From Augusta to Emmaus

Bishop Wall, Fr. Masters, and Mike Sweeney discuss the Masters Golf Tournament, MLB standings, and the disciples' encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

Jo Adell's crazy catches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwCLtVXOqyc

Theme song: "Rock Star" by John Ehrich. Used with permission.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Nokchaph, welcome everyone to episode 28 of Verso el Alto, our Faith on the Field podcast combining faith and sports. My name is Father Burke Masters, pastor at St. Isaac Joges Church in Hinsdale, Illinois, and Catholic chaplain to the Chicago Cubs.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

I'm Bishop James Wall, I'm the bishop in the Diocese of Gallup, located in the two states of Arizona and New Mexico.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

And I'm Mike Sweeney, a former Major League Baseball player, husband and father here in San Diego, California.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Good to be with you again, brothers. Let's uh let's begin in prayer and praying to one of our patron saints, Pier Giorgio Fersati. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the joyful example of your servant, Saint Pier Giorgio Fersati. Pier 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. Let's pray in that prayer. I was just thinking of all the people that are coming into the church. Uh there's so many reasons, and maybe Pierre Giorgio is uh interceding for us. And I have to share with you a uh one of our parishioners coming out of mass uh Saturday night. She said, Tell Bishop Wall and Mike Sweeney, I'm addicted to your podcast. So thank you for that uh um that comment, and we love having you listen. So, guys, we've got uh we've got the masters tournament uh finished up. We've MLB is going on, and then we have the third Sunday in Easter to get to. So let's start with the the Masters. Uh Rory McElroy, repeat winner, only the fourth repeat winner in the history of the Masters, which is impressive. So he joins Jack Nicholas, Nick Faldo, and uh Tiger Woods as the fourth repeat champion, which is quite a feat and quite a group to be uh connected with. So did you get a chance to see it? And uh what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

I I I watched it, you know, in in between masses and stuff like that. I tried to watch it as as much as I could. And um, you know, that final day was was something else. They they played their worst golf and their best golf. It seemed like everybody was doing it. They were with the exception of Scotty Scheffler, he made a nice little run there at the end and ended up in in second place. But um, yeah, it was it was good to see a repeat. I I I I like Roy McElroy. I like his I like his game. You know, I I I called um, I thought Cameron Young was gonna win it. And uh he made a made a run there for a bit. He's a fun player to watch. And he's still pretty young, too, so hence the name.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah, Cameron Young, I I was super impressed with him. I honestly I I don't follow golf. I enjoyed going out with friends at my church or men's group. Uh I have three criteria when I play golf. So, number one, I I need to choose three people that I want to spend four hours of my life with. Uh, number two, I always say I want to enjoy the creation, uh God's creation when I'm out. I want to look around and enjoy the beauty of it. And then number three, I want to carry myself in a manner that I don't have to go run to confession. Uh but I don't follow golf. You know, there's a couple pro golfers here at our club with Phil Mickelson and um uh Charlie Hoffman. But uh I don't follow the names of golf. But when Bishop Wall sent out the beautiful video about Cameron Young, 28 years old, married, three kids, uh goes to mass, and he even came out and said, Hey, if I'm in a championship round on Sunday in Augusta, I'm going to Mass on Sunday morning. And sure enough, boom, I was thinking, gosh, they're gonna start calling Bishop Wall like the pit the click, like you know, Mel Kuyper before the NFL draft. Because here here he was on Sunday. He was right right in the thick of winning it. He ended up uh tied for third. But, you know, I was such a uh I was praying for him. I was really excited to see him. And uh it was really cool to see him elevated. I think he was rated maybe top 50 or 60 in the world, but yet at the Masters tournament he had a chance to win it with just, you know, one day to go. But yeah, um McElroy, Rory McElroy. I, you know, it's when he tied it up, when he came charging around hole seven or eight, maybe it was nine, I thought, man, he went, he vaulted back into the lead. I thought, man, he can smell blood. You know, he he won this tournament last year. And at that point, I told the family, my family I was watching it with, I said, Rory's gonna win it. And it was really neat to do some digging with you guys and see that, you know, Rory grew up in Northern Ireland uh in a very Protestant town, but he uh was baptized Catholic, made his first Holy Communion, went to a uh St. Joseph's School. It's a boarding school up in Northern Ireland, a Catholic school. So he's pretty quiet about his faith, but you know, he's a baptized, uh, quietly practicing Catholic. So although we're rooting for the guy that came out and said, I'm going to mass on Sunday in Augusta in Camber and Young, it was it was great to see Rory win it. And then Scotty Scheffler, you've seen some of his comments. He's an outspoken believer, follower of Jesus. Yeah. Um yeah, it was really neat to see wonderful Christian men on the big stage.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

Yeah. Yeah, three three of the top guys who are all uh faith-filled men, which is is encouraging. Um so yeah, Bishop had the highest pick. Uh the Shambeau, my pick, did not make the cut.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

It's got to count for something.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

I think he was six over. And uh Mike, your pick was um Gary Woodland. Gary Woodland. He made the cut, I think, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Uh like I said, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Yeah, I think he did. Um I think he was uh around even par uh at the uh cut, so I think he made it, but didn't make a run under the leaderboard at any time.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

But this is the first time you've won in our group, but I haven't hit the 16-0.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

16-0 run for a while, and then everything just the wheels fell off the wire.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

But 16-0 is before we started keeping score here on the podcast. So congratulations on your first gold medal.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Thank you. We thank you, people watching. I had a fourth grader come up to me. He's like, uh, this was on Saturday. How do you like your pick on DeChambeau? Didn't make the county. I love it. I love it. Yeah, so um, yeah, that was something I didn't think about.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

One of the things I was gonna say I thought was cool was somebody pointed this out. Um, you know, it would when they showed him winning and all that stuff, when they see the crowd, you don't see a bunch of people with cell phones snapping photos and doing all because they they they're not allowed to have them. Yeah, they take them. Mark Kalkavechia got got removed because he had his cell phone out. There was an article about that. And he he he was second once at the Masters, and he's I think he won a couple of them of the majors, or at least one or two of the majors. Well, yeah, he they they maybe they were making an example of him. But uh I I loved it. It just showed you know people just watching watching the tournament and taking it all in. It was beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Don't they have like two dollar sandwiches and you know everything is like really at a low cost, but it's so hard to get get in there. I it's on my bucket list. I wanna I'm gonna put my name on that. They do a raffle every year, and um that'd be that'd be a great thing to see this one day.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Yeah, we had even better. Oh, go ahead, Bishop. One of our parishioners, he uh actually a couple of them local from the cathedral went. And um on Sunday morning at 11 o'clock, we were Divine Mercy Sunday. We had we had um we had a one baptism, we had a ton of confirmations and first communions, and two of his grandkids were making them, and I thought, oh, he's not here. And then all of a sudden the mass start, I looked, and there he was in the front row. So he skipped the last day of the master to make it home for his uh for his grandkids. Jay Mason, he's our um he's uh he's part of the the KU Kool-Aid drinking crowd here, the Kansas crowd here.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

I was gonna say, Bishop, uh, you know what would be cool is I would put you two as two of the highest guys in my life to spend four hours with. Um we we should put it on our bucket list to play Augusta together someday. They I think they closed down the end of May. The the course is really a short window, but it's uh it's you know, when I was playing ball, I had I must have been four or five guys over my years that, you know, big CEOs of companies or big wigs from the East Coast say, hey, you know, are you golfer? I I bang it around once or twice a year. Hey, here's my card. I'm a member at Augusta. If you ever want to play, just give me a call. We'll go out anytime. And I go, hey, thanks a lot, and you know, put it in my locker. Next thing you know, at the end of the year, he gets shuffled in with baseball cards and you know, jock straps and cleats, and you never see it again. And now that I'm retired, now that I'm retired with time in my hand, I'm like, where are those four or five business cards of the uh members at Augusta? So uh it would be it would be fun to play together. So, any of our listeners out there, you want a bishop, a priest, and a broke down ball player to join you for a round, uh count us in.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

It's like the beginning of a joke. I haven't picked up my stick since I came to Gallup. I used to golf when I was in Phoenix, you know, with tons of courses there, but not a whole lot of places to golf here. And I just figure if I have one day off a week, I'm not gonna ruin it with a bad game on a bad pitch.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Maybe we'll bring out a retirement if we can get uh on at Augusta. I like it.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

I'll put out my feelers. I I have some friends, so I'll put out some feelers, see if we can get three guys, three three of us to join a buddy at Augusta.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

It was fun. I don't know if I sent it to you guys. That Mississippi put out a video. Every week is Master's Week for one of our uh alums, you know, and so my last name being Masters, they showed a video uh of me. You know, every day is a master's week for me, so it was pretty fun.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

We can show you studying and doing all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Yeah, it was funny. It was with my my buddy Jody, who is my roommate, great friend, made it to AAA with the Tigers. Uh, he said we were texting on the side, he said, I was the one tutoring you in that video. That's right. Uh we had fun with that. So great week of the Masters. Uh, how about Major League Baseball? No, doesn't seem like there's any big news. Uh, I don't know if you guys saw Joe Adell, outfield right fielder for the the Angels, robbed three home runs in the same game. Never seen anything like this before. Um, that's Angels in the Outfield. Angels in the outfield. Uh so if if and we'll see if we can get a link to that video too. It was incredible. I mean, one, good catch. Happens, you know, every once in a while. Two, it's like, wow, that's pretty special. The third one, and Mike, maybe you can clarify the the I don't know if you saw the ground rule, but he actually fell into it. He dove into the stands. I guess I don't know if it's because his feet were still in the playing field when he caught it, yeah, but then his whole body went over the fence. I thought that was a home run. So it was incredible.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Is that the feet your feet have to be in the playing field?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, in fair play. So you can actually climb up on the fence. If your feet are in fair play, you're up on the top of a fence, you catch it, then you tumble over. Uh, it's it's a catch. However, if you see a ball going five rows up and you jump the fence, run up, grab some popcorn, catch it up, and catch it up in the fifth row, it's a home run. But Joe Adell, I got to meet him. Uh, I went to the MLB draft, I guess the year he was drafted, I can't remember who it was, maybe 2019. Um, maybe 2017. I was in New York, I was representing the Royals, and on draft day, I met him and um just a really good gentleman, comes from a great family. Last year, Joe Adele had over 30 home runs playing right field for the Angels. And, you know, I saw after that game he robbed three home runs. His glove or something, jersey, something was significant, uh, was sent to Cooperstown to be put up in the Hall of Fame. So really, really a cool thing.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

That's awesome. Yeah, and then there's something with the Angels. We see uh a resurgence of Mike Trout. Uh, he seems like he's playing in MVP form again. Uh so we're we're recording this on Tuesday. Last night they played the Yankees. He hit two home runs, Aaron Judge hit two home runs, and uh it's great to see somebody like that who's had so many injuries, but boy, when he's healthy, he's one of the best players ever to put the year.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

I hope he stays healthy. He's a lot of fun to watch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

And just so for our viewers out there, I know we have a bunch of viewers in the Midwest, but when I was in spring training, they got together with a lot of the uh baseball chaplains, and they had a barbecue, and just you know, some players showed up and former players, and I showed up just to you know encourage some of the guys that are you know bringing Christ into our locker rooms. And uh and Mike Trout showed up and he came over and said hi. We had a great conversation, and I guess he's become kind of a quiet but a strong spiritual presence over in the in the angels locker room. So that's great, really, really cool. Pray for him. He's he's a humble man. I think in in Major League Baseball, he's one of my top two or three guys to watch as far as you know, talent, humility, uh, the joy with which he plays the game. He's up there for me with Bobby Wood Jr., Aaron Judge, and um, you know, and maybe Shohei Otani. All three of those guys play the game with humility and joy, and and their talent is off the chart. But uh, yeah, Mike Trout's something special, so pray for him. He's he's a he's a part of the body of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

He's he's really easy to root for. He's I mean a phenomenal ball player, but he carries himself way well. And yeah, he's just that's why I hope he's I hope he stays healthy. Yeah, it'd be fun to see him. Fun to see him stay healthy the whole year and to see what he could do. I'm sure he'd put up big numbers.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Yeah, it seems like he plays the old way too. Like, I never see him when he hits a double if he's on second base making these. Yeah. Mike, what is that about? Like, when we played, nobody did that. What what is that about? I don't I don't understand. It seems like it's showing off the other team, but from the inside, what what do you hear from the guys?

SPEAKER_00 15:09

So in the locker room, you know, I I remember, you know, when I was playing, you know, a guy that was part of the the bench squad, we called it El Bencho, you know. I made shirts up for our guys that said l dot B-E-N-S-H-O-W. And I gave it, you know, my end of my career, I was a role player in in Philadelphia, in Seattle. And uh I said, hey guys, let's embrace it. And when we wore these shirts, they said, El Bencho, what's that? I said, read it, El Bencho. That's we're part of this club. Like, let's be great at it. So we wore these shirts with pride during the national anthem. You know, the manager is always first on the line, and they would line up down the first baseline towards the outfield. And El Bencho, we'd say, Hey, let's go line up on the deck circle because this is probably as close as we're ever going to get into a ball game tonight. And and afterwards, we shake hands like we were a little fraternity. And then, but during the game, um, we would say, Hey, the team needs us to be ready. And this is maybe the evolution of answer your question, Father Burke. Um, hey, fifth inning, we're gonna go in the cage, we're gonna run some sprints and hit together. And if you if we if one of you gets a chance to get your cleats dirty tonight and you do something special, acknowledge El Bencho. So, you know, we get a hit, we'd look at each other, but but now it's evolved into maybe a little bit of showmanship, but they're acknowledging a connection with the with their teammates on the bench that are rooting for them. I don't agree with it doing all the funny dances, but that's where it comes from. They're just acknowledging their teammates who are cheering for them on the bench, going, hey, you know, I'm with you. Thank you know. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

We saw it on full display at the world baseball classic. Those guys got crazy. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They uh yeah, I guess the the old school was, you know, well, you hit a home runner, you get a good hit, and you exact like you've done it before, and just round the bases, and yeah, and uh now it's it's taken on uh uh taken on a little more. But with the world baseball classic, those they they were they were over the top. They were they were having a lot of fun representing their country and doing different things and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

So yeah, I know our our young kids are watching them, and uh so maybe I think it's good that that's explained because I think sometimes the young kids might be doing it uh and it it might not be done in the same manner or whatever, and so just encourage our our young players to yeah, just do it like you, you know, act like you do it all the time. What did Coach Polk used to tell you guys, Father? Yeah, act like you do it every day, and uh he said that'll get under the skin more in the other team because they're gonna think, wow, that that's normal for them to hit home runs and doubles, and these guys must be good, you know. But sometimes you you get the other team charged up by the little signs, I think, and it could backfire. That's that's what I think. Yeah. What what about and while we're on that, Mike? I remember I was with you out in California. I think we were watching Donovan play, and uh you said, yeah, Donovan asked me the other day if he could wear that uh oven mitt in his back pocket, like all these guys do, and you said, absolutely not, you know.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Only if you're gonna cook dinner for me, mom, and the other five kids.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

You see the kids now. They I just saw something online. It said a player back in the 1980s, you know, he's got his ball cap, he's got his glove, and and that's it. He's going to the game. Now in 2026, they've got you know the the the bag, they've got two or four bats coming out of the bag, they've got gloves on each one of the bats and oven mitts, and it's like wow, it's it things have changed.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Yeah, someone sent me a picture of a a six-year-old kid playing T-ball in Little League, and he had an oven mitt in his back pocket. And in T ball, they they can't slide, they can't slide even head first, but they they see the guys on TV doing it. I guess it's cute, and uh someone's making a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Yeah, so an encouragement to our major league ball players that the kids are watching, whether you uh realize it or not, so they're gonna follow your example, whatever you do. And that's not just on the ball field, too. It's moms and dads and teachers, and the kids are watching everything we're doing, and they'll they'll follow that example, good or bad. So that's right. So uh I think those are kind of the big things happening in sports this week. Uh how about we, you ready to switch gears? Anything else?

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah, Father Burke, before I forget, uh, or before we transition into the faith, I think it's cool to see, you know, everyone knows the Dodgers right now, the best record in baseball. You know who has a second best record in baseball? Oh, yeah. The Pittsburgh Pirates. Oh, the Padres Padres are right there too, right? Led by Craig Stammon, our good Catholic, uh, our good Catholic friend that's manager of the Padres. But the Pittsburgh Pirates, they um they got a good crop of young kids. And I made a declaration at the beginning of the year. I think the Pittsburgh Pirates might surprise some people and end up playing some October baseball. But that young kid, uh Connor Griffin, talented, 19 years old, starting shortstop. Um, a guy, Ryan O'Hearn, he's a big power hitting lefty. Kind of a cool story, I'll share this with you. Um, he's he's a wonderful man. I mentored him spiritually and on the field with the Royals. And uh when he signed a two-year deal for a bunch of money, he used to be with the Royals, came up with the Royals, played in the big leagues, went to Baltimore, and um came to the Padres last year, did really well. Then this this past offseason, he gets traded or he signs a big two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. So it's going viral. I'm hitting in the cage with Michael and Donovan and your uh your godson, little Ryan Burke. And out of the blue eyes, like, you know what, let's send him a video. So we sent him a video. Hey, Ryan O'Hearn, I'm here with the boys that love you. Little Michael wore your number when he was in high school. And uh just want to say congratulations. And it was really neat. Ryan O'Hearn, within 30 seconds, I get a FaceTime call. And he says, Hey, let me let me say hi to Michael and Donovan and little Ryan. And he's like, Boys, thanks for thanks for cheering me on. He goes, My phone's going nuts right now, but I just want to say thank you for your dad. You know, your dad mentored me, and I'm not saying this about me, but one of the neatest things that any anybody I've ever mentored has ever done. Later that night, Ryan O'Hearn sent me a picture of his jersey. And he says, I hope you like my jersey that I'll be wearing in Pittsburgh. And it was number 29. Nice. As you can see behind you guys, he said, I'm gonna wear this in honor of you. And I just was it was so humbling. And Ryan O'Hearn hit a home run on opening days, off to a great start. So yeah, those Pittsburgh Pirates are going to be a kind of a Cinderella team to root for in the National League. After the Cubs and the D backs, of course, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:15

The D backs would be up there had we not blown a 7-1 lead in Baltimore. I'm still not very happy about that. Yesterday I swore a baseball off yesterday.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

Like I'll never again, I'm not gonna watch him. Sometimes Bishop and I will FaceTime and watch a game, and if uh the D-Backs are down in the first inning, he's like, I'm turning this game off, never watching him again. I love it. That's funny. All right. Well, we'll we'll have to be rooting for Ryan O'Hearn then, too. Yeah. Yeah, the Pirates, you know, with Skeens and uh O'Neill Cruz, and they've got some young talent that uh they're gonna be fun to watch. I saw that O'Neill Cruz hit a ball. I think it's still going. Uh wow. 477. LED Cruz remind me like the similar bodies, you know, really tall, and uh the bat speed is impressive.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Looked like a number 23 back at Mississippi State a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

I'm probably I'm probably glad they didn't have uh all the bat speed and uh exit velocity and launch angle on the back in my day. Did they have any of that plan?

SPEAKER_00 23:37

No, not at all. They would just say, Man, you hit the ball hard.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Yeah, that was it. You kind of knew when somebody hit a ball over 100 miles an hour, like the ball just jumps off the bat. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

They would say things in our day like, hey, like Sweeney, when you hit, uh, the ball makes a different sound coming off the bat. Like it's a louder, higher pitched noise. And I go, Really? You can hear the difference? And they go, Yeah, that's that's how we know that you're gonna be a different type of hitter than most of the players. And it was it was encouraging. I didn't, I never knew that. That is true.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

You if you've been around the game enough, you you just hear that that sounds different with certain guys, and uh yeah, love that sound at the ball field. Well, let's switch over to we're uh in the third Sunday of Easter now, and uh we've got 50 days, the 50-day season of Easter from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday. And uh we're talking a lot about Acts of the Apostles in the first reading, and then uh we have the the road to Emmaus for the gospel this week. So, Bishop uh you kick us off.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Sure, this is another great one that we we get to hear every year, blessed to hear, from Luke's gospel. So it starts out, it's it's Easter Sunday. That's what it is, it's the day of the resurrection, and we have these two um disciples who are walking, but they're going away from Jerusalem, going Tortamaeus, and they're going away from Jerusalem, and and all of a sudden it says Jesus appears to them, and they were prevented from recognizing him. So it's not like they didn't recognize him, but the way the scriptures say he they were prevented from recognizing him. And you know, Jesus asks them about, you know, what's going on? And they're wondering, are you the only one that did not know about this Jesus the Nazarene? And um the the the irony of all of all of it is they are the he is the one that that knew exactly what what all this was and and what would come up uh come about through it. So um, you know, I think one of the cool things about this scripture passage is that you know Jesus doesn't chastise them for going the wrong way, right? And you know, they they refer to him as a prophet. So their their language is not very elevated when it comes to Jesus. And Jesus doesn't do that, but what he does is he starts to unpack the scriptures again for them as they walk along the way. And I think one of the neat things about this is this really is um what happens for us at Mass. You know, we come to Mass, we hear the readings proclaimed, and we want to have we want to have ears like these disciples did, and hanging on every word from Jesus, even to the point when they get to where they were going, they want him to stay with them. And so, you know, so much were their hearts on fire, so much you can just imagine what Jesus was teaching with them, starting all the way back with the prophets and bringing them all up to the present age. And then the great thing about this is how do they come to know him? They come to know him in the breaking of the bread. He disappears from them, but they come to know him in the breaking of the bread. And really, this is uh this is this is the Mass. The word is broken open for us. And how do we come to know Jesus? We come to know him in the breaking of the bread, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the in the Eucharist. And I always see, especially this promise that Jesus is going to give at the end of Matthew's gospel, know that I'm with you until the end of the ages. Well, how do we know that? And one of the one of the greatest ways we come to know that is through the Eucharist. Jesus Christ is present to us as the church teaches us, par excellence, right? Body, blood, soul, and divinity, substantially present to us in the Eucharist. So I I just see this as a beautiful um reenactment of the Mass. The words broken open for us. We come to know Jesus on on a much deeper level, much deep level, and then we have um, and then we have to come to know him in the in the Eucharist and the in the breaking of the bread. Again, body, blood, soul, and divinity. I I gave a uh first communion to a bunch of little ones last week at our cathedral, and I was just just thinking about boy, they're they're coming to know him in a very special way like never before. And so, yeah, there's there's so much more there, too, as well.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

Yeah, it's a great story. And yeah, I remember uh uh Bishop Barron talking about this gospel, saying, as you mentioned, Bishop, they're going away from Jerusalem, which is kind of a sign of when we sin, we miss the mark. We're we we we're heading away from Jesus, you know, we're going away from God. Sin separates us from God. And so Jesus meets them there. Uh, he doesn't force himself on them, but he broke open the word. And uh they said it was the greatest Bible study or greatest homily ever told, which explained everything that pointed to him. And I love this line. Somebody pointed it out to me. He gave the impression that he was going on farther. And they asked me, Why do you think that that was? Because what they did immediately was they urged him to stay with us. So I think that Jesus wants to engage our will to invite him into our hearts, into our homes. And uh, and then, as you said, bishop, they recognized him in the breaking of the bread, and then he disappeared. And they said, Why did he disappear then? I think it's because he wants us to recognize him in the Eucharist. He told us that's the way he's gonna be with us till the end of time, and and he always fulfills his promises. And so it says their hearts were burning within them, and what did they do? They went back to Jerusalem and told everybody the good news. So they're good now. It's almost like they they heard the gospel, they uh you know repented, and then they went back in the right direction. And that's our lives, right? We sometimes we're going in the wrong direction. Jesus meets us there, he doesn't force himself on us, but we he wants us to invite him in, and then when we do, be ready to be sent on mission. So it's a what do you always say?

SPEAKER_01 30:10

He meets us, uh loves us and calls us to a higher, a higher place, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Yep, he meets us where we're at, uh, without shame or condemnation, and then he calls us higher. He, you know, he says, now go and sin no more. He raises the bar, and that's what he does with all of us, his his MO. Mike, what's uh what's on your heart?

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Well, for me in Luke 24, uh I'll just read a little bit of it. So so Jesus went in to stay with them, and it happened that while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. But he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened up the scriptures to us. And many Christians will say, Oh, yeah, this is Jesus being revealed through the scriptures. This is all we need. All we need is the Holy Scriptures. All we need is, whether it be a Catholic saying we have 73 books in Scripture, or a Protestant view would be 66 books. But the thing is, is Jesus was sharing scriptures with him, pointing to this breaking of the bread, pointing to Holy Communion, pointing to the Last Supper. And he, we didn't have, you know, we didn't have the New Testament at this time. Jesus was using the Old Testament back to the prophets, going back, pointing to the coming of the Messiah, all the way, pointing to the upper room, that Jesus was, I thought we we chewed on this this morning at our Bible study, and I thought this was just absolutely beautiful. That once they saw Jesus in the breaking of the bread, it says that he vanished from them. And Jesus had the power to live on earth forever. But once they got the fact that Jesus was revealed to them in the breaking of the bread in the Holy Eucharist, he left. And he said, This is how I'm gonna reveal myself to you and humanity for all of mankind in the Holy Eucharist, in the breaking of the bread. You guys get it. You you get it that this is gonna be my manifestation for all people, to know me, to receive me, and I'll never leave you, orphans. You're gonna be with me in the Holy Eucharist. And from there, he he vanished from their sight, and it was like a mic drop. Like, okay, you get it. And and now we have it. We have the fact, the last um scripture verses, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. I think it's just beautiful that Christ reveals himself to us as he did to those on the road to Emmaus, and he's we could never be closer to Jesus, this side of heaven, than when we receive him in the Holy Eucharist. And I think that's what the disciples experienced on the road to Emmaus.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Yeah, I didn't one of the neat things too, and when was the last time that Jesus was at table, and you have four those four verbs, right? Uh he took, he blessed, he broke, and he gave. Last time we find that in the scriptures is the Last Supper, the institution of the Eucharist. So there's that whole connection with that as well.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Yeah. He does the same thing in the uh multiplication of the loaves, doesn't he? Blesses, breaks, and and gives. And that's what we do at every mass. You know, it's yeah, and he says John's John 6, right? Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And uh that's pretty pretty strong language. And so as you say, Mike, it's all leading to to the Eucharist. And so as a convert myself, um I can't imagine walking away from the Eucharist. I I can't. That's one of the yes, Jesus is in the the Word of God, He is the Word of God made up that took on flesh, and the Eucharist is his body, blood, soul, and divinity available to us every every day of every year, which is a gift. I I've tried to imagine the world without the Eucharist, uh, and it would be it would be an empty world. Um and you need the priest to consecrate the Eucharist, and so you need Yeah, pray for vocation.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

What is it? Jesus says it was it when he sees them, they are like sheep without a shepherd, and his heart was moved with pity, and he says, Beg the harvest master to send laborers into the vineyard. And I love that beg, that command to beg, because in the catechism, there's a quote from Augustine, he says, In in prayer, we are beggars before God. And so it's everybody's job to pray for vocations to the priesthood, everyone's job, so that we can have the Eucharist, right? And um, yeah, so I think that's that's really really important too. Those those things are are inseparable. That's Mass of the Lord's Supper, where we pray, we have the institution of the Eucharist and the institution of the priesthood, those things are inseparable.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

And just uh a couple days ago, we we um celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday and the beautiful image and the grace of it being like a second baptism. It was it was such a beautiful weekend for our family. And uh we read a quote this morning from St. Faustina um regarding today's um gospel reading in Luke 24. And it was St. Faustina wrote that if an if angels could envy, they would envy the human race for two things: the possibility of receiving holy communion and the cape, the capacity to suffer. Because when we suffer, we can identify with Christ. And I thought, oh, it like took our breath away. Angels are like a high create uh created being. They're not human, but but the thought of this, if angels could envy the human race, the only two things they would envy the human race would be to receive Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and then to suffer, the capacity to suffer so that the sanctification of God could take place through their sufferings so that they could be more closer to Jesus. And I was like, uh Peter Krieft uh mentioned that in a YouTube homily or a YouTube talk that really just blew us away.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

He's amazing, amazing man. I've been following him since early 90s, I think. I started reading his his uh the fundamentals of the faith, and then everything after that. He's an incredible teacher. I think Crieft is a brilliant, he's a convert as well to the faith, isn't he? Yeah, yeah, he's amazing. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Isn't that a cool thought? If angels could envy the human race, they would envy them simply for two things. They would like to receive Jesus Christ and the Eucharist, and then the capacity to suffer.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

That's interesting. The last one to suffer, the capacity to suffer. Yeah, and what a great identification with our Lord. Yeah, to be able to suffer and unite our sufferings to his, which he brings glory out of his suffering.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Most of us complain when we get a hangnail, you know, and uh uh to think about well, maybe God's allowing this to bring about a greater glory, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

Amen. I know for you, I don't know for you guys, but you know, bit bishops and priests don't suffer, right? Everything's perfect. Yeah, uh major major league ball players, life is perfect. But uh the times in my life that I have um grown the closest to Jesus, and and Jesus has revealed himself through me most is in suffering. And it's I was reading it with um some of my brothers uh yesterday, First Peter, talking about like Bishop said, when we suffer, we can identify with Jesus, especially when we suffer unjustly.

SPEAKER_03 38:22

Yeah, that's the thing I've grown the most from like the death of my parents and difficult trials, you know, through the end of my baseball career and different things in the priesthood. That's always where the most growth has happened is through suffering. Um and you can either turn toward the toward the Lord and lean into him, or you can, you know, turn away and uh I'm gonna, God willing, we'll turn to him and yeah, the good those good moments, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:52

Yeah, those good moments we turn to the Lord. Yeah, you know, as he says, if you want to be my disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow after me. So a way of discipleship is is is suffering because our Lord suffered. Yeah. Did I I don't want to switch too much, but I I just saw something that was just beautiful. Um, you know, our our holy father went to Algeria, I think that's where he went to. And one of the the neat things is that's the ancient see of Hippo, which was Saint Augustine was the bishop of Hippo, and our Holy Father is an Augustinian. And there's a uh it it shows him um praying. He's just you can see how emotional he was, but it was a beautiful, beautiful uh image that that kind of made the way around the the internet. But I thought that was really neat to see. And then he celebrated Mass at one of the cathedrals, which is, I believe, I think Hippo is a suppressed diocese, but it would have been kind of overlooking where the the ancient city of Hippo was. But I thought that was just yeah, I really love how the things our holy father uh Pope Leo is doing and how he's carrying himself and and um and just inviting us to go deeper with Christ and be more active members of his church. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Yeah, and and Pope, our Holy Father needs our prayers, especially at a time like this where he has spoken up so beautifully and so boldly and and so humbly. And uh I I could not have asked our whole asked the Holy Spirit to choose a better leader for our church, and you know, seeing him uh getting off the plane and greeting, you know, women and children that are gosh, it's just so so sweet to see him. And uh a couple days ago he was in the news and they showed this picture of him holding a bat. And uh I said, Oh, you see that little black dress next to him holding the bat? That's Shara, that's my wife. Uh of course they cut us out, but it's so neat to see that picture that when I was able to have the blessing of meeting our holy father. Thanks to you, Bishop and Father Burke, for making that happen. It it that picture continues to go viral around the world. And I'm like now they can see Shara and and me, but the the best part is seeing his grin. He the big toothy smile, he's got the Ty Cobb split grip. And uh, yeah, just we continue to pray for our Holy Father. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

Good man, yeah. You know, or as we always say, where Peter is, there's a church, and the successor of Saint Peter is Pope Leo the 14th. And um, one of the things we do every time we celebrate Mass is we pray, we pray for the successor of Saint Peter, and uh so just to be more mindful of that. Because we can think about the heavy burden that is placed on his shoulders, but he's doing it with such great joy, and he's um he's proclaiming the gospel.

SPEAKER_03 41:51

Yeah, that's he calls himself I'm a son of Saint Augustine, you know, as an Augustinian. And uh Augustine's one of my favorites, too. Just that uh boy, the confessions and his wrong. That's who's over my shoulder.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Yes, that statue of anyone that's that's Augustine over my shoulder.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Yeah, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

Yeah, if you've never read the confessions can be kind of dense, but they're also just a man very openly talking about his struggles and his sinfulness and how God broke in. And uh, you know, not that as I mentioned, God doesn't force himself on us, but boy, if we open our hearts to him, he can't wait to come in and transform us. And his whole life was transformed through the through the grace of God, as and through the prayers of his mother, Saint Monica.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Yeah, teachings of teachings of Ambrose and the prayers and tears of Monica.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

I was blessed uh in Milan to uh it's Milan, right? Where he was baptized with Ambrose. He heard the gospel, the charygma at Easter Mass, and I think the year was 387, and he went there a pagan, and he didn't want to leave the church until he left being a Christian. And it's like one of the greatest saints of our day, had a had a rough past, but he heard the gospel and was like, I'm all in. And for me, it's so it's so inspirational because at times we don't deserve, we don't we feel we don't deserve to be even be a Catholic and a Christian, but like St. Faustina reminds us our sins are like a drop in the ocean of God's mercy. And Augustine embraced it, and now Augustine's successor is in the in the seat of St. Peter, the first ever Augustinian Pope. It's it's beautiful, but yeah, he's one of my heroes too.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

I I can't I can't recommend the confessions enough. I read it when I was at Arizona State University taking medieval literature, and I remember the teacher, wonderful teacher, Dr. Bjork, he he had us read at the very because it's the very first piece of literature that starts medieval literature. And um He had us um read it on the very first day of class, and there were a bunch of groans in the class, and we had to read it by Friday. So Monday had to read it by Friday. Wow. So you know, I'm reading and reading and reading and trying to get it done. And on Friday, the transformation in this class at a secular university was unbelievable. But he he set us up for the rest of the semester. Augustine was one that led the way. But yeah, it was people weren't people weren't complaining so much. I think they loved how real he was. That's the best thing about Augustine. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 44:31

Yeah. Well, great brothers. Always good to be with you and talk sports and faith. And uh so I think we're ready to put a bow on it, Bishop. Can you close us in prayer? Sure, I'd be happy to.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Oh, St. 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 were 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 live in ti 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. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

Thanks for listening. If you have comments, please post them and we we will read those and comment back or bring them on the next show. And please like, subscribe, and share the podcast with somebody that may need to hear it today. And as Saint Pierre Giorgio Frasati reminds us, the higher we go, the better we shall hear the voice of Christ. So keep striving verso l alto in your faith and pursuits. And until next time, God bless you.