Hello everyone I’m mayor Kennedy O’Brien of sville and I want to welcome you to conversations with [Applause] Kennedy welcome everyone to conversations with Kennedy this uh week’s guests are F uh Father Michael of Our Lady of asrama and our Imam of our uh soon to be
New mosque in sville this being the high holy season for both the Muslim faith and for the Christian faith I’ve be I’ve asked both men to come here one to discuss Ramadan with our Imam and two to discuss the Lenton season and Easter with Father Michael so Imam if if you
Would start and and then father Mike if if you would um then continue thank Youk you honor thank you very much uh Mr Mayor It’s a Wonderful opportunity uh sitting at its table with yourself and um Reverend Michael um our good friend from sou River uh indeed it is a a
Tremendous opportunity because Ramadan is coming up um uh on Monday I know um our Christian brothers and sisters has been fasting uh a couple of weeks now uh ours uh starting uh God willing we say in Arabic we say inshallah uh meaning God willing um on Monday so Ramadan really is a fantastic
Time we we believe that Ramadan has the ability to forgive our sins completely um you know throughout the year we kind of messed up and it’s a it’s a spiritual uplifting really for us to to fast in in Ramadan so Ramadan is observe uh approximately over observe over 1.6 billion people
Across the world um and it’s it’s the the month of fasting it’s the month of praying it’s a month of reflection uh it’s a it’s a month of spiritual upliftment getting close to God Almighty uh we in one of the Revelation which is the Quran uh is the final revelation
It is mentioned that the purpose of fasting is to forge a closer relationship to God tawa the word Arabic is tawa means be careful of how you connect your relationship with God so um I know for a fact um our mayor has been doing a lot of work um you know with all
Religious group in in in sarraille and I would like to uh applaud him for this and giving us this opportunity to talk about about Ramadan so fasting during this month means abstaining from food complete abstinance from sunrise to sunset and um uh it is uh it is food and
Drink and any physical relationship between men and you know between husband and wife uh until sunset um so this is something that whenever we fast and we go through the pangs of hunger because really the purpose of fasting you should be hungry right and we don’t recommend
That okay because you’re fasting you eat a a huge meal in the morning though you don’t have to be hungry in the day uh you you eat ordinary the same amount that you’re eating but you have to go through that thirst and the pangs of hunger so you can able to understand the
Empathy and the challenges and difficulty of people who don’t have in other parts of the world you know God bless us here we have so many things at our disposal and so Islam even teaches us in Ramadan that we don’t waste food we don’t waste our drink we don’t waste
Our time uh we are all connected and also uh we increase in our generosity helping those who don’t have and helping those who don’t have is not only Muslims helping people right across the board feed those who are hungry uh and we have a lot of programs like that uh we have
Like packages Ramadan packages that we give to people who are having challenges and stuff like that so Ramadan is a special moment is a special time really for uh the Muslims and for all of us um I know we share a lot of things in common and so I I I would really
Appreciate for us working together to bring this to our community thank you thank you m father Mike well our Christian faith is not so much different from the Muslim faith uh where our uh our faith begins uh our Easter tradition begins with Ash Wednesday which is a day
Of fasting uh also an abstinence uh where only you’re allowed to one meal and uh usually we have mass sacrifice at the mass where parishioners people Catholics would come and receive ashes on their foreheads to symbolize that to remind them where they came from that God has created Humanity from the dust
Of the earth and then to remind them that they will return one day to the dust of the earth and in between uh we have 40 days of uh of of Lent um culminating with what I call the our high holy days uh of Easter which is the
E trium uh which consists of Holy Thursday uh where Christ instituted Ed um the priesthood one uh and two the Holy Eucharist which we celebrate uh on Saturdays and Sundays vigil Saturdays and uh and every day actually we have mass to offer a sacrifice to God to thank God for his
Many gifts each day of our lives and go Good Friday we have us um a service that uh at 3:00 where uh we celebrate Christ’s death uh his sacrifice uh for Humanity for all nations for All Peoples um and then Holy Saturday of course the vigil uh we welcome new uh people who
Cumans uh uh who want to come into the church either through baptism and or confirmation and receive their first uh Holy Communion as well uh we bless the fire we bless uh candle which symbolizes the the Light of Christ in the world uh that he is our light
Um so culminating with Easter Sunday the resurrection uh coming from a Polish tradition um especially uh where like my father was a uh slave during World War II he was sent out to Germany as a slave labor so I’m always proud to say that father Stan my brother pastor of Sacred
Heart in South ambo and I the sons of a slave um so to us faith is uh everything uh is most precious beyond anything else and you’re absolutely right Imam the the uh great gifts that we have in this nation uh we are truly blessed because I
Firsthand know what it means not to have uh so we both struggle and we thank God for the good things we have and um where our faith and unity uh is most important uh to our communities around us uh so on Easter Sunday we celebrate Christ’s resurrection and then having a full meal
And uh respecting the day of the Lord uh to rest and uh family becomes most important the unity of family as well yeah can I just chime in there please um you mentioned a very important point and this is one of our teachings also in Islam that we came from the same father
Yes Father Adam uh he’s our great great grandfather and we share the commonality of humanness respect love appreciation whether you’re a Christian Hindu Jew whatever the case is we have our religion and you are free to practice whatever no one forces you to do whatever you want to do and so this is
Something that we respect each other uh there is a verse in the Quran and the Quran is the final Revelation uh we believe that there were there were many books that was revealed before um to a scroll was given to Abraham um that was r revealed in Ramadan in the month of
Ramadan uh the the Torah that was given to Moses was revealed in Ramadan I mean it’s uh Mr Mayor all of this thing happens in the month of Ramadan all together um the inil which is the New Testament uh was uh was given to Jesus peace be upon him in Ramadan right um
The the Sam of David which we in Arabic we say zabor was given to Prophet dud in Arabic his name is Da in English is David David in the month of Ramadan the Quran was revealed in the month of Ramadan so all of these previous scriptures religious scriptures all
Reveal in this common month it’s it’s this is a bless month right and of course we follow the lunar calendar um which means that the Night comes before the day in the the lunar counting so in fasting every year in the Gregorian calendar it comes like uh like 9 to 10 days uh
Before every year so if it starts uh March um let’s say it start on March 10th uh next year it will be like at the end of February things like that because of the the the calculation of the Gregorian calendar which follow uh the cycle of the Sun so we have so many
Things in common right inre in relation to to to fasting and and as you have mentioned about your your prayer service they are special prayers we do every every night and in Arabic we call it t meaning it’s you you spend extra time in the night uh just like after Twilight uh
About an hour and a half after Sunset after you take your meal you go and make prayers and that goes for 29 to 30 days depending on how many days really in this particular month of Ramadan so that Pro prayer where you recite from the Quran uh which lasts you know it can
Last from 2 hours to 3 hours depends how you want to take it so it’s something similar where we show this devotion um to God Almighty and at the same time to able to build our spirituality I also want to say that how U close and how beautiful our faiths are um especially
Uh during the uh Lenton season where we do uh increase of Prayer fasting and almsgiving taking care of the poor which becomes most important uh and appreciating the faith that we have the gifts that we have in in this life so yeah God bless you thank you very much
And I I pray God bless you and guide you and myself continuously for helping the community helping people our job is really to to save ourselves and save our families and people in the society correct right it’s uh it’s not about me me in religion it’s not about me uh the
Religion is bigger than I am okay so it’s it’s it’s not about me it’s about my religion which I take to people so Ramadan bring this awareness a very close awareness and it emphasizes the the the principle of discipline you know like in Ramadan many things that people
Normally do out of Ramadan um they will abstain from doing because they know that hey this is this is a holy you you you don’t want to mess up right so you want to make sure that God is pleased with you um we are we are taught that um
The the the gates of hell are actually closed in Ramadan and the gates of paradise are open so it gives opportunity so if the gates of hell and the Satan in Arabic we say shaitan is is in shackles so it means that it gives you more opportunity to do good deeds right um
Mr Mayor you’re you’re quiet let’s let’s hear something from you also questions sitting with two religious men two Shepherds who lead their flocks and it’s because of of your efforts that we live in the time that we do in the area that we do and we have such
Abundance uh and such Harmony and I and I thank you for that you’re welcome one of our greatest attributes of St Mary ustra r although it’s from a Polish tradition Parish it’s really more English American uh and from other um countries uh that were very welcoming
We’re very open we keep our doors open um especially when we have funeral mass the sacrifice of the mass I often mention though because many now are present at the funeral services who are not from the Catholic faith but are present there out of respect for the
Family for the deceased uh I often would mention some guidelines on the reception of the Holy Eucharist or for those who are not of the Catholic faith to obstain from receiving but do do come up and receive a blessing should they choose so uh again because we’ve I’ve had uh
People from the Jewish faith from the Muslim faith at funerals out of love and respect for the for the person who has passed and for the family who’s grieving so we go out of our way to include uh other faiths as well within uh the scope
Of our church I mean I I have many Christian friends here and I know many families who came from different parts of the world like Egypt Lebanon um all of these places they they live with neighbors you know who are Christians and they share each other’s company they
Respect each other so so what sometimes we see in the news is not really the reality of of what is happening with our brothers and sisters Muslim brothers and Christian brothers and sisters in many parts of the world although there are Muslim majority countries uh Muslim and
Other people of other Faith they live for hundreds of years without problems close together with love sharing food sharing Joy sharing sadness sharing a relationship this is what is me meant to be in a religious environment right it’s it’s not you are in your own little
Cocoon and you say okay what I’m doing that’s it I I I’m not concerned with you uh Reverend Michael no my job I am taught that if I ate my fil and my neighbor goes hungry I’m not a Believer there’s a beautiful story I just heard recently about same Mother Teresa uh
Where she uh visited a family who had five children it was a Christian family and Mother Teresa brought her a sack of rice full sack of rice and gave it to her because they were hungry the next day Mother Teresa came back again to visit her and noticed that there was
Only half a bag of rice so mother Tes asked her what where what happened to the other half of bag of rice and she said well across the street lives a Muslim family with five children and I gave them half of mine and that’s how we
Live uh to help one another that’s what his empathy all about correct right that’s what that’s what we are here for in this world this this world is short live this is not an end this is just a temporary Abode where we have to reach
God almighty this is our belief and I I know this is your belief also where you give an account of your actions on Earth so God will decide where you’re going so we want to ensure we don’t mess up we only have one chance right I like I like
When you say we don’t mess up that’s very good we have one chance to get this right we cannot correct it later right so anything here and and that is the reason what I’m saying is that the reality of our relationship and Ramadan teaches us us Islam teaches us Christianity teaches that Judaism
Whatever religious value you have it teaches us to able to understand this so Ramadan what it does it uh it it Wicks up all of these stuff within you to bring it into reality and bring it into light and as just as as Easter uh Easter
Sunday wakes us up to the reality that uh there is life there there is Unity there there is a God that all of us share uh and one they pray to reach gentlemen if I may if I may ask each of you to bring a prayer to sville that
During the season of Ramadan and and during the holy season season of Lent and Easter that there be unity and Brotherhood in our town and we move forward in in Harmony and togetherness yes absolutely amen yeah we will do that uh uh in our prayers and I can very
Quickly say um oh God Almighty Lord of of the worlds uh the Magnificent the merciful uh Ya Allah oh God we ask of you to bless the city of sarraille we ask of you to bless its leadership uh give them the the wherewithal to uh to guide and the community of Coville
And to bring one love and Brotherhood between the residents of of this tongue uh it’s a very great tongue we have a very diverse community and we really want to see Harmony we want to see love respect and relationship exist uh we ask God Almighty to um to to bring this
Harmony and to integrate this community with great blessings of coming together with one love and Brotherhood and the fraternity of this uh human uh relationship and human Brotherhood through the universe thank you amen father Heavenly Father we thank you for your gift of life for the gift of our
Families for the gift of one another we ask your blessing uh through our our Lord Jesus Christ Our Savior to bless Sero its leadership as well it’s polias is fire First Responders who don’t run away from danger but run toward it out of love and care for their neighbor no
Matter what their faith what their religion uh we ask your blessing upon all our residents here in sville but also neighboring towns that we come together as one family of God amen amen thank you Father you’re very welcome sir gentlemen this I could sit and and
Listen to for many hours but um we try we try to have multiple um broadcasts uh and I would like to ask each of you to return um because I find this to be a fascinating subject and I find it in in these times to be so important uh to mankind to our
Country uh to our town absolutely absolutely thank you your honor thank you for having us than you what is more important than speaking religious values to our community this is what is important you know and this uh as we have been speaking about fasting it bring you know like for example uh when
You fast and I I I’m sure this also exists in your uh um beliefs and ideology where it’s not like you only abstain from physical food right you abstain your the things that you look at the things that you say uh Prejudice and jealousness and all these evil emotions
That come within you you purge you try to purge all of these things so fasting uh it reminds you hey I am doing this for the existence of God and I am I’m hoping that at the end it brings me closer to him so you just cannot uh uh
Fasting is not only uh refraining from eating and drinking but a number of other things I cannot fast H I cannot abstain from food and drink and then I I backbite you or I’m jealous of you or I feel envious of you you know I cannot
These are all social ills that I we try to get out so you couldn’t imagine an individual or a society that not jealous of each other uh when you see your brother goes up you help him to go up don’t try to pull him down and this is
The religious value value that we want to get and Ramadan and fasting does this uh the teachings of it for the individuals and it’s very very similar to when we have our holy sacrifice at the mass people receive the Holy Eucharist uh I often uh joke with them
Saying you know here we are receiving Jesus’s presence body blood soul and Divinity and then in a parking L you’re screaming yelling because somebody scratched your car so it’s refraining from uh things like that during fasting but also and like in our faith to refrain from uh the evils of this world
Uh to uphold each other uh be conscious of what we have just received thank gentlemen I thank you uh I’m gonna I’m gonna conclude this uh podcast of conversations with Kennedy but as I said what you bring to the community is something that no tax could ever bring
No mayor could ever bring you bring the word of God in your individual ways and you make us a better country and a better town to live in and with that on behalf of the 45,000 people of sville I thank you for your service to us and for
Us and may each enjoy the holiday of the Season thank you your honor and may God continue to bless you and your efforts to unite uh our peoples together thank you thank you Mr Mayor really appreciate being here thank you
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