First Pitch, Final Four and Final Victory

Bishop Wall, Fr. Masters, and Mike Sweeney analyze the crazy UConn vs. Duke game, baseball's opening games, and why Easter is the most important day in the Church calendar.

To see the video/picture discussed in this episode, visit: 

https://youtu.be/-rUM3cCcS9A

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

No Chapay, welcome everyone to episode 26 of Verso el Alto, our Faith on the Field, a podcast combining faith and sports. My name is Father Burke Masters, pastor at St. Isaac Jokes Church in Hinsdale, Illinois, and Catholic chaplain for the Chicago Cubs.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Bishop James Wall, the Bishop of the Diocese of Gallup, located in the states of Arizona and New Mexico.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

And Mike Sweeney, residing in San Diego, California. Catholic husband, Catholic father, and former Major League Baseball player.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Great to be with you guys again. We're going to begin with prayer, and we've got a lot to cover this week. A great week of sports and faith. So let's pray. Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the joyful example of your servant, St. Pierre Giorgio Frasati, one of our patrons. Pierre Giorgio never tired of striving boldly to go higher and deeper in faith, prayer, and love. He cherished your presence in his family, friends, the mountains he loved to climb, the poor he visited, and especially in the Holy Eucharist. May we too go toward the heights of our Catholic faith and by example bring others to your church through Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. So we've got some uh great topics to cover. We're into the final four in basketball. We review our brackets where we stand. We've got college baseball, we've got major league baseball. Um before we get into that, Mike, I see that you're not at home. Uh, you want to share where you're where you're at today?

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Yeah, so I am a resident in San Diego, but today I'm in Wichita, Kansas. So uh I flew out yesterday to um uh Kansas City for opening day. The Royals won. It was a good day, and it was a really special day that maybe we can talk about a little bit later. But uh after the game last night, I drove three hours south to come and uh watch my son Michael, who has a game today in Wichita. So a great day.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

And uh he's feeling good. Is he healthy?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

He's healthy, yeah. It's a blessing. He's doing great. Unfortunately, um, about a month and a half ago, he wasn't healthy, and um he's had a real hard time getting back on the field. So uh the the kid playing in front of him has been doing great, the team's doing great. So I'm I'm really proud of Michael. I'm I feel like I'm either here to watch him play a midweek game or him not play and uh just be a great dad and support him through it through a tough time. But he's he's learning what it means to be a great teammate, even when things personally are going well, and for that I'm I'm really grateful.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Yeah, thanks for sharing uh his story because I've received a few emails from moms and dads out there whose sons are in the exact same position where they're they've experienced an injury in college baseball and they're looking for some encouragement and support. And so hopefully parents out there you can share these podcasts, and if there's a way, you know, we can't promise, you know, we can reach out, but if we can, we we'll try to encourage your your sons out there because yeah, it's a it's a part of the journey, and uh it's an important uh lesson for us to learn that you know life doesn't always go the way we plan. And uh but how do we stay close to the Lord in the midst of that struggle? It's really what we're celebrating in uh this holy week, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Uh did you guys see the story about the the golfer who won this past Sunday? Oh Gary Woodland. That's uh the the one that had the the with the brain tumor, and then he was dealing with he was dealing with anxiety and all sorts of other things, and he uh he bounced back. That's a great that's a great story. Perseverance and yeah, that's a great guy to root for.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Yeah, speaking about that, Bishop Wall, um, when I flew into Kansas City on Sunday, uh one of my really close friends, he's a mentor for me, is George Brett. A lot of people know him from the Pintar game. He's the greatest Royals player in the history of the game. Lost his mind. Lost his mind, but he didn't lose his heart.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

All-time great moments. This he just comes tearing out of the dugout. That was great. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

But whenever I go into Kans City, I call him Father Flanagan because he doesn't want me staying in a hotel by myself. So he and his beautiful bride, Leslie, invited me over. And I I got into the house for family dinner, and he goes, Mike, look, uh this is this is what's going on. Gary Woodland, he's one of my best friends. He's from Kans City, he's putting to win the tournament. And I see George, and George is has tears rolling down his cheeks. And I said, What's going on? And he explained the story. He said, Mike, I've been with him for you know last 10 years. Um, and he's gone through a really trying time. Brain, um, brain surgery, brain tumor, PTSD. He's got all these treatments for he went public two weeks ago regarding his anxiety and uh mental health. And then it's this is his first tournament since, and he comes out and wins by five strokes, and it was crazy. It was really special. Like, you know, his seeing him uh crying with his wife, and it was just a beautiful, yeah. I agree, Bishop. Well, a lot of a lot of cool things going on. Yeah, I love that story.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah, perseverance, and as as we know, a lot of people struggle with anxiety, mental mental health things, uh, injuries, and you know, just really keeping our eyes on the Lord through those difficult times. Um, were you gonna say something else, Mike, about uh when you were at the the ball game yesterday?

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, just circling back as a as a parent. This is to the parents. I'm gonna I'm gonna be real. You know, I got I got guys like Bobby Witt Jr. and the the president of the Kansas City Royals and scouts asking me yesterday at opening day, like, hey, how's MJ doing at Wichita State? And there's no pride. I there's no pride in me as a father. Um I I've shared with my kids, my only goal for them is to get to heaven and they're seeing it lived out. And I just and I just share. I said, you know what, I'm so proud of him. He hasn't, he's healthy now, he hadn't been on the field in two weeks, but I couldn't be more proud of him. He's helping lead um uh Catholic Bible study. He just went on the CAC podcast this week with Mike Hohendorf, sharing about his faith, and and I was like, you know, I'm I'm just so proud of him. And uh so as a parent, it's hard, you know. I'm I'm probably not gonna he'd I'll probably be sitting in the stands and watching him six foot eight, able to hit a ball 500 feet, sit watch him on the bench because they have a left-handed pitcher thrown today. But I probably want to get to watch him play because he's a left-handed hitter and they do matchups, and and the kid in front of him is playing great. So, but at the end of the day, I'm hopefully gonna be able to take him out to dinner, and he he knows that his dad loves him and supports him even when things aren't going best.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Let's hope let's hope they chase that pitcher, put in a righty, and then he gets in the game. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

I like that. That's awesome. Yeah, that thank you, Father. Yeah, so for the parents out there, yeah, please share these uh podcasts with your kids. I think uh one of the reasons why we're doing this podcast is, you know, we all, the three of us, love sports and we love Jesus even more. And uh I think our culture sometimes gets it in reverse. And uh we want to lead with sports, you know, talk about things that we all love, but then go to the most important topic uh that we have. And of course, this week there's nothing better than uh Holy Week.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Um the story the other day, just in connection with that. I'm sure everybody got to watch the last moments of the Duke and Yukon game. Crazy. But my favorite story about the whole thing, they asked Danny Hurley, the coach, he said, What did you do afterwards? And he says, I w I went into a stall and I prayed. That was awesome. I love that. It was the first yeah, first thing. Thanks, thank, thank uh God just for everything that he has and is able to do. I thought it was a beautiful story.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah, and I love what he he said it. It wasn't praying uh because we won, but I just realized I start my day with prayer and God's a part of everything. And you know, I I'd hope and I would believe that even if they had lost that game, he would be, you know, spending time in prayer as well. Yeah. I know he's a pretty intense guy. I think it's it's it's great for people. I know, Mike, you're one of the probably the most intense ball players on the field, and yet people see this side of you and are like, wow, you know. Um, so I I think it's okay to be intense and you know, want to win, and and also then you can love Jesus and you know, uh, but to always be a good example while we're on the field and off the field of our faith. And so uh I know Danny Hurley, uh one of the guys in my beform group, are like, boy, he's he's intense. I don't know if I like that guy. And then I said, No, he's a he's actually a very faithful Catholic. He's like, Oh, I like that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

So there's a clip out there of he and his his brother Bobby, who uh was who did a great job at Arizona State, which is a hard place to win in basketball, and um unfortunately just got let go. But there's a clip out of those guys coaching side by side. It's crazy how intense they both are, they're doing the same thing. They probably learned from their dad. Yeah, and uh, but it it's it's really fun to watch. They're so intense and so animated, and yeah, it's great. They probably see so much more about the game than we do, you know, the little details and stuff. So yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Yeah, I was I was really moved when when they beat Duke UConn, and and they're gonna be going back to the final four now for the the third time in four years, and to see how how emotional he was after the game. And then what he he kind of almost ran away from the media, locked himself in a bathroom stall, yeah, and he praised God. He wasn't thanking for the miracle shot, the block and the steal with 10 seconds to go, you're down two. He's just like, no, I just wanted to praise God. Yeah, and I thought it was just so beautiful to for him to be that example for me. That no matter what, we're we're called to praise God through the good and the bad. When your kids are doing great or they're doing not great, we're we're called to praise God.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah, look at the book of Job, everything horrible that happened, and what did he say? Blessed be the Lord, right? He never, he never, although tempted, he never cursed the Lord. Always so he blessed the Lord in good times bad and everything in between.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

I I uh my heart goes out to Caden Boozer. You know, uh he's 19 years old, uh, you know, 10 seconds on the clock, they have the ball, a two-point lead, looks like the game's over. And uh, you know, I saw him interviewed and he said, you know, I costs our team the season, not just the game, but the season. And uh I've been in that situation before when I've been the cause of you know a big loss. And um, you know, to be able to put that behind you, you know, we we talked, I think, a f several weeks ago about Orion Kirking from the Phillies, you know, last year made that big blunder at the end of the game where they lost to the Dodgers. And but uh again, to the players out there and the families to know that you know that's not your identity. And hopefully Caden can, you know, they said if you'd have just held on to the ball, they would have fouled him or the time would have run out and they won't win the game. But you know, there in the intensity of a game, you you know, you just you do things that you you're not even thinking about. And and so I hope people give him a break and and and he gives himself a break to to know that hey, uh made a mistake, it's a game, it's not the end of the world, and we're still beloved children of God.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Uh I saw the a great interview with the coach afterwards, and he was he addressed that and uh just kind of paraphrase, you know, he says we essentially as we win together and we lose together, one play didn't cost us the game. Yeah. And um, I love that that team mentality. And um yeah, that was hopefully he, you know, I don't know. I wonder if he'll come back. I know his his his brother's probably gonna be first, second, third pick, one of the top three. And I wonder if if he'll come back or if he'll go if he'll go on to the pros after this as well. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah. Any words of wisdom, Mike, for Caden or or guys out there who may have been the cause of a big loss like that?

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Yeah, I I think you know, the hardest thing for me is during my major league career is when you when you fail, there's two options you have. Either one, you make excuses or you you kind of run and hide. I know there were times that I had teammates in the locker room that you know they made an error or they struck out to end the game, and the media is in there. It was a pivotal part of the game, and they want to talk to them. And they'll go run back and sit in the media uh in the food room or in the weight room till midnight. I I don't want to talk to the media. But I would, I was the opposite. I'm like, hey, let's go face it and be accountable and uh be raw, be emotional if you have to. And uh that's my the best way that I always found was to tackle tackle it head on, show show contrition. Kind of I treated I treated my post-game interviews kind of like going to confession. I was real, I was honest, uh, a lot of contrition. And uh at the end, you you feel a lot better because you're like, here I am, I lost the game for us, right? I I messed up again, father. Um, and I feel like that's the best way to live life, and then you you just flush it and you move on.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

He didn't run from the media, saw him interviewed, and yeah, yeah, really stand up as seems like an impressive young man. Yeah, you know, like like his you know, they're twins, his brother is gonna go higher drafted and everything like that, but really super, super impressive. Carried himself very well. And um yeah, but this is uh I think this is the March Madness of long three-pointers. People are there, it's just crazy how many just crazy three-point game-winning shots or tying things up, or just this is this is one of been one of now I'm pretty happy because Arizona's still in it. But uh, I think this has been the best uh Final Four I can remember in a long time, or March Madness I can remember in a long time. Because there's just been there's some great upsets, but then also some uh yeah, the three-pointing three-point shooting has been in nuts, but yeah, a lot of fun. But go cats.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yeah, I know Mike and I had both had Duke winning it all. So I was I was pulling for Duke that game. Um, but it was it was a great game to watch, and so uh yeah, so now we have uh what do we have? Duke. Uh I mean uh Yukon now playing University of Illinois, my home state, who has never won a national championship. And it's amazing. Illinois is favored, I'm surprised by that. Uh, and then we've got Michigan versus your cats of Arizona. Uh, and I think Michigan's a point and a half favorite, I think.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

I didn't look it. I won't watch it because we'll have the Easter Vigil.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah, I saw that they start right when we're starting the Easter Vigil, that game's gonna be going on.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

So uh that'll be good sacrifice just to I've missed lots of U of A tournament games because of the Easter Vigil. Yeah, it's probably better than I'm a mess when I watch them. So this will be a much more peaceful time for me.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

So maybe maybe the three of us we can turn off our phones and obviously turn off our phones during mass, but maybe we can FaceTime and from like midnight till two in the morning we could watch the game. Yeah, we had watch the game together.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah, we have uh we'll get to that, uh but we're gonna have a long Easter vigil here, which is gonna be beautiful because of all the people coming into the church. Um, but looking at our brackets, I I think uh what how it shapes up now. So Mike and I both had Duke winning it all. Mike is leading right now, he's leading me by a point, Bishop by like 13. But if Arizona wins at all, Bishop Wall will win the bike. Win it all. If uh anybody but Arizona wins at all, uh Mike, Mike will hold on. So um I think I uh I don't know if any of us thought Illinois would make it this far.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Yeah, what killed me was that was uh Iowa State losing their probably their best player in the very first game. Yeah. And uh really bad spring, badly sprained ankle, and then uh Houston getting bounced too. So I was I was leaning heavily into the Big 12. I thought those two schools would go a little further.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yeah, Illinois beat Houston in Houston, which was amazing and and convincingly.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, they did.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

So uh Bishop, you sent us a uh a graphic this morning of where all of the starters are from the four final four teams, so 20 players, and uh of course I I saw right away Illinois is most represented. So uh what's interesting is what do they have?

SPEAKER_01 18:03

More Illinois play players play for Michigan than Illinois.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Yeah. Illinois has you know, a lot of the guys from uh the Balkans, you know, and they've got kind of a real international flavor. So uh uh that should be a great game against Yukon. Uh Danny Hurley he's becoming one of those uh you know big game coaches where you you don't want to go against him in these kind of games.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Yeah, I'll get to watch that game. Uh because we won't start the Easter Vigil to 8 o'clock. Yeah. At least I'll get a watch, I'll get to watch that game. It should be great.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

So uh Yeah, I'll be I'll be rooting for those cats, Bishop Walt. Go cats. You went you went six you went 16-0 about five months ago before we started really keeping tallies. So I think you deserve to win this uh this bracket. So I got I got UConn and the cats in the finals, and I'm going with the cats.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

There you go. Cats and dogs in the finals.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

That's true. I at this point I've got to, I mean, I I love Danny Hurley and Yukon, but I gotta pull from my hometown, home state here. So I'm gonna go Illinois and Arizona. Um, and I I think I think Arizona is the best team uh in the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

So yeah, and you never and with that too, I mean you never know because I I think talent-wise, I think Duke was the best team in the tournament, you know, and it and it it's just one shot.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Yeah, you know, and a 19-point lead. Even at halftime, the I was listening to the uh halftime show, I can't remember which one it was, but he said UConn has no chance, they can't score enough against Duke. And yeah, and when he said that, my first thought was gosh, never say never, you know, because I didn't think they would come back either, but wow.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Well, did you see the record 134 and oh and zero? 134 and zero um for teams that were ahead by 15 at half in March Madness, number one seeds ahead by I mean it just yeah, now it's 134 and one. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

That's gonna be a tough, tough one for Duke to uh get over uh in a long, long off season. Yeah. So let's uh so I I know Bishop, you you're picking Arizona. Who are you picking in the Yukon? Now, you know, we I know we had our brackets, but who would you pick going into Yukon Illinois game?

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Yeah, that's a really good question. Uh yeah, I love the the one of the guards for Illinois, um Boswell, he used to play for Arizona. It's really good. And um I just right I don't know. I well right now I I wouldn't bet against Yukon. Yeah. This what three of the last four years they've made it to the Final Four, and they had back-to-back championships. I wouldn't I wouldn't bet against them at all.

unknown 21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

You know, they're they're a scary team. Really good, they play well together, and they got a they got a great coach, an intense coach.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

And it's tough for a team like you know, Illinois, for a team to win their first national championship, you know, it's a it's a tough barrier to break, but yeah, this could be the year. All right, let's switch gears uh quickly to to baseball. We had opening day, opening week of Major League Baseball. We made our picks. I caught some flack from uh people in the parish here, like you didn't even mention the Mets. And uh I think the guy in our Fitz Shepherds, our workout group, he's he's from New York. He's like, You didn't even mention the Mets. So shout out to James and the Mets. Uh that sorry about that. They're probably that's probably gonna come back to haunt me as a as a Phillies fan.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Well, I was last week I was in New York speaking to the New York City, speaking to the Legatus group, and at the end. I just let I tell them about know about a podcast and I just said I want you to want you to know that I picked the Yankees in the AL East, and they were all excited about that. And there were there were probably about 20, 25 people there. Nobody mentioned the Mets at all. Nobody mentioned the Mets. They're all excited about the Yankees.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

So they've they have the second highest payroll in baseball right after the Dodgers. And yeah, they should be there, but we'll see. So what's what are your takeaways from first week of baseball?

SPEAKER_02 22:27

I'm still I'm still cheering for my boys in blue out in Kansas City. There's something special going on. And I I've been in the locker room with them uh as a player and then now as a leader mentor of the last maybe 13-14 years. And there's just something, you know, I I have some big Mets fans in San Diego. Um the guy goes to Daily Mass with me, he but Kevin Kenny, he owns a bunch of the Jersey mics out in all over the country, actually. Oh, yeah. But he said the the culture of the Mets right now is awful. He's actually switching, he's been a diehard Mets fan. Would go to the beach every day, watch the Mets play. He said, you know what? I'm a Yankees fan now, because he's from Jersey. And this is a guy he's like, yeah, my mom and dad would roll over in their grave if they knew that I was a Yankees fan. But there's something about culture. And yesterday, uh out in opening day for Kansas City Royals, and the Royals won a good game, three to one. And it was just so special to see the culture. Um, before the game, uh, we we had um Brittany Gore is the wife of Terrence Gore and their three children, and um it was it was one of the most beautiful things. If you remember about maybe six, eight weeks ago, the Kansas City Royals lost uh the base stealer galore Terrence Gore to um complications with surgery. And yesterday was one of the most beautiful things. We uh we had his son Zane Patrick is a little boy that he was pregnant, his wife was pregnant with when he was ready to quit baseball. And I grabbed him by his face. I said, Terrence, you ain't quitting. You ain't quitting. Uh someday your little boy or girl's gonna call their daddy a big leaguer. And we got to see that whole family come to fruition yesterday before the um opening day game began. And little Zane Patrick, they showed this beautiful video of his dad on this on the jumbotron, 11 years old, and he's sitting there with tears rolling down his cheeks. And his wife and little Zane Patrick and little baby Camden and Sky Lynn, the little beautiful girl that and and Britney, they walk out for the first pitch. And it was almost like President Bush after 9-11 threw that perfect pitch. Little Zayn Patrick, 11 years old, gets all the way to the toes up the rubber and fires one in left-handed right down the center of the plate. Wow. And the stadium, 40,000 people erupted. I don't know if Suzanne can pull up that clip, but the most beautiful thing is right before they threw out the first pitch, Brittany said, Hey, can I get a picture with you and Alex Gordon and our family? And as the photographer took a picture, I didn't know where we were standing or where we were posing for the picture, but maybe Suzanne can show the picture. But when it was digitally um sent to us, on the jumbotron behind us, perfectly centered, was Terrence Gore. And that half second, the an image of him in a Kansas City Royals um in a monarch's jersey, the Negro League actually game that he we played years ago. He appeared in the picture with us. And it was just, I wept when I saw it. It was a great symbol of Terrence dying in the in the gift of faith, looking over us at that very moment. And uh something I'll never forget.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Beautiful picture.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

And if people can see the picture, who's the other ball player with you, Mike?

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Uh that's um that's Royals Hall of Famer, um Alex Gordon. And he's he was a great teammate to Terrence Gore for many years. They played the outfield together, and he's uh one of one of Terrence Gore's best friends uh before he passed away. So it was an honor for Alex and I to support the family. But you know, let me tell you real quick about our president JJ Piccolo. JJ, as you know, is a devout Catholic. Um when this whole thing started, he flew out to uh Atlanta um down to Florida for they had a memorial service and a funeral, and JJ's been instrumental in just helping the family during this time. And when he was posing, when he was getting ready to throw out the first pitch, um Brittany has a little one and a half-year-old boy Camden, and as the crowds erupted, he throws the first pitch. Camden just wraps his arms around JJ, our our president, and puts his head in his chest and just burrows in. And it was just such a beautiful image. Our leader who has been there for this family, holding this one and a half-year-old little boy. As the crowd erupted, it was uh it was like heaven was erupting. It was something I'll never forget. Wow. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

That'd be a uh a great memory for that family, and I'm sure the Royals will continue to support them. I had somebody here talk to me about, he said, I had no idea there were teams out there that had guys like you and Reggie Sanders pouring into the players in all things baseball and in faith. And they say, Are there any organizations that that do something like that? I'm like, I'm not aware of it, you know. Do you know, Mike?

SPEAKER_02 27:36

It's uh it's I don't I think I don't think so. It starts with having leadership um that are followers of Jesus. You know, before JJ Piccolo, we had a great leader in Dayton Moore, who was an evangelical Christian that loved the faith, loved he loved Father Rocha, you know, uh our Catholic team chaplain in Kansas City. And it's this beautiful culture that's led by our faith. And the way that we treat people, we we may not be sharing the Bible with them every day, but we're living it every day, we're living out our the gift of our faith. And uh it's it's a beautiful organization. And you know, whether it be a player or an employee, when someone works with the Kansas City Royals, they say, Man, I've never been around an organization like this. So to answer your question, uh, no. Yeah, it's it's unique, it's it's one of one.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Yeah, that's beautiful. I had a chance I was at Wrigley Field for uh Cubs opening day, and people say, Aren't you a Cubs fan? You talk about the Phillies. So uh I've been a bit a Phillies fan my whole life, uh, and then I've been the Cubs chaplain now for the last 13 years, and so Cubs are my second favorite team now after the Phillies. But uh I got to see our buddy Trevor Williams, the Nationals were in town, and Trevor pitches for the Nationals. He's rehabbing and he's hoping to be uh back on the mound by June. He said his arm feels good, and uh so it's great to see him. And he said he'd he'd love to be on the podcast with us uh one of these days. So this might be a good time while he's he's gonna be rehabbing most of his time, uh, you know, some in in DC and some in Florida. So he might have time to join us. Uh it'd be great. Yeah. Any other takes from the first week of baseball? Any surprises? Uh I never want to see the Dodgers again. I saw they lost uh last night to Cleveland, so uh they're they're human anyways.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

I was hoping we could do that to them.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

I know.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

We found last night against the uh against uh the Tigers, though. Yeah. And our our pitcher threw a perfect inning. Only the fourth time that's happened in our in our history.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Oh, like the Immaculate Inning? Immaculate Immaculate Inning. That's what they call it, yeah. Nine strikes, three strikeouts. Yeah, how about that? That's rare. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah, yeah. He was uh was he a former Royals? Who is it? Uh Starts with an S. Oh, so the baseball game. Yeah, that sounds right.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Sorotka, he was he was at the Braves, wasn't he? I think he came up with the Braves, Mike Sorotka, I think. Oh, yes, Mike Sorotka, yes. Sorotka, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Was he a cubby too? I'm just naming teams right now. Seeing if something sticks. Just throw darts, throw darts at the wall.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Did he play at the Phillies? Yeah. I think he went to University of Arizona. I think he was a wild cat, too.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Yeah. He had some arm injuries. He I know I remember him coming up with the Braves. He was a big prospect, and then I think he had some arm injuries.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

And maybe speaking, hey, speaking of cats, I'm just gonna put this out. We got to get Trevor Hoffman on here. Good Catholic. Yeah, cat. That'd be great. Great Catholic, man. I'm just I'm just throwing that out there. Yeah, throwing that out there. All right.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

We'll we'll we'll throw some seeds to him.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

And uh we're on baseball. I've got to throw out uh Mississippi State uh swept Ole Miss this past weekend. Uh so they had a good week. They beat uh Southern Miss, who's ranked number 11, beat them 12 to nothing, and Mississippi's number four. Ole Miss was number 18 in the country, and we swept them in Ole Miss. So as a as a bulldog, that's a that's a huge thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

I thought that's where you went. I thought you went to Ole Miss.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

No. And uh Mike, you know Jen, who helps us with our Catholic baseball and softball camps. So she was going to visit a friend down in Oxford, Mississippi for the series, and so she asked if I if she could borrow a Mississippi State shirt. So I happily gave her one of my shirts, and she wore it uh at one of the games. So she was representing the Bulldogs and a cowbell? I should have. That would have been uh she said she got to meet Don Kessinger there, who is a uh one of the best uh Ole Miss alums who played a long time for the Cubs, you know, a shortstop. So uh I'm gonna I'm gonna hope hopefully go down in early May to see Mississippi State play Auburn for a couple games. So looking forward to that. So uh lots going on in sports, but let's uh switch gears. This is the biggest week of the year, also in the church. We're recording this on Tuesday of Holy Week. We've got the Trituum coming up Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday. This is our Super Bowl, our World Series NBA Championship, the Masters all wrapped up into one in the church. And so uh, Bishop, uh let's do like an overview of of the week, and then we can maybe share some about Easter Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Sure. So, you know, this is Holy Week, and it's obviously the holiest of all weeks, and then we move into um Tridwam. So Tridum is is kind of a season unto itself. Uh Lent will officially conclude um just prior to the Mass of the Lord's Supper, which is will be Thursday night. So on Thursday evening, there are three things that we commemorate. First is we commemorate the institution of the priesthood. Uh second, we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist. And then third, what they call the great uh mandatum or the great commandment. Um, and that is we we see that in the the washing of the feet, which a lot of parishes will do, though the the washing of the feet. And um, and then one of the beautiful things that takes place at the end of the liturgy is we have a procession of the Eucharist. What a perfect day to do that on the anniversary of the institution of the Eucharist. And then we we set up in in different places, we set up uh uh chapels or little shrines um for the the Eucharist so that people can come and watch and pray. Usually that goes till about midnight, and then all of a sudden the Eucharist is taken away and uh the church is is stripped, the altars are bare, everything is bare. There's you know the holy water fonts, the water's taken out of that. So when we come to to uh the one day of the year where we don't celebrate the Mass, it's Good Friday Liturgy. When we come to Mass on Good Friday, um a lot of places we'll have stations of the cross. That's a good traditional thing to do that day. Um we're gonna have ours at three o'clock, you know, kind of the traditional hours of our Lord hanging on the cross was from noon to three. And um that's the one day of the year where we don't have Mass, but we have a Good Friday liturgy. Um the the the mint the minister, the church the priest will come in, lie prostrate in front of the altar, uh, get up and immediately go into a prayer. And then we have these the the scriptural readings, and it's so twice this week we're gonna hear the passion. So we heard it on on on uh this past Sunday, on Palm Sunday, but we're also gonna hear the Passion on this uh this Friday. And this these are the only two scriptures that the church permits us to do them in parts. And I think one of the reasons is that we really want to kind of hammer home or emphasize uh the gravity of the situation that Jesus is suffering, death, and resurrection, that Jesus is you know, passion was for the for the sake of our sins, right? So that's why we're we do it in parts, and the assembly will have parts where they'll get to call out difficult things, right? Release rabbis or crucify him, some really, really different difficult things. But you know, we experience the gravity because we know well Jesus did that because of our sins, right? That's why why Jesus did that. So that's that's on Friday. Friday is a day of um uh fasting and abstinence. Um sometimes people think, oh, it's Lent's over on Thursday, and then you know it's a free-for-all. Nope. Uh Friday is just like Ash Wednesday, right? So that's probably the best way to to to remember that. And then Saturday is where we have the high point, so it's the pinnacle of the liturgical year. So we have the holiest of all weeks, holy week, and then we have the pinnacle at the the Easter Vigil. This is where we'll we'll we'll bless the new candle, the Paschal candle, which is a symbol of Christ, Christ who is forever the light of the world. This is where we'll process into the church in darkness, and eventually from that single light of Christ, all the other smaller candles will be lit, and then the church will be bathed in light. And that's a reminder to us about with our own baptism, we're called to be little Christ in the world with the life that we live. And then we're going to have a zillion readings. So we do we do all of them at at the cathedral. So we we do all of them at the re the at the cathedral. So we do a reading, uh, we do a responsorial psalm, or we do the gradual at our cathedral, and then we have a prayer. And so we have seven, is that right? Seven readings, and then we have an epistle, and then we have the gospel, and then uh homily, and then that's when all the people who we've been praying for over this past year, and especially during Lent, that's when they're gonna be welcomed into the church through the waters of baptism, receive the sacrament of confirmation, and they'll be one with us at the Lord's table as they receive receive Holy Communion. So it's a it's a lot. I just kind of a brief um and and and I would I would encourage people if you're able to go to everything. You know, go to everything. It's it's it's powerful. It is really powerful. Uh start with Good Friday and and go all the way to the the Easter Vigil if you're able to.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah, we were talking about this yesterday that um I try to remind our people that this is a holy week break, it's not a spring break, you know, like we're in the mentality that at spring break let's just let's just go to Paris, you know. And and that's not a bad thing, but the breaks are the breaks in the church are meant so that people can participate in the liturgies and really enter into it. So I really want to cur encourage and challenge you. If you haven't been to Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and and the Easter Vigil, do it this year because it it there's such a depth and it's so different than what we normally do on Sunday that it kind of wake you up and say, Wow, this is this is beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

We the other thing. I was thinking of this really quickly. Um, you know, one of our patrons, Pope St. John Paul II, wrote a beautiful letter on on the day of the Lord, right? Dias Domini. And what he said was, in our in our modern society, uh Sunday, which is the day of the Lord, has turned into weekend. And so Saturday and Sunday. So people have kind of grouped that together in a really secular way. And where we've stopped, you know, giving everything over to the Lord and spending time with family, a day of rest on Sunday. And I think we've kind of adopted that when we talk about spring break, right? And no, this is this is Holy Week break, this is Easter break. The reason why we have the break is because it's what the church does. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're something really important going on here. So sorry, but I had to throw that in there. I was thinking about one of our patrons and that great line that he gave us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

And that reminds me too. I I I love in Holy Week going from Good Friday to East, you know, Holy Saturday. Uh, there's a beautiful, we read that we do morning prayer here uh Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, because there's no morning masses. Everything's in in the afternoon or evening. Um, and we read from the office of readings, and Saturday morning, there's that beautiful reading about the earth is silent when Jesus was in the tomb. So we don't go right from the crucifixion at three o'clock on Friday to the resurrection and like give up all of our fasts. I encourage people to, you know, to continue some of their fasts on Friday through Saturday until the Easter Vigil because that Saturday morning and afternoon, Jesus we're we're remembering Jesus in the tomb, and there's just this quietness on the earth. You can imagine the disciples, what they were going through, like they they only John saw the crucifixion, but the other ones, you know, when Mary Mary Mary Magdalene, but the other ones are thinking he's dead, and everything we placed all our hopes in him, and now what, you know, and so it wasn't until you know Easter, you know, that the resurrection that that came to life. Another thing I would encourage people to do, I don't know if it's a Midwestern thing, but um, we do a seven churches visit uh on Holy Thursday. So at the end of the Mass on Holy Thursday, we take the Eucharist to an altar of repose. It's in a different place. And then people are encouraged, as you said, Bishop, to pray until midnight. We go to seven different churches and uh and spend time in prayer in each one of those. It's really beautiful, and then it's almost like a mini pilgrimage, and then we come back to our church and do night prayer uh at 11:45 and then close the church at midnight.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

So yeah, we we do three here because we have you know, I start at the cathedral, I go to St. John Bianchi, and then I finish up over at St. Francis. And um in the the Magnificat, they have a beautiful um kind of meditation just for that, and it's uh you know, the the vigils that they give, and they they do it, they do three vigils, and so it works out really well if you're in Gallup, that's what we do.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

And your other churches are so far away, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Yeah, the closest church from here would be maybe an hour and 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Yeah. Or we have we have seven churches within 10 minutes. Easy. Yeah. Mike, what what what do you guys do? What's what's on your heart?

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah, so for me and my family, I I didn't know the beauty of the uh Easter Trudeau until I got done playing baseball because during the major league season, you know, of course we go to Easter Sunday Mass, but I didn't I didn't know the beauty and the depth of um the Easter Vigil. I'd been to an Easter Vigil, just you know, be seeing people coming into the church, but I didn't know the the three-day worship. It's like one continuous prayer for three days, and now it's it's like the highlight of my year. Um last year some uh some good friends of mine and I, excuse me, in our men's group, we did a we did a water fast from um Holy Thursday until um the Easter vigil concluded. And it was so special to go into that one-day or a three-day prayer with some of my best friends and offering it up for my family and my children and my marriage and all the the prayers of the heart. And I haven't circled back with them if we're gonna do it again this year, but it it really it really took my worship of Jesus. We talked about you know, Coach Hurley just praising God, it took my praise of God to another level. But I'd encourage all the dads out there and parents, if if you can, like Bishop Wall said, go participate in this three-day prayer. Start on Holy Thursday, seeing your pastor or your bishop wash, um humble himself and wash the feet of his disciples, you know, his follower, followers of Jesus said he's leading. And then going into a church on Good Friday and seeing the tabernacle empty. It's a really it's a really sobering uh visual. When you walk into a church, it's the only day of the year we don't have mass. The tabernacle is open, it's exposed, it's this dark feeling. And then going to the the um Easter Vigil Mass. You know, starting off, we usually start with candlelight because it's dark. And you're going through the the whole all the readings, they're there for a reason. It's the whole story of salvation, of creation, Exodus, sin, and it's this beautiful story of redemption of Jesus Christ. And it's some people go, God, it's a lot of readings. Yeah, but it's the story of salvation that God rescued us. It's his rescue mission. It's like someone had a um a rescue, um, a map to a treasure, and they're exposing the map. Hey, here's the map of this treasure, and that treasure was you, and Jesus found you and he saved you, and here it is. And then when when the when you say the the A word or the H word, you know, for the first time, hallelujah, um, the the whole church illuminates and it's just joyous celebration on Easter Vigil. It's it's my favorite three-day prayer. It's my favorite three days of the year by far, but I I don't ever feel that close with Jesus as I do during the tritulum. So just an encouragement to the dads out there. I know you got a lot of kids, take them with you when you can. Uh, they'll thank you for it when they're older.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

You know, we we uh sometimes this is a really good show. It will binge watch, right? We don't think anything of it. And uh think about this is binge watching or binge listening par excellence at the Easter Vigil. We're salvation history. The church gives us these readings so we can see how everything finds its culmination in the person of Jesus Christ who conquers sin and death in his uh resurrection.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Yeah, yeah, I love that idea. It's a that's beautiful. It's a three-day liturgy, really. It's all connected. Um, and then let's talk uh about Easter Sunday. Uh it's you know one of the days that most people go to church. Uh, we always try to make it special where they they want to come back, you know.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

It's not just uh Christmas and Easter, but it's a uh it's I mean I know you do this, but I think the most important thing is is to make people feel welcomed. Yep. It's it's not to give a finger wagging time to give a finger wagging homily. And I fathers, I am so serious about that. Yeah. If you if you want to turn them off and make sure that they don't show up again until Christmas, give a finger wagging homily. Yeah. But if you if you want to just let them how how how happy and blessed um we are, that we're all together, and how good it is that they're there and the church doors are always open to them. That's that's that's the message right there. And then just open up the word.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

Yeah, I always like to talk about the like why do we believe? Obviously, if Jesus died and rose, if that's true, it changes everything. It's a game changer. And so I always like to talk about why do we believe this? Um, because you know, today we're a lot of people say, well, uh, faith and reason don't go together and science doesn't match up with faith. That's that's baloney because God created everything, and you know, scientists are now coming to see how how um intricate things are that could things couldn't have just happened by chance. And um so for me personally, the reason why I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and we will also that believe in him and put our faith into action is the change in the disciples. You know, that these men were scared, they scattered when Jesus was being crucified. And, you know, a lot of people thought they came and stole the body. That's that's what happened. He didn't rise from the dead, but we know that he appeared to people after the resurrection, and these disciples went from being scared to death to then giving their lives for Christ. And I don't know about you, I would not give my life for something I wasn't sure about. Yeah, I wouldn't give my life.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

They didn't get rich, they didn't become powerful, they didn't, you know, all these things in in in in in the eyes of the world, but also that we know that they they gained the eternal reward, eternal life with God in heaven. So they they gave it all over for the sake of the gospel.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

Yeah. Yeah, I always joke. I wouldn't I wouldn't give my life, I wouldn't bet my life that the Cubs will win the World Series this year, you know, or the Phillies. It'll be fun, but that's not not a good bet. Um, but I I have bet my life that Jesus rose from the dead. And uh, God willing, I would be willing to give my life uh like you know, all of the apostles except John, who died of normal causes, and Judas, of course, took his own life, they died as martyrs. And to me, that's convincing evidence that they saw him dead and then they saw him alive.

SPEAKER_01 48:53

Yeah. Yep, amen.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

So that's awesome. And then lastly, guys, I'll just say this. If um I I agree with you, Bishop Wall. If if all of our pastors could not only welcome them and and and bring in the fire of the truth of Jesus Christ, but also invite them back. Hey, you know, I know most of you only come a couple times a year. That's that's okay right now, but God has great plans for you. He desires that you feel this joy that you're feeling right now, every day of the year, every at the minimum, every Sunday of the year. So come back. We want you here, we love you. But um also in John chapter six, we read about the Holy Eucharist. And my anchor, I told you, I'm super excited about. He's a former NFL quarterback during Exodus 90. And I just shared with him, I said, hey, brother, your wife and your your two children are Catholic. And I want you to read John chapter six, and you have to ask yourself, if that really is Jesus, um, if like the church is taught for 2,000 years, and the Bible truly teaches, you should be, you should be running as fast as you can into this church that your wife and children are part of. If you read John 6 and say it's it's not truly Jesus in the Eucharist, then you need to grab your family as a leader of the home and run like heck because there's over a billion people worshiping a piece of bread, and you shouldn't be a part of it. And he came, I told you guys, he came to me recently and said, I'm I'm coming into the church. I've been sitting on the two-yard line, and so I'm super excited um that another another warrior for Christ is gonna not only come to Jesus, but he's gonna unite his home. And he's gonna unite his home. He keeps saying, I can't wait to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. I can't wait to receive Jesus with my wife, and I'm just so excited. So thank you for pastoring him, uh, Bishop Wall and Father Burke. He and his wife love you both. You don't know it, but you've had a big impact on that whole family. So um praise God. Praise God for uh for my brother and his friends.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

It's one of the most exciting moments that I've experienced um when a uh you where you have maybe a spouse who's not Catholic, but then when they do become Catholic and they receive Holy Communion, and you've got the whole family coming up. And it's it's so powerful. And they're they're you they're united, they're united in in the Lord, right? Jesus prays. I Father, I pray that they are one just as you and I are one. What a beautiful way to be united, but but in the Eucharist, that's true communion. Yeah, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

Yeah, we have we have 20 people being baptized on Saturday, and another 29 on top of that being confirmed and receiving first holy communion. And so it's it's exciting. Just the other day I had a first communion for a little girl, she's in our school. Um, she can't make our first communion mass with the other kids, and um I noticed her her family didn't, they came up and got a blessing, so it was just the little girl who got communion. So I talked to them afterward, and um beautiful family. The dad said, you know, I was raised Presbyterian, my wife Baptist, and uh we go to uh another like a megachurch down the road, but we are sending our kids to your school, and my daughter, she she wanted to be Catholic and she wanted to receive Holy Communion, and so we've been coming here and uh you know, and he said he said, I I like he said, I'm used to the liturgical experience, and we're getting used to this now. And but it's so beautiful to see how like our school, I see our school as this huge evangelization arm, you know. We're seeing whole families come into the church because of it. We see it from our Catholic baseball camps, you know, where families have come into the church. It's it's like the that new evangelization that one of our heroes, Pope St. John Paul II, said, you know. Um, so it's it's an exciting time. There's a there's a renewal happening, and we're gonna ride the wave. We had a another exciting thing, we had a men's discernment group on Sunday, the first one that I've done here at the parish. Eight young men came that want to learn more about the priesthood, and you know, and so uh yeah, it's it's something that we 20 years ago thought would we'd never see again, and now you know the the Holy Spirit is just He makes uh makes all things new, you know. So with that, uh let us let us wrap it up. It's been a good week and uh gonna be another great week ahead.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

Yeah. And and next week's uh the the octave of Easter, every day is a solemnity. So if you if you were going to mass every day during Lent, keep it up, go all the way. And uh and it leads to the second Sunday of Easter, which is Divine Mercy Sunday, too. There's also the novena that you can start on Good Friday, and lots and lots of things to to do.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Yeah, we'll go deeper into divine mercy next week.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Yeah. Let's close with prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

unknown 54:13

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 54:14

Oh Saint John Paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing. Bless the church that you loved and served and guided, courageously leading her along the paths of the world, in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus. Bless the young, who are your great passion, help them dream again, help them look up to the heavens again, to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth. May you bless each and every family. You warned of Satan's assault against this precious and indispensable divine spark that God lit on earth. Saint John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family and every life that blossoms from the family. Pray for the whole world, which is still marked by tensions, wars, and injustice. You opposed war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love. Pray for us so that we may be tireless sowers of peace. O Saint John Paul from heaven's window, where we see you beside Mary, send God's blessing down upon us all. Amen.

unknown 55:19

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 55:20

Lord be with you, and with your spirit. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

Amen. Great to be with you all. Please put your comments in. We read them all, and uh we appreciate your your picks for the national championship and and put your pit picks for baseball. And uh St. Pierre Giorgio Frasati reminds us the higher we go, the better we shall hear the voice of Christ. Keep striving verso alto in your faith and pursuits, and until next time, God bless you and your families. Go Cats.