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5: MLK and U2, Chrism Mass and community, Holy Week · Beyond The Beacon

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jay Agnish, Communications Director for the Diocese and editor of the Beacon Newspaper.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Bishop, how you doing today?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Good, Jay.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Doing good, thanks.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Happy holy week.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's been a busy week.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: How are you uh you holding up?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or you got you got a very busy schedule?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh I it is busy, and you know, um certainly the priests, the pastors and priests in the parishes are probably the busiest at at this time.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh looking back on that experience, I um yes, uh Holy Week would be a very full week uh with a lot to do.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but I always found it energizing.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um I always looked forward to a couple of days uh off at the week after, you know, sure.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Or a couple of rounds of golf.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: That week after being a little slower is was was was nice.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: But uh um, you know, if um if we're not ready for this week, then uh we have a problem.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we've uh um uh so yeah, busy but but beautiful.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh so um here we are now on Wednesday of Holy Week, and uh we've um had Palm Sunday and the Trito the uh chrism mass.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um there's a little bit of quiet maybe yesterday and today, and um then um we'll start everything really tomorrow evening with the with the Mass of the Lord's Supper.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it ramps up back up pretty, pretty quickly.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So busy in a good way, we'll we'll say.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I uh you had a really cool Instagram post yesterday um where you um mentioned yesterday was the the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you tied it into one of your favorite songs, you two song Um Pride in the Name of Love.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh I love that song too.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And can you can you talk a little bit about that post and what inspired them?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh so that line in the song, Early Morning, April 4th, shot rings out in the Memphis sky, free at last, they took your life, they couldn't take your pride.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um I remember in high school, probably hearing it for the first time.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh one of the students in the school tried to sing it.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how good a job he did, but uh, you two, the band was very popular then.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: There they still have some popularity now.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: They've they've kind of enjoyed the test of time, I think.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: But uh um, but uh I I really myself got an appreciation for music more when I was in college, I guess.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Really when I worked at Shea Stadium, the some of the uh people I worked with had a radio in the background and they would have on um I think it was 92.3 or there's classic rock stations.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And um uh my first probably uh exposure to uh uh what you might call rock and roll or even folk music was uh as a kid and uh growing up in the I guess late 70s, early 80s, they had used to have things called folk masses where they uh Bob Dylan and some other of the uh um music from that time that they were able to incorporate into mass.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so uh um that was my first exposure.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: But then working, you know, he it was kind of in the background in high school.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um friends, brother, sister, and uh kids I grew up with were but I was more interested in sports.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And but once I started working at Shea Stadium and hearing the radio in the background, I really became a big uh fan of um of rock and roll and um uh especially some of it um and you too and Bruce Springsteen.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I um Simon and Garfunkel um the early days and then Paul Simon, some of his um uh individual stuff.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh really great.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but uh you know the um I also became a uh a real um fan, I guess, of of Dr.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: King and um, you know, uh it's hard to believe 55 years, I think, since he was assassinated.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: But and look what we're going through continually as a culture and a society, and yes, we can there's a lot that still needs to be proved, uh improved, and and Dr.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: King's dream is something that we're still striving towards.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, I I think uh it's easy to focus on the negative.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: There there has been a lot of positive, and and Dr.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: King and the civil rights movement and all those who were part of that um over the decades now, um a lot of good has taken, has happened.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and going back to Dr.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: King, it um to there was a book um I found out actually Bono, uh the lead singer for U2, um uh read it and it had an impact on him uh by Stephen Oates.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's out of print, but Let the Trumpet Sound, uh a biography of Dr.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: King.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: I read it um when I was studying Spanish in the Dominican Republic.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but um uh it it really showed how uh he was raised on the scriptures.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: His father was a preacher, he was raised in this uh Christian family in the South, and um and he went to um graduate school eventually to study.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to be a preacher.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's the and then circumstances found him in Birmingham and the bus um uh boycott and and everything, as we say, the rest is history.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: But um but and but you hear in his preaching, if you're listening, you know, it's uh the scriptures, I mean so much.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um uh so but you too helps me remember his the date of his assassination.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh it was April 4th and it was uh yesterday, I guess.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: So um I like to um offer those kind of reminders when we can.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think it it helps us to uh stop and think sometimes, you know.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, great, great reflection, Bishop.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And uh look forward to maybe compiling all your favorite songs into a a playlist for for listeners.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about we could do that.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was that reminded me again two two years ago.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: I as I was we getting to know each other, I thought, well, uh new to social media, let me put up my favorite songs.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we got some great reactions to those and um haven't gone back to it that much.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not uh as much of an active listener to music.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: I now listen more to podcasts and other things, but uh um it's still there in the background, and there are times when it's good to uh Van Morrison um I I was listening to recently, and uh um uh some of his music is just phenomenal.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: But um so um we'll see what we might be able to do.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um uh maybe as some intros or outros as uh what the uh but um but it it music certainly can lift the spirit and lift the soul, and um and um we certainly use it um in our prayer.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: So um um we can uh see what what how where the Holy Spirit might lead us.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Great, thanks.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of prayer, could you please help us up in prayer?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: We place ourselves in God's presence, name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we pray and ask that we can be united with you, especially in these days, as tomorrow night will once again remember the Last Supper, your washing of the feet, your giving us of the Eucharist, giving us the priesthood, your new commandment to love as you love.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: We want to be with you in the garden when you struggle and when ultimately you say yes to the Father's will, not my will, but your will be done.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: We think of all those who suffer in the mystery of the cross, illness, physical suffering, addiction, whatever experience of the cross that all of us share it sometimes.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: That as we'll walk with you on Good Friday, you would strengthen us and help us to get up when we fall.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And as we want to be with you tomorrow night and Good Friday, we look forward to the great joy of your resurrection that we'll celebrate Saturday night and Sunday at Easter.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we ask your blessing upon us and the help of Mary, our blessed mother, to be with you in these days.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: We ask all these prayers, Lord Jesus, in your name for you, our Lord, forever and ever.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, lots to lots to go over today, so let's let's get to it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: So what um today, as he said, is is is Wednesday.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you opened up uh Holy Week, of course, with Palm Sunday celebration, actually last Wednesday at the at the jail, but then again at the uh cathedral.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: You celebrated a Spanish Mass at our cathedral in Patterson.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I was able to watch some of it on live stream.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we had beautiful photos by our ace photographer, Joe Geely.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh one of the things that um stuck out to me was was the uh the beautiful palm arrangement that you that you processed in with.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um thanks to Monsignor Gino Silva and Father Caesar, Father Jorge, and the staff at the cathedral.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: They do a great job.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: That was uh that was there waiting for me when I arrived.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: So uh but wonderful, yes.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um What what was your takeaway for for Palm Palm Sunday?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I find it similar to Ash Wednesday in some ways, um, but maybe even a little bit more prayerful uh as we're now entering into Holy Week.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but um it's amazing what uh attracts people uh to receive the ashes or to uh have those palms.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um for some very who may not be at mass every Sunday, they they want to be there.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know the church, I think in her 2,000 years of history and um trying to share the good news of the gospel realizes that um our our faith is incarnational, you know, that Jesus took on our flesh, and so it's not only about the mind, um certainly the heart, um, but also those tangible things, the sacraments, right?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: They always have something of the senses, um and and and holding that palm branch in the hand um, you know, can help us to say, okay, 2,000 years ago they picked up palm branches and they sang Hosanna and uh and and he he was welcomed into his city of Jerusalem.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so beautiful to recall, a little different in the liturgy that we read a gospel right before entering, um, and recall the um the the his triumphant entrance entrance into Jerusalem.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then the the readings, and then all of a sudden the gospel where they're uh almost advanced to Good Friday because we go we read the Passion.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's certainly a way of saying this whole week is leading up to those great mysteries of our salvation that we'll recall in even a more powerful and deliberate way on Thursday night and Friday and into Saturday night and Sunday.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a great way to start Holy Week, you know, uh whether it be from the simple thing of holding a palm to the way that the liturgy leads us in prayer, then um so and and um I I think most of us uh we're you know where two or three are gathered.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So anytime we celebrate the Mass or come together with however many might be in church, it's a blessing.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: But there's something about a full church that just, you know, I think gives us energy and and and gives us that experience of being united.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and that was the case um at the cathedral and I'm sure churches throughout parishes, throughout our diocese, throughout the country, throughout the world.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's great to see Pope Francis celebrating uh um Palm Sunday Mass after having been in the hospital.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um so it was a great way to begin uh Holy Week, as it always is.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what a what a great mass.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then not too not too much uh further on, the the very next day, uh the Chris Mass was held at the cathedral.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And speaking of packed churches, it was quite quite a packed church, and it was also a quite a feat of organizational marvel.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there were close to a hundred priests celebrating with you at the altar.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh our religious brothers and sisters were there, lay lay, diocese, and staff number of deacons.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh deacons, retired priests, and yeah, what a what a great almost um a reunion of sorts.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: You just walking out back to the the parking lot, you know, the priests are kind of catching up with each other.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's um what what stuck out to you this year at the Chris of Mass?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um a couple of things.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um I in preparing um came to the words of Jesus that um I shared before that uh since the seminary, really, um on Holy Thursday night um after the Mass of the Lord's Supper, we have that time to be in the presence of Jesus in in the Eucharist.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh and I don't know if somebody told me or if it was practicing this, but I think even since the college seminary, um I try to um read chapters four fourteen through seventeen of John's gospel, which is the Last Supper discourse, beautiful prayer and instructions that Jesus gives.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And in the course of that prayer, his chapter 17 is priestly prayer.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: He prays those words to his father.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Father, he says, I pray not only for them, but for anyone who believe in me uh because of their word.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: So he's really praying for all Christians at that moment and and his prayer um Father, that they all may be one.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so as I prepared for the Chris Mass this week, uh this year, I um those words came to me and I felt felt that they would be a good way um to um invite us to be in prayer and reflection because there's something about that mass that says we're one church of the diocese.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: We yes, it's a special mass for priests because they renew their priestly promises that they made at their ordination, but it shows their unity with the bishop.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I encouraged and asked the religious, and they responded because we have religious sisters and brothers and priests and religious communities who are very much a part of the church of our diocese, our deacons, um our lay leaders, uh, our young people, some representatives of our high schools were there.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um uh and and we come together at that mass and then we go out to the different parishes carrying the oil that was blessed for the the work of the church, the um uh the sacraments and evangelization and the works of charity, uh care for the sick, because you know the oil of the sick.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: So um uh the other thing I I that kind of um uh struck me this year was um I guess I realized this was my think my fourth chrism mass, even though I've been here less than three years, because in 2020 there was no chrism mass during holy week, so we had it in August um of 2020 because we needed to bless the oils.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh so um then uh 21 was uh the priests were distance.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was only the priest because there were still restrictions.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: 22 last year, um, I do remember so many priests and the cathedral was full, it was great.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: We were uh and then this year again, and um maybe now because it's my fourth, it um, you know, I I've shared with others, I I always loved the chrism master as a seminarian and a priest.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: I never figured I'd be the celebrant.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh and and you know what a humbling experience as bishop to receive the promises of the renewal of the priests renewing their promises and to try to draw draw the whole church together.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's it's a great responsibility, uh, but um we we don't do it ourselves.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: We have to believe that the the Spirit gives us the we hope the words that the Lord wants us to say, uh each of us, each in accordance to our own vocation.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And for myself at that time, trying to share a message of of unity and and and of who we're striving to be as the church.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um so um humbling very much.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and um um God is full of surprises.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: We never know what the Lord may have in store for us, and um, and it's a privilege.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I shared also, you know, the the priests have been so good to me since I've arrived in the diocese.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: There really is that sense of of fraternity, of brotherhood, and uh try to thank them for that.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and I um Bishop Saratelli, uh uh he's been so wonderful to me, and he's still such a blessing for our diocese in so many ways, celebrating confirmation, staying active.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: But um, and and so that he was there was very meaningful.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um with him was next to him was um abbot uh Jonathan Lacar, I think is the last name of the Benedictines of um St.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Mary's Abbey, also Del Barton High School.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: And um, because he's an abbot, he wears the mitre like a bishop does and a pectoral cross.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So he was there next to Bishop Um Saratelli.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: But uh just to mention also, and it's in the beacon, um, in in as you're with your help, um, I came across the the the eek uh the beacon issue from 2020 and saw this letter that Bishop Saratelli had written to his priests on um on Holy Thursday of 2020.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um uh just to encourage anybody who's listening to find that letter and and take the time to read it because it's uh again, it's a message to the priests, but it's a message for the whole diocese.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it was uh such an important message three years ago, but I think it's in the message that that still speaks to us now.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I asked Bishop Saratelli yourself that we could that could we could reprint it.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that might be a long answer, but uh yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we had that letter reprinted in in this week's edition of The Beacon.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um Yeah, I I'm I'm curious.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um Bishop Saratelli, obviously um Bishop Emeritus, um, but he's still active.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's I know he's got some confirmations coming up later this month, and it seems like the two of you kind of split those do maybe take some of those duties on because it maybe it is a uh condensed uh number of confirmations during the month.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: But uh that that's that's really neat to see that he's still involved in that.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think he does maybe if we have a little over a hundred confirmations, if there's usually one in each parish uh uh each year, and we do some in the fall.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I I started with some in February and have been doing a few each week over the last uh few weeks.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: But um now once Easter uh the season begins, we'll have a number of them uh uh each each week, maybe four or five.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh again, I'm happy to do them.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: They're very happy moments.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh I think back that for many years Bishop Saratelli did all of them by himself because there was no auxiliary bishop to after Bishop Rod Rodimer was no longer able to um you know be as active and mobile.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then after he passed, uh uh and Bishop Saratelli uh into his uh early and mid-70s was uh you know uh did them all.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he's uh he always I think kept himself in good physical shape, so he's an example for me.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: But uh that he does 25 or 30 or or more, I forgot to show the exact number, but uh that's it's a big help to me.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um and uh and um uh it's important that we recognize he still has a very important role for us as our Bishop Emeritus, so um I'm very grateful to him.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh in your homily at the uh the Chris of Mass, one of the it was a very beautiful um image that you that you put out there.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: You refer to our parishes as the heart of the diocese.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: I just I thought that was great.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Can you elaborate that on that a little bit?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and maybe it comes from my own experience as a pastor and as a parish priest, um, and and maybe also uh having served as vocation director um when I was not in a parish, um, I that work is so important, and and there's a lot of work in the diocese that is outside of the parish, or we might for priests we might call it specialized ministry or non-parochial ministry, but and and all of that work is part of the whole and and each of it important in its own way.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um but the place where we really come together to celebrate the Eucharist and be a community, a family of faith, um, is in the parish.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and um when when our parishes are live and active, the diocese is gonna be that if that heart is pumping well, then you know the rest of the body is gonna be uh um uh I think in in good health and and and and growing and uh and and so yes, um uh I really feel that that's important.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes uh priests in some of our parish or or or or or staff or or deacons or others that they can kind of fly under the radar.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Some of them I think are happy to fly under the radar, which is okay.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but um we we gotta recognize they the um again we're in the um after Easter we're gonna be reading from the Acts of the Apostles, right?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they they came together as the community of believers um to listen to the word, the teaching of the apostles, to break the prayers and the breaking of the bread, the Eucharist.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um right from the very beginning, from Pentecost, the the parish was there, that that community of believers.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And as Paul went out and as others went out, they formed these communities that were the first parishes.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's where the catechism takes place, you know, where it's instruction of faith, evangelization.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yes, I I I feel that that's um uh a very true image that the parishes are very much the heart of the diocese.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so tomorrow begins a trituum, which I didn't know this chronologically, it's actually it well, of course, it's three days, but liturgically it's it's a single day unfolding for us the unity of Christ's paschal mystery.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um can you share a reflection on the next few days and and their significance anywhere you want to go?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty wild.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, how long a couple of hours do we have?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, briefly I've said some already, but um uh the Mass of the Lord's Supper.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: I encourage um those who might be listening, those maybe if it's not your practice to to go to Mass on Holy Thursday in the evening, if you can uh come to the cathedral or come go to your parish.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and um it's such a beautiful liturgy.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: The um it kind of starts like any other mass, and then um there's the the beautiful gospel of Jesus washing the feet, and then usually the uh we couldn't do it during COVID, but we're back doing it now, thank God.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Of and um I mentioned earlier that you know that incarnational faith, that symbol of holding the the palm just to see the priest bend down and wash the feet of twelve parishioners, usually or chosen you know, those who are picked, um representing the apostles, um brings us back to Jesus getting down on his, you know, the uh pictures worth a thousand words and And that gesture of Jesus to you call me teacher and Lord, and it's true, he said, but if I've washed your feet, then you gotta wash one another's feet.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I think that message speaks so powerfully to us.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that comes from the Last Supper.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then um obviously giving us the Eucharist, um, books and books and St.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thomas Aquinas and all the same, you know, that the Eucharist, the gift of the Eucharist, and this is the night he gave us, gave it to us.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: And in giving us that, he told his apostles, Do this in memory of me.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so we believe at that moment he was ordaining them as his as his priests and bishops, and and and we have the the sacrament of holy orders from um uh I think I mentioned it before, but uh a definition of sacraments, uh a visible or sensible sign of an invisible reality instituted by Christ uh that gives grace.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um so each of the sacraments we can point back to a moment in Jesus' life.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And um for both the the sacrament of the Eucharist um and um and uh priesthood, uh we point to the Last Supper as the moment when he instituted those two sacraments.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: So um and uh and then um the Mass is celebrated after the washing of feet, the Eucharistic prayer, and Mass kind of regular, but um obviously important because that's where it all began.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then at the end of that Mass, um, right, it doesn't end like regular Mass ends.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: We reserve, as we say, the Eucharist, and then there's usually a procession where the Eucharist is placed in a side chapel altar, sometimes within the church, or some parishes even have it in in the hall or another place um of reservation, as we say, and there's a chance for the um uh people of God to um spend some time with Jesus in prayer, just as he was in the garden on um Holy Thursday evening.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um my niece actually is gonna be in Rome for this uh tritoum.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: She's a student at Catholic University, and Father Stephen, one of our priests who studied in Rome, spoke about how what a beautiful night it is in Rome because all the churches have these altars of reservation and people go from one to the other.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think some try to go to nine churches, and I think some do that here in our diocese.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Or um, so again, you can check your local schedule, but most parishes will have that time of uh adoration um in in the church, usually from the end of Mass till usually till midnight.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: So beautiful time of prayer with Jesus in the garden and getting ready for the um next day when we'll walk with him the way of the cross.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Not sometimes people will say, I went to Mass on Good Friday.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, nobody goes to Mass on Good Friday.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: You go to church, yes, they have passion, but it's the only day when we don't have mass.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um we sell we at Holy Thursday night we try to uh consecrate enough hosts, so we do receive communion uh at the liturgy of the Lord's Passion, uh, which has the reading of the Passion, the veneration of the cross, the receiving of Holy Communion.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And there's one other part, I think there's four parts, but uh um the the general intercessions, the prayers for the church.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um so um again, encourage you to be in church at some point during Friday.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Three o'clock is a great time because that's the time we remember Jesus died.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Most parishes have, as we call the liturgy the Lord's Passion, at 3 p.m.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Many parishes here in our diocese throughout the world have processions, the uh living stations, as we say, the and here in our diocese at the cathedral, as many other parishes in Patterson and Passaic and uh Morris and Sussex counties uh have uh that living stations out in the streets uh walking with Jesus and the um via crucifix.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they do a beautiful job at the cathedral.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's gonna begin at 12 or 12 30.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then serves at three o'clock.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: It uh begins in the cathedral, and I believe you you'll be there giving uh some kind of greeting or message, and then at twelve thirty it'll be out on the streets.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's yeah, an amazing, amazing event.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's uh yeah, like you said, the living stations of the cross through the streets of Patterson.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: It begins at twelve, it goes on for a few hours and winds back at the cathedral around three o'clock.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: 2 30, quarter to three, I think.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then that kind of ends, and then we'll begin um the the liturgy of of the Lord's Passion at three.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which you will be I guess it's not called celebrating then, right?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Presiding, right.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Leading, right.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, that's gonna be a great event.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and we're expecting the um Hector Jimena is one of the organizers told me they're expecting 2,500 to 30,000, 3,000 people.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's beautiful.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: That that'll be that'll be something.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we'll we'll have photos and and we'll have video on our our social media.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's okay.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: What uh what else about and and then of course the uh Saturday night and Sunday is the the moment of uh where we celebrate the beautiful Easter vigil beginning in darkness and the one light well the fire is lit outside usually and then the one light of the Paschal candle is is brought into church.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we sing Christ our light, thanks be to God.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we do that three times, walking up, and as we come in, we'll light the candles of the baptized and the church that was in darkness is filled with light, the victory of um life over death uh in the resurrection.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then we enter this beautiful song, the exalted, which kind of recalls salvation history leading up to the resurrection.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Then there could be as many as seven readings before the gospel.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Usually there's about three, because we want to be conscious of people's time and in monasteries or they can religious communities, they might read all seven the seminary we did, but practically that's a bit of a challenge.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we can get a sense from three of those readings and then what we call the epistle from Paul and then the gospel.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then um when there are adults in the parish community uh to be baptized, we enter into the celebration of the what we call the Easter sacraments or the sacraments of initiation, uh baptism of adults uh receiving some into full communion in the church, then they're confirmed, uh, and then they'll receive their first communion uh at the regular time for communion during the Mass.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Powerful, powerful.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh again, going back to my time as pastor was one of the great moments in in the year, and I look forward to being at the cathedral.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: There are a number of adults, I think 15 or 20 adults who are going to receive the sacraments just at the cathedral.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I think we have 140 something in the diocese that are going to be baptized, and there's probably a few hundred more that are going to be received into full communion or confirmation, uh, or first communion and confirmation.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so great, great night.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that mass is a little lengthy, so just be prepared, uh uh, but well worth it uh if you're able to make it.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: And the music is beautiful usually and uh um and for myself, um I was very happy to be invited by Father Stefan Las, uh, one of our pastors in Passaic Um Holy Rosary Parish, the shrine of St.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Pope John Paul II in the Polish community, as as others do, uh a custom of a sunrise mass for Easter.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I I don't know if I've been at or celebrated a sunrise mass uh before, so I'm looking forward to that.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'll set two or three alarm clocks to make sure I'm able to get up after the vigil, but uh um we'll be looking forward to that.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to learn how to say happy Easter in Polish.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so um uh then I have another Mass at Clifton in at 11 o'clock and hope to see my family later.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um great day um for all of us, and hopefully many families will have that chance to be together.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: If not, even hopefully during the whole week in prayer, and then the fasting and whatever you gave up, you can have on some say there's different opinions on when that fast should end, but uh if it it can end on on Saturday, it can end after Mass on Sunday.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um you could make your own call there.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: But um uh there's certainly that sense of um joy and celebration um on Sunday, uh Easter Sunday for the resurrection.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what a wonderful time for the church.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, good.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're uh at the end of the episode.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Did you want to say anything else or add anything?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just to invite everybody to be united in prayer in these days.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh for each of our listeners and their families, uh, you'll be remembered in my prayers and and I hope and pray that you'll have a a wonderful, prayerful celebration of the Trudown and a very, very happy and and peaceful Easter.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much, Bishop.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for spending time with us.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are Jay Agnisha, Bishop Kevin Sweeney with the Diocese of Patterson in Northern New Jersey.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Join us again for our next episode.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching this episode on Bishop Kevin Sweeney's YouTube channel, be sure to like the episode, follow the channel, and ring the bell for notifications.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And please email questions and podcast topic ideas to the bishop at beyond at patterson diocese.org.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Beyond the Beacon.