Host: Welcome to Saint Patrick Catholic Community Podcast. We're glad you're with us.
Fr. Eric: The feast of Pentecost reminds us that our Christian way of life, following Jesus, lasted for two thousand years. How do we break that open with stories which have been told for two thousand years? I came across this week a story that I'm gonna share with you that I think embodies a lot about what Christianity is and being at our very best. Let's take a look at this video.
Speaker 3: Finally tonight, hope and joy in the Hoosier state, how memes about a busted pickup truck drove one community to help a man when he needed it most. Here's Steve Hartman on the road.
Speaker 4: In South Bend, Indiana, there have now been multiple reports of a UDO, an unidentified driving object.
Fr. Eric: Good morning.
Speaker 4: The whole town is a buzz. I thought it was AI. I I didn't know if it was real. It's unbelievable how the thing even moved.
Host: I did a double take because I couldn't believe the sight of it.
Speaker 4: But it's real, and it belongs to this man. Wait. Is this it? This is it. Moe Ryle's truck looks normal enough from the front.
Speaker 5: 2000 Chevy Silverado 1,500.
Speaker 4: But start it up and look at it from any other angle and you'll see why folks have been so shocked at the sight of it. What in God's name happened to your truck?
Speaker 5: Let's go with what didn't
Speaker 3: happen to it.
Speaker 5: Okay? There's too many documented incidents for me to even go there.
Speaker 4: Combine those mishaps with the fact that Indiana does not require vehicle inspections, and you have the makings of a social media frenzy. For the past few months, thousands of people have been sharing their sightings online and mercilessly poking fun. But a few weeks ago, one local resident saw that wounded duck of a truck limping down the highway and didn't just make a mockery. He made a connection.
Host: I just thought there's gotta be something more to why this truck looks like this. What did you learn? I just put two and two together that this is this person's only means of transportation.
Speaker 4: Colin Crowell, owner of a local detailing shop, met with Moe and soon after launched a crowdfunding campaign to get him a new truck. Raised about $22,000 from about 500 different donors.
Speaker 5: That's the part that knocked me over. Bam. Here's a human being seeing another human being struggle. And I'm like, wow. What did I do to deserve this?
Speaker 4: You know? Well, for starters, he has worked hard his whole life, most recently at a Dollar Tree. He's had some health issues lately and could really use a reliable ride to get to doctor's appointments. So last week, Moe took his truck for one last ride to the local Chevy dealer where he was gifted this shiny 2019 Silverado. But he says the real gift was far less tangible.
Speaker 5: This whole thing is not about me. It's about this community bonding together. God is good.
Speaker 4: Once again, evidence that people are good too. Steve Hartman on the road in South Bend, Indiana.
Fr. Eric: Mercilessly making fun of the truck. One person searched for the story behind this truck. Human being seen another human being struggle, gathered 500 people to help raise money to help. What did I do to deserve this? A reliable ride needed for important appointments.
This community bonded together. God is good. People are good too. That's our story. That's the story of Christianity at its very best.
As we celebrate this feast of Pentecost, it reminds us that in some way and somehow, we need the Holy Spirit. For two thousand years, this event that happened is ongoing. And over those two thousand years, we have needed the Holy Spirit. Think about the many wrong turns that humanity and the church has made in two thousand years. Think about the mistakes that the church has done.
The misuse of Jesus' teaching, being wanting power and misusing people, and being cruel. Think about wrong turns, wrong actions, and yet, here we are today at mass at this very altar. Somehow, the Holy Spirit has kept us together with those elements of truth to keep us going. Today, the setup is more can be one of any group can use the name Catholic. The word Catholic is not trademarked.
Any group, any organization, any ideology can use the word Catholic and place it on them. They can even speak our language, but that doesn't mean they stand for what is true, what it comes from God, that really what it means to follow Jesus. That's happened for two thousand years. And even right now, it is confusing to know that if someone takes our name, what do we believe? What do we stand for and who we are?
And I thought our birth, the feast of Pentecost would be a good thing just to briefly go over with you things that have lasted for two thousand years that define who we are as Catholic people, but more importantly, true followers of Jesus. And so in our Catholic faith, the church in, first of all, we know it is global. Global doesn't mean we have a branch office in every city. It means that our message and who we are goes out to everyone. And we belong to everyone as well.
And they belong to us. In our first reading from the acts of the apostles written by Luke, he is always reminding that the church goes out into the world and to include everyone. The word Pentecost in Greek means fiftieth. Fiftieth. Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate Pentecost.
For the Jews, fifty days after Passover was a special feast of the festivals, which people came from everywhere with their language, with their culture, with their mindset, their way of being, and they came to Jerusalem. And that's why Luke has the Holy Spirit come upon all of them and touches their hearts and they're going, hey, we're speaking our own native tongue. We bring our culture. We're all different, but yet everyone understands one another. People don't give up their nationality, their language, their way of life, but they see a connection that all matter to God.
And so the church is global in its mission, drawing people from every part of the world. Belief in Jesus is central to being a Christian, being part of our Catholic family. Now, a lot of times people will make it seem like they gotta have head knowledge. I googled Catholic faith and I found them to be the most truthiest church there is. And I'm going to be Catholic because I like their doctrine.
I like their rules. I like things that they do and everything seems to be structured and it feels comfortable. But yet, that's not what Jesus says. Now, we do study, we do learn, we do understand doctrine as best we can. But Jesus says, follow me.
He didn't say, learn more about me, choose the right doctrine, like the right parish, be involved with things that are convenient. Jesus says, follow me. And what does follow me? Do what I do. That's why our behavior cannot be separate from our faith.
If we are behaving cruelly towards others, if we're speaking and mocking other people, if we are not living the life that Christ lived, we are not following Jesus. You can use his language. You can use his terms. You can even call yourself Catholic. No one's gonna stop you because there's no trademark like Coca Cola brand.
But that's not following Jesus. Also, we have the sacraments. Now, there's seven in the church, we know, but sacraments mean that God is present in the community. Now, we say seven and they're not the only seven. Sacraments exist outside the community where God encounters the wrong turns that we in church leadership, those who wear a collar or those who are leaders in the churches, we have become gatekeepers to the extreme of sacraments.
Making sure that you stay proper. You're not living the worthy life, you're breaking rules. You you you know, you're not you don't have parish envelopes? You know, you don't go to a Catholic school? What?
And so we listen to grandpa and grandma who are so concerned that you can't go up and be part of it because you're breaking rule. My friends, I've been preaching for forty years and I want to let you know my preaching has not converted one person. I can tell by the way you're falling asleep right now. I haven't done any of that. What God does is he does amazing things through preaching and through sacraments.
I've been doing this long enough to know that people who are broken, who struggle with sin, and that's all of us. No one's exempt from that. Even when we judge other people saying, you're breaking church laws. I have seen God in forty years transform people because they are open to the spirit. They are open to God changing mistakes.
The wrong turn that many of us make is we become gatekeepers and we keep people away and make them worthy by saying, do these things and then you will be rewarded. Scriptures and tradition are separate I mean, are central to our faith. Tradition came first. Scriptures came second. And so the tradition of how we do things and what we believe comes from wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
We worship together and we gather at this table. The only reason for two thousand years we're here despite all the mistakes and shortcomings and our embarrassing history is we have the table. So often, churches are made to look beautiful, and we buy into that. Where's the tabernacle? Why don't you have a more prettier, crucifix?
Where are all the statues in stained glass? Why doesn't it smell or look like a church? And yet, here's what the church teaches. That's all you need is the table. You can't operate without the table.
There are churches without roofs around the world. There are churches that have no statues, no pews. There are churches that don't have a crucifix because they meet in a school or whatever. Those things help us pray, but they're not central. That's why we built this where the table is round, where everyone is invited to that table.
That's what it means to be Catholic. That's where we eat. That's the high point the church says of all worship. All our prayers lead to this very table. And that's why your presence is honored by God in being here today.
And moral teaching, the church struggles with its own morality. The clergy have failed you for two thousand years by falling short in morality, but so have God's people. And yet the Holy Spirit has been with us to help have moral teachings, to know how we treat people, how we love people. The problem is when we know someone who's living a sinful life and we use them. Oh, I don't care if they're unethical, I don't care if they're cruel, I don't care if they're mean, I don't care if they're dishonest.
As long as I benefit, I will look the other way. That is not loving neighbor. Do you care about a person's soul? I hope so. Do you worry or concern about judgement day for people?
Your response in mind is to love them, but to encourage them, not support their behavior. Not to simply say, oh, we all sin or everyone does it, or to be indifferent to cruelty and living a horrible human life. And yet, we're so indifferent to that, and yet, the holy spirit for two thousand years say, this is morality. Even when your priests and bishops fail you. Because right from God is important.
And the church gathers all from nations, all cultures, allowing them to be respected, but know that they belong. And so the church, meaning God's people to the Holy Spirit, teaches this. Every human person has dignity. Every human person has dignity. Here's the thing that I I really scratch my head over.
All of you sing the songs that give people dignity. All of you sit there and heard God's powerful word and said, I love all God says. All matter. All the gospel is saying every human being matters. And you all go, uh-huh.
And then when we walk out these doors, we're indifferent to cruelty. We're indifferent and we mock people. And we belittle people like it's nothing. That's not loving neighbor. Loving neighbor means you want what is good.
And so when people are living lives that are not of the gospel, we should pray for them. We should be loving as possible to say, we want you to do better. Also, the church is universal. That means then that not everyone is Catholic, but that we see God working in every religion, in every denomination, in all Christian people. We still see God working with them even when the church is short in its in its goodness and even when others are.
The church is universal saying, we see God working in every person and every way of life. That's in our teaching. That's in the second Vatican Council, the highest form of teaching. So this is not my opinion. So before you blow me off today and say, ah, this guy's just yakking away, look it up.
Look it up. That's central to what we believe. Also, loyalty to God becomes first before loyalty to any nation. Sometimes we mix up patriotism by saying nation first, America first. And I've told you for thirty one years, there is no American section in heaven.
I like the skyboxes the Arizona Cardinals have, that's pretty good. Once I got there, I never wanted to go back into the stands. But that's not heaven. That's not the kingdom of God. There's no special section.
And that's why our loyalty is to God first. The gospel critiques every political system, whether it's from the right or left. Because the kingdom of God is what we preach. That's what we stand for. We do not become partisan and say, all must think this way.
The church, as Pope Francis has said that I love when he said this, the church is not your conscience. It helps form conscience. All of you are free to decide how your conscience is formed, but that doesn't excuse us from responsibility and consequences of our decision. And so the church includes people from every race, every language, every culture, every political system. We may disagree politically, but we still share the same faith.
In social teaching, the church says, always care for the poor. Always, everyone. Protection of migrants and refugees, not to be indifferent when their rights are being mistreated or being deported, when leaders refuse to fix a system, and all we do is go, they deserve it because they broke the law, when we have no clue what we're talking about. A system that doesn't want to be fixed because leaders benefit from cruelty to those who are human beings. Many who are baptized in the same baptismal water than you and I.
And we go, well, that's what they get for not coming here legally. My friends, that does not remove them from being treated with dignity. Peacemaking, human rights, religious freedom, and the common good. And so the church also on this Memorial Day weekend affirms healthy patriotism. Love of country is good.
That's a good thing. The church says service through the country to society. And what people do for the benefit of all society, not just the selected few. That is good. And the church understands that gratitude for every culture, one's own culture in history, that is beautiful, that is encouraged because we come from all.
But Catholicism teaches patriotism must always be secondary to the gospel, to the dignity, for the dignity of all people. God is good and so are his people. And yet, we've taken many wrong turns. We have believed wrong things about Jesus. We have made many mistakes over two thousand years.
That's our history. That's who we are. And yet, God invites us to this table at 10:30 mass at Saint Patrick's in Scottsdale, Arizona. Here he is, ready to love us, ready to know that we too are good in spite of our mistakes. On this, the birth of the church, let's be mindful.
God is good, but people are good too.
Host: This has been a Saint Patrick Catholic Community Podcast. For more of our shows, go to our website and click Saint Patrick's Studio.