Good evening and welcome to in the hood where we discuss crucial issues facing the church and culture from a capan Franciscan point of view I’m brother Mark shank and I’m father Christopher GMA and uh we uh invite we happy that you’re here this evening to join us in
This uh episode which we are calling making ashes of ourselves our journey through lent and we’re going to be looking at the relevance and the importance of Lent and and uh penitential practices for people in the church today and even for those on the margins who are wondering why this
Lenton season or our Catholic faith matters at all um I’d like to encourage you to um send in your comments and your questions you can do that on the chat right there on uh YouTube or you can send an email to inth thehood cap.org and let’s uh start with a prayer
Absolutely yeah let’s pray together in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen amen good and gracious father you call us through holy lents uh to a deepening of Our Lives conforming to Christ increase our faith our hope our love our prayer Our
Fasting our almsgiving help us always to remember our baptism and the grace in which you revealed to us there and help us to Rejoice with you and your son on his resurrection at Easter Sunday as well in the life to come we pray all of these prayers through Christ Our Lord
Amen amen the father and the son and the holy spirit amen thank you Christopher you’re welcome yeah my pleasure anything interesting going on in your life these days well yeah it’s obviously uh the day after Ash Wednesday and so uh all Catholic began our Lenton Journey yesterday and
So we are blessed to be able brother Kristen and I to celebrate up at Mother Cabrini shrine I think for us we are at the right place at the right time but Mother Cabrini St Mother Cabrini is coming back into the focus of um the media and and the church there’s a new
Film coming out about her life um I think this week or next week um but there’s an oped being featured about her life um and her service to Italian immigrants and she established an orphanage here just to the west of us in Golden Colorado so we celebrated Ash
Wednesday there um and if you’ve ever been to that place you you also know we we have a lot of immigrants that uh have a Devotion to that Shrine and so we’re able to celebrate with the universal church as Wednesday but also remember that Mother Cabrini is a great Champion
For immigrants as as we Face another immigration crisis within our own culture and so uh we capish found oursel right in in the heart of um the beauty of that um opportunity oh yeah I’m looking forward to seeing that film it looks like it’s going to be very good
Yeah yeah it looks awesome yeah what about yourself anything interesting happening in your world well I uh I just got back um last Monday from a a week-long meeting uh in Bogota Colombia um all the provincial ministers and some other delegates of the capish from all the America so everything from Canada on
Down to Argentina uh we all met together and uh this is the second time we’ve done this we we did it about two years ago and we’re talking uh about some common issues that’s facing all of us and we’re talking about our formation we’re talking about our structures that is you
Know our schools and our parishes that we run and these kinds of things and we’re talking more about we’re talking about collaboration and we talked about missions and uh so it was a very interesting meeting um wasn’t all interesting like most meetings aren’t you know but there was a lot of
Interesting stuff and I think the most interesting thing though the best thing about this is that we’re talking to each other uh we used to we used to be so isolated you know in our own little just our own little Province but now we’re not only talking to the other provinces
In the US but we’re talking to the provinces you know the province in Argentina and the province in Chile and and the provinces in Brazil and uh you know it’s we’re about about a thousand cusions in the America so it’s a significant number and that just uh
Was real great sense of Brotherhood the commonality that we share um but in a chance to sort of share ideas on how we deal with these these issues that we talked about so it was a great experience very tiring but if you don’t mind me asking what what what’s the
Common language spoken at those meetings and then how does how does the translation work because it seems like there would have to be some form of translation there so that we use the three languages uh well actually four so we it was in Spanish and Portuguese
English and then there was a little bit of French thrown in because of the province of Quebec and there’s a delegation in Haiti where French is the main language um French kind of got the short shrift because the other three languages the English Portuguese and Spanish had translators oh God that
We’re We’re translating uh for us so um but I I noticed that more and more of our brothers here in North America speak Spanish um I was kind of the odd one out you know I can I can pick up uh quite a bit and uh in fact sometimes it was
Better for me to just listen to the Spanish rather than to the translation sure um but uh I can’t I can’t speak it very well but that’s interesting yeah it was it was a great experience we did a lot of preparation for our general chapter which is coming up this year in
August so okay it was good I’m glad to the spirit is working amongst of the brothers that’s great yeah so it’s we can uh jump into our topic tonight you know and so as I said you know our top our title tonight was making ashes of ourselves and uh not
Trying to be flipping obviously you know it’s it’s good to have a catchy title I don’t know who comes up with these titles but um you know it’s it’s good to have a catchy title but uh it’s there’s a serious content here and and and um
What we really want to look look at is you know why anyone um in the world in in any in our especially in our culture where you know people are so taken up with materialism and you know instant gratification and so forth why they would want to embrace or why should they
Want to maybe Embrace this idea of Lent where we uh delay our gratification where we do where we sacrifice where we pray and give alms and um so we want to we want to look at that tonight it’s it’s a important topic I think yeah I know for myself um I
Found it enlightening kind of going back this week and studying kind of the ancient tradition of Lent within the church and and where that U practice kind of evolved and developed and um I think we’re blessed as Roman Catholics as as capish of of holding those sacred
Traditions um but it’s important to ask the question why do we do what we do especially with with lent because it feels so intense uh for for so many so many of us uh but I think once we kind of dig deep into the theological meaning
Behind uh what we’re doing uh there’s a lot of Grace there’s a lot of uh encounter potential encounter uh with God along uh this 40-day um experience and so uh maybe we can just kind of start with you know the church’s understanding of what lent is
And so in your own kind of research this week where uh or how does how does the mind of the church understand lent well you know I I would see it primarily as a preparation for Easter so Easter of course is the the event of the church where the church was born well
The Pentecost was when the church was born but uh that couldn’t take place unless you had a had an Easter and so this period of of Lent is a is a time for us to prepare ourselves for that great event end and uh and that takes
Time you know sometimes to so that’s the the 40 days behind there is giving us this time to renew ourselves prepare ourselves for this great event of of Easter yeah and the the early cumans and the new converts were required uh to kind of do this ancient form of of
Fasting and and prayer and in forms of what we kind of practice today but you go back to the early church fathers and and all of them comment uh that this uh form of penitential practice was was necessary and there’s even biblical precedence um in the life of John the
Baptist and even in Christ’s uh life himself he himself went into the desert uh for 40 days before his public uh Ministry and then if we look back into the ancient uh biblical tradition uh the time of I think the Lenton term is quadre uh Gus which means uh 40 days of
Preparation uh you see this play out in the Old Testament as well in the life of Moses um and other patterns of 40 uh that come up u in the old Covenant and so uh but for me it’s it’s one of U I guess my my more desired uh times to to
Kind of shed anything especially sin I think that’s one thing we struggle to to talk about as Catholics is is to shed our sins to really take uh accountability for for where we fall short from the grace of God and and to remember our baptismal promises again so
That come Easter uh Come Those 40 days that uh we walk with Christ that we have a renewed ability uh to do the will of God to me that that’s really what what lent is and there’s there’s helps obviously the prayer the fasting and the alms giving uh the the the penitential
Kind of Mind of the church to help us to move forward and and before the show you had mentioned mentioned uh something that the capish had in in our tradition around momentto Mori did you want to add anything that maybe the capish and some of their practices uh might have taken
Place during Lent well yeah not so much I mean uh of course I I when I entered the caption it was it was after Vatican 2 but I know that before Vatican 2 um there were a lot of penitential practices in the order that that we kind
We’ve kind of given up you know and one of for instance the what was called the discipline where they had actually a like a leather strap with some chains attached to it and they would hit themselves on their back you know and quite could be quite painful and um yeah
They they would do that like weekly you know once a week there would be a you know they would do that and but also the fasting I mean Francis himself he had so many fasts you know he had he had the of course the the fast during Lent he had a
Fast during Advent and then he had a fast between Advent and lent which basically meant he had seemed like he had like one week where he could eat regularly and then he went back into a fast and uh and then he had the fast of St Michael and the guy was fasting
Constantly and um and and so and so of course so did the early friars and uh it really got to the point where some of the poor frier is the one one poor the story of the one poor frier who just was in so much pain because of all the
Fasting that he started to cry out at night and uh so Francis uh in his charity and that’s the great thing I love about Francis is that the charity trumped the the penitential practice is that he made all the friers get up and eat so this one frier wouldn’t feel
Embarrassed about being the only one who couldn’t do the fast and yeah but um yeah a lot of those practice I is got thrown out I mean I I like to think of it as you know Vatican 2 they hit the reset button because some of those practices became just sort of
Meaningless I think and uh they or they had lost the sense of the meaning uh behind it and they would they were just doing it because it was a tradition and so uh and as I said Vatican 2 I think they hit the reset button and said let’s
Let’s look at all of this and so some might say they threw out the baby with the bath water but I would say well it was necessary to sort of clear the slate and let’s start putting things back as we see that they’re good and
Necessary and so forth so a lot of those practices are out and and I’m grateful but we have kept uh faster in Lent of course we still do and our constitutions do ask us to do the fast during Advent and uh so some of those practices we
Still have certainly yeah the thing that intrigues me about the the capan one of the Traditions they held on to is um momentto Mori and so oftentimes people see images of Francis meditating on the skull or the crucifix and and so that uh tradition of the capish of holding on to
Um sister death right I think evolves from our identity and this is even in our constitutions that we are a not only an Evangelical Brotherhood but a Brotherhood of penance and so what what’s unique I think about Francis at least how I understand he saw
The Habit is that it was a symbol that he was a public sinner right he was constantly in need of God’s grace and mercy and his Antics in in preaching throughout a CCE were calling others to penance and and so the captians I think were handed that tradition even to the
Point of of making their their graveyard the kashan bone Church a sign and symbol of the hope of the future Resurrection so that even sin and death cannot hold uh the power and the grace of Jesus Christ right yeah there’s if any of you ever um get to Italy you know I’d
Suggest especially in Rome uh there’s the famous caption Cemetery in vieno uh and in the in the Crypt of the church in vieno there was a a time when the captians used to have a very large and old frery there and uh at one point uh a lot of their land was confiscated
And so they had to uh re relocate the bodies from their cemetery and so what ended up one of the Friars collected all the bones that they were that they exhumed and he put them in the Crypt in all kinds of decorative forms and so
They have you know the hands of a clock with the numerals made out of certain bones and then they use other bones to make like little wings of the angels and so all these this Chapel is decorated with all of these bones and it’s a very
For some reason a very popular tour site especially with the Japanese the Japanese seem to love that chapel and uh but what’s um it’s it’s a little morbid okay maab but what’s um theologically what’s interesting about it is that there’s a sign in there um as your well
It used to be the entrance and now it’s the exit but uh it says uh in in Latin uh What uh what you are now we once were what we are now you one day will be so it’s this again this idea of momental Mory remember that you are mortal that
Someday you’re going to die that this world is not all there is right so it’s a call for us to be conscious of who we really are what we’re called to be and and what you know what what we’re called to yes so that’s excellent I love that that saying
It’s a very profound saying and to me that that’s in my opinion what lent uh calls us to is to that that greater humility that recognition that you know we are ashes from ashes from ashes dust to dust but there is a hope uh Beyond uh
Sister death um that we’re called to to Journey as a pilgrim people towards that hope right I and I’d like to I mean I think we sometimes can get you know very uh um ourselves very morbid about the whole the whole experience and and uh of
Of suffering and this one of the S sort of the fallacies uh that we can easily fall into I think one of the fallacies that they were sort of falling into pratic 2 was that uh I have to suffer in as payment for my sins and uh but we can never we can
Never repay God enough you know for our sins this is this is is impossible and God doesn’t ask us to repay him for our sins you kind of see that theology I think in the movie The Mission with Robert dairo I don’t if you ever saw that film yeah but that theme definitely
Plays out in that movie right yeah dragging that armor through the uh through the forest and as his Penance right you know for for me the meaning of of L the meaning of this of this giving up this sacrifice uh can be seen like the 40 years that the Israelites spent in the
Desert what was that all about that was about Freedom they were moving From Slavery to Freedom and they complained about it at first they wanted to go back they wanted I prefer I prefer to slavery where I can eat than the freedom where I might be hungry sometimes you know and I
Think you know lent for us is that same thing the the real idea of this is to free ourselves to free ourselves from these passions these desires that we have you know for you know sure I mean everybody has desires for food but sometimes it becomes uh an overemphasis
On satisfying my my hunger and then we get fat and we get and we over drink and then we know and so all of these desires that we have tend to enslave us and so these 40 days of Lent for me is a time for us to gain our freedom and sometimes
Freedom doesn’t feel so great but uh the end result of it is you know that we’re free from these things so that’s what I at least one of the things I see about lent you know the other thing I I kind of latch on to for Lent is this
This whole the the idea of humility that you know we’re all humans we’re all fallible we all have failings and uh and so lent calls us to recognize this and and to be humble um you know and and I it was interesting I was listening to an
Atheist talking some time ago uh and he was basically saying something of the same he’s one of the criticisms of some of his atheist um counterparts were that uh the the idea that humans are naturally good you know and that uh uh you know that so religion is bad because
It’s always trying to make us feel bad about ourselves but really humans are good we don’t need a God to be good and he said that’s you know when you look out there the evidence is just the opposite you know humans are not NE naturally good you know and so he was
Calling for a little bit more humility true uh on our part as humans recognizing that we need sometimes those Ashes to remind us that um we’re we’re not perfect yeah no I like that that post and pre um Vatican 2 kind of understanding theologically that you know prior to
Vatican 2 our understanding of Lent was more of kind of doing public Penance and atonement and then afterwards is making more room or kind of creating freedom for God to act within us avoiding sin avoiding those attachments to sin uh so that the spirit of God uh can can work
In us and you know we’re going to comment here shortly on some of the issues that the the culture faces but that’s interesting that the atheist was able to see you know the degreg left to our own devices right we’re we’re prone to sin and so this Lenton kind of
Experience calls us back to self-discipline calls us back to self- control but ultimately to do the will of God I think that’s where our greatest joy and freedom comes from as as Roman Catholics and if even if you notice I don’t know how much you are you know
Immersed in social media but a lot of the celebrities now on social media so Mark Wahlberg and uh Mario Lopez others are promoting themselves um on social media with with ashes and the best quote I’ve seen this week uh of what our ases represent as as Catholics I think came
From father Mike schmidtz he said our our ashes are symbols that we are public Sinners and that’s why it’s Ash U but it’s also in the shape of a cross which is a reminder that I have a savior and and so I think that’s an important uh
Piece of the puzzle too is despite all of our efforts despite all of our uh maybe best intentions to to be fervent about lent or or to embrace lent uh ultimately we’re going to fail and ultimately uh we need Jesus I know that some suggestions were that since uh Ash Wednesday fell on
Valentine’s Day that they should make the ash in the form of little heart I’m glad that nobody did that yeah that not that I know of anyway well I know some friers when when they when they Ash uh you know if they priest frier sometimes they make the the symbol of the TOA
Cross instead of the traditional crucifix which is which is beautiful too still across that’s right that’s right all right yeah so I think it’s good for us to remind people the uh of what our church teaches about lent the three pillars of uh lent or prayer fasting and arms
Giving um all three of those things um and they all have the same go goal is to lead us to Greater freedom and to be better people and better Christians yeah and um you want to talk about the what the requirements are for fasting in yeah
So we have written here days of fasting which includes abtin abstinence from meat or Ash Wednesday that was yesterday and Good Friday that’s coming up for those uh ages 18 to 59 and have good health um and so days of fasting and abstinence and then the minimal observance of
Fasting is one full meal and two smaller meals which combined do not equal a full meal and every Friday of Lent is a day of abstinence from meat um for those of age 14 and older and and so I think um to me those any any Penance any
Um fasting that we do should be challenging but attainable and and to me the wisdom of the church has given good ground rules uh prudent rules uh uh that’s that’s attainable now now some people don’t find it hard to give up fish and some countries you know um kind
Of I’m sorry meat fish is the the main meal but uh there’s appropriate fasts that can be replaced I think and we can talk about those later yeah I I have to admit I I I don’t do well with fasting I I I get a little
Hangry by the end of Ash Wednesday turn into the Snickers commercial Jo pesy it’s more I don’t know if it’s actually hangry because I don’t get angry I get I get hannoy nice and uh you know I don’t know there’s other words I’m sure I could come up
With there but yes uh we have one question coming in real quick I know we sometimes wait till the end but I think it’s relevant to our discussion right here from our chat Ted asks everyone focuses on giving something up during Lent but I try to purposely do something
Good and that’s daily for others am I missing the point well you know what I would say is when you’re um doing something good for somebody else that means you’re not focusing on yourself and so you’ve already given up something sure by by not focusing on yourself and your own
Needs and so I I think it’s legitimate myself um I still think that there is uh something to be said for you know giving up some things because as I said I mean it’s it’s to help us over come our passions and so forth but the idea of
Like uh doing something positive a good thing during Lent I think it’s legitimate yeah yeah I think he’s on target I think as Americans we struggle with with sacrifice so um at least I do like yourself you know struggle uh with with those fasts um but there’s so many
Health benefits for me I find so many health benefits just from you know water and bread fast or just the healthy you know traditional fast that the church is asking of us um and so after day three or day four usually I see the the
Benefits of that and so if we can kind of push through some of those privations and and to see the good of that then often times we can break through and so so if you have a little bit of anxiety or fear about giving something up U
Maybe talk to a good priest or good spiritual director and he can help kind of encourage you um to overcome that fear um so you want to jump into maybe where some of the the culture uh maybe is struggling with with some of the practices of the church like lent or
Yeah I think that’s good time to Pivot yeah um you know it’s uh it’s one of the things in in uh and I know that you’ve heard this too already that in researching for this for this evening’s topic uh one of the surprising for me at least was uh very surprising probably
Not so much for you since uh you’re a priest and and you um probably celebrated a lot of masses on Ash Wednesday but that the attendance at Mass on Ash Wednesday goes way up um the a study done recently was said that um you know regular Mass attendance
Uh on a Sunday is like 25% of Catholics um and among young people it’s even lower I think it’s something I think they said 14% but on Ash Wednesday the attendance of young people at Mass goes up to 41% it’s a huge jump uh I you know is that I mean do you
See that oh 100% yeah and even uh Father Joseph on the scenes before our um show tonight mentioned standing room only at one of our parishes here in in Denver I’m sure the mall sees that influx and so I think there’s something to be said that even if our religiosity isn’t as
Kind of full boded as maybe we would like to see from Sunday to Sunday from some of our our our faithful there’s something within the human heart that I think um uh that that that God speaks to you know no matter how far we’ve gone no
Matter how far away from the church that we can be there’s something that speaks powerfully uh to the world about Ash Wednesday there there and and you even see that in in the Bible you know I often think of the ministry of Jonah right Jonah walks into Nineveh right
Nineveh would have been a very uh Pagan City more than some of our you know big cities like Las Vegas today and uh in the ancient world in Babylon him having to call people to repentance right and so I think we take uh people for granted of their desire to want to change
Sometimes we from maybe a faith perspective or maybe a prophetic perspective and and God can do wonders in the hearts of the people if we cooperate with him and call them back and we too are siners and we need to be called back as well uh but I think God
Is working more powerfully in their lives than often what the media gives credit for or oftentimes what we uh judge is happening as well yeah yeah that that same study uh said that 64% of Catholics self-identified Catholics abstained from meat on Fridays during Lent and that a large percentage
Uh of young people even uh say that they U give up something uh during Lent you know and so yeah the the the stories that we hear all the time about you know the you know people just falling away from the church and so forth it it kind
Of uh indicates that that you know things are maybe not as Bleak as what is portrayed at times so um yeah I think you’re correct um and you know everywhere I go throughout the country working with youth young adults you see a hunger and a desire for the
Mercy of Jesus Through uh the great sacrifice and and uh for myself I can speak uh to that sentiment or to that thought you know as a young college student at CSU I was kind of a a cradle Catholic or non-practicing Catholic but every uh Lent
In my fraternity house uh me and my Catholic buddies uh we would all give up alcohol and you know at that time we didn’t I mean that was that was quite radical but we all had this commitment to make U uh the practice of giving up something and there was so many benefits
To that obviously but then eventually we made a commitment to go down to the San Louis Valley to the shrine there dedicated to the Stations of the Cross and that’s really where I encountered uh during Lent first first and foremost the the the the power and the mercy of Jesus
Christ through the meditations that the church encourages us to do on Good Friday of the Stations of the Cross and that’s really when I allowed the Lord back in into my life and so I think um as our culture continues to shift away from Godly principles I think we’re
Going to see more and more people uh get dissatisfied with what the world is offering and little by little come back to the faith the pendulum always swings back back and forth yeah yeah so you know I think it’s just you know many of us have lamented you
Know that if only we could get people back in church and stuff but I you know I think maybe there’s uh this um lent in Ash Wednesday is a great opportunity uh for us and and I think you know hopefully this is something that the the
Church can take advantage of uh is to you know this fact that people are there and um it’s a great opportunity to evangelize absolutely yeah I think you know the last point that I want to mention you know with the with the culture kind of maybe on the fence with you know maybe
Not understanding all of our rituals or Traditions but yet feeling you know maybe God calling their heart or conscience back to to the faith is is not to be afraid first of all uh but to see that there is a a plan and purpose that God is working in their lives and
And to truly embrace the call to repentance um and not to be afraid to to change right change for all of us is is good we don’t want to be the person that we were 20 years ago right that if we change for the better and and and in
This case the better is the cross and the resurrection of Jesus if our lives look like his um then you know the future has great potential um the other piece I think sometimes that people get overwhelmed with I know we encounter this all the time is people get fearful
Of of confession yeah and so um you know just this week I encountered um you know somebody away from the sacrament for 13 years uh three years and two years just this week and so it happens to us all the time that people are away from the sacrament for for many
Many years and it’s never too late all right obviously we want to go to confession regularly but there’s such a Grace that happens when we come to confession during Lent um and so I want to encourage everyone listening tonight uh not to be afraid uh to embrace uh
Their lives and their sins with the mercy of Jesus in that Sacrament and to me it’s the best kept secret of the Catholic Church Jesus uh empowered uh the the first apostles as ambassadors and missionaries of of Mercy um and and so I think for me that’s that’s the
Beginning of a good conversion is a good confession right you hear a lot of people say though that why do I need to confess to another human being can I just go in my room and and tell Jesus I’m sorry yeah what do you say to that
Yeah I think we’re going to have a whole show on this uh topic uh next time right that you know I’m religious and not spiritual sometimes people fall into that solipsism of you know just praying to Jesus certainly we should pray to Jesus you know oneon-one uh in our own
Conscience right but the way that Jesus Set uh this process up is biblical so if you go back to John 20 Jesus breathes the power of the Holy Spirit into the apostles that term breath only comes up one other time in the Book of Genesis when God breathes breath into Adam and
Eve and so it’s a significant breath that he places in into them and it’s for uh the Forgiveness of sins for for um uh binding and forgiving and and are binding and loosing right that Authority that comes through the apostolic church and so we as Catholics encounter Jesus Christ
Through the flesh right we have sacraments like the baptism we have sacraments like matrimony sacraments like the Eucharist even the anointing of the sick we physically make contact through the flesh to receive the spiritual grace of God it’s a exact same with the sacrament of confession and so
Our sins confessing our sins is that human- to human contact with the priest and myself the penitent and in that Holy exchange of of human contact there’s great Grace that is embodied into that confession and you know my favorite analogy given to me about confession was from father Dan Leonard a great Irish
Priest here in the uh in the dicese and also the director at the Seminary he said a good Confessor is kind of like a cell phone you know we all have these fancy cell phones iPhones and he says if you picked up your smartphone and called your loved one and maybe your
Grandmother or your grandfather on the other end right you heard their voice and you would feel consoled you would feel that sentiment of their care for you but he said in reality you’re not talking to the phone you’re talking to your grandparent or your loved one through the phone and that’s ultimately
What a priest is we are a conduit of the voice of Christ for the penitent and my analogy of a Confessor is a little bit more crude I kind of see our ministry as confessors it’s kind of like garbage men you know we go around the block and cre
Collect all the garbage that people put out every week and uh we Faithfully do that service for the Lord and Sin is Sin it’s ugly just like your trash it’s stinky and we don’t go through your garbage and we wouldn’t want to because it’s garbage it’s sin uh but ultimately
After that that collection is done uh the house is a little bit more clean so there’s biblical precedence there’s sacramental pre precedence there’s practical precedence and um I think ultimately my final thought is this right if if we say that we have not sinned this is John St John and the New
Testament then we make God out to be a liar right and so if we deny our sins then then we deny our need for a savior and so going through the practice of confession is a great a great way to acknowledge that not only have I sinned
But I need a savior right that’s good I think we could do a whole episode on on confession certainly yeah a well are you ready to take some questions or yeah that’d be great let’s let’s see who’s chiming in tonight yeah why don’t you go
Ahead and read it cuz I can’t okay says uh from our email Hannah says it seems like so many of the Saints I read about confessed like uh once a week uh why would a saint go to confession so often that’s it’s an irony you know that
The Holier we become the more uh conscious we become of our sinfulness um St Francis was that way I mean you know everybody everybody loves St Francis and every you know looks at him as a very holy person during his life and after his life and yet um he
Saw himself as the greatest of all Sinners and I think that’s true of all the saints um Mother Teresa was a great Saint very holy person and very austere and so strict with herself and yet she was very conscious of her fading fading so I think it just uh it’s an it’s an
Interesting thing it’s one of those things like you know when you’re young you know everything and then as you get older and going through school you realize how much you don’t know yeah you know the more you know the more you realize you don’t know yeah for
Me what resonates with me um is the psalmist I think it’s in the psalm um says a righteous person uh sins seven times daily right and so no matter how fervent we are in the spiritual life we’re still going to wrestle with our concupisent s or our sinful behavior and so we’re
Always going to need be in need of of confession This Side of Heaven and so even the greatest of saints acknowledge in humility that that fact um and so for me you know the the beauty of being a Confessor and those that have this gift is is kind of devotionally confessing
Their sins um you can see it’s an act of Love uh to Jesus obviously there’s their sorrow for sin um but it becomes a balm of of of kind of them soothing Jesus and you see this in the life of Mary Magdalene as well she was a great sinner
But kind of soothes Jesus with the nard and then her hair and so she’s truly contrite and and sorrowful in that moment and so I think there comes a point in in our uh experience of sin where it becomes an act of worship an
Act of U Devotion to to our Lord and so we should never be AF ashamed or afraid that if we find sin but but rejoice in Hope because there’s always a remedy yeah you know John of the Cross St John of the Cross uh used this analogy of the
Glass of water says when you’re far away you look at that glass of water it looks fine you like that was something I can drink but the closer you get to it you start to notice all of the impurities and all the little things floating
Around in it you know and so forth and that was his analogy of of us you know recognizing our own sinfulness that the closer we get to to Christ is the more we recognize all of the stuff that is not Christlike in us oh that’s cool I
Like that analogy so another um question from the email here so thank you all for sending these questions tonight one coming in from Ben asks what do Friars give up for Lent do you have any good stories about that or um no I don’t think I have any good stories
On that at least not right now but I mean Friar are just like everybody else I think they we we all kind of make our own decisions and and uh it’s we have to all kind of look at what do I need to give up you know because it’s it’s not
One thing um and I I think this is you know one of the uh one of the advantages of the the reset of Vatican 2 that I talked about earlier was that we we don’t all just you know do things in lock step uh follow a tradition that
Somebody else had set you hundreds of years before and now you know it’s we have to go back to the roots of the whole thing and look at well you know what’s the purpose of giving up and uh and then according to that purpose what
Do I need to do in order to fulfill that purpose yeah I think that’s wise um I do have one story of when I was a frier in formation uh we we did choose a Penance that was way too difficult and so we were very young and idealistic back then
And very fervent and so one of the student friers decided at one of our house chapters that for lent it would be a good idea to to give up meat all the way through lent so like a vegan fast so only vegetables and and soup for the entire
Time of Lent so you know at first glance we all thought this was great we thought it was was you know good idea but but by the end of Lent we were so uncharitable to each other and so nasty to each other that we decided to never do that again
Right and so um yeah so but I would say most Friars definitely give up you know maybe social media or um maybe um I don’t know wasting time certain foods um maybe certain Creature Comforts they have um maybe you know cigars or certain lurs um maybe some friers fast you know
From their own personal vehicle maybe taking public transit um maybe fast and speech or there’s all sorts of ways that I’ve seen Friars uh that inspire me that do some really uh wonderful fasts yeah guess I did have some somewhat similar experience of when I was in nishit and I
Decided to do a a day of kind of a desert day and I would have just bread and water so I took a a loaf of Wonderbread and and uh some water and my the Great Discovery for me and that experience was that Wonder Bread really isn’t bread right right that’s
Right yeah I was doing some research uh today as a matter of fact and there’s there’s some friers or some monks in in Europe that um do only uh a beer fast all the way through through lent I thought that was fascinating yeah but of course their beer is nutritious you know
Right yeah they have heavier German beers so I think the practice was uh Monday through Friday they have four beers in water through the day and then on Saturday and Sunday they allow themselves six um and the goal is not to get intoxicated but uh to have that kind of
Mental Clarity and and kind of focus and and all the other advantages I remember hearing stories of uh Friday Fridays in the Frid this is yeah probably pratic and too and uh when they weren’t allowed to have meat that was well all year you know and uh so in Fridays the old German
Friers um they’re they’re supper consisted of uh Limburger cheese and raw onions good and then they went to hear confessions and the people’s confessions didn’t last all that long for some reason it’s not a good thing when our penances become other people’s penances that’s never good that’s never good so
Maybe we have time for one last question here from the email Garrett asks what advice would you give someone to who who is trying to overcome uh struggle with serious end but keeps falling over and over be patient with yourself yeah you um Christ fell three times and uh we
Can’t expect that we’re going to do better than that sure and um so um you know when if we become too impatient with ourselves and uh and we can become then um we can Despair and that is possibly even a greater sin you know and
So um we just need to be patient and keep asking for this grace and that would be my advice yeah absolutely yeah might I I have two thoughts I think you know the the struggle with habitual sin is not always a horrible thing so we have to be
Careful how we judge our sinfulness right because it would be way worse if we went out and tried new sins right God does not want you to you know go out and be a bank robber or something new right a terrorist or something like that so our struggle with our habitual sin
Reminds us over and over again that that we need that Savior and I think there’s this sentiment in the culture that you know there’s going to be this microwavable spirituality that God is going to somehow wave a magic wand and and heal me immediately and healing is a
Lifelong process right and even St Paul begged God to take his sin uh three times and and the response back was you know my my grace is sufficient and so we are not the sum total of our our of our failures and so I’d encourage this young
Person to to walk humbly with his sin but also to walk with the other foot that God has given him with his blessed and and his gifts and talents and his blessedness and to walk humbly forward with with those two feet I think know some of that
Uh uh the fear there or the you know the the the discomfort of of that sort of thing is that you feel like you’re every time you’re going confession you’re confessing the same sins over and over and and the priest is going to recognize you and judge you I mean here
He comes again with that same old sin maybe you could help dispel that notion no I to me I’m more edified by somebody that comes frequently with with that sin to me that’s a sign that they’re kind of uh they have an Integrity about him they they have a humility about him an
Honesty about themselves and they’re working humbly with with God and so I would trust that person more than than somebody that’s being deceptive about their sins yeah I even wonder how much you even remember I think sometimes we overestimate no no no I with all honesty
We do most confessors will tell you this that we do have the grace of forgetting and and it’s true you know like I said earlier my analogy of of you know being a a trash collector we wouldn’t want to remember those things because it’s it’s ugly you know and so it’s something that
Our minds really are not attracted to so yeah don’t ever be afraid about you know scandalizing your your priest or Confessor all right do want to take one last question or okay sure um says here from Lisa through the email some of her friends are into the
Practice of Exodus 90 do you think this is a helpful thing to try for Lent um I don’t excuse me I’m not really familiar with Exodus 90 uh myself so I can’t answer that question yeah it seems to be the more popular thing of young adults there’s
Kind of certain practices and and um intense kind of um yeah no social media intense prayer I’ve heard rumors of maybe cold showers lot lots of uh intense ways of fasting so I’m not an expert on Exodus 90 again my kind of rule of thumb is choose a Penance uh
That’s going to be attainable but that’s a little bit challenging and so maybe Exodus 90 is a perfect fit for you know certain types of people but maybe not a great fit for for others so I would say take that you know question to your spiritual director or somebody that’s a
Little bit more wise in that um genre and to see if it’s going to be going to be helpful or fruitful so great well thanks for joining us this evening and uh we hope you enjoyed this episode and hope you’ll join us again uh next month the third Thursday of the month
And uh as we mentioned uh next month we’re going to be talking about I’m spiritual but not religious and all the implications behind that so um hope that you like share and subscribe to uh to this podcast and uh and tell your family and friends about it absolutely you know
We thanks we thank you for your you know your viewership and if you like our content tonight please subscribe we have other content on our web page uh we have uh ways to connect with us in our Ministries ways to donate uh but most importantly pray for us and know that
We’re praying for you yeah and uh special invitation we as many of you know we have a good morning good people uh videos that we do Monday Wednesday and Fridays and for Lent this year we’re doing a very special um type of good morning good people on Fridays uh lately we’ve been doing
Throwback videos uh but for Lent this year our brother Jude uh each um of the Fridays of Lent is taking one of The Seven Last Words there was that great devotion there is a great devotion in the Catholic church called the seven last words of Jesus and uh brother Jude
Is meditating on those seven words during the SE seven Fridays of Lent so it’s a really it’s kind of an interesting thing and we I hope you tune into that on Fridays so all right thanks everybody we’ll see you next month Blessing
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