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The Brothers Discuss their Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Saint Paul · My Brother's Journey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, so welcome to my brother's journey.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: This time I'm I'm gonna be the full tag team here.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think my partner got delayed in traffic, but uh, I'm Greg Joseph, Chuck, and uh we're excited to have you here on the podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, real excited because I've got a bevy of guests here, uh, mystery guests.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna uh uh announce themselves very shortly here.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: But um, brother Chris, we always start with a prayer.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Would you lead us off, please?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Surely.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and then Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing uh the four of us together today.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um we were just so gracious and and glorified to see you in your presence when we were out in Athens, Cornet, uh everywhere in Greece, basically, and uh to see your glory was was just delightful.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um bring back what we'd seen over there so we can be inspirational for anybody here in Statesville and anybody on our podcast that's listening, and as we pray, amen.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I guess I'll uh I'll uh uh I will announce each of you.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we have Brother Jack with us, brother Chris with us, and Father Bernard with us.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's great to have all you brothers back from your pilgrimage to Greece.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: My goodness.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I I remember Father Bernard, you said uh to me, uh kind of challenged Baron and I saying, hey, we got these guys going out there.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you do a podcast before we leave, see what their expectations were, which we did.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh this is the after we've returned.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so here's what I'm gonna ask and start off with is I'll start with you, Jack, and then I'll move to you, Chris.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that is a simple question, I guess.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Did the pilgrimage meet or exceed or fail what your expectations were?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it far exceeded my expectations.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: My expectations were were so simple uh compared to uh what what I found over there and what I experienced there.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was just it was phenomenal.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: Excellent, excellent.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: Chris, how about you?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I agree, Jack.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: I went I'd never done one of these before, so I didn't really know what they to say.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: I I went in there with a really open mind.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, hey, you know what, if it's okay, you know, it it's that's fine.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm I get I'm surrounded by Father Bernard, Jack, and all the people that went with us.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, so it was I knew it was gonna be a great time, just from that aspect, but I wasn't expecting that kind of uh uh deep feeling of what we what I felt when we were there.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: It was it was really impressive.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um far exceeded my expectation.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think Tour 206 did a fabulous job, a little plug for them.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um Evy was our guide and she was delightful as well.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I don't think it could get any better than what it what it was.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: So it far exceeded my expectations because basically I really went in with not with much of expectations, but this I now I'm just jazzed.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I look forward to going again anytime.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: So for us that weren't there and are all envious that you guys got to enjoy that pilgrimage, kind of walk walk us, the ones that are listening to this podcast, through through your pilgrimage.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Tell tell me, you know, what exactly day one uh you you arrived, kind of walk me through what what how did it go from there?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Where what you you came in with, like you said, you didn't know what you were really walking into.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Have you been on a pilgrimage like this?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been on a pilgrimage.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so neither one of you have.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you're kind of walking in in faith, not knowing exactly what's about to happen.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: What happened day one?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, day one.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: It was just it's just so much fun to be with these guys.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's it's so you know, this the just trying to get all our baggage and everything around.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: We're going into a foreign country, you know.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: We don't know where really we're going, we're just being kind of herded, you know, which is not really my style, but then again, it's all you could do.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but we just had such a great time.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, first day we uh flew into Athens and then we flew right into Festinal Niki.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh then our first day we really went to uh Philippi and uh went to the baptismal site of uh Lydia.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: And we had that was day one.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: That was day one.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: So and then we had we we had the Holy Mass there right at the site of where Lydia's was.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: That was the start of this pilgrimage for me and opening my eyes and realizing just exactly what a pilgrimage is.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: When we went to the river where Lydia was baptized, we read about it in Acts, we learned all about that.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm picturing a river.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm picturing like the Yadkin River.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think correct me if I'm wrong, but in America we would describe this as being a stream.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, a rocky mountainous dream.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um but it was beautiful, and and just from that point on it set the stage.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it it it took it took it from the intellect, what we've learned and what we've experienced into the body into a feeling.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: It took it from theory to presence.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, okay, this is where Paul stood.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: This is where he baptized Lydia, the first uh person in Europe that was baptized.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: And that set the stage for me for the entire rest of the journey.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: It put me in the right frame of mind, and it just it was like the Holy Spirit saying, This is what this is all about.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: And it to me it was just it was just fantastic.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Having being able to celebrate Mass right there.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the weather was crumb crummy that day.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: It was the only day that was bad.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: It was cold, it was rainy, you know, but it didn't matter.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, we we were as a group, we all re- uh renewed our baptismal vows.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and it it just set the stage, right?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: From there to go to the Philippi, to to the ruins in Philippi and to see the jail, you know, see how big it was or wasn't.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: Correct, well, was it, yeah, you know, and and to walk the the road where Paul walked, you know.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was even the point where they said, oh, these are you know where the where the the Roman baths were, you know, and they you could have hot water, warm water, or cold water.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: And here's where the the you know the latrines were, yeah.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and I said, okay, well, you know, thinking, you know, did Paul stop here on his way?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, who knows?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he's human.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: And this where we were experiencing that as he was human, and not, you know, the the Paul that we read about and and uh and and the pedestal we put him on when we're reading about him in in Acts.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: So for me, you know, yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, walking on the same streets, that those ancient streets, and you could still see that they were kind of graded so that you know the the the horse and yeah where the horse could get grip, and so yeah it was it was it had the lines in the and basically in all the on the cobblestone and and everything was lined with marble, it was just absolutely beautiful.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: But uh but to be there, and you you get to see a sense of what Paul was why he wrote things he wrote, because you could kind of almost get a sense of why he wrote where he wrote and as he said it, and and it just made to me this made more sense.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: I was just like, oh my gosh, well, yeah, this is exactly why he would say this, and uh, and just to see kind of exactly where he would have been, you know, being along the the river uh where Lydia was was baptized.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: I I can almost see Paul just hanging out there for a little bit, and then it's kind of like, hey, yeah, well, here's comes Lydia, you know.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well that was that that was actually gonna be my next question is is you know, were you guys able to somehow, you know, I don't want to say transport yourself back in time, but it you're amongst ruins, but could you like picture Paul 100?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, 100%.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we stood where he stood.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we saw the same mountains he saw, we saw the same seas he saw, we saw ruins that obviously weren't ruins in his day, but we saw ruins that were ruins in his day.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, from the ancient uh Grecian ruins, you know, that date back to like the fifth century BC, which were ruins while he was there.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, so you get to that atmosphere, you get to absorb that and realize that this is where he stood.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: This is what he did, this is what he saw.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: This is the culture he experienced by being able to go to the you know, Delphi, um, the ruins at Delphi, or even in in uh in Athens.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this is what he was, this is who he was preaching to.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: This is the culture he was preaching to, these are the people he was preaching to.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it was um it was it it it wasn't a uh it wasn't a historical site.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: It it put it into it was real world.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, it put it in the real world, it wasn't just history.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, to start off with the baptismal site where Liddy was, and then end up at Mars Hill.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, there right next to the Partheon in Athens, where we were standing, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: He was preaching, it was just so impressive.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're just like, my gosh.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Personally, the you know, you brought the Bible, the whole acts of the apostles uh made it so real.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the eyes of the apostles became so real.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, knowing that um you have seen, you have been there, you put yourself where Paul was, in his historical background and everything, and it makes the eyes of apostles for me now to be more alive.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: The the the Bible, the gospel is very much alive.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: When I read the the letters of Saint Paul, I could really now see the reasons why Paul was writing, and um like um uh what I preached um yesterday uh about the this during the feast of Saint Jude.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Was it today?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yesterday.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Saint Jude had to preach in Bessia in Iran, and these people went there knowing how difficult it was for them to preach, but they relied on faith.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I could picture how difficult it was for Paul to preach in that late in those places, yeah, with those gods, correct, especially at the footsteps of the Partheon right there of the Acropolis.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the thing.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's a thousand other gods.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was amazing.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: If my memory serves me right, and I may be wrong here, and please correct me, but I I believe Paul started in Athens, if I remember right, and he started preaching, but he didn't get much of a reception actually in Athens.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was trying to debate the the Greeks, and it I don't want to say essentially it kind of fell flat.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like it didn't, he didn't really um have a lot of followers leaving out of Athens.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: But when he went to Corinth, he says that the only thing he's gonna do, he's not gonna you know prepare any sort of uh debate or or speech or anything like that.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's just gonna rely solely on on preaching Christ.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's it, Christ crucified.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and he kind of commits to doing that.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And Corinth, of course, um as we know from from studying and and talking about at our Bible study, um, Corinth was like Sin City.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was like Las Vegas on uh steroids, right?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the temp, yes, the temple uh to Artemis on the very top of the mountain there.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um it was, yes, there was prostitution, there was all kinds of debauchery uh going on there.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and there's a melting pot, too.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, because it it's a it was a port, it was a port city.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's where you know both the AGNC and the IOC come together.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a port city, so it was a lot of transients though.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and Paul working as a tent maker there.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: We could see in the areas where he was now.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: No, was Corinth part of the I would imagine it was.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we have NAS there too.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, right in front, looking at the Bima, where he had to answer to um Gal the yeah, all the uh Galus Jews, basically they were trying to pursue.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's right.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was really for me is uh so excited uh exciting and um very spiritually enriching um to be in those sites and not just being there alone, but being there with your parishioners, yeah.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, some pilgrimages you go with strange people, maybe people you do not know.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right, but this pilgrimage, we went with parishioners, we went with friends, and went with those like I have really known, and it helped to deepen the friendship, deepen the everything, the love and everything.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was like um God moved within us, and the gospel moved around us.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let me ask you about that, Father.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: One quote quick question.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I I saw the picture of you doing that outdoor mass, I believe that was in Corinth, the one that was on the right on the cover of our bulletin.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so you know, there's there's no real altar there.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: You it was a makeshift, everything was the ruins.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how how different, how special, how what's the right word I'm looking for?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Was that feeling for you as a priest doing an outdoor mass in the ruins with you know, not with everything that you would see in the church normally?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's a very special moment.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a very special moment to me, and um to be able to set up the altar, the sacred altar on those rings.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And uh to be able to lift Jesus in the blessed sacrament in that place.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it gave me the impression that he is the Alpha and the Omega, you know, He is He is above everything, you know, in the valley, He is there, and on the mountain, He is still there.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so and He He encompasses every creature and uh seen doing the Mass and looking at the people and people, you know, some people praying behind us, and you know, uh he shows like God of all creation.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, so He is the God of all creation, like the King of Kings.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: He became the King of Kings.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it is something amazing to be with this gentleman, and uh they were there helping and serving the Sabbath, and that was really grateful.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: It was for me, it was symbolic of this is where all this began.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: All this in in in Europe in the western and western world.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: This is where it all began, and here we are celebrating mass to the same people that we celebrate mass with, that I celebrated mass with this morning.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, but we're doing it here in this location where it all began, and it kind of just bridged that gap.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: The last 2,000 years disappeared.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was that's how special it was, Greg.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, so so now let me ask you guys what were some of the the the highlights, like the ones that have really burned a memory in in your minds, and and and I know there's probably many of them, but we're besides the mass, of course, the masses that were in very special places, because that's a given.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: I know that that's gotta be very special.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: But what other things were some of the highlights for for you guys?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I yeah, was carried away how sincere and how amazing these guys love their wives and how their wives love them, yeah.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, especially that the renewal of the vows, you know, it was an eye-opener to me.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that is really very commendable hearing people speak their vows to whose idea was that?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Whose idea?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so where tell me first of all, how I mean, how did that come about?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: How did that just pop into your head or was it something?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I just prayed for something to add in this thing, and uh and it just came up to me that um um this could be very much enriching to strengthen their marriages and their homes.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then I called to OCS that I I wish to add this, and they approved it, and that was how we did it.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was so to hear these spouses speak to themselves and how they really love themselves, being faithful to each other for 46 years, yeah, for 35 years, for 33 years, for 30 years.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So young couples needed to hear that.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it would have been something where was that and when was that?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Was that the beginning, the middle, or the end of the trip?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was in Corinth.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: It was in Corinth, which was toward the end of the trip.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Toward the end of the end of the day.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where it should have been.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's yeah, I mean, how many times every every time you go to a wedding, you hear that that love is patient, love is you know, it's kind, it's it's not jealous.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, here's the thing that's where we're doing massive.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: We were standing exactly in that same spot.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, was that a surprise to you?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Did you guys know that you guys were gonna renew your vows uh like on day one, or did it?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, they knew that they didn't know the vows.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they didn't I asked their spouses to keep the vows as a private secret to their spouses.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they wrote their vows, okay, they kept it to themselves.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that was like the first time most of them were.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so this was okay.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: So these were private vows that were written.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: So this wasn't repeat after me.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now that's a special.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: Because not anyone wearing corner.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is from that aspect, it was we had a we had we just found a I mean it helped us find a little vacant spot where we could help mass, and we were right there in the ruins, dude.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was wow.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: That I'm getting chills already.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's yeah, the beam is just right over there.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: That is very basic.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: And what did your wives think of I mean, of that whole well, I will say this.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh my wife is very emotional person anyway, so she had tissues the whole time.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: That that that day it wasn't just about being emotional, it was everybody.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody so I didn't renew my vows.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, standing up there serving the mass and being able to witness this, I'm crying.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I got tears flowing down my head just listening to it.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't help it.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, it was it was that wonderful.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: What other highlights?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: What I mean, that it's boy, these are big highlights, but any any life-changing one of my favorites.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: We had a lot of time on the bus, traveling between locations.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, right?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: One of the best times I had uh is being able to sit in the back of the bus.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: I can see that all right, and we started off Chris and I in the back of the bus.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then Father joined us in the back of the bus.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: And then father joined us.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: And we are we're there and we are discussing what we just saw.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: We're discussing the meaning behind it, we're discussing all of this, and it it was just conversations, and it was like having prayer out loud.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: It was beautiful, you know, everybody's perspective.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: We had a young man, Garrison, uh, who's 11 years old, and uh, and he came with his with his grandparents, Don and Bill McGinn.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and he spent a lot of time back there, and we're talking to him in this, in this, uh, you know, showing him in this conversation what all this means.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just beautiful.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: That was one of my my favorite moments is being able to spend that time in conversation in the back of the bus in between the sites.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, wow, that was really great, you know, to be able to speak to these men.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the most time I have spent with them.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when you're up close like that, you you know, it's like they say the good, the bad, and the ugly, but uh, it sounds like it was a very graceful time.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: All right, it was an amazing time to spend with these uh two gentlemen at the back there, and we were able to talk about the scriptures, talk about many things, and you know, to to try to bring the scripture life in our time.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because we basically walked Acts 16, 17, 18.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was and it so once you you guys did.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Philippi, you did Corinth, Philippi.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: You did Athens.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Macedonia.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's basically Macedonia.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Macedonia.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: We started we started there and then we've got to do that.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: So it's all working our ways down.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Greece, right?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I replaced your Greece.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we didn't go into Turkey.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Turkey right there.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: But we went to Delphi.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean Delphi.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Delphi too.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Which was really that was just neat from the because again, I know Father Barrow was like, hey, let's get back to the on the path and St.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: Paul.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: But but here's the thing.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: You had to see the culture.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Because the more you understood the culture, the more you the more the lesson continued, and you understood what Paul was up against.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: And and and really, the when you're there and everybody's worshiping, you know, Greek mythology at that stage.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: Let's just face it.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: This is still Greek mythology back then.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: And it wasn't until you know different takeovers and uh, you know, the Greeks fighting the Turks and the Turks fighting the Romans, and you know, there's this all this turmoil, but how God came out on top.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's that was the the neatest thing for me.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: It was just kind of like, yeah, this is it, it Jesus triumphs all of it.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the the monasteries on the mountain on the rock.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that was that was my yeah, the only place that didn't get taken over.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: They're like, eh, forget them.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: But that but but every day, you know, I every day had its moments and there were multiple moments in each and every day.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh because for me, it it all just was just dynamite.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Mass daily?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes daily.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: And was Mass always outdoor, or was it in churches or or I mean, or combination?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: We had we had outdoor, we had uh twice, I think, in the hotels that we were in, and then twice in chapels.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um that we that in the towns that that we were uh that we were visiting.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: Jack and I pack beeled the whole altar, man.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: We sure did.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there was a reason, there was another reason why they wanted you there.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what a what a grace-filled event.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh I take it it if uh if there was another pilgrimage similar to this, uh your guys would be like definitely recommended.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: Why don't I tell you this morning, Father?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm there already.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because my wife doesn't know it yet, but I'm gone.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so the question is, is there a possibility there'll be a pilgrimage leaving St.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Philip anytime in the foreseeable future?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um thinking about 2028.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um possibility of going to the Holy Land.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Holy land.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, but um, we're still gonna see how it's gonna unfold.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, things have to settle down there a little bit.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we see.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh not just things settling down, like St.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Paul went to these places without um being so careful about the danger.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: I know, that's right.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody evangelized Iran, somebody went to Iran.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, but you know, when you say it now, everybody unconsciously says, Oh, things need to settle down, things need to settle down.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: But we just have to wait for the Holy Spirit to speak, and I believe God is always gonna be there to protect his people, and um, that is the time you gain the most, uh, but not when things are so settled uh that God is always in control, so we keep our eyes fixed on 2028 um or late 227.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, we may be going to the holy land.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: I want to visit I have we have done the one of the epistles, the letters of Paul, the Acts of Apostles.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then, if we're able to go to the birthplace of Jesus where the temptation ground, the mountain of temptation, we go to Cana, where Jesus was baptized, where he changed water into wine.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we go to all these places, and um, that would be so amazing, too.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we can combine the gospel with the epistles.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: With that, you don't you have known almost everything.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's true.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: Everything, everything else has to do with either the church or with Mother Mary.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: So it's uh yeah, but these are the big ones.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: These are the big ones, yeah, because it gets past the theological aspect.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: We were walking history.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that it was it was present, and it was made history real and it's real.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: It makes it real.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you guys look like you're walking three feet off the ground since you've been bad.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Father Burner.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: Personally, it it it was almost a miracle that I even went.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because on Friday, uh the Friday before we left, yeah, you had a cardiac catheterization and they found a 90% blockage in my LAD artery, which is what they call the w widowmaker.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I was I was not convinced I was going.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um and the doctor wasn't either at first.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he says, you know, well, we we you know, I don't know if you should travel and let me but he came back, I prayed on it, I asked God for guidance, whatever his decision would be would be, and they came back and said, Okay, you can go.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: So praise the Lord.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: And uh for the most part, I was able to keep up.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: You did, you did it fabulous.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: Prayers answered.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, prayers answered for sure.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my brothers, I want to thank you so much for uh joining us today, tonight for this podcast, and and Father Bernard, who just stepped out.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: But um uh thank you all for tuning in and being part of my brother's journey.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, seek Jesus and all you do and be fishers of men.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: God bless you, and please join us again, viva Jesus.