Beauty of Our Catholic Heritage - Sacrament of the Eucharist (Philosophy and Theology of the Church)

Fr. Jacob Hsieh is a Nobertine priest of St. Michael's Abbey and a teacher of Latin, religion and chant he is resides in Wilmington, Ca at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church .  In this episode, Father speaks about philosophy and the sacraments, and continues with a special focus on the Eucharist.
 
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Transcript

announcement: 0:29

It's nice to be invited over to a friend's house and Deacon Steve and Marianne Greco, have a fresh pot brewing and a comfy chair waiting for you. So kick back, relax and get ready to soak in God's Word with some good friends. It's the Bible and you with Deacon Steve and Maryann Greco.

Deacon Steve Greco: 0:50

Hi, everyone. It's taken Steve

Mary Anne: 0:51

Greco, Mary and welcome

Deacon Steve Greco: 0:53

to the Bible and you

Mary Anne: 0:56

guess why you're excited?

Deacon Steve Greco: 0:59

You know, the reason I'm excited is that the scriptures become alive, they become alive in terms of perseverance because we need to be persevere, we need to persevere in order to achieve what God is saying. I'll say, so let's begin Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we love you abrasion, worshipping glorify, we offer you our life, our heart, our soul, our mind. Everything, Lord God we give to you heal us spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, to the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name. And I bless you with every spiritual blessing and all the love of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Me God is good all the time,

Mary Anne: 1:50

all the time. Okay, all right, Exodus, Exodus, well, the Israelites are in this particular reading they're on, they're on their way out of Egypt into the Promised Land. And as they're going to the promised land, they have to go through other areas where there are tribes that already exist there. And they're not real happy about the Israelites coming through because they're worried that they're going to take over their land or damage their land. So here we have the story about Emilich, the leader of this particular tribe that comes in and challenges the Israelites, it was nice. Well, you know,

Deacon Steve Greco: 2:29

I guess you don't know what's going on.

Mary Anne: 2:31

It wasn't nice. He actually. Well, I'll talk about that later. Okay,

Deacon Steve Greco: 2:36

but one of my favorite people Josh was in this story.

Mary Anne: 2:39

Oh, okay. Right. I thought I was one of your favorite people.

Deacon Steve Greco: 2:42

While you're the my most favorite people alive are reading from the book of Exodus. In those days amla came in wage war against Israel. Moses, therefore said to Joshua, pick out certain man in tomorrow, go out engage emelec in battle, I was standing on top of the hill with a staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him, he engaged amlactin battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill, with Aaron in her. As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight. But when he let his hands rest, ama, like had the better of the fight. Moses hands, however, grew tired, so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile, Aaron in her support his hands, one on one side, and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset, and Joshua mowed down emelec and his people with the edge of the sword, the word of Lord,

Mary Anne: 3:40

thanks be to God. Well, in those days, and when it came to wage war against Israel, and we know from Deuteronomy 2517, verses 17 through 18, that he came from the rear it says, I am elected to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks. He came up in the rear, which were all those children in the and the women and, and all the luggage in a sense they were having. He was a dirty player in war, I guess. And so that's how he came upon them. He, he attacked them that way. And he was a very formidable thing. Ordinarily, he would have won. But we have what Moses says, And he picks Joseph out, and he says, pick certain men, and tomorrow we're going to wage war, and you're going to help me and He does it by praying and interceding for the Israelites. One man making a difference with this prayer.

Deacon Steve Greco: 4:41

Yeah, in its interest, interesting how the whole thing worked with his hands being raised up and having his hands up and his hands gets lowered and not sure what the spiritual significance of that is.

Mary Anne: 4:53

Well, that was a common way in which they praise the Lord to stand with their hands raised up and in the air, the significance of it, that's just the way they prayed to God. And he picked a mountaintop to go so he could look down and see what's happening. As well as it would be closer the higher spot you were the closer to God.

Deacon Steve Greco: 5:14

So I have an idea. You're ready. Yes. What? Well remember that Moses prayed to know what to do. Right? And I believe Moses was told to raise up his hands right and to keep his hands up, and it was an obedience thing. But it's also a community thing in which the community work together with Moses to make that happen. So, you know, often we we pray, and God gives us things to do that sometimes don't make a lot of sense, you know, when we're told, and what I'm doing right now, you know, in terms of being director of evangelization, you know, it's like, that's not what I picked. But God said, do this and do that. And that's what we're doing. And so obedience is a big part of this.

Mary Anne: 6:01

Yes, he knew he had to keep his hands up. And because every time his hands were lowered the they were losing the battle. And so that's where Joshua and and the other end her, help him to hold up his hands. And so often, I think it's really important as Moses represents the church or the people of Israel, that we we as church need to help and hold up others and hold them up in their prayer, and keep going. And he just he kept going, no matter how long he knew it was important. And so I think there's a big lesson in that for us,

Deacon Steve Greco: 6:39

then we need community we need Yeah, we can't do it alone.

Mary Anne: 6:42

God, I mean, God ordained that they would reach the promised land. So it's like, Why did? Why did Moses have to pray? He could have sat back and go, Oh, you know, nope. But he had to learn, as you said, they had to learn about God, and they had to learn obedience. And there was a lot they had to learn. And God wants them to know that they need to turn to him with a prayer asking for the very things that God wants to give them. So we need to pray and ask God and be in communication to Him. God gives

Deacon Steve Greco: 7:13

us lessons he gives us tests. He wants us to grow spiritually. And it's not easy. And it's not supposed to be easy. But at the end of the day, God will give us the courage, the fortitude, the team of people to help us. You're not alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. And don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. It's easy to give up. Can you imagine having had your arms raised up all day long? There's no way that you could do that. Right. Yeah. But he didn't give up because he had helpers and the helpers. You know, the basically the Lord saved the day as usual, but it was through the obedience.

Mary Anne: 7:53

Right? And we have to ask him, I mean, we have to come to Him in prayer. And and through this whole process, they learned that God and and Moses being an intercessory prayer warrior, was showing them that if we turn to God that God listens and answers our prayer.

Deacon Steve Greco: 8:11

Remember, you know, as I say, all the time, don't give up. Don't give up don't give up three most important things. And one of my favorite verses, again, is Hebrews 1036. That says, you need perseverance in order to receive what God has in store for you. Yes. So if you don't persevere, if you get tired, if you quit, if you get discouraged, then the enemy wins. But Moses didn't quit. He persevered. He persevered with other people helping them. And they want a big, big, big bite. Someone

Mary Anne: 8:42

taught me a long time ago that was called she was a balcony person, she said, and I said, What's that mean? Well, I'm on the balcony, cheering people on, you know, and sometimes we have to be balcony people, we have to help cheer and encourage people to keep going and praying and persevere.

Deacon Steve Greco: 8:57

Well, since you brought it up, I've got to find it now. And that's in in Thessalonians. Because in Thessalonians, you know, we are cold to be encouraged as to one another.

Mary Anne: 9:09

I think if I were Moses, and I, and I had two guys that are willing to stand there and hold up my hands, that would keep me going,

Deacon Steve Greco: 9:16

yeah, there it is. First Thessalonians 511. Therefore, encourage one another, and build on one another up, as indeed you do. First Thessalonians 511. So that's what we're called to do. We're called to build one another up, encourage one another, support one another. So let's take a look at the response to a real Psalm.

Mary Anne: 9:36

Oh, I'd like to say a little bit. Okay. Spotsylvania Psalms hear this. And the one before they're called Songs of a set. And I learned something new about this. They were songs that people sang on their pilgrim on their way to to Jerusalem, for Passover, or the other holy days in which they would be going up to the mountain to Jerusalem, and they would all come from all different directions. And this is one of the the songs that they sang, they would be singing it and then the if they caught up or are intersected with another group of people coming into Jerusalem, and it took them about three weeks for people to come, and they would join in song and and be singing at the same time, the same song. And so the whole Pearl Valley would be echoing with this these songs. It's one of the most incredible and eyeliner, pilgrimages

Deacon Steve Greco: 10:30

is one of the most incredible things you've ever seen as you're climbing that out and then you round this bend. And then you see the beautiful city and the Valley of kedron. And you know, the golden dome and you know, you see the, the gates and you see everything you know, it's just amazing. Okay, well, let's start reading the Psalms in our Help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth

Mary Anne: 10:54

are helpers from the Lord who made heaven and earth, I lift up my eyes

Deacon Steve Greco: 10:58

towards the mountain, whence should help come to me. My help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth. May He not suffer your foot to slip me slumber not who guards you. And Didi neither slumbers nor sleeps, the guardian of Israel. Our help is from the Lord who made the Lord is your Guardian, The Lord is your shade, he is beside you at your right hand, the sun shall not harm you by day Norther, moon by night, Our help is from the Lord who may Heaven and Earth The Lord will guard you from all evil, you will guard your life, the Lord will guard your coming, you're going both now and forever, our hill with strong Lord in made

Mary Anne: 11:39

heaven and earth, this is really a neat one. And I would like to go through just a few of the lines here, I lift up got my eyes to the mountains, they're talking about Mount Zion, and Mount Moriah, Mount Zion was where King David's Palace was, and the other mountain there is Mount Moriah, which is where the temple was built representing God's. So he's said, may He not suffer your foot to slip, you know, God, protect us, God protect us, may he slept or not who guards you, you know that God is always watching, He doesn't sleep. And slumber is not in our sleep. So he's the guardian of of Israel, I think that's really, really great. And then it says, The Lord is your gardening the Lord is your shade. By that, you know, we forget how hot and how warm it can be in that area of the world. And so shade is really important, you die if you didn't have shade on certain in the heat of the summer and seven. So they're saying, you know, The Lord is my shade and my guardian, and he is beside you at your right hand, which is, you know, an important position. The sun shall not harm you by day. So you know, there again, you know, it's it's written that he's attacked us. And then this is nor the moon by night, people thought the moon was dangerous. For some reason, I didn't get any further on that. But you know, but He will protect him from that too. And then the Lord will guard you from all evil, and he will guard your life. You know, he's going to guard us from evil things. If evil attacks us, he's our spiritual, he will guard us. We may have to go through hard times, but he will guard us. And that's important too. So

Deacon Steve Greco: 13:27

yeah, I mean, if you look at this again, that He will protect you from all evil, you know, so many times we get concerned about different things attacking us, the world, the enemy, but the Lord is there to guard us, you know, and the Lord is faithful, you know, and that's

Mary Anne: 13:44

Oh, that takes us to my favorite right, second, Thessalonians three,

Deacon Steve Greco: 13:50

what is it three, three, but the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. Memorize that Second Thessalonians three, three is really important to us. But memorize. Don't remember the Lord is faithful, He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. The Lord is faithful. So well let's move on then to Second Timothy, a reading from the second letter of St. Paul, the Timothy, beloved, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you've learned it, and that from infancy, you have known the sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus, all scriptures inspired by God, as useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living dead, and by His appearing as kingly power. proclaim the Word. Be persistent, whether it's convenient or inconvenient, convince reprimand and courage through all patients, and teaching the word of Lord.

Mary Anne: 15:00

Thanks be to God. Well, this is another good reading. They're all good. And this week, aren't they? Yeah, he's saying he's really charging Timothy to remember be faithful and all you've learned, he says, even from childhood because he learned scriptures from the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures, and those give us wisdom as well. And so he says, Remember that, that you that from infancy you have known the sacred scriptures which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation. God, yeah, God's still had that in there. And so he's telling us and through faith in Jesus that all scripture is inspired by God. You know, what does that mean to you see?

Deacon Steve Greco: 15:40

Well, this is one of the most important things for me is the fact that Jesus is the Word, the Word made flesh. When scripture is inspired, it means the Holy Spirit is there. And the Holy Spirit is using the authors to get spiritual messages through. And it's useful again for teaching, to refute people correction, training, righteousness, wishes means to do God's will. So scripture is is a foundation. This is the Word, the Word of God. This is the word Jesus's the word, this a love letter, but it is a guidebook.

Mary Anne: 16:19

Yeah, the guidebook how to live in your life. And I think sometimes we just people who don't study it, just kind of open it up, and they may get the scourge. But if you keep reading you all of a sudden God starts talking to you. And you can read the same verse 20 different times, hundreds of times. And one day when the Holy Spirit hits you, he'll give you have meaning to that, that scripture, that means

Deacon Steve Greco: 16:45

something at that moment in time, that's another scripture. The Scripture could be mean 20 different things to you. But that moment in time, all of a sudden, the Scripture means something different to you, which is which is great. It's like

Mary Anne: 16:58

aha moment, a new insight, the Lord is that this is going to happen. Be persistent, whether keep praying for the commies talking about the coming of Jesus Christ, the second coming. And he says, Be persistent, whether it is convenient or inconvenient. Well, this is

Deacon Steve Greco: 17:13

so unbelievably critical. I click this constantly, and saying it, Timothy, because you have to be that persevere, you have to be consistent. You have to spread the word of God. And he's talking about the importance of this.

Mary Anne: 17:29

It's not always convenient to pray. No,

Deacon Steve Greco: 17:32

no, I mean, lots of times, you don't want to you don't want to spread the word of God, because you're afraid of what people may say, or you get in an argument, whatever it is, but why or maybe it's inconvenient just

Mary Anne: 17:45

to pray. It's not always convenient. You get up really early every morning and pray you. And a lot of us just turn over. I think God wakes me up at 4am every morning. And that's what I put a lot of prayer time because maybe that's when I'm not distracted. Yeah, we all have different ways of praying and different prayer times. But you know, it's important that we do it, whether it's inconvenient, like oh, I don't feel like it. Sometimes I don't even have the words for prayers, because you may be hurting so much. And that's what I think is important to know that it's just connecting with so much. It's just being connected to God. And so sometimes I just say the name of Jesus, amen. Say I trust you, Lord, I trust in You, Jesus. He knows what's in your heart. But don't just say I can't do it because I hurt too much, or this hurts too much, or I can't pray about it. Just be persistent. You know, that's what made and keep your hands raised to the Lord like Moses did. That's where you win the battle.

Deacon Steve Greco: 18:49

Will some of you a few of you may know the story, in terms of whether it be convenient or inconvenient. I was on an airplane, it was not convenient for me to spread the word of God to minister to somebody but the Lord said, I want you to minister this person next year. And you know, the flight goes on a bell goes off. You know, the woman starts there was a woman who started talking to me if setting the land, right? Well, not Yeah, you know, a bell went off, you know, just in, so you going home and then the Lord then she opens up about how she was living a life away from God, but she believes she was a Christian. And just in a period of five minutes, she repented gave her life to Jesus said she was going to leave her lover she was married and having an affair. And the whole thing was just so surreal. But it was whether or not I wanted to or not. God wanted me to share it. And I believe that her whole life changed at that moment in

Mary Anne: 19:49

time. And while you were sharing you prayed as well. Oh, absolutely. I said, it's important.

Deacon Steve Greco: 19:54

I said, Lord, tell me what to say. Yeah, you know, cuz she said, Well, you know, I'm sure she didn't know me at all. And she started telling me her life story out, she's cheating on her husband and her family, but she was still a Christian and but from that, you know, she repented and God uses so again, it wasn't convenient for me. I was doing something else. But God wanted me to share that. And the persistence is just really, really important. So

Mary Anne: 20:21

keep praying Don't you know don't give up. Don't give up don't give up without ceasing. That's another scripture

Deacon Steve Greco: 20:27

first. Thessalonians five, six. 1618 Pray without ceasing. Rejoice always in all circumstances give thanks for this, the Wilfried in Christ Jesus a man. So let's take a look at the gospel read The Lord be with you and with their spirit. A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke, all right to like, Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always, without becoming weary. He said, There was a judge in a certain town, who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, render a just decision for me against my adversary. For a long time that judge was unwilling, but eventually thought, while it is true that I neither fear God nor respecting human being, because this widow keeps bothering me, I show this deliver adjust decision for her less she finally come and strike me. The Lord said, pay attention to what the dishonest judge says, will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones, who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. For when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on Earth, the gospel of the Lord,

Mary Anne: 21:40

pray, see Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the first thing I'd say here, he's Jesus told his disciples this parable, about the necessity to pray without becoming weary to being tired of, you know, how sometimes we get tired of saying the same prayer or something, and it's okay to switch up your prayers, you know, but remember, it's not so much what you say is, is to be in relationship with the Lord, and to make that communication. And so it's good for us to try different prayers and and switch them up. Sometimes, I was praying one time for one of my children. And it was like, when I pray, I start getting involved and telling God, how it should be fixed and what needs to be done. And he said to me, was right after communion, I'm sitting down, and I'm listening to the Lord. And he says, Okay, you're way distracted with your prayers. I know what he needs. Just pray the Our Father. Yeah, you know, to me, I thought, well, the Our Father isn't telling you what the need is, you know, but, but God knows what the need is. He's just be obedient. And, and be persistent. And keep praying, don't grow weary. Or don't be distracted with your prayers by by getting long lists of what needs to be done. Just use a prayer that that works for you,

Deacon Steve Greco: 22:59

Jesus, I trust in You, Jesus, I trust in You, Jesus, I trust in You. Now, this Bible, if I were to let it go, would it hit the table? Or would it just float in the air? There is a table under here there is a table under so it would hit? Or would it fall down or hit the ground? Whatever it might be? Yeah. Would it go south? Or Go Go follow that? The answer, of course is yes, we know it will. We know it's not going to float go up in the air. Because the law of gravity? Well, there are spiritual laws too. And one of the spiritual laws is persistence. Do you know that most of us or many of us have not met? if not most of us, we give up right before the miracles are going to happen? Because the enemy's working on us? Well, you've prayed for all this time, nothing's ever happened. You know, don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up right before the miracle happens. Many times people go well, it's not going to ask seems worse. I'm not it's not going to happen. I'm just going to stop. God doesn't want it whatever it is. But the widow didn't say God didn't want it. The widow basically said, I'm going to be fighting and fighting and fighting until it happens.

Mary Anne: 24:07

Okay, so this is a parable, I think it's important not to correlate the judge with God, because the God as we say, in a certain town is neither feared God nor respected. But it is a story of persistence. That's the story that the parable is teaching us here. And the judge there were, as always a judge selected for each town or or city in which they made decisions on local things. Now that we know this is a parable for sure, because first of all, the woman is a widow. And in Jewish culture, the widow is not cannot be represented, if she doesn't have a husband or a father or a son in law to represent her. She has no rights. But she still kept coming to the judge, even though he wasn't God fearing. And she she bagged them. And then it says, and the widow on the town has to kind of say, rendered the justice system for me against my adversary. And then for a long time he was unwilling, but then then he thought I better do it because she might hurt me. That was basically what the translation correct translation says, it says bothering me I mind that it really meant that she might do something to me. And so he decided to I shall deliver a just decision for her. This is leash she finally come and strike me. And so he says that the judge will do this versus how much more will God do for us? If we just come to him and remain in dialogue with him, you know a lot of times, and it says, He shall see justice is done for them speedily. You know, what does that mean? Well, a lot of times we pray, and we do not feel at speed. It means in God's timing. And a lot of times God doesn't answer us right away. Because we need to learn something through the persistence of prayer. Often I get changed. By praying, it's my heart that gets changed to a situation, when I pray, or there or could be a right timing when something is going to happen. So speedily doesn't mean that it'll happen like that. It means it will happen in God's time, which is different than our time,

Deacon Steve Greco: 26:14

will not God, then secure the rights of the chosen ones, or call out to him day and night, to call out to to the Lord day and night, for your family, for your marriage, for yourself, maybe you have some addictions, maybe you have sinful patterns that you want to get past. Call healthy, the Lord, be persistent, don't give up, go to reconciliation, keep going go to daily Mass, be persistent. Your persistence will win the day. If God did

Mary Anne: 26:44

our will, right away, sometimes. If he removed all of her trials right away, then you know, we wouldn't be have the opportunity to grow and grow. And because we do grow through our trials, and if we didn't have those trials, I don't know, I know, I wouldn't be as close to God. So

Deacon Steve Greco: 27:04

you know, and we know that we need them and without, that we can't get through. So this is, let me just finish with this. And this is in First Peter, one, six and seven. In this you rejoice, although now for low while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that's perishable, even though testify fire may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Christ Jesus. Now, why is that important? Because of persistence. If you look at what, you know, the refiners fire, right, you do a sword, you have to be persistent in that fire. And then, and then you see your reflection, and you know, it's done. But it takes time. So don't give up on areas of your life that you're struggling with. It takes time. Heavenly Father, we thank you very much for these wonderful people. We ask Lord God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, to give them perseverance, to give them guidance, to give them hope, through the intercession of our blessing mother through the power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, and I blushing and the Father Son, Holy Spirit, amen. This Deacon Steve Greco, and

Mary Anne: 28:19

Mary Ann,

Deacon Steve Greco: 28:19

and you've been on the Bible.

announcement: 28:22

And that's a wrap on today's edition of the Bible and you with Deacon Steve and Marianne Greco. Be sure to connect with our spirit filled hearts Facebook page to catch each and every episode. For more visit spirit filled hearts.org That's spirit filled hearts.org.

Unknown: 28:46

You're listening to the spirit filled Radio Network, God's word to encourage you, inform you,

announcement: 28:52

transform you to bless you as you change the world by being a reflection of Jesus. This especially with Tim fryer from the Diocese of orange and you're listening to spirit filled radio. We've all heard the passage from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25, for I was in prison and you visited me take a listen to this poignant word from Fred Mapusa, a recent guest of father Christopher Smith on the Cathedral Square radio show and podcast. Fred is the head of the restorative justice ministry in the Diocese of orange.

Unknown: 29:26

This prayer was composed by the California Conference of Catholic Bishops to restorative justice prayer, Jesus united with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Give us your compassion for those incarcerated men did mercy the broken in mind and memory, soften the heart of heart, the captives of anger, free the innocent. Parole, the trustworthy, awaken the repentance that restores hope. May prisoners families persevere in their love. Jesus healed the victims of crime. They live with the scars live to eternal peace, those who die rap victims families, the forgiveness that heals, if wisdom to lawmakers and those who judge and still prudence and patience and those who guard make those in prison ministry, bearers of your life for all of us are in need of your mercy. Amen.

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