Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Diocesan Bishop of Brooklyn, and myself, Father Christopher Henyu. Happy to be back in the podcast recording studio room with Bishop in front of me. As you know, we've been doing some on zoom with great opportunities to have great guests. And you, you've been all over the world too, Bishop, in these last few podcasts.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Intercontinental.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: Intercontinental. This is going to get an award winning podcast here. But we are releasing this podcast on the solemnity of All Saints and we're going to have a nice conversation about that universal call to holiness, some of the lives of the saints. For our opening prayer, I decided to use the text from the hymn. For all the Saints we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. For all the saints who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed thy name. O Jesus, be forever blessed Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might, Thou Lord their captain in the well fought fight Thou in the darkness drear their one true light. O blessed communion, fellowship divine. We feebly struggle they in glory shine. Yet all are one in thee for all are thine. Alleluia. Alleluia. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Happy All Saints day.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: Happy All Saints Day, the festival of all the saints. This day belongs to all of us, right? We talk about patron saints and we say happy feast day on your given patron saints day. But today is All Saints days. So it's a feast for all of us. The patron feast for every single one of us striving, like those saints, toward holiness. Striving to know the Lord Jesus and to attach ourselves to him.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: That's right. Well, Bishop, as I mentioned at the beginning, it's good to be back with you. You did have a chance to have some great experiences. Let's talk a little bit about them.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yes. So we had a wonderful retreat in Assisi with a dozen priests from the diocese and then that from there I went over to Brazil to the Shalom community. Shalom has a mission here in Williamsburg. Young adults, they're at the old Holy Family Church, which is now called the San Damiano Mission in Williamsburg. Their home is in Brazil. That's where they're rooted. And so they invited me for their international Congresso. And I went directly from Rome to Brazil and then back home. So it was quite the journey, but it was really well, well worth it. And apropos of the day that we celebrate today, a big focus in this young adult Conference was on the young saints. Father Cristiano, who's stationed here at the San Damiano Mission with some lay missionaries, men and women, lay missionaries who serve here with him. But Father Cristiano did a fantastic job. I was so impressed. You know, I know him. I've seen him in action here. He does a great job at the San Damo Mission. I'm telling you something, he was a rock star over there.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Wow. Wow.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: Oh, Everybody knew him. They all appreciated his ministry. And then when I heard him speak now, it was in Portuguese when he spoke, but there was a translation. But was he ever on fire?
[00:03:15] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: It's amazing. It was really good. And his topic had to do with the power of Christ in the lives of the young people. And he used the connection of the young Saints, people like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Therese, and Blessed Carlo Acutis. Some of the younger adults, one was a teen, but others were in their 20s when either they had their moment of conversion, or some of them lived short lives because of illness. And yet in a short time, they had a profound experience of friendship with Jesus Christ, and the light of Christ shone through them, and they brought others to Christ. And what Father Cristiano did is he spoke about that power that dynamism is within all of us and speaking to the young people, but helping young people to recognize that power of Jesus Christ within all of them.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: It's important to note that conversion is possible at any age, but certainly when we think about the impact that a relationship with Christ has on the lives of our youth and the young people. You know, you're right. St. Francis of Assisi was in his early 20s when he had his great conversion experience and then died at the age of 44. So it's just that experience of time with the Lord, but making quite an impact in 24 years or 20 years or so of faithful ministry, you know, in conversion to the Lord.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Indeed, St. Francis, at a very young age, had a profound impact. Many people wanted to share in what he was doing. You know, when we were in Assisi and I recorded with Father Miller from Assisi, but when we were in Assisi, we had the chance to see Bishop Domenico Sorrentino and Father Figueiredo, who works with him. Bishop Sorrentino came here with the relics of Blessed Carlo shortly after I arrived. That had already been set up, and it was a very big moment for us. We had a lot of people take part in those celebrations. But when we were there, Bishop Sorrentino focused on what he called the door of St. Francis. And he had a pastoral letter that he had published about it. And he's involved in a project doing the excavations of the original door. So their chancery is built in the same spot where the archbishop's residence was back in the day of St. Francis. And, you know, the story was that Francis, he heard this call to live simply and to give away all his goods. The problem was he didn't give away his goods. He gave away his father's goods. And so he resorted to judgment by the church, by the bishop, rather than by the civil society. And so Francis came with his family, and at that moment, he renounced everything. This all took place at the door of the archbishop's residence. And now, of course, you know, over the centuries, buildings, bond buildings, but he's begun an excavation. So you get to the original site of where Francis renounced everything, even embarrassingly, to taking the clothes off his back. And that absolute renunciation was also a statement of total dependence on Jesus Christ. And one of the things Archbishop Sorrentino reminded us of, he said, we all need to kind of pass through that door of renunciation. We have to look at the things that we grow attached to and see what steps between us and the Lord. And Francis was a great example of that. But then soon after, Francis was Claire. Same kind of a thing where she renounced everything to follow Christ. So Francis was one of the big characters, if you will, in the conference over in Brazil. And having come right from Assisi, it struck a chord within me. And the other thing, there was a powerful lesson in Archbishop Sorrentino's letter about the store of St. Francis, for me personally as a bishop, because he also spoke about Archbishop Guido, the bishop at that time, who essentially accompanied Francis in this process of conversion. And it's a good lesson of a call for me as a bishop, for all of us as priests, for those who serve the church, religious deacons, laypeople, to accompany one another in that pursuit of holiness, to encourage one another on that powerful journey. So going from there right to Shalom in Brazil was a powerful moment. St Francis was a great example. St Therese is also another powerful patron for all of them. And for her, holiness came in love. She wanted to do great things, but she knew that she was called to love and to be loved by Jesus.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: You mentioned that idea of accompanying and helping foster that conversion and that saintliness within. Yeah, I do think of even the image of Pope John Paul II standing with Mother Teresa of Calcutta and their great friendship. And now both of them Recognized as saints of the church. You know, and we've seen, even in our history of our church, so many saints that have had interactions with the Holy Father, with, you know, whomever that would be at that particular time, and just that Supreme Pontiff is there, talking with, working with, which would soon be recognized as a saint of our church. It's really quite a beautiful thing. You never know who you're encountering and who you were talking with and who you were working with.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: And that goes at every level of the church. It goes at the level of the domestic church. So go back to Saint Therese. Saint Therese of Lisieux, almost instantly recognized as a saint. But subsequently, where did her holiness come from? It came from God, but it was nourished by her family, by her parents, and the church began to recognize their sanctity. Right. So the Martins, her parents are recognized as saints. We accompany each other on this journey towards sanctity and bring about holiness in one another. Encourage that. You know, we were talking earlier today about a sad incident at the Church of St. Therese. I saw the news video. It was a very creepy thing. But the statue was vandalized. The response of the parish was in prayer.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Yeah. That day when they realized the desecration of the statue, the pastor and the parishioners attending Mass, it's noted in the tablet, they pray through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and their patroness, St. Therese. And I think that's really a great gift to have those, the patron saint of your parish, you know, to know about them, whomever it may be. St Joseph here and St Teresa of Avila, St Therese of Lisieux, and all the saints for whom our parishes are named. What a great gift that is to be able to use their intercessory power in that form of prayer.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. Going back to Shalom, back in the summer, a group from Shalom accompanied us on the Eucharistic revival in Indianapolis. And so I had a chance to talk to them, some of the missionaries and some of the participants in Shalom during that conference in this podcast. But at this international congress, again, the big focus on the young saints, another great young saint who they hold up is soon to be St. Carlo Acutis. And there's another Assisi connection, because at the church, attached to the door where Francis renounced all of his attachments is where the remains of Blessed Carlo are venerated. And it's beautiful to see the outpouring of love, people coming to venerate the remains of Blessed Carlo and to offer their Prayers. People of all ages are turning to the intercession. Go back to that sense of intercession, turning, asking the intercession of this young fellow. In this case, it was sort of the reverse of St. Therese. His mother will tell the story how they were not terribly attached to their faith, and yet it was his curiosity and his love of God, this desire to know God, that drew them closer to the church. And so he really changed their lives. But he kept track of all the eucharistic miracles and used modern technology. He used the media, the social media, to develop a webpage listing all of the eucharistic miracles. Making another connection going back to Shalom. They featured something like a talk show. In that panel. There was a fellow who, when he was 17 years old, developed his own Instagram site, talking about the young saints, saints recognized and canonized by the church, but also people of heroic virtues, maybe some of them whose causes are open, some of them who may not be well known, but who touched that community there, the Shalom community. This one fellow who was a surfer, but he was one who called everybody else to a sense of holiness and still is a great model for the people in the movement.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: So Father Christiano, we're very grateful to him. In preparation for this podcast, he shared with us a list of, as you said, some who are canonized, recognized as saints in the church, and others who yet to be, or causes maybe opening, and those who've lived these heroic virtues. And it's a list of all these stories of these young people. And one that stuck out to me was, again, many of them had aspects of suffering and illness in their life, even Carlos Acutis. And one of the stories here is a story of a gentleman by the name of David Buji, again developing a great sickness. And yet in those moments, instead of falling away or being angry at God or denying the love of God, embraces God and embraces his love. And it says, on his final day, numerous young people came to his room one by one, where he prayed for them, understood their hearts, and offered counsel. He passed away on June 18, 2017, with a smile on his face, his image accompanied by the phrase, if I am happy, how can you not be in the midst of his suffering, yet keeping that joy alive in his heart and saying, if I'm happy and I'm in the midst of this great suffering and great pain, how can you not be happy? What are your reasons to not be happy? Just great stories of virtue.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Indeed, one of the stories he shared is not somebody associated with the movement, but somebody with whom I'm somewhat familiar, Sister Claire Crockett. Clare grew up in Northern Ireland and was a bit rebellious and was kind of tricked by her friends into attending a retreat. And that began a spiritual journey that eventually ended up in a vocation to religious life with that community of sisters. And once she encountered Christ, she just had this contagious joy. She was always a little bit of a comedian, and she brought that with her into this new religious life. When I was in Columbus, one of the sisters who knew her was friendly with her in that community, was from the diocese, and she wrote Sister Clare's biography, Alone With Christ, Alone. That was one of her expressions. And then from that, there's a great film. I don't remember the name of it. It's really only available on YouTube, but it's a very powerful testimony to her experience of conversion. But more importantly, the joy she brought with her. She died in an earthquake in Ecuador on Mission, and it was a real blow to the community. But they also recognized in her joy now that she shares the joy of Christ in heaven. These are people, people who lived heroic lives, not in the way we describe heroic, but just by living with joy, with the dependence on Christ, with the familiarity with Christ, a friendship with Christ. They're not people who grew up being perfect. There were some people, like St. Therese, who were recognized very early on as being close to the Lord. But a lot of them are people who kind of struggled. Remember earlier, last month, we had the gospel of the rich man having to go through the eye of the needle. There are a lot of stories about people who had to go through that metaphorical needle, but they did so with Christ, and they came to discover Christ, and then they brought people to him. Today, on All Saints Day, we recognize all of those people, the ones whose names we know through the tradition of the Church, the ones whose names we know because of the powerful stories that are testimonies for us today. But also maybe some of the people who've touched our lives, who themselves have given a great witness to Christ and to the joy of knowing Jesus.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: It's a great message on this day just to remember. Certainly, again, all of us have this call to live as saints, to live joyful lives, authentic lives. Sainthood doesn't mean, like you said, that we're perfect in our humanity. We're never perfect. It just means authentically striving and continuing to live that gospel message.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: I always turn to the first reading from Revelation on the Feast of All Saints Day, the 144,000, which is symbolic number. It's like the fullness of fullness, the 12 times 12 times a thousand. But I always turn to that image, and the narrator says, well, now, who are these people? You know who they are. These are the ones who have survived the tribulations and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. What does that mean? These are the ones who experience the trials and the tribulations of everyday life, just like you and I do, and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, who have attached themselves to Jesus Christ, who relied on him to get them through it by doing so, had an impact on the world around them, and now are in heaven with God. And now there's another aspect that we celebrate because we talk about the communion of saints. These aren't people, just figures from history, but these are people who are with God in heaven and they're connected to us. When we do wake services, we talk about how the ties that bond us together in life do not unravel with death. And so we continue to be related to those who've gone before us and they're praying for us. Another image I love. This weekend, we're in for a traffic nightmare. The marathon takes place on Sunday and goes through the five boroughs. So I know I have to get out of town. I have to be where I'm going to be on Sunday morning because it goes right through our neighborhood. You get boxed right in one day. I'd like to keep the calendar free and be around there as people pass. I'm told that as everybody goes by Lachlan High School, the band is out there playing the theme from Rocky. It's exciting. One year, I'd like to do that. But that theme of the marathon, running the race. You and I are still running the race, but that image from the letter to the Hebrews. But we're surrounded by that cloud of witnesses spurring us on that cloud of witnesses. They're in heaven, but they're kind of like the band, and they're kind of like the people on the side of the road. And they're saying, come on, you can do it. We believe in you. And they're cheering us on as we make this journey through life, through the trials and the tribulations. So a very, very happy All Saints day to you. Let's take joy in the lives of the saints, but also let's ask them to continue to pray for us and encourage us to keep our eyes fixed on the goal, on Jesus himself.
And if I may say a word of thanks as well, because for putting up with my voice. It's a seasonal thing. Believe me, everyone, I feel fine. But as the seasons turn, there's usually a day or two of laryngitis, and unfortunately, it's the day we're recording.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Thank you, Bishop. Thank you. Perhaps you could end us with a prayer and a blessing for us.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Sure. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, may Almighty God bless you this day and always. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: Amen.
Thanks, Bishop. We hope that you'll join us again next week on another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics. God bless.
