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18: Preach! – with Mary Pedersen
3 Plays10 months ago
We have all have a pre-conceived notion about what it means to “preach” to, or even at someone, but Mary Pedersen is here to share the fruits of her years of study with us. This list can apply to a priest’s homily during mass or even your daily interaction with anyone you meet!
Some qualities of great preaching:
1: Always preach the ‘kerygma’ (a Greek word for “proclamation” this is the basic message of who Jesus Christ is, why he came into the world, and what he has done for us.)
2: Identify His real presence in the scripture, event, or present moment
3: Always lead to and prepare the people for the Eucharist
https://dbqarch.org/archdiocesan-eucharistic-revival
https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introductions of the Hosts and Guest
00:00:16
Speaker
Good morning, everyone.
00:00:17
Speaker
My name is Father Jacob Rouse, and I'm the pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Cresco, Iowa, and I welcome you once again to the DeBucharistic Revival Podcast.
00:00:26
Speaker
That's the name we're going with.
00:00:28
Speaker
Thank you, Father Kevin.
00:00:30
Speaker
Father Kevin is my brother in Christ and the priesthood and my co-host, and I'd like him to introduce himself and where he is as a priest.
00:00:38
Speaker
I am Father Kevin Earlywine, serving as pastor of St.
00:00:41
Speaker
Mary's in Ackley and St.
00:00:42
Speaker
Patrick's in Hampton, and happy to be here.
00:00:47
Speaker
Thank you.
00:00:47
Speaker
And our guest today is the very joyful Mary Peterson.
00:00:53
Speaker
She is a self-proclaimed cheerleader of the faith and of the Eucharist.
00:00:58
Speaker
And we're very happy to have her join us today.
00:01:01
Speaker
Mary, can you introduce yourself and I guess some of your background in preaching is what we're going to be talking about today.
00:01:09
Speaker
But where do you live and where is your parish?
00:01:12
Speaker
Okay, I live in Waterloo, Iowa, and my parish is St.
00:01:15
Speaker
Edward.
00:01:16
Speaker
We have the Bishop-elect Scott Bolick as my pastor, so I've been very blessed all these years at St.
00:01:22
Speaker
Edward.
00:01:23
Speaker
I am a mother to six, and we have 12 grandchildren now, so far, like I like to say, so far.
Mary's Journey to Faith Formation
00:01:32
Speaker
I was a stay-at-home mom until I was 40 years old and then when I was 40 I was trying to figure out what to do with my life and it was at that time that Carol Rahol stopped me in the parking lot and she said have you ever thought about working for the church and she said we're going to have a position open here and she said what about going to school at Laura's Clark at Laura's College and um
00:01:57
Speaker
At the time, I went, I can't do that.
00:01:59
Speaker
That's too much money.
00:02:00
Speaker
We already have six children in Catholic schools.
00:02:05
Speaker
And then I found out about a grant at Loris College.
00:02:09
Speaker
And so I went to school.
00:02:11
Speaker
And I absolutely.
00:02:14
Speaker
Loved it.
00:02:15
Speaker
Loved it.
00:02:16
Speaker
Loved it.
00:02:17
Speaker
And as I was getting close to graduating for Loras, Father Wathier, who I, yes, I look up to Father Wathier so much.
00:02:26
Speaker
He taught us so much when I was there.
00:02:30
Speaker
And he asked me to give a talk at a retreat, which I did.
00:02:34
Speaker
And then he kept sending me, he would send me pamphlets and stuff about getting a doctorate.
00:02:39
Speaker
in ministry and preaching so he was the one who encouraged me again I thought I can't do that I can't do that why would I do that but I ended up going there and learned so much and had a wonderful time and so after that then I worked for the diocese and director of adult faith formation and now I'm retired so it's been there I am
00:03:05
Speaker
So I'm glad to be here with you, too.
00:03:07
Speaker
Yeah, glad to have you here.
00:03:08
Speaker
Yes, I think a lot of our audience will probably maybe recognize your name.
00:03:12
Speaker
They've either worked with you or been on the receiving end of your teaching and preaching.
00:03:17
Speaker
I know you're worked with Impact.
00:03:19
Speaker
I did.
00:03:20
Speaker
I love that.
00:03:20
Speaker
Love it.
00:03:21
Speaker
Love it.
00:03:21
Speaker
Love it.
00:03:22
Speaker
It was so fun to leave that.
00:03:23
Speaker
Yes.
00:03:24
Speaker
I've had a lot of fun, a lot of great experiences through the parish and through the diocese.
Defining Ministry and Preaching
00:03:31
Speaker
Well, thank you for your joyful yes.
00:03:36
Speaker
Your doctorate is in ministry?
00:03:39
Speaker
Ministry and preaching.
00:03:41
Speaker
Yes.
00:03:42
Speaker
What kind of things did you study?
00:03:43
Speaker
Oh, lots of books on preaching.
00:03:46
Speaker
I can tell you all.
00:03:48
Speaker
Lots of books on preaching.
00:03:49
Speaker
And it was at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St.
00:03:53
Speaker
Louis.
00:03:53
Speaker
Wow.
00:03:54
Speaker
The Dominicans ran that.
00:03:57
Speaker
So it was really, it was a wonderful experience and just preaching.
00:04:01
Speaker
And we had to preach while we were there and met some incredible preachers.
00:04:08
Speaker
And there were four women.
00:04:10
Speaker
There were about 20 of us in the cohort and four women.
00:04:14
Speaker
One was a black Catholic from Michigan, I believe, at Chicago.
00:04:19
Speaker
Catholic woman.
00:04:20
Speaker
And then another woman was a Presbyterian minister.
00:04:24
Speaker
And so it was fun.
00:04:25
Speaker
We had fun.
00:04:27
Speaker
And boy, we exchanged lots of ideas.
00:04:30
Speaker
It was good.
00:04:31
Speaker
Well, I think everyone might know what the word ministry is.
00:04:35
Speaker
And that's, you know, serving others through charity and through the Holy Spirit.
00:04:39
Speaker
But when we hear the word preaching, I think it could, the average person listening might think, well, I've heard
00:04:46
Speaker
I know my priest preaches.
00:04:48
Speaker
And then also I'm familiar with that very, very overshared possible quote of St.
00:04:55
Speaker
Francis that says, preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.
00:04:59
Speaker
So I'm going off those two understanding of preaching.
00:05:05
Speaker
How would you define preaching?
00:05:09
Speaker
That's good.
00:05:10
Speaker
You know what?
00:05:11
Speaker
Actually, no one's actually asked me, how would you define it?
00:05:14
Speaker
But I would say it's really...
00:05:21
Speaker
speaking the good news of Jesus Christ through the scriptures, right?
00:05:27
Speaker
As I'm preaching the scriptures, but you're preaching the good news, you're speaking it through the scriptures.
00:05:36
Speaker
So it's not necessarily- Even like with impact, a lot of times, you know, I would use scripture.
00:05:42
Speaker
And so speaking that, I suppose that would be preaching,
00:05:48
Speaker
the good news right when you're teaching or it's it's a little different than teaching but it's really through the scriptures that you're you're giving um
00:05:59
Speaker
helping people to grow in faith and, and know Jesus Christ.
00:06:04
Speaker
I think that is an important caveat through the scriptures because me as a priest, I could get up during the homily every week, or I could give a teaching at my mass and I could scream about anything I want, but having the needs to be rooted in the gospel of the day or some of the words from mass and, uh,
00:06:29
Speaker
So that I'm kind of like the apostles going out two by two.
00:06:33
Speaker
It's not me who's who's it's not all my idea.
00:06:37
Speaker
It's based on the life and the words and the action and saving redemption of Jesus Christ.
00:06:43
Speaker
So that is what puts us together.
00:06:45
Speaker
So that's what
Historical Influences on Preaching
00:06:46
Speaker
it's going.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:49
Speaker
And we were talking a little bit before this started, and I was just talking about this Eucharistic revival and how important the preaching aspect of it is, because it's never really been a revival, a Christian revival without great preachers.
00:07:06
Speaker
Great preachers.
00:07:08
Speaker
I would say Ambrose, Augustine, even Fulton Sheen.
00:07:13
Speaker
People will now listen to Fulton Sheen and go, wow, who is this guy?
00:07:18
Speaker
But he really, he made a difference in the life of America at that time, his preaching, just like a Billy Graham did.
00:07:25
Speaker
And so I even think of like John Paul II.
00:07:27
Speaker
Right.
00:07:29
Speaker
was such a great preacher.
00:07:32
Speaker
You know, I mean, he was bringing people in because of his preaching.
00:07:36
Speaker
Well, everything about him.
00:07:37
Speaker
But so I think whenever we have a revival, for there to be a real revival, the preaching has to really be proclaiming the joyful good news of Jesus Christ and what difference that makes in our lives, right?
00:07:52
Speaker
So amen.
00:07:53
Speaker
Amen.
00:07:54
Speaker
Amen.
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah.
Core Aspects of Preaching
00:07:56
Speaker
So when you say a great preacher, do you mean someone who, you know, makes you feel good or someone who really performing or what would be a great preacher?
00:08:08
Speaker
Great preaching.
00:08:09
Speaker
I think I put it down to three aspects.
00:08:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:16
Speaker
First of all, it must always be preaching the kerygma.
00:08:21
Speaker
we must always preach the krigma because if we don't um
00:08:28
Speaker
I think a lot of people don't understand what the Kyrgyzma is at this point.
00:08:31
Speaker
I know in my role- We should explain that for our listeners.
00:08:34
Speaker
In adult faith formation, we started doing sessions on the Kyrgyzma.
00:08:38
Speaker
We would go out to parishes and help people understand what the Kyrgyzma is, which is the basic message of who Jesus Christ is, why he came into the world, and what he has done for us.
00:08:52
Speaker
So if we don't know that,
00:08:55
Speaker
And I think a lot of people in the pews may not even know that.
00:08:57
Speaker
And, you know, we don't know that we've lost the whole thing, that we've lost the whole game because that is the core.
00:09:05
Speaker
Right.
00:09:06
Speaker
And so it means that we were created in the image and likeness of God and we were in relationship with God.
00:09:11
Speaker
That's like the
00:09:12
Speaker
first aspect of the krigma the second is that we fell we broke the relationship through you know even adam and eve you know eating the apple and all that but we absolutely broke that relationship and then thirdly the redemption that jesus restores our relationship he came into the world to restore our relationship with god the father and that um
00:09:37
Speaker
He invites us then to turn away from sins and to be on mission, to be on mission.
00:09:42
Speaker
So like when you said, Father Jacob, going out two by two, right?
00:09:47
Speaker
They went out to preach the good news.
00:09:49
Speaker
They were on fire.
00:09:50
Speaker
They were on mission.
00:09:52
Speaker
And so I think in this day and age, we must be preaching the Kregman.
00:09:58
Speaker
What's interesting, I was thinking about this a lot because I went to a wedding, right?
00:10:04
Speaker
And this can be at any wedding, any funeral, every Sunday, any daily mass, that there may be people there who don't really know or love Jesus, right?
00:10:17
Speaker
So our preaching must always reflect the kerygma.
00:10:21
Speaker
I went to a funeral.
00:10:23
Speaker
It was a lot of people there.
00:10:25
Speaker
And
00:10:26
Speaker
The priest started talking and he talked about this woman who was absolutely beautiful and she was 98 years old when she died.
00:10:36
Speaker
Faith-filled and she has suffered so much in her life.
00:10:40
Speaker
But she loved flowers and throughout her years she had taken care of the gardens and around the rectory and the church.
00:10:46
Speaker
He just talked about how she was so beautiful and all the flowers and the pink flowers and the yellow flowers.
00:10:55
Speaker
And he never got to the kerygma.
00:11:02
Speaker
There were all sorts of young people there, people I know who had probably left the church, people who'd be at any funeral.
00:11:10
Speaker
You know that's going to be or any wedding.
00:11:12
Speaker
There are people who don't know Jesus, but I think even every Sunday.
00:11:16
Speaker
So if we don't hit the kerygma, we're losing it.
00:11:21
Speaker
That preaching can't have an effect on the people we are preaching to.
00:11:26
Speaker
So I just think that's just really important, you know.
00:11:32
Speaker
If we're going to revive the bones like Ezekiel, talk about a great preacher.
00:11:36
Speaker
See, that's great preaching.
00:11:38
Speaker
Isaiah is a great preacher, you know.
00:11:40
Speaker
So you...
00:11:42
Speaker
So that's what makes a difference.
00:11:44
Speaker
But it's always to be focused on the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
00:11:50
Speaker
So I think that kerygma is probably you have to hit that.
00:11:57
Speaker
So that would be my first suggestion.
00:12:03
Speaker
Yeah, that was my first one.
00:12:05
Speaker
Preach the kerygma.
00:12:06
Speaker
First, number one.
00:12:08
Speaker
Yes.
00:12:09
Speaker
Second one.
00:12:12
Speaker
is to identify his real presence in every preaching text.
00:12:19
Speaker
Now, we're going to adore him and receive him in the Eucharist, right?
00:12:27
Speaker
But his real presence is also in the Word of God, the Scripture.
00:12:33
Speaker
And, you know, we say at Mass, right?
00:12:34
Speaker
Right.
00:12:35
Speaker
as it's it's in the preacher is in um the gathered assembly it's in the word of god and it's in the eucharist so that is so important that we identify his real presence in the preaching text so as we're how god is speaking to us and what do we mean by real presence well i
00:12:59
Speaker
Scripture, you know, we say he is truly present to us.
00:13:02
Speaker
I believe that when we pray with Scripture, when we read the Scripture, it is God speaking to us and to our hearts and to our souls.
00:13:11
Speaker
If we're open to that.
00:13:12
Speaker
So his presence is real.
00:13:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:16
Speaker
What I love is that is I love it.
00:13:19
Speaker
It's a two like a two edged sword, you know, and it penetrates between bone, you know, and marrow.
00:13:26
Speaker
So you think of that, a two edged sword, you know, sharp on both sides, both sides.
00:13:31
Speaker
And it can like go into and and and cut through.
00:13:36
Speaker
everything.
00:13:38
Speaker
Like all of our sins, all of our insecurities, all of our hardness, all of our everything, all of our doubts.
00:13:45
Speaker
That word of God is active and alive.
00:13:50
Speaker
And so if we, we must always identify how his presence is active in that word.
00:14:00
Speaker
I think that's really important.
00:14:04
Speaker
It's not just a word.
00:14:07
Speaker
It's his work.
00:14:08
Speaker
He is...
00:14:11
Speaker
really present in that.
00:14:14
Speaker
So many times.
00:14:15
Speaker
I mean, I don't know if you've ever felt like, and that's when I think of the real presence, it's almost a verb.
00:14:21
Speaker
Even though we think of like when we adore him, it's almost a noun.
00:14:26
Speaker
There's Jesus, right?
00:14:27
Speaker
We adore Jesus.
00:14:29
Speaker
But his real presence in the word is almost like a verb.
00:14:34
Speaker
Because to me, sometimes it's just like he's convicted me.
00:14:39
Speaker
You know, I'm like, crap.
00:14:42
Speaker
You know, sometimes he encourages me through his word.
00:14:45
Speaker
Like when I'm praying with scripture every morning, it's amazing how he his word is so alive and active and is always doing something within my soul.
00:14:57
Speaker
It's always if we're open to it.
00:15:02
Speaker
It's healed, we know of course, he's always healing us, right?
00:15:06
Speaker
Not just through the Eucharist, but through the scripture also.
Interconnection of Christ's Presence
00:15:09
Speaker
That scripture can heal us.
00:15:12
Speaker
I just, I was just thinking
00:15:16
Speaker
I was thinking that it calms us, it sustains us, it moves us, it's all those things, all those verbs.
00:15:23
Speaker
And I had one really interesting experience because I belong to this Bible study and this was before I was working for the church or anything.
00:15:32
Speaker
And we met every week and it was a good Bible study.
00:15:37
Speaker
And there was a while when I was really, of course, on fire, on fire for Bible, but I was really at a low, really at a low.
00:15:47
Speaker
And this friend of ours who was in Bible study, she gave everyone a piece of paper with a Bible quote.
00:15:54
Speaker
And this sounds kind of crazy, but mine was from Psalm 116.
00:16:00
Speaker
How can I repay the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
00:16:04
Speaker
And then it's like I can lift up a praise.
00:16:10
Speaker
I can repay him with praise and sacrifice, right?
00:16:16
Speaker
I was like, wow, that really hit me to the core.
00:16:20
Speaker
I thought, Lord, I just need to get up every morning and praise you, praise you and praise you and praise you.
00:16:27
Speaker
And thank you for being in the Eucharist and for feeding me.
00:16:31
Speaker
And so that changed me.
00:16:34
Speaker
That was the word was being really alive and effective in my life.
00:16:39
Speaker
So I think, um,
00:16:42
Speaker
We need to have those examples.
00:16:44
Speaker
We need to preach through the scriptures and lead people to the Eucharist through the scriptures, because that's what the scriptures are to do, right?
00:16:53
Speaker
Lead us to the Eucharist, right?
00:16:57
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:16:58
Speaker
So those are things that I think.
00:17:00
Speaker
And then the third part of.
00:17:03
Speaker
Before we move on to the third part, I just want to highlight that.
00:17:07
Speaker
So that second point kind of pointing to his presence and what you mentioned is those four ways that he's present at mass.
00:17:14
Speaker
Yes.
00:17:15
Speaker
Of through the priest, through the word.
00:17:18
Speaker
through the gathered assembly and through the Eucharist.
00:17:22
Speaker
And also I just want to highlight the interconnectedness of those presence that I think the interplay between all those helps us to know and experiences real presence more deeply.
00:17:32
Speaker
Right.
00:17:34
Speaker
You know, I mean, you have the priest who, you know, is up there, proclaims the word, convects the Eucharist, but it's the word made flesh, right?
00:17:42
Speaker
In Jesus is the living word.
00:17:43
Speaker
In John's gospel, it talks about Jesus is the word.
00:17:47
Speaker
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God.
00:17:49
Speaker
The word was God.
00:17:50
Speaker
The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
00:17:52
Speaker
So I remember someone telling me about a church they were in where it had those verses.
00:17:57
Speaker
It said, and the word.
00:17:59
Speaker
and it was written on the Ambo where the scriptures proclaim from the word.
00:18:02
Speaker
And then on the altar, it said was made flesh.
00:18:05
Speaker
Oh, how beautiful.
00:18:06
Speaker
Connecting the proclaimed word to then that proclaimed word being enfleshed in the Eucharist and the altar.
00:18:13
Speaker
Right.
00:18:13
Speaker
Yes.
00:18:13
Speaker
But of course that all goes a step further.
00:18:16
Speaker
is then that word becomes enfleshed in us.
00:18:18
Speaker
Not just in a symbolic way, but in a very real way through the Eucharist.
00:18:21
Speaker
In a very real way.
00:18:22
Speaker
Connecting the word to the Eucharist to the gathered assembly.
00:18:25
Speaker
Oh, I'd love that.
00:18:28
Speaker
Yeah, go ahead.
00:18:29
Speaker
If I was in charge of decorating then, I would have a sign over the tabernacle and over every single person's head that says, and dwelt among us.
00:18:38
Speaker
That's right.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, I once heard a priest talk about that, you know, the red sanctuary lamp
00:18:45
Speaker
next to the tabernacle that indicates the real presence of Christ there in the tabernacle and kind of talk about the idea of we should all get one when we leave mass, you know, because we're all now those living tabernacles with little legs bearing the, you know, the living word that's been infleshed into us in a very real way through the Eucharist.
00:19:02
Speaker
Anyway, so I just wanted to highlight.
00:19:03
Speaker
People will realize that.
00:19:05
Speaker
Think of a difference if we really thought of that.
00:19:09
Speaker
I received Jesus, his full presence now.
00:19:14
Speaker
He's in flesh in me.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:19:17
Speaker
Exactly.
00:19:18
Speaker
And the interplay about how all of those help us to understand the ways Christ's presence is to us, the interplay between those.
00:19:24
Speaker
Because like, for example, I've heard preaching from priests that have helped me to appreciate the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
00:19:31
Speaker
I've been moved by the word that's helped me to appreciate the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
00:19:35
Speaker
But also in coming to appreciate the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, it's helped me to better understand the scriptures and his word and what Christ has done.
00:19:43
Speaker
And, of course, all the people gathered, you know, the way people have loved me have helped me to understand how this mystery plays out in the world.
00:19:50
Speaker
Right, right, right.
00:19:51
Speaker
Oh, I think the scriptures, you know, is through the scriptures that we understand the Eucharist, right?
00:19:58
Speaker
When you read through the scriptures and coming from the Old Testament and leading up, you know, and
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah, to the road to Emmaus, right?
00:20:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:12
Speaker
You know, so.
00:20:12
Speaker
He's walking with us, opening the word, and he's made known in the breaking of the bread.
00:20:16
Speaker
And then, yes.
00:20:17
Speaker
So we're on the road to Emmaus, and there we discover this is Jesus.
00:20:22
Speaker
And I just like to think of adoration.
00:20:25
Speaker
You know, at that road to Emmaus, you know, they say, stay with us.
00:20:29
Speaker
And then you think, he figured out the way to stay with us.
00:20:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:34
Speaker
through the adoration and through the eucharist he is with us you know you're thinking stay with us i many times i've thought that too stay with me lord stay with me lord and he's with us when we receive him and and through the word and the whole bit yeah it's incredible
00:20:53
Speaker
So good preaching includes the kerygma.
00:20:55
Speaker
Yes.
00:20:55
Speaker
Includes pointing to the presence of Christ.
00:20:59
Speaker
Identifying.
00:21:00
Speaker
Identifying.
00:21:01
Speaker
Identifying the presence of Christ.
00:21:03
Speaker
And speaking it.
00:21:04
Speaker
And speaking where Christ is in that.
00:21:08
Speaker
Real presence from that word.
00:21:10
Speaker
I think that's important.
00:21:12
Speaker
And then the third aspect, which I think is important.
00:21:17
Speaker
Most priests do, but I think it's really important.
00:21:19
Speaker
And it's then always leading it to the Eucharist.
Guiding to the Eucharist through Preaching
00:21:24
Speaker
Like you don't drop the preaching, but at the end of the preaching, somehow you're taking them to the Eucharist or getting them prepared to receive.
00:21:36
Speaker
Does that make sense to you?
00:21:39
Speaker
And when you're done preaching and you're wrapping it up and you're going, and I know Father Bullock does that a lot for us, you know, and now as we go to the table, you know.
00:21:51
Speaker
as we go to experience Jesus Christ's presence in the Eucharist, as we, that, that it is not, like you say, it's not separate.
00:22:00
Speaker
Preaching isn't separate from Jesus real present in the Eucharist, but it leads us to the Eucharist.
00:22:08
Speaker
That's what I think is important.
00:22:11
Speaker
Because if we don't do that, it can become kind of separated.
00:22:15
Speaker
And, you know, and I just think it's really important to take that preaching and,
00:22:20
Speaker
You can identify a piece of something in the Eucharist that you want them to know about.
00:22:27
Speaker
Like we remember his real presence in the Eucharist, you know, when he said, I am flesh for the life of the world.
00:22:35
Speaker
You know, we are to become, you know, Jesus at that flesh.
00:22:39
Speaker
So does that make sense to you?
00:22:42
Speaker
Yes.
00:22:43
Speaker
So it's very much, I mean, kind of building on the second point, identifying and speaking the presence of Christ in the word.
00:22:50
Speaker
And then that leads us deeper into his presence in the Eucharist.
00:22:52
Speaker
Exactly.
00:22:53
Speaker
Exactly.
00:22:54
Speaker
And I think, boy, we just, we just have to hammer it because I think so many people, I'm not hammer, you know, but keep speaking that.
00:23:04
Speaker
And you know what?
00:23:05
Speaker
I think probably every time you read the scriptures, you'll, you'll,
00:23:09
Speaker
see that krigman and it becomes clear as what you need to speak and how you need to identify his real presence and how you take that you know into into the bread of life and into um his risen body you know all those different things
00:23:26
Speaker
Well, the word and the presence is cool because I think of a married couple or two people who are very in love.
00:23:33
Speaker
They communicate with their presence just by being together.
00:23:36
Speaker
They communicate with their words and they communicate with their bodies.
00:23:39
Speaker
It's a full circle of all these different ways to communicate.
00:23:44
Speaker
And that's how Jesus.
00:23:45
Speaker
He's done it for us.
00:23:48
Speaker
I know.
00:23:49
Speaker
Isn't that amazing?
00:23:50
Speaker
You just think how he did this.
00:23:51
Speaker
And from the very, from Exodus, from man and from heaven and all the way through the Old Testament.
00:23:57
Speaker
And you just think, wow, wow.
00:24:00
Speaker
It's just, you know, so to, and then, you know, to,
00:24:04
Speaker
Of course, when you preach through those scriptures that really point to the Eucharist, that's amazing.
00:24:13
Speaker
And to make that really clear to people, I just think we need to connect the dots really well for people because there are just too many people coming who aren't.
00:24:24
Speaker
not converted to Jesus Christ.
00:24:27
Speaker
And maybe they come because they've been with their spouse and I need to go with him or her.
00:24:33
Speaker
But maybe they, and maybe they've never even spoken, but I really don't know if I believe this.
00:24:39
Speaker
And so I think it's important to connect the dots.
00:24:42
Speaker
So for any priests listening, they can take these three things and apply it to their homily.
00:24:47
Speaker
But what about for lay people listening who do not right now have the, who do not have the opportunity to formally, capital P, preach a homily every week?
00:24:56
Speaker
I mean, this is, these are three things, kerygma, real presence, and preparing for the Eucharist that you can do in your daily life.
00:25:03
Speaker
Oh, you can do it.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yes.
00:25:05
Speaker
I mean, in your prayer life, right?
00:25:07
Speaker
You can even do it in your prayer life.
00:25:09
Speaker
And, um,
00:25:11
Speaker
Yes, I just think to be really aware.
00:25:14
Speaker
Like if you're talking with a group of people, to make it clear what the Kregma is.
00:25:19
Speaker
And you don't say, well, the Kregma is this, this, this, this.
00:25:22
Speaker
But, you know, oh, it was so interesting.
00:25:26
Speaker
I was talking to this gal and...
00:25:30
Speaker
So last year, I was a sponsor for a woman who came into the church, and she was in her 70s, and she was baptized.
00:25:39
Speaker
So it was really, it was fun to walk with her through all that, you know.
00:25:43
Speaker
And this last Easter, I couldn't get away because of different situations at home.
00:25:49
Speaker
And so that morning of the Easter vigil, I opened up the scriptures, and I read all the
00:25:55
Speaker
the readings, all of the readings.
00:25:59
Speaker
And it was so interesting because this gal said, she said, well, we really don't go to church very much.
00:26:09
Speaker
And she said, I feel really disconnected to the early church and there's just guitars and whatever.
00:26:16
Speaker
I said, oh, oh, I said, oh,
00:26:21
Speaker
Oh, I feel so connected to the early church.
00:26:25
Speaker
I feel so connected with them.
00:26:29
Speaker
I said, their scriptures, they lead us all the way to here.
00:26:33
Speaker
Right now, this moment, when I come into the church is what they've been doing.
00:26:39
Speaker
And it's come all the way up, you know, from...
00:26:42
Speaker
Adam and Eve, we know the story, and we are part of that story now.
00:26:47
Speaker
And for people to understand that, too, we are part of the story.
00:26:52
Speaker
It's not just something that happened back then, and it doesn't really matter if I come to church or what I do with my family.
00:26:59
Speaker
But no, this is our story, and we all need to be preaching it.
00:27:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:07
Speaker
And so just a concluding remark of, I think it's so simple to just share our story, right?
00:27:14
Speaker
And when we begin to understand how our story connects to God's story through what he's done throughout the Old Testament into Christ and how that connects to my story, and then the ways that Christ is really present in his living word and his Eucharist in us and whenever we gather in the priest, you know, like,
00:27:33
Speaker
And the interplay of all of those, that we simply just share our
Role of Laypeople in Preaching
00:27:37
Speaker
story.
00:27:37
Speaker
And that is, I mean, that is part of this preaching the Eucharistic revival with our lives.
00:27:41
Speaker
Right.
00:27:42
Speaker
So for us who are not ordained, right, just talking to a friend and being able to know the krigma.
00:27:49
Speaker
Right.
00:27:49
Speaker
And to have known Jesus is real presence and then to speak it and invite them in and tell them your story.
00:27:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:59
Speaker
And you're baptized, right, Mary?
00:28:01
Speaker
Am I baptized?
00:28:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I thought.
00:28:03
Speaker
OK, so you are baptized.
00:28:05
Speaker
We're all baptized.
00:28:09
Speaker
Priest, prophet, and king.
00:28:10
Speaker
And even if your vocation isn't the ministerial priesthood of ordained holy orders, we are all called to be priest, prophet, and king, which means to be an heir to the kingdom, to rule with him, but also to offer sacrifice.
00:28:26
Speaker
And then as a prophet to preach this in every single day, every single situation.
00:28:32
Speaker
Every parent should be preaching.
00:28:35
Speaker
Not like this, but it's sharing the good news, right?
00:28:39
Speaker
The gospel, yeah.
00:28:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's easy to say.
00:28:42
Speaker
Someone is like, well, yeah, he got up there and just preached at us, you know, like a teacher was yelling at us, you know, like, no, some of my married friends, they talk about how my daughter told me a homily today.
00:28:54
Speaker
And I was like, oh, what do you mean?
00:28:56
Speaker
Well, just the way that she came home and told a classmate that she was praying for her mom and
00:29:01
Speaker
It's like my children preach to me.
00:29:03
Speaker
And then at the same way we preach, we preach to them.
00:29:06
Speaker
It's not, I think we need to divorce our modern stigma of that word, like he's preaching at us, but like we are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
00:29:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:20
Speaker
And we're all called to that.
00:29:21
Speaker
Every single one of us.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:26
Speaker
Yep.
00:29:26
Speaker
And I have a good friend of mine who has such an integrated faith.
00:29:30
Speaker
He works in a secular workplace, but his faith is so integrated.
00:29:33
Speaker
It just so naturally comes up in conversation with a lot of people who are unchurched.
00:29:36
Speaker
And like, I just think he's such an example of how, how it just like, how the preaching overflows into the world, right?
00:29:44
Speaker
That he's able to invite people into this just with everything he does in very secular places.
00:29:47
Speaker
And that's part of the goal of the people, all the baptized and the pews is to go out into the world.
00:29:52
Speaker
Those places where the, you know,
00:29:54
Speaker
The priests aren't necessarily going to be, but you are, you know, and you are the presence of Christ, the living tabernacle, the living word made flesh in people's lives.
00:30:01
Speaker
And I think the way we love one another, we know that and enjoy, right?
00:30:06
Speaker
No matter our circumstances, we may not be living within a joyful, necessarily happy circumstance at the moment.
00:30:13
Speaker
But if we know Jesus Christ and people see that in us, you know, yeah.
00:30:19
Speaker
I wonder what she has.
00:30:20
Speaker
I wonder what he has.
00:30:21
Speaker
And then we can speak the good news.
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:25
Speaker
Another way is, I mean, I'm glad you used the word, Father Kevin, integrated, integrated, like, because it, when you start off in the spiritual life, it can sometimes come across as awkward or clunky or preachy, you know, we use that word, but just like if someone is bemoaning what in the political discourse, can you believe what they are doing to our country?
00:30:47
Speaker
You know, that could, you could take that any way you want, but it
00:30:50
Speaker
Bringing your heart and the conversation back to what is Jesus doing for you?
00:30:54
Speaker
What is he doing in your life right now?
00:30:56
Speaker
And that's just one example of many ways to bring Kerygma into daily life.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yes.
00:31:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:31:05
Speaker
Amen.
00:31:05
Speaker
Amen.
00:31:07
Speaker
What's Jesus doing in you and in our country, right?
00:31:09
Speaker
I think there's a lot of good.
00:31:11
Speaker
So as we're recording the Eucharistic revival, the National Eucharistic Congress is about to happen.
00:31:17
Speaker
Are you going?
00:31:18
Speaker
Are you going?
00:31:20
Speaker
No, I won't be able to make it this year, unfortunately.
Eucharistic Congress and Conclusion
00:31:23
Speaker
But by the time this podcast releases, it will have happened.
00:31:26
Speaker
But as was said in a previous episode with Sister Alicia, when we talked about the National Eucharist of Congress, it is not meant to be an end event or a closing event.
00:31:37
Speaker
It's meant to be an opening, a beginning, a summit event.
00:31:40
Speaker
And so that's why we're grateful to have Mary here to talk about kind of in one of our, we're coming to one of our final episodes of this podcast, but to
00:31:50
Speaker
encourage you all to, how can you now take all this stuff we've been talking about the Eucharist and allow it to overflow?
00:31:55
Speaker
You know, this is not the end, but a beginning of Eucharistic revival.
00:31:59
Speaker
Yes.
00:32:00
Speaker
So, cause that's the name we're going with.
00:32:02
Speaker
That's the name we're going with, the Bucharistic Revival, right here in our own diocese.
00:32:08
Speaker
It should be like a beginning.
00:32:09
Speaker
I mean, really, like you said, you go back now into your communities if you've been there, right, to preach the good news, but if necessary, use words.
00:32:19
Speaker
And, yeah, I think it's exciting.
00:32:22
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:32:23
Speaker
Mary, thank you so much for being on our podcast episode and sharing your wisdom with us.
00:32:28
Speaker
Oh, thanks.
00:32:29
Speaker
It's a delight to be with both of you.
00:32:32
Speaker
And thank you so much for doing this podcast.
00:32:33
Speaker
I've listened to many of them and they're great.
00:32:35
Speaker
So thank you.
00:32:36
Speaker
Thank you.
00:32:36
Speaker
Thank you very much.
00:32:37
Speaker
We're enjoying it.
00:32:39
Speaker
All right.
00:32:39
Speaker
Thanks for joining us, everyone.
00:32:40
Speaker
You are all Tabernacles with legs.