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7: Banquet of Justice – with Dave Pitt and Isabelle Werner
2 Plays1 year ago
Dr. David Pitt offers an intriguing course at Loras called “The Eucharist: Banquet of Justice.” Joined by his former student, Isabelle Werner, they discuss the inspiration for the course and the insights gained. By learning about the Banquet of Justice that is the Eucharist, we can rise above the false dichotomies in our Church culture and accept the invitation to the feast that Jesus is offering each of us, “rich” and “poor” alike.
The website and resources referenced can be found here:
https://dbqarch.org/archdiocesan-eucharistic-revival
https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/
“A Banqueter's Guide to the All-Night Soup Kitchen of the Kingdom of God”
by Patrick T. McCormick
“The regular men shuffle through the door seeking their regular hot showers and cozy beds, but a new man arrived and asked for a place to stay. Paula, the woman in charge at the moment, asked him what possessions he had. He said he only owned what he was wearing, nothing more. Other than this moment, the night, our homework, Netflix, and good conversations with my classmates, nothing stood out to me about tonight. Although used to the idea of someone having so little as this man, the concept of minimalism caught up with me and lingered. Having less material things supposedly makes life more full. Here was this man in front of me with so little. I imagine Jesus standing there with empty hands, only a cloak. In that moment, I remembered how Jesus asks us to take up our crosses and follow him. I have this vision in my head of Jesus asking me to grasp my personal cross so that I might follow. I look down, and my hands are full. Full of my possessions, full of my pride, full of my fear. I and every other Christian must let these things go so that we can clench our fists tight around the beams of wood we carry with Jesus.”
-anonymous
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Transcript
Introduction & Hosts
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Dubuque-Aristic Revival podcast.
00:00:22
Speaker
My name is Father Jacob Rouse, and I'm the pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Cresco, Iowa, and I am joined by Father Kevin, my brother in Christ, and my fellow priest friend.
00:00:33
Speaker
I would like him to introduce himself and a favorite memory that he has of Loris College.
00:00:38
Speaker
Ah, yes.
00:00:38
Speaker
Hello.
00:00:39
Speaker
I am Father Kevin Earlywine, pastor of St.
00:00:41
Speaker
Patrick's in Hampton and St.
00:00:43
Speaker
Mary's in Ackley.
00:00:45
Speaker
I'm happy to be here co-hosting Dubuque-Aucharistic Revival, because that's the name we're going with.
00:00:50
Speaker
Yes, and one thing is everyone on our show today has some affiliation with Loris College, and...
00:00:58
Speaker
I, one particular memory I have is I remember when I was a young college student hosting, we had what's called a campus ministry overnight, where through campus ministry, we host high schoolers who come and are thinking about coming to Loris.
00:01:10
Speaker
And I remember some friends of mine and I decided we wanted to show them a good time and take them sledding in the snow because it was in the winter.
Memories at Loris College
00:01:18
Speaker
And it just so happened we went to
00:01:20
Speaker
sledding and it was the snow had like melted it had gotten warm and then refroze so it was very fast which is great but then it was kind of so fast that then you would go up on the bank and head straight towards a tree and it was night and dark and all of our high school students hit the tree and one of them we had to take to the hospital because he had a concussion and they forbid sledding after that at the campus ministry overnight but I will say the person who got a concussion he'll remain nameless but
00:01:48
Speaker
At the time, we were really worried because he kept, you know, he hit the tree with his head and then he started forgetting everything.
00:01:53
Speaker
We're like, this is bad.
00:01:54
Speaker
This is really bad.
00:01:55
Speaker
He kept repeating us questions.
00:01:56
Speaker
But he ended up going to Loris and he ended up being in the honors program and graduating Loris College with honors.
00:02:01
Speaker
So there you go.
00:02:03
Speaker
So I think we knocked something right in his head.
00:02:04
Speaker
So that's one of my favorite memories.
00:02:07
Speaker
But it was not fun at the moment.
00:02:09
Speaker
But afterwards, it was very entertaining, especially when he came and ended up in the honors program.
00:02:14
Speaker
Wow, what a story.
00:02:15
Speaker
That is a story.
00:02:16
Speaker
Congratulations.
J-term Trip & Reflections
00:02:17
Speaker
You are now part of the Duhawk legacy of rules.
00:02:20
Speaker
Yes, that's right.
00:02:22
Speaker
Excellent.
00:02:23
Speaker
Well, we are joined today by Dave and Isabel, who are both affiliated with Loris.
00:02:28
Speaker
And Isabel, can you introduce yourself and a memory that you have of your days at Loris?
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah, thank you.
00:02:35
Speaker
My name is Isabel Werner, and I graduated from Loris in 2022, so not that long ago.
00:02:42
Speaker
So this memory is, you know, I don't have to think too far back.
00:02:46
Speaker
It also has to do with snow.
00:02:48
Speaker
So my senior year at Loris, I was in the Breitbach program, and the last kind of big hurrah for senior year Breitbach is holding a retreat for the rest of the Breitbockers.
00:03:03
Speaker
And so we, you know, we have this whole weekend retreat, we finished everything, we had already done our senior seminar, which was a lot of work.
00:03:10
Speaker
And you're going through four years of classes and experiences and service with these 15 people.
00:03:17
Speaker
So you get really, really close.
00:03:19
Speaker
But at the same time, you go through a lot of stressful moments,
Eucharistic Revival Focus
00:03:23
Speaker
a lot of conflict and conflict resolution with these people.
00:03:28
Speaker
And they've seen you since you were, you know, 18 and coming to Laura's and had no clue what to do and just kind of followed Dr. Osheim to Smith Hall and hoped for the best.
00:03:39
Speaker
But after this retreat, we all took a big picture and it was like, okay, I guess we're done.
00:03:44
Speaker
And it was a very bittersweet moment.
00:03:46
Speaker
And all of a sudden, I don't know who, but someone threw a snowball at someone else.
00:03:50
Speaker
and then another snowball and another snowball.
00:03:52
Speaker
And we had a snowball fight outside of the ACC kind of by the library and Waller.
00:03:58
Speaker
And it went on for probably 45 minutes to an hour.
00:04:02
Speaker
And it was just the most wholesome, childlike, playful memory.
00:04:08
Speaker
And I remember I had a job lined up by then.
00:04:12
Speaker
I was packing my bags and getting stuff ready to get out of the peace and justice house where I live.
00:04:19
Speaker
And yet here I was with these 15 people I met when I was 18 having a snowball fight.
00:04:25
Speaker
So that was definitely my best memory at Laura's.
00:04:28
Speaker
That is wonderful.
00:04:30
Speaker
And it didn't, your story did not end in anyone getting a concussion.
00:04:34
Speaker
That's great.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:35
Speaker
Surprisingly, we can get a little rowdy, but no, everyone was fine.
00:04:41
Speaker
Dave, can you introduce yourself and what's a good memory you have of your time at Loras?
00:04:48
Speaker
Sure.
00:04:49
Speaker
My name is Dave Pitt.
00:04:50
Speaker
I'm a professor of liturgical and sacramental theology here at Loras.
00:04:55
Speaker
I've been here since 2007.
00:04:56
Speaker
So many, many, many more memories to comb through.
00:05:03
Speaker
But I think the best...
00:05:08
Speaker
The best are always the most recent in some ways.
00:05:11
Speaker
I was trying to think of what should I pick?
00:05:13
Speaker
Oh, that one?
00:05:14
Speaker
No, no.
00:05:15
Speaker
How about this one?
00:05:16
Speaker
This one.
00:05:17
Speaker
So I think, though, I'm going to step away from Laura's campus itself and think about
Eucharist & Justice Class Structure
00:05:26
Speaker
a J-term trip that actually Isabel and I were on together.
00:05:30
Speaker
The experience that we had, we got a chance to go to Rome last January and walking through all these different church spaces and seeing some of the ones that we knew and loved and recognized from images all over the place and walking into the holy face of Jesus and
00:05:52
Speaker
which is a contemporary space.
00:05:55
Speaker
It took, I think, everyone off guard.
00:05:59
Speaker
I see Isabel shaking her head in big, nodding yeses.
00:06:03
Speaker
No one knew what to expect.
00:06:08
Speaker
Behind the sanctuary space was this great round window.
00:06:16
Speaker
which at some point it struck somebody that it looked like an eye.
00:06:22
Speaker
And to hear the class discussion about whether this was the church looking out at the world
00:06:30
Speaker
Or the world looking in at the church?
00:06:32
Speaker
Or both?
00:06:34
Speaker
And, you know, which way is the holy face of Jesus?
00:06:38
Speaker
If I could have moments like that in the classroom every day, I could just retire now.
00:06:44
Speaker
I wouldn't want to retire.
00:06:45
Speaker
I'd want to keep on coming back and doing it over and over and over again.
00:06:49
Speaker
So, yeah, I think I'll pick that.
00:06:51
Speaker
And neither snow nor concussions.
00:06:55
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great analogy.
00:06:56
Speaker
Even more edifying than the concussion experience.
00:07:00
Speaker
I think you were all concussed with the power of art, which I think art as an expression should be able to do that.
00:07:10
Speaker
One memory I have of Loras, I have many.
00:07:12
Speaker
I spent my first three years of seminary there, but one J-term in particular, I unfortunately can't remember the professor's name, but I saw on the list of classes you could pick is Star Trek J-term.
00:07:26
Speaker
and I immediately I immediately said uh yes I want to do that and so um half the class was divided with people who thought they were just going to get to watch tv and uh the other half was people who were uh really really excited about it and um we were not just watching tv the professor asked of the first day she said what kind of media do you consume and why do you consume it and it was basically this uh
00:07:51
Speaker
Led into, if you're familiar with the Star Trek universe, it's all about ethics and philosophy and sci-fi.
00:07:59
Speaker
It was wonderful.
00:08:00
Speaker
I mean, I had to, my homework was writing like character analysis on Commander Riker and watching three episodes in one night.
00:08:07
Speaker
I loved it.
00:08:07
Speaker
But anyway, that's one of the many things that our Duhok community offers us intellectually.
00:08:13
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:08:16
Speaker
The reason we're all here today is obviously for the Eucharistic Revival on the DeBucharest Revival podcast.
00:08:23
Speaker
But Dave has led a class in the past called Eucharist Banquet of Justice.
00:08:31
Speaker
And Father Kevin and I both thought that was an extremely provocative title and would love to know more about that and kind of how it
00:08:40
Speaker
came about or the title and kind of the theme of the class.
00:08:44
Speaker
If you could go ahead and explain a little bit about that, we'd appreciate it.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, of course.
00:08:50
Speaker
I tell anybody who will listen, if I could teach one class over and over and over again, this would be it.
Eucharist and Social Justice
00:08:58
Speaker
Despite the fact that, yes, I love going to Rome, you know, but this is the one where it all sort of comes home, I think.
00:09:08
Speaker
The goal...
00:09:10
Speaker
The goal really is to take a look at the way in which Eucharist is not just something that happens within the boundaries of a church building, but goes out into the rest of the world and comes in from the rest of the world, comes in from this experience of eating and dining and transforms us to try and
00:09:38
Speaker
to try and be as God is for us insofar as we can.
00:09:46
Speaker
And thinking about the ways in which if we were to set ourselves up next to God, we would be completely helpless, completely needy.
00:10:03
Speaker
In our midst, there are people who
00:10:07
Speaker
who are helpless and needy, and yet offer us the opportunity to enter into genuine relationship and dialogue and
00:10:20
Speaker
and transformation um so the the banquet of justice class it was one of these j-term classes so three intensive weeks um 15 days of of study of of prayer and of service um where where yeah the students we would we would gather first of all for daily mass for a liturgical experience
00:10:46
Speaker
we would go back to class to talk about the readings that had been assigned, but also the connections that they were making with liturgy.
00:10:57
Speaker
And then over the course of the semester, they were sent out for, you know, 50-ish or so hours of service at the Dubuque Rescue Mission and almost home, which also worked on a
00:11:14
Speaker
at that point, housing homeless men and transitioning them for life in the workforce, but has since moved into serving single men and families and their children that are homeless.
00:11:33
Speaker
And they are one of, I think, maybe three or four services like that throughout the entire state of Dubuque.
00:11:40
Speaker
But serving those who are in need
00:11:44
Speaker
and recognizing the deep connections that that has towards our liturgical life.
00:11:49
Speaker
So that's, that was, that was the goal in, in putting this class together.
00:11:53
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:11:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:56
Speaker
So connecting our liturgical prayer experience with service to the poor.
00:12:01
Speaker
What inspired you to offer such a class?
00:12:04
Speaker
Where did that idea come from?
00:12:09
Speaker
There are, I suppose there's the hands-on experiential moment.
00:12:14
Speaker
I had...
00:12:15
Speaker
I had taken over responsibility for chairing our curriculum committee here at Loras.
00:12:21
Speaker
So getting the group to oversee all the courses that will come and be taught.
00:12:29
Speaker
And one of the new things was this community-based learning initiative.
00:12:34
Speaker
I thought, oh, what is this?
00:12:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:12:37
Speaker
The best way to understand how to shepherd courses through this community-based learning process is perhaps to pitch one myself, to undergo the process.
00:12:47
Speaker
I have the idea.
00:12:48
Speaker
I've been percolating this idea.
00:12:50
Speaker
Here we get back to the theology.
00:12:53
Speaker
For the last five, seven, ten years, Eucharist and justice, Eucharist and service.
00:13:03
Speaker
So,
00:13:05
Speaker
It had been born out, I think, of my study of the Constitution on the liturgy.
00:13:12
Speaker
The insistence that the Constitution makes that liturgy is simultaneously the fount and the summit of the entire Christian life, right?
00:13:25
Speaker
So that it's the place where we are born and where we come back to on...
00:13:33
Speaker
a regular basis.
00:13:36
Speaker
And, you know, and we see that liturgically in the general confession of faith.
00:13:43
Speaker
You know, we make claims about the ways which we have sinned in our thoughts, in our deeds, in what we've done, what we've failed to do.
00:13:52
Speaker
And that's not just right within mass, but in our lives that we bring to mass.
00:13:59
Speaker
And then we're sent out, right?
00:14:02
Speaker
Go in peace, right?
00:14:04
Speaker
Go glorifying the Lord in your life, you know, which is the liturgical expression of that moment.
00:14:12
Speaker
So I wanted to try and figure out a way to make that come alive in a very real way.
00:14:22
Speaker
And I thought to myself about pitching this idea to two different kinds of students, really.
00:14:30
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:14:32
Speaker
on the one hand, the students who would be all over the social justice element, but I mean, stereotypically can say faith religion has nothing to do with these acts of justice.
00:14:47
Speaker
It has nothing to do with these sort of institutions that we see all around us doing the good work.
00:14:53
Speaker
So pitching it to them on one hand and on the other to the
00:14:59
Speaker
the version of Catholic, the version of Christian for whom the Las Vegas advertising tagline seems consistent.
00:15:09
Speaker
What happens at Vegas stays in Vegas.
00:15:11
Speaker
What happens in the church stays in the walls of the church.
00:15:16
Speaker
No.
00:15:18
Speaker
So I wanted to pitch it to both of those groups simultaneously, knowing full well that
00:15:28
Speaker
They have a lot to teach each other.
00:15:33
Speaker
So that's sort of the genesis for the class and drawing students into what is there to be consumed, pardon the Eucharistic pun, but is there to be eaten and lived.
00:15:56
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:15:57
Speaker
Excellent.
00:15:58
Speaker
Thank you for that.
00:16:00
Speaker
If that's the genesis, then the Exodus and following books must be the actual study and taking of the class.
00:16:08
Speaker
So I'd like to ask Isabel, what was it when you saw this pop up on your class list of options?
00:16:14
Speaker
What inspired you to want to take this class?
00:16:20
Speaker
I think at the time, so I would have been a, I took this when I was a freshman.
00:16:25
Speaker
I honestly cannot even remember deciding to sign up for it.
00:16:32
Speaker
I think Dr. Pitt, you may have mentioned it to me or someone, or maybe Dr. Osai mentioned it to me.
00:16:39
Speaker
And at that time I went to public school and I was just enthralled by this
00:16:48
Speaker
private Catholic College of Loras.
00:16:50
Speaker
I was just like, I can learn about Catholicism in this really deep and rich way.
00:16:56
Speaker
And my Breitbart classes were really challenging me.
00:16:59
Speaker
And I would walk down those stairs of Smith and my mind would just burst.
00:17:04
Speaker
I just could not believe what I was taking and what I was learning.
00:17:07
Speaker
So when I saw this class, I was like, duh, it just seemed to fit at that time.
00:17:13
Speaker
I kind of came in thinking, oh, sociology or social work.
00:17:16
Speaker
So I knew that was going to be part of my trajectory.
00:17:19
Speaker
But I was really, really invested in my religious studies classes.
00:17:24
Speaker
So when I saw or heard about this class, I just kind of...
00:17:29
Speaker
knew it was for me, it just kind of fit.
00:17:32
Speaker
And I was just writing some notes down as Dr. Pitt, sorry, Dave was, it's habit, but as Dave was talking, and I really feel that this class was my, really laid a real foundation for my understanding of really Catholicism, because to be quite frank, I really didn't have a very
00:17:55
Speaker
deep understanding of what Catholicism was.
00:17:59
Speaker
Even when I was entered into the Breitbach program, I knew I had faith.
00:18:03
Speaker
I knew I was really passionate about God, but really getting into the heart of who is the church?
00:18:11
Speaker
What is the church called to do?
00:18:12
Speaker
What am I called to do as a member of the church?
00:18:15
Speaker
This class, along with some others, my freshman year, really laid that foundation, but it also laid my foundation of
00:18:23
Speaker
what Loris is, because immediately in this class, unlike any other, there was a rich community, partially because of the J term.
00:18:35
Speaker
So you're getting really close.
00:18:36
Speaker
You're spending a lot of time together.
00:18:38
Speaker
But also we were serving together.
00:18:40
Speaker
We were eating together.
00:18:41
Speaker
We were going to mass together.
00:18:44
Speaker
So it was hard not to get close.
00:18:46
Speaker
And so that idea of community and classwork kind of just translated into my entire
Theological Understanding of Justice
00:18:55
Speaker
time at Loras.
00:18:55
Speaker
So I'm really grateful for this class, even beyond the intellectual and spiritual aspects of it, but even academically, it, yeah, just kind of allowed me to excel and kind of just enter into Loras and enter into that community even more.
00:19:15
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:19:17
Speaker
Good.
00:19:18
Speaker
So what were some of your insights from the class, some things you learned?
00:19:23
Speaker
So you were inspired, you took this class, and it sounds like it was a great experience.
00:19:26
Speaker
What were some particular maybe insights or experiences from the class that really stuck with you?
00:19:32
Speaker
I mean, I guess you're already talking about the impact of the class, but going deeper, like, especially with an eye towards understanding, like,
00:19:40
Speaker
This idea of Eucharistic living and such.
00:19:42
Speaker
You're not being graded.
00:19:44
Speaker
Yeah, this isn't a class now.
00:19:49
Speaker
Before we started this podcast, someone asked, is it Eucharist as... What was the question?
00:19:58
Speaker
Eucharist as Banquet of Justice.
00:20:02
Speaker
And Dr. Pitt said, no, it's Eucharist colon Banquet of Justice.
00:20:07
Speaker
And to me...
00:20:08
Speaker
That is the antithesis of that is what we are talking about.
00:20:12
Speaker
Because this class showed me that the mass, the Eucharist, what's happening, Jesus coming to us in the Eucharist, it is not as anything.
00:20:25
Speaker
It's not a symbol.
00:20:26
Speaker
It's not...
00:20:29
Speaker
it's Jesus, it's Eucharist colon Jesus, just like it's Eucharist colon banquet of justice.
00:20:37
Speaker
It's one in the same.
00:20:38
Speaker
When I'm looking at Christ in the Eucharist, I'm looking at the poor.
00:20:42
Speaker
And when I'm looking at the poor, I'm looking at Christ in the Eucharist.
00:20:46
Speaker
And that is the biggest thing that I learned in this class is that it's not, it's that simple.
00:20:54
Speaker
Like it's kind of complex.
00:20:55
Speaker
When you break it down, it's that simple.
00:20:58
Speaker
And I think another cool thing about this class is it really did not feel like a class at all because in my mind, we were just living as Christ lived.
00:21:09
Speaker
We got up, we prayed, we worshiped, we fed ourselves so we could feed other people, both physically and spiritually.
00:21:21
Speaker
And then we had times at Convivium where we made a meal together.
00:21:26
Speaker
And we also went to Brazen.
00:21:29
Speaker
Is that right?
00:21:29
Speaker
Brazen?
00:21:30
Speaker
And we had a very elaborate meal.
00:21:35
Speaker
And it wasn't a class where everybody sits at their own desk and raises their hand.
00:21:42
Speaker
It was, and I remember Dr. Pitt giving a lecture on this.
00:21:46
Speaker
It was like we were sitting at a round table and we could all see each other's faces.
00:21:51
Speaker
But it wasn't just like that with us in the class.
00:21:53
Speaker
It was like that table was big enough for anybody, even those outside of the church, even those outside of Loras, even those outside of who I may usually interact with.
00:22:08
Speaker
Getting to live in true solidarity with those experiencing homelessness, I mean,
00:22:16
Speaker
it's learning, but it's also just, it's just living.
00:22:19
Speaker
I learned in this class by just how I lived during this class.
00:22:24
Speaker
It was very mission-oriented.
00:22:27
Speaker
And, you know, I think in the liturgy, Jesus models for us what we should do, you know, take and eat.
00:22:41
Speaker
You know, here is my body, give it up for you.
00:22:45
Speaker
And that's also, you know, how Jesus lived on earth.
00:22:49
Speaker
He just lived among everyone and anyone, and it didn't matter.
00:22:54
Speaker
And I think that model in the scripture is the same as in the mass.
00:22:59
Speaker
And it's like Dr. Pitt said, it's not supposed to just stay in the confine of our church walls.
00:23:07
Speaker
It's supposed to go out.
00:23:08
Speaker
And so, yeah, it's not a...
00:23:12
Speaker
Mass is this or Eucharist as this.
00:23:14
Speaker
It really taught me that no Catholics really believe in this idea of both and as social justice and charity, you know.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:27
Speaker
Sorry, that was a moment.
00:23:29
Speaker
I feel like I'm going to be great.
00:23:30
Speaker
No, that was wonderful.
00:23:32
Speaker
I'm so glad you brought up the both, Ann.
00:23:34
Speaker
For our listeners, that's a very, very Catholic idea is that two things can be held in tension and at the same time, much like the tension of Jesus' right hand and left hand being extended and stretched on the cross.
00:23:49
Speaker
I want to back up real quick for the benefit of our listeners.
00:23:53
Speaker
Dave, when we hear the word justice, which is in the title of the class, I think some people might have the actual...
00:24:01
Speaker
maybe a textbook definition of justice, like, well, I did a crime and therefore the judge punishes me and sends me to prison or jail.
00:24:09
Speaker
Or justice is, I deserve something to be given to me.
00:24:12
Speaker
Can you explain just a little bit like kind of the theological nature of the word justice as we're talking about it in this context?
00:24:19
Speaker
Sure.
00:24:21
Speaker
The framework that I think is most helpful is actually looking back to God's command to Israel in the book of Exodus.
00:24:33
Speaker
Just as I have liberated you out of slavery, just as I have fed you, just as I have given to you what you have done nothing to earn,
00:24:47
Speaker
So now you must do for others in your midst and not just the people you like, but the widows, the orphans, not that we don't like widows and orphans, but people who have no, no sort of relational claim on us.
00:25:05
Speaker
Being, being just is being as God for others.
00:25:16
Speaker
which, I mean, yeah, to your question about sort of getting what I deserve, in a sense, it is.
00:25:26
Speaker
In Catholic social teaching, it's built on the principle that all humans have inherent worth and dignity.
00:25:35
Speaker
And so many other teachings flow from that idea that what we are owed is...
00:25:44
Speaker
to be loved and to be respected and to be honored and to be treated as God would treat us by those around us.
00:26:00
Speaker
So I think there's the fuller version of justice.
00:26:09
Speaker
And I think it,
00:26:14
Speaker
It rubs up against our cultural understanding of what should be.
00:26:22
Speaker
And it rubs up against living in a society in which the story is that we pull ourselves up and
00:26:42
Speaker
and earn what we have been given.
00:26:48
Speaker
It challenges us to sort of look back to who we are at heart and without all the supports that we can sort of buy for ourselves.
00:27:03
Speaker
And just like you were saying, Dr. Pitt, like it's inherent, right?
00:27:08
Speaker
Like the
00:27:10
Speaker
the dignity that we have is inherent, inherent.
00:27:12
Speaker
And I, I think that's kind of what this justice, at least in this concept, or in this context is, it means because you don't have to earn this kind of justice.
00:27:24
Speaker
To me, it's almost synonymous with mercy, which I feel like it's kind of Christ's justice.
00:27:31
Speaker
Mm hmm.
00:27:33
Speaker
I've heard that said before that God's justice is his mercy and his mercy is his justice.
00:27:38
Speaker
And that just, that just baffles the intellect and my sense of indignancy or lack thereof of no, wait, it's supposed to be this way.
00:27:47
Speaker
Let me get this straight.
00:27:48
Speaker
Like now justice and mercy, they blend in this giant messy salad that is God's love.
Faith and Service Heroes
00:27:56
Speaker
And there's a song that comes up in the breviary that we pray regularly.
00:28:00
Speaker
That's a, uh,
00:28:02
Speaker
that says something that my song is of justice and of mercy i just prayed it recently one of these i can't tell you what number the psalm is but i know i prayed it recently but uh but anyway but just that idea of the connection between god's justice and god's mercy are not uh they're not an either or thing or uh mutually exclusive or opposite but that there's some deep connection between them so
00:28:24
Speaker
And to add on, to go back to some of the things you said, too, I remember kind of what you said at the beginning, Dave, what kind of the two groups you were pitching this class to.
00:28:35
Speaker
I remember when I was at Loris experiencing some of that of like there were sort of like there was a social justice group.
00:28:41
Speaker
You there like really cared about social issues.
00:28:44
Speaker
Or you like to go to mass and pray.
00:28:46
Speaker
And they were like two different friend groups.
00:28:48
Speaker
And they seemed like and kind of equally suspicious of each other and not really getting along.
00:28:55
Speaker
And I hope, I hope.
00:28:56
Speaker
And I started seeing some bridging, but hopefully that's continued to be bridged since I was there.
00:29:01
Speaker
I know for me personally, it was I remember experiencing that and being like, this isn't the way it should be.
00:29:06
Speaker
There is a deep connection between these.
00:29:08
Speaker
So I would have loved if there was such a class when I was there.
00:29:12
Speaker
But I know for me, there were a couple of figures who really helped bring those together for me.
00:29:17
Speaker
Like I had a class where we studied Dorothy Day, and I just remember being so moved by her.
00:29:22
Speaker
Here is this woman who's deeply committed to caring for the poor, who cares about social issues, who's who's right there in the grind.
00:29:29
Speaker
And especially during the Great Depression, during these very hard social times,
00:29:35
Speaker
And living with the poor while also being able to write very honestly about some of the challenges of that, right?
00:29:41
Speaker
Like she talks about loving the poor is not easy.
00:29:44
Speaker
Like sometimes the poor are smelly and ungrateful and they don't care about what you're doing, but you love them anyways.
00:29:49
Speaker
And while at the same time, being this woman who went to daily mass, spent time in adoration, like deeply connected to the sacraments.
00:29:59
Speaker
And I think sometimes it's like people either want to take
00:30:02
Speaker
one aspect or the other, and not both.
00:30:07
Speaker
And I'll add to that also, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
00:30:11
Speaker
For me, I remember in college just being so deeply moved by this woman who, I remember learning about Mother Teresa as a college student, how here's just this woman in her modern age who's clearly the shining example of holiness in the modern world, who just gave her life to serving and caring for the
00:30:27
Speaker
the poorest or the poor gave, gave, gave up everything.
00:30:31
Speaker
And I remember also then being like, the more I read of her stuff, you know, she had beautiful words about loving the poor and all that stuff.
00:30:37
Speaker
But also she believed in this radical, absurd idea that Christ was also very present in the Eucharist, right?
00:30:46
Speaker
Both very much in the poor.
00:30:47
Speaker
She talked about loving Christ in the, in the distressing disguise of the poor.
00:30:50
Speaker
And then she would spend hours in prayer before the blessed sacrament, the Eucharist and, and how,
00:30:57
Speaker
And how those were mutually inspiring, like they built them.
00:31:00
Speaker
And for me personally, that actually played a role in my own coming to believe in this idea the church teaches of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and through Mother Teresa, but how that's very much deeply connected with Christ in the poor.
00:31:16
Speaker
And actually, one more thing then, then in seminary, I actually, there was a quote, I remember I wrote a paper in seminary about St.
00:31:24
Speaker
John Chrysostom
00:31:25
Speaker
because he has this homily, this quote, where he talks about the very thing.
00:31:29
Speaker
It's some homily he gave on Matthew.
00:31:31
Speaker
I don't remember what part, but where he specifically talks about loving Christ in the Eucharist, honoring him in the Eucharist, and he says, yes, is it good to honor him with gold and silver and all that stuff?
00:31:42
Speaker
Yes, we can and we should, but also just as much, if not even more so, we need to honor Christ in the poor, you know?
00:31:49
Speaker
So we honor him in the Eucharist and then ignore him in the poor, and basically he was talking about how scandalous that is and how
00:31:54
Speaker
sort of how deeply connected that idea of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the poor are.
00:31:59
Speaker
So, yeah, those are some of my reflections that stirred up when you guys were talking.
Emmaus Narrative and the Poor
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:09
Speaker
You go ahead, Dave.
00:32:11
Speaker
No, no, no, go ahead.
00:32:13
Speaker
Um...
00:32:15
Speaker
I also relate to the juxtaposition of that social justice group and that really, really spiritual group at Loras.
00:32:25
Speaker
And I think I came into Loras being like, you know, really like loving the mass and super spiritual and all of this stuff.
00:32:34
Speaker
And then to me, I was also really intrigued by all the social justice stuff.
00:32:39
Speaker
And then I all of a sudden realized, wait, I have to... It seems like I'm supposed to pick one.
00:32:45
Speaker
And to me, that just seemed really, really weird to me because I was like, wait, aren't both of these things...
00:32:52
Speaker
good, but then, you know, just to like assimilate, I probably just like, you know, pick the social justice people because I'm like, I guess this is what you do.
00:33:00
Speaker
You just, you just pick one.
00:33:02
Speaker
But then kind of through my time at Loras, I kind of just, you got to decide for yourself.
00:33:10
Speaker
Actually, no, it is the both and and just like Dorothy Day and just like Mother Teresa, which happens to be my confirmation saint, you know, both of these women,
00:33:21
Speaker
were extremely close to God, extremely connected to the Eucharist, and yet so extremely loving and caring towards the poor.
00:33:32
Speaker
And those two women specifically actually really, really resonate with me because...
00:33:37
Speaker
They were just so themselves and they did not apologize and they probably rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
00:33:46
Speaker
And yet they were able to hold both of these truths together so seamlessly.
00:33:51
Speaker
And so, yeah, I kind of went through that journey myself at LORIS.
00:33:57
Speaker
Sounds like a man from Nazareth, I know.
00:33:58
Speaker
That's great.
00:34:00
Speaker
I'm so glad you described that unfortunate culture piece that not only exists in our alma mater, but also all over.
00:34:09
Speaker
We could call it a false dichotomy of that you have to be on one side.
00:34:13
Speaker
And I think this is actually very, very relevant right now because it seems our country is divided.
00:34:20
Speaker
You're either liberal or conservative.
00:34:22
Speaker
And you got to pick your football team and then cheer for them.
00:34:25
Speaker
And there's no mixing, but we like, we like the mixing.
00:34:28
Speaker
We like the uncomfortable messiness.
00:34:31
Speaker
That's what Christ is calling us into, not only through his words and actions and healings and miracles, but also the Eucharist itself.
00:34:39
Speaker
Exactly.
00:34:42
Speaker
I, I'm glad you mentioned Jesus, Father Ross.
00:34:46
Speaker
Oh, that's the guy from Nazareth we're talking about.
00:34:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:34:50
Speaker
Um,
00:34:53
Speaker
As both you, Fr.
00:34:54
Speaker
Kevin, and Isabel, as you were talking before, I kept on thinking back to the Emmaus narrative, which I keep on going back to as a framing for this class, certainly, but for Christian life and responsibility.
00:35:12
Speaker
you know, Jesus, the stranger who tells the disciples, essentially they know nothing about what Jesus ministry has been about and they don't know who he is.
00:35:26
Speaker
And yet their response is to say, why don't you stay for dinner?
00:35:32
Speaker
If that were me, I'm not sure that I could, you know, I'd be fine friend, you go on your way and we'll go on ours and good luck to you.
00:35:39
Speaker
Um,
00:35:43
Speaker
But my favorite part, I think, is with the justice, with the capacity for loving the poor, with the responsibility to love the poor, peace, comes at the very end.
00:35:54
Speaker
Yes, they've recognized Jesus.
00:35:56
Speaker
Their hearts have been burning as he interprets scripture.
00:36:00
Speaker
Yes, they come to recognize him in the breaking of the bread.
00:36:02
Speaker
And Luke tells us then, and he disappeared from their sight.
00:36:07
Speaker
Immediately they recognize him, and all of a sudden, we've got to look to the stranger again.
00:36:13
Speaker
And that I think should help frame that vision of where do we find the presence of Christ, right?
00:36:23
Speaker
Yes, in Eucharistic bread and wine transformed.
00:36:27
Speaker
Yes, in the church as it prays and sings.
00:36:31
Speaker
Yes, in the word as it's proclaimed.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yes, in the priest as he presides.
00:36:35
Speaker
And yes, in the poor and the marginalized and the
00:36:41
Speaker
and those who are pushed outside of our boundaries of what's considered acceptable and socially good.
00:36:52
Speaker
And of course, that framework is never ending.
00:36:58
Speaker
We can adapt and lump this group as being the in-group or part of the in-group, and there are still so many more.
00:37:08
Speaker
who get excluded.
00:37:10
Speaker
We could do with a good dose of that, I think.
00:37:13
Speaker
I'm so glad that the other word in the title is banquet.
00:37:19
Speaker
And I'm reminded of scripture and literary.
00:37:23
Speaker
Father Kevin, you'll know what I'm talking about.
00:37:25
Speaker
In Lord of the Rings and then Redwall series, which I think you- Yes, I'm a Redwall fan as well.
00:37:30
Speaker
The authors are just talking about-
00:37:34
Speaker
pages of descriptions of the types of food that are on the table and how obviously these are both war fantasy stories.
00:37:42
Speaker
It's in a time of peace when they're having the meal together.
00:37:45
Speaker
And then Isaiah, of course, in our Advent readings, he says, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure choice wines.
00:37:56
Speaker
I love chewing on that scripture.
00:37:59
Speaker
The banquet is a celebration.
00:38:02
Speaker
It's a wedding feast.
00:38:04
Speaker
huge buffet that not only sustains us, but probably overfills us.
00:38:09
Speaker
And yeah, can you talk a little bit about just the choice of the word banquet as part of this class?
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, love to.
00:38:22
Speaker
Part of it, Isabel, you mentioned it before.
00:38:24
Speaker
I mean, you know, not just feeding others, but being fed.
00:38:30
Speaker
Built into the three-week structure were weekly occasions for the class to eat together.
00:38:41
Speaker
And these progressed.
00:38:45
Speaker
So in the first week, we learned how to bake bread.
00:38:56
Speaker
We learned what was involved in this work of baking bread.
00:39:04
Speaker
Oh, gosh darn it.
00:39:07
Speaker
Augustine talks about, right, the Eucharistic connection between all the sacraments of initiation, right?
00:39:13
Speaker
How, you know, we as grains of wheat are milled through exorcism, you know, and then through the water we are kneaded together and then through the fire of the spirit we are baked and then we are Eucharistically, you know,
00:39:33
Speaker
broken and shared.
00:39:37
Speaker
Um, the hope there was to learn this process of coming together.
00:39:43
Speaker
Um, the second week we went to, uh, Convivium, uh, one of the local restaurants where, where we put a meal together ourselves.
00:39:52
Speaker
And the goal was that there were separate groups who were working on things independently and then pooled our resources at the very end, uh,
00:40:03
Speaker
to create this fantastic meal using ordinary elements, things that anybody could find in their kitchen.
00:40:12
Speaker
And yet I don't think I've eaten nearly as well until of course the next week when we went to brazen where fine, fine foods.
00:40:26
Speaker
Part of the structure there
00:40:32
Speaker
And Isabelle, you could probably talk more about the experience of the appetizers.
00:40:40
Speaker
Yeah, the chuckle.
00:40:43
Speaker
In speaking, in putting this particular meal together, it wasn't simply that we all ate whatever we wanted, but the chef carefully prepared a meal for us.
00:40:58
Speaker
using, again, ordinary things, but then especially the off cuts of meat, right?
00:41:07
Speaker
The things that typically don't get rejected, don't get used and get set aside.
00:41:15
Speaker
Beef tongue was there.
00:41:17
Speaker
You know, like, oh.
00:41:22
Speaker
But transforming these ingredients into
00:41:28
Speaker
into a genuine feast that engaged all the senses and offered this heightened experience of communion, where we came together having shared this experience and grew from it.
00:41:53
Speaker
Yeah, banqueting...
00:41:56
Speaker
That's what Eucharist is supposed to be.
00:41:59
Speaker
We sometimes forget that.
00:42:02
Speaker
But at least the purpose was to draw that reality back and make it theologically relevant.
00:42:13
Speaker
You know, when I was talking with the director of Almost Home,
00:42:17
Speaker
about that meal and explaining the purpose behind it, you know, taking the things that have been discarded and transforming them into something beautiful.
00:42:26
Speaker
Her eyes teared up and she said, that's what we do with people.
00:42:31
Speaker
And that's what
00:42:36
Speaker
God does with us.
00:42:41
Speaker
Who isn't smelly and offensive at times, regardless of the clothes that we wear?
00:42:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:51
Speaker
I remember learning in one of our liturgy classes about sort of the idea, you know, I mean, sometimes when we're talking about the poor people,
00:43:00
Speaker
bristle a bit at like beautiful churches, but the idea is the beautiful church is to show us what God wants to do with us, taking the stuff of the earth, dust, stone, wood, uh, ordinary bread, you know, and, and, and is taken up and transformed and transfigured into something beautiful.
00:43:15
Speaker
And like sort of, uh, you know, how, how, how we're drawn up into Christ in, in the banquet meal of the Eucharist.
00:43:23
Speaker
Um, and then to carry that, of course, that light into, uh, into the world.
00:43:28
Speaker
Right.
00:43:28
Speaker
And, uh,
00:43:29
Speaker
The other image I like of that is like the Eucharist being like the beating heart, right?
Vulnerability and Humanity
00:43:34
Speaker
That there's often a connection of, you know, how the heart when it beats, you know, brings into it the blood that's deficient of oxygen, of air, of nutrition, and then is sent back out, right, to nourish the rest of the body.
00:43:49
Speaker
In which case, it's, you know, sort of Christ drawing us in, transforming us, transfiguring us, and carrying us into...
00:43:56
Speaker
And then sending us back out, right?
00:43:58
Speaker
And the heartbeat that sends us back out.
00:44:01
Speaker
And also in another episode of this podcast, we talked about even just some of the interesting stuff with the connections between the Eucharist and the heart and some Eucharistic miracles and stuff.
00:44:10
Speaker
But that's maybe getting a fire from where we are.
00:44:14
Speaker
But yeah.
00:44:15
Speaker
But just to your point of how exactly how Christ takes what is this human mess, right, of me and my sinful flesh, and I receive his divine flesh, or rather I'm taken up into his divine flesh, and then meant to go and live that out in the world, right, to be, as St.
00:44:31
Speaker
Teresa of Avila says, to be Christ's hands and feet.
00:44:34
Speaker
Christ has no other hands and feet but yours, right?
00:44:38
Speaker
One thing that I'm always cautious about in language is we can say, we say a lot, like Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day served the poor and we are called to serve the poor.
00:44:50
Speaker
But I'm hesitant and I'm cautious to other the poor of, are they just the people that are out there?
00:44:58
Speaker
I'm pretty sure Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day themselves would say we are the poor as well.
00:45:05
Speaker
And I think all the people that we've met, Isabel, the youth that you minister, Dave, the college freshman coming in and Father Kevin, the people that come to our churches, everyone is poor in their own way, whether spiritually, financially, intellectually, whatever it is.
00:45:22
Speaker
So I'm cautious.
00:45:23
Speaker
I don't want to other the poor, but then I also want to see it all mixed together.
00:45:26
Speaker
Can you comment on that concept?
00:45:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:33
Speaker
Yeah, one of the, Patrick McCormick, who wrote a wonderful book with a lengthy title, A Banqueter's Guide to the All-Night Soup Kitchen of the Kingdom of God, which we used in class.
00:45:51
Speaker
McCormick talks about the vulnerability of the poor,
00:46:01
Speaker
but highlights that what separates those who have from the poor is our ability to fool ourselves into thinking that we are somehow self-sufficient.
00:46:20
Speaker
He comes back to this, this idea throughout the book all the time that at heart, all of us by virtue of being human are hungry eaters.
00:46:29
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:46:31
Speaker
What separates those with means from those without is our capacity to walk into our kitchens and grab an apple, to grab a granola bar, to – I've got snacks here in my office.
00:46:48
Speaker
We can mask the reality that we are all hungry eaters by the means that we have.
00:46:55
Speaker
we are all social animals in need of communion.
00:47:03
Speaker
And we can fool ourselves into thinking that we are not by the capacity to surround ourselves with people who we trust and people who rely on us.
00:47:17
Speaker
I mean, to that idea about othering the poor,
00:47:25
Speaker
McCormick's idea is that perhaps the reason why we dislike the poor as much as we do is because they show us who we really are.
00:47:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:38
Speaker
In ways that we don't like.
00:47:41
Speaker
The illusion of self-sufficiency.
00:47:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:45
Speaker
And so, yeah, I mean, to that end, all of us are lacking.
00:47:49
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:47:52
Speaker
none of us, none of us can claim that dignity that of being God.
00:48:00
Speaker
So yeah, yeah, I think there's, there's where it is for me at least.
Youth Ministry and Service
00:48:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:07
Speaker
And just to add to that, I remember one of our professors at seminary talking about the phrase, the Lord be with you, that we use in the liturgy.
00:48:14
Speaker
You know, it just like means like, well, I always heard it as just like, hey, how are you?
00:48:19
Speaker
You know, it's a greeting.
00:48:20
Speaker
The Lord be with you, you know.
00:48:21
Speaker
And but he talked, he connected that to an image in the book of Ruth.
00:48:27
Speaker
um when boaz or went out to the field and he greeted the the labors in the field with the phrase of the lord be with you but specifically he talked about how there's the gleaners in the field that one of the commandments of the lord was to when they would harvest in the field they were they weren't supposed to go back and kind of like pick up what they missed right because that was meant to be left for the poor who come in there glean in the field and so he connected it to the book of ruth how this phrase the lord be with you this greeting to ruth who
00:48:53
Speaker
Ruth is a poor, is a, is a gleaner.
00:48:56
Speaker
She's a poor beggar in the field.
00:48:58
Speaker
And of course the story of Ruth is then, of course, she's elevated to become the bride of, of the, and he's not quite a King, but the sort of the, the, the, the nobleman of the town Boaz.
00:49:08
Speaker
And so he talked about, and this goes back to what we said before of like about what Christ is doing in the liturgy and us, we are poor beggars gleaning in the field.
00:49:16
Speaker
We're then taken up into Christ to become the bride of Christ.
00:49:19
Speaker
Right.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:20
Speaker
Gleaners.
00:49:21
Speaker
That's great.
00:49:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:22
Speaker
Isabel, what, you're currently a, what's your title at All Saints?
00:49:27
Speaker
Youth minister.
00:49:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:49:31
Speaker
What ways have you been able to use some of the insights that we've been talking about and from the class as you've served the youth in our midst?
00:49:42
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really blessed that I got to explore some of these ideas that we're talking about right now at Loras because it did totally, like I said earlier, transform my intellectual and my personal faith life.
00:49:59
Speaker
One way that I have done that is by incorporating service into working with the youth at All Saints.
00:50:06
Speaker
We often make meals for the Catholic Worker House.
00:50:13
Speaker
And go and, yeah, just try to experience life among people that may not live the same lives as us, even though, as stated before, we all have this same hunger.
00:50:29
Speaker
Teaching them about some of these figures we've talked about, Dorothy Day being one, and just teaching them what a Catholic worker house is.
00:50:38
Speaker
is because I didn't know what a Catholic worker house was until I was in high school faith formation.
00:50:44
Speaker
And it's just this, I think this really cool idea when you start to hear, wow, the Catholic church has a dedication to helping others.
00:50:58
Speaker
And we can be a part of that.
00:50:59
Speaker
And we're called to be a part of that no matter how old we are, no matter how much we know about the faith, no matter how many doubts we have,
00:51:09
Speaker
we can be a part of that too.
00:51:11
Speaker
And also something that I try to kind of convey to them is really what Dave, you were talking about as far as it's not an us and, and a father, you were talking about this too.
00:51:24
Speaker
It's not us and them.
00:51:27
Speaker
It's all of us.
00:51:30
Speaker
It's
00:51:31
Speaker
it's solidarity, which is obviously a Catholic social teaching.
00:51:37
Speaker
So yeah, just slowly incorporating this message of service.
00:51:40
Speaker
Oh, another great thing about All Saints is we have a sister parish in Haiti, and one of our Haitian translators is actually in the States right now because things in Haiti are so, you know, terrible and unsafe at the moment.
00:51:57
Speaker
And just having Chris, our translator, just
00:52:00
Speaker
be a part of our youth ministry, just come and volunteer with us, hang out with us, talk with us, just be a part of the community.
00:52:11
Speaker
I think, yes, it shows this commitment that All Saints has to helping our brothers and sisters in Christ that may have, quote unquote, less than us in some ways, but perhaps more than us in other ways.
00:52:24
Speaker
But I think it also just conveys this message of like,
00:52:27
Speaker
yeah, the church is universal.
00:52:29
Speaker
Like, yeah, there's Catholic churches in Haiti and there's Catholic churches everywhere.
00:52:34
Speaker
And it's not, Cedar Rapids isn't far off from being part of that universal church.
Service and Personal Reflection
00:52:40
Speaker
It's beautiful.
00:52:45
Speaker
Well, there's so much more we could say about all of this that I would love to.
00:52:50
Speaker
Oh, we're 15 minutes.
00:52:51
Speaker
Wow.
00:52:52
Speaker
Yeah, but we're coming on an hour for our podcast.
00:52:56
Speaker
So I guess I'd just throw it out there.
00:52:58
Speaker
And Father Jacob, you can answer this too.
00:52:59
Speaker
But just I guess what's a final, if you have any sort of final takeaway thoughts you'd like to leave our listeners with, especially as we're in this season of Eucharistic Revival,
00:53:09
Speaker
Like just any sort of themes or just, or something you want to reiterate or re-highlight or just like, what's, what's kind of a takeaway thought you want to just leave our listeners with?
00:53:22
Speaker
I'll go first briefly.
00:53:24
Speaker
Psalm 126, I think, Father Kevin helped me out.
00:53:28
Speaker
We read it every couple of weeks in the breviary.
00:53:30
Speaker
They go out, they go out full of tears.
00:53:33
Speaker
They come back, they come back full of,
00:53:35
Speaker
Rejoicing.
00:53:36
Speaker
Rejoicing, yes.
00:53:37
Speaker
So I don't know exactly what that verse means, but I interpret it as they go out, they go out full of tears.
00:53:43
Speaker
Whenever I have some ministerial tasks that I need to do, or whether it be all the times that I've had the opportunity to serve in some sort of place.
00:53:56
Speaker
homeless shelter or soup kitchen, I'm always like, I don't want to do that, man.
00:54:00
Speaker
I just want to stay in my comfortable little space.
00:54:03
Speaker
And there has never been a single time when I've gone out at the urging of the Holy Spirit that I have not come back full of rejoicing and so glad that I did that thing.
00:54:15
Speaker
And so to our listeners right now, whatever that thing is,
00:54:19
Speaker
just go do it.
00:54:21
Speaker
Get out there.
00:54:22
Speaker
You're not going to do it perfectly.
00:54:23
Speaker
You're not going to do it in the exact way that you plan, but go out full of tears, full of whining, whatever you're full of, and just reap the glean, you know, truly glean whatever the Holy Spirit has for you in store in those encounters with those people, with everyone that you're going to meet.
00:54:42
Speaker
So that's my thought.
00:54:53
Speaker
Do you mind if I share, I'm going to, I'm going to steal from one of my former students, not you, Isabel, the student who shall remain nameless.
00:55:09
Speaker
I asked them to write about their experience.
00:55:13
Speaker
And I think especially, especially now, this is,
00:55:19
Speaker
This is worth returning to.
00:55:20
Speaker
In fact, I have it posted on my bulletin board beside my desk.
00:55:24
Speaker
She wrote, The regular men shuffled through the door seeking their regular hot showers and cozy beds, but a new man arrived and asked for a place to stay.
00:55:35
Speaker
Paula, the woman in charge at the moment, asked him what possessions he had.
00:55:39
Speaker
He said he only owned what he was wearing, nothing more.
00:55:44
Speaker
Other than this moment, the night or homework, Netflix, and good conversation with my classmates, nothing stood out to me about tonight.
00:55:52
Speaker
Although used to the idea of something, of someone having so little as this man, the concept of minimalism caught up with me and lingered.
00:56:01
Speaker
Having less material things supposedly makes life more full.
00:56:06
Speaker
Here was this man in front of me with so little.
00:56:10
Speaker
I imagine Jesus standing there with empty hands, only a cloak.
00:56:14
Speaker
In that moment, I remembered how Jesus asks us to take up our crosses and follow him.
00:56:19
Speaker
I have this vision in my head of Jesus asking me to grasp my personal cross so that I might follow.
00:56:26
Speaker
I look down and my hands are full, full of my possessions, full of my pride, full of my fear.
00:56:36
Speaker
I and every other Christian must let these things go so that we can clench our fists tight around the beams of wood we carry with Jesus.
00:56:48
Speaker
Wow.
00:56:50
Speaker
Wow.
Conclusion and Final Reflections
00:56:52
Speaker
Yeah, that is bulletin board worthy.
00:56:54
Speaker
Yep.
00:56:55
Speaker
Tremendous.
00:56:55
Speaker
Beautiful.
00:56:56
Speaker
Does that person know that you have...
00:57:00
Speaker
elevated their writing in that way.
00:57:02
Speaker
I just want them to be affirmed in the future.
00:57:07
Speaker
I don't think they do.
00:57:09
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:10
Speaker
God knows though.
00:57:12
Speaker
In preparation, I started looking to see if I could find this person.
00:57:18
Speaker
And thus far, I've come up with nothing, but I'm going to keep on looking.
00:57:22
Speaker
Well, may their words continue to pierce our hearts and the hearts of many others.
00:57:30
Speaker
Isabel, would you like to share any final reflections?
00:57:35
Speaker
Sure.
00:57:37
Speaker
Firstly, thank you all.
00:57:39
Speaker
And thank you especially to Dr. Pitt, also known as Dave.
00:57:44
Speaker
It's hard for me not to call you Dr. Pitt, but genuinely, Dave, I mean...
00:57:51
Speaker
one of the best classes at Loras, period.
00:57:56
Speaker
One of the most influential times of my life.
00:58:02
Speaker
Something that shifted my heart and my mind and my perception of God entirely.
00:58:11
Speaker
Dave is a true craftsman as far as his classes.
00:58:17
Speaker
He puts so much intention
00:58:20
Speaker
and effort and forethought into everything he does.
00:58:24
Speaker
He also took me and a bunch of other hooligans to Italy and allowed us to experience some of the most beautiful churches and sites that our church has to offer.
00:58:41
Speaker
And yet did it with so much care for the true meaning behind everything and keeping always in mind
00:58:52
Speaker
those that are ostracized from our own community and from just society in general.
00:58:59
Speaker
A sincere gratitude for you, Dave.
00:59:01
Speaker
I really do appreciate you and look up to you a lot as a professor and as a human.
00:59:06
Speaker
So thank you for that.
00:59:06
Speaker
And another quick note before I say my actual final note, if you're for some reason listening to this and you, not for some reason listening to this, but if you're a college student that has stumbled upon this podcast or you are a high schooler that has stumbled upon this podcast, first of all,
00:59:26
Speaker
Great.
00:59:27
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:59:28
Speaker
And secondly, if you ever do end up at Loras, you should take this class because it will change your life.
00:59:35
Speaker
Okay, so now my third and final thought.
00:59:41
Speaker
Oftentimes, the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, I don't think I'm the only one that sometimes has a hard time with that concept, not only intellectually, but in my heart in believing that
00:59:57
Speaker
in saying amen and truly believing it, in giving it the reverence that we've talked about in this podcast that it deserves.
01:00:05
Speaker
But if you struggle with that, like I do sometimes, go out and, again, I'm not trying to say the poor, but there is this power in naming it and naming that we are called as Christians, as Catholics, to serve
01:00:23
Speaker
those who have less than us, and to enter into their lives, into what, not just serving them, here you go, here's your food, here's your whatever.
01:00:31
Speaker
No, getting to know them, looking them in the eye, talking to them, being in a Eucharistic relationship with them, just as Christ is with us.
01:00:40
Speaker
If you have a hard time with the Eucharist, try meeting them.
01:00:45
Speaker
the eyes of the poor.
01:00:46
Speaker
And if you do have an easy time with the Eucharist, try meeting the eyes of the poor.
01:00:51
Speaker
And I think that will help.
01:00:56
Speaker
Thank you.
01:00:57
Speaker
You're very welcome.
01:01:02
Speaker
Thank you.
01:01:02
Speaker
I think that's a good note to end on.
01:01:04
Speaker
That's a great note.
01:01:05
Speaker
I'm kind of, yeah, I'm stunned.
01:01:06
Speaker
This has been a fantastic conversation.
01:01:08
Speaker
Thank you, everyone.
01:01:09
Speaker
For the benefit of our, I'll also put this in the show notes, but for the benefit of our listeners, Isabel, could you read the title of the book, which you have on your desk?
01:01:17
Speaker
Yes.
01:01:18
Speaker
It's the one by McCormick.
01:01:21
Speaker
Yes.
01:01:21
Speaker
So a banqueter's guide to the all night soup kitchen.
01:01:25
Speaker
of the Kingdom of God by Patrick T. McCormick.
01:01:28
Speaker
This book is amazing.
01:01:30
Speaker
I've highlighted the whole way through.
01:01:32
Speaker
And I actually had another copy of this because I found another copy.
01:01:36
Speaker
A church was giving it away and I thought, no, no, no, I'll take that.
01:01:39
Speaker
And...
01:01:41
Speaker
And I actually, Father Jack at All Saints came into my office today to talk to me and he noticed this book and he noticed the title and he was like, oh, I think I'd really like that.
01:01:49
Speaker
And I gave him my other book and he said he's going to read it.
01:01:51
Speaker
So there you go.
01:01:52
Speaker
And it's very accessible.
01:01:54
Speaker
Like it's a, it's a pretty easy read from what I can remember looking through it again.
01:02:00
Speaker
I will put that, uh, the title and the author in the show notes so that our listeners can look that up.
01:02:05
Speaker
And, um,
01:02:08
Speaker
I think that's it, Father Kevin.
01:02:10
Speaker
Thank you both so much.
01:02:12
Speaker
I think when this airs, it'll be Lent time, right?
01:02:15
Speaker
Yeah, Lent.
01:02:16
Speaker
So this is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, where we especially remember focusing on prayer and also focusing on our care for the poor.
01:02:23
Speaker
And maybe we had talked about minimalizing our life, you know, cutting out those distractions.
01:02:29
Speaker
So,
01:02:29
Speaker
I think it's all this conversation, all very relevant to what, as the church universal, we're reflecting on now.
01:02:35
Speaker
So thank you both for coming on to the podcast and sharing your insights and your experiences.
01:02:40
Speaker
So thank you.
01:02:42
Speaker
Thank you for hosting.
01:02:43
Speaker
Thank you for having us.
01:02:45
Speaker
All right.
01:02:45
Speaker
I'll see you in the Eucharist.