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Opportunities for God's grace in the season of Lent · Beyond The Beacon

0:07
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Join us for conversations about our Catholic faith, and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Jay Agnish with me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Bishop Kevin, how are you today?
0:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm good, Jay.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: How are you?
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Doing well, thanks.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: So um Spring has sprung.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: I wish it looks feels like uh let's hope it I don't know if we'll winter's over, but um it's nice to at least think that it might be.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a good sign of things to come, if nothing else.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I got out yesterday actually with the dog a little bit.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Took her up to uh Eagle Eagle Rock um in Montclair for a little little stroll up there, and uh that was nice uh new addition to the family.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: And how are you how are your cats doing?
0:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's I'm down to one.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh and seems fine.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: And uh and more important news, uh we've been all been monitoring the the health of the Pope, of course, and we're praying for him.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: And um it seems like every day it's it's amazing how closely the re the news reports are following his every uh you know medical update.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: It's really quite something.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: But he's right now, I guess the latest is that he's a little bit better, but he's uh still has pneumonia in in both his lungs and right.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: But I think significant improvement from the weekend uh when Saturday, whatever asthma attack he had, um it seemed like uh he taking a turn for the worse, and um but uh he must be pretty strong.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: I've just actually started to listen to uh his autobiography um so which is wonderful.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: Um and um he hasn't mentioned yet the part about the lung.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: We'll see if that is involved.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: But uh um as somebody was saying, uh there's um I I had heard that he had only one lung, but it's not that he has it seems like he has about one full lung and one 80 percent lung that um part has been taken away.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: Um our friends at uh Jesuitical, their sister podcast of um um Inside the Vatican, I think it is.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: Um they uh have done some reports and the guy um Churardi.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the um uh who's been reporting from the Vatican for I think over fifty years, yeah.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: And uh they had an update today, and um uh he and the co-host were talking about, you know, some of the media, even um fake news and uh reports that the Holy Father had passed away.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: And um but um but the last couple days it seems like um he's really uh heading in a uh a good direction and they're talking about when he might get out of the hospital.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: So um we gotta keep praying.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: And yeah.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: Um they're having the rosary every night now um in in the Vatican for his health.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: And uh so um please God uh he'll be with us uh for a good you know good while longer.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, please.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: He's got a Jubilee year to um a lot going on here.
3:14
SPEAKER_00: The synod on synodality, kind of um All right.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: So before we get much further, I want to introduce Father Jared Brogan, who has a return guest.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: A return friend to the show.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh how are you doing, Father Jared?
3:26
SPEAKER_00: Very good, good to be here.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Bishop thanks for the yeah.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: I think it was uh this time last year that you've got to be.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: It was right before Lent.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: And Father Judd.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: Could be, could be.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's uh Father Jared's the uh director of the office of worship.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: He's also the diocesan master of ceremonies, uh so he's very involved in special masses that happen at the cathedral and elsewhere.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Um so great.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: So why don't we pray?
3:50
SPEAKER_01: And professor at the seminary, right?
3:51
SPEAKER_01: Did you mention that?
3:52
SPEAKER_00: And professor at the Mecheliconception Seminary.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and residents at St.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Philip here in Clifton, where we uh where our studio is.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: So a little stroll for you to get over here, I guess.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Right.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: So hopefully uh those who listen to or watch the podcast are familiar with the Jubilee prayer by now, but as we'll be talking, uh I'm hoping that we might uh do a little feature on social media that we'll um be praying together uh the Jubilee prayer during Frash Wednesday to uh Easter Sunday or um during the time of Lent, right?
4:23
SPEAKER_01: So um uh and um I remember when we first got the Jubilee prayer months ago as we were in preparation.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: It's a little lengthy and the wording doesn't always flow um super smooth, I would say.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: But uh I think one of the things about the Jubilee is slow down and take some time to reflect.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: So I think uh a little longer prayer, um not that it's that long, but uh um uh it gives us a chance to for a little reflection as we pray.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: So uh uh we're gonna try to keep uh promoting it.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: So uh we'll uh pray together.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: Um and we'll continue to pray for our Holy Father's health, um, for peace in our world.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh today we're recording on February 27th, which is Independence Day in the Dominican Republic.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: So we pray for there's many from the Dominican Republic here in our city of Patterson, and uh there was a little ceremony at the city hall today.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: So uh um Father Jarrett, have you been to the Dominican Republic?
5:18
SPEAKER_01: I have, yes.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: Um Father Jarrett has an uncle who uh who was a priest in Brooklyn who is with the Lord now, but uh who uh helped me to get to the Dominican Republic for the first time.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh um so uh felicidades, uh uh happy independence day to all of our brothers and sisters from the Dominican Republic.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: Um so let us pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: As we gather in the Lord's name and thank him for his presence amongst us, we pray for the health of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and for those who have asked for our prayers and those we promised to pray for, and we pray together this Jubilee prayer.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your Son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindle in our hearts by the Holy Spirit reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your kingdom.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the gospel.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the pure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when with the powers of evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, pilgrims of hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: To you, our God, eternally blessed.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: Be glory glory and praise forever.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: Today, February 27th, is one of the newer saints, right?
6:59
SPEAKER_01: Gregory, an abbot and recognized in the Eastern Church, I think, and was he named a doctor of the church by Pope Francis, I would say, in 2015, something like that.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: Not that long ago.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: Um I came to mind because um the missile, the newer missile has has uh the name and you can go someplace else for the prayers.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: Um but I then had an older one and uh it wasn't, I guess had been printed before it wasn't even.
7:29
SPEAKER_02: Right, it wasn't even there.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: That's the challenge with some new saints.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: And uh and he also is uh kind of what we call an optional memorial.
7:35
SPEAKER_02: So uh we don't always have all the prayers for them to begin with, but being a new saint, it's uh it's tough to keep updated.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: And that's something who someone who has studied liturgy would be uh on top of, right?
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's right, exactly.
7:48
SPEAKER_02: You get a lot of updates throughout the year.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: Now, I mean, praise God, we have a lot of new saints and there's always updates from the USCCB about new prayers.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: And they mentioned in um the uh Vatican News uh podcast uh or inside the Vatican as describing uh the Holy Father's improvement over the last few days that um uh the Secretary of State and the the Sustituto, they call them or substitute, or number two with the Secretary of State, um, so the number two and number three persons after the Holy Father were in for uh uh what do they call an audience, but it was a working meeting, and uh one of the things that they did was I think um sign off, the Holy Father signed off on uh uh the approval of um the canonization process to go, and one is um uh an American father, Emile Capoon, right, yeah.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Who's um uh so I think there's gonna be a few more new saints for the Jubilee.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: We know Carlo Cos and Pierre Giorgio Fersati and a few others, so uh um have to reprint those missiles.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, something that is not optional for us as Catholics is is Lent, which is coming up right around the corner uh next week.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: And Bishop Kevin, you seem particularly inspired uh uh rolling into this this Lenten season.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Um your column was quite inspiring where you offered a number of uh Lenten practices that we as Catholics can can practice and uh be a part of the deepen our faith.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: Um where do you where do you want to begin?
9:24
SPEAKER_01: So uh glad that Father Jared was available and uh we maybe scrambled a little bit to get this podcast out either right before or right after Ash Wednesday um because um Lent so is so important and um there was a priest who talked about uh holy days of obligation.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: That could be a topic for another podcast episode, but uh um uh he called them holy days of opportunity.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: Not to focus on the obligation, but the opportunity to celebrate whatever feast day it is.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: So um Lent is a time of opportunity to um encounter God's grace, to to grow closer to God in prayer and um and and to one another.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: And so as I thought about it in this Jubilee year and maybe just where I am in my own spiritual life, uh I'm looking forward uh to Lent this year.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: And yes, we have to give something up, but um but also um what else might we do, especially on the spiritual level, um, to take time for prayer?
10:20
SPEAKER_01: I am a strong advocate for daily mass.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: And um if I think as I said, I think it's one of the um best kept secrets.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: Best kept secret secrets, right, and underappreciated.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: And then I wrote about confession.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'm not sure which is even uh, but uh uh both end, as Catholics, right?
10:37
SPEAKER_01: We're both ends.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: So um um so something like trying to go to daily mass during lent.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: Some some do make the practice of um finding a way to get to mass every day during lent.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Others maybe if you can't get there every day on a practical level, uh, one or two days during the week.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: Um uh I talked about uh praying with if you can't get to mass, then praying with the readings for mass.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: Um uh we'll talk a little bit about um welcome home to healing and um maybe uh as uh getting there, um uh maybe Father Jared can tell us a little bit about um his background.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: We share some commonality in uh uh Brooklyn Queen's roots and uh and uh what year were you ordained and um where have you served and and what led you to um um uh become our diocese and director of liturgy of worship, the office of worship.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: So I was ordained in 2011 by Bishop Saratelli, and I um served for two years as a parochial vicar at St.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: Margaret of Scotland in uh Morristown, and then after that I was two years as a parochial vicar at St.
11:43
SPEAKER_02: Philip in Clifton.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: And then after four years, I was named Pat Well administrator and then pastor of St.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: Catherine of Siena in Mountain Lakes.
11:53
SPEAKER_02: Through those years, I was also involved in the vocation office and other other uh boards and uh in the diocese.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: Um and then in 2020, when Bishop Sweeney came to the diocese, he um appointed me as the director of the office of worship.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: And in addition to go back to school uh to work on a degree in in liturgy and sacraments as well.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: And you went to uh school at what's on the campus of Mundeline University.
12:25
SPEAKER_02: It's the univers uh uh the University of St.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: Mary of the Lake, which is Mundeline Seminary, and they had Chicago.
12:30
SPEAKER_02: Chicago, yeah.
12:31
SPEAKER_02: Kind of a northern suburb of Chicago, so uh but they have a uh they had a program there called the Liturgical Institute, which focused specifically on on liturgy, and so I was enabled I was able to get a degree, what we call a license, a licential in sacred theology, which is an ecclesiastical degree um in liturgy and sacraments.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: And so um we'll get back to confession and welcome home to healing as something that um we offer and an opportunity during Lent.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: Um but uh as you uh talk about your liturgical studies and your work in the diocese, um, maybe you can uh answer for listeners or viewers that might uh um not know all of the history of where does Lent come from, right?
13:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh there's a connection to the sacraments, it's preparation for Holy Week and Easter, um the 40 days.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh exactly, yeah.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit of a lots of everything is kind of intertwined.
14:04
SPEAKER_02: Uh Lent, confession, the catechumenate, what we now call the OCIA.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: Um it's all it's all catechumenate.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: The catechumenate.
14:13
SPEAKER_02: What's that?
14:13
SPEAKER_02: So the catechumenate, so a catechumen is a person who's uh preparing to enter the church through baptism.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: And so um there was a period for centuries in in the church, very much in the early church, where people that were coming into the church as adults, especially uh in the fourth century after Christianity was legalized.
14:34
SPEAKER_02: So the church was growing and all these adults were coming in to be baptized, and they had a process to do that.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: And it was a pretty severe, but serious, um intense uh process that they w would refer to as the catechumenate, and it was very penitential because people were turning away from a former way of life to be baptized and take on a new way of life.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: And it became it was an intense process, and it became very much intense right before Easter, because it was at Easter where they came into the church and were fully initiated into the church through baptism, confirmation, um, and the Eucharist.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: We got away from it for a few centuries and now we're back to it, right?
15:18
SPEAKER_02: Now we're back to it, right, and that's why the catechumenate, which existed for a long time, then kind of went by the wayside for a little bit, but then at the time of the Second Vatican Council, they introduced again um what's known what was no what was known as the rite of Christian initiation for adults, and now we just have a new name for it now, the order of Christian initiation for adults.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: But there was a large part of it that was very much penitential, and people were public penitents, and so they really had to walk around their their towns, wearing at that time with the they had a hair shirt, which was a sign of penitence, but more applicable to us with ashes, wearing ashes on their head as a sign of their of their of their penance.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: And it was a very um communal experience, right?
16:06
SPEAKER_01: So um uh yes, it's great that an individual has uh some kind of faith experience and as an adult says, okay, I want to become Catholic, or um it also we now we have those who were maybe baptized as Catholics, never raised in the faith, but now they're gonna want to enter into uh fully into the church and receive communion and confirmation.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: Um uh so we call those candidates.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: Oh, those candidates, that's right.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: Um but um but at the beginning, um, and it it strikes me, you know, that as you mentioned around was it 350 or so with Constantine when um the church is uh Christianity, it's no longer illegal, right?
16:43
SPEAKER_01: For the first 300 plus years, you were risking your life if you enter the OCIA or RCIA, right?
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Or you said and and it was had to be done kind of secretly in the catacombs, but they still did a process.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: And and you it you you were really making a commitment if because once you became a Christian at that time, you could be instantly persecuted.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: You could lose your job, you could go to jail, you could be so um, but then when it kind of comes out of the catacombs, we say and it becomes and then it became um popular and fashionable.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: The Roman Emperor's saying, oh, they're all gonna be a cat, you know, so um uh but but that um uh and and I think one thing that we um maintain today very much um uh is that it was the the parish community, right?
17:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh that those small communities uh um uh and um connected with the bishop um uh and uh the the person coming into the faith um did it as you say publicly, right?
17:39
SPEAKER_01: And in uh with so there and and there's there's things that we do at Sunday Mass and uh in the and that that last 40 days was the intense part, right?
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: And I mean ideally the way that the process is set up now is that it it is really supposed to be a communal process.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: And uh during Lent, especially those third, fourth, and fifth weeks, it's very much there are rites that take place within the Sunday Mass of the third, fourth, and fifth week of Lent, because the community is praying for and supporting these catechumens, or by that time they're called elect.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Um so it is a communal presence members who will become right fully initiated.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: Right.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm reading the Acts of the Apostle and I'm just thinking, like, wow, it seems so much easier back then.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul would read a little bit at the uh Right of Peter calling down the Holy Spirit for the grounds.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm good.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: And even right at towards the beginning, uh Philip and the Ethiopian, he's telling him about the Bible he didn't understand.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, couldn't I be baptized?
18:35
SPEAKER_01: He says, Is there some water right over there?
18:37
SPEAKER_01: So let's baptize.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, St.
18:39
SPEAKER_02: Ambrose, one of the great saints of the church, he was a catechumen preparing for baptism when he was walking past the cathedral and they elected him bishop.
18:47
SPEAKER_02: So not only he had to be baptized, receive all the sacraments, be ordained a priest, as someone involved in priestly formation and the RCIA.
18:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure I'm I approve of that.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: No, it's a process uh time, right?
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Discernment.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes, so the traditional It's a tradition built up by the leaders of uh the Catholic Church, I guess, that uh over over the years or through discernment.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh, yeah, absolutely.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: And we you know, we uh some have said with the synodal process, synod on synodality, the church has been synodal for since the Acts of the Apostles, and uh bishops and with the Holy Father have come together and say, How are we doing this?
19:24
SPEAKER_01: Can we new do we need to do it?
19:25
SPEAKER_01: And certainly that happened at the Second Vatican Council.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: And I think um the recovery, we could say, of um that process of the initiation of adults um has been a great blessing for the church, right?
19:37
SPEAKER_01: And now as bishop, I remember as a as a pastor going with um those preparing for the sacraments to the rite of election, which is usually the first Sunday of um of of Lent after Ash Wednesday, where everybody comes and is presented to the bishop, and you go from being a catechet a cate um a catechumen to an elect in the rite of election, because now your name is written in the book.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: But you're on the track to get get the bishop coming to the street.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: And you get your photo with the bishop.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: Somewhere in there.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: So if you're waiting patiently on the right, right, right, right, right.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: Thank God for the staff at the cathedral and the team with that work with Father Jared, they make it go very smoothly.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: And but it's also a wonderful experience.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we have 107 parishes, and maybe not all 107 have uh those who are going to be baptized or those who are gonna receive community confirmation, but a large majority of them and it gives them the opportunity to come together with the bishop uh as as they're uh and most of these people have been in the process for two years, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_01: Right.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: A year or two, yeah.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: A year or two, yeah.
20:38
SPEAKER_02: The um and another great part of that that we have that is pretty unique here in in Patterson is that the day before the rite of election we have a retreat for candidates and still the catechumens at that time.
20:49
SPEAKER_02: And already, I mean, I because I'm that's what I'm I'm really been working on it, like kind of last minute now, people calling up and I mean we have over 400 people as of now that's great coming to that coming.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's still awesome.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, ten days away, right?
21:05
SPEAKER_00: So they'll see each other at the retreat and then at the end.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: The next day, right, yeah, right, yeah, right.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Um so uh maybe some of our viewers and uh listeners are familiar with that process and in their parish either have seen or see that those preparing and and and that's part of the history of what gives us Lent.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: But also I think um and um we talk about uh there was once a phrase that some used uh there was a store called the A and P, and some people talked about A and P Catholics who come for ashes and palms.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: We're glad that people come.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: And uh but it is amazing, probably the two largest uh days of attendance are are Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: Um but they're beautiful days.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, um and and I think opportunities for us as the church and parishes to make people feel welcome.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh and and so yes, I think um there's uh it it it's uh certainly part of the experience in the Hispanic Latino community.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: That Ash Wednesday, being there and receiving Ashes is so important.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: And um and so um so maybe Father Jarry can give us a little word about um some of the meaning of of Ash Wednesday and and and how it brings us into Lent.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then we'll get to some of the spiritual practices and and reconciliation.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: Actually, one of my fondest memories of as a priest and thirteen, fourteen years as a priest, was I was a year or two ordained and I was uh celebrating the the seven o'clock on Ash Wednesday night.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: So I mean that's kind of late in the day already, seven o'clock at Spanish Mass at St.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: Margaret in Morristown.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: There were Over a thousand people at this mess.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: And it was absolutely, for lack of a better word, wild.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: It was just incredible.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: And like you said, maybe there is a good percentage of those people that might not be around on a regular basis, but the fact that we were all there at that moment, there was something very moving about it.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: And um so and you know, it always strikes me, and I quoted in the uh homily, excuse me, in the column that um the one day when everyone can see who is Catholic, right, by our ashes, what is the gospel, what did Jesus say in the gospel?
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Don't do religious action, people to see.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Right?
23:16
SPEAKER_01: But if I think that's why I said I like that phrase, listen closely.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: If we listen closely to that gospel, Jesus is saying, you need to fast, you need to pray, um, you need to give alms.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: But why?
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Why, right?
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh that right, right.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: And so um that the ashes are a symbol of well, the ashes are a symbol of um our humility, ashes.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: You know, there's nothing as as uh uh delicate as ashes.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: You you know, well back in the day when you saw people smoking cigarettes, the ashes would grow, and then just they would just disappear in the wind.
23:52
SPEAKER_02: So ashes are very fragile, kind of representing our fragility as human beings, our sinfulness to the side.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: That's right, that's right.
24:00
SPEAKER_02: Then we're going back to that, right?
24:01
SPEAKER_02: And in the shape of a cross, which is the sign of our salvation, the sign of our redemption, that our fragility and our sinfulness is transformed by the cross and the sacrifice of Christ.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: And I think those wearing those ashes, whereas, you know, it's really not about others to see as much as I think for us to realize, um, be more self-reflective about it.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: And another way Ashwinsay connects with Palm Sunday is that the ashes are from the previous Palm Sunday, right?
24:32
SPEAKER_02: From the Right, they could be, right, right, exactly.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: The palms, yeah.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: So some people, you know, we have to keep those palms and they get they lose.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's uh the parish, some some parishes have, you can bring and put your old palms in the and then they're burned and they become ashes, right?
24:48
SPEAKER_01: Um so um um so we can come on Ash Wednesday and but let's do some preparation, right?
24:56
SPEAKER_01: So um we have that custom beautiful of what am I gonna give up for Lent?
25:01
SPEAKER_01: And it's good to think about it um a few more days, or when you're viewing this, hopefully right before, or even if you're reviewing it on Thursday or Friday after Ash Wednesday, you not too late to say, What am I gonna do for Lent?
25:11
SPEAKER_01: And yes, give something up because uh we share in the sacrifice of Jesus, right?
25:15
SPEAKER_01: Ultimately that cross, right?
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh and and when the ashes are placed, um uh you can the priest or minister can say, uh, remember you are dust and to dust you shall return, or turn away from sin and believe in the gospel.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: And as Father Jared was saying, we receive those ashes so that I can remind myself I need to what how do I need to turn away from sin, right?
25:39
SPEAKER_01: And and some of those practices that we do during Lent, whether it be daily mass or reading with the scriptures, I I I noticed in my list uh afterwards that I've almost forgot Station of the Cross, right?
25:48
SPEAKER_01: The beautiful prayer of Station of the Cross.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Um so Father Jared, maybe um share with us some of the uh ways that uh liturgically we um uh pray together um uh uh during during the Lenten season.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well I think that one of the the main places where we pray is certainly the Eucharist, right?
26:06
SPEAKER_02: And if we have the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist daily, or maybe a few extra times during the week is helpful, but certainly Sunday Eucharist, the beautiful devotion of the uh stations of the cross, um which is uh very popular and is really not something that's limited to Lent either.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: We do it very publicly during during Lent.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: Um Can I ask you guys a question about daily mass?
26:28
SPEAKER_00: So often there's very few people at Daily Mass.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: I think the number goes up during Lent.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: I think you see an increase.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: What is it like for you to celebrate daily mass when there's like two people there or three people there?
26:42
SPEAKER_00: Is it uh any different?
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh right.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: Um now what that living in the house that I live in that is a chapel, and uh if I don't sometimes I say mass at the parish next door, but um if I don't have uh something public um mass on my calendar on my calendar, I'll sometimes say mass.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, it's a different experience.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh we're as priests, we're um uh our center is is the Eucharist and that daily celebration of the Paschal mystery, right?
27:11
SPEAKER_01: Paschal, another word for Easter.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: Um listening to God's word, uh uh praying with the church and then uh celebrating the Eucharist, um uh not only the body, the bread and wine becoming the body and blood, soul and divinity, but that recalling of his suffering, death, and resurrection, which we recall at every mass, but um Lent is leading us towards that annual celebration of um so you could say uh uh daily mass is a daily uh trituum, right?
27:42
SPEAKER_01: Of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, because every Mass we remember the Last Supper as he gave and he gave us the Eucharist.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: Um his body is broken, his blood is poured out, that's the altar of the cross, Good Friday.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: Um and he comes to us in his body, blood, soul, and divinity, the risen Lord, uh who's conquered sin and death, who we receive in Holy Communion.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: Um so um I'm not a liturgist trained, but uh well as a bishop, I have a responsibility as a liturgy to get ahead of the buttons our training uh and and and part of our spirituality, right, as priests and as Catholics.
28:14
SPEAKER_02: Right, right, absolutely.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: Every time we celebrate the Mass, we celebrate the Paschal mystery.
28:18
SPEAKER_02: So whether it's Easter Sunday, Holy Thursday, Christmas, or a Tuesday in July, we celebrate the suffering, death, and resurrection.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: And certainly it is a little different by oneself.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh a snowy day sometimes in a parish that would be two or three people, and uh that can be a nice experience in itself.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Um but um when there's more people, uh there's um you know, there's uh that sense of being together and uh Yeah.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean I imagine there's nothing like a full cathedral mass, right?
28:47
SPEAKER_02: You know the Eucharist, the uh the the liturgy is is a communal worship.
28:51
SPEAKER_02: So it is meant to be a communal celebration.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: However, that could be like I as I mentioned before in that experience on Ash Wednesday.
28:59
SPEAKER_02: Um but even just with a hundred people or three people, or even when, as the bishop mentioned, sometimes we celebrate Mass by ourselves.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: And there's really no such thing as a private liturgy, right?
29:11
SPEAKER_02: We're always united with the church in prayer and those in heaven.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: I I think is one of the beautiful things as Catholics, right?
29:16
SPEAKER_01: The Our Father, Hell Mary Mass, some things we do so repetitively we don't even think about what we're doing, right?
29:22
SPEAKER_01: There's a good part to that, there's not a not so good part to that.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: So for those listening, what does Mass mean?
29:29
SPEAKER_01: How do you participate in the Mass?
29:32
SPEAKER_01: Even something you could do for Lent is just be a little bit more intentional or reflective on what, you know, do Amen, right?
29:40
SPEAKER_01: When I receive Holy Communion, right?
29:42
SPEAKER_01: Do I always stop and say, yes, I believe that this is my Lord and my God, body, blood, soul, and divinity?
29:48
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: We go back and where am I going to have to uh uh you know uh uh order my coffee from Starbucks.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
29:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right to enter totally, I mean, totally um and Vatican II speaks about this full conscious active participation, but it that doesn't necessarily mean having to carry something or wave something or you know, it's really that in it first and foremost, and the council says it, it's really that internal disposition that we bring to the mass that I think so easily, even as priests, we can overlook it.
30:17
SPEAKER_02: And so even as a priest in Lent to focus on praying the liturgy.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, because the better we do it, the better everyone else will know.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: Being in the moment as completely as possible.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: And so um there was something it's still there, I think, in a sense called Easter duty, right?
30:34
SPEAKER_01: Where um you had to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion at least once a year, and many people did that for Easter.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, but um there was a sense, and I think it's changed as because the church encouraged it to be changed.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh a good thing is in the past, uh a little before my time, I would say, um, if you were gonna receive communion at Mass, you had to go to confession.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: Um uh that's not necessarily what we believe.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: Um it was practiced.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Um uh Saturday evening confessions used to be lines of people because if you wanted to receive, yeah, um so if there isn't uh a serious sin, um you don't have to go to confession every time before you receive Holy Communion.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: But um the sacrament of reconciliation, I've said I think is making a comeback.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: I think it's uh the the most understood maybe of um, and maybe not everyone is aware that it used to be public.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: There was there there was some uh and certainly in religious communities that um but thank God that's not the case.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh um but um yeah uh you know that um question sometimes, why do I have to confess to a priest?
31:45
SPEAKER_01: Um well I one answer I think is God knows us better than we know ourselves and Jesus the church gave us this sacrament.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: Um but I I found that um uh I um it's not so much about what we say, which is sometimes hard when in confession to say I did this or I did that, please forgive me.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: But also to hear those words, I absolve you of your sins.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: So um Bishop Saratelli Um uh and uh Father Stephen Prisk, I think was involved and some others, and Father Jared now in your role.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, welcome home to healing.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: Um there's a connection with um repentance.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: Um Jesus suffered and died and rose to forgive us our sins.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: We experienced that in the sacrament of reconciliation so wonderfully.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: Um and I I think we want to thank and pray for our priests who give that time uh in a special way every Monday during Lent from 7 till 8.30.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: Check your local because some parishes adjust it a little bit, but um, but basically in any Catholic church in our diocese, Passaic Morris, Sussex County, you can go on a Monday during Lent, and there's um some people like the ceremony and the prayer service and the readings and penance service, those are wonderful.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: But those Mondays usually it's the priest is there, you can just go in and and celebrate the sacrament.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: Um I getting that right?
33:07
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, and uh it's been a great blessing in the diocese, and I know a lot of other dioceses have done similar have done similar things, and I think it's very effective.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: And even the name that we have for the diocese, welcome home to healing, because it is well, it is a sacrament of healing, and you do feel healed in some way.
33:25
SPEAKER_02: You're made whole again through the sacrament.
33:27
SPEAKER_02: And I think through what the bishop was saying, by hearing the priest, hearing God speak through the priest saying, I forgive you.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: I always think about like I think when when might I might even be tempted to say or hear other people say, like, why do I have to go and confess?
33:43
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't God just forgive me?
33:44
SPEAKER_02: I like to think that if I had to be forgiven by someone else, I don't think I would be satisfied by saying, Oh yeah, I'm sure he or she forgives me.
33:54
SPEAKER_02: You know, I would like to hear those words because that's incredibly healing.
33:58
SPEAKER_02: The other thing is when we could vocalize our sinfulness, it's not an easy thing to do, but when we vocalize, you know, it really becomes real, you know.
34:08
SPEAKER_02: Um I'm Irish, the bishop's Irish.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: We have big uh rugs in our homes that we like to sweep things under.
34:15
SPEAKER_02: Right?
34:15
SPEAKER_02: But when we when we when we when we talk about something, it becomes real.
34:20
SPEAKER_02: And that's an important part about being human, being able to admit that yeah, we're not perfect and that we're in need of God's healing and mercy.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: And we are also encouraging people to visit, and let me see if I could quick bring this up, our uh designated Jubilee sites in the diocese.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, very nice.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Um to make a pilgrimage to one of our Jubilee indulgence.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: Um go to confession.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Go and and receive Holy Communion.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: Some of these places you'll be able to do that.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: And if it's at a um we have these Jubilee sites so that day you can uh go to Mass, go uh uh receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, uh, and then receive the Jubilee indulgence.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: So um uh all in one one stop.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: One stop on a given day at each place, they're unique days, right?
35:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, check the uh show notes for the schedule for each individual site.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh and you know how are we doing so far with the Jubilee, right?
35:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're in the end of February now, and this is uh Lent we have every year, but we don't have the Jubilee every year, so um let's uh we can make Lent uh uh our part of our participation in the Jubilee year and getting the indulgence, going to reconciliation, receiving communion, praying for the Holy Father.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: You can receive the indulgence uh and you can receive it um more than once, right?
35:35
SPEAKER_01: And you can receive it asking for blessings and graces for yourself, but you can also offer it for those uh loved ones who have died that it could help them get from purgatory into heaven.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: Um so uh and uh uh uh indulgences um has a mixed history, we could say, um, but it's a beautiful uh opportunity during the Jubilee year, and you can uh go to our website and um and look uh um if you want to go to the Holy Father's uh bull of indiction, uh uh spez non confundit, hope does not disappoint.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: Um he talks about uh the meaning of the Jubilee, and and there's plenty of uh uh a great way to grow as Catholics in our understanding of why do we have a Jubilee, what does it mean, what's an indulgence, uh that can be something that one of the we can do during that.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: There's a ton of great resources um that I'll put in the uh link in the show notes.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: And for those who um uh like to do things online um for the sacrament of reconciliation, you need to go and be there in person, uh which is important and again it's who we are as human beings and um uh that experience of the sacrament.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: But for other resources, um I mentioned I'm a fan of the Hallow app and the Hallow app the last few years has had this um pray for D challenge, this uh um uh communal experience of praying together during Lent with spiritual reading, with lives of the saints, with um uh night prayer.
37:01
SPEAKER_01: Um Night Prayer, there's yeah, there's a um morning prayer.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Hallow app I found uh is if you're not familiar with it, you can check it out.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: Um uh and then um as I said, we hope to be uh um offering on our social media.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh Cecile is here with us, uh helping you helps with our social media, um encouraging people to pray.
37:23
SPEAKER_01: If we pray the Jubilee prayer every day for 40 years, uh 40 years, uh 40 days, uh, will you know it by heart after 40 days?
37:31
SPEAKER_01: Do you think um it's a challenge?
37:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, but I think 40 days.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm I'm curious.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: I've been praying it here and there um since uh we started a Jubilee year, but I um I'm looking forward now to praying it together every day and seeing if uh maybe after 40 days, um if we don't know it by heart, we'll be very familiar with it and we'll have uh blessings together that we share during the Jubilee year.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: So check out social media every morning during Lent to pray along with us the Jubilee prayer.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: That's right, that's right.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: Um Father Jared, um, in your experience as a parish priest and pastor, and also in your um liturgical um studies and and and ministry here for us in the diocese, um uh maybe one or two uh pieces of advice that we haven't mentioned or suggestions uh for someone who might be saying, What can I do for Lent?
38:21
SPEAKER_01: What should I give up?
38:22
SPEAKER_01: What what can be helpful?
38:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh what would you recommend?
38:25
SPEAKER_02: Well, kind of w what even what you you are suggesting, you know, we focus so much on giving up things in Lent, but you know, we can do things too.
38:33
SPEAKER_02: And it could be all sacrificial.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: Sacrifice involves sometimes taking away, or sometimes it it it includes um adding something.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: But those three very common spiritual practices of Lent, which are in the gospel on Ash Wednesday, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, I think there's ways to even bring them all together.
38:51
SPEAKER_02: I know that there was a school that the students had every Friday, the the younger grades, they would have a hot cocoa break typically.
39:00
SPEAKER_02: And during Lent, they gave up hot cocoa, they fasted from hot cocoa, and during that time, instead of having hot cocoa and donuts, they prayed the stations of the cross.
39:14
SPEAKER_02: And then the money that they saved from not buying the hot cocoa, they donated to some charity.
39:20
SPEAKER_02: It's prayer, fasting, and charity all put together.
39:23
SPEAKER_02: And I think that, well, depending on our age, we could do something similar and more uh appropriate so that we could do those three, um, those three practices.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: Right.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: Maybe one less cup of coffee for me during the day.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: Use that money to donate somewhere, yeah.
39:39
SPEAKER_02: Um and to certainly take advantage and celebrate the sacrament reconciliation.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely right.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: Welcome home to healing, uh Mondays during Lent.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh and there'll be other opportunities during Lent as well in each of the parishes.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but those Mondays um uh a great blessing and a great opportunity uh to celebrate the sacrament.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: Right.
39:57
SPEAKER_02: Going to since it's every parish, you don't have to even go to your own parish.
40:01
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: I uh when I was in Mount Lakes, we were right off of Route 46, which is kind of a main thoroughfare, not far off of 80, and many people would would just stop in because it was convenient and perfectly fine.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yes.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: Adoration, right?
40:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely, yes, yes.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, be something that will come up at more parishes or something.
40:22
SPEAKER_01: Some of the parishes on Mondays will have exposition of the blessed sacrament, so there could be adoration while you just before or after you celebrate um the sacrament.
40:30
SPEAKER_01: And also, very important, if you're thinking, oh man, I haven't gone to confession in oh I don't know if I could just go.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: Um tell the priest, I don't know the prayers, I don't know how to start.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: Um can you help me out?
40:43
SPEAKER_01: And um years long ago, um people had bad experiences, maybe a priest yelled or something.
40:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's not the case anymore.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: Um priests realize it's a sacrament of healing, and um and especially during Lent and especially welcome that there may be people coming to us um who haven't celebrated the sacrament in many, many years.
41:06
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: Um just go tell the priest um and he'll walk you through.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of um, you can go online, what are the steps to go to confession if you want to bring something with you to the act of contrition, uh if that helps, but but uh you don't need any of that.
41:22
SPEAKER_01: Um the only repentant heart, right?
41:25
SPEAKER_01: Where um uh a contrite heart pleases the Lord.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, we go to the I I I go to confession, um, the priests go to confession.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: We're all sinners, we're all in need of God's grace, and um, and this sacrament is a gift that God has given to us to receive forgiveness, and uh Lent is a great time to do it.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, why don't we leave it there?
41:46
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: Um Thanks, Father Jared.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
41:49
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Bishop, for these great ideas and this insight from both of you.
41:53
SPEAKER_01: And then it comes with some nice spring weather, and uh Lent leads us also closer to opening day of the baseball season, which I always find a good connection.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: Of course, and closer to the Masters Golf Tournament.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, Stand the Cup Finals as well.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: Just have to get that in there.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: All right, good.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, um anything else, Bishop, before we we wind down?
42:15
SPEAKER_01: Um let's pray together during Lent.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: Um if you can join us for the Jubilee prayer each day, and um but do something, you know, um don't miss this opportunity um that the church gives us.
42:27
SPEAKER_01: And um so uh we keep praying for our Holy Father's um health, and we look forward to we're thankful for this Jubilee year, and thank Father Jared uh for being with us today.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and thank you all for joining us.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: Please subscribe, comment, and leave a positive rating.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: Get to know us better by following Beyond the Beacon on social media on Facebook or Instagram.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: Email questions and podcast topic ideas to the bishop to beyond at pattersondioces.org.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: Discover our other podcasts, Coffee with Kupke and the Paul Street Journal.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: See you next time.
43:00
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, everybody.
43:01
SPEAKER_01: God bless you.
43:02
SPEAKER_00: Have a great Lent.