THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Announcer: You're listening to the Poco a Poco podcast, sponsored by Spirit Juice Studios.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Hey everybody. Welcome, this is Fr. Mark-Mary.
Fr. Angelus: Fr. Angelus.
Fr. Innocent: And Fr. Innocent.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And this is the Poco a Poco Podcast with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Did we get the order right? I feel like there was a ...
Fr. Innocent: I feel like you look at me and I guess when you look [crosstalk 00:00:28] ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Are you normally [inaudible 00:00:28], Fr. Innocent?
Fr. Innocent: No, I think it kind of leads ...
Fr. Angelus: I think it's
Fr. Innocent: Leads out. It's pretty strong. I particularly just want to welcome him back.
Fr. Angelus: Easy, easy, buddy.
Fr. Innocent: There's been a few podcasts where he's been too busy.
Fr. Angelus: That is not true.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Dude, the podcast episodes are not recorded necessarily in the same order in which they are released.
Fr. Angelus: That's true.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And so we had a little streak of ...
Fr. Innocent: It that was a secret, it no longer is.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We had a little streak of struggling with abandonment issues.
Fr. Innocent: That Fr. ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Fr. Angelus was abandoning us.
Fr. Innocent: Was too busy for us. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: Another way to look at that is being faithful to the responsibilities that I've been given.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I mean that's one way.
Fr. Innocent: That's one way.
Fr. Mark-Mary: That's one way to look at it.
Fr. Innocent: I mean, it's not what we were feeling. It's kind of rejecting what our experience was.
Fr. Angelus: Unbelievable.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You'll hear the ... There was a movie called Memento, I never saw it, but where it kind of starts at the end and then goes backwards towards the beginning.
Fr. Innocent: Oh, I think I saw that movie, too.
Fr. Mark-Mary: This is like a Memento, because we're talking about something that they're going to hear about later on. We'll see how it goes, but we are talking about your affinity for ...
Fr. Innocent: The Spice Girls?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Your affinity for the Spice Girls and your addiction to bonbons.
Fr. Angelus: You guys talked about this without me?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, but we told the people that we would mention it to you.
Fr. Innocent: Affinity for the Spice Girls. Can you name the Spice Girls right now, if I asked you?
Fr. Angelus: The first one, I remember, is named Fr. Angelus.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah. Got you.
Fr. Innocent: Wow, that was ...
Fr. Angelus: I just want everybody to know that I'm not laughing right now. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: So Fr. Angelus is back and Fr. Angelus is back with a vengeance. He is the star of this episode.
Fr. Innocent: Wow.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Here's the back story. We're talking about meekness and, you know, we always spend a certain amount of time before we actually hit the record button discussing where we're going to go, who's going to do what, and what we have in front of us is a talk, essentially the outline of a talk that Fr. Angelus gives to ... Who do you give it to?
Fr. Angelus: Our postulants.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The postulants and it's on fraternal life and there's the heart of it is dealing with meekness, but what was coming out as we were discussing is still like a wrestling with what it really means.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: I think it's difficult because, again, I think there's a mystery to the word. I think if we're honest when people think of meekness, they think of weakness. It's like, "Oh, look at ..." Like a meek lamb, right? Someone who maybe is trampled or someone who's weak or soft. We've talked about that before a little bit.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I'm going to ask you a question, you have to be honest.
Fr. Angelus: Okay.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Do you use that line in your talk every time? "When people think of meekness ..."
Fr. Angelus: They think of ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: "They think of weakness."
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Or is that fresh?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, I talk about that.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You've been thinking about that one for years? THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: I appreciate that you thought it was fresh.
Fr. Mark-Mary: No, I didn't, that's why I asked. I just wanted everybody to know.
Fr. Innocent: But is it true? Like sometimes there's a temptation to think about ...
Fr. Angelus: It's true, totally, 100%. 100%. But, guys, this is a Gospel reality and I think the foundation for me ... I've kind of been fascinated with the topic for a while. Meekness has been a topic that I'm always keeping my ear open for people who talk about, reflect about it. The one when the word comes up and obviously, it comes in Matthew five, in the Beatitude here, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth," but it also comes up in Matthew 11, which is probably one of my ... I know you guys had talked about this on the podcast, I haven't gotten a chance to share mine, but Matthew 11 ...
Fr. Innocent: If you'd show up, every once in a while ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: The prospect though, everybody, I don't know if you ...
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, I would like to point out that my cough is better than it has been, but if we look at Matthew 11, it's beautiful because we have been talking about here at the podcast Poco a Poco, like learning Jesus is the model, Jesus is the witness, the heart of God is the place we go to be able to experience what it means to be revealed about these, how God reveals Himself in the heart of Jesus, right? And so it's beautiful because in Matthew 11, what Jesus say, "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart." Like "Learn from Me," like "This is My heart," right?
Fr. Angelus: And so, if this, our journey together so far has been about learning from Jesus, going to Jesus, the answer is in Jesus, the answer is in the heart of Jesus." You have a question in life, you have a question about what you should do, you have a question about your suffering, you have a question about your joy, what is it? It's found in the heart of Jesus, right? And so Jesus could have said anything, that's what I like to tell the guys. Jesus could have said, "Learn from Me for I Am." I mean Jesus is everything, but He could have picked anything but this is what He said, "That I'm the meek and humble of heart."
Fr. Angelus: That's interesting for me, and so we have to stop there. I think we should be confronted with what that means. Jesus is saying, "This is important," and so meek is ... it's a little elusive and it's a little mysterious, but I think it's kind of worth going there and trying to figure out what Jesus is saying. Why is this important? So important that Jesus would say, "This is My heart, meek and humble." THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: And one thing we know for sure ... I don't know if I need to say that this is Fr. Innocent after like kind of picking up from where he leaves of, but this is a response Fr. Angelus, the reality is that if Jesus says, "Learn from Me for I am meek," what He's definitely not saying is learn from me that like kind of presenting some kind of weakness, right?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Or softness, yeah.
Fr. Innocent: Or softness or ... [inaudible 00:05:57] reality that there ... He is revealing something about His heart that is kind of at the core of who He is, right, and so we can just kind of grasp the fact that He represents some sort of meekness or softness according to His person.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It could also be interesting to see, we can take it at different angles but somehow meekness is passivity or somehow meekness is kind of like something that just kind of ... It's like people walked over me or ...
Fr. Innocent: Like a victim, kind of ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: People that I'm a victim and because the Gospel's not passive, right. No, the Gospel is actually quite aggressive in being changed by God and then being able to go out and change the world. So, yeah, it's fascinating.
Fr. Innocent: Okay, so let's take a look at this. I think it's worth pointing out and it does add a little bit of nuance, right, that a common translation of Matthew 11 here is, "Learn from Me for I am gentle and whole of heart." I think that gives a little bit of shading, a little bit of interest in it and where I'm going is this is that there's a ... Meekness is possible as the fruit of some sort of fullness, right? So there's a ... if we're going back right now, let's go back to Matthew five, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth." All right, so we're dealing with inheritance, which calls to mind sonship, right?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Innocent: The heir, the one who inherits is the heir, and in my own little reflection around this, like, that's a really important concept, which you're going to help to give a lot of clarity is there's ... Inheritance is received. It's not grasped at, right? You don't pillage your dad's barn or whatever to get your inheritance. It's something that's passed down, received, involves a certain degree of patience, but also a certain degree of confidence and even security in this relationship and because we're sure of the Father's love, we're sure of the inheritance, we're sure of our security and our safety even in the Father's love, in the Father's plan. Because of that we can be meek, because of that we don't have to try and take care of ourselves, we don't have to be self- THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
reliant. We don't have to try and pillage and conquer the world, others, because we know that God in His time is going to give us what we need.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The moment right before when Jesus in Matthew 11:28 talks about, "Come to Me," a couple of verses before that, He says, "I give you praise, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, for You ..." Excuse me, "For although You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, You have revealed them to the childlike." So Jesus is kind of setting this up, Bro. He's setting this up to reveal to His disciples this meek heart, this gentle heart, this humble heart. It comes to the gift of a child, the one who looks at His Father, the one who receives this gift, and then, like you said, before the show, off air, we were talking about what do we, when we see people who are meek, how does it exhibit itself? It's this confidence. It's this strength.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I like to say like how much of the world we're so threatened by each other sometimes, but when you see someone who's free, I mean you see someone's confident in the midst of conflict, in the midst of the world, in the midst of people trying to push buttons and do different things, but you see someone free and confident, that's dangerous and it's really beautiful. So I think there's something of that that exhibits that here.
Fr. Innocent: I would like to look at a couple of maybe counter examples.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Sure.
Fr. Innocent: Because I think there can be like one opposite of the virtue of meekness or the characteristic of meekness, would be like a disorder sort of like a competitiveness. I think that would be sort of the example.
Fr. Angelus: Kind of like you when you play basketball?
Fr. Mark-Mary: You definitely set him up for that one, Bro.
Fr. Innocent: Well, I knew, I mean there's a certain ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: You walked right into that.
Fr. Innocent: That's why I added the disorder competitiveness, but sometimes, right?
Fr. Mark-Mary: I think sometimes it disorder. I think ...
Fr. Innocent: What do you know? But it's actually, because I was thinking about the example of basketball ... THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: Hey, can I remind you that last time, you thought you always come across as a mean. I just want to set you up for success here.
Fr. Innocent: Am I coming off as a mean guy?
Fr. Mark-Mary: No, I just was ... You're going down the road.
Fr. Innocent: I was over here minding my own business talking about meekness and then you attacked. Fr. Angelus attacked me, with a laugh, too, that's a wicked laugh.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Let's just keep focused here. Let's go back to disordered competition.
Fr. Innocent: But just to catch you up, because we were talking about how people are going to listen to these and our personalities and characteristics come out, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to come off as the mean one.
Fr. Angelus: Me, I'm likable and affable, and ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: You're going to come off as the ... What's the ...
Fr. Innocent: Absent.
Fr. Mark-Mary: As the absent one, the irresponsible one.
Fr. Angelus: Oh, excuse me.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The undedicated one. No offense.
Fr. Angelus: Wow, I think I got accused of not being full ... What'd you say last show?
Fr. Mark-Mary: You're the sad one. You're the ...
Fr. Innocent: The heavy ... Melancholic heavy ...
Fr. Angelus: I've never been accused of that in my life, for the record.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Jesus is not raised from the dead.
Fr. Angelus: Putting words in my mouth.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Hey, Christ is risen, Bro. Tell your faith. Tell your spirituality. Just kidding.
Fr. Angelus: Wow [crosstalk 00:11:16] ... THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: I was actually thinking about basketball. If Fr. Innocent and I, we're just down in ... This is I hope certain people are not listening to this, but we were down in Louisiana and Fr. Innocent and I, this ...
Fr. Innocent: Are you ... Don't tell the story.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Why? No, no, no, I'm not going to tell the story about when you missed the game when you shot to lose the game. I'm going to tell the story about why it didn't matter.
Fr. Innocent: Wow.
Fr. Mark-Mary: But now we do have to tell that story.
Fr. Innocent: It was ... No, we don't really. I mean, it was God's will that we ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Okay, so Fr. Innocent and I, we were visiting a school and we were doing something for like the third to sixth graders, something like that and because we're not really that funny or entertaining or interesting, we organized a basketball game against the parish priest, the pastor, and his associate. And I have a history of playing basketball and Fr. Innocent ...
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Innocent: Definitely does not. Kind of ...
Fr. Angelus: That's not true, you played basketball in high school.
Fr. Innocent: No, but I haven't played in years.
Fr. Angelus: You had that wicked left hand, Bro.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, well, wasn't so wicked ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: But we were playing the pastor and his associate pastor ... and I hope they're not listening to this, but if they are, I apologize ... And first of all, we're all in our habits and we're barefoot and they're in their like clerics with some shoes and it was like ... This is just a fun game ... They're not hardcore basketball players. We're just doing this for the kids.
Fr. Innocent: But Fr. Mike's pretty good, he's an athlete.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, you weren't supposed to say his name. Oh, well, too late. No, this isn't trying to talk bad, but it's just like I kind of ... I know who I am as a THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
basketball player. I know where I've been or who I'm playing against. This was just like a friendly game, nothing serious. So there wasn't, there was like a certain ... for lack of a better word, like meekness. I wasn't trying to ... The stakes weren't my identity or my worth. I was just playing, but with a certain lack of competitiveness or aggressiveness, because ... and, oh, man, I'm going to come out the bad guy in this thing.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Well, just because I knew ...
Fr. Angelus: [crosstalk 00:13:22]
Fr. Mark-Mary: I kind of know how it was, this is like a basketball player and if we wanted to go hard and win this game ...
Fr. Angelus: You could have gone.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We could have done it. It's not a problem.
Fr. Innocent: Well, you're definitely [crosstalk 00:13:30] without me, but ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Trust me, but because of sort of the confidence of who I was and what I'd already been given or already possessed, whatever, right? There's a certain freedom and the stakes weren't as high, and I think there's something to that, about the virtue of meekness is that you know who you are. In a certain way, you already have possession of your inheritance, as particularly in so far as adopted son or daughter of the Father, already baptized and already with the divine life living in you, which is pretty good.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So it takes the edge off a little bit in our ... it ought to take the edge off in sort of our relationships with another. We're not competing for affection or we shouldn't be. We're not competing to sort of get ahead. We're not competing to reveal who's best or whatever. What we've already received is far more than anything we're going to accomplish on our own.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, for sure. There's a great story of ... I think I could say his name. He's your spiritual director, maybe just leave it at that. He's a great friend of ours and he has this, he lives with this confidence and this kind of playfulness and we got to spend a lot of time together the past three years, as spiritual director in school and he fits right in with the friars and we just always kind of make fun of each other. There's just like a joyful kind of attitude in kind of going back and forth with each other. So whenever we'd give each other a THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
hard time, he'd be like, "Bro, I'm a beloved son of the Father and I don't care what you say. Bro, I'm a beloved son of the Father."
Fr. Innocent: And like so that was like the refrain and I just love that about him and I ... and it was pretty constant. Like, he's like, "I know who I am, I don't need you, Bro. You can make fun of me all you want, I'm a beloved son of the father. Like I love that. I think there's a meekness in that because you know who you are and you're free and therefore ... I mean it was a joking but I'm sure he ... He told me actually that that's what his refrain is in the face of personal struggle, of the world of criticism. I mean as a pastor, it's not easy, right? So like he's living in this place of conflict sometimes and he tells us, he told me that he was like, "In my prayer, like I'm a beloved son of the Father, I don't know if you know who I am. Like I'm a beloved son of the Father." There's a freedom.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I like this, right, because I think this really gets to the heart of how it's not softness or doormatness. There's a strength to it, like you're going to hit me with this but I'm going to hit back with my identity.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Innocent: And that's the key is that you're hitting back with your identity standing in the truth of who you are and you're not hitting back with more competitive words or loaded words or an attitude, right? We're not hitting back with this like macho attitude that like, "Don't you know who I am?" And it's kind of self-centered but where ... I like how you, like our identity can be as like a weapon.
Fr. Angelus: I think, another just an image to throw out there, too, if you think of someone that's opposite of this is someone who's really not at home with themselves, right? And so there is no real confidence in the truth, there's no real confidence of like being at home with myself and so if you ... We've talked about this a lot, as well, but if you have a little bit of orphanhood in us so that we're kind of spiritually homeless and we kind of wander.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Do you also use [inaudible 00:16:53] care?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, but I think I like the image of being at home. When I'm at home, there's a strength of the Father, there's a strength of who I am. Home's a place where I know who I am. Home's a place that allows me to be myself and so ... But when I wander and when I'm not at home spiritually, then I try to prove, then I try to maybe defend and the gift of ... Have we been ... and we can talk about our listeners, have we been given the gift of the truth of THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
who we are and has someone given us a place to at home? Someone given us a place to be confident and so we're not wandering and so ...
Fr. Angelus: Again, but that's bestowed as a gift and I think that's an important ... I've received an inheritance, I've received an identity and I'm given that gift and then therefore I don't have to defend. I don't have to grasp or wander, wander around. And so I think just to add that concept of home is a good ... When you come up against someone and you know they're at home, they're like, "Yeah, man, that guy's at peace. There's something about him that ..." and then something happens and he's like, "No big deal."
Fr. Mark-Mary: But you're not, right, somebody who's at peace and confident in themselves, you're not going to take them as soft.
Fr. Angelus: Exactly.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Because they're going to stand firm.
Fr. Angelus: I think it's pretty dangerous, like ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, absolutely.
Fr. Angelus: There's a strength. It's not soft at all, there's actually a strength where it's like they're not swayed by the wind, they're swayed by like fads. They're like anchored in the Lord and they like ... "Whoa, this guy or this man or woman is definitely like anchored." There's like a strength and an anchor there before the Lord. They know exactly who they are.
Fr. Innocent: I was just thinking about this, you know when someone pushes your buttons, you don't respond, that makes him more angry.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: They want a response but when you don't respond, because you kind of rise above it, right? And so, kind of the world wants a confrontation. The world wants you to get ... as Catholics, they want you to defend yourself and they want you to get aggressive and they want you to do something stupid and they want you to ... and then so they can say, "Yeah, that's what Catholics do. Catholics are judgmental, Catholics are defensive, and they just ... They throw words and they throw rules and they throw ..." But when you ...
Fr. Angelus: Like I remember recently talking to someone, when you're like, "Hey, you know, what about this abuse [inaudible 00:19:07] and this ..." and they kind of list all the sins of the Catholic church and your response is, "You know THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
what, Bro, yeah, we've made significant mistakes and we've done horrible things as a church." And then all of a sudden, it's like, whoa. I didn't get aggressive, I didn't get defensive, I didn't push back but you had ... Because there's confidence, "Like I don't have to defend that," and so it's almost not ... You guys were talking about hitting back. I wouldn't even say meekness hits back, sometimes you just don't hit at all and all of a sudden they're like, "Whoa." There's a different kind of response rather kind of like this ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: But like maybe not to the person who's communicating some sort of negative idea, whatever it is but the idea itself is getting hit back.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, I'm with you, I'm with you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I was thinking can an example of this be the story of our Lord and His temptation in the desert, where Satan is essentially, he's trying to undercut his identity, right? He's trying to undercut his confidence in the Father. "Okay, like if you're so tough, whatever, turn these stones to bread."
Fr. Innocent: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: "Or throw yourself off this parapet ... parapet," is that how you pronounce the word? "Throw yourself off this high spot and see what happens."
Fr. Innocent: [crosstalk 00:20:23]
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, what's the third one? What's the third temptation? We don't have our books in front of us and this is ...
Fr. Angelus: Look at you, getting in there and just make it happen, Bro.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Matthew four, what's the third one? It's the bread ...
Fr. Angelus: The food.
Fr. Mark-Mary: There's three, right?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, for sure.
Fr. Innocent: Where you at?
Fr. Mark-Mary: The bones, the pinnacle, the temple ... The bones, the bread. Pinnacle of the temple, and then ...
Fr. Innocent: What do you got? THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: The worship me thing, right?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Oh, so I think this is totally on a ... So here's the deal, party people, friends, it's whatever time it is. It's like 8:00 at night, had a long day, just finished dinner. So don't get too, don't be [crosstalk 00:21:07] ...
Fr. Angelus: Don't be too ...
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, exactly.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We just messed up on the three temptations of Jesus.
Fr. Innocent: Messed up, you didn't even mess up, Bro. Don't worry.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I feel like people expect that to come off like, come off no problem, but I'm ... Just so we're all clear, the key to all this that we've been talking about has been found by one of us and it's not either of you. I'm just kidding.
Fr. Innocent: Please explain this key to me.
Fr. Angelus: Wow.
Fr. Mark-Mary: But check this out, right, so Matthew four, "And the Devil took Him to a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of heaven. He said to Him, 'All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me.'" So this is a temptation against the receiving an inheritance, right? "Then Jesus said to him, 'Begone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord Your God and Him alone shall you serve.'" So just this idea that like I think that temptation from the devil is ... could take care of yourself. Betray, like don't place your confidence anymore in the Father and what [crosstalk 00:22:08] ...
Fr. Innocent: Fill yourself.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Innocent: Grasp ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Take care of yourself, and Jesus in the fullness of identity and the confidence that He has in the Father and that relationship, chooses meekness, chooses gentleness and sort of stands strong. Is that ... THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: I mean like fighting back, I think ... I mean we should just leave it there. That insight is unparalleled, Fr. Mark.
Fr. Angelus: Wow.
Fr. Mark-Mary: As I'm speaking it becomes less dramatically profound.
Fr. Innocent: No, it's beautiful. No, I think ... No, no, no, I'm saying ... I'm just kidding you. It's really profound, and I think Jesus, there's a lot of power there, right? We wouldn't say that Jesus is weak in His response. We would say that there's a strength in Him continuing to choose His Sonship, in that place, right? Continuing to rely on the Father ... Everything kind of goes back to the Father, and I think there's a real meekness there.
Fr. Angelus: Our friend Merikakis talks about how a meek heart is a expectant heart.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Can I ask you to do a favor again?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, because I think he's really important to us.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, okay, and just maybe a couple of times, in case we have listeners who haven't listened before. Explain who he is.
Fr. Angelus: Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis is a Biblical Commentator, originally from San Francisco, but now he's actually a ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Trappist.
Fr. Angelus: Trappist, a Trappist brother, priest and he's actually in Rome, but he, I think-
Fr. Innocent: Fr. Simeon?
Fr. Angelus: Fr. Simeon.
Fr. Mark-Mary: He's ordained a priest?
Fr. Angelus: Yup.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Oh, I didn't know that, cool.
Fr. Angelus: So the reason why we like him is I think we can lost in Biblical commentary a lot as priests and religious but also people who love to study the Bible and learn the Bible and he's almost a mystical commentator. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: Spiritual commentator.
Fr. Angelus: Offers a spiritual approach that really is moving and inspiring so we [inaudible 00:23:51], our community's heart loves him and has kind of been captured by him so we often ... and his main work is on Matthew's Gospel and so we use him a lot to kind of give us context and take us a little deeper in ...
Fr. Innocent: And you can pretty much always assume that Fr. Angelus is reading a Merikakis commentary.
Fr. Angelus: It's true.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And far as like the combination of ... Because he's profoundly like smart and academic but the mix of how he uses sort of his knowledge of language and profound study, but also with deep prayer, spirituality, and faith is just for me at this point ...
Fr. Angelus: Super mystical.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Unmatched.
Fr. Angelus: Are you ready for a quote about from meekness on him?
Fr. Innocent: He's coming for a place ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: Instead of just paraphrasing, I'll actually read him here.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Do it.
Fr. Angelus: Quote, "The meek are said to be the heirs par excellence because they are disposed to receive everything as a gift. There is nothing they do not expect from God."
Fr. Mark-Mary: And this is from what book, because I think we have to actually say what it is?
Fr. Angelus: This is from his commentary.
Fr. Mark-Mary: This is from his commentary. What is it? Heart of ...
Fr. Angelus: Heart of Fire. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: Heart of Fire.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, what a book.
Fr. Angelus: And so again, the meek, the meek hearted need an expectant heart and going back to Jesus, expected everything from His Father, so He, while He was tempted, He could rest on this confidence that the Father will give me everything. Back to Matthew 11, that the foundation of "Learning from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart," is a childlike heart, is the heir of the Son, right, which kind of give a litany of everything we talked about, but what does it mean to be an heir? It means to look for your inheritance as a gift and completely receive everything from the Father.
Fr. Angelus: So Jesus didn't have to give in to temptation, He didn't have to get overwhelmed, He didn't have to get discouraged, He didn't have to get defensive, He didn't have to be-
Fr. Innocent: He didn't have to do it Himself.
Fr. Angelus: He didn't have to do it Himself and it's actually, He dealt with the devil quite ...
Fr. Innocent: Masterfully.
Fr. Angelus: Masterfully and quickly, it was like no big deal. But how do we deal with our own temptations? How can this gift help us? Like what does it mean to be meek in the face of our own temptation? In the face of our own discouragement? In the face of the pressure from world? That's a real thing. Like how much do I fall back in my own personal [inaudible 00:25:53], especially when you get worried about things or you feel the pressure of the world or things add up, and things go on? And it's basically, can be these three temptations kind of disguised as other things. "Well, why don't you worship these other things? Why are you trusting the Father? You can provide for yourself better or the world can provide for you better, or this thing can make you feel better, or this thing can fill you up."
Fr. Angelus: Whatever, it's all the same thing and Jesus teaches us, the meek heart is an expectant heart in the midst of the situation, I can turn to the Father and He will give me everything, so therefore, that can bring peace and joy and confidence in Him.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Okay, do you guys have any insight ... It's okay if you don't at this point ... so the inherit the earth, right? So "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and now there's a certain, if feels like there's a certain THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
temporality about this, a certain sort of here and now-ness. Is there anything that you guys have to say about that or ...
Fr. Innocent: Like the second part of it?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: Inherit the earth.
Fr. Innocent: I mean that's a good question, to wrestle with that I think would be good. Do you have any insight?
Fr. Angelus: Well, I'm just thinking about it, so like, "Seek first the kingdom and everything's going to be added to it." I do think there are certain level of here and now, like in this earth, world as well, like you'll be okay.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, I think there's a beginning, I think the Lord wants ... I think it points to something like the here and now are the what do we say ... Now but not yet, the idea that there's a taste or glimpse of even on this earth of living the fullness of this identity or living in this identity. I think there's definitely something there.
Fr. Angelus: I made a personal commitment, are you ready for this?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: I made a personal commitment recently to only read the Bible before I go to bed at night. I usually, I'm a big novel guy, actually, we're all a big novel guys ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: So you read the Bible while eating bonbons?
Fr. Angelus: Ha ...
Fr. Innocent: Can you, dude?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Are you allowed to still listen to your Spice Girls?
Fr. Innocent: The Spice Girls?
Fr. Angelus: Unbelievable. I don't even feel like ... Know how I can defend myself in this since I wasn't here.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Well, there's a meekness going around right now .. . You ... THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: It's time for you to practice. It's time for you to practice.
Fr. Angelus: So you asked me a question ... about if I had an insight to something. I was trying to tell you about reading the Bible before I went to bed. Are you ready for that, Brother Mark? Can I please proceed?
Fr. Mark-Mary: I apologize.
Fr. Angelus: No, you're completely forgiven.
Fr. Innocent: Brother Mark ...
Fr. Angelus: Why are you completely forgiven? Because I love the virtue of meekness.
Fr. Innocent: I'm not threatened by you.
Fr. Angelus: Anyway, so I decided to jump in, part of the narrative of Salvation History in the Book of Maccabees and it's beautiful because somehow I think, "They shall inherit the earth," I don't know why it is you just asked me for insights, but I'm trying here perfectly. Something about conquest, right? Something about kind of fighting for something, right? And kind of like you're talking about inheritance but you're also talking about land and you're talking about, yeah, going out and ... Yeah, I'm thinking about the guys in the Book of Maccabees, but here's a thing, what's beautiful about the Book of Maccabees, you have Judas Maccabeus and his people basically in the face of all odds, almost before every battle, turning to God and praying and offering and worshiping and offering sacrifices and blowing the horns and doing all these things.
Fr. Angelus: And therefore, every victory was a gift, and it's beautiful ... This is just for all the masculine hearts out there, like almost to a tee the litany after every victory, again in the face of kind of like there's no way they should have won is that the litany or the free frame, "And their enemies were slain before them." Their enemies were slain before them and so just this beautiful ... again when we're meek ... and now these guys were fierce but they're meek because they knew why they were fighting. They knew who they were fighting for, the gift of the covenant was central to them and so they turned ... They stopped in the midst of battle praise God, praise the covenant, reminded themselves of what they were doing and then were able to go forward.
Fr. Angelus: And it's pretty gruesome and so that's a bit difficult, which is a whole other conversation but I just kind of feel like the "they will inherit the earth," like these guys went out in conquest of the land. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, for the Jewish people, it was about land, so they're inheriting a blessing like the blessing of the Father and the covenant was about land.
Fr. Angelus: It was, very physical place.
Fr. Innocent: I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed that's pretty good ...
Fr. Angelus: But, again, I think the central reality is that these guys did this in a very ... Their hearts were ordered to God and their hearts were ordered to who they were, and it's interesting, could we live with their courage and their confidence and their utter focus in God and on God and therefore every victory was from Him, every gift was from Him, in the face of, again, in the face of here's the next battle, here's thousands of more people, here's all these things. Every victory is from Him.
Fr. Angelus: I just wonder, again, in a very temporal way, is this the kind of victory God wants to give us when our hearts are in the right place. Humble. Their hearts weren't seeking anything other than what God wanted to give them and God wanted to offer them.
Fr. Mark-Mary: If we ... Do you have something?
Fr. Innocent: I do, I have a spiritual insight. I mean did you want to ... I mean you asked the question, so I was going to ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Please go, please go.
Fr. Innocent: Okay, but this is kind of like ... Ange, I got to ... That's really beautiful, I like that, and just understanding that living in God's blessing, again, for the Jewish people was something concrete. It's beautiful. I like that.
Fr. Innocent: This is more kind of talking out loud, but I think there's something to this. The Prodigal Son, so you have two sons, I think respond in obviously different ways and so I guess I want to start with the older son. I don't think the older son had this gift of meekness. Like he really didn't know who he was, right, and so he gets angry at the response of the father. He's hurt, yeah, again, he's frustrated and he's unable to go in and share in the feast and then again, maybe it's helpful, like "Shall inherit the earth," because like if he was meek, he would, there was inheritance right now. This gathering, this family gathering of being able to receive something and being a part of this life and this celebration, right? But he couldn't, he wasn't meek. He was threatened. He couldn't receive it. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: And then you have the son who because of this new found identity, the father has given him and his inheritance back, basically, his life back, his identity back. And he's able to enter in, again to maybe this new found meekness and experience this utter generosity, this feast. The fatted calf and the robe and the rings and so he's entering in this new found meekness of like, "Wow, this is who I am," right? But as beautiful as that, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth," like there's an inheritance that's given and he's able to receive this even in this party, in this calf, and so it's not heaven, but there's inheritance of something beautiful from, again, from this, even in this earthly side of this feast that he's experiencing.
Fr. Mark-Mary: All that I have is yours.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Innocent: And, he, the older son's unable to receive that the more we talk about the father, but the other son is, and so ... but it's beautiful now.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So all that I have is yours, does the father have enough to go around?
Fr. Innocent: You bet.
Fr. Angelus: Yes. Yes.
Fr. Mark-Mary: In your, one of your many absences, Fr. Angelus, I was just thinking about this too, before we ... Because I think I attack Fr. Angelus more because were classmates.
Fr. Angelus: It's true.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So I think that's what it is.
Fr. Angelus: Against it, but since I'm generally, emotionally healthy it's okay.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Generally, but at the ... As our dear friend, Michelle Benzinger over at that ...
Fr. Innocent: We're going to talk about her again, Michelle will love you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Over at that podcast that we're going to smack down.
Fr. Innocent: I was just ... When did we start talking trash about other broadcasts? THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: The Abiding Together podcast.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Because, again, we're like the little ...
Fr. Innocent: Little brother.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The little four year old brother and they're like the big Catholic podcast monster.
Fr. Innocent: Sister, I mean ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Sister, but you know what I mean. She has this line and I'm sure if you listen to her podcast ... which I know all of you do and you love it ... She has a great line that "We have a Father of ..." Like "We've got to live with confidence in the Father's abundance, not scarcity." And just how do we ... do we approach life as if there's an abundance? Is it like ... Or if you get something good, does that endanger me getting the same good or is there enough to go around?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And maybe, certainly there's an aspect of it which I think is can be, this inherit the earth, it's sort of the temporal. It's like if you get admiration, if you get success, or if you get sort of your dreams to come true.
Fr. Angelus: It's a win for us all.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Does that threaten me? Or is there enough to go around and I think we live with this identity that all the Father has is ours and the Father has overabundance. We don't have to be, we don't have to grasp, we don't have to be as aggressive.
Fr. Innocent: One of the other brothers used the word stingy, like sometimes we live as if the Father's stingy and it's all kind of like parceled out and there's not enough to go around. Who's that pretty amazing famous priest in City? Fr. Jim Lloyd?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Fr. Mark-Mary?
Fr. Innocent: Oh, no.
Fr. Mark-Mary: No, oh, sorry, I was going ...
Fr. Angelus: Jim Lloyd. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: Jim Lloyd.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Jim Lloyd.
Fr. Innocent: That's where that's going to that?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, so when you ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: Fr .Lloyd is a legend, he's absolutely a legend.
Fr. Innocent: When you call him, like ... or something like ... I don't know if it's on his message machine or if he says it all the time, but he's like, he always says, "The Father thinks I'm hot stuff." Right? And I just love that because, again, I'm going to listen on the phone before ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: And he's like 97.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Right?
Fr. Angelus: Or, no, he might be 99. He almost is a 100.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Go ahead.
Fr. Innocent: He just says, "The Father thinks I'm hot stuff," and the beauty of the thing is the Father thinks you're hot stuff, too. You know, like the Father's in love with us. He's giving us ... but this man knows who he is, but there's a sense when he says it that it's not just for me but it's for you, too, and to have this kind of this joy and understanding that I'm hot stuff. Wow, let's just put that in context.
Fr. Innocent: I had a great encounter with him. I think we were sitting in his office and he kind of had a smile on his face and I was like, "What are you thinking about, Father?" And it's so beautiful, he said, "I'm just thinking how crazy the Father is about you." It was just a beautiful ... and talking about sometimes we have to be give the gift of our inheritance. Because he's a great example of someone who is constantly giving the gift of other people to themselves, the gift of their inheritance. I know that could be a whole another podcast, but like isn't that part of what it means to be a disciple of the Lord?
Fr. Innocent: Is that we're not just consuming these realities or consuming this grace or consuming this truth, but can we like pass it on? And can we give others? If people lack this inheritance or they're poor in this inheritance, can we ... Isn't THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
that the gift of being a priest and spiritual father is like spiritual father, you want to bless people. That's a good word. Bless people with this inheritance.
Fr. Angelus: And it's our ... We've talked about this before, it's all about the overflowing.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: If we live in this place of overflowing, Fr. Jim Lloyd is like just overflowing so he can say, he can speak blessing into people's lives and it changes their life.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Well, let me, I this quote, again from our man Leiva-Merikakis, Heart of ... What's it called? Heart of Fire?
Fr. Angelus: Fire.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Heart of Fire is, yeah, "Speaks with such Christian meekness, rests, not upon constraint and resignation but upon the freedom of the person who knows he is always and everywhere loved by God." Could we use those words to describe Father Lloyd?
Fr. Angelus: Totally.
Fr. Innocent: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Fr. Mark-Mary: Sort of the freedom of somebody who knows always and everywhere, he's hot stuff in the eyes of God.
Fr. Innocent: It's like ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: I don't know, I feel a little bit uncomfortable with that but I'm going to work on it. I think it's ... I think that's what I want to be.
Fr. Innocent: But I think it's ... I'm okay with the uncomfortability because [inaudible 00:39:01] almost a 100 years old, but he ... but my brothers, he actually thinks that
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, yeah.
Fr. Innocent: Like he lives that way, like I am in the eyes of the Father, like to the Father I'm hot stuff, like ...
Fr. Angelus: It's awesome. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: It's pretty amazing he can get away with ... I probably can't get away with that, but you get what I'm saying.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, and so this is part of our ... if we want to get into a little bit more day to day life, because for me the temptation when I come across somebody who's competitive, and who's living, potentially living from scarcity, right? Like this is what they call like a zero sum game. So if I win, you lose, if you win, I lose, is that we, that our response is one of remembering that I always and ever will be loved by God, that whatever the Father has is ours as well, and that there's over abundance, and if we can respond like that and give witness, that, "Whoa, whoa, like what you think the stakes are, they're not the stakes." Right? Like there's enough to go around.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: That can be sort of the response to, as opposed to being dragged into and sort of entering at this level of fighting for crumbs as if the Father doesn't have a whole banquet already prepared.
Fr. Angelus: I mean at Fraternal Life, we just get so much practice with that. I mean the brothers, I mean we live with great brothers but there's constantly there's this masculine kind of identity thing of like having to prove ourselves and if we don't be careful of that, I think this is the prayer:
Fr. Angelus: Father, make my heart meek, make my heart secure in You and I just don't want to play the game anymore and so if I can just receive who I am and receive ... Yeah, that I can live from that identity and not from like this competitive kind of longing or this competitive restlessness I think it could ... I mean it definitely would change our fraternal life.
Fr. Angelus: I've got two things but before I mention Jesus, I want to just, Father Innocent, it just reminds me, I don't know, our nephew Charlie just hates to lose, right? And that's being six.
Fr. Innocent: Like six years old.
Fr. Angelus: He gets out a kickball and ... Yeah think he kicked a kid after getting out at kickball, which is like, I like the aggressiveness.
Fr. Mark-Mary: [crosstalk 00:41:08].
Fr. Angelus: You can get to work with that.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: You can work with that. "It got me out," like, "Charlie, why'd you kick?" "Well, he got me out, I mean ..." "Charlie, you can't really kick people." But that's like he's a kid and he's learning and my sister's just really funny trying to like help him. We're playing cards and it's just hard to play sometimes, but they're learning, but I guess the point is I think even in our own adult lives, we can just not want to lose and then again, we somehow we're not grounded or at home in ourselves with the gift that God has given us or the truth that God has given us and so we're ... it's just a hard sometimes place to be, when you are constantly feeling like you're losing, and constantly feeling like you're threatened and then constantly feeling like, "Oh, well, if I don't win this or if I don't make this much or if I don't look good in this particular way, then somehow, that I'm diminished, and somehow that I'm not as ... I'm not good or not lovable or worthy."
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: It's real.
Fr. Mark-Mary: But those are not the stakes, right? That's important is like you are good, you are loved, unconditionally always, in every moment by the Father. He's got more ...
Fr. Angelus: And the Father's for you, always.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The Father's for you, because you're hot stuff to the Father.
Fr. Angelus: Can hot stuff be in the title of this podcast?
Fr. Mark-Mary: I think it's going to be. Can we make ... We should make a tee shirt. "The Father thinks I'm hot stuff."
Fr. Angelus: All the things, the Father, the Father. I just want to take it back though to guys, in our own personal experience of our weakness and our struggle in our day to day, like going back to the heart of Jesus is the key. Like how do we become more meek? We ask Jesus to transform our hearts into His and so every, again, every time we read the Word of God, every time we experience, Jesus is always overflowing in this particular way and we can call it different things but the heart of Jesus is always this witness and when He interacts with others, when people threaten Him, when people bully Him, when people doubt Him, He's always giving this ... Living from His inheritance and projecting this meekness, this confidence, and He's seeing something different. He's in another place and not immediately threatened by what's around Him. That's really beautiful. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, and I think, right, so for example, I don't know how old our listeners are going to be, but say you're scrolling on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, and you see somebody who's living their ... You know, they're living this dream life, and it can cause a temptation in your own mind, like to feel down, like, "Oh, man, if I looked like that, if I had that outfit, this whatever, whatever ..." Just to spiritually say, "That's all right, the Father thinks I'm hot stuff."
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, right?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Like seriously.
Fr. Angelus: Seriously, I'm the [inaudible 00:43:42] of the Father.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: Or like I was even saying, like I think that's the potent thing we're going for, but like "Everything I have is yours." The Father's like "No, no, well, everything I have, everything I have is yours."
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, yeah, or Fr. Michael down in Louisiana, "I'm the Father's favorite."
Fr. Angelus: Yeah. I don't know if you know this.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I'm the Father's favorite.
Fr. Angelus: Fr. Michael would say as we were like, taking us on a tour, "[inaudible 00:44:04], but the Father is in love with me."
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: "Like in love. Like look at this, look at this Adoration chapel, look at these parish." Like He would say ... and he's joking but not. I mean he's being funny but, no, like, Fr. Michael, lives from this place. "I don't think you know this, but the Father is absolutely in love with me."
Fr. Innocent: I think our woundedness keeps us from this but I don't think, it's not God's will for us to be caught in our woundedness. It's God's will for us to have this attitude and this spirit and again it's a childlike spirit and that spirit sets us free.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Boom, boom, so let's conclude some things with tying up a couple of loose ends. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: You're good at that, tie us up.
Fr. Mark-Mary: First of all, this is not the ... It's not going to check anything it's going ... This isn't good for you. So we are playing basketball.
Fr. Innocent: No, oh, my God, I can't believe you. No, but, Bro, you're lucky. You're lucky that I'm, I am living in the freedom. I am living the Freedom of the sons of God.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You're hot stuff, yeah, for the Father. Yeah, we've always got to say the full sentence. So we were playing basketball, did you already hear about this?
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, but I'm losing interest quickly.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We're playing basketball, the whole school, we had this. It was us versus the other priests. We had the school there choose sides. They're cheering, they're going nuts. We're playing to five. It's four to three, Friars.
Fr. Innocent: And I scored. I scored some points.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You scored some points, at four to three, Friars. I got the ball at the point. I don't know I shake Fr. Michael, go to the right. Fr. White comes, I drop behind the back dime ...
Fr. Innocent: Behind the back.
Fr. Angelus: And you missed it?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Right to Fr. Innocent on the left side and he's left handed and I'm just walking off. I'm getting ready to go to Disneyland because this thing's and he missed it.
Fr. Innocent: This thing's in the bag.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It was at a lay up, wide open lay up, in front of the whole school, all these people cheering for us and they got the ball back, kicked it around. Fr. Michael, hit a two pointer.
Fr. Innocent: Fr. Michael nailed it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The passer, the two pointer right in my eye to win the game.
Fr. Innocent: You want to talk about that? THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: But you know what? You know what?
Fr. Innocent: That was my fault.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It doesn't matter, right? But it's all right.
Fr. Innocent: It doesn't matter at all.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It doesn't matter, because my Father's in love with me.
Fr. Angelus: Because you're hot stuff.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I'm hot stuff to the Father. We've got to say the whole thing, the whole thing. So Michelle Benzinger, Michelle Benzinger, when our podcast starts to smack yours ...
Fr. Innocent: I'm glad you guys are good friends.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It's all right, it's all right. The Father's in love with you.
Fr. Innocent: I mean, but kind of say, like I know, like I think that was God's will. I really think that me missing lay up's God's will because the pastor got the glory, the kids loved him.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And I think you talking like this is dangerous spirituality.
Fr. Innocent: And I'm just saying, I know who I am. Get behind me, Satan.
Fr. Angelus: Wow.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Are you talking to me?
Fr. Innocent: I know who I am, Bro.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Real quick, so a personal insight, I've been having is I'm the younger brother in my family and I still am very much like a younger brother in all these situations, and so like my relationship to Michelle is definitely one of annoying younger brother.
Fr. Innocent: I love it, I love it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: But seriously, Michelle, we're coming for you. We're going to smack you down, not that, but the stakes aren't that high, so don't worry about me. You're still beloved, everything the Father has is yours. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, you are a beloved daughter.
Fr. Mark-Mary: There's an abundance, it's not a ... We don't push a God of scarcity.
Fr. Innocent: God's not send you, don't worry. But everything God has is yours, my sister.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah. I hope and we can say this, because the chances of her listening to this are about ... So everybody, write to [inaudible 00:47:14] and let them know. We're talking trash.
Fr. Innocent: We're talking ...
Fr. Mark-Mary: And sorry, Sister Miriam and Heather, you don't really know us but it's said in love and admiration.
Fr. Innocent: A lot of love.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So now that we had this very mature moment to bring us home. Any closing thoughts Fr. Angelus.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah, the gift that God wants to give us is a new heart, right. Ezekiel, from the Book of Ezekiel that God gives us this gift of a new heart and it's a heart like His Son.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah.
Fr. Angelus: And I think we should never tire of pursuing that. Every episode is about that. The journey we're on is about that, the fulfillment of our lives and our vocations and our dreams and hopes and everything is about experiencing the heart of Jesus and that's what the world needs and that's what heals and forgives and transforms and so Jesus has a meek heart and He told us, like, "I want you to learn from Me and this is My heart, this is a revelation of My heart. It's meek and humble." The meekness that it lives the truth of His inheritance which is a complete gift from God and that's our gift. That's the gift God wants to give us every day.
Fr. Innocent: Amen.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Want to bring us home with a prayer?
Fr. Angelus: I do. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Father in heaven, give us the heart of Your Son. Give us a heart that lives from a place of confidence and trust and peace. Give us the grace to be at home with You, Lord, so we may experience the true inheritance that is ours, now, THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
today. We desire this Lord and we ask You for it. And I bless you my dear brothers and sisters, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Amen, thank you everybody for listening.
Fr. Innocent: I'm just glad the Father loves me more than He loves you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: No, I don't know if that's how it works.
Fr. Innocent: Wait, that's what I got from it. No? No?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Well, maybe we'll have you relisten to this. That was Fr. Innocent Montgomery.
Fr. Innocent: For the way. Yeah, for the record.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So we thank you for listening and we just remind you or we invite you to ask the Holy Spirit to continue to remind you that God is in love with you, that you are a son of the Father or daughter of the Father so whatever's coming can't touch you.
Fr. Innocent: Own it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And the Father thinks you're hot stuff.
Fr. Innocent: I love it. I love it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: All right, so let us know what's going on. Hit us up at [email protected]. Just say, "Hey, give us some love." Tell us nice things, I don't know, give us some feedback, some questions.
Fr. Innocent: Not that they would find us anyway, like ... but it's still good.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, I mean, let us know what's helping you pray. That's the type of stuff that's like money and then help us out with a like, a thumbs up, a ...
Fr. Innocent: All that, a share.
Fr. Mark-Mary: A share, a comment, and we're coming for you. We're coming for you, Sister Miriam, Heather, and Michelle. It's not what I mean. No pressure, but we're coming. All right, see you guys next week.
Fr. Innocent: Peace, everybody. THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 10 – “The Father Thinks I’m Hot Stuff” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: Bye-bye.
Fr. Angelus: God bless you.