Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to another edition of Big City Catholics, our diocesan podcast with Bishop Robert Brennan, the diocesan bishop of Brooklyn and Queens, and myself, Father Christopher Henu, rector of the CO Cathedral of St Joseph. We're in this beginning of the season of Advent, a great time of preparation for the coming of Christ, a time of prayer, a penitential season, as well as Bishop and I spoke of last week, but definitely a beautiful season, a liturgical season. We'll begin in prayer, asking our Blessed Mother's intercession upon us those whom we care for and all those whom we love, our parishioners and our faithful in the diocese. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Amen. Well, indeed it is Advent. Wow. In fact, by the time this airs, it'll be nearly the first week completed.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Absolutely. We have a lot coming up, certainly, as the Advent season approached, and now that we enter it, it just seems like there's just so many things on the calendar here at the Co Cathedral. Coming up on Saturday, the seventh Advent night of worship with Matt Maher and Sarah Kroger. Tickets are still available. People can come and purchase a ticket even at the door just to be present for this great concert. Co Cathedral.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: And tickets are very reasonably priced considering the big names. You know, these kind of concerts, you would not be able to attend with an asking price of $25.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. Yeah. They're highly subsidized. We're grateful for just being able to sponsor it.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Sponsor? You have sponsors?
[00:01:44] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: For the event. And that's great. It really is.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: And, you know, just even on your own calendar, there's so much happening with our Advent days of prayer, we have lightings and different grand army plazas.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: I mean, you know, we've spoken about this before, but there's that sense of the rush of Christmas and getting everything ready for Christmas, and we don't want to get lost in that. We don't want Advent to be lost in all those details and events and busyness. But on the other hand, there's something about those things that really can direct our eyes toward the Lord. There is something about preparing for the celebration of Christ's coming that is part of our Advent Prayer. But that has to take us deeper. You see, I'm not one to just like cast all that aside, but all those other things, the decorations and the carols and all of that, they need to draw us deeper into that sense of longing that Christ will come again. Sure. And that our ultimate hopes are not for this world alone, but our ultimate hopes are God's redemption of this world and the salvation of all of us. Our hopes are really about eternity. And so we have to have that longing for the deeper realities. External things can draw us deeper. The danger is external things can distract us.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: That's right. Distractions are not always bad things. But in this regard, if they distract from the excitement, from the hope, from the meaning of what it is that we're preparing for, that's where it gets a little bit upsetting and difficult for us. This season also is a great season for reconciliation. It is a penitential season. It's an opportunity for the recognition of God's mercy and love. And that's even reflected in the Gospels.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: It is. I mean, each Advent we start another year in the three year cycle of readings which we use at Sunday Mass. And so during the coming year, beginning with last Sunday and taking us through the year till next Advent, we're going to be reading principally from the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke is beautiful gospel and it's really one that focuses on God's love for the poor, the humble and on at the same time, it focuses. It's the Gospel of mercy. It's the gospel has the great parables. Luke, chapter 15 of God's Mercy, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. So there are all kinds of images. Luke calls us to recognize that mercy and that mercy comes forth. I often speak of two very important figures in Advent. St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Mother. There were others, but those two come speak to us so powerfully. And this weekend is the second Sunday of Advent and it comes down to hearing the voice of John the Baptist. So the second and third Sunday of Advent, we listen to John the Baptist, who calls us to repent, who calls us to make ready the way of the Lord. And John is such a fascinating person because, you know, he gets cast as this wild figure. Locust and wild honey, wild honey and camel hair, shirt and out in the desert and screaming, prepare. But what's important to note is that at that time lots of people were longing for change and there wasn't much possibility of change. People didn't perceive that mercy was a possibility.
And John the Baptist Preaches something new, something different. Mercy is on its way, you know, so repent. Why should you repent? Because you can. Because you're not stuck in where you are. Because you don't have to live in fear and shame. But that repentance is allowing that mercy of God to flood over you and begin again.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's certainly one of the ways in which the devil dupes us is by saying, you'll never change, you'll always be who you are and you're never going to change. And it's sort of limiting that conversion.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Experience, you know, When I was in Rockville center as a priest, I used to do some work in the Nassau County Prison. I would on Saturdays, go to the prison, first Saturday of the month. The DA at the time and some of his gang team spoke to the bishop and then Bishop Murphy and to his vicars and some of the other priests and spoke about. Some of this was during the time of the real gang warfare in Nassau and Suffolk County. A lot of it with MS.13. They were telling us the signs to be aware from. And basically two things that stayed with me were. One was that one of the most dangerous times is between four and six for middle school children, because that's when a lot of kids feel kind of alone.
And it's the after school before the family gathers for supper. And that's when bad people will offer them protection. But then you have to pay for your protection. And then it just drags you right in. And that's the second thing. Once you've done the bad thing, they have you. And this is. It's very demonic. It is the devil. It is the tool of the devil. And basically the constant message is there is no mercy. There was one gang sign of like, these three dots, the three ends. Prison, death and hell. Like, you're just doomed. Once you're in, there's no getting out of this. You've already committed the unforgivable. And John preaches that there is mercy. And he points to that mercy when it's near. He points to Jesus. It's Jesus who can pull us out of our misery. It's Jesus who can turn our hearts to repentance. It's Jesus who can give us new life. And all of us, I mean, whether it be the simple human things that drag us down or things that are heavy on our consciences, all of us can find that hope and love in Jesus. And that's a part of what Advent is about. It's that longing, it's that sense of Longing. Longing not for things of this world, not that they're bad, but really, truly longing for Jesus Christ.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: Now, you mentioned John the Baptist and our Blessed Mother. Maybe we talk a little bit about there's a few feast days of our Blessed Mother throughout the season. And also, I mean, in talking about that, just the phrase longing. So that longing, what a great theme that is.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: It is. You know, Mary exactly is such a powerful reminder to us of what it means to long for God alone. You know that psalm? My soul longs for you, O Lord. My song longs for you. This weekend we'll celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception. And of course, here we will celebrate in the Koch Cathedral the feast of Our lady of Guadalupe. Boy, is that a big event. And we get thousands of people. We've had to break it into two Masses, and they still fill the co Cathedral. But I love what they do at that Mass. We light torches and the people from the various parishes in groups, they run carrying the torch. Torch. They bring the torch back to their parishes where then they have local celebrations. Just a beautiful reminder of our unity, our communion, but then also how we live it out in all of our different parishes and neighborhoods. And so the universality of it, the diversity of it's a powerful reminder, but it's really a celebration. Immaculate Conception. Mary, from the very first moment of a conception, was kept from original sin. Mary was able to say yes to God because she knew that God would be faithful. And then Guadalupe kind of takes it into modern times. It's not like Mary is just somebody from the past, but that assumed into heaven, living the first fruits of Christ's resurrection. She can still accompany, through God's grace, God's people on that pilgrim way. Jesus gave her to us as a mother, and she exercises that maternal love. And Guadalupe is a powerful example, absolutely, of how she showed her maternal love, her motherly love for people when life was tough.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: We mentioned that how the apparitions of our Blessed Mother throughout time have always generally been used as a moment of great growth and renewal. Certainly, you know, in Mexico, in Ireland, in France. France and Portugal. I mean, all through the world, when she appears either to a group of people, to a group of farmers, whomever it may be, brings with her such renewal. And to Juan Diego and to the bishops of that time in Mexico, and what a continued renewal it is. I've yet to visit Guadalupe, the actual site.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: I was there back for the World Meeting of Families, and that goes way, way back. And that was a powerful experience. And you see people in The Shrine of Guadalupe. You see people coming on their knees. Again, that sense of the penitential. You see people who. There's a particular chapel where people pray with their resolutions, people who are struggling with terrible, maybe addictions or some kind of a grip on them, come begging for help, making the resolution to change their life, but realizing, I can't do this alone. And then, of course, there's the shrine with the tilma, with the coat that Juan Diego wore and the image of the Blessed Mother etched into it. It captured peoples, but it captured the world still. It really does. Yeah.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: And captures the Co Cathedral, you know, and it's not just. It captures our diocese of Brooklyn and Queens. And it's not just. Although the majority of folk that come to the Mass will be Mexican or of Mexican descent, but there are others. And it's not even just Latin Americans. Like there's every year a guy from Ireland comes and he always says hello to me and has a great love for a great devotion to our Blessed Mother, sits through the Mass, doesn't speak a word of Spanish, but sits there just to be present and participate with his parish community. And so it still ignites, it still revives so many, so many people to this day. Bishop, can we take a moment, though, before we get to Guadalupe on the 12th, we generally observe the Imaca Conception on the 8th. This year, the 8th falls on a Sunday, so the observance is moved to Monday, 9 December. But there's a little bit of confusion.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: It's a whole series of confusions. And goes back even with the change of the calendar. That was the original thought, that if you move the feast, you don't have the obligation if it goes from Sunday to Monday. So then. And I think we really messed up the holy days by doing this. It's like total confusion on all the holy days. But this business of if a holy day falls on a Monday or a Saturday, you don't have the obligation. But that's not true in the case of the Immaculate Conception. But there's the older rule that if you transfer the feast, it's crazy. I'm just going to say that it's been crazy and all of that. So basically a dubium was posed by a bishop from the United States chairing a committee about the Immaculate Conception. And the answer was, well, no, the obligation continues. So, yeah, we're asked to celebrate it as a holy day of obligation once again. And I guess some places there's some doubt whether you can dispense or not dispense in the answer to the Dubian if it's impossible to get to Mass, you're dispensed, do some other form of prayer, penance. But never has the Church asked us to do what's impossible. And quite honestly, we need as a church to do what we can to make it as possible. But given that resources are so spread out and calendars and weekday Masses, it may be that your parish has Mass scheduled at a time that you are not able to make it. And, you know, again, I can only ask you to do your very best. It's a beautiful feast to celebrate, obligation or no obligation. It's one of the big feasts of the Church. The Immaculate Conception is a huge observance. But the short answer to the question is yes, there was a different approach before. Yes, it is now considered a holy day of obligation. No, I don't know what happens in the future. You know, for me, I'm going to speak from the heart here. All right? And with no authority at all, because some of these things are written in canon law. They're not. It's not that you can just whip together change. There are certain things that are left to the local conference of bishops that would be, in our case, the United States, where, you know, you can set some holy days, are transferable and things like that. And the thing we did with if it falls on a Saturday or Monday, my thought is, if you go in and celebrate the holy days, we should do them well. And if we can't do them well, we shouldn't call them holy days of obligation. If we're going to observe that it's a holy day of obligation, then we should treat it like a Sunday. And if we're going to do that, then we as a church should take the lead and do it. And if we can do it, if we're not going to do it, then they should be observed as solemnities and encourage going to Mass. But to me, it's silliness to say this year is a holy day, next year it's not. I think we've lost the credibility on that by jumping back and forth. And it's not just that it's become a more secular world. Granted, it has, but people still have a deep devotion, and that's around. And sometimes, though, and we see this in Brooklyn and Queens because we see the whole world before us, so we do see all the different communities of people from different parts of the world. We were talking about Our lady of Guadalupe. Even apart from whether Monday is a holy day of obligation or not, how many people do you see in Church on December 8? How many people do you see, as we were just talking about in church in some of our communities on December 12th?
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Exactly. Full churches.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: It's not that people don't have the faith or the desire or the love. It's that there are certain expressions of our faith that really touch people's hearts. I often talk about, how many people do you see in Church on November 1st, All Saints Day? Wish there were more. How many do you see on November 2nd? That experience of all souls touches a need within us to pray for those who have died. And many parishes have done things. So I think there could be another approach to it. Again, there are things written in the law. I'm not looking to go beyond my level here, but those are the questions that I bring to the table. And then there were all these other days that are powerful expressions that I'm not looking to make holy days. But, you know, you look at Thanksgiving Day, yeah, sure.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Many people come to Mass on Thanksgiving just right.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Because we have that sense of thanksgiving in our hearts. How many people come to Mass on Ash Wednesday? It's not a holy day of obligation.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: But it touches a chord. It's an important day. It's a day of fast and abstinence. It's an important day. But, you know, there are moments when we sense that deep religiosity. And again, we think of some of the processions that are around. We think of some of the special days in all of our different apostolates. January 1st. For a lot of people, January 1st is a bit of a sleeper among the Haitian people. Wow. It's huge. So, you know, like, the devotion and the faith, it's there. We have to find ways to tap into that and to grow it again. That's not taking anything away from November 1st, All Saints. That's not taking anything away from the Immaculate Conception. I think we should celebrate those feasts. Well. But that means if we are going to make it a holy day, then we have to live it that way.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Not just like, oh, yeah, by the way, this year it is.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: Next year it's not. It gets confusing and it can add to, as you say, the credibility sort of of it. It can be a little bit.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: So, sorry, folks, short answer is, yes, it's a holy day of obligation. But regardless, I'd love to see you find a way to join us for Mass in one of our churches. One thing I did ask our pastors to do, because we are working together more Often we're trying to work together as parishes. I did ask the pastors to talk to one another and to publish the schedule so that if you have an early morning Mass and somebody has an evening Mass and then somebody else or maybe one of you has the noon Mass, like, that's one way of offering people different times and opportunities. So we did ask people to do that.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I think we've accomplished that aspect of it. And so we back to John the Baptist, our Blessed Mother Mary, this beautiful season of Advent. And I think, Bishop, as we kind of continue through the season, we hope that it is a moment of great grace for the faithful, the people, as we recognize, even just an early plug, you know, just for people to mark their calendars, that there is a reconciliation Monday opportunity on Monday, December 16, in our diocese as well as. So we can kind of unite with that mercy as well. And so we're really just jam packed with a lot of great graces.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: We are. And as long as we're on early plugs, you know, this year we open the jubilee year. Every 25 years is a year of jubilee, a holy year. The last one was huge. The year 2000, you know, that was a big, big deal, not only for the church, but in the secular world as well. But Pope St. John Paul II had us prepare for that crossing the threshold of hope for years. And now Pope Francis has been calling us to prepare ourselves. And this year, the Jubilee Year will focus on pilgrims of hope. We're making this journey together with one another in a pilgrimage of hope. And so that opens. The Holy Father will open it on Christmas Eve at St. Peter's and then in the other major basilica in Rome. And he asks us to do the same on the Feast of the Holy Family in all the cathedrals and co. Cathedrals of the world. He's not focusing on doors because he used. He had a special holy year with the Door of Mercy, but focusing on pilgrimages. And so we have here Holy family Sunday, the 29th Mass in St. James at 11, the regular 11 o'clock. We'll open the Jubilee Year in Brooklyn and queens on the 29th and then process down here for the 1:30 mass, the Spanish Mass of the Holy Family, the same day. So keep your eyes open for that. You're going to be very welcome to either both Masses or end the procession. And hopefully we could deal with cold. Let's hope it's dry.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Pilgrims of hope hoping that we are not walking through a blizzard on the 12th, 29th of December. God bless you for your courage in organizing that. But a great way for us to kick off the Jubilee year. And I know that our diocese has plans to bring the youth to Rome for Jubilee year. And there's been articles of the tabernacle.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: There's a diocesan pilgrimage. Bishop Tommasio will be leading a diocesan pilgrimage. We have the youth pilgrimage. Exactly. There'll be special days. There were also other jubilees within this year, for example, the Sacred Heart. So we've got a lot going on in the coming year.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: And a lot coming on in this liturgical.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: In this liturgical year. Yeah. As we started it just this week here in Advent. So, Bishop, perhaps as we come to a close, you could end us with a prayer and a blessing.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: Indeed. I'll use the Marian prayer during Advent. Let us pray. Loving Mother of the Redeemer, gate of Heaven, star of the sea, assist you people who have fallen, yet strive to rise again to the wonderment of nature. You bore your Creator, yet remain divergent after as before. You who received Gabriel's joyful greeting, have pity on us poor sinners, and may Almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: Thank you, Bishop. Great to begin this season of Advent together as a diocesan podcast. Big City Catholics. We hope that you'll join us again next week. God bless.
