THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Poco a Poco Podcast. Sponsored by Spirit Juice Studios. (singing)
Fr. Mark-Mary: Hey, welcome everybody. This is Father Mark-Mary.
Fr. Angelus: And Father Angelus here.
Fr. Innocent: And Father Innocent.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We are a Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and this is the Poco a Poco Podcast. For those of you who have forgotten who father Angelus is.
Fr. Angelus: Whoa.
Fr. Innocent: Welcome back Ange.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Maybe we can introduce you.
Fr. Angelus: [crosstalk 00:00:29] wasting no time just to get right in there.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Father Angelus is also a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.
Fr. Angelus: I am very happy to be an occasional guest host of the Poco a Poco Podcast.
Fr. Innocent: Glad you're back in the mix Ange.
Fr. Angelus: Hey, I was out for a while. And can I just tell you guys something, first of all, people listened to the podcast, so that's great news.
Fr. Mark-Mary: That's good news.
Fr. Angelus: Second of all, a common theme along the way is that they very much enjoy it. It's very accessible, which is good to hear, but also it's very common across the board. People say that you guys pick on me way too much. I am just saying.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It's come up.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah it's come up. And it's a thing, but I'm okay with it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I think it makes people like you.
Fr. Angelus: Exactly. I think I'm the most favorite character because they feel bad for me. [crosstalk 00:01:10]-
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THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Innocent: You're like the underdog.
Fr. Angelus: I was thinking of us a road movement, kind of like behind the scenes, like my own social media page of people having pity on me and mercy on me. Kind of like on the side.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We can arrange that. I can help you out.
Fr. Angelus: I can personally have my own Facebook though. So anyway.
Fr. Mark-Mary: When we were recording, when we were hanging out with Michelle Benzinger she definitely had that sort of sense like, "Why do you guys pick on Father Angelus so much?"
Fr. Angelus: Exactly. I ask that question all the time.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I have a theory.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah? What's your theory?
Fr. Mark-Mary: My theory is that I know you... Basically, I know you better than Father Innocent, Father Innocent knows you-
Fr. Angelus: Better than you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: ... better than me. Yeah. Because I lived with you for six years, Father Innocent obviously knows you well. And we've lived together just one year and two months, something like that. So I think hopefully as time goes on, it evens out a little bit.
Fr. Angelus: Hopefully.
Fr. Innocent: But it is really fun to gang up on you.
Fr. Angelus: I appreciate it. Thank you. It's good. Here we are.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We can have a change of pace though, real quick, because I think recently somebody told you... what is the line? "You just seem like-
Fr. Angelus: I'm in my prime.
Fr. Mark-Mary: ... you're in your prime." So we've been calling Father Angelus prime time.
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THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: To say, it was an interesting story because actually it was probably in reference to all this stuff that we're doing and again, it's great to do this podcast. But I was out on the road for vocation stuff for a lot over the last, actually a month and a half, which was great. And a lot of good conversations in the line, good ministries and people to be with.
Fr. Angelus: At some point though, maybe I was giving a talk somewhere and I was fired up, and someone who just kind of randomly said, "Hey, Father, you kind of just seem like you're in your prime." And I was like, "Thank you. You know I know." We of course made a joke and... But it's interesting kind of being in the... Obviously we were just talking before we started this conversation. There's a lot going on in life and in the community and at this house and with one another. And so you feel that. But in a strange, crazy way, Father Innocent and I were talking about this at dinner the other night too, somehow we thrive in kind of the busyness and the craziness. And there's a lot of grace there, but I always just joking. I was like, "You know what? Thank you. Someone noticed this," that I am flourishing in my life.
Fr. Innocent: Prime time Angelus. We're just calling him prime time.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Prime time.
Fr. Angelus: Lord have mercy.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So prime time. And I think there's something of that going on with our generation. We're just hitting middle age and some of the other boys [crosstalk 00:03:39]. It's true. Father Gabriel manual, who's the vicar here at the house, the number two is just putting on his big boy pants as well.
Fr. Angelus: We have a goal to have him on the show sometime is that-
Fr. Mark-Mary: We're working on it for sure.
Fr. Angelus: He's kind of putting it. He's playing hard to get a little bit, but I think he'd be great.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I think it'd be fun. I think it'd be good. We'll make it happen. So we're going to get into... We're continuing with, there's going to be a correction here in pronunciation, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis. We got a comment on YouTube from one of his former students.
Fr. Innocent: Wow. That's awesome, to help us out.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We're happy to be corrected.
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THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: But they pronounced it Dr Leiva. And I reached out to her because I kind of want to just hear some stories. So we'll see if she-
Fr. Innocent: I have this secret desire to be connected to him somehow. Like email him or... Anyway, just, he would be great. Yeah. I think he's in Rome. Did we establish that? I think he's one of the secretary to the Superior General in Rome.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Is that true or is that just [crosstalk 00:04:34].
Fr. Angelus: No. I think that's... Oh, come on. [crosstalk 00:04:37] I'm pretty sure he's in Rome.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You've been gone a while, but typically we avoid gossip.
Fr. Angelus: Oh, you're killing me.
Fr. Mark-Mary: All right. So Father Angelus, we're gong to get into... For those of you following at home, we're still in The Way of the Disciple, and we've made it to chapter... what number is this chapter? Chapter six, which is the story of the Samaritan woman. And we're going to get into... Father Angelus is going to situate us a little bit. So kick it off.
Fr. Angelus: Before we do that can I tell you a cool little story? I just got an email recently from my brother in law of all people, Brian, he's listening to podcasts, which is awesome, but he had a question and maybe we can work it out for other people. He got the book. So I'm prescribing the book randomly actually, this book we're reading, The Way of the Disciple. And he was looking for pointers on how to read it because he found it a little overwhelming and he found it like, "Do I read it like Lexio? Or I read some of it at a time? Do I read it straight through? Do I use the scripture and then go back to it later?" So anyway, I gave him some advice and I think it's slower, the better with Leiva, [crosstalk 00:05:42].
Fr. Mark-Mary: I think so. I think Poco a Poco, I think.
Fr. Angelus: Wow.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Obviously there's the idea of praise. You can't read his, you can't notice you can't... So you can process it, work through it the way that's best for you. But I think there it's substantial enough, often enough, that it's worth taking it slow.
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Fr. Angelus: And it's almost like a commentary too, where you can sit with the word and then obviously, he has great perspective on that can help you to go deeper. So anyway, I thought it was good. And then people kind of engaging.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Do you have anything-
Fr. Angelus: Actually for family members?
Fr. Innocent: That was awesome. That's good.
Fr. Mark-Mary: What up, Brian? What up dude?
Fr. Angelus: Little shout out. All right. We're in John chapter four and we have what's popularly known as the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well as also known. And Jesus is at a point where he's... it's the middle of the day. And he's hanging out with the well by himself, and the woman comes in the middle of the day to get water, which is... And we'll probably break this down, but it's just not a common time for a woman to come and get water. And so we realize and we learn later on in the story of why that is the case. But it sparks this dialogue where Jesus asks her for a drink and it's this beautiful unfolding of talking about what Jesus desires and what this woman desires and the living water that Jesus says that she initially desires.
Fr. Angelus: And we will learn that she has a number of husbands, that she's kind of an outcast of society and that's why she's going in the middle of the day. And she experiences something beautiful from Jesus, who speaks to the deeper part of her, to the deeper part of her desires. And she initially thinks he's a prophet and he goes and tells her friends. And there's just this beautiful encounter between the Samaritan woman, the woman who's really an outcast and in God at this well, who comes to seek her out and to meet her. It's a very common gospel for Lent. And it's a very common gospel for those of us who already meet the Lord in him to speak to a deeper part of us, especially in the midst of our brokenness and sinfulness and being, feeling outcast, sometimes ourselves, Jesus kind of breaks into that. And this story is beautiful for that.
Fr. Mark-Mary: What do you got Father Innocent?
Fr. Innocent: I think, hey Ange really well said.
Fr. Angelus: I am using Father Mark does the old-
Fr. Mark-Mary: I know I was nervous. He asked me to do it.
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Fr. Angelus: That was good. I just want to highlight again this moment, that just the language and the humanity of the thirst. We're going to talk about that. Jesus is at this place at the well, and this woman comes in and they're, again, exchanging this dialogue and Jesus asks for a drink. And this woman responds. And so Jesus is thirsty and this woman's thirsty. And somehow they meet in this place and it becomes a beautiful spiritual encounter. And so that's just really beautiful that we zoom in on this moment of the thirst of Jesus and the thirst for this woman.
Fr. Mark-Mary: All right. Should we have our man Leiva kick us off a little bit?
Fr. Innocent: Do it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Because here's the thing, this is... how many verses is it?
Fr. Angelus: It's long.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It's 54ish versus this whole story, how it unfolds with a lot of different parts. And there's... You could do a whole series just on this gospel. But we're going to focus on one thing and we're going to take the pointer or the sort of emphasis from Leiva Mara Caucus.
Fr. Angelus: Leiva.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Got to get used to saying it like that. I'm going to get used to saying Leiva. Maybe you guys can get used to saying my name, Father Mark-Mary. Unbelievable. Did you... He dropped the Father Mark.
Fr. Innocent: Unbelievable.
Fr. Angelus: Could you be that, please?
Fr. Mark-Mary: I'm sure our listeners are paying attention to when you guys insult me. Prime time. All right. So check this out folks. This is page 105 and Leiva Mara Caucus says The Way of the Disciple. I'm going to see how much I want to shorten it. I'm just going to... or we can just go and do the whole thing. On the cross too, he will exclaim, "I thirst," as soon after, as the surprising result of that thirst, water and blood flow from his heart. Alright, check this out folks, pay attention.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Indeed, he is a thirsty God, a tired God, a God looking for the companionship and dialogue of one of his creatures. And he goes on to say... this is the lessons of the same paragraph. "This action of making himself needy out of love may well be the greatest and most astounding work of his omnipotence." Boom.
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Fr. Angelus: Come on.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Should I keep going?
Fr. Angelus: Do it.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Does this spark something in you guys? Does this get you moved a little bit?
Fr. Innocent: Absolutely.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah. I love this idea and we're going to, actually, have a pretty specific look at it. Can I just go right into my thing?
Fr. Innocent: Do your thing.
Fr. Angelus: He's got a thing, everybody. And it's good.
Fr. Mark-Mary: One of the reasons I had Father Angelus, I asked him to kind of lead it because I think I'm going to hug the mic a little bit on this episode.
Fr. Angelus: Hug away, bro. Hug away.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Hug away. All right. So here's the deal folks. I'm going to pick a fight with-
Fr. Angelus: You already did it with me, so don't pick a fight with me.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I'm going to pick a fight with something that you guys all probably really, really like a lot, including the guys at this table. I think it's your favorite picture, right?
Fr. Innocent: Yeah. It's powerful for me. So just tread lightly, just be gentle.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And we have... How big is that painting of it in our front room?
Fr. Innocent: Bro, It's got to be like...
Fr. Angelus: It's huge.
Fr. Innocent: Six feet tall.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So I'm going to share a little bit of my concern with Rembrandt's painting of the Prodigal Son, which is bold. I took one art history class, just so you guys know.
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Fr. Angelus: How are you pulling authority? [crosstalk 00:11:36] hard art history class.
Fr. Mark-Mary: When I was 18, I took one art history class and it was from like seven to 10.
Fr. Angelus: Was that preconversion?
Fr. Mark-Mary: That was probably post. But it was pre any level of interest in art or history or anything like that. So I wasn't a great student. So here's the deal. I know that art is not necessarily meant to be exactly what happened. So Rembrandt, when he's painting this, he's not trying to paint a picture of... it's not supposed to feel like a photograph. And so he's got all this little meaning in it and those of you who have listened to the Abiding Together Podcasts. They had like a whole series on-
Fr. Angelus: Only a matter of time before that was mentioned. [crosstalk 00:12:18].
Fr. Mark-Mary: Book in on this. And I talked to Michelle about this too, and she was okay with it. My thing is this, if you've seen the Prodigal Son image, the father in it, he feels like he's a little bit too dignified for me. I fear, I intuit a sense of a level of indifference and I don't like that at all.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And so I don't have the expertise of a great artist, but I do have the experience of the heart of a priest, which I think in this, Jesus has given me a little bit of his insight for his own heart and his own thirst and his own pursuit of us. If you read the Prodigal Son, the actual gospel, it says the father sees his son from a distance coming back and what's the father do? He runs after him.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And my scene of this, it's not like he's just sitting in his front door and the son comes and he pats him on the back. But the father runs after his son. And I see him falling at the feet of his son. Maybe it's simultaneous to the son falling at his feet, but it's not just like... he's just not dignified in it. He's passionate about running after his son.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So that's the image. But I think we see some of that with Jesus here. Jesus, it says at the beginning of this gospel story that he sits by the well, and he's tired and he's thirsty God. And he's made himself tired and he made himself thirsty, pursuing this woman. And she comes up and she might think, "Okay, I made this journey. I just walked here and there's this guy."
Fr. Mark-Mary: She misses the whole pursuit of Jesus in the incarnation and his whole journey to be there for her. But that's why it drives me nuts a little bit, the prodigal son thing. Because if we are not living from this place of knowing that God thirsts for us, that God's pursuing us, that God is becoming tired out of love for us, we're missing something.
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Fr. Angelus: Yeah. But you know that I love this meditation, I think it's right on. And I think they're just power here. And so I do like that Rembrandt, but I agree with you 1000%. We have a God who waits. We have a God who longs. We have a God who misses. We have a God who weeps over absence. This is real.
Fr. Angelus: So whether it's this thirsty Jesus or whether it's the father that's longing and waiting and who has a broken heart when his son's far away. And this father who weeps over his son as of his return. I love how you say it's... Rembrandt's a little too dignified. It's a little to put together. It's this moment, the ravish heart of God in love with his sons and daughters. And especially those who are far away.
Fr. Angelus: This is what you're speaking about. Like, what's the heart of God for this woman or for the prodigal son or for us in our struggle? And I think it's more, or exactly what you're saying, it's more towards this experience of this extravagant, merciful, reckless love, then you could be kind of where you have some nice pictures where it's a little shiny.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think there's another word I could use is, it's more urgent. And the father just seemingly just kind of hanging out, waiting for his... So there's an urgency of God. There's more dramatic words coming. Someone said the other day, "You kind of mentioned dramatic stuff and you just kind of let it hang out there."
Fr. Innocent: I'm going to let her use another dramatic word. There's a desperation in the father. There's a desperation in Jesus, coming to us and sitting at the well and waiting for this woman. Both of those words aren't an image of a God who is put together and waiting and just kind of, everything's fine and I'm all night neat and everything's okay.
Fr. Innocent: So I totally agree that we need to experience and what this gospel story and your version of what's really happening in the Prodigal Son is a deep, a beautiful revelation of truth. I'm not going to call up and say that it's not true, the Rembrandt, but it's beautiful bro.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Well, yeah. And I get it. So Rembrandt has certain little things he's doing to make a point.
Fr. Innocent: Yeah. And his own certain experience. And I should think people should know. Someone else should say, besides you. You're not saying that that's not a powerful image. You're saying, I think, there's a deeper reality that's not caught there.
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Fr. Mark-Mary: It was very funny telling this. I've given this talk once publicly. I really hesitate to do so. Just because this image is so everywhere and really meaningful to people, but it was funny sort of giving it and explaining it and then going into their confessionals, a priest to hear confessions and right above the priest, [crosstalk 00:17:17] a huge image.
Fr. Mark-Mary: But yeah, I think it's just true Father Innocent, what you're saying, it's like, there is a certain sense of an urgency or a desperation that he has for us. It's routine, it's not formulaic. He's not... Jesus doesn't just have like office hours for us. It's like, "Okay, between whatever, 11:00 and 3:00 PM, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. And I'll talk to you then."
Fr. Mark-Mary: He's out searching for us, constantly desiring us, to bring us closer, trying to save us in all the different areas we need to be saved, constantly. This is our all the time reality. We're being loved and pursued like this. It's really important for us to know that we are pursued and not only are we pursued by another human being, but we're pursued by the living God.
Fr. Angelus: Can I throw out and just say, I don't mean to compliment him on the show, but I'm going to. We recently started postulancy and Father Innocent, it's so crazy how much you have to pour yourself out for these guys. And bro, you go all day, every day for the last month with these guys. And I'm standing, looking at it like there's things planned in the morning, there's things playing in the afternoon, you're tired and you have other things, and it's like, we got to go after dinner.
Fr. Angelus: And I know there's a big push at the beginning of postulancy, but bro this reality is present in your priesthood. And you kind of pursue these men and you're urgent for them, you're desperate that they know that they're loved here and welcome here and that they have a home here as we begin postulancy. As Father Mark was talking about that, I'm like, "Man, we have concrete revelations of that in our life."
Fr. Angelus: And me and Father Innocent had this moment last night, where at the end of the day we're just like, "Man, we're tired. It was a long day." But bro, it's because you go for it. And this is the heart that the Father has given you to do that. And it's beautiful to kind of be like, "Oh wow, that's how it manifests itself in our life." You concretely pursue these guys or sometimes to your detriment.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I'm going to cut in before you apply [crosstalk 00:19:23]-
Fr. Angelus: Before you defend yourself.
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THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: Before you try and turn it away from you. You use that. I think it's a lifetime saner about earning your pillow. It was really funny because if you picked up on it during the rosary last night, you were falling asleep.
Fr. Angelus: You were gone, bro, you were so tired.
Fr. Innocent: [crosstalk 00:19:38]. That's the last thing we do. I'm so tired.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We pray at the end. When was it that you fell asleep between your [crosstalk 00:19:46]-
Fr. Innocent: That was not last night.
Fr. Mark-Mary: That was not last night?
Fr. Innocent: No bro. That was a couple of weeks earlier.
Fr. Mark-Mary: No. I haven't been here. I think it was the Memorare.
Fr. Angelus: I think it was, you started the Memorare or the Hail Holy queen, and then it was to pray for us to Holy Mother of God, you fell asleep between starting the Hail Holy Queen and saying, pray for us holy mother of God.
Fr. Innocent: You guys are embarrassing me.
Fr. Mark-Mary: But it's good is because you're loving the boys. [crosstalk 00:20:08].
Fr. Innocent: Father Angelus just came up to and was like, "Bro, you got to [inaudible 00:20:12]. You're making us look bad here."
Fr. Angelus: I think four of us professed brothers turned around and looked at him like, "You with us bro?" That was like the span of 20 seconds between you started that prayer and you nodded off.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We don't want the postulancy to miss that the reason that you're falling asleep like that is because you're pouring yourself out of love of them.
Fr. Angelus: I'm really grateful for you guys and encouragement and I feel it and I feel the desire. And the thing that I kind of want to point at is with this woman at the well or the prodigal son or the men and women we serve in our ministries, it's personal. Jesus was there for this woman. I love the line that Jesus had to go through Samaria. There's that emphasis on Jesus intentionally was there. This is something Mara Caucus has always talks about. Jesus is walking through the gospel intentionally.
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Fr. Mark-Mary: It wasn't a direct route, right?
Fr. Angelus: It wasn't a direct route
Fr. Mark-Mary: He had to go.
Fr. Angelus: He wants to be there. But it's for this woman. This woman is known and loved and our God thirsts for this woman. So it's personal. So we have these responsibilities, we have spiritual sons and daughters. And it's real and it's personal. And your heart's move by faces and experiences.
Fr. Angelus: And there's just like 10 guys, as postulants and I'm like, "They're all so different." And you make a comment and then one gets this sensitive and then one who thinks it's awesome and one... You're like, "Oh man." You're trying to hold all these guys in care and... But this is what we learn and experience from God, that it's personal and he just goes for it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I'm going to get a little bit speculative here. I'm going to put on my Father Angelus.
Fr. Angelus: You've already been speculative with your old whip there.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Well that's a... I'm not being speculative. I'm keeping Rembrandt accountable to the gospel [crosstalk 00:21:58]-
Fr. Angelus: Wait, what's being speculative have to do with it me? For the record. I heard that as a...
Fr. Mark-Mary: You like your edgy, shady mystics. Again, I don't think swapping... This is happening, but I think it's true to the heart of God. Jesus is walking with it. Because I want to know is why is he... He's tired and it's hot, why is he sitting down, out in the sun by this well? It seems like a little bit of a strange behavior. I can almost see him having a conversation. And he hears about this woman in town who always comes in the middle of the day because you can't come another time.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I almost feel like it could be like he hears about her and as other people have heard about Jesus and they come seeking him, Jesus hears about this broken woman. And because of that, he waits for her to come. And it's not just accidental. Is that exactly what happened? I don't know. But that is how he loves us. He's pursuing us individually.
Fr. Innocent: Absolutely. And it's consoling. Because we have parts of our life that we feel like are distant from the Lord or that need transformation or I experience my weakness, I experience the struggles that I have and somehow we think that
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THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
creates distance or somehow we have to be better or be in a different place before Jesus can notice us and love us.
Fr. Innocent: And sometimes there's a real doubt they're brothers, right? There's a real doubt that, is the Lord really know me? Is my desire for intimacy really true to the extent that he sees me and he knows me. And I was thinking about this word with her too, but we talked about this before. But the beauty of God's tenderness for us, is like, there's a real entering in and to feeling what we feel. And Jesus' heart for this woman and heart for us, especially in our kind of loneliness and brokenness, is a real thing.
Fr. Innocent: And I think for me personally, I just need to be reminded, especially when I maybe feel a little distant or feel a little alone or forgotten or looked over, that Jesus is pursuing me precisely because he feels it with me and he's in it with me. I just have to remind myself that often.
Fr. Angelus: And Jesus being with you in your struggle and in that place of, maybe in brokenness. We just have to, again, remind ourselves that this is who Jesus is attracted to. It's speculative, but it's almost like you said, people are talking about this woman and Jesus kind of maybe sees from a distance and notices her. Jesus is attracted to the people that are at the well at this time, with people on the side of the road, the tax collector and sinners.
Fr. Angelus: We know that. We've talked a lot about that on the show. But it just good to... this is what's happening again and again and again. Jesus is a friend of tax collectors and sinners. This is the gospel. So again, that should be an incredible sign of hope for us. Read that Jesus, our God, is a thirsty and tired God, but he's thirsting for me in my brokenness.
Fr. Angelus: He meets me exactly at the place that is kind of a sign of this broken vulnerability. Is that like, okay, like this woman has to go because she's an outcast and she's not accepted anywhere else. But this is exactly, where it's not only Jesus meets her, but he goes before her and waits for her. So again, just to remind people that this is what kind of God we have. Pope Francis again, says that, "God's attracted more to our weakness than to when we have it all together." This is just astounding that this is exactly the way that Jesus loves us.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So I'm going to set you guys up for success. So I'm going to ask one of you to do, after I finished my little spiel here.
Fr. Angelus: So I can think about it.
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Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah. So you can think about it. Is I want to concretize, to make more accessible what this brokenness is that people might be experiencing, that Jesus is drawn to. If you guys, in a second, can help to flush that out. Just so that we can, again, like, "Okay, so Jesus is drawn to my brokenness." But what is that brokenness and what does he want to do in it?
Fr. Mark-Mary: And I'm going to lighten things up just real quick, not super late. But I did a wedding and I was with one of our brother's families real quick. And one of the sons, one of the brothers is a orthopedic surgeon and he's in, whatever the phases it's called, it's-
Fr. Angelus: Residency?
Fr. Mark-Mary: After residency, but before...
Fr. Angelus: Fellow.
Fr. Mark-Mary: He's a fellow. Yeah. So he's a fellow and it's funny to hear because one of his assignments is with a very prestigious professional football team. And a lot of his coworkers really love it, but he kind of hates it because he doesn't want to talk to you about like your tummy ache or whatever it is, he wants to do surgery. And there's something about that which I think is a little bit of an insight in a small way to Jesus who came, not for the healthy, but for the sick.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Jesus doesn't want your... Whatever in you is like a superstar and his whatever. Okay, he'll receive that and he'll love that and will rejoice in it. But deep down, he thirsts, he doesn't thirst for that. He thirsts for the brokenness, He thirsts to make you whole, He thirsts to kind of go down to bring light into the darkness and healing into the wounds. That's what Jesus is pursuing in each of us all the time. Are you guys ready?
Fr. Angelus: [crosstalk 00:27:30] I do have something, but I was attempting to pay attention to you. We're trying to do that on this podcast, where I don't want to be thinking and distracted as you're talking.
Fr. Innocent: I have no problem thinking while you were talking. Just kidding. So what is the brokenness that we all experience? What are some common threads? I guess I'm moved to say more and more as I hear confessions and I work with young men in formation. I just want to say that Jesus is attracted to our brokenness because of our sinfulness. And that's pretty bold to say. But we are so afraid of our sins, as we should be. They hurt us. Sin hurts us. That's real.
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Fr. Innocent: But sometimes we think that sin, it hurts us and it wounds us and it causes great division, and somehow we find ourselves far away from God, but this is the bridge that Jesus wants... or this is the gap that Jesus wants to bridge. He wants to come after us. He's not afraid of our sin. He's not repelled or disgusted by our sin. And brothers, whether you're religious or you're in formation, or you're married, you full time, job, whatever, however, this works out for you, we all experience our own weakness and our own sinfulness. And sometimes our struggles we've had for a long time. And we beat ourselves up, and we become self-resentful.
Fr. Innocent: And this is not God's will for us. He does not want us to let our sin separate us from him. He wants to come to us and come close to us. He wants us to be in this place of reconciliation and tenderness and healing. This is what happens, but he doesn't want us to be afraid. Because we have two choices, we can sink far away into ourselves and run away, or we can say, "Okay, Lord, I am a sinner. And there are parts of me that are weak. And there are parts of my heart that are worldly and I'm sorry. And I don't want those things to take me away from you anymore."
Fr. Innocent: And Jesus is there, he's not afraid. He gets messy and dirty with us. And this is where he loves to give us his living water, to give us new life. He is not afraid of our sin.
Fr. Angelus: Absolutely. Thank you, Father. Just thinking in a few minutes of really turned if I concretely can just distance us from God or from, like you said, bridge this gap. I feel like I run into young person after young person who has a lot of struggle in their life and the worldliness and their own attempt to cope with struggles in their life have led them to really find ways to cope with life. And it's beautiful to have short conversation sometimes with people, it doesn't even take much, but to realize what their hearts really long for, and to realize what... But when they get down to what they're really desire and what they really hope for in life is really for someone to see them.
Fr. Angelus: And in this being seen, to really know and love who they are. And so it's beautiful as a priest to actually just to listen. It's beautiful as a priest, to see someone in their hurt. Like you said, Father, in their brokenness. The challenge is that a lot of families, and a lot of friends and a lot of... We're we're sometimes hurt by the world. And so we don't really see each other. And so sometimes people and families, moms, and dads and siblings are busy. And so sometimes people get kind of put aside or kind of get forgotten, and everybody's kind of in it together. But I think there's questions that young people constantly ask, "Does anybody really see me right now?"
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Fr. Angelus: And then, especially with friends, especially with technology and, especially with phones, it's like, "Okay, I'm really connected, but not connected to where my heart is comforted or consoled or in relationship with somebody." And so then you ask the question, "Do my friends really see me?" And then I think about my vocation and if I'm a young man, I really just would love a nice young lady to truly see me. And my heart is open and desiring, but then, can I really receive it?
Fr. Angelus: And so there's just constant desire to be seen and not really being fulfilled in it. And so I think a lot of young people struggle in finding kind of surface level things to be seen and to known and to love. And that obviously can manifest itself in some sort of addictions or struggles or distractions or ways to cope with life. And so I think too, especially the young person listening out there, Jesus sees you.
Fr. Angelus: And does he want to give you the gift of people in your life to be seen? Absolutely. Does he want to give you gift of friendship or the gift of a relationship or someone can look at you and see into your heart and see who you are and love who you are? As I always like to say, God sees us, he loves us and delights in us and he delights in what he sees. All of us. And to your point again, Father Innocent, your sinfulness, your brokenness, he delights even in that.
Fr. Angelus: But if I don't really believe that anybody sees me, then I can feel lost and I can feel forgotten. And then therefore, that leads me to all sorts of things.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah. You can end up feeling like this woman, who probably how many times she'd been to the well? Just going there because she's a sinner. If people see her at all, they see her as this outcast or failure. And how many times did you just been out there running, all by herself? And Jesus wants to break into that. And I think both of those examples are really consistent with the gospels.
Fr. Mark-Mary: There's a woman which no doubt feels her sin very acutely. And it's not just an interior thing, but like her whole life now she's an outcast because of her sinfulness. And every day she has to wait until everybody else goes and does their thing and then she has to go out by herself. Her sinfulness, it's just reinforced, over and over again. And there's probably the sense, if I am seen it all, I'm not really seen. I'm not seen as somebody with a future and a hope, I'm seen as somebody who's a failure and who's just sort of, almost like a scar on society or blemish on our town or our village.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And that's where Jesus thirst break into it. He's like, "I want to come and I want to... Okay, I can see your sinfulness too." We're not going to pretend that's not there. And we all got that. But I'm not afraid of it. And I'm still
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going to pursue you. And I'm going to see you and I'm going to love you." And Jesus to break into that.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And my brother and sisters, Jesus, we share too, maybe you're wrestling with the sinfulness, maybe it's wrestling with being unseen. Maybe it's some other struggles, but Jesus became poor and is becoming tired in pursuing that area of your life. And he wants to bring peace, he wants to bring forgiveness, he wants to bring reconciliation, he wants to bring this experience of being known and loved.
Fr. Innocent: The living water.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The living water.
Fr. Innocent: He wants to give the living water.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And what is the living water? Father Innocent.
Fr. Innocent: I think he wants you to drink deeply of his own life, his Holy spirit, his divine life, his divine mercy. He wants you to just let that flow into you. Intimacy. All that.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Can you get an amen? Amen.
Fr. Innocent: I got you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You got anything Father Angelus? [crosstalk 00:35:08].
Fr. Angelus: No. You open up. I'm excited about what you're going to bring read [crosstalk 00:35:09].
Fr. Mark-Mary: So I just opened up, Come be My Light, Mother Teresa.
Fr. Angelus: Is that your own personal copy?
Fr. Mark-Mary: This is my personal copy. I don't have many books.
Fr. Innocent: It's all marked up, bro.
Fr. Mark-Mary: This one's been with me for a minute. I went through underlying stuff. I was supposed to pull all the quotes at some point in my life and just put them on a document, but I never did. [crosstalk 00:35:26]-
Fr. Innocent: How's that going for you?
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Fr. Mark-Mary: This is the one I got... I did it when I was a young, temporary professor down in Honduras when I had them
Fr. Innocent: Back in your ideal-
Fr. Angelus: Back in your zealous days.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Totally. So this is, I think... Yeah, we'll go into... I was going to cheer something late, but I'm not going to anymore. This is one of those books. It reminds me of what I am all about or what I want to all be about. So this is Mother Teresa. If you remember Mother Teresa and her sort of... Her whole life kind of got this new dramatic shift while she's on a train on the way to Darjeeling to make a retreat. And she has this experience of Jesus' thirst.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And this is what mother Theresa ends up writing. She says, "Jesus is God therefore his love, his thirst is infinite. Our aim is to quench this infinite thirst of a God made man. He spoke of his thirst, not for water, but for love, for sacrifice." This is some Mother Teresa. And there's another place where she says famously, basically to her sisters, essentially this, if you don't know that Jesus thirsts for you, you're not ready to get started until you get that.
Fr. Mark-Mary: When we figure that out, then you can start making some other steps. And her whole life was radically a response to the experience of Jesus' thirst for her, which gave her a thirst for others and a thirst to love Jesus with everything she's got. And it's a game changer. It really is a game changer. If we encounter the truth, that Jesus thirsts for us. Okay. Do you guys have anything to add on the importance of it and then we'll go into ways to experience it.
Fr. Innocent: I just want to highlight the fact that I love you bringing up her because there's a response. It's the thirst of God, but then that does something to us. Like this woman at the well, Mother Teresa there, they had to respond by leaving the pail. They had to go, she starts preaching to the people. Mother Teresa gives her whole life in response to the thirst of God. She is lit on fire with this thirst and it animates every part of her life.
Fr. Innocent: So it's beautiful. Like it's the thirst of God, but then it does something to me and it's like, my life is forever changed because now it's like, I taste that thirst, there's that longing in me now, to go give this fire, this love to everyone I meet. I just love that the response is a key part of the story.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah. And we're not going to go into this right now, but St Francis is always a good example of his own experience of God thirsting for him and desiring him and being desperate for him. This is what changed him from a man who
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was worldly into a man who gave up everything. And his very riches, his very status in life to follow him.
Fr. Innocent: And live with lepers.
Fr. Angelus: Exactly. And so there's his response. And so it's beautiful to continue to kind of bring back this. St Francis was dramatic. He was a good example of the desperation of God. He was good example of the urgency of God, of the lavishness of God, the way he loved. And because he experienced that from the Lord in a very unique way. So just beautiful to kind of keep our dear father St Francis before us too.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah. And I imagine many of us have this experience of, we have areas in our life we want to grow. We have areas in our life we want to do better. We have areas in our life where we've grown a little bit apathetic, maybe lazy and/or even a little bit discouraged. But we're not content with it. We want to keep doing better. And the grace for this change, the grace for this new life, it comes from experiencing, it's a response. Christianity is a response relationship.
Fr. Mark-Mary: This greater way of living that you desire, is going to be the fruit of a greater encounter with Jesus' thirst for you. You don't just go try and start doing better whenever. You lean into the source, you get fed first, you encounter again, the living water, the thirst that Jesus has for you. This is where it begins. This is where we have to go. And it's possible. And there's hope, and this love is really transformative. Okay, so how do we experience this?
Fr. Angelus: I'm grinning because every comment that I get personally about our podcast, you're like, "You guys always say the same thing and it's always true. We need to pray." I'm like, "Yeah." It always sounds like we're inviting people to pray. How do you want to encounter the thirst of God? We have to experience and say yes every day that Jesus is alive. And he wants to have a personal relationship with us every single day. And we call that prayer. So I will be the guy that just says what we always say, we need to take serious the incredible gift of having a personal relationship with the living God every day. And we be open to us. We reopen to it. And we receive it in super, super small ways in the five to 10 minutes, when you get up in the morning, to the exam at the end of the day, whatever that looks like in a simple ways to live this community, be connected to God and this thirst.
Fr. Innocent: Father Mark, I think it's right on because yeah, I think my own initial response is to be, okay, I just need to do more, I just need to have this like, okay, how do I do this? In my own neurotic experience of living in a Friary with the chapel, every time I... My office and where other guys are, is always
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back and forth and I always have to pass the chapel. And there's always some sort of response to the sign of the cross to genuflect.
Fr. Innocent: And sometimes, if I'm in a hurry, there's like a flying genuflection that happens as you pass by. But I kick myself because I wonder if my heart's always there when I'm passing the chapel. And I would say most of the time it is. But here's the thing, I need to be interrupted consistently in my life with God pursuing me with that truth. And we live in a house with a chapel. And so it's beautiful to have the Lord there.
Fr. Innocent: But as we just pray daytime prayer, and we have this five minute meditation to slow down and just to calm down, take a deep breath and the craziness of the morning to pray the Psalms and have a reading and just to chill for a second. I'm just reminded in my busyness and my sporadic genuflection throughout the day, is that truth really happening in my life? Where I would be like, "Whoa." In my stuff right now, in my busyness right now, in my work right now, in my relationships right now, God is desiring me. He's thirsting for me. And I know that sounds simple, but I just know, we know busy people, we know people who are consistently in it the whole time. What interrupts them, in a good way, to remind them about this truth? Is it can it be a beeping of our watch?
Fr. Innocent: That's the whole point of the church bells, why the Angelus bells ring at 6:00 noon and 6:00 is because it needs to interrupt the city to remind them of the annunciation, to remind them that God became flesh and he pursues us. That's the whole tradition behind that. So anyway, I just did little things that can interrupt me from my neurotic craziness throughout the day.
Fr. Angelus: You definitely are neurotic.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Does this identical [crosstalk 00:42:51]-
Fr. Angelus: You might be more busy than me.
Fr. Mark-Mary: I think that's great. And I think I want to come back to that and I think flushing out some ways to really intentionally allow our desire to encounter the thirst of God, interrupt our day. I think that should be our takeaways or practicals from this one.
Fr. Innocent: Sorry to jump at you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: No, that's great. I wanted to sort of check it because I'm going to go a slightly different direction and I don't want to give the impression that we're-
Fr. Innocent: That you didn't care about what I said.
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Fr. Mark-Mary: Or that we're wrapping up. So here's my... Another way in which you can experience an encounter, I think, the thirst of Jesus for you, particularly in the less glamorous areas of your life is certainly the confessional. And this is really where we're going to go back to this my Rembrandt issue comes from, and again, where I think I have an authority to sort of speak into it just because I feel like-
Fr. Innocent: Art history class.
Fr. Mark-Mary: My semester at art history class when I was 18 qualifies me to do so. No, but my journey as a priest and my heart is a priest. Because what I hate is this, and this is what... I don't hate [crosstalk 00:44:06]. It's close though. It's an intense word. What I strongly don't want to have happen, and I think happens a lot is that when people come to the confessional, they feel like they're coming to office hours, or they feel like they're the prodigal son or daughter coming home and they knock on the door and then the father was like, "Oh, okay, cool, great. I'm glad you're here. Now we'll continue and celebrate and all this sort of stuff." But you miss the way in which through the sacrament, Jesus has been pursuing you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And in a real sort of sacramental way, Jesus' pursuit, which has taken place in the priest. This is my experience, at least. Because if I'm here... So I'm at a parish mission or I'm at a parish helping out here in confessions, we go down to St Patrick Cathedral, the penitent comes and their lived experience is checking out confession times, getting in their car, driving down, waiting, and then they see the priest who's sitting there. And it's sort of can be like the Samaritan woman who, she feels like, "Oh, I'm going to the, well, I'm doing this work." Oh, and then there's just somebody happened to be waiting there. The penitent can feel like they're the ones pursuing the mercy of Jesus.
Fr. Mark-Mary: But if you're coming to my confessional, what you don't know is that I've been pursuing this moment for the last 15 years of my life. When I was a young kid in college, and I'm discerning what I'm going to do with my entire life, and I'm raking up with a girlfriend and I'm leaving home behind, the primary desire that I had was to be an instrument of God's mercy in that confessional. I've been pursuing this moment and I've been pursuing you and becoming hungry and thirsty through the grace of Jesus, for you in this moment, for your sins for more than a decade.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And that's what I want us to experience when we come to confession. Is it's like that priest. And I realize there's some difficult... there's times of having difficult experience with priests. I understand that. But in my situation, I think you guys will all say it as well is, when you come to me make a confessional, I'm pursuing you in the name of Jesus for you to experience his
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mercy, hardcore, literally with my entire life. And I want you to see that and to recognize Jesus' love for you in this moment.
Fr. Innocent: Bro. I would never add anything to that because that's exactly it. That's true.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Does that resonate [crosstalk 00:46:48]-
Fr. Innocent: Yeah, absolutely.
Fr. Angelus: Totally. And I love your perspective because I think people kind of miss that, I think, "Okay, we're here in confession number and kind, let... And I'll give you absolution. But the priesthood is the heart of Jesus. It's the heart of Jesus poured out and longing and thirsting. And so it's like in this place, just to be given an experience and an invitation to be in that place with people. This is the moment that God has been preparing since the beginning of our own vocational journey is like, it is confession, it is mass, where God pursues and loves and longs for his people. Somehow us three around this table and all priests, we get that experience that. Who gets the live like that? It's the heart of God for his people. And this is it. This is what we long for. So again, confession is this place.
Fr. Innocent: It's powerful, bro. Just say to create your own story to that and realize your own movement of your heart and desire of your heart has been this pursuit. And just putting that perspective is powerful. It's so true. And that's why we don't get really get tired of having sitting in confessions, being at some of these young adult trainings or ministries and people are almost apologetic, "Oh, sorry, Father, but could you hear my confession?" I'm like, "That is why I'm here. I will sit over in that corner, in this room all day if people want to go to confession." And it's just beautiful.
Fr. Innocent: It's this continued desire to be like, this is the heart of God and his priest. And obviously we're very aware of our own sinfulness and our own weakness and struggle, but I don't get tired of doing that. And I will sit there all day if God continues to send people, and they experienced the freedom and the mercy and that's powerful.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And we had a youth group with us, I think it was called I think Stephenville. And that's one of those things I make very explicit. Because people feel that, was like, "Okay, I don't want to disturb Father. I don't want to give him... " Don't you dare not come to confession because you don't want to burden me. That is so inconsistent with any desire I have. That is the exact opposite thing that I want. I've given up everything to be here to hear this confession. Take advantage of it. [crosstalk 00:49:14].
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Fr. Mark-Mary: And I think that's the heart of Jesus. I really do believe that part of my vocation our vocations to be priest, it's the fruit of this grace of the lived experience of the heart of Jesus for his people. Otherwise, it doesn't really make sense. And so by that experience, which is borne fruit, I really do believe that some of my own desire and heart, it is this real lived insight into Jesus' own heart for me and for his people that he just wants to be there with you.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And he hungers, and he thirsts and he's worn out, but it's all worth it to spend whatever moments with you. And we, unless we're praying, we're not receiving that gift and we're not living in that reality. It's through prayer that we spend this time with Jesus and we get to see like, whoa, he really loves me. And he really cares. People, we got to pray.
Fr. Innocent: Simple as that. We've got to pray.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Anything to add to that Father Angelus?
Fr. Angelus: I was thinking about something and it's beautiful, like with the woman at the well, and the... Yeah, and this has been in my heart, especially for young people, that sometimes I'll say to them, after they pour themselves out, "It's okay." Their shame and their guilt and the burdens people carry around and the struggles that people carry around, in this place of intimacy and you get there, look them in the eyes. And you're just like, "Oh, okay."
Fr. Angelus: And often, there's something that breaks and they experience the mercy of God and they experience like, "I don't have to bear the burden of shame and guilt anymore, or the stuff, the darkness and the fruit that I carry around and it's beautiful." And that's why I just want to tell our audience, you're sin, your brokenness, your struggle, your weakness, your expectations, your shame, your guilt, whatever, it's okay. And Jesus pursues us to declare this truth in our life.
Fr. Angelus: And the way he wants to be reckless and lavish and really pour himself out is beautiful. I just realized that I broke one of our rules of when I say something very serious, I get really soft.
Fr. Innocent: I'm glad you noticed that.
Fr. Mark-Mary: The producer noticed that so we don't have to-
Fr. Angelus: I know, but anyway.
Fr. Mark-Mary: It's all right. You were feeling it? All good? You speak soft, I close my eyes. Father Innocent hits the table.
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Fr. Innocent: I do not hit the table.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You don't ever hit? I thought that was you. Father PT was hitting the... We recorded something for this group called the Culture Project the other day, and father PT kept hitting the ambo. I was like, "Bro, you got to stop hitting the ambo, it's so annoying." All right so what we want to do is this, we want to... The truth is the lived reality, 100% for you and I, and each of us is that Jesus thirsts for us and he's in pursuit of us. And in particularly in pursuit of those areas which are most broken or which are most the commonest for shame or frustration or anxiety. He wants to come for those. He's coming for those.
Fr. Mark-Mary: He doesn't just want to, he's literally in pursuit at every moment for those areas of your life. And we essentially, we need to allow him to catch us. We need to... He's pursuing us. We need to allow him to catch up. We need to allow him to embrace us and to spend this time with us, particularly through these moments of prayer and not just now and then, but to allow our desire, to experience Jesus' thirst for us so intimately and so real and so concretely, that we allow our day to be interrupted to do so. And we intentionally interrupt our day to be reminded of this prayer.
Fr. Mark-Mary: So Father Angelus mentioned a typical church tradition is basically morning, afternoon, and evening, the Angeles. You can set your watch, you can just make it a habit. Any other ideas? What would somebody do to allow their day to be interrupted, to be reminded of and re-experience this love or is that good enough?
Fr. Innocent: Well, I think if the idea is what we're going for. Is that we're just intentional about timing. Again, we have our personal prayer life, when we get up in the morning, when we go to bed, whether it's weekly things like daily, mass adoration, our monthly confession, those things interrupt and anchor us back in the truth and the reality of God's love for us. I'm just trying to pay attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in my heart right now. But I want to encourage people to get their journals out and I just want them to pay attention to this as we create these spaces. And when you... I want you to pay attention to your heart when we speak this truth over you, that Jesus thirsts for you.
Fr. Innocent: Write that on the page, Jesus, the son of God, thirsts for me and he loves me and he longs for me. And I want you to pay attention to what that means for your heart. And again, I just think I want it to be concrete. I want you to get your journal. I want to write that and I want you to pay attention and I want you to write down what it means for you. Okay, what am I experiencing in my heart right now? Jesus is hard for me. What does that mean for me?
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Fr. Innocent: And don't give yourself an excuse to me, or don't let yourself make excuses that like it's abstract or it's not really real, that the padres don't really mean what they're saying. No, Jesus thirsts for you and let that truth stop you in tracks. Okay, what does that mean for my heart today? And write it down and come back to it. I don't know if that's what you're going for, but that's a concrete thing we can do.
Fr. Mark-Mary: That sounded good.
Fr. Angelus: That sounded really good.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Anything to add Father Angelus?
Fr. Angelus: I don't think so. I think we say this often too, there's a lot of busyness, there's a lot of competition for time, space and energy, emotional energy, there's a lot of competition for what we watch and what we see and what we listen to, and I think all of that is an attempt to run from what God's doing and an attempt to distract ourselves. And none of us are perfect at that, even as religious. And so we do... heartache become distracting and our hearts become worldly and it's difficult, especially being in the world.
Fr. Angelus: But what are the concrete ways in which we can, again, stop running and make more space for the Lord? One sacrifice today what does that mean? One opportunity to turn off the TV, one opportunity to turn off or to limit the use of my phone. One opportunity to... instead of having constant noise in my life, or instead of thinking, I need to make phone calls or busy my life up to take space and to allow the Lord to use that space five, 10, 15 minutes, whatever it might be. You can still listen to the podcast, don't make that space, right Father Mark-Mary? We're not noise, right?
Fr. Mark-Mary: We're looking into starting like a Facebook group where people can get together and talk about this stuff. That's like a thing. And I think our first rule is going to be that you have to be at least pursuing praying 20 minutes a day, or you shouldn't be in this group because it's not meant to be a distraction. It's meant to help you on your journey. And if you're not willing... you don't have to be there but if you're not working towards that, then start work right then don't let this be another thing that distracts you.
Fr. Angelus: We tell guys who were discerning, who called the Vocation Office, if you're not praying, you're not discerning. So if you're not praying, can we really say we're disciples of the Lord if we don't really have that desire to be intimate and to hear God's voice every day? I don't know.
Fr. Innocent: That's in bold. There's some boldness going on here. I like it.
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THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Mark-Mary: But we already said it in the catechism it says, St. Alphonsus De Liguori, I think is, "Those who pray are surely saved and those who do not are surely damned." We're not making this... You got to pray.
Fr. Angelus: You got to pray.
Fr. Mark-Mary: You got to pray.
Fr. Angelus: Not only will you have to pray, but when you pray, your life will be so fulfilled.
Fr. Innocent: And remember of the foundation of prayers for what you said, Father, is that I need to quiet myself, I need to put myself in the presence of a God who pursues me and longs for me and seeks me [crosstalk 00:57:34] today. And then I can journal about, okay, where today did I see God pursuing me? And write down concrete people, concrete gestures, concrete experience of encountering this God who loves me and sees me. I think we'll be surprised that, "Wow, most of the day, all day, God sends people to love me and to recklessly pursue me in this way." Awesome.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Sweet. [crosstalk 00:57:56].
Fr. Angelus: That's awesome. I love it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: All right. So we're going to wrap it up. I think that was good. I'm going to wrap it up with-
Fr. Angelus: It's good to be back. I just wanted to say [inaudible 00:58:04]-
Fr. Innocent: Yeah. Thanks for making time for us Father Angelus. Thanks for making time for our people who are listening Father Angelus.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Can you say a prayer? And then I'll throw out our last words.
Fr. Angelus: Absolutely. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Father, we're grateful. And we're thankful to you. We adore you in this space right now, Lord. Thank you for pursuing us. Thank you for your reckless love for us, Lord. Give us grace today Lord, to respond to this love. Give us grace today to experience the truth of this love. May this comfort us, console us and heal us. Father as we experience the newness of life with you, Lord, especially in the gift of prayer. Give to following you. Bless us, keep us from a fear, anxiety or anything, Lord that distracts us from you. We pray this all in your name. Jesus. Amen.
Fr. Innocent: Amen.
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THE POCO A POCO PODCAST EPISODE 24 – “He Thirsts for You: You are Pursued by God” www.franciscanfriars.com
Fr. Angelus: Amen.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Amen. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. All right. So here's the... If you experienced the reality that this podcast is our cooperation with God's thirst and pursuit of you, because that's what is.
Fr. Innocent: It's true.
Fr. Mark-Mary: We need a response.
Fr. Innocent: We thirst for you to live [crosstalk 00:59:17]-
Fr. Mark-Mary: Anyway, it's a real work to make time for this. We would love you to help sort of share it and maybe give that same opportunity for another three ways. First of all, we're looking for that... I'll introduce our next episode, the 2K for the Kingdom. Looking for those 2000, whatever it's called, Apple ratings. We're halfway there.
Fr. Innocent: Oh yeah. I was going to say, what are we at 1000?
Fr. Mark-Mary: Yeah, we're about there.
Fr. Innocent: That's great.
Fr. Mark-Mary: And then once we hit 2K, we don't talk about it anymore.
Fr. Angelus: Yeah. Let's do it people.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Secondly-
Fr. Innocent: Please just help us. Just do it so Father Mark-Mary will stop talking about it.
Fr. Mark-Mary: Secondly, we love when you share special like a little note, if some word from the podcast touched you. We often share those on social media. And then lastly, if you'd like to send us a word of encouragement or a thought or whatnot, you can email us at [email protected]. And we'll talk about sending the stickers on the next episode. We've gotten a couple, we've gotten Canberra High School. We got Ave Maria, we got Alaska, which started off and one from as we're recording this from UCSB Focus. But that's only a couple, we're trying to get some stickers on our donkey. So send us some stickers [crosstalk 01:00:31] pin your sticker on the donkey. All right, God bless you all. Peace. Everybody go.
Fr. Angelus: God bless. (singing)
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