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20: Eucharistic Congress Coverage - with Fr. Martin Coolidge and Deacon Dan Hurt
1 Plays10 months ago
We have been talking about and getting ready for the Eucharistic Congress and it finally happened! Father Martin Coolidge and Deacon Daniel Hurt shares their profound reflections and experiences
https://dbqarch.org/archdiocesan-eucharistic-revival
https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Guests
00:00:14
Speaker
Happy fall, everyone.
00:00:15
Speaker
My name is Father Jacob Rouse, and I am the pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Cresco, Iowa, and I welcome you once again to the Debuchadnezzar Revival Podcast.
00:00:25
Speaker
Because that's the name we're going with, still.
00:00:28
Speaker
Still, after all this time.
00:00:30
Speaker
Father Kevin, who are you?
00:00:32
Speaker
I am Father Kevin, your co-host and pastor of St.
00:00:35
Speaker
Patrick's in Hampton and St.
00:00:37
Speaker
Mary's in Ackley, and I'm
00:00:39
Speaker
Glad to be here with our two guests joining us today.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yes, our two guests are Father Martin Coolidge and Deacon Dan Hurt.
Experiences at the Eucharistic Congress
00:00:48
Speaker
And they both attended the Indianapolis, Indiana Eucharistic Congress, which just happened last month.
00:00:56
Speaker
And so they're going to share a little bit about, well, hopefully a lot of bit about their experience there, their travels there, and some of the things they learned.
00:01:03
Speaker
But first of all, Father Martin, can you introduce yourself and where you are serving as pastor?
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, hi, I'm Father Martin Coolidge and I'm the pastor of three parishes in northeast Iowa, kind of up around Decorah and Waukon.
00:01:17
Speaker
It's St.
00:01:18
Speaker
Bridget's in Postville, St.
00:01:19
Speaker
Patrick's in Monona, and St.
00:01:22
Speaker
Mary's in McGregor on the river, Mississippi River there.
00:01:25
Speaker
So I've been there two years.
00:01:27
Speaker
I'm in my third year up there.
00:01:31
Speaker
Thank you, Father Martin.
00:01:32
Speaker
And Deacon Dan Hurt, where are you located?
00:01:36
Speaker
I am assigned to St.
00:01:38
Speaker
Thomas Aquinas Parish in Webster City and St.
00:01:41
Speaker
Mary in Williams.
00:01:44
Speaker
I've been, well, I've been part of those parishes most of my life since I was a little child.
00:01:51
Speaker
And so now I'm, now I get the privilege of being a deacon at both those parishes.
00:01:56
Speaker
And I'm also director of faith formation and liturgy at both those parishes.
00:02:02
Speaker
That's excellent.
00:02:03
Speaker
How long have you been a deacon?
00:02:06
Speaker
Five years.
00:02:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:11
Speaker
Is it everything you ever imagined?
Reflections on Past Experiences
00:02:16
Speaker
It can be very busy and also very rewarding.
00:02:20
Speaker
So that's a great way to describe ministry.
00:02:25
Speaker
And listeners to our show may remember another Deacon Dan, Father Jacob Rouse's dad, Deacon Dan, who was ordained
00:02:31
Speaker
the same year as our current guest, Deacon Dan Hurt.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yep.
00:02:35
Speaker
Right?
00:02:35
Speaker
As you said.
00:02:37
Speaker
You are the third Deacon Dan that we've had on this podcast.
00:02:41
Speaker
The third?
00:02:43
Speaker
Popular name.
00:02:44
Speaker
Who's our other Deacon Dan?
00:02:45
Speaker
Deacon Dan Hager from St.
00:02:47
Speaker
Patrick's.
00:02:49
Speaker
Oh, that's right.
00:02:49
Speaker
That's right.
00:02:50
Speaker
That's right.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yes.
00:02:52
Speaker
Three Deacon Dan's.
00:02:53
Speaker
Amazing.
00:02:54
Speaker
All right.
00:02:55
Speaker
Well, let's get into why you're here.
00:02:56
Speaker
And that is, what inspired you to go to the National Eucharistic
Organizing and Attending the Congress
00:03:01
Speaker
Congress?
00:03:01
Speaker
And why was it this podcast?
00:03:04
Speaker
Just kidding.
00:03:08
Speaker
For me, I had heard about it.
00:03:11
Speaker
Like, I remember Archbishop Jekylls putting out like an email my first year as a priest, like,
00:03:15
Speaker
hey, this Congress thing is happening.
00:03:17
Speaker
And I kind of truly just overlooked it.
00:03:20
Speaker
And then last fall, I was up with my good friend, Father Joseph Sebchik.
00:03:27
Speaker
We were together on our day off.
00:03:29
Speaker
And he's like, hey, what are you thinking about this National Congress?
00:03:34
Speaker
And I'm like, uh...
00:03:36
Speaker
I mean, that would be awesome to go to, but I don't know.
00:03:38
Speaker
It sounds like a lot to organize and plan for.
00:03:40
Speaker
And he's like, how about we just go?
00:03:45
Speaker
He's much more of like, let's do it, you know?
00:03:48
Speaker
And so I was like, well, all right, yeah, let's both go.
00:03:51
Speaker
And then we got excited about it.
00:03:53
Speaker
And then we were like,
00:03:54
Speaker
Why don't we bring people from our parishes?
00:03:56
Speaker
And, oh, all right.
00:03:57
Speaker
So by the end of the day, we'd signed up for the Congress and we'd reserved 20 spots for people from our parishes to go.
00:04:05
Speaker
So I took 10 from my cluster of parishes and he took 10 from his.
00:04:11
Speaker
And that's just Holy Spirit, I guess, happened on that Monday day off and just brought it together for us.
00:04:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:20
Speaker
Amazing.
00:04:21
Speaker
If you recall, not the culminating finishing event, but the culminating beginning event of this revival, we had a few episodes back, Sister Alicia Torres talking about the planning for this event.
00:04:35
Speaker
And this is the event that she was talking about.
00:04:39
Speaker
So, Deacon Dan, what brought you to the National Eucharistic Congress?
00:04:44
Speaker
Well, being in youth ministry, my original goal was to get a bunch of youth to attend.
Expectations and Hopes for the Congress
00:04:51
Speaker
And I don't know, just time just kept closing in on me.
00:04:57
Speaker
And so ultimately I ended up deciding, you know what, um,
00:05:02
Speaker
I'm just going to go by myself.
00:05:03
Speaker
I'm going to see what this is all about.
00:05:05
Speaker
I know it was a big event and I felt somebody from our parish needed to be there just to bring everything back to the parish.
00:05:14
Speaker
And so kind of went on a smaller scale, you know, I was used to, you know, organizing groups and going to things like this, but then just decided to go on a smaller scale and it was, it was good for me.
00:05:30
Speaker
So yeah,
00:05:32
Speaker
How did you both get there and how long was your drive?
00:05:37
Speaker
I just drove myself.
00:05:39
Speaker
I just took my car and drove myself and it was probably, probably took me about 10 hours to get there.
00:05:45
Speaker
I think it was about an eight and a half hour drive, but pulled over for lunch and a couple of stops on the way.
00:05:52
Speaker
And yeah.
00:05:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:56
Speaker
We tried to go pretty low budget.
00:05:57
Speaker
I mean, we weren't big enough to get like a big old bus van thing.
00:06:01
Speaker
So we just carpooled and it was a lot of fun.
00:06:05
Speaker
It was a great way to just get to know each other, the people from our parishes when you spend time intentionally like that together traveling and being with each other every day.
00:06:18
Speaker
So yeah, we just carpooled.
00:06:21
Speaker
We got a hotel 20 minutes outside of downtown Indy
00:06:25
Speaker
And it really worked very well.
00:06:29
Speaker
Just kind of a pretty organic setup and nothing too complicated.
00:06:33
Speaker
And people rolled with kind of our not very structured plan and it worked out.
00:06:44
Speaker
Well, there you go.
00:06:46
Speaker
So going into this, what were, as you're kind of anticipating this Congress, what were, and maybe you didn't have any, but what were some of your expectations
00:06:54
Speaker
or hopes for this Congress, whether for yourself, whether for your people that you took, Father Martin, or whether, or just in general, or, you know, hopes for what it would do in our country, in our nation,
Overview of the Congress Events
00:07:05
Speaker
in our church.
00:07:05
Speaker
So what were, what were particularly some of your expectations, I guess, going into it?
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's a good question.
00:07:12
Speaker
And, you know, I kind of really prayed about that a lot, especially the weeks, you know, very immediately before the Congress.
00:07:20
Speaker
And my big hope was for the people who,
00:07:23
Speaker
I was bringing for my parish that they just might have a really powerful, beautiful encounter with Christ and just his love for them in the Eucharist especially, in addition to kind of, you know, growing in knowledge of our Lord and the sacrament.
00:07:39
Speaker
But primarily I was praying that they might encounter Jesus in a very, very powerful, personal way through the Eucharist.
00:07:48
Speaker
I saw it as a, I guess in my eyes, like a huge thing for our nation.
00:07:52
Speaker
It had been a long time and
00:07:54
Speaker
just we know our nation's in kind of some tough times, a lot of division and all of that.
00:08:01
Speaker
And I just saw
00:08:02
Speaker
and was praying for like, wow, you know, Jesus here, let's, uh, let's do something big Jesus, you know, for our country and, uh, and really bless us through this, this Eucharistic Congress, um, and just center us on you, re center us on you, you know, not only Catholics, but all that might, uh, witness the Congress or, or see its effects, you know, kind of ripple out.
00:08:26
Speaker
And, uh, was praying about that a lot of healing for our nation, um,
00:08:31
Speaker
um and then i think i think for me you know for i don't know father subject and i and all the priests that are going that just we might kind of have a renewal in our own priesthood you know through going to it and you know every day getting to celebrate the mass and just the center of our lives there you know our lord in the eucharist and that we might have kind of renewal and um in our in our priesthood as well so those were
00:08:56
Speaker
I didn't have like expectations on like, Oh, I hope, you know, these are all the speakers and I hope, whatever, you know, they had all the big hitters there, all the big Catholic speakers, but maybe we'll get to it down the road, but the Lord, the Lord blew the expectations
Reflections on the Eucharist and Community Inspiration
00:09:13
Speaker
out of the water.
00:09:13
Speaker
So for me, I,
00:09:23
Speaker
what I was seeing or what I see a lot of times is, you know, you hear that people don't believe in the Eucharist, you know, you hear, I think it's like 29% of Catholics or something like that believe in the Eucharist.
00:09:35
Speaker
And so, and, and for me, I'm like, I don't know if I really see that too much, but what I do see is a lot of people that take it for granted, you know, kind of going through the motions, whether it's at mass or whatever, you know, you can go to adoration and you see,
00:09:54
Speaker
you know, how many people should be there and how many people actually show up, you know?
00:09:58
Speaker
And, and so I think it's, it was just something that we took.
00:10:03
Speaker
we take for granted.
00:10:05
Speaker
And so when I seen this Eucharistic Congress and it was something that, you know, they were saying hadn't happened in 83 years, I thought, you know, I think this is going to be good because I'm hoping it's going to be an eye opener.
00:10:17
Speaker
Um, and so that was, you know, kind of led to my reasoning for choosing to go and hoping I could bring stuff back to my parishes, you know, how, how can, what are some ways that we can open people's eyes?
00:10:30
Speaker
What are ways that we can, you know, um,
00:10:34
Speaker
wake people up to the reality around us, you know, um, wake people up to Jesus being with us and present to us in the Eucharist.
00:10:46
Speaker
And every time we go to mass.
00:10:48
Speaker
And so, you know, I don't, I knew that this isn't going to be anything where it's going to, you know, um, hit people right away, but I'm hoping in the long run, this is going to be something that really does, um,
00:11:04
Speaker
bear a lot of fruit.
00:11:05
Speaker
So, well, thank you for sharing both.
00:11:11
Speaker
So can you just before we delve into like, what particularly struck you at the Congress, just each of us give kind of your, your general overview kind of what happened throughout the weekend, what were some of the talks you attended and stuff like that, just kind of give us an overview sketch of the Congress itself.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, it was, I guess I can't remember Deacon Dan, it was four or five-ish days, or three, four or five-ish days, and it did go quickly.
00:11:38
Speaker
But really, the first day was gathering everyone, kind of this day to gather all the four Eucharistic processions that were happening all throughout the country.
00:11:50
Speaker
So there was these four routes, the Marian route, kind of from the north, which kind of
00:11:57
Speaker
came right by our diocese up on the cross.
00:12:00
Speaker
And then the Mother Seton route from the east, the Junipero Serra route from the west, and the Juan Diego route from the south.
00:12:08
Speaker
And just all these processions had made their way throughout the country and were coming together on the very first opening day, a very powerful opening ceremony, where the pilgrims from those processions all came in with their saint patrons and
00:12:26
Speaker
And then Jesus, then Jesus came in the Blessed Sacrament and Bishop Cousins processed our Lord.
00:12:31
Speaker
And that was really a tremendous first day.
00:12:36
Speaker
But the rest of it, I don't know, Deacon Dan, you can kind of touch on this more too, but just a lot of kind of powerful talks and of course, mass every day together and everything.
00:12:46
Speaker
And closing day was a really beautiful day
00:12:53
Speaker
60,000 person closing mass with Cardinal Tagle from the Philippines, the Pope's delegate for the mass for us.
00:13:00
Speaker
And just immense spiritual joy there with our Lord at the mass.
00:13:06
Speaker
But they were full days of talks and prayer and adorations.
00:13:12
Speaker
And some of the speakers that I was looking forward to was, you know, Bishop Barron and Father Mike Schmidt, you know, and so it was, it was pretty amazing just seeing them come to the stage and then, you know, their talks.
00:13:28
Speaker
But I thought the whole conference was just amazing from the beginning.
00:13:34
Speaker
You know, seeing all four routes kind of come together and all carrying a picture of the patron saint and then bringing it up to the altar where they had the monstrance and or where the monstrance was going to be placed.
00:13:51
Speaker
And then to see the monstrance just be placed on the altar and
00:13:58
Speaker
you know, they had all the spotlights on it.
00:14:00
Speaker
Well, and it just happened to be the right time of day too, where it wasn't only the spotlights, but it was that sun was going down and there's a window that's right up on Lucas Oil Stadium.
00:14:11
Speaker
And that sun just shined right through the, right through that window at that same time on opening night.
00:14:17
Speaker
And that was, that was pretty impressive.
00:14:19
Speaker
That was pretty cool.
00:14:20
Speaker
Kind of outshined, outshined even the spotlights.
00:14:23
Speaker
So beautiful.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:26
Speaker
It really was something.
00:14:27
Speaker
And it was like, yep, they didn't plan for that, but just, you know, maybe the Lord planned for that.
00:14:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:36
Speaker
Um, but no, yeah, that the opening ceremony was, was very impactful.
00:14:41
Speaker
I mean, I, I cried when Jesus showed up and appeared.
00:14:45
Speaker
And I think many people did, everybody was on their knees.
00:14:49
Speaker
Um,
00:14:50
Speaker
you know, is very, very solemn, but yet, you know, this joy that our Lord is here, you know, kind of almost like a do not be afraid, I'm with you experience as you came in.
00:15:04
Speaker
And, you know, the other days, every day started with mass.
00:15:08
Speaker
There are different language masses as well, Spanish, Vietnamese, other different language masses.
00:15:17
Speaker
And then
00:15:18
Speaker
Every night would end with everyone coming back together in Lucas Oil Stadium.
00:15:24
Speaker
The breakout sessions with speakers and different kind of individual conferences throughout the day were at the event center, Indianapolis event center.
00:15:32
Speaker
But at the end of the day at seven o'clock, I think it was seven o'clock, Deacon Dan, I think everybody got together again and there'd be some more present speakers, kind of the keynote speakers, you know, your Bishop Baron, your Father Mike.
00:15:45
Speaker
And then we'd end with...
00:15:47
Speaker
always with the Holy Hour of Eucharistic adoration.
00:15:51
Speaker
You know, thousands of people adoring our Lord together.
00:15:54
Speaker
And there'd be time, there'd be a mix of silent adoration where you could hear a pin drop and you could also hear all the babies crying and worshiping our Lord too, which was very touching.
00:16:08
Speaker
All the young families there that brought their children.
00:16:11
Speaker
And then there'd be some praise and worship as well.
00:16:15
Speaker
All of us
00:16:17
Speaker
praising and worshiping the Lord on the altar.
00:16:20
Speaker
And just the way they had the altar set, they had one altar that was just for the Blessed Sacrament each night.
00:16:28
Speaker
It wasn't like this stage where, you know, we got our little concert thing going on.
00:16:34
Speaker
But no, it was very intentional.
00:16:35
Speaker
Like, no, everyone turns and faces Jesus.
00:16:40
Speaker
We couldn't see the musicians.
00:16:43
Speaker
Everything was blacked out.
00:16:44
Speaker
There wasn't any video screens.
00:16:46
Speaker
It was just all centered on Jesus.
00:16:49
Speaker
It was very intentional to keep it centered on Christ.
00:16:54
Speaker
And you could just feel it, you know, just tangibly feel it, you know, that the Holy Spirit was there and Christ was there and God the Father's love and that Jesus was bearing His heart to us.
00:17:07
Speaker
So,
00:17:09
Speaker
That was the end and it was the best way to end every night.
00:17:12
Speaker
It was really beautiful.
00:17:17
Speaker
Wow.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah, it sounds like...
00:17:20
Speaker
It was very Christ, very Eucharistic centered.
00:17:24
Speaker
Cause you, you could have really had jumbotrons and lights and fireworks ending every single night, but it sounds like that huge monstrance was the focus.
00:17:35
Speaker
What's something that's been resonating with you deeply in your heart or in your prayer that you've taken away from?
00:17:43
Speaker
Cause there's all the, the exciting, I mean,
00:17:46
Speaker
Jonathan Rumi from The Chosen was there and Sister Mary Amal spoke to us, but what are some things that have stayed with you?
00:17:58
Speaker
For me, there's a couple things.
00:18:03
Speaker
So one is that
00:18:07
Speaker
I think it was Mother Olga, I think was her name.
00:18:10
Speaker
And she came out and talked to us, this little short woman.
00:18:13
Speaker
But you really got how much she loved the Eucharist and how much she loved the church.
00:18:21
Speaker
And
00:18:22
Speaker
and reminded me in a lot of ways of Mother Teresa, not worrying about reaching out to a mass amount of people, but always seemed like she was focused on one individual, whether it was a child that had cancer or a baby that was in the hospital or an adult that was a drug addict.
00:18:44
Speaker
And just walking with that person and bringing the Eucharist to that person and just walking on their journey
00:18:50
Speaker
And so kind of resonated with me, especially, you know, being in youth ministry, a lot of times we get focused on a whole lot of people, I guess, you know, and when sometimes our focus needs to be on an individual, one person at a time.
00:19:13
Speaker
And just walking their journey with them, no matter where they're at in life, you know, because everybody's on a different journey, but yet our end goal is the same, you know, we're hoping for eternal life with God.
00:19:25
Speaker
And so, you know, that was something that I kind of brought back with me just...
00:19:31
Speaker
you know, at least to have in my head, I still got to work with a lot of people, but just being able to focus, you know, on one person at a time, you know, bringing that person into prayer.
00:19:43
Speaker
You know, I take a lot of people communion, you know, and just kind of open my eyes.
00:19:47
Speaker
How much am I present to the people I am meeting with or being with?
00:19:55
Speaker
And so that was one thing that kind of stuck out.
00:19:58
Speaker
And Father Mike Schmidt also said something.
00:20:00
Speaker
He said, knowledge will make you great, but only love will make you a saint.
00:20:08
Speaker
And so kind of that's just, that was a quote that really hit me and one that I need to, I feel like I need to try to live more and hopefully one that I can share more with people, you know.
00:20:22
Speaker
All right.
00:20:25
Speaker
It's really the value of one person, the person who's right in front of you, even if someone more important or attractive is waiting down in your schedule, the person right in front of you is, is the most important, whether that's a, a elderly parishioner or Jesus himself.
00:20:41
Speaker
Um, I think focusing on the present moment, um, and the present individual is something that's very important.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, they really did a,
00:20:52
Speaker
wonderful job of stressing we're missionary disciples and the Eucharist is meant, Jesus, and the Eucharist is meant to encounter him and then from that love we can do nothing else than share him and draw more people to him in the Eucharist.
00:21:12
Speaker
There's really this whole initiative called Walk With One where every night they'd kind of have a short video and testimony also about
00:21:21
Speaker
you know, the impact of walking with one person, you know, very intentionally.
00:21:26
Speaker
I think as Deacon was saying, you know, we all have that one person in our life that we know maybe has left the faith, maybe has kind of become more lukewarm, or maybe they don't know Jesus at all.
00:21:39
Speaker
Work, school, family, whatever, you know, parish and
00:21:43
Speaker
So it really was stressed, you know, this Congress, your experience is not meant for just you.
00:21:51
Speaker
It is meant to be go out, like go leave.
00:21:53
Speaker
That was like the last thing, like, all right, everybody get out of here now.
00:21:57
Speaker
You have a job to do.
00:21:59
Speaker
And so I think there's a lot to that, just the present moment, who's that one person in front of you that you can invite.
00:22:05
Speaker
you know, to know Jesus and you can share your faith with them and how Jesus is with us in the Eucharist and he's real and here and, you know, to draw them to that and walk with them, you know, on that journey.
00:22:20
Speaker
That was definitely a very powerful thing that stayed, I think, with everyone from the Congress, that missionary disciple aspect of it.
00:22:30
Speaker
For me also, just there was a tremendous unity
00:22:35
Speaker
I think depending on your different sources, you get maybe your Catholic news from.
00:22:41
Speaker
And of course, we all have a tendency.
00:22:45
Speaker
We love to be up to date on things and all.
00:22:47
Speaker
But, you know, it was like it can feel like all the churches, you know, this huge rift torn in two and all that.
00:22:56
Speaker
But there is this tremendous unity at the Congress the whole time.
00:23:01
Speaker
And it was just generated this great spiritual joy from the unity of the body.
00:23:07
Speaker
You know, not just the priests, not just the clergy, but the laity, you know, families, young and old, you know, the priests and the bishops, everything.
00:23:19
Speaker
There was just this tremendous unity because we were all centered on Jesus.
00:23:24
Speaker
You know, from being centered on Jesus, the whole Congress,
00:23:30
Speaker
there was this unity of the body of Christ to our head with, I don't know, just this immense spiritual joy has stayed with me from it.
00:23:38
Speaker
Whether it was, you know, every Mass, just the joy of celebrating Mass with thousands of people together as the body of Christ, to the Eucharistic procession where people are literally just going bonkers in the streets for Jesus, you know, and just, you know, jumping up and down with joy as he passes and singing to him and
00:24:00
Speaker
you know, all the different, you know, the Hispanics, you know, just crying out, you know, you know, Viva Cristo Rey, you know, and it was just, it was just great.
00:24:12
Speaker
And it was all, it wasn't us, you know, it wasn't this us-centered thing or me-centered thing.
00:24:17
Speaker
It was all Jesus.
00:24:19
Speaker
And that was, we were united to him and brought us joy.
00:24:23
Speaker
So that was, I mean, something I shared with
00:24:27
Speaker
preached about when I came back from it, of just, you know, the Mass, like, we don't have to go to Indianapolis for that.
00:24:33
Speaker
Like, the more we're united together through the Mass centered on Jesus, like, it should generate this spiritual joy in us.
00:24:41
Speaker
And our Lord, you know, I came that might have life and have it more abundantly.
00:24:46
Speaker
And that's what He desires for us, you know, here as a foretaste to come of heaven, which will be the fullness of it.
00:24:53
Speaker
But that unity and joy has really lingered with me in addition to that kind of walk with one.
00:25:01
Speaker
You know, really, really be a missionary disciple for our Lord, a Eucharistic missionary.
00:25:05
Speaker
And that's for everyone, you know, not just not just priest and deacon.
00:25:12
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:25:13
Speaker
I'm reminded.
00:25:14
Speaker
Thank you, Father Martin.
00:25:15
Speaker
I'm reminded in.
00:25:17
Speaker
Early, my first year of seminary in the St.
00:25:21
Speaker
John Vianney House Chapel and all 15, Father Kevin, you were there, all 15 or so of us, whether in our different personalities, different studies, different hobbies and arguments from the day, I remember just everyone kneeling in that chapel and just focusing on adoration, the monstrance and the Eucharist.
00:25:44
Speaker
And that was the first experience I had of
00:25:47
Speaker
Wow, we're all very different and very differently gifted.
00:25:54
Speaker
And yet here, all our focus is not on our differences, but it's on Jesus.
00:25:59
Speaker
And that's probably how the apostles felt and the disciples of Jesus and then how the 60,000 people felt that there is a lot that can and wants to divide us.
00:26:10
Speaker
But when we turn our eyes on the master and just keep them there, anything can happen.
00:26:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:18
Speaker
And I've noticed that that's something, if people pay attention, in the Eucharistic prayer that we pray at Mass, I think every Eucharistic prayer has some...
00:26:28
Speaker
prayer after consecration that includes, you know, making us one in Christ, that unity in Christ by your Holy spirit, you know, and that, and I don't think it's, and, and I love that father Martin, that you described the joy that comes from that.
00:26:42
Speaker
Cause I don't think people associate necessarily unity with joy necessarily, but then also all the divisions do create misery.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:49
Speaker
That there's something about it's, it's not like making us all the same or in this sense, but it's,
00:26:54
Speaker
bringing together in all our diverse differences in who we are that
00:26:58
Speaker
it's Christ who unites us.
00:26:59
Speaker
It's really not about us uniting us, it's Christ uniting us.
00:27:04
Speaker
Along those lines, I guess could either or both of you share a little more, because you referenced the Eucharistic procession through the streets.
00:27:13
Speaker
I saw some videos of that, of like through the streets of Indianapolis, just thousands and thousands of people, I don't remember how many people they said were participating in the, but through the streets, but just like the streets were literally flooded
00:27:27
Speaker
And I heard people talk about that too, the great sense of unity, like here's their bishops, you were one church and we're just storming the streets in a positive way and not destructive way.
00:27:39
Speaker
But did either of you have any, want to share something about kind of that procession, that Ugo's procession that went through the streets of Indianapolis?
00:27:50
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I think the Indianapolis Police Department through kind of their drone footage of it estimated
00:27:58
Speaker
about 60,000 were in the streets for that procession.
00:28:03
Speaker
Oh, in the streets too.
00:28:04
Speaker
I knew there were 60,000 at the mass.
00:28:05
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, the procession, yeah, too.
00:28:08
Speaker
And, you know, it was about a mile walk, a mile walk.
00:28:13
Speaker
And yeah, it was, we were kind of lined up as these priests for quite a while, you know, kind of staged to get out there.
00:28:23
Speaker
But you could hear it.
00:28:24
Speaker
You could hear people outside just singing and
00:28:28
Speaker
rejoicing, you know, getting ready for it.
00:28:30
Speaker
And, you know, it was very, it was very joyful.
00:28:34
Speaker
And when we got out there, just, you know, just seeing the throngs of people, like you'd turn a corner and wow, there's more people who turn a corner.
00:28:43
Speaker
Wow.
00:28:44
Speaker
There's more people, you know, all the women religious was, was quite profound.
00:28:51
Speaker
I mean, at least
00:28:53
Speaker
You know, we don't see that on a daily basis, you know.
00:28:56
Speaker
So just seeing all the women religious, all the seminarians, they were part of the procession too.
00:29:02
Speaker
There was a lot of first communicants that were part of the procession as well, leading it off.
00:29:07
Speaker
That was really kind of touching too.
00:29:10
Speaker
Here they are, you know, having received our Lord for the first time and now joining in with us.
00:29:17
Speaker
And yeah, we went down to the war memorial.
00:29:22
Speaker
Indianapolis War Memorial, which actually I grew up in Indiana.
00:29:25
Speaker
I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
00:29:26
Speaker
We'd take frequent summer trips down, you know, like a little day trip down to Indianapolis, little vacation time.
00:29:32
Speaker
And I remember the war memorial, like being there, taking family photos in front of it.
00:29:38
Speaker
Like, you know, me and my brothers, you know, like, you know, mom and dad want a picture, you know, and, and so it kind of brought back childhood memories, but it was, you know, much more very meaningful now.
00:29:51
Speaker
And actually, my parents were there, too.
00:29:53
Speaker
My parents came to the Congress.
00:29:55
Speaker
And so it was sort of a neat kind of culmination of childhood now for me personally.
00:30:03
Speaker
But just seeing Bishop Cousins take Jesus up, you know, onto like the third level of the war memorial and lead us in benediction over these, you know, 60,000 people out on the lawn in front of the war memorial out on the grass was amazing.
00:30:22
Speaker
It was just amazing, you know, and it's true sense of how it was just, the city was like quiet.
00:30:28
Speaker
I don't know how you can get a giant metropolitan city to be quiet, but it was.
00:30:32
Speaker
And as Jesus, we were being blessed by our Lord.
00:30:37
Speaker
And it just felt this, you know, the real presence of Christ just come out over the whole city and all over all of us.
00:30:44
Speaker
It was quite hot.
00:30:45
Speaker
We were all sweating pretty good, but it was a good sweat.
00:30:49
Speaker
It was a spiritual sweat.
00:30:53
Speaker
Spiritual sweat.
00:30:55
Speaker
I think I just made that up, but...
00:30:58
Speaker
I just want to mention for our listeners, Bishop Cousins is a bishop in Crookston, Minnesota.
00:31:03
Speaker
Is that where he is?
00:31:04
Speaker
And he was one of the main organizers of this event.
00:31:08
Speaker
And I'll just add, I know when I asked some people about their experience with the Congress, I was talking to somebody and they, you know, kind of what was their favorite speaker.
00:31:16
Speaker
And they said in the opening adoration, Bishop Cousins led this prayer.
00:31:20
Speaker
And they just said that was so powerful and moving.
00:31:24
Speaker
And so I went online and found it.
00:31:26
Speaker
If you find the opening ceremony for the National Congress is pray.
00:31:28
Speaker
It's like a long 10 minute prayer.
00:31:32
Speaker
And it's just and I was very moved by it, you know, and I wasn't even there in the stadium, but I listened to it.
00:31:36
Speaker
And I even used it on my homily that next Sunday.
00:31:39
Speaker
But it's kind of saying, you know, I mean.
00:31:44
Speaker
our divided world and everything.
00:31:45
Speaker
It was just this beautiful prayer for healing, for repentance, for just the Lord to work in our land, you know, to bring renewal to the whole church.
00:31:55
Speaker
We ask for revival, Eucharistic revival.
00:31:58
Speaker
We want every Catholic to realize you are alive in the Eucharist and to encounter your love and that we know that revival has to begin with you, well, with you, Lord, and so then with us.
00:32:09
Speaker
And so we're gathered here and then it's praying for this healing in our divided land.
00:32:13
Speaker
And it's just, we know that we are broken and the world is broken, but we know that you have conquered sin and death and you've given us yourself a forties in heaven.
00:32:21
Speaker
So just very beautiful and moving.
00:32:24
Speaker
And you mentioned Bishop Cousins doing that blessing over all the 60,000 people.
00:32:28
Speaker
And so just wanted to add that in about who he was and his role in this and just also his powerful prayer that he opened it all with and everything.
00:32:38
Speaker
I think I was one of the.
00:32:39
Speaker
Dean, Dan, what was some of your experiences?
00:32:41
Speaker
I think it was one of the coolest things about the Eucharistic procession is just the unity among people.
00:32:48
Speaker
You know, you didn't see anything bad happening.
00:32:51
Speaker
What you saw was a whole lot of people lined up on the streets, lined up in the parking garages on all the levels.
00:32:58
Speaker
And we're processing through there.
00:33:00
Speaker
And then we get to this monument.
00:33:03
Speaker
I don't even remember what the monument was, but the monument just, Father Martin, you might remember.
00:33:08
Speaker
that monument that was just lined up with people, like it had steps going up and every single step was full.
00:33:14
Speaker
And I don't know how many people were around there, but it was a lot.
00:33:18
Speaker
And so that was pretty powerful going through there and then getting to the war memorial.
00:33:25
Speaker
And I remember kneeling in the grass as, you know, we go into adoration,
00:33:33
Speaker
with the Blessed Sacrament up on this altar, which was several steps up, and everything got really quiet, like Father Martin was saying, and just seeing everybody worship the Lord.
00:33:48
Speaker
And I look off to my left, and there's this big apartment building,
00:33:54
Speaker
Which was maybe a block or so away from War Memorial.
00:33:58
Speaker
And I could see people up there must have been like a pool up there or something because I could see people up there.
00:34:03
Speaker
And I saw this lady that just dropped to her knees on top of this roof.
00:34:10
Speaker
and the movement on top of that roof that I was seeing, because after that lady dropped to her knees, I saw other people drop to their knees, and they're on this rooftop.
00:34:17
Speaker
They're not even around us, but yet they knew or recognized that Jesus was present right there at that moment, and that was pretty powerful, and afterwards, even a priest had noticed that that was sitting right ahead of me, and
00:34:33
Speaker
He had turned around and asked me, he goes, did you see that?
00:34:36
Speaker
And I said, yeah, that was awesome.
00:34:38
Speaker
That was powerful.
00:34:39
Speaker
Just seeing that the people on the roof, I don't know what they could hear.
00:34:42
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure they could hear something because the speakers were pretty loud.
00:34:46
Speaker
But that was pretty awesome to just be able to witness.
00:34:53
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:34:56
Speaker
Thank you.
00:34:56
Speaker
So...
00:34:58
Speaker
That's amazing.
00:34:59
Speaker
So thank you so much for sharing.
00:35:01
Speaker
So what were, so I guess coming on, so you shared these experiences, some striking moments.
00:35:08
Speaker
And we shared some of your, I guess, some of the things that are impacting you personally taking away, but just, I guess, as we're kind of reflecting, we've been doing this, you know, this year of Eucharistic Revival, there's sort of this summit moment as the Eucharist of Congress, but as Sister Alicia shared on our, on a previous episode that where we had her on,
00:35:27
Speaker
kind of the goal is this is not to, this isn't the end, right?
00:35:30
Speaker
It's meant to be a beginning of, you know, deepening in the Eucharist.
00:35:34
Speaker
So I just ask kind of coming off of it, and maybe it's talking to other people who've gone or some of the people who are with you, Father Martin, or yeah, or other people you talk to, Deacon Dan, what do you think is some of the, maybe perhaps some long-term impacts?
00:35:49
Speaker
I mean, we won't know for sure until the long term, but some of the general impacts of this Congress, you know,
00:35:57
Speaker
this event?
00:36:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good question.
00:36:02
Speaker
And it's definitely not meant to be this sort of siloed, you know, event where, you know, look what we did.
00:36:09
Speaker
We put on a Eucharistic Congress and good for us, you know.
00:36:14
Speaker
But it's really meant to be more of that kind of wider, more powerful spark or, you know, kind of explosion, if you will.
00:36:26
Speaker
of our faith in Jesus in the Eucharist, the real presence.
00:36:30
Speaker
And at least for the group that for my parishes and Father Subjects, we got together two weeks after it and had kind of a reflection day of just sharing graces and blessings and kind of even challenges the Lord has kind of given for us now.
00:36:46
Speaker
And it was definitely on our hearts.
00:36:51
Speaker
We have encountered the one true and living God
00:36:54
Speaker
in a very powerful way.
00:36:55
Speaker
And, you know, just to see, I think for me to see that in my parishioners was very, very hopeful.
00:37:03
Speaker
Like, I think sometimes as priests, we can get discouraged and we see only the negative things.
00:37:08
Speaker
And, you know, and so that was like, wow, like people are on fire or, you know, more on fire for their, for our Lord and our faith and want to share that.
00:37:19
Speaker
And so I have great hope for,
00:37:21
Speaker
the Congress that it will bear very good fruit and not superficial fruit, you know, that, you know, this was just kind of like a, you know, oh, yeah, I went to a nice concert or whatever, you know, far from that.
00:37:37
Speaker
But I really do see in the people that I brought and that it will bear, it is bearing fruit in their lives.
00:37:44
Speaker
I see them coming to adoration.
00:37:49
Speaker
and daily mass, you know, it's like, wow, like this has left an impact on you and you're going to impact others now for Christ.
00:37:58
Speaker
And, you know, I know there's sort of plans for another 2033 Eucharistic Congress and individual yearly events too, like a procession from Indianapolis to LA, you know, this spring with the Eucharist leading up to Corpus Christi.
00:38:15
Speaker
These are just all, you know, kind of,
00:38:19
Speaker
bigger group, bigger size things to just continue to, I think, fuel the individual personal encounters with Christ that are, you know, the most important, you know, not to get caught up in the big event thing, you know, but they're meant to fuel the personal life with Jesus now in the Eucharist.
00:38:42
Speaker
And I see that I have great hope that that fruit is bearing,
00:38:47
Speaker
Is it 100% that now everyone in our nation or all Catholics believe in the real presence?
00:38:54
Speaker
No, no, there's still work to do there.
00:38:58
Speaker
But I do see the fruits already.
00:39:03
Speaker
Grateful to God.
00:39:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:11
Speaker
One of the things that ended the whole...
00:39:16
Speaker
Congress with was wanting everybody to take this back to their parish.
00:39:21
Speaker
And it was walk with one.
00:39:24
Speaker
Pick one person.
00:39:25
Speaker
Pray for that person.
00:39:27
Speaker
Invite that person.
00:39:30
Speaker
Just...
00:39:32
Speaker
Be with that person.
00:39:32
Speaker
Don't.
00:39:33
Speaker
It was all about focusing on one person.
00:39:35
Speaker
And if everybody from the Congress could do that, you know, pray for who you can who you can invite, who you can walk their journey with, you know, then.
00:39:47
Speaker
how much fruit would that bear overall, right?
00:39:51
Speaker
I mean, that would hit an awful lot of people if everybody from that Congress would go back and find that one person that they could walk with, whether it was somebody who has left the church, somebody who has never been to church, just focus on that one person, right?
00:40:10
Speaker
And so that I think is,
00:40:16
Speaker
is something that will bear a lot of fruit.
00:40:18
Speaker
Um, even, even in our parish, you know, I'm, I'm thinking about ways that I can implement that, you know, through, through our evangelization ministry or, you know, um, just getting that message out there, you know, just asking people to focus on one person, pray for one person, invite that person because, you know, um,
00:40:44
Speaker
something that Pope Francis has always encouraged is meet people where they're at.
00:40:50
Speaker
And it's not us that's going to move that person by leaps and bounds.
00:40:53
Speaker
It's Jesus is going to move that person by leaps and bounds, but we can meet that one person where they're at, move them a little bit and then let, let the Holy spirit do the rest.
00:41:04
Speaker
let him take over from there, you know?
00:41:06
Speaker
And, and, and the Congress had kind of that same message with that.
00:41:11
Speaker
Let's find one person journey with that person, you know, where it's about meeting that person where they're at, moving them a little bit and then inviting them to come to the church, whether it's for mass or whether it's adoration, just, just being inviting and then letting the Lord work in their life.
00:41:32
Speaker
Um,
00:41:34
Speaker
So for me, you know, I am hoping that this Congress is going to bear a lot of fruit because, you know, there's a lot of big events that I've been to, you know, whether it's...
00:41:46
Speaker
You know, when the Pope was in Philadelphia and they had that family conference or whether it's taken youth to NCYC, you know, the hope is it's not just an event that they go to.
00:41:58
Speaker
It's something that hopefully is going to bear fruit.
00:42:01
Speaker
Hopefully it's something that's going to grow in their life.
00:42:05
Speaker
Right.
00:42:06
Speaker
And then this Congress is just.
00:42:11
Speaker
seem to be on an even bigger scale, right?
00:42:14
Speaker
And so with all the doubt of the Eucharist or with people just, you know, taking it for granted or whatever, you know, the hope is we can find those little moments in our life to just extend that and help and start opening people's eyes.
00:42:38
Speaker
Amen.
00:42:39
Speaker
I think a lot of...
00:42:42
Speaker
Healing, too.
00:42:43
Speaker
You know, one of the things that the Congress, one of the Adoration Nights was a healing, kind of a Eucharistic healing service.
00:42:52
Speaker
Father Boniface Hicks led it and, you know, it was very just centered on our Lord wanting to heal our wounds, the woundedness in our life, our brokenness, and just, you know, how many people suffer from that.
00:43:04
Speaker
We all do.
00:43:05
Speaker
We all do.
00:43:06
Speaker
And from those wounds, from that brokenness, we sin.
00:43:09
Speaker
and you know and that Jesus wants to enter into that and he wants to heal that and you know it was a great privilege you know blessing as a priest to help with with many confessions during the Congress but I think just this you know understanding of Jesus wants to heal you was was very powerful too in that that's a way that Jesus when he walked this earth he
00:43:38
Speaker
drew people to his father through him and through his healing of their wounds and brokenness.
00:43:47
Speaker
And I think our Lord in the Eucharist wants him to continue to do that with people.
00:43:51
Speaker
Of course he does.
00:43:53
Speaker
But we can invite people into that.
00:43:55
Speaker
you know, that we see, you know, you know, we don't, of course, in a self-righteous way, you know, but we, well, I'm broken and Jesus has helped me to heal.
00:44:06
Speaker
And he wants to do that for you too.
00:44:08
Speaker
And come, you know, receive from that.
00:44:10
Speaker
And he is here and his heart is here and he's bearing his heart to you and you bear your heart to him.
00:44:16
Speaker
And he wants his love and mercy and to enter into those wounds.
00:44:23
Speaker
And I felt like that was a big challenge
00:44:26
Speaker
fruit as well and a continued fruit that will be out.
00:44:32
Speaker
I pray in parishes and for people in our nation as well coming off of this Congress.
00:44:42
Speaker
Everything you're saying about the Congress sounds very refreshing and beautiful.
00:44:47
Speaker
Father Martin, you said tremendous unity and spiritual joy.
00:44:51
Speaker
I think about within the last two months, there's been the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention.
00:44:58
Speaker
And basically the gist of both of those are we're awesome and they're broken.
00:45:04
Speaker
They, those people over there.
00:45:07
Speaker
And the other side says the exact same thing.
00:45:08
Speaker
But it sounds like at this Congress,
00:45:11
Speaker
everyone's eyes are on Jesus and saying, you're awesome.
00:45:14
Speaker
We're broken.
00:45:15
Speaker
Please help us to share your awesomeness and love with everyone.
00:45:21
Speaker
So I think it's really cool that it's a third way.
00:45:23
Speaker
And the Eucharist itself isn't, I mean, it's inherently not political and yet it's still the most important, you know, as we've said from the beginning, it's the source and summit and it's the mountaintop and everything has just flowed from it.
00:45:43
Speaker
yeah it's it's who we need you know uh it's uh politics what is police greek or something like people or something it's like it's what the people need jesus so um no it's absolutely right you're spot on father father jacob and um i think it was um
00:46:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think it really was what that turn or that turn that we needed in our lives and what we all need in our lives that turned to Jesus.
00:46:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:24
Speaker
Oh, I was just going to say one thing, you know, that I was hearing, especially like when Deacon Dan was sharing that it's about persons, not programs, right?
00:46:33
Speaker
It's personal, not programmatic.
00:46:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:35
Speaker
Yes, programs can be helpful parish programs, but that is ultimately about the people and accompanying people, right?
00:46:41
Speaker
It's about personal touch.
00:46:43
Speaker
And the other thing I've been hearing from people who went is I've heard some people who compared this event to, I don't remember what year that was, but World Youth Day when Pope John Paul II came to Denver, Colorado.
00:46:56
Speaker
I think that was the early 90s when that happened.
00:46:58
Speaker
I don't remember the exact year.
00:46:59
Speaker
But how in the long term it's led to sort of this unexpected blossoming of these different events.
00:47:05
Speaker
ministries, these missions that have kind of come out of Denver, the big one being FOCUS, Fellowship of Catholic University students that now has basically formed missionaries to go to college campuses to accompany people and how they kind of blossom out of Denver, became headquartered in Denver.
00:47:22
Speaker
the augustine institute which uh has created a lot of content with speakers um audiobooks books uh cd talks people can get um and uh and kind of developed all this very high quality content to help teach people in an understandable way about their faith and um and a lot of other things kind of just kind of coming out of that some people have looked at seeing that there's something about that event you know that that seemed to inspire in kind of all these subtle and unexpected ways but
00:47:52
Speaker
led people to be so moved to start building up these other things for Christ that are now continuing to still have impact.
00:47:59
Speaker
I think focus is the easiest one.
00:48:01
Speaker
It just started with Curtis Martin and a few university students and has turned to now
00:48:06
Speaker
They are forming, you know, they're sending missionaries.
00:48:08
Speaker
It's now impacting campuses all over the country to hopefully bring the gospel to college students at an age where they're very formative and also can tend to stray and to bring them back to Christ to make disciples.
00:48:21
Speaker
And I know on a very personal level through Focus, I had an experience.
00:48:25
Speaker
I knew someone, a friend of mine at college who was very, never went to church, very against all of that.
00:48:31
Speaker
And then through an experience through Focus was...
00:48:34
Speaker
had a transformative experience where he himself ended up becoming a focused missionary.
00:48:37
Speaker
So like, I really believe in the power of what is done.
00:48:40
Speaker
And so in an indirect way, it can go back to, there's something about that event that Curtis Martin attended when John Paul II came to that, that inspired all of this.
00:48:50
Speaker
Right.
00:48:50
Speaker
And so my hope and prayer, and I think there is something that we've been building up this Eucharist revival and in this event,
00:48:56
Speaker
It'll be that spark that'll continue to spark hearts of individuals, of people, of parishes for years to come.
00:49:06
Speaker
And not just a spark, but a roaring fire.
00:49:10
Speaker
One final question.
00:49:10
Speaker
Did you find what you were looking for?
00:49:21
Speaker
At the Congress?
00:49:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:24
Speaker
That's, yeah, we found, we found Jesus.
00:49:27
Speaker
It's good.
00:49:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:30
Speaker
No, you know, it's a, it's a good question, Jacob.
00:49:33
Speaker
I think we both hesitated, not because we, we don't understand or we don't have an answer, but it's a mystery, you know, our, just the, the, yeah, the immeasurable,
00:49:50
Speaker
mystery of the Eucharist and Christ and that's who we encountered, that's who we saw, that's who we were with, that's who came to us.
00:49:59
Speaker
And so on some level, it's, there's not the right words and on some level it's awesome in the sense of we were, you know, just as if we were in the parish in adoration or at Mass, you know, we're in the presence of God.
00:50:18
Speaker
But I think with so many people, it
00:50:20
Speaker
you know, as the body came together, um, the Holy Spirit was very present.
00:50:25
Speaker
It was very powerful.
00:50:26
Speaker
And definitely, I guess for myself personally, um, you know, encountered Jesus and just walked away.
00:50:35
Speaker
I think within my own personal prayer, uh, returned to a much more simple prayer.
00:50:40
Speaker
It's easy to get caught up in a lot of vocal prayers or, you know, just, uh,
00:50:47
Speaker
many many petitions you know as we we have many requests and needs for prayer and um or or you know as priests i think you know we we maybe jam-pack in a holy hour the office readings and morning prayer and you know the scripture of the day and you know preaching preparation and but just as a return to a simple prayer i think the congress inspired that in me of of being with jesus a faithful loving union with jesus that
00:51:18
Speaker
that yeah, I'm bearing my heart to him, but even more so, he is bearing his heart to me.
00:51:25
Speaker
And that is enough.
00:51:26
Speaker
And that is enough.
00:51:27
Speaker
And there's times where I don't believe it's enough, but it is.
00:51:30
Speaker
And so I think for me, that's what I found.
00:51:33
Speaker
And I'm grateful, very grateful to God.
00:51:36
Speaker
And there's need for repentance and conversion there, you know, in my life, but grateful for finding that a return, I think, to that.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was just, I mean, the whole thing was a good experience and it just kind of renews you when you kind of come back.
00:51:58
Speaker
And like Father Martin was saying, you know, you get together with that many people and you're with that many people and you're all worshiping together.
00:52:07
Speaker
And the Holy Spirit's the biggest part of that, you know, and you can just feel that radiate off of
00:52:18
Speaker
the other people, whether it's the speakers, whether it's the person sitting next to you in the stadium, whether you're processing, you know, during the procession, you could just feel, you know, the Holy Spirit radiate off of each person that you encountered there.
00:52:37
Speaker
And
00:52:38
Speaker
And so it just kind of renews you in your ministry.
00:52:43
Speaker
You know, when I go back home or when I went back home, you know, it was just, it was uplifting being there and getting back home that just kind of stays with you, you know, and those moments, you know, come back to mind a lot, you know, whether I'm, I'm,
00:53:07
Speaker
you know whether i'm in a moment of prayer or whether i'm just um you know driving and and and kind of thinking back you know and so those moments just kind of hit you so just came came back from there just feeling refreshed you know i um you knew you knew that the holy spirit was there you knew that um you were in jesus presence and and even at home you know at
00:53:37
Speaker
we're still in Jesus presence, right?
00:53:39
Speaker
I mean, and the Holy Spirit is still with us, but it just kind of, kind of refreshed me when I, when I came back.
00:53:47
Speaker
So, yeah, it sounds like a great experience and I'm really glad that you both went and I'm really glad that you both were on this podcast to share with us.
00:53:59
Speaker
This father, father Martin Coolidge and Deacon Dan Hurd are not the only ones from Iowa or probably from your parish who went so I encourage you to not only look at the YouTube channel, look at the pictures, the coverage and the events but also ask around your parish or your, your area for other people who went and maybe you'll find similarly inspiring stories from their experience.
00:54:26
Speaker
Amen.
00:54:27
Speaker
Amen.
00:54:28
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining us today.
00:54:31
Speaker
We really enjoyed this talk.
00:54:34
Speaker
Awesome.
00:54:34
Speaker
Thank you for having us.
00:54:36
Speaker
One more episode left, Father Kevin.
00:54:38
Speaker
Do you think we can do it?
00:54:39
Speaker
I think we can do it.
00:54:40
Speaker
All right.
00:54:41
Speaker
We'll see you next time, everyone.