Honest Play, Holy Fire

Bishop Wall, Fr. Burke, and Mike Sweeney discuss the Kentucky Derby, classiness in golf, and the importance of the Holy Spirit.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome everyone to episode 31 of Versto el Alto, Faith on the Field, a podcast combining faith and sports. My name is Father Burke Masters. I am the chaplain for the Chicago Cubs and pastor of St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale, Illinois.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

I'm Bishop James Wall, I'm the Bishop of the Diocese of Gallup in the states of Arizona and New Mexico. And currently I am in uh Lourdes, France at the Shrine.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

And Mike Sweeney here in San Diego, California, a proud father, husband, and uh former Major League Baseball player. So I'm super excited to listen into Lourdes and Bishop Wall, but uh excited to be digging in with you guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Great to be with you guys too in uh three different time zones and two different countries. Uh we're coming to you, it's uh let's see, two o'clock here on Monday afternoon, uh 9 p.m. in Lourdes, France. Yep noon in California. So uh let's begin in prayer. 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 Pierre Giorgio for study. Pierre Giorgio never tired of striving boldly to go higher and deeper in faith, prayer, and love. He cherished your presence in his family, friends, the mountains he loved to climb, the poor he visited, and especially in the Holy Eucharist. May we too go toward the heights of our Catholic faith and by example bring others to your church through Christ our Lord. Amen. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Yeah, so Bishop Paul, tell us uh what's going on in Lourdes, why are you there?

SPEAKER_02 1:48

So I'm with the uh Order of Malta's uh Malta, I'm a official chaplain for the Order of Malta, and I'm with the Western Association and this is the 51st year that the Western Association of the Order of Malta have brought what we call the Malads, it's a French word for the sick, and um we find people who have some have pretty serious illnesses and we fly them over here for a whole week. And so they get to do things like everybody wants to go into the baths, so they go into the baths at Lord, so we know how important that is. Um sacrament of anointing of the sick, we have the confessions, we have uh uh a uh rosary procession at nighttime, it's just amazing. Um we have a Eucharistic procession, we have an international mass on on Saturday or Sunday, that's just incredible. But this week, every year, the order of Malta from all around the world brings people who are ill. And we was referred to him, was we referred to him as our Lords, and that goes to the gospel passage, Matthew 25. I was hungry, when I was homeless, when I was sick, when I was thirsty, all these different things for the least of these, you did this uh to Christ, Jesus tells us. And it's it's a powerful experience, very powerful experience. So uh this morning, I uh for my second year in a row, which I loved, the mass that I was the principal celebrant and was able to preach at was the church uh where St. Bernadette was baptized. And over the last few years we've had a lot of scaffolding up and plastic and all kinds of stuff because they've been doing a remodel. This year it was all done. It's just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful church. And uh it's it's powerful. It's uh it's a powerful experience. This is my uh third time doing this with the Order of Malta. And so I I really really look forward to this this each year. And this year, my fourth time in the Lord's the first time I got into the baths. I had a priest that I know here that after the grotto mass on Saturday, which was celebrated by Cardinal Dolan, out of nowhere, he comes up and he goes, he works at the baths, he says, I think our lady wants you to get in the baths. He had no idea, I'd never been in the baths before. And so it was a pretty powerful experience. It was great. Still kind of unpacking it everything that that are received from that. But it it's it's you know, we have we have uh Malads who are little ones, four or five, six years old, and we have Malads that are in their seventies and eighties too, so it's like a wide range of uh of sick people that we uh that we um that we bring and that we we minister to. That's that's the biggest thing that we do. We just want them to receive the whole time they're here.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Like anything big happening in your life this week.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Well, first of all, Bishop, if you could remember me and my family uh when you're in Lord's, you know, bring us to our lady.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Thank you. Yeah, a bunch of times. Thank you, Bishop.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

Bring us to Jesus through Mary, right? Um things are things are going really well here. Uh as a father, it's it's a time to continue to pray for the gift of um the Holy Spirit to bring encouragement to our children. You got boys that are great ball players that aren't getting a chance to play, and it's just been a time to not add gas to the fire of their frustration, but simply to just, you know, breathe into the boys. And last week I was going to tell Bishop Wall, I drove about an hour south, just north to Tijuana, to watch my high school son play. And I intentionally sit on the opposing sides uh dugout so that my son can see me. And I pull up my lawn chair and I just sit there, and my son Donovan says, Dad, I'm so sorry you drove an hour each way and you you didn't even get a chance to see me play. And I said, Well, son, um, I drive across the country just to sit across that ball field on the other side of a chain league fence just so that you could see me. And I said, I I intentionally sit on the other team's side so that you could see me and know that I'm there to cheer you on. But uh, but I have two, you know, two sons that are I think have great futures in baseball, but uh they're not getting a chance to participate much on the field, and it's as a father, it's tough, it's tough. Um, but but encouraging my my children, especially child encouraging them to heaven, it's uh it's it's our main vocation. So it's it's been a tough time, but a grace-filled time for sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

I know we have people listening who might be in the same situation where their their kids uh who are playing sports aren't getting the playing time that you hope they would be getting, and you know they I think they find uh you know consolation in your words that uh you know this too uh the Lord has plans and can work through even these difficult situations and I think to keep things in perspective too, that uh there's bigger bigger things uh at play here. Uh the salvation of souls. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

I've I've heard Can I share one more thing that happened, Bishop or Father?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Uh it was really cool on Friday. We um we went to Eucharistic Adoration as a family uh Thursday night, and I got up, you know, Friday. There was a church that was kind of down by the military area in San Diego and Point Loma, and they were gonna have uh one of the greatest, I think, Christian uh songwriters in the history of our our world, Tom Booth. So he's he helped start the ministry life teen, and he's written songs for Third Day and Matt Marr and Casting Crowns. Well, he came to this little church and he um they did worship and praise music before the Blessed Sacrament. And it was just incredible. And uh maybe 10 minutes after we began Eucharistic worship, led by Tom Booth, and he brought this young artist. I want to make a shout out for a young lady named Lucy Spotts. She's a 21-year-old surfer girl from Florida, and she's got the most angelic voice. And the last time Tom Booth told me about a young 21-year-old that he was mentoring, it was Matt Marr, who, as you know, is one of the greatest Christian artists in the world. And to hear her use her voice to point others to Jesus doing Eucharistic adoration, it was like heaven touching earth. And we we were there for about an hour and a half in adoration of Jesus. But the highlight, about 10 minutes into the worship of Jesus and Eucharistic Adoration with music by Tom Booth and this young lady named Lucy Spotts, Donovan walks in with nine of his teammates, full baseball uniform, and uh he knelt down, he knelt down next to me. And uh as hard as it is as a father to hear your son say, Dad, sorry you drove all the way to not see me play, to see my son, you know, ushering nine of eight, nine of his teammates into a church with full baseball uniform on to worship Jesus in adoration, it was it was a highlight of my weekend besides besides the holy reception of the Eucharist. So I just thought I'd share that with you, Father. You you mentioned that sometimes the word from as a broken father or uh uh uh not knowing what to do with your children, it's an encouragement to your listeners. Um yeah, so I just thought I'd share that.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

And I would say uh for me, I think one of the highlights uh this week was just yesterday um combining faith and sports, you know, it's our passions here. And um we had a uh uh a coach that is very influential here in uh Hinsdale that passed away maybe two weeks ago now. And all the people that he touched. So they had a tribute to him at the Little League and uh they asked me to do a prayer at the end. And um I was just honored to be as a priest to be brought into this you know public arena um and to be able to hopefully bring some words of hope and consolation in the midst of the sadness of the people. He was a a young guy, I think early 50s. So um so we pray for uh Kevin Rios also. I think we might have uh uh uh mentioned him here in one of the other podcasts from from California originally. Yeah, we did talk about him because he from near where you grew up, Mike.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Yeah. So as we jump into the the sports world, there's a lot that happened this week. We can uh I'll just throw some topics out. We we had the Kentucky Derby, uh we had Cam Young winning the uh Cadillac Championship wire-to-wire, uh, and Major League Baseball Drew Romo, uh, one of our our friends having a good week for the White Sox. Met Paul Stewald, the closer for the Diamondbacks. Um, we had a couple big comebacks in the NBA. Um let's let's start in baseball, uh, our kind of our bread and butter here. Uh Drew Romo, uh, who we met at uh our CAD Catholic Athletes for Christ Retreat, uh got called up by the White Sox and proceeded to hit a home run from both sides of the plate. I think he's only the second catcher in White Sox history to do that in the same game. So uh really happy to see him, you know fulfilling uh the potential that they've always thought he's had. Started out in the Rockies organization and then had some bumps along the road and now is making a comeback with the White Sox. So um I don't know if you guys have had a chance to see that.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

I did. Um, it was awesome. I got a chance to be connected with him yesterday. Uh one of our CAC members, former Major League player Raul Gonzalez from Puerto Rico, went down to Petco Park. They're playing in town, and I think the White Sox beat up on the Padres pretty good. But um he got a chance to see Drew and just got to encourage him. And uh he's he's really pumped. But a faithful man. Uh I know he was at Mass on Sunday with the chaplain down here at Petco Park, and it's cool to celebrate cool stories like that. I I'm super excited for Drew. And I'll I have a picture of Raul and Drew during um batting practice that we'll send to Suzanne and she can upload for our viewers. But yeah, just cool to see a faithful Catholic uh, you know, glorifying God in these magical moments.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

I recently got engaged, if I remember right. Uh we did. I know our listeners love to hear the humanity of these ball players, you know, and when they hear that they're Catholic, you know, like, oh, I got a new guy that I want to root for. So Drew Romo, pray for him and uh his young career hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Good man to a better guy, too.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yeah, great guy.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Really good man, yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

And speaking of good men, uh had the opportunity to meet Paul Sewald, uh closer for the Diamondbacks yesterday. Oh, D-Bax. Um didn't know he was Catholic. And uh even our our good friend uh Rolando uh uh Valles from the coach from the D Backs, they didn't know the other was Catholic, you know, and Rolando's doing a great job of evangelizing. Maybe we'll get him on this podcast one day. He uh I said, Paul, how did you hear about the Mass? And he said, you know, he said, I would go to chapel like you used to, Mike, before the masses. And, you know, he said it was good, but he said, as a Catholic, I just missed the Eucharist. And uh Rolando started putting on the team schedule, you know, Catholic Mass at 9:30. And Paul's like, I didn't know. He said, I've been in the major leagues for 10 years and didn't know there was a Catholic Mass. And uh so uh just a great guy. Grew up in in Las Vegas uh in the Chris Bryant and and Bryce Harper uh, you know, uh era, and just the nicest guy, a couple young kids, and so another great guy to pull for. Uh Mike, I don't know if you've if your path has crossed with uh Paul.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

No, I haven't, but um, I've heard great things about him. I think he he's played against the Royals a lot, you know, with Seattle and Cleveland, and um, yeah, he's with the D-backs the last couple of years. But Bishop Wall, he's coming up on his hundredth save. He's got 93 saves. So hopefully when you get back from Lords, maybe you could be there for that hundredth save and you can bless him.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

That'd be great. I hope to get out. I haven't seen uh I haven't seen them play yet this season, so hopefully I can I can uh squeeze a game or or two in. But I'm I heard an interview with him, I'll tell you that just tell you this. I heard an interview with him on a local radio station during spring training, and I was very impressed with it. And I can't remember if I said to you, Father Burke, or somebody, I just go, I I bet he's Catholic. You know, we just we say certain things, and he wasn't talking about his faith. We could hear the way he talked and the way he carried himself, and and uh and so you know we were pleasantly surprised, but I'm not surprised. I could tell. Like uh, yeah, he's he's he's got he's uh got something there. Yeah, it's great. That was good news.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

He was so excited, he knew your stories. Like Bishop Wall, he said, I can't wait to meet him because my dad, I forget why he was in Ganado, uh, which is he said it's part of Bishop Wall's diocese, and I can't wait to share that story of my dad uh working there. I said, You weren't born on a reservation, were you? And he said, No, but my dad worked there, so I thought maybe you guys had that.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

And Ganado, Ganado is where I was born. I was born the res on the reservation in stage memorial in Ganao, uh on the Arizona side. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Yeah. So uh I looking forward to to meeting you. And uh yeah, it was good too. He pitched, he faced two batters yesterday, even though the Cubs kind of did a number on the D backs. He struck out the only two guys he faced. So uh it was good to see. And then also in baseball, the first two managers to get fired is we should point out to we should point out to everybody else.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Look what happens when you go to mass. Two batters, strike them both out. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, he he texted us. He said, I'm not saying it's because of that, but it, you know, I said I went to mass and uh eight pitches, he had two punch outs. So uh um Yeah. But uh also baseball Burke. Yeah. Jump in.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

So as a major as a major league player, you know, there's so many, there's so much noise, right? Um, you have people asking for autographs before and after the game, uh going on radio shows or whatever, and and there's so many distractions. Can you leave me tickets today? You're coming, can we get dinner to this new city? But there's something about being still and being quiet and on your knees and the reception of Holy Eucharist. So it's it's the the calm before the storm. And I know for me, it doesn't receiving the supernatural bread from heaven allowed me to go out into the chaos and and still have calm. And I'm sure you know the parents can relate to that, whether it be you're working 60-hour weeks or you got six kids like me at four different five different schools, and you don't know what the heck's going on, you don't know what what what you're gonna have for dinner tonight, but to know that God can meet you in the quiet and then he can give you peace uh to have common storm. It's it's as a major league player, it doesn't surprise me that he was with you, Father Burke. He met a young, vibrant, on-fire priest, gave him the word of God, and then gave him the bread from heaven, and he went out and pitched that way. It allowed me as a major league player to just have peace. And you know, ninth inning game on the line. I never felt like I was nervous. It was like kind of filled with the Eucharist. Um, the Holy Spirit lives within me, my identity is secure. So, really, really cool for Paul Seawood. Paul, if you're listening, man, we're we're praying for you, and you got a few uh big fans here of yours.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

We'll uh we'll send him the link here so he he can uh listen in. It reminds me, somebody just sent me a uh an article uh written about this internal uh medicine physician, Dr. Jose Jorge Maya. He he wrote he writes in in Spanish, but he he's made a connection between Catholics who go to mass on a weekly basis. They're finding uh 21 percent lower risk of cancer, 29 percent lower likelihood of smoking, 34 percent lower risk of excessive alcohol use, 33 percent lower risk of depression, 27 percent lower risk of mortality from any cause. So these are deciding health benefits of the of the studies that of people who go to mass, and it's what you're talking about. It just uh you know, it just calms you and uh it doesn't surprise me. You know, we're body, mind, and soul, we're all one. When we get into the word of God and receive the Eucharist, um generally speaking, you're gonna be more healthy. And so I think uh players as you're mentioning, they they experience that as well. Yeah, I mentioned briefly uh on the baseball front, two managers were fired in the past week. Uh Joey Cora of the Red Sox and Rob Thompson of the Phillies. Um I was waiting for Mike Sweeney to get the call for one of those jobs, but uh I know uh I I know you have been on you know some of those phone calls. And how do you respond to those teams, Mike, when uh uh you get those those calls? Not that you got a call this time, but uh make a great many major league manager.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

And by the grace of God, Father Burke, I have you know gotten a couple calls, and players when I'm around will say, Man, you'd be good at this someday. And as of right now, I feel like my my vocation is my wife and my children. And I think like Ecclesiastes, there's a time and a season for everything in life. But um, yeah, when the when the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox were caught in that Stein Stealing scandal, um, I got a call to interview for both of those jobs. And I'm not saying I would have gotten them, although I would have tried to. But I called my wife that evening uh and I said, honey, you know, baby Ryan, Ryan Burke, your your godson, uh, and and Bishop Wall's godnephew. Um he's uh he's three months old, and I got these calls, honey, and I want to, before I put him to prayer, I want to talk to you. And she said, If God's calling you to manage in the major league, although we live in San Diego, um, I'll be right by your side, whether it be Boston or Houston. And my heart kind of went, okay, I have the support of my wife. Now I take it to prayer. And that evening, um, I felt the Holy Spirit, number one, honoring um the beauty and humility and uh support of my wife. And it uh mag it magnified her like our blessed mother. Like my soul magnifies God, and that shara was doing that. And that evening in prayer. I felt the Holy Spirit say it's more important that you shepherd your wife and your six children than it is to shepherd twenty-five or twenty-six men. So right now my my vocation is to shepherd my wife and children, and God hasn't made it clear to me that I'm called to banish at any time right now, but He has He has allowed me through humility and the actions of my wife to honor her. Because for a a woman of six children, you know, one's three months old at the time, for her to say, I'll uproot everything as comfortable to be uncomfortable to be by your side, it's like wow. Um makes me really want to honor her. So thank you for the comments, Father Burt. But yeah, you know where I'm at.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Maybe one day, maybe the Cubs or D backs, uh who knows? Yeah. So uh uh briefly in in the golf world, we've been talking about Cam Young. Uh he won the Cadillac Championship. What's that?

SPEAKER_02 23:05

My new favorite golfer.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

He was my pick for the Masters. And he was he was there on the last day. But I yeah, he's right there.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Yeah, he went wire to wire, just dominated the course and the field. Um, what really struck me was they said on on the uh fourth last round on Sunday, the second hole, you know how you kind of addressed the ball? He didn't touch the ball, but the maybe when the club touched the ground, the ball moved, and uh he called a penalty on himself. Nobody else would have called it or seen it. And I thought, what a man of integrity. This guy's leading the tournament, big money on the line. And he said, uh, you know, the ball moved, that's a penalty. And uh, you know, I think God blessed him with, you know, he ended up still winning uh the the tournament easily. And I thought, what a great example for all of us. That there might be things that we do that people don't see. And if we are men and women of integrity, you know, we still call it out what's right and what's wrong. And so uh he went up another notch, in my my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Bishop, anything? No, I I thought that was uh yeah, it was just amazing. Great story. I I I I became a big fan of him a few weeks ago when they made they wrote we wrote a couple stories about him making sure on Sunday he goes to mass. And and so they had that going for him. He was my pick for the Masters. He he came up short, but he played really well. And then uh and then he did this. He just keeps going up and up and up. Yeah, big fan. We're a big fan. Great, great role model. He's he's got a great platform, and he's he's he's he's letting people know what's what's truly important. Honesty, right? That's that's uh very important. Be a man of his word.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

I keep thinking about this. If I was in was the the tournament, the Cadillac Championship in Dural, Florida Durral, Florida. Imagine you're a fan, right? And you you've flown across the country to watch a golf tournament, and it's Sunday, you're in the final round, and you're like, hey, hey son, before we go to the the golf tournament today, let's go grab some cracker barrel and then we'll we'll or maybe mass, then cracker barrel. And and as you stumble into mass, you see the guy leading the tournament. I mean, what a what a witness he is, Cam Young. And not only is he a uh a Catholic, but a practicing Catholic. And even in the busiest time of his life, right? Before the chaos, he went into mass and received the Eucharist. And I think he he beat Scotty Scheffler by like four or five strokes. He he pummeled him, he he destroyed it. So really, really cool witness, uh Cam Young. He's he's my favorite golfer too, Bishop.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

He and Scheffler are close in age, right? They're a couple years apart. This could be a fun little rivalry. Good, two really good people.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Scotty Scheffler, yeah, very strong Christian guy. Yeah. When Cam was doing the post uh uh tournament interview, the interviewer, she was you know shorter than he was, and he kind of bent over to uh listen to her, and his crucifix kind of came out of his shirt and it was just kind of hanging there, you know, so everybody could. I don't think it was intentional, maybe it was, but it was a beautiful witness to say, you know, here's uh here's my foundation of who I am, you know. I love that. Um, did you guys get a chance to watch the derby?

SPEAKER_03 26:44

No, but I heard some cool stuff about it.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah, so one thing people probably don't know about me is that my dad raised us at the racetrack. Uh, my my dad loved horse racing, and uh he instilled that love in uh my brothers and me as well. So it's something I love to watch. In fact, it was on our bucket list, and I took my dad to the Kentucky Derby maybe 15 years ago, and uh I'm so grateful we did because my dad died in 2018, and it was just one of those bucket list things that uh to say we we were there, we sought. And uh um, so I I still love horses are just majestic animals, beautiful. Uh and I don't care about you know betting and stuff on those things, just just I love watching them run. They say uh the the most exciting two minutes in of sports. I was talking to a friend, they had a you know, Kentucky Derby party, and they said, you know, the race was over in two minutes, the party ended, and it was a it was a quick party. So uh but uh yeah, what was uh the horse's name, Golden Tempo? Started, he was last, I think, at the halfway mark and just came flying at the end to win. It was an impressive comeback. And the first female trainer ever to train a winner of the Kentucky Derby, Sheree. Uh, I've got her name here, Cherie DeVoe. She was just overwhelmed uh by um you know winning the derby.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

Yes, uh, the horse was 23 to 1 odds, and yeah, really cool. And and Father Burke, I didn't get a chance to watch the Derby. I had a busy day. We had mass and had family, so we just kind of sat around and had kind of a Sabbath, put the Royals game on in the background and had a beautiful time of rest. But what I remember most is when you came to Del Mar the first time in San Diego, and we we were overlooking the Del Mar uh horse track. And I think I don't know if we FaceTimed your dad or we sent him a video of the back the backdrop being the horse track, and it every time I go to that spot, um, in fact, last night I went there to watch sunset. I thought of me you um overlooking the horse track, honoring your father, and um yeah, something super special. Bishop, what do you got for us?

SPEAKER_02 29:10

I you know, uh horses are fascinating. I like animals, period. But every time I hear about horse racing, I think of the Flintstones when Fred got an addiction to gambling and he couldn't control himself. And that's what I always think of. It pops in my head, Fred Flintstone. Yeah. Bet, bet, bet, bet, bet, bet. He kept saying that. Yeah. So that's all I think about. I I I watch it. I watched the I watched the uh I watched an overhead shot of when the horse was in last place, came all the way to the front. So I saw that. You know, I'm on a completely different time zone here. I think I was sleeping when it happened. And uh and so I got to see it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

One thing Bishop Wall and I have in common, among many things, is our love for animals. Uh, I know I I told him I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was little, and I think you did as well, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Yeah, and one of the ladies who's with us, one of the ladies on the Order of Malta, is becoming one of my fast best friends. She's a she's a veterinarian. So we were just we keep showing pictures of animals to each other. So we're having a lot of fun. Yeah, good lady, good Catholic lady. They practice up in Cave Creek.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Label Bishop Wall, he's a puppy pusher. So uh if you don't have a dog, he wants you to have a dog.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

So uh everybody should have a dog. Yeah. We we were in a 12th century chapel this afternoon, uh San Savan, and um as we were in there, there was every it's just packed in there, and all of a sudden here goes a cat running through. So he was running through, and he just didn't know what to do. And I'm sitting right next to the spiral staircase. So he came over and he kind of jumped right around me and went up and he just kept staring at me. And then he finally came down and sat there, and everybody's singing. He just looked at me and meowed at me a couple times. So I don't know what he wanted, but uh maybe he was maybe he wanted me to find him a home, maybe, maybe that's for Father Burke. Sorry, I'm I'm a puppy pusher, not a cat pusher, puppy pusher.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

And uh last thing in sports, I've got uh just on a personal note, you know, I'm a Philadelphia fan. People are like, well, where did that come from? Long story short, uh Mike Schmidt, when I was a little boy, came to town, had a huge game, became a Phillies fan, then became an Eagles fan, the Sixers fan, and the Flyers. So Sixers came back to beat the Celtics after being down three games to one. And the Detroit Pistons came back down three to one over Orlando. So it's it's a rare occasion, and for it to happen twice uh in the same week is really rare. So um we'll see see what happens in the next series. Um you guys got anything on basketball? Or I know the suns are out, so Bishop Wall's not interested.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

I'm done. I'm done. I'm uh I'm I've got my I'm watching baseball and I got my sights set on football. Yeah, see what happens. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

We have people I'm kind of happy.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

Yeah, the Royals have been playing great. I think what they've won seven out of ten, and um they're they've been playing some really good baseball, so it's been neat to see. Um many of our viewers know I'm employed with the Royals. I'm heading out on a trip with uh the team tomorrow. Gonna go visit some of our minor league players. So just gonna, you know, probably bring some guys to Daily Mass with me, take some guys out to lunch, but it's just neat to see the Royals um moving in the right direction. But I don't know if you saw the news today, Father Burke. Uh the Philadelphia Phillies, um, there's a rumor going that Mike Trout is back to playing great baseball. And the Angels have, I think, the worst record or second worst record in baseball behind the mess. And there's been some whispers that maybe the the Angels may want to unload Mike Trout back to his hometown, and he's from Jersey to go back. The Phillies need some help in the outfield. And just our viewers out there, we always celebrate good, godly men. And Mike Trout is one of those men, you know, follower of Christ, a really good man, humble, uh a guy, kind of like Bobby Wade Jr., a guy that is humble, is a humble superstar, and one that you want your boys to grow up to be like.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

He would be outstanding uh in Philadelphia. There's over the years there's been rumors of him coming back to Philly where he grew up, and uh, I think he grew up a Phillies fan. So he would fit nicely in that lineup, I think. Uh having a uh right-handed power hitter. Anywhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

He bats would like him too, right, Bishop. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

When when that guy's healthy, he's yeah, top three players in the game, always has been, you know, uh impressive. So with that, let's shift gears to uh the scriptures this this weekend. We have the sixth Sunday of Easter. We are quickly approaching Pentecost, which will be in two more weeks. Um, you know, next week we'll celebrate the Ascension, which is usually Ascension Thursday. Some diocese will celebrate it on the Sunday, and then the following Sunday will be Pentecost. So the church is starting to prepare us for Pentecost. So, Bishop uh want to get us started here.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Sure, yeah, we've we've talked about this because the beginning of Easter season, you focus really on the appearances of the resurrected Lord, and then we move into this preparation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So we have this Last Supper discourse that we've been hearing different things from in uh in in the gospel um from John. Um so I think that's two things that I really want to look at. You know, so first of all, they're they're talking about I will send you another advocate. So I think it's a key word, another advocate. You might say, well, hold on, isn't the Holy Spirit's called the advocate? Uh what would be the first advocate? Well, the first advocate is Jesus, right? So that's the first advocate. Another advocate is was the Holy Spirit. Uh the Holy Spirit will will teach you all things. And um so I think that's that's key. And then there's uh there's a line at the very beginning. Okay uh if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And in other places in scripture, Jesus will say, If you know, if you keep my commandments, you are my friends. And Pope Benedict 16th used to talk about that friendship with Jesus Christ is is so important, so essential. Christ has to be our best friend, right? The number one relationship that we have in our life. And so um the commandments, to keep the commandments, you know, to not look at the commandments as something that's it's imposed on us, but something that is good for us if we if we follow them, uh, we're gonna be happy because our life will be ordered. And uh and the commandments they they lead us uh to eternal life. So back to the first reading. Remember in in the Easter season, we don't have an Old Testament reading for the first one, but we do have the Acts of the Apostles. So at the very first the very first one, we have um uh Philip uh going down uh to the city of Samaria uh to pro to proclaim Christ to them. And then but then what happens is, you know, the people are baptized, but what happens is something something different comes, right? Uh Peter and John uh go down there, and they went down and they prayed for them, right? That they might receive the Holy Spirit. So see in this, one of the first times that we're gonna hear in Scripture about what we refer to as the sacrament of confirmation. That's where that's the importance of the scripture passage. Because they've already been baptized, so they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, right? New creation in Christ, they will call God our Father, stay in original sin is removed. And then you hear this this this second receiving of the Holy Spirit and this laying on of hands. And we're also going to hear about you know anointing, and that's associated with the with the sacrament. So I think it gives us a good opportunity to think about okay, what is a sacrament of confirmation do? And I think the primary effect of the sacrament of confirmation is that it strengthens us. And it doesn't strengthen us so that we can jump higher, you know, we're stronger in terms of lifting weights or run faster, stuff like that. But it strengthens us so that we can be better witnesses to Jesus Christ in the world, so that we can trust that when we go out into the world, it's not just simply me um talking about Jesus, trying to live out my faith. But it's I who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, uh, the graces of the sacrament of confirmation, and who've been strengthened, so it allows me to be a better witness to the presence of Jesus. I think what it does, the other thing too, is it gives us confidence to know that we're not alone. And we go back to that word, the advocate. You know, what is an advocate do? An advocate is somebody who is there with you. An advocate is somebody who speaks on on the on your behalf, an advocate is somebody who's watching out for you. So we go out into the world, right? The Holy Spirit is with us, the advocate was with us. And to not look at maybe if we have the sacramental confirmation a number of years ago, like a one-and-done thing, but trust, I God gave me this gift to strengthen me to be a better witness. So use the gift that God's given you because uh the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, He knows precisely what it is that we need. And that's why He gives us the sacraments. And in particular, this comes from the Acts of the Apostles chapter 8. We have the talking about the sacrament of confirmation. One of the first places we have it mentioned.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

I love that connection with the apostles, you know. So uh Philip was out preaching, so Philip would be, you know, uh, and I love it. It says the people of Samaria, with one accord, they paid attention to what what Philip said. So that that unity that the word of God was bringing. Um, and then they sent for the you know the apostles uh to Peter and John to bring the Holy Spirit. And so that's what we do in the Catholic Church, right? Is um I I am not an ordinary minister of confirmation. I can do it only with the permission of my bishop. And uh, and so the norm the ordinary minister of confirmation is the bishop. Uh, but like at the Easter vigil, the bishop will give his priests the um the faculties to do confirmation for those that are coming into the church. And so that's a real privilege, but it's it's that connection to the apostolic church that this is something the sacraments that are reserved for a bishop are are confirmation and and holy orders to ordained people. Priests can you know celebrate baptisms, we can anoint the sick, we can hear confessions, consecrate the Eucharist, and then deacons can do baptisms. Uh we can deacons can uh can preach and preside over weddings and funerals uh if there's not a not a mass. So I love that connection. People say, where's confirmation in scripture? Go to Acts uh chapter eight. And then I love what you said, Bishop, about the ordering. You know, the devil always wants to bring chaos. And so I remember um my my mother always taught us, you know, don't touch the hot stove or you burn yourself, you know. And what do kids do when you tell them that? They've got to touch the stove because we think we know better than mom. So mom's trying to protect me. She's given us these rules and order, and of course, I went and touched the hot stove and and got burned. And so it's similarly, God gives us the commandments. He said, I created you. I know what's gonna bring you the greatest joy. Stay in the in this lane and I can protect you. But if you choose to go outside of it, you know, you're gonna get burned. And it's not what I want. God, God doesn't punish us. He we punish ourselves by not following the commandments, by doing it our own way. And so we pray, start praying now, uh, if you haven't been, for just an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We're seeing this influx of people into the church in a big wave. And I think it I think we're just seeing the beginning of what's what's to come. I think we're gonna see a big increase in vocations to the priesthood, to religious life, uh, people coming into the church. And the Holy Spirit, despite you know, our foibles and being sinners, the Holy Spirit never abandons the church. He is our advocate. So it's an exciting time. Mike, uh, what's on your heart?

SPEAKER_03 42:21

Well, thank you, Bishop, and and thank you, Father Burke. But for me, um, just something quick to add beyond the brilliant thoughts that you both have. But uh, I love this time of the year because we dig into the book of the uh Acts of the Apostles, and it's the early church, it's the early Catholic Church, and we're reminded a few weeks ago that you know, on the on the walk or the road to Emmaus, you know, their hearts were burning at the reset at the reading of the Holy Scriptures or the unveiling of the Holy Scriptures, and then their eyes were opened at the breaking of the bread. And now we're hearing about baptism, and then now in Acts chapter 8, we're hearing about um confirmation. And it's beautiful that the the I've never met any Christians that started to study the church fathers that didn't become Roman Catholic, because it's it's indis it's indescribable or indisputable the early church and what the early church taught. Um you could read about some of like Saint Justin Martyr and Saint Ignatius of Antioch and Saint Irenaeus, that what they believed in the Holy Eucharist, what their love for the Virgin Mary, um, baptism of infants, all these things took place, and you can't deny the beauty of our faith. So, number one, it's a blessing to read the church history in the Bible, to know where our Bible came from, that the Council of Rome in the late fourth century. But then First Peter, in light of the early church, 1 Peter says uh in the second reading, um, beloved, sanctify Christ. As Lord in your heart, always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope. But do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear. And I think it's cool as Catholics that you know we we should know our faith. Um if someone asks us, what do we believe? Are we saved? You know, are you born again? Uh tell me about your faith. We should be ready to share the hope that we have. And because you never know, there might be someone wanting to know the hope that we have so that they can be part of our Holy Catholic Church. So, anyways, just an encouragement from a layman, but um, those are my thoughts. Those are good. Very good, Mike. Thank you, Bishop.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

Encourage you uh, you know, before you go to mass each Sunday, you know, read with read these readings with your family and you know, maybe just talk about what what's the Holy Spirit placing on your heart as you read this. And I guarantee mass will mean more uh if you've already you know read them, prayed with them, and you'll start to engage with the homily a lot more to say, oh, we talked about that, or gosh, we talked about this, but that's interesting what Father is saying now. So instead of just showing up and saying, This is the first time I've heard this, there's a baby crying, I'm distracted, and then I just missed the whole thing, you know. Um I I always joke with our kids back when uh Harry Potter was really popular. You know, I I knew kids in the eighth grade who every time a new Harry Potter movie came out, they would read not only that book, but they'd go back and read all of the books again to get ready to watch the movie. Take hours and hours to do that. And I think, gosh, it takes five or ten minutes to read the readings before you go to mass. And where are we investing our time and energy? And so this is an encouragement. Uh, parents who are you know the shepherds of of your family, you know, invest time in in the word of God and you will not regret it uh one bit.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

So yeah, and and and uh talking about the Holy Spirit before you before you read the word to pray to the Holy Spirit to to help the the the word to just jump literally jump off the pages into your heart. I think that's that's something important too. Before you go to Sacrament uh confession, you know, pray to the Holy Spirit to help you to make a good confession, but also examine your conscience well. I mean um sometimes people say that the Holy Spirit's the the the the the the forgotten one of the of the trinity and it never it never should be. And so I think um you know to rely on the Holy Spirit, Jesus we we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that he can be our advocate, our guide, right, our our counselor. That's important.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Place to wrap it up here.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

It's like the the Wi-Fi, someone holding out Bishop.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

Uh do you have the closing prayer handy there?

SPEAKER_02 47:17

I I do, I do. And so just so everybody knows, it who knows, they're probably wondering where on God's green earth is he? I am in right when you walk into my room in this narrow hallway, and uh, if I there's a fire that goes on, I'm in trouble. And uh, but it's it's closer to the Wi-Fi signal, so that's as that's about the best as I the best I could get. So that's where I am right now. Glad it worked out. Pray it for all of our listeners too, to our Lady of Lords, and and um and uh pray for their intentions, especially tomorrow when we visit the grotto for the last time. Let's uh ready to close with a prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Oh Saint John Paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing. Bless the church that you loved and served and guided, courageously leading her along the paths of the world in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus. Bless the young, who are your great passion. Help them dream again, help them look up to the heavens again, to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth. May you bless each and every family. You warned of Satan's assault against this precious and indispensable divine spark that God lit on earth. Saint John Paul, with your prayer, may you protect the family and every life that blossoms from the family. Pray for the whole world, which is still marked by tensions, wars, and injustice. You oppose war by invoking dialogue and planting the seeds of love. Pray for us 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. The Lord be with you, with your spirit. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

Amen. Guys, for uh great show. Always good to be with you. Uh to our listeners, we encourage you to place your comments below. We will read all of those. Please hit like, subscribe, and share uh this podcast with those who uh who you love. And I think Pierre Giorgio Ferratti reminds us the higher we go, the better we shall hear the voice of Christ. So keep striving versto l alto in your faith and pursuits. And until next time, God bless you.