Diamonds, Drafts & Deacons

Bishop Wall, Fr. Masters, and Mike Sweeney examine the NFL Draft and institution of the diaconate.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Nunk Tepe, welcome everyone to episode 30 of Versual Alto, 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_04 0:22

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

SPEAKER_01 0:28

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

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Great to be with you. Brothers, as we always do, let's begin invoking one of our patron saints as we begin. 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. Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. So great to be with you. As you can tell, uh Bishop and I are in the same room here. We're in our studio here in Hinsdale. Um so we want to talk about some football, the draft, we want to talk some baseball, and then we'll get into the fifth week of Easter. So, Bishop, what brings you to Hinsdale?

SPEAKER_04 1:43

I'm all over the place. So I was in uh I was in Connecticut for uh a Gala fundraiser for wonderful um Classical Education Catholic School, 6-12, Cardinal Kung uh Academy. Great people. So shout out to the wonderful people at the at the school there and the students. And then on my way back uh to Phoenix, my connecting flight was was Chicago. So I said, well, I'm gonna stay another day and celebrate Mass with the people here at St. Isaac Joges. And then tomorrow, Phoenix, and then Tuesday to Lourdes, France, with the Order of Malta. So we'll be there for a week and we're we take the uh the sick from around the world and let them get into the waters at Lourdes. And it's a great, great time, great uh time of healing. So next week when we record this, I'll I'll be in Lourdes. I'll try to get a nice classic shot behind me of uh something, something at the shrine.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Well I I always love having you here, and the people at St. Isaac Jogues uh do as well. It's we our di our parish has a relationship with your diocese, supporting not only financially, but sending missions down. Uh we have a group going down in May, uh, another one in June, and another one in September. So uh um just a great way to connect our parish and diocese.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

Yeah, I got to got to preach to celebrate Mass and Preach on uh Good Shepherd's Sunday, too, which was great.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah. And uh I think the last time I recorded, I was in New York, had a great trip with the eighth graders, uh, great historical trip. Um, you know, seeing all the great sites in Washington, D.C. and New York, you know, the Holocaust Museum, the 9-11, all of the Smithsonian, the Bible Museum in DC, seeing the Nationals play the the uh Braves, seeing our good friend Trevor Williams, and then also seeing Hamilton on Broadway, which is amazing. Give us the song. Come on. I am I am hooked. Uh I've been playing, I've been playing the music. Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Mike, have you seen it? I have. I saw it on Broadway with my family. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yeah, yeah. So I'm gonna I was we almost went, so they they're here in Chicago. Um uh actually today was the last day of this run, so I'm sure they'll come back, but maybe uh we'll take a trip. If you ever go out to New York, uh we'll meet you out there and we'll invite Bishop Archbishop Hicks to to join us.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Uh have a little have a little Verso Il Alto road trip together and watch a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

There you go. I love it. Exactly. We'll uh we'll do the show live on Broadway.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Now we'll get some looks. You guys can wear your clerics. I'll wear I'll wear a uh I'll wear an old old Major League Baseball uniform.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Royals jersey.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

You guys get to wear your clerics, and man, I'm sure we get a good crowd out there in in uh New York. What's going on in your life, Mike? Well, just had a had a beautiful week, and I I really was uh super blessed to celebrate uh Good Shepherd Sunday. I particularly loved your your topic or your thoughts last week. You know, Bishop always gives us such great insight, and I'm just sitting there scratching my head, going, I you know, just I had a date with my wife about uh maybe three nights ago, and she said, Honey, I you know, our kids are going through this, but like our marriage has never been better. And and I said, Honey, uh, you know we're coming up in our 30th episode, and I said, I know that God is flooding grace into our marriage and our family through doing this podcast with Bishop Wall and Father Burke. And I I hope you realize I feel so honored and blessed to be part of this tripod that we get to bring Christ into this world, but it it's hitting home, and Shara Shara acknowledges it as well. But um getting the meat and potatoes from Bishop and then you know, a pastoral kind of some practical that that image, Father Burke, and you shared on with you shared it this morning on your podcast or on your um your video. Um, and I shared it with all my family. I kept thinking about how cool that must have been for that pastor to line up all three families on the front of the church, send the dads in the back, and just have the dads start speaking and raise your hand when you know that's your dad's voice. And it really hit me. It really hit me about being the shepherd of my family. And you guys have a diocese to be a shepherd to, Father Burke, you have a parish to be a shepherd to, but God called me to be a shepherd to my wife and six children and six children. And it's it's a big call. And uh, I I just want to tell you, thanks for thanks for letting me be a part of the ride because this this has been a sweet, um, kind of a a tailwind to my family being uh on this podcast with you all. So it's been a great week.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

A little bit of I love it about last last week you you uh you you hit it home for the families when you gave us that image of Donovan at the baseball park and lost, whispering. Listening, that's my dad. Yeah, that's my dad. I love that. Like that is that that's that's that gospel passage coming to life.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

You've heard from some people here, right? That about the who follow the podcast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:00

Quite a few people after the masses this weekend came out and really love our love the podcast, love to listen to it. And so hopefully they they share it. So hopefully everybody's getting a little something from it.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah, we hear repeatedly how much they they like a clergy perspective, and then having a married Catholic man, father of six, you know, to really they connect connect with that, you know, to say how, you know, because they they expect us to be doing things, you know, that are of God, but to have I know a retired major league baseball player, husband and father to to live it out, it's it gives them some uh you know practical ways of living that out. So I I love the the dynamic we have here. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

I told I told Shar, I said, hey, make sure we keep our gate locked because the last two weeks, I think hopefully the 20,000 viewers that tune into your you know daily podcast, uh Father Berg, aren't all watching. And I'm I'm not getting a call from CPS banging on my gate for sending a seven a seven-year-old little boy in a baseball uniform across Angel Stadium with 20 bucks to get a hot dog and a milkshake. But but yeah, just sharing being real. Being real, it's it's a it's a joy.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

And I, you know, as I mentioned, you you were talking about the uh couple Joe and a friend of mine from New York who knows a buddy out in Southern California, want to know if they could come. And so do you you want to if anybody's in Southern California, uh, men who want to join that, they're they're welcome to.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Absolutely. Um, so we're trying to build um a body of believers, in particular men, because if you get the men, you get the family. And we have a great president at Cathedral Catholic High School, Kevin Calkins. He's from Staten Island, New York, and he he sat down with about 10 or 12 guys in our men's group, and he said, What are your thoughts about Cathedral Catholic High School? And we shared it with him. And what are your dreams and what are your hopes? And we shared it with them. And he kind of had this little you know chip on his shoulder from Staten Island. He's like, So where the heck have you been? I mean, I'm I'm really impressed being around great men, but how come you haven't been involved in the past? And I said, I've never been invited. And he looked at me, he said, Well, from now on, you are. And that evening I I said, uh, I said, if you're if I'm invited, I'm gonna propose something and let's run with it. So I proposed to them, uh proposed to him that evening Saint Joseph's workshop. And he's like, uh, a little bit corny. So he went with his uh Staten Island cup of Joe, and this has been, I think, the fifth month that we've done it. We do it once a month, and the numbers just continue to grow, and the impact continues to just flood families. And next month, um, we have Craig Stamman, the manager of the San Diego Padres, coming. We had almost 300 men come, and uh the highlight was you know, seeing men go home and and be uh a shepherd to their families, but it was really neat. I have a friend of mine in my Bible study, um, Bishop Wall and Father Burke, you guys have met him. His name's Thomas McKenna. He's really close with Cardinal Burke. He helps put on, he helps put on um retreats for bishops, like two three-day bishops. And he came up to me, he was shaking. He was almost like a little kid, and he goes, Hey, Mike, I don't know how you did it, but in 55 minutes, you guys captured the the power and the speaking and the joy of what I tried to create for the bishops when I tried to lead a three-day bishop forum. So to answer your question, all men are invited. We're trying to um put Cathedral Catholic on a mountain that is a bright light, and we're trying to get men to come and be a part of it. So if they if they'd like, put maybe put their information in the comment section and we'll get information out. But last next month will be our last month before summer. But uh, but our hope is to have the two of you come and uh and show your faith with the men.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

That'd be great. That would be great. And we hope to have Craig Stammon on on this podcast uh probably several times over the years, and he's just a great guy. And uh, so it's a good segue. I mean, the he's the manager of the Padres, they're off they may have the best record in baseball, although the uh Diamondbacks they split with my D backs beat them today. So I'm not I'm not too upset with him. Yeah. So uh what's happening in baseball? So my my Phillies are I think have the worst record in baseball, um, you know, which is shocking for a team that you know won 96 games last year, pretty much have the same roster. And so I'm hoping that's this is uh a blip in the road, but they could go on a run like the like the cubbies did. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

The Cubs it was the end of the world at the beginning of the season for the Cubs fans, and all of a sudden they won this crazy run.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Yeah, Cubs had won 10 in a row, the Phillies had lost 10 in a row, now both streaks are over, but uh uh the Royals are scuffling too. So I'm thinking to our picks, you know. I picked the Phillies to win it all. We picked the Royals, Royals, Dodgers, Royals, Royals win it all. And they're like the two of the three worst records, so it's early. We're not out of April yet.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Um, I got a little blip on the bottom of the screen for our viewers, and and they're gonna read they're gonna listen to this and watch it days later. But the Royals just said a walk-off home run, so that's their fourth win in the last five games. Hey, the boys in blue are moving in the right direction, and the dog's happy too.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah, um, what else is happening uh in in baseball that's uh uh worthy? Sorry, guys. That's okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Yeah, we have a dog that doesn't obey like our children. So uh for all the viewers at home, welcome. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm gonna be taking our boys to a Padres game this Tuesday. And uh on the on the drive, it was so cute. Uh driving home after a volleyball tournament, I've heard screaming and whistles for four hours. And a little Ryan goes, Well, Dad, who are they playing? I said, Son, they're playing the Cubs. And he goes, Well, who are you rooting for? I said, Well, we root for our hometown team, the Padres. Um, you know, their mascots, a friar, a Catholic priest. And I said, Who are you rooting for? He goes, Well, I love the Padres, Dad, but Father Burke's team's the Cubs. He goes, I gotta root, he goes, I gotta root for my godfather. There you go. You got a little six-year-old that'll be cheered for the Cubs Tuesday night. So, yeah, a lot of a lot of cool stuff going on.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

That is another good news, uh, Drew Romo, our friend. Yeah, uh good Catholic uh uh man, recently engaged, uh just got called up by the White Sox. Uh so I'm I'm hoping to get down to the South Side to see Drew. So for those who are who are listening or watching, great guys come to our retreats, faithful Catholic young man, and uh just somebody you want to root for. Uh, it's just uh a solid citizen. Yeah, yeah, good man. Yeah, congratulations, Drew. That's great. Yeah. Maybe we get Drew on the show one of these days, too.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Um, can I get you guys his uh prayers, Bishop and Father Burke? Sure. So our I think he's our number top, maybe top five prospect. His name's Ben Cooterna, faithful Catholic, uh pitcher. I was with him in AAA. He's throwing 97, 98 miles an hour, and uh snapped his Tommy John. He's a he's a local kid from Kansas City, just an unbelievable young man. And uh he's getting ready to go under the knife this week. So um I told him, he he texted me yesterday and said, Hey, you got a you got a good couple, you got a good Catholic church out here in Surprise, Arizona. And I said, if you want one right around the corner, go to you know St. Clair Assisi. But I said, if you want to go to one that's probably my favorite church in North America, and it's one of Bishop Wall and Father Burke's really good friends, the pastor, go out to St. Bernadette's in in um in Scottsdale. So he told me he's gonna go be going out. He went to he went there today with Father Klein, and I asked him, I sent him a Bible verse from the book of James, and it said, if any of you are sick or hurt, go to uh uh I think it's to the pastor's send for the priest of the church, yeah. And let them lay hands on you. For when they lay hands on you, the sick will be made well. So he said, I sent him that Bible verse this morning. He told me he was gonna go seek uh out Father Klein, and I said, make sure you tell him you're a friend of the, you know, Bishop Wall, Father Burke, and myself. But Ben Couderna, if our listeners can pray for him, amazing Catholic man, loves the Lord, good, good old boy from Kansas City, and he'll he'll he's gonna have a rough week and probably a rough year ahead. But I told him my prayer is in 14 months he's making that big league debut he's been dreaming of. Yeah, I mean, back in the day you had something like that happen.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

It was done, you were done. Nowadays, you come back and sometimes they they're they're better than they were before. It's it's it's amazing. Yeah, amazing what they do. So yeah, we'll pray for pray for Ben and for his uh quick recovery and his healing, and we'll also pray for the the surgeons and nurses that work on him too.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Love it. I was just trying to I'm gonna have to look it up for the next show. Somebody was telling me there's a minor league ball player who's ready to break into the big leagues. Maybe he's even he got called up, but they interviewed him and said, What would you be doing if you weren't playing major league baseball? He said, I would be in the seminary. That was his first response.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

And uh I'm I'm trying to I'll I'll get the name for next time. And I don't know if uh he's Catholic or not, uh, but it certainly sounded like it. And uh so we will pray for him as well and his coming out the gallop.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Yeah. I love it. Yeah, that's super cool.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Um yeah, so switch uh gears to football. Hey, got the uh the NFL draft uh happened this past week. So we're recording this on Sunday night earlier than we normally do because uh Bishop's gonna be traveling on Tuesday. Uh no big surprise who the number one pick was. Uh Fernando Mendoza going to uh uh the rate the Raiders. Vegas Raiders, yeah, which is so ironic. Um, your d your Cardinals.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

Hey, we got Jeremiah Love. Jeremiah Love out of Hope Springs Eternal in the desert.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

So yeah, Hope Springs Eternal. So yeah, though many said they don't need uh a running back, but uh he was the best player available, which we we need everything, yeah. Yeah, gotta start over.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

Um any other uh stories uh that that came out of it that um there's the one guy that the the defensive lineman out of Clemson bought his mom and his sister very nice cars Maserati SUVs on the night of the draft.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

I didn't know they made him, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

I don't know if I don't know if you guys saw the big news. Uh the Pittsburgh Pirates or Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Steelers drafted a young man out of the I believe it was the Naval Academy. Naval Academy, I saw that. And he and he came showing up in his in his blues, and man, he was tearing up. It was the the the Steelers fans were going crazy. He's a wide receiver, uh kind of like an Edelman type, just fiery, strong, fast, good hands. Um, I can't recall his name. I didn't have time to pull it up, but man, what a story!

SPEAKER_04 18:05

They they had a great season, they had a really good season this year. The the midshipmen did. Yeah. So I I know it, I know a young man who's a grad from there. I went to his graduation last year. So um I lean into the go navy beat arm each year. I was kind of indifferent until uh Ian Ratzberg went there and graduated, and I got to see it. So now I'm I'm I'm all in on the Navy, the Navy, the midshipmen. So that was exciting to see that. They were fun to watch last year. They were really good coach.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

I didn't see the whole draft, but I know in the first round, which I saw a lot of young men and their families were thanking God for you know this opportunity. And it was it was starting to become like almost every guy, every family, which was really neat to see. And yeah, uh that you know, people are not afraid anymore that they're gonna get canceled or you know, to talk about, you know, praise God for the gift. So important.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

They've you know, we use the term platform, they have a platform, and it's great to see them using it uh for the right reasons, first and foremost, you know, not to us, but to your name be the glory, right? And uh, I think you know, Fernando Mendoza is the guy that really sets the bar for all of them. Yeah, he is not afraid to talk about it. I was watching an interview as ESPN or Fox or somebody when after he had won one of their games, I don't know if it was a national championship, and the interviewers were trying to not they weren't they were trying to not allow them to say, you know, I give all the praise and glory to God. And they tried to preempt it. And he did not think at all, at all. And he just he just went right back. No, first and foremost, I give up praise and glory to God for everything that I'm able to do. And then and then he kind of moves into other people. He's always thanking people, which I love. That's a that's a that's a great sign of maturity.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Humility is uh an attractive virtue. I I don't know if you guys saw him. He walked in, and the ownership of the Las Vegas Raiders were in this big room, marble floors, and they have this custom logo of the Raiders, right? When you walk in the door, and he opens up the door, everyone's cheering, screaming his name, and he went to walk in and he saw the logo and he walked around it as a sign of respect. And I don't know if you guys saw that. Really cool.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Yeah, and I'd heard too, he chose to stay at home for the draft. You know, most of the guys are there, and but it's probably hard for his mom to travel, I guess. And you know, he stayed right on the couch next to his mom to receive the news. He knew he was going to be the first pick, I think. And you know, again, I think it's a sign of humility. It wasn't all about here I am, Pittsburgh, you know, it's all about me, just such a family man.

SPEAKER_04 20:45

So I was so hoping that him making that decision not to show up to the draft would have caused the Raiders and the Jets to pass him by, and he would slide right to the Cardinals, and life would have been good for me.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

I'm a long-suffering fan. Yeah, it it's interesting. Uh this wasn't about the draft, but about the NFL. Today I was after mass, I I met um uh JJ McCarthy's father-in-law, you know. Uh so his JJ's wife, you know, is from this area. Well, they're both of them are from this area. And uh, you know, and he was talking about I said, You talk about faith with JJ. He said, absolutely. He said 50% of our conversations are about faith. And he said, I'd love to have you over when he's in town and we get together and and talk about that. I'm like, count me in, you know. Yeah. So uh yeah, and that's I think another thing I hear a lot from people is saying it's so good to hear about the other side of life of a lot of these athletes and coaches that you know you watch on TV, but you have no idea that they're they're men of faith. And uh it really I think adds. To um people's experience of watching sports, you know, to say one, that it makes them very human, realizes that we're we're all gonna have that exit interview someday. And doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank account, how many you know, Heisman trophies you won or World Series rings, you know, we're all human and we're all gonna come before God in the end.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

And so yeah, I was I was uh you know, kind of along with that. When I was a pastor in Phoenix, St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, kind of the central Biltmore area, and just up the street we had the Ritz-Carlton, and a lot of teams, mostly basketball and football teams, would would stay there. Some baseball players would stay there too. And I was always impressed on Sunday morning when I would see um I'd see some of these guys there. You know, for your your buddy, you know, Trevor Hoffman, uh, you know, he shut out my, or didn't shut him out, he closed out my my D-backs the night before. And there he was the next morning at mass. And you know, they had the next game. He could have been back throwing again, closing again. And it was it was so impressive. And I would see a number of of um pro athletes that uh that were there, you know, their their their priorities were were were right. It was really neat. One time I one time I saw Colby Bryant, it really impressed me. And he's um he's he's uh he's one of the most famous people in the world at the time. There he was, 7:30 a.m. mass. Uh there he was coming to coming to church. It was beautiful, you know.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Yeah, he had talked a lot about how that priest helped him through some really difficult times of marriage.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

And um and that was during the difficult time.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:41

And there he was at Mass on Sunday morning at 7:30. And he had a he had a ball game against the sons that night. Probably torched him. Yeah. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Was he was he a convert to the faith or was he raised Catholic?

SPEAKER_04 23:54

I don't know. He but you know, I don't he he might have, I think he might have been raised because you know, his dad played basketball in Italy. Okay, and so there's some kind of connection over there. I I you know, I might be speaking out of term, but I think he was raised Catholic.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Did you ever meet him, Mike, in Southern California there?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Um, I've I've uh I met him once briefly. Our kids were playing soccer against each other, but it was very just cordial and surface. Um I've heard great things about him. He's a very faithful Catholic man, but you know, like I wanted to give a peek into the locker room, right? Our parents, we got parents at home that are raising kids, they're blessed to tune into a bishop and a priest, and they're they're probably going, oh yeah, you know, it's so cool that they get to see athletes um come to them. And from a from being inside the locker room, which I was blessed to do for 20 years, um, you know, Father Burke always talks about St. Thomas Aquinas, right? The four substitutes for God, honor, power, pleasure, and wealth. All those things are offered to you as a ball player. And they're offered, and when received, they're very superficial, right? They they only can go so deep and fill you so much. So, as a ball player, for me, you know, in the locker rooms with some of the most famous guys ever, um, playing baseball with them, man, you get out and you have dinner with them, and all of a sudden they start opening up. Hey, let's talk about your faith. And because they realize that the the thing that the world's offered, the world offers to us, the money, the baseball cards, all the temptations, it's right there at the tip of your fingertips. And yet, yeah, some people try them and it's very shallow and and oftentimes brings discomfort, shame, uh, resentment, regret, and but yet joy. Oh man. Um, so yeah, I want to be respectful of my teammates, and but some of the more beautiful, in-depth conversations I ever had with teammates were superstars that over a stake, and you know, after a maybe a day game, we're in Chicago at our famous place there, Gibson's Father Burke, and we're talking about our Lord, talking about the Eucharist, and because really that's the only thing that can satisfy us.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Amen. Yeah, all these guys were just going through my head that uh, you know, we'd love to have on on the show to again humanize uh these athletes. And I think so many of our kids out there idolize these guys for what they can do on the field. Um, but we know as you say, that that only goes so far. We want to bring bring you people that you can idolize for who they are off the field as well, and bring in men that can um be that role model of what it means to be a shepherd of a of a family or a parish or or a diocese that's helping people grow closer to the Lord, you know?

SPEAKER_04 26:47

Yeah, you know, I think, you know, number maybe 15, 20 years ago, you could always guess the guys, you always knew the guys that would, when they took a microphone, the Kurt Warners, and you know, they were always going to give praise to God. I love Kurt Warner.

unknown 27:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

But we're starting to see more and more of it. We saw in that NFL draft the other night, people are being very upfront about their faith. And I think we're seeing that throughout our society. You know, kind of what the world has to offer us has been tried, and it's always found, you know, you're it's always lacking, right? It's always lacking. We're always going to be be wanting more. And so it's beautiful to see some of these guys have this great platform, mics put in front of them, and the very first thing they want to talk about is their faith in Christ. I think it's beautiful, absolutely beautiful. And I I think that you know, you have you know, young kids that look up to them that that can make a big impression on them. That it helps them to set their their lives in proper order, you know, God first, others second, and then I come third.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, Tim Tebow was a really good champion in football. Yep, another great one. Yeah, great Christian man. Not not uh Catholic, but he's got a great love for the Catholic uh faith. But man, he was a pioneer and took the bullets. And I mean, had John 3.16, I black, and yeah, he uh he really paved the way for you know sharing the faith unashamedly in the game of football.

SPEAKER_04 28:11

It's it's and great pro-life champion, great um guy for working with people with disabilities. He's uh yeah, he's a rock stream. Real deal great.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Real deal. Yeah, real deal. He took a lot of arrows, like I think you did, Mike, of guys who weren't married yet, uh, you know, playing in the big leagues, and people are thinking, okay, what's wrong with you that you're not married yet, and you're living trying to live a chaste, pure life. And uh, you know, now uh he's married with uh at least one child, I know, right? And you know, you've got six children, so you you could relate to what what he was, you know, some of the arrows that he was he was receiving.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

It's worth the wait. It's uh yeah, any young men out there that are either playing ball or maybe you've got some college athletes, you know, it's it's worth the wait when by the grace of God you could walk into a relationship and and set the parameters on our first date and then follow them through and encourage one another to holiness. And then your wedding night, rather than being a night of like, oh man, like you, I've been doing this the last 10 years of my life, it's like, ah, this is what this is a gift that God had in store for me. And um, it is such a gift that Shara and I I married such a you know it was such a blessing to um marry my best friend and a woman that you know our first date we made we set parameters, and then the fruit of that is a joyful marriage. And yeah, six beautiful characters. Yeah, it's it's awesome. So any kids out there, it's worth the wait.

SPEAKER_04 29:45

Yeah, yeah, you don't want um old memories flooding back to you on your wedding night. That's right. You want it to be you and your wife. Yeah, or for any of the young ladies who are listening, you and your husband. Amen. You don't want you want old memories flooding through your mind. Yeah. Amen. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Well, let's uh switch gears, and uh we are quickly marching toward Pentecost Sunday, uh the Easter season, of course, 50 days, Pentecost being the 50 days after the resurrection, Easter Sunday. So we're moving into the fifth Sunday of Easter. And as always, Bishop, can you kind of kick us out?

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Hey, Bishop, remember last Bishop, before you forget, or before you start, can I can I get my steak knife out and my fork and put on my napkin? Because here comes the meat and potatoes, baby.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

I don't know, so I'll see what I can do. Here comes the meat and potatoes. Yeah. So, you know, just like last week, I love this because remember we said there's you know, seven's a perfect number, it's a perfection. And we had seven um I am, we we have seven I am statements. And last week we had, you know, I am the gate, I'm the door. Uh we know about I am the good shepherd. And it points us back to Exodus, where God says, Well, who who shall I send sent me? Tell him I said, I am sent you. So when Jesus says, I am, he's pointing toward his divinity. And we're also going to see that in this scripture passage because Jesus is going to tell him if you've seen the Father, you've seen me, the Father and I are one, right? It's very, very clear about Jesus' divinity. Very shocking for the people to hear something like this, but it's it's very, very clear. So this is another one of these I am statements, takes place at the Last Supper. And when we think about the Last Supper, we think about the institution of the priesthood, we think about the washing of the feet, we think about the institution of the Eucharist. But also at the Last Supper, what Jesus does is he's going to prepare them. So this past week we kind of shifted away from resurrection appearances to preparing us for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And when we talk about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we talk about the birth of the church. And so this is the this is the shift that Jesus is moving us toward. So the I am statement that Jesus gives us today is I am the way, the truth, and the life, right? I'm the way, the truth, and the life. I think that's really key for us to see that Jesus doesn't say, I am a way, a truth, a life. And I think our our world, our society will try to, you know, look at Christianity as just another way, right? Another way to get to heaven. But as we know, by no other name do we come to no salvation but under the name of Jesus Christ, Acts 4.12. And so when he says, you know, I am the way and the truth and the life. So he is the way, he is the only way that's going to get us to heaven. And when we get to heaven, that's where our greatest sense of happiness is, because we're we're made by by God, we're made to know, to love, to serve him in this life and in the in the world to come. And then, and so on the way and then the truth. So to think about Jesus is truth personified, right? He is the truth. And then ultimately, then Jesus is the life. Again, eternal life in Christ. And as Augustine always famously says, our hearts are restless until they rest in thee, O Lord. So that's that's really key when we look at this at this scripture passage. And so Jesus is going to be preparing them, like he does many times, for something that's going to take place much later. And really what's going to take place much later is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and then he sends them on mission. So that's what that's what Jesus is really preparing them for this. But I think that's that's really key to see that the way, the truth, and life is not just any way, any truth, any life. Christ is the way, the truth, the life. And um, and really when we think about that life, it's that supernatural life, it's that eternal life, um, with the central mystery of our Christian faith with the Holy Trinity, one God, three persons, and the Holy Trinity. So that's kind of my little outline or laying us out for this, preparing for us to hear it this week.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Incredible. I love, you know, at the beginning here, John chapter 14, uh, right in verse 1, Jesus says, Do not let your hearts be troubled. And this is often read at funerals, and you can say, gosh, how can I not let my heart be troubled? Because he's preparing them for his own passion and death. And uh so why, why, why do we believe in the resurrection? I think this is really important. Um, and I think for me, you know, as somebody who wasn't raised Catholic, really I was kind of unchurched in a Christian home. Um, I don't believe because somebody told me to believe. I believe because it makes sense. You know, as a math and science guy, I like logic. It's it's logical. Our faith makes sense. And sometimes people say, you know, faith and and and reason, faith and logic don't go together, but who created everything in an orderly way? Yeah. It's God. And so go back to the book of Genesis. How did God create the world? He spoke it into existence. The word, you know, he said, Let there be light and there was light, let there be water and there was water. Fast forward then to John chapter one. You know, we're in John chapter 14 here. It says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And the word became what? Flesh and dwelt among us. So that word that created the universe is now walking the earth in the person of Jesus Christ. And so everything Jesus says happens. So read the gospels in that light, that the same word that created the universe back in Genesis, now when he says to the blind man, you can see, he can see. When he says to the lame man, you can walk, he can walk. When he says at the Last Supper, this is my body and blood, it's his body and blood. When he says to Lazarus, Rise from the dead, he's been dead for four days, he rises from the dead. Because Jesus has authority over everything because he's the word of God. And so when he says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, my father has a mansion, and you know, there's a room with your name on it. And I'm going to come back for you and take you to myself where I am going, you know, you can follow me. And why do we believe that? Because Jesus said it. And so that's why we can say, that's why Jesus can say, Do not let your hearts be troubled, because God has prepared a place for you. What does that require of us? Faith. You know, he keeps saying, repent, believe, and be baptized. You know, we've been talking a lot about baptism this week. You know, people say, Have you been born again? Yes, I was born again, May 26, 1985, the day I was baptized, October 11th, 1964.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

July 22nd, 1973.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

And what's interesting, both of these guys, it was the day of their birth, they were baptized. I was 18. Um, we were born again of water and the spirit. And uh that's scriptural. Yep. Yeah. And so God wants us to live this faith out, to believe in him, to repent, turn away from our sins, and to not lose hope. You may be going through something really difficult right now, maybe the death of a loved one, maybe you're going through loss of a job, maybe there's financial problems, whatever it is. And Jesus is always saying, do not be afraid, do not let your hearts be troubled. That the worst thing you can experience, even death itself, does not have the final say because Jesus is life itself. And so whatever he says, you can take it to the bank. Love it, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Um, I'll just I'll just hit on just a couple things. Thanks for the meat and potatoes, Bishop. Every uh every week I'm taking notes and I get to share these with my family. But uh, yeah, I think now as we prepare for Pentecost, um, Jesus has given us a chance to look back a little bit with uh a couple weeks ago the the road to Emmaus when he revealed himself to the disciples in the breaking of the bread. That that was is that would that would that be correct in stating that that was the second Eucharistic Mass celebration, the first being the Last Supper? Or would that be maybe the first? Uh which one are you talking about? With on the road to Emmaus with Cleopus. I don't want to speak uh heretically.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Yeah, I'd have to go back and look, but it was one of the first masses for sure.

SPEAKER_04 38:41

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

Yeah. Hey, I'm not wearing a collar.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

I'm like 20 years of baseball. I didn't go to seminary for 10 years. But um, but yeah, Jesus gives us the chance.

SPEAKER_03 38:51

I'll have to tap my head. We'll have to go to the replay on that one to check if it's go to New York.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Hold on, I got my headphones. We can go to New York. Um, but he gives us a chance to look back and see basically what his mission was all about. He's reminding the disciples just a couple weeks ago, the road to Emmaus, that he is going to leave us with the Holy Eucharist. In fact, right after he revealed the Eucharist to his Cleopus and the other disciple, he vanished from them. He is like, No, I'm good. And um, and last week we heard about Good Shepherd Sunday. I was sitting with my buddy at Mass, and at the end of the gospel yesterday, we heard, you know, and 3,000 people were baptized. And he looked at me and he goes, and that included babies and little children too. And I go, Amen. And and then today, you know, we're getting ready this week. Um, we get we get to hear in John chapter 14 that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Like He's getting ready to mic drop, send his Holy Spirit, and be done. Um, and like you said, Bishop, send us on missions. So clearly, you know, in John chapter 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one, no one comes to the Father. No one comes to have this room in the mansion that I've prepared for you with your name on it. No one comes to achieve or receive that gift of that mansion for all of eternity except through me. And it is so beautiful. I mean, this past week I I couldn't stop watching videos on the Eucharist. I was reading um old church fathers, Saint Irenea, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, all Saint Justin Martyr, the teaching on the Eucharist that people that were disciples of the beloved disciple John and Peter, and I'm going, Jesus left us the Eucharist. It's it's undeniable. And now he's saying, I am the only way to the Father. I'm the only way that you can get to heaven is through my blood. And then he's pointing us forward in another week and a half or so, we're going to celebrate Pentecost Sunday, and we get to remember the gift of the Holy Spirit that he's given to us. And then, like Bishop Wall said, we're sent on mission. What's our mission? To be saints, to achieve, to no, to receive the gift of that grace and faith, and then to share it with everybody we can and bring as many people by the grace of God to heaven. So I'm super pumped, man. You guys are lighting my heart on fire, as you can tell.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

I I I yeah, you are you're in fuego right now. That's great, Mike. That's great. I was one of the things too, is you know, we were talking about this, you hear this at funerals a lot. And, you know, not let your heart be troubled. My father's house, there's many places, many dwellings. Sometimes you hear mansions, but I think dwellings are places. And we think about that notion of abiding, abiding in Christ. I think that's really important. And then he talks about how he's going to prepare a place, right? Going to prepare a place. And you know, if you think about the image of Christ, who is the bridegroom, and the image of the church, that is the bride. And so in the Old Testament, what at a what they the bridegroom would do is he would go to his father's land, you know, claim what was his and his father's hands, land from the coming inheritance, and he'd prepare a place for his bride. So when people hear this in the time of our Lord, they know exactly what this means. But what Jesus is doing, he's talking about the bride, the bride's church. And um, and so that's that's the vehicle, right? That's the vehicle for us uh to come to eternal life. And uh, yeah, I love I love that image of the bride and the bridegroom and and all the the imagery that he gives us. And when speaking to the people back then, they would have understood that right away, right? They would have understood it right away.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Another image I love here is uh you know, Philip. He's like, Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. You can imagine Jesus is like, Oh my goodness. Philip, how long have I been with you? You know, three years and you still don't get it. Um, he says, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. Jesus is the perfect revelation of the father. And sometimes it's hard for us to imagine, like, yeah, who is God the Father? You know, we we can get a very clear picture of Jesus through the scriptures. And Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Remember, this is one God. He says, the Father and I are one. Uh the He says, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. But if you don't believe that, then believe the works. You know, he he's he's fulfilling all of the prophecies that were foretold of the Messiah. And boom, one by one, you know, the blind will see, the lame will walk. And so he says, if you don't believe what I'm saying, then just look at what I'm doing, and I'm showing you that I'm both fully human and fully divine.

SPEAKER_04 43:34

And such an important piece of Paul finds his fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ and in that that beautiful covenant, and the covenant, and he he establishes the church, a church for this to move on. So uh to remain rooted in Jesus through scripture, uh, through tradition, uh through the sacraments, to be active members of the church. That's what he's that's what he's preparing his apostles for right now. By sharing these words at the Last Supper. And we know that they did. We know they did all these things. We know they were very faithful to all these things.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

Yeah. And speaking of the church, just real briefly before we close, the first reading is the Acts of the Apostles, chapter six. So this is after Pentecost. The church is developing, and uh they're starting to see as they grow, there's growing pains. And some of the widows are not being served. And so uh the priests, the first priests and bishops, you know, are the apostles, and they said, you know, we have to we have to pray and study and preach the word. And so let's get some seven reputable men uh who are vetted, and then they they come forward, Stephen being uh one of those. One of the most famous, right? Yeah, first martyr. They lay hands on them, which is the ordination right. And then these these are the first deacons of the church, and they serve. That's what deacons do. They're called to serve, while the priests and bishops could focus on the word and and the preaching of the word and the sacraments, the Eucharist. And so we see how this early church starts to develop. And so we need, you know, one of the things that really attracted me to the Catholic Church was this the structure that that we need to have. We have we have Pope, the Holy Father, we have our bishops, our shepherds all over the world, we have priests, we have deacons, we have the lay people, and you know, all of this works to, you know, I would say the the father sent the son, the father and the son sent the holy spirit, the holy spirit formed the church, through the church, we have this the sacraments, and so this is a way that God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are ministering to the billions of people through these sacraments. And we see the uh the seminal pieces of the church here and the acts of the apostles. And so, if you're wondering, you know, is this really the church? Go back and and study the Acts of the Apostles and we see it being I think we all know wonderful deacons, wonderful deacons.

SPEAKER_04 46:05

I mean, we've just served with some this weekend here. I know wonderful deacons and yeah, just everywhere. And I always remember there was this great deacon I knew when I was a seminarian before I was ordained a transitional deacon. His name was Deacon Peter Murphy. He was in charge of the priest or the prison ministry for the diocese of Phoenix. And he passed a lot of pieces of advice to me that he heard from another another deacon. And he said, When you're ordained a deacon, you're not ordained to be a church mouse. And that's not to downplay the role, liturgical role that a deacon has, but it's good and necessary. But it really speaks about this. They're really kind of sending them out, you know, boots on the ground, really grass, grassroots ministry. And we see that in the life of the deacons. So pray for pray for the deaconate, pray for the more men to step forward for the deaconate, and and uh really encourage the the deacons that we have in the church. They're great, really good men. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

I think that's a good place to wrap it up. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 47:03

I had all these little props I was gonna pull up today, play with today.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Barely my hand in this glove. So the uh the colors of St. Isaac jokes here are gold and uh green and gold. So and then I've got not gonna do it like this. I'm gonna do it like that. Hopefully, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Yo, yay, why don't you fly next time you're in Rome? Go over to go over to that guy's house uh up on this over by St. Peter's and teach him how to line up his knuckles. Get him with the batting cage. No, all due respect for our holy father. I highlighted my life meeting our holy father.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

That was great. That was great, beautiful. I had a dad, I had a dad here say they they called him in to help coach the team so they could uh show the boys how to you know hold the bat right. It's the be a negativa, right? They teach the negative ways to throw to the team. Yeah, I guess maybe they're hockey coaches where they separate the hands and the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

Hey, but uh real quick before you guys close in prayer, he went it didn't show up on the uh on the picture, of course, because it's gone viral and there's a bunch of people that have adopted it. And you know, we we we laughed about him cutting me and Shara out as like, hey, at least you should cut Shara in. But originally he did have it properly, he had it like a baseball player, and then I think it he didn't want to knock in my beautiful bride in the head, so we kind of stabilized it. So all due respect for Pokemon.

SPEAKER_04 48:27

That's good to hear. Yeah, that's good to hear. That is good to hear. He's pretty like like this, not like this. That's probably what he was doing. He's a ball player, yeah, exactly. A good man. Yeah. Oh, want to close? Let's close us. All right. The name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

unknown 48:45

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 48:46

Well, 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 are your great passion. Help them dream again, help them look up to the heavens again, define 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.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 50:00

Amen. Thanks everyone for uh tuning in. Ask you to make any comments in our comment section. Uh, Mike said, if you want to join the cup of Joe, you can put your information out there and we'll get you more information. If you have questions, we'll be happy to answer those in upcoming shows. Like, subscribe, and share uh this podcast with your friends. And uh St. Pierre Giorgio Frasati reminds us the higher we go, the better we shall hear the voice of Christ. So keep striving verso lalto, your faith and pursuits. And until next time, God bless you and your families.