray for my priest.
SPEAKER_00: Um, because you just said it, there are days when it becomes very challenging.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes hard.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and so you need and and you feel it.
SPEAKER_00: I I I feel it.
SPEAKER_00: I feel people's prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the beautiful, I think that one of the most fantastic, uh best decisions that we made was to start this prayer group, uh, the prayer and care ministry, where they gather on Mondays and they pray for the intentions of the parish.
SPEAKER_00: We have those little cards that say we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: What are you going through a hard time, going through a difficulty?
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you need prayers for?
SPEAKER_00: We want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: And then they have this whole uh network through WhatsApp where they're connected, where they continue to pray, not just on Mondays, but it's it's around the clock.
SPEAKER_00: And we started that, and I can't tell you how many people say how powerful that is for them to know that someone is praying for us.
SPEAKER_00: And then to receive a card in the mail or or to to say, we love you and we're praying for you.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're if we're if we're not a community that's praying, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: And you highlighted something that I think is important too.
SPEAKER_01: You mentioned that even in the church, like those that cannot even make it to the building of the church have a mission of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: And I I feel like that's really beautiful and inspiring, but also so radically true that even like the elderly who cannot serve with their hands anymore, like or cannot serve with their feet, but they serve with their hands of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the same value than going to serve with your hands.
SPEAKER_00: Like, and I first learned that when I was uh when I was a seminarian.
SPEAKER_00: I remember reading about St.
SPEAKER_00: Therese The Little Flower and how she desired to be a missionary.
SPEAKER_00: And it was through her prayers that she was a missionary, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I learned that.
SPEAKER_00: But then later on through Pope John Paul II's death and how he really witnessed to uh the dignity of a person and at the end stages of life, and how even uh he would say, uh, if you can't go out, if your role through your sickness, through your illness, through your suffering is to pray that that is that suffering is not just for suffering's sake, but that it is redemptive and that you can pray for others through your illness or through your suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And so you may not be able to go out and make peanut butter jelly sandwiches on Wednesday, or you may not be able to leave the house, or you're confined to a bed or to a chair.
SPEAKER_00: But if you really understand that your prayers are so needed and that you could do so much good just sitting there and lifting up prayers for someone who no one's praying for, or for someone a missionary in the fields, or whatever it is, that you're so needed and you're so valued, and and please continue to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's those truths I think really give such a different perspective on prayer, like even like everything that you just shared.
SPEAKER_01: Because I think that battles the lie of Emilec, which is you know, prayer doesn't matter, it's a waste of your time.
SPEAKER_01: Like you're not talking to anyone, God's not listening, He doesn't care, He's too busy.
SPEAKER_01: Like all what you just shared about like prayer matters and like God is listening and being able to put time into praying and even like learning different ways of praying, all those different things, but like prayer is worth your time.
SPEAKER_00: And also, too, uh uh something important is that God invites us into his work.
SPEAKER_00: He desires for us to be part of his work of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: And and even if you can't go out into the field, you're part of that work of redemption through prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And we all need to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: And that's incredibly powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Because prayer doesn't change God, right?
SPEAKER_00: Prayer should change us.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: And it aligns uh with the rhythm of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And so I really believe that there's the answer of, oh, well, I don't really does prayers work, I don't see the effects of it, or or it's taking too long, or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: Um prayer should change us and and look at our lives and really see where we're at and say, I want to be different, I want to live differently, I want to respond differently.
SPEAKER_00: And and prayer helps that structure, it helps that discipline to being different, to answering differently, to see the world differently, that how people perceive you.
SPEAKER_00: Because if if you're not praying and you're not going to mass and you're not celebrating the sacraments, you're gonna be a miserable person.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not a miserable person, but it's it's it prayer helps you to align all of these truths of of uh of communion with God.
SPEAKER_00: You said it earlier, it's it's that relationship with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the communication.
SPEAKER_00: That prayer is is the actual friendship.
SPEAKER_00: I desire you, I want to know you more, I want to live with you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to uh it's almost like speaking to your best friend on a on a constant basis.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and there's so much more that we can talk about with the prayer.
SPEAKER_01: This could be like a five-part, thousand, five thousand-part episode on prayer.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe kind of as we as we wrap up, um, father, there's any last points that you're hoping um to kind of share.
SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, I'll give you some uh I I wrote some points here that some practical takeaways.
SPEAKER_00: And um one of the things that I would say is we need to identify Amaleks concretely.
SPEAKER_01: Which are things that are taking us away from God.
SPEAKER_00: Us, things that take us away from God, things that even that convince us that what why bother?
SPEAKER_00: So what are the forces trying to drag you away from God?
SPEAKER_00: And that that could be fear, it could be distraction, it could be bitterness, exhaustion, um, not wanting to forgive someone.
SPEAKER_00: Um so really looking, or even things like uh um of a more of a of a sinful nature, which it could be uh addictions and vices and really horrible things that but you got to identify that because if you're able to identify it, then it's no longer in the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: You've brought it into the light and say, all right, I want to take care of this.
SPEAKER_00: I want to bring this to the light of Jesus Christ and say, I need to resolve this.
SPEAKER_00: So what it what are the the first takeaway is what is that amalek in your life that is causing that interior battle, right?
SPEAKER_00: That tug of war.
SPEAKER_00: Because I want to do good, I want to be closer to the Lord, I want a faithful relation, I want things to go well.
SPEAKER_00: Because I can guarantee you when things are going well and um you're following the Lord, things fall into place.
SPEAKER_00: And there is this inner peace, there's this beauty to it.
SPEAKER_00: You may not have everything that you want, you may not be where you want to be or the career that you want.
SPEAKER_00: But I can guarantee you, if you're following the Lord, you're saying your prayers, and you're being a faithful disciple, things in your life begin to fall into place.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's that inner tug of war.
SPEAKER_00: But it first you got to identify what is that amalek?
SPEAKER_00: What is that spiritual um or that force that is trying to get you out of there?
SPEAKER_00: And the second takeaway is raise your arms.
SPEAKER_00: Physically, raise it up.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing your own private prayer, and that that's what raising your arm is praying.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta pray.
SPEAKER_00: And um, even if you don't have the words, even if you don't know how to, even if um whatever it is, even silence counts.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have the words to sit in silence, just sit there.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to be there with you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to ask, ask.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to be, I want to give my time to you.
SPEAKER_00: Showing up counts, perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: So that's uh the first one is identifying that amalek.
SPEAKER_00: The second one is raise your arms, pray.
SPEAKER_00: And the third one is be an Aaron or a her for someone else.
SPEAKER_00: Find out who's going through some difficult times for you.
SPEAKER_00: I have a list right now of some people that have asked for prayers, but these are some very serious situations.
SPEAKER_00: And so I raise them up in prayer every single day.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and so you gotta be an errand and a her for somebody.
SPEAKER_00: And again, it's that what we've been talking about for the last couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_00: It's uh moving away from the me, me, me to I gotta be for someone else.
SPEAKER_00: Are you going through a hard time?
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for that.
SPEAKER_00: Is there a special intention I can pray for?
SPEAKER_00: They may not give you the detail of what that special intention is.
SPEAKER_00: They may just say, yes, pray for a special intention that that I have right now.
SPEAKER_00: Bring it to the Lord, be an Aaron, be or her.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And then the last one I would say is um never give in.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That from the from Winston Churchill's uh address, I never give up praying, but never give in.
SPEAKER_00: Faith isn't the absence of battle, it's the refusal to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: I will go through the fire for you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I love you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I want to stay true to you, I want to be faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Even when I don't see the results, even when I don't, when I feel dry, I'm gonna continue to persevere and show up.
SPEAKER_00: Show up.
SPEAKER_00: Something that I'm tired of saying, not tired, I that I'm gonna continue to say for for is be structured, have a routine, be disciplined, show up.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that those four identify your amalek, raise your arms, meaning pray, be an Aaron or a her for somebody else, and then never give in.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those are powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Keep going.
SPEAKER_01: Powerful takeaways.
SPEAKER_01: And even that last of your homlify you're talking about, that one day when the dust settles, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Like we'll also see the fruit of all these things.
SPEAKER_01: And I think even the practical encouragement of um praying for others and being persistent, like I think it's such a beautiful and encouraging invitation that at some point, like God will reveal all things to all.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna see that that prayers matter.
SPEAKER_01: Like we know that, and like we're gonna see it one day.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that can give us courage and also confidence of like, I'm gonna be faithful and persistent because one day I'm gonna see all things will be revealed, and I'll eat this.
SPEAKER_01: When the dust settles.
SPEAKER_01: When the dust settles, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So because God is always going to triumph, you know, the Lord is always gonna win.
SPEAKER_00: But it's that molding of who we are, making us better and shaping us into his faithful disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And but again, we got to go back to there's there has to be formation, there has to be a base.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we have that.
SPEAKER_00: If you just tap into our community, we want to love on you, we want to pray for you, we want to to walk with us.
SPEAKER_00: We may not have all the answers, but we're gonna help you to get into a rhythm where you're fighting these amaleks, where you're learning how to pray, where you're growing in your faith, where it's not just sticking a second grade kind of religious education.
SPEAKER_00: No, let's help you develop your prayer life, develop your faith life so that you can grow and formation helps with that.
SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: So we are out of time so much there.
SPEAKER_01: Um, thank you all who are joining us.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and we encourage you to share this podcast with someone that might need encouragement in their life of prayer and being strong and persevering.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's been a wonderful conversation, Father.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Miami Community News, again for always supporting us and being there and helping our ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Check out Spotify, Apple Podcasts, help grow this podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We are having a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's it's so much fun, it goes by so quickly.
SPEAKER_01: It does, I know.
SPEAKER_01: We're like run on time always.
SPEAKER_00: But thanks, Michelle.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for everything you do, and uh, we'll see you next week.
SPEAKER_01: Sounds great.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.