Verso l'Alto
Welcome to Verso l'Alto, Faith on the Field Podcast. Join Fr. Burke Masters, priest of the Diocese of Joliet and chaplain to the Chicago Cubs and Bishop James Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, while they explore the Catholic Faith through Scripture, the saints, and the thrill of sports.
Verso l'Alto
Going, Going, Gone
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Bishop Wall, Fr. Masters, and Mike Sweeney discuss Kyle Schwarber's home run streak and how God's mercy extends to even the worst of sinners in the sacrament of Confession.
Links mentioned:
https://www.praymorenovenas.com/our-lady-of-lourdes-novena
https://www.dosp.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Pentecost-Novena.pdf
https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/a-grand-slam-for-god
Theme song: "Rock Star" by John Ehrich. Used with permission.
Nunk Chapay. Welcome everyone to episode 32 of Verso el Alto, our faith and sports podcast, combining uh the sports that we love and trying to help bring people closer to Jesus Christ and our Catholic faith. My name is Father Burke Masters, pastor of St. Isaac Joges Church in Hinsdale, Illinois, and Catholic chaplain for the Chicago Cubs.
SPEAKER_02Bishop James Wall, I'm the Bishop of the Diocese of Gallup, located in the northeast part of Arizona, northwest part of New Mexico.
SPEAKER_01And my name is Mike Sweeney. I'm a former Major League Baseball player and proud husband and father. And today I'm joining the podcast from East Lansing, Michigan.
SPEAKER_00Awesome, guys. Let's uh let's begin in prayer. 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 Pierre Giorgio Frasati. 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. Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. So we were just talking before coming on air. So this is Tuesday night. Normally Mike's in California. So now he's on East Coast time. Bishop Wall last week was in France. He's back home, and I'm back home here in Hinsdale. So uh let's catch up on how the last week has been.
SPEAKER_02Bishop, you you uh had a sound like a great week in Lourdes with uh the knights of so I'm a well actually I'm a big fan of the cone heads, and so I wanted to go where the cone heads were from, so I went to France. No, yeah, I I was with the uh I had that running through my mind a few times last week, you know. We're from France.
SPEAKER_00Is that where they were from? The cone heads?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well that's where they said they were from. Yeah, we're from France.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I did remember that. Remember big family, yes and no there is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then uh Lorraine Newman, those were that was the family. Yeah, which is funny. Uh so yeah, I was I was in France with the Order of Malta, Knights and Dames of Malta. We took uh about 55 people from the Western Association of Malta, uh, those who were ill with all various uh uh different uh you know difficulties, struggles, and things like that. And um, from little kids all the way to to uh up in their seniors, and it was just powerful, it was a great experience. If you remember last time I was kind of locked in a little hallway because it was the closest place I could get to the server, and it it was uh a little dicey, but I'm back at home, I'm in my office, uh you can see my backdrop's the same, dogs are here, life is good. But it was it was a phenomenal experience. And I've been in communication with a lot of the people that we we went to Lord's with, and it's just amazing to see how our Lord continues to work in their lives and kind of continues to uh the graces that they're receiving. And and um one of the neat little things that we say, and and I thought it was a nice little statement, but I really didn't understand it. And a lot of times they'll say, Our lady has brought you here, and it's really true, our lady of Lords brings you here. And the big thing, the big focus for Lords is all about healing, and you know, we'll never be made complete until we come into the kingdom. So always opening ourselves up to healing. So it's powerful as I said last week. I got into the waters for the first time, extremely cold, but uh an amazing experience. And I'm continuing to just kind of unpack that and bring that to prayer. Great experience, great experience. I look forward to going next year and um with the Order of Malta, which I'm a chaplain for them, and uh continue to bring people to to Our Lady.
SPEAKER_00Nice. I love Lords and it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01Mike, have you been there? I I have not, but I sure would love to go there, Bishop. And uh I I you know you said you got in the waters. I'm curious, you know, what was the highlight of your trip? Is it getting in the waters?
SPEAKER_02Was it um I celebrate Mass two years in a row at the Church of Hurt Baptism, and that's a real special church for me. I just love that church. Uh there's a lot of lot of amazing places, but for some reason I was chosen to celebrate the Mass the second year in a row in that church, and I'm I'm I'm already hoping they choose me if I can go for the trifecta next year. And maybe I'd be five in a row, which would be similar to five home runs in a row, like uh five five games in a row, somebody hitting a home run. Five.
SPEAKER_01Father Berg, you want to run with that?
SPEAKER_00That is a uh great segue. Uh so uh one of the things we're gonna talk about today is Kyle Schwarber tonight on Tuesday hit his fifth home run in his many games, and uh that tied the Phillies record. And uh we came to find out that our our uh our fellow podcaster here, Mike Sweeney, had tied the Royals record with five home runs in five days as well. So anybody share about that, Mike?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Bishop Wall said, Hey Mike, did you do that recently? That's like uh maybe like maybe like 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_00The whiffle ball game in the locker room.
SPEAKER_02Yes, you're bad having Ryan, Ryan was throwing to you in the in the cage.
SPEAKER_01You're calling your shot. I remember that streak like it was yesterday. And the reason why is you know, I had some good games and I had some bad games in the major leagues, more more bad than good. Um but I my my dad uh came out, my mom and I, you know, got together and said, let's let's fly dad out for Father's Day. We're home for a week. We're I think we're playing the Padres and the Indians back when they were still called the Indians. And um the first, I think it was the first three games I hit home runs against the Padres. And uh, and then the second two were against the Indians. And it was so neat because um on Father's Day I hit a walk-off double, and I remember my dad, it just brought him such joy. And, you know, my dad, he gave up his dreams of playing Major League Baseball when my mom got pregnant with the first of the eight kids. He was he was an all-star player um in working up his way, hitting about 350 with the Angels, uh, big switch hitter, six foot four. And my mom got pregnant with the first of the kids, and my dad said, you know what, time to come home. Like my wife's the love of my life, and I can't provide for her and our baby on a minor league salary. So I'm heading home. And uh, you know, it's it's such a joy that years later, my dad is uh in Kansas City, and I got to give him the gift that he gave up uh for us kids and my and my mom, which the gift of baseball. And to do hit five home runs in in five consecutive games was really cool. But the walk-off hit on Father's Day and all those home runs were were just such a joy. I remember when I come through home plate shaking hands with my buddies, I looked right behind home plate, and my dad was just standing up like the most proud dad in the world. I'll never forget it.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. That is great. Yeah, we were looking up uh what's the major league record, and uh came to find out that eight, uh Don Mattingley, uh Ken Griffey Jr., and what's the third one? Uh Dale Long. Dale Long, yeah. Wall James Wall from uh James Wall from called a shot. Yeah, exactly. So uh yeah, so Kyle Schwarber's got five. He's you know, he could keep it going here when when he gets hot, look out uh because he's a he's a monster with a bet. And I can tell you being chaplain for the Cubs, one of the nicest guys you'll meet, uh down to earth, uh Catholic guy. He'd always ask me to bless his bats before the game. Um but he, you know, I think I know he has firefighters and police officers in his family, and he would just show up at a firehouse in Chicago unannounced, bring lunch for everybody, just sit there and shoot the breeze. No pretension, you know, no, you know, I'm better than all of you. Uh, just an impressive guy. And I could see why um, like you, Mike, I know Kyle is considered one of the best teammates in baseball because of you know what he does on and off the field. So he's a guy that we can all root for.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's easy to root for. Even when they're playing the D-Backs, I like this. I don't want to, you know, you know, you're playing against your team, you don't want to assume dwell. But if he gets a hit, I'm like, I don't feel so bad. Yeah. Yeah. He's a really good guy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, one of my good friends is uh Kevin Long. He's a hitting coach for the Phillies. And he said, when they traded for Kyle Schwarber, they got him there going down the stretch and they had him, and he did pretty well. But he begged ownership. He said, look, he's his batting average is in real high, but he had some big home runs for us. But he single-handedly changed the locker room. And he said, We gotta, we gotta lock him up, we gotta keep him here for a long time. So I know there's some Cubs fans out there, some Phillies fans, and some D-Bax fans that even cheer for him when he's playing the D-Backs, but yeah, Kevin Long said uh that Kyle Schwarber, he um, when he turned the tides, he actually grabbed the whole team, the offensive unit, put him down in the batting cage, and I guess he just stood up like a like a field general. And he laid into him and said, This is who we are. And it kind of changed the tide for the the whole trajectory of the team for the Phillies. So, yeah, great leader, uh, great ambassador, great teammate, and yeah, really, really cool to see a man of high character going off like that. So let's go, Schwartz. Let's get to seven or eight and uh tie up Griffey and and uh Don Mattingly, and then what was the guy's Paul Long?
SPEAKER_00Dale Long, I think. Dale Long. Nobody's done it nine games in a row, so maybe we'll see it see it here. Yeah, and I I couldn't go wrong as a Cubs chaplain, as a lifelong Phillies fan, uh he's been on one of my teams uh his whole career. Um, and in the small world category, Mike, I don't know if I ever told you. So Kevin Long and I played together uh in Cape Cod. So uh we played for the Wareham Gateman, uh won the the league championship in 1988, I think it was. We had uh um Chuck Knoblock, who had a good major league career with uh a couple teams, especially the Yankees. I played with Chuck Knoblock. What's that?
SPEAKER_01I played with Chuck Knoblock in Kansas City, yeah. So keep going, Father. I want to hear about you. I want to hear about you, Father Berg.
SPEAKER_00Well, and and and the Mo Vaughn was on the team as well uh for the Red Sox. So we had we had quite a good team. But it was a it was a good uh good summer. That was the first time I ever hit with a wooden bat. Um and uh my claim to fame was that my batting average was one point higher than Mo Vaughn that summer, so did not have quite the power that he had, but uh I think I hit like 275 and he was 274 or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Um I I have a lot of friends, Father Burke, that played against you, and uh, you know, many friends, and they're my favorite is Paul Byrd. He played against you at LSU and he pitched in the major leagues for 15, 16 years. And and he said, Man, I he goes, that Burke Masters was one of the toughest outs I ever had in my whole career. And he said, Every time he came up to the box, I knew it was gonna be a five to seven pitch at bat. He wasn't gonna strike out, and he was gonna hit something hard. And that I was, you know, it just brought me such joy because he knows, you know, our sixth child is named after you, and um is you know, you're his godfather, and it's just really neat. He's Paul Byrd's a great man of faith, so he's like, Yeah, man, Burk Burke, Burke Masters was a stud, and uh he always asks about you. So really cool.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, and and Paul Byrd is a client of Bo McKinnis, who is one of my college you know, roommates at Mississippi State. And I know Bo and uh Paul are really close friends as well.
SPEAKER_01That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_00The baseball world is small when you kind of get into it. Um, and it just brought me back to so this this last week I had a chance to go back to Mississippi State with uh two buddies of mine, um Matt, who married Stephanie, if you read my book, and uh Joe, who uh was at Mississippi when I was there. He's from Hinsdale, actually. They're both from Hinsdale, but I didn't know them back then. And so it was great to go back. And we spent an hour and a half with Coach Polk. He was showing us around uh the stadium and uh, you know, legend of college baseball. And then uh Coach O'Connor, the new coach from Mississippi State, spent an hour with us on uh Friday morning after the first game. You know, solid guy. Uh I love one of his lines was, you know, and you say this often, Mike, he said, you know, this baseball thing, this is what I do, but it's not who I am. You know, he knows that he's uh a son of God and just grounded in his faith. And uh, and then that later that afternoon we were staying at at the same hotel as Auburn, who Mississippi State was playing, and Butch Thompson, the head coach for Auburn, uh, was there and he used to coach, he was the pitching coach at Mississippi. I not during my time, but I had met him through the years. Another great guy, a great man of faith. So just being around these men of baseball, but men of faith as well, was just a great weekend. Yeah, we saw a couple games and Mississippi lost two out of three to Auburn. So now they've they've got to go into college station to win two out of three, I guess, to host a regional, or they need to really have a great SEC uh tournament the next weekend. So yeah, it it was a it was a fun uh couple of days of baseball and then seeing old friends. Bo McKinnis, uh my great friend and and uh roommate was there as well. And so um yeah, it was always good to see old friends. That's great. Bishop Wall was the highlight of your week.
SPEAKER_02You know, I had a uh had a wedding uh uh in uh my former parish was Pastor St. Actually, she's from St. Thomas the Apostle, but we were actually at St. Francis Savior, which is a neighboring parish. And um so uh Mary Russler, I know her dad listens to our podcast, and uh she married uh Matthew Banashewski, who's kind of cool. His uncle played football against my brother. Or they actually they played football in junior college with each other, and then I think they played against each other. One went to Zousa Pacific, one went at the University of San Diego, and uh I just I had a great time. I saw, you know, there's a great picture that they had sent me of Mary on the day that she received first communion. So I gave her first communion, and so I witnessed her wedding on Saturday. So that was that was a that was a highlight. That was a highlight. So we'll we'll shoot the we'll put the picture out there. And uh it was it was great. Saw all kinds of people I haven't seen in a long time, and um you know some of my my former students are you know first, second, third graders. Now they're married with kids and everything. So it was that was a that was a highlight. That was a big highlight.
SPEAKER_01That was awesome, yeah. And I I'll just share with you um a cool highlight. I have a buddy of mine um back in in uh San Diego, and uh we reconnected and he hasn't he grew up Catholic and kind of you know kind of went his way, and we sat down and had breakfast the other day together, and I just shared with him the beauty of our faith and reminded him of his identity. You are a beloved child of God, you're a baptized, you know, Christian. And he said, you know, I I still believe in the Holy Eucharist. And and I shared with my friend, I just said, Hey, you know, you're only one confession away from that of being the heart of a saint. And I shared with him the story of Augustine, and he's like, Really? Is do you think the Catholic Church has um a place in it for a guy like me? And I said, Absolutely. And uh, make a long story short, my buddy uh got to go to confession today for the first time in 40 something years, and uh probably not only the highlight of my week, maybe the highlight of my year. Um I love him. And he just texted me and said, uh I'm officially 100% Catholic again.
SPEAKER_02And uh we love it when we're here when we hear confessions and we get a big fish, we we we love it. It's it's it's uh you know, we were talking about this a little earlier about the scripture quotes from Matt from Luke 15. There's much rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 righteous people. And so uh like a lot of times when I get people in with in this case, I try to remind them of that and I let them know you're as you're as good as the day on your baptism, you're clean as the day in your baptism. Now live in that grace. Yeah, those are those are those are big days. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Father Burke, what would you share with any of our listeners that maybe they haven't been to confession in a long time? Because I I I couldn't control myself when I heard from my buddy. And you know, I don't I don't want to, you know, say too much because I want to honor him. But you know, there's a lot, there's a lot of teammates that we have that play, you know, baseball that are away from the sacraments, and you we try to bring them back to Christ, you know, and and the devil will try to accuse them. Ah, you know what? You you sinned too much, you know, it's been too long. Uh, what would you say to the our listeners or teammates of ours that we're sharing, um, if they could listen to this, you know, what what do you think a priest would want you to know if you've been away from the sacraments for a long time?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, as Bishop said it, you know, when when you hear confessions on a regular basis, when you hear somebody like that, father, it's been 40 years, 50 years, you you kind of sit up in your chair and say, I I often quote that that scripture passage, you know, there's I want you to know there's a party in heaven right now. And they'll kind of say, What? You know, there's more joy in heaven with you being here than 99 people who have no need of God's mercy. And uh I I often say, you know, what what what brought you back today? Because, you know, I'd love to hear how the Holy Spirit is working. It might have been Mike Sweeney encouraged me to come back. In fact, I had a guy today, it wasn't confession, but he's we were talking about God's mercy, and he said, even murder, God can forgive. I said, Yeah, God can forgive anything, you know. Um, he his mercy is greater than any of our sins. He he told uh St. Faustina that our sins are like drops in his ocean of mercy. I like I love to imagine like the Atlantic Ocean, and I've got these eye drops with my my sins in them. I think my sins are so big and unforgivable. And he says, drop them in this ocean of mercy, and they dissipate immediately. That's what God's mercy looks like. So if you're out there and if it's been a long time, um you know, don't be afraid, you know. There's there's priests out there, these spiritual fathers who can't wait to be um you know, to be Christ in persona Christi to you in that moment to bring you back into union. It's all about staying connected to the vine. Sometimes by our decisions, we remove ourselves from the vine. Um but the Lord wants us to be connected to him. And a one good confession, doesn't matter what you've done, he'll forgive anything if you're truly sorry for it.
SPEAKER_02We're never beyond the reach of the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Never beyond his reach. We might think that we are, and uh the devil might be lying to us, right? As what is we, you know, the the devil is uh calls us by our sins, Jesus calls us by our name. And uh we we had a really wise priest in the diocese of Phoenix, Monsignor Michael Grady, passed away in 2019. His famous line, I remember as a new priest, I thought that's kind of silly, but the the longer I'm a priest, the more I realized it was just a lot of wisdom to it. He used to say 90% is just showing up. That's what he'd say. Ninety percent is just showing up. And I think about maybe somebody who's really far away from the sacraments, just show up, right? Yeah. Just go to confession. And uh and God's mercy is right is waiting for you. And the Lord wants to forgive you, wants to shower you with his mercy. And I love that image that you give from Faustina, you know, drop in the in the in the ocean of mercy, just dissipates.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and Father Burke and Bishop, maybe I I'd like to have your um wisdom as uh bishop and a priest. But I told my old baseball teammate, you know, I was trying to give him wise counsel, and I said, you know, he'd been going back to mass lately, which is awesome. And I said, when you when you go to mass at the penitential rite of the mass, um, your venial sins, you're called to confess them. Get to mass early and go. And Christ is just to forgive. But anything that is bigger, the mortal sins, I said, you know, um, I shared with him some of my testimony. I said, you know, it's a lot easier going to confession on your pillow. Um, I said, but when you kneel down um and and you and you speak to Christ and the priest, persona Christe, or the bishop, I said, imagine, yeah, he goes, Yeah, I don't know about having to confess to another person. So I opened up the book of James, told him, you know, here's the here's the teaching of the Bible, confess our sins to one another. Here's the teaching of our church for 2,000 years. Um and then I just shared with him, I said, What is the key to true repentance? It's humility. Um, and I shared with him for many, many years, I listened to the lies of a lot of my Protestant friends that said, Oh, you don't need to go to a priest, just confess your sins to Christ. There's, you know, he's the one that you need to confess to. And it's funny, the sins continue to stack up because I wasn't, I wasn't truly humble. I wasn't truly repentant, just confessing to a pillow in a hotel room or on my bed in Kansas City or whatever it was. But I said, man, when you kneel down before God and you're confessing, I said, imagine, yeah, it's a priest or a bishop, but I said, imagine you're confessing to Jesus because that's who you truly are confessing to, because they're sitting at Persona Priest Day, and that grace that you're going to be flooded with is going to bring up that humility is going to bring about true repentance, and only God can help us overcome those vices and sins. So would you say that was good advice for him? I I know experience experiencing that myself, listening to the lies of the devil, um, you know, confessing to a pillow. Um, man, I I told him I've been going to confession every month now for 15 and a half years, and I can't wait to go. It's humiliating at times, it's humbling, but through that grace, God can help us overcome any temptation or sin.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, Divine Mercy Sunday, we have that gospel, John 20. You know, Jesus gives us the sacrament. Freeze on them, receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, those you help bound are help bound. That's where we say the sacrament of penance, reconciliation, commonly called confession, is that comes from the lips of our Lord. And Jesus never said anything where he's like, all of a sudden, no, wait, let me take that back. Or or we or we quite me's Lord, Jesus is Lord. And um He He knows us, He knows we're we're prone to fail, He knows we're uh prone to give in to sin. But He gives us this holy lifeline, right, that we that we can always turn to and always is go to. So I think that's I think that's I think that's really good advice. Um Yeah, I don't know, Father, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I just think uh, you know, those of you who are parents, just to imagine, you know, your child that maybe is a prodigal son or it's somebody who's walked away and they really come back to you with a contrite heart and say, Dad, you know, or mom, will you forgive me? You know, your your fatherly or motherly heart can't wait. Multiply that by you know, infinity. That's that's the heart of the Father. You know, Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, and we see his mercy on display everywhere he goes, and to the repentant thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise, you know. So uh yeah, recognize that the enemy always wants to attack your identity, you know, your identity as a beloved child. God can't forgive you, you're unworthy, you know, you're a product of your sins, all of those lies. The truth is, and Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The truth is God can't forgive you, He can't wait to forgive you. He loves you, you're His beloved child, nothing is beyond his reach. And uh, so it's like we have those voices on both sides, and we have to be able to that's why prayer is so important being men and women of the word to uh be able to discern what's the voice of God and and what isn't, you know. Your vice was spot on. Praise God.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Should we dive into the readings for this weekend?
SPEAKER_02We have a lot going on this weekend.
SPEAKER_00We do.
SPEAKER_01Um well thank God we have a bishop on the podcast.
SPEAKER_02Let's see what I can do for you. Yeah, so we're it's it's either so Sunday, depending on where you are, um, Sunday is either going to be Ascension, uh Solemnity of the Ascension, or it's gonna be the seventh Sunday of Easter. And the reason why I say that is because uh different provinces in the United States, so I live in the province of Santa Fe, um our site of Santa Fe, Dice of Gallup, Dice Las Cruces, Dice of Phoenix, Diceces Tucson, and certain provinces have uh decided to transfer the the solemnity of the ascension from Thursday, which is 40 days after the resurrection, which is scripturally correct, have uh chosen to transfer it to Sunday. And I think there's a number of reasons, but one of the reasons was you know, Ascension Thursday was a holy day of obligation, and I and I think many people uh weren't going. So they're they made that decision to to transfer it, bump it uh to Sunday, uh so people wouldn't wouldn't fall into mortal sin. So I think that's one of the reasons. So uh, you know, I either way, um, we're gonna hear about ascension this week, either if you're in Thursday, on Thursday place or you're on Sunday place. And we're we're in the Matthew timeline. So it's interesting you're gonna hear from Matthew's gospel, and it's usually a scripture passage that we hear whenever we're at the sacrament of uh baptism, because it's the last words, recorded words from St. Matthew's gospel. So Jesus about is about ready to ascend to the right hand of the Father, but we don't hear about it. We're gonna hear about it another reading. And so, as Jesus says, you know, he says, All power in heaven has been given to me. And then he gives the commandment, go therefore and make disciples. And then in making disciples, he gives this formula for discipleship. First, baptize, right? Baptism is always first. Repent and be baptized. So baptize in the name of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. And then second, teach all that I have commanded you. So they spend all this time with Jesus, and then Jesus is is uh is um is is giving them commandment to pass along that teaching. And then I always I like to call this the a reminder um of uh of comfort, right? Remember, I'm with you until the end of the ages. So we hear that that Old Testament prophet uh promise, I will not leave you orphaned, I will not abandon you, but Jesus will always be with us. And the greatest way we know that Jesus is always with us is through the Eucharist, right? Body, blood, soul, and divinity. So we have ascension, and so we know that what happens after 40 days that Jesus ascends to the right hand of the Father. And we hear about it in the first reading today. And in the first reading, we're going to hear the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, and that's where it lays out what happens with Jesus, where he ascends to the right hand of the Father. Um you remember when they have the argument between um the apostles about who will be the greatest in the kingdom, and then there also there's the point where uh James and John have their mom do their bidding. Uh command that one of your my boys sit on your right, one that's on your left. Those are my two saints, so I uh they're the mama's voice. And um and and so uh Jesus says that's not for mine to give because it's already been given. So if you think that what does Jesus do? He sits at the right hand of the Father and and where he reigns. And just that that posture of being seated is a posture of authority and it's a posture of reigning. So if you think about when a one of bishops, so 17 years ago here in my diocese, I was ordained a bishop, and I was also installed. And the act of installing a bishop is seating him in the cathedra, in the in the chair of his cathedral. And the reason for that is that it's a it's a position of authority, but he also reigns or he shepherds his entire diocese. So see that we have that image of Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father. We're gonna hear about it in the second reading. St. Paul also is going to talk about uh Jesus as seated in heaven, um, where everything is under his authority. And so that's kind of one of the important things for us to look at. So no matter where you are, and if you're in a region where it's gonna be celebrated on Thursday, or if it's a region where it's gonna be celebrated on Sunday, either way, you're gonna you're gonna get these readings. And the reason why we're not hearing it in Matthew's gospel, because Matthew doesn't record it, but we're gonna hear from the Acts of the Apostles, which you know the human author author for that is Saint Luke, and he's gonna he's gonna lay it all out for us.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Bishop. Um things uh that struck me with this is um our last two bishops, so Bishop Conlin and then Bishop Hicks, now Bishop Hicks is Archbishop Hicks in New York, they wrote pastoral letters on this passage. Bishop Conlin wrote a pastoral letter on Go. It was just entitled Go. So the importance of going out into the world. And then following up on that, Bishop Hicks wrote a pastoral letter called Make, you know, and so what does it mean? If you stop and think about it, what does it mean to make a disciple? Like how do you make a disciple? And so he came up with four C's that I was uh just writing down, um conversion. So it's that call to conversion, that repentance, uh, and then confession to confess your sins. Uh as Mike, you helped your friend uh go back to confession, that conversion led to confession, and then communion, not only receiving holy communion, but living in union, living connected to the vine, staying in communion with the Lord, and then this commission, go out and you know, bring others into um into union with the Lord. I love that. So conversion, confession, communion, and commission, all undergirded, he said, by a life of prayer. So uh I love that. Another three-letter word here in this that struck me was teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Jesus didn't say, Go teach half of what I commanded you. No, he's like, All authority in heaven has been given to me. I've handed it on to you. Now go and hand it on. And as a priest, as a bishop, you know, we we take uh an oath of fidelity, meaning we're on, we don't go out and teach what we think. We go out and teach what the church teaches. Now, usually those two things are hand in hand, but even if I disagree with the a small teaching of the church, I don't teach my my uh you know, my belief, my what I think is right. I I'm on to teach everything that the Lord has handed on uh to the church, which uh which makes things easier. You know, it it is less confusion if I try to teach my opinion versus you know the truth handed on down by Jesus.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you preach it because it's true. You know, I've I've had every once in a while you have somebody say something similar to this, essentially, where you say this because you have to say it, or you you say it because it's the party line. Like, no, I I I believe this and I say it, I profess it because it's true. Yeah, right. This this is the reason for it. It's it's true. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00And then with the uh keep going, Father. This is awesome. Uh, real quick on the ascension, the first reading. Um, so Acts chapter one, as Bishop said, St. Luke is the author. You know, it's important to I love timelines. And so Jesus rises on Easter Sunday, he appears to many different people for 40 days on earth, and then he ascends into heaven. Um uh and then 10 days later, uh, which is why Ascension Thursday is 40 days after Easter. Pentecost Sunday is 10 days after Ascension Thursday, but in most diocese we'll celebrate the ascension on on uh on Sunday, this coming Sunday. Uh we in our Beformed program, which is adult formation, you can look it up beformed.net. Um, we were talking about the ascension last week, and something that really struck me in the teaching and comes from the catechism and uh the church fathers is that Jesus ascended in the clouds, you know, and where was he going? But he was going into the presence of the Father, finally offering that that sacrifice in the presence of the Father. And they made the connection to the Old Testament where the the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies once a year in the presence of incense, kind of like that cloud of smoke, and he would offer that the blood of bulls and goats in atonement for the sins of the people. And so the ascension is not just an add-on to the resurrection, they say, but it is truly essential that yes, Jesus rose from the dead, and then he fully presented that that sacrifice with his own blood to the Father in this cloud of smoke, in this, in the whole, the ultimate Holy of Holies, to make atonement for our sins. And it says then where where the head goes, the body can follow. And so Jesus is the head of the mystical body of Christ, and we are part of that mystical body. That's why it's so important to stay connected to the vine, to stay a part of the body, because where Jesus is gone, now this is the first time human flesh has entered heaven in the person of Jesus, and it gives dignity dignity to our bodies, and it should get us excited that wow, Jesus' ascension into heaven has opened the gates of heaven for me to follow. And uh, so I need to stay connected to the vine to stay part of the mystical body of Christ. Mike, what's what's on your heart tonight?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, when I think of the ascension, thank you, thank you, Bishop Wall and Father Burke. Um, I I just dig I I love digging into the upcoming Sunday Gospels and the readings with you guys because it's I'm sure your our listeners feel the same way. I just feel so prepared when I go to mass that upcoming Sunday. But uh when I think of when I think of the ascension um of our Lord into heaven and where he is seated at the right hand of the Father, all I can think about, you guys are gonna laugh, but my dad, you know, I told you he gave up his baseball career, right? He went to, came home, you know, drive a beer truck. Uh I don't want to play in the big leagues. I I not that I don't want to, but I choose the greater. I choose to put my wife first. And he he's done that for 50 uh 57, 58 years of marriage. And he just adores my mom. But uh he would leave at 4:35 in the morning, go to work all day at the beer at the beer industry. He'd race home to coach a little league games and you know, who knows what else. Um, sometimes he'd meet one of my sisters at a out front in the driveway to watch her make her basket shots, like a basketball player in our family. And then he'd come home, and when he knew that his work was done, he would sit in every all the kids knew if you were sitting in dad's lazy boy chair, when dad walked through that door, you were out. And he didn't care if somebody had uh their best friend over. My mom's like the my grandma was there. When when he walked in that room, everyone knew that was his throne, and he deserved it. He was he was the authoritative figure in our home. He's our spiritual leader, and my mom's the heart of our home. But it was like he would, he knew that his day was done and he'd kick back his feet. He'd have my five sisters ripping off his shoes and socks and giving him foot massages, and my mom would serve him dinner, and he was just the king. And when I think about our Lord when he ascended into heaven, I think about that same exact thing. You know, at the beginning of time, he was, you know, it says in John chapter one that he was with the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity was one. Um, at the beginning of time, they had creation in mind, and he entered into the world through the womb of Mary, lived this perfect life, died this horrendous death, appeared, rose from the dead, appeared for the 40 days, and he ascended into heaven, and he sat down. His job was done. He it was like, I think Bishop, it was a perfect offering to the Father, saying, Father, my job is done. I've done it, I've done it perfectly. I've done it completely for all of mankind. I died so that for the sins of all man, so that all might be saved. And I'm gonna sit down, Father, and in 10 days, we we are one together again. We can send them the Holy Spirit. But the mission that I was set on into the womb of a 14 or 15-year-old little virgin Mary, my mission, my job is done. And I'm gonna rest. I'm seating. And that's all I can think about is that little boy that saw my dad come through the doors. And I knew he had worked hard and he had done everything he could, and his job was done. Every day I got to see it. And when I think of the uh the ascension, that's that's what I think of.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. That image I can relate to that image. I do too. Yeah. Yeah. Something else that uh struck me. Uh, you know, we we love uh Dr. Brent Petrie uh and his writings. And you know, he said the question is and somebody asked me recently, what were the disciples doing between the ascension and Pentecost? And it talks about they they were in the upper room praying, Jesus told them to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and uh, you know, it's better that I go, he said, and you're gonna want the spirit that I'm gonna send. And uh so they prayed, you know, you could say like those nine days between ascension and and Pentecost, and it was the first novena. And so in the church, in the church, we have this uh tradition of praying novena is nine days for a certain intention, and people would say, Oh, you Catholics, the first disciples did that, and boy, did they got answered novena prayer? They they got blasted by the Holy Spirit that forever changed the world, you know. They went from, you know, what are we gonna do? to we gotta tell the world, go and make disciples. And uh that same Holy Spirit that they received is in me and you. Do we do we realize that gift, you know? I love it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, that that that uh like I said, we have a we have a long-standing tradition, 2,000-year-old tradition of nine days of prayer. Novenas. And um, and the very first one is the is we'll start on Thursday. And so we usually put this out on Wednesday, and we'll also put a we'll put a link uh to this so people want to do the the novena. I think it's a great thing to do. Um, but that's uh before we went to Lourdes, nine days prior to that. I found a novena to Our Lady of Lords, sent it out to our group, and I will I know a lot of the people prayed for it because it was just kind of really uh you know, tilling the soil of their hearts and preparing them to receive something special, which I know a lot of people did. So the very first one. goes always back already back to the scripture.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Beautiful. So let's pray for that outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02You know, we we have them already, but let's let's let the Spirit be stirred up in us and uh to be bold, to be unafraid you know, that that advocate uh that in Greek parakletos means to to call beside and just to think about God the Holy Spirit is by our side pointing you know this is the direction not that direction or whispering you know say this I'll give you the words to speak or zip it don't say anything right now you know uh listen to your advocate uh the best best attorney you'll ever have uh is free of charge given by the father and the son amen amen shall we wrap it up guys yeah another good episode I like it I think the holy the Holy Spirit's telling me to be quiet so I like it you know I was I was gonna throw that out there too if you miss the first day or you miss a day just keep going yeah you know if if somebody tells you ah what's it's not you it's not worth it to do it that's that's that's the voice of the of the evil one yeah just just do it and you get nine days great if you get eight days great seven days great if you miss a day jump back on the horse keep going just pray pray is praying is what is important.
SPEAKER_01Key is you're praying yep yeah and I just want to say one thing um that I I was excited about describing my dad and the work that he did and when I when I was describing the work that Jesus did before he sat down I I have to go back and make sure our viewers and listeners understand his whole um mission on on the on coming to earth was to save sinners but also to establish his church and to give us the roadmap to heaven and giving us the Holy Eucharist and that's something I left out in my excitement and that's certainly you know number one that was his mission. So grateful to be the church said he started amen.
SPEAKER_02Seal for souls Mike yeah all right close with a prayer and a blessing please please name the Father the Son the Holy Spirit O Saint John Paul from the window of heaven grant us your blessing bless the church that you love 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 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.
SPEAKER_00Amen the Lord be with you and with your spirit Almighty God bless you the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen thanks guys for listeners please like subscribe and share this podcast with somebody that needs to hear it today please put your comments there. We'd love to read those and respond to them and as Pierre Giorgio Fersati reminds us the higher we go the better we shall hear the voice of Christ. Keep striving verso lalto in your faith and pursuits and until next time God bless you and your families