SPEAKER_03 0:07

Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey. Join us for conversations about our Catholic faith, and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love. We're so glad you could join us. I'm Jay Agnis, Communications Director for the Diocese and editor of the Beacon, our news website. With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney. Bishop, how are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:28

I'm good, Jay. How are you doing? Doing good. We have another new set? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

On the road again.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

We thank Father David Pickens, the uh pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Church here in Partiphany, where Father Caesar served right for a time, two years. And uh, but today, as part of the our participation, uh blessed to host and receive uh the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and um wonderful night last night in Passaic. Um Father Casey Cole, who will meet, uh, spoke to our Catholic school students this morning and look forward to procession and uh gathering tonight in our cathedral. But uh Father Caesar's been working hard now for a number of months to bring it all together, but uh but so far so good. And uh I wrote a little few words in the beacon for this week's column, and at the end of it I put, you know, wonderful weekend with many blessings. Yesterday's gospel, I thought it was beautiful and appropriate, and then I put a PS at the end, and that the Knicks won the NBA championship on Saturday, made it a good weekend.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

Yeah, I think I think everyone in the entire metropolitan area is fully aware that and and you being a big Knicks fan, uh so congratulations to you. You must be excited and uh let's hope it's not another 53 years. Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Right, right, right. So um maybe we'll begin with prayer. Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Remembering that Jesus has told us wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, he's there in the midst of them. We thank in a special way today, God, for the gift of our faith, hope, and love, and especially the gift of Jesus, truly present body, blood, soul, and divinity, and the gift of the Eucharist. And we join together with our pilgrims and the whole nation as we look forward to our twenty hundred and fiftieth anniversary as a nation. And we pray that this Eucharistic pilgrimage will be a blessing for our land, for our people, for the church and our country. And we continue to pray for peace. We ask the help and intercession of Mary, our blessed mother, as we pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray. Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, Mother of the Church, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint James, the patron of pilgrims, pray for us. All holy men and women, pray for us. Name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

All right, so what uh how are things going to be going? It's uh it's been exciting, crazy, busy, national Eucharistic pilgrimage.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

The Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, um the consecration of the country that uh I was blessed to be part of on Thursday evening in Orlando with the bishops, and then uh we ordained two new priests on um on Saturday morning. So it's been a full weekend, and uh I guess it was November when I reached out to Father Caesar about the uh Eucharistic pilgrimage coming through. Um maybe uh just share a little of your experience from there until now. You don't have to go into all the details, but it led to a beautiful night last night in Passaic, uh wonderful morning this morning, and looking forward to this evening.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, I mean I was uh to be honest, I did not fully realize what we were getting ourselves into, right? Welcome to Ministry Land. Exactly, exactly. Um, but uh I was happy to to kind of embark on this journey. Um what we've been able to do uh is not only historical in the life of our diocese, right? Um, but I think it all blends in perfectly into the whole Eucharistic revival that is going on nationwide. And uh the beautiful mass yesterday at Bovarini Stadium, the great attendance, uh the participation of all our ecclesial movements, um that stuff doesn't happen. Um there was a committee that was formed.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Uh everyone pastors in Passaic were wonderful, right? Right. The mayor of Passaic, Mayor Law. Yeah, our shout out to the city of Passaic and the police officers, everyone there.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Uh they really they they've been a pleasure to work with. Um and so just to see the culmination of that work throughout these past few months and um the great response we've received from everyone that we kind of reached out to and and invited uh has been extremely rewarding. And uh thankful to to Bishop Sweeney for his vote of confidence. Um and you know, now we hope to reap the fruits of Jesus coming through our diocese and deepening of our faith and our love of him. Um I think uh you know the the seed has been planted and God will students.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

That's a very uh opportunity to participate this morning here at St. Peter's. And uh uh in your planning, um I think you heard about a priest who was well known on social media, right? Is it Father Casey Cole, is that it? Uh maybe just tell us a little bit about the decision to invite Father Casey to do it.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

So um I follow Father Casey. Uh I've kind of seen the amazing work he's done uh with young people in particular. Uh just the his style, the way he presents the good news. Um I thought it was kind of the perfect person to have speak to our Catholic school students. Um he's young, he's vibrant, he's very dynamic, and so I think these are all things that when channeled in the right way, they can make the gospel message more attractive and more relatable for our young students. And so I reached out to him and he graciously accepted uh despite his very busy schedule, and we're just very glad that he's with us. And we learned this morning with the young people that he loves tacos.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Yes, tacos are great. So, Father Casey, thanks again. Uh maybe just two things to start. Uh, maybe just tell us a little bit about yourself, your vocation story, uh, maybe what attracted you to some of the ministry that you do in terms of uh social media, uh, and then after that, maybe just tell us a little bit about what you shared with our our students uh uh this morning in terms of uh uh getting to know Jesus in the Eucharist.

SPEAKER_06 6:33

Sure. Uh well I'm a Franciscan friar, as you can see from my habit, and so someone inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, who went out and cared for the poor and announced the kingdom. And I met friars when I was in college who just lived with joy. They lived with humility, they lived with compassion for all people. And something about that really shook my world because I had thought about being a married man, having kids, and I thought that was a great, wonderful vocation, and and it is, but I started to realize that maybe there were other things for me, and maybe I wasn't a guy called to make to love one person or a small number of people, but everyone in a different way. And so I found myself really finding Jesus in the poor and the broken and those who are lost, and so this idea of going out into the world has always been so important for me. I'm a person that, whether it's a recipe or a television show, if I get excited about something, I have to share it with everyone. Oh. And so this has led me to my vocation as an evangelist, but also uh online in social media. So many people around the world are not coming to church. And so where are they? They're on their phones. So that's maybe where we go to meet them. Which has led us to the ministry that we do in Charlotte. We go out to the city streets and we evangelize people who go to work, people who go on the streets. Search, so that's the name of it. Seek, encounter, accompany, renew, convert, and heal. Wow. Evangelization is not an event, it's a process. And what Pope Francis reminded us so often is that accompaniment is so important, that patience to walk with people.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Walking the journey together as our pilgrims are doing from Florida through New Jersey up to Boston and then eventually down to Philadelphia, right?

SPEAKER_06 8:02

Yeah, and recognizing that people have found a bit of the truth. They found some goodness, some beauty. They may not call it God, they may not know its source, but I do think they know God implicitly. And so our goal is to help them let that flourish, to find the good and say, yes, let me build upon that.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

And um the pilgrimage gives us some opportunities to come together in prayer uh in the presence of our Lord. We had a beautiful mass last night. We'll have a mass this evening in the cathedral. Uh, and you shared uh a message um with our Catholic school students and their teachers and uh leaders, school leaders and priests, uh pastors uh uh this morning here at St. Peter's. Maybe you want to what it what did you try to say to our young people about the Eucharist?

SPEAKER_06 8:44

Yeah, so much of the last couple years has been focused on what the Eucharist is, emphasizing the true presence of Christ, that He is truly there, body, blood, soul, and divinity, and I think rightly so. This is something that we found in our country that a lot of Catholics didn't understand or didn't fully live out. And so a lot of emphasis on that, but I've been fascinated over the last couple years and felt a need to emphasize, so what? So what if Jesus is up there? Does that have any effect on my life? And so what I talked about today is how the reception of the Eucharist transforms us and sends us out. That if we are to receive Jesus, we are to become the body of Christ, which means if he is a uh a body of holiness, the Eucharist makes us holy. And if he is a sacrifice for us, we are to sacrifice ourselves for others. And if we are to be sent out to bring reconciliation and communion, that is exactly what he did and commands us to do.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Holiness, sacrificial love, and communion, right? Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Well, great. Yes. So um tell us like how how's it been going with social media? Are i are you seeing an impact? Like, are you see the seeds being sown or what?

SPEAKER_06 9:50

Social media is a wild place. It is a place with a lot of fruit, but as we see with Pope Leo talking about AI, some of these things don't have the right governors on them. They don't have the right regulations, the right limits, and we don't necessarily always know how to use them. And so what we find is that some people are just of ill will, and so they're there to be mean. Other times there are people who are really well-intentioned, but maybe don't have the skills, and so we might spread misinformation or maybe a bad impression of the church. And then there are some who are doing incredible work, and I think all three of us probably, or all three of those things describe all of us at some times, at our best and at our worst. And so knowing how to get the right fruit from it. Is it just the numbers? Is it the number of likes, subscribers? Usually not. I find the best fruit is when people come and say, I was at a tough time in my life, and that gave me direction. And so I always try to focus on those qualitative things. How many people are entering the church, how many people are growing deeper in their love for Christ? And that's hard to measure. And so sometimes it is offering up to God to say, I have done what is mine to do. Lord, do with it what you like.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Okay, yeah. And Father Caesar, you're no slouch when it comes to social media.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

I try, uh trying to learn from the best, given our presenter today and the two priests that spoke yesterday, Father Raphael Capot and Father Heriberto Garcia. Um, but I agree wholeheartedly with what Father Casey uh mentioned. Um it is a digital continent, and so the church has to meet people where they are. Um if people are on their phones, well then as they're you know scrolling, there should be something of the gospel message that jumps out. And to go back to the the transcendentals uh Father Casey mentioned, we see good truth and beauty all around us, right? And it's just I think a matter of readjusting our lens, our focus, and to make sure that those things that are good, right, because God created them good, point us back to him, um, and then uh elicit a response on our part. Well, how can we then communicate that to the world?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Maybe it's a phrase we don't hear as often as we used to, but uh, you know, a picture's worth a thousand words, right? And uh, as you talk about goodness and beauty and even truth, um, I think of some of the images um from yesterday, right? From that procession, and the beautiful evening and the stadium and filled with uh the faithful celebrating mass, united around the Eucharist and the altar. And and that's gonna go out, right? I mean, that that'll be um uh our our our Hispanic Charismatic group group I know is very active on social media, and I'm sure they'll have a lot of those images out there. Um, Father Casey, was it something that uh you you grew up with? Um was the interest always there in terms of social media and then uh as you using it for ministry, or was it something that you uh maybe realized could be um used at maybe a later date?

SPEAKER_06 12:41

Yeah, I I know I look young, but uh social media didn't exist when I was younger. And so there there is a whole new world that we're all trying to figure out now. I will say that I uh have always wanted to share my faith, and I've always wanted to make people feel welcome and get excited about things I'm excited about. And so as these new technologies have come out, I will admit I've been reticent. Uh I I was late to get onto a blog and late to get on YouTube and late to get on some of these other things, but then recognizing maybe this is my cross to bear sometimes. I I don't always love to do it, but I do think it is a necessary opportunity to meet people.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Okay, yeah, beautiful. Beautifully said. Um should we leave it there and uh invite our other guests?

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Yeah, we're gonna have uh some of the pilgrims. Uh uh, had you I guess you've been following the pilgrimage or been aware of it, or did you know about the Eucharistic Congress and and the uh the pilgrimages that started, I guess, a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_06 13:36

Yeah, I met some of the pilgrims in in Charlotte actually.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Okay, great, great, great. Um God bless them. Uh the ones that are the perpetual pilgrims, as they say. So yeah, we're looking, and uh Father Caesar, again, thanks uh for all that you've been doing. And uh we um we again thank Father Pickens for uh uh hosting us today and uh looking forward to this evening. So thanks again, Father Caesar, and thanks Father Casey. Thank you so much hello everybody, we're back. Thanks for being with us here at Beyond the Beacon. And uh, as we just spoke with Father Caesar and Father Casey Cole, we are now happy to meet and get to know a little bit uh some of our pet perpetual pilgrims, three of the nine, right, that started in St. Augustine, Florida on Pentecost. Yes. Uh and have been working your way up through the original 13 colonies, right? Uh Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia. You got we were in the Capitol, right? Washington, D.C. And then um, I know you went through Delaware where Bishop Koenig is, and you crossed the Delaware like uh President Washington, right? General Washington, and uh uh were received by Bishop Williams in Camden a couple days ago and uh arrived here um in our diocese uh last night where we had a beautiful procession through the streets of Passaic and a mess at the football stadium. Uh so maybe you could just uh just introduce yourselves, where you're from, uh how you ended up becoming a perpetual pil pilgrim, and maybe how how it's been going so far. Is it Mary Carmen?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Sure. So I am from Carmel, Indiana, and uh currently I live in South Bend. My name is Mary Carmen. I'm 26 years old.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

School there, right? Uh Notre Dame. No Irish, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

God's country. Um yeah, and I heard about the opportunity to apply um online and also just through um a friend. And by the time I learned that you could apply last year, the application deadline had already passed. And so this year I was sure to apply, and was really grateful for um the opportunity. It's been an incredible blessing. I am learning about myself. Um, I'm learning about the Lord's love for me in a new, deeper way. And I've just been very inspired to see people come together on this pilgrimage.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

And uh you're each wearing your very nice national Eucharistic pilgrimage uh shirts. Uh I remember when Bishop Barron first talked about um the Pew study and not so many American or Catholics here that didn't really appreciate what we believe about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and that led to a three-year Eucharistic revival, and it led us all to, or many of us, to Indianapolis, right, for the uh Eucharistic Congress in the summer of 2024. And maybe something that not as many were aware of um at that time was the four pilgrimages from northern Minnesota with the Canadian border, from the southern border in Texas with Mexico, from I think uh the Golden Gate Bridge or uh the Western California. Uh and then uh somewhere in I think uh in in New York, right? Maybe even Ellis Island, I forget where, but it started. And so uh east-west, north-south all came to pilgrims walking. Uh and I remember being there that night and seeing the four groups come in, and there was great coverage uh leading up to Eucharistic Congress, and then uh as you said, I think there was a pilgrimage last year, and now for the 250th anniversary. Um maybe Mary Carmen, before we move on to uh uh Raymond and Zach, right. Uh what was the process or time between filling out the application and hearing you're gonna be one of the pilgrims? Uh what was that like?

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Sure. So I filled out the application in October the night it was due, 11.57 p.m. And um we had a couple rounds of interviews, so then I I received a call um I think maybe about a week later, and I had an interview and then waited for some time and then um had another interview in November and then uh didn't hear back for a while and thought, well, maybe I didn't get it, um, which is okay. And then I found out about mid-December that I had been chosen, and so that was exciting. I was just immediately flooded with joy um reading the the letter of acceptance and um was really, really excited that this would be a reality.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Bishop Andrew Cousins at Crooks, Crookstown, I think, Minnesota Minnesota kind of took the baton from Bishop Barron and really did such a tremendous job with his team leading to the Eucharistic Congress, but also forming, I guess, uh the corporation, right, or 501c3 of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and to see what's uh the the way that the revival continues and uh uh and and the blessing of the pilgrimage. And uh I know there's a large group that helps to organize uh and uh and because of that we have uh you here with us today in the pilgrimage happening. Um Raymond, right? Uh what um maybe a little bit where you're from and how you ended up as a pilgrim and how it's been going so far.

SPEAKER_05 19:00

Yes. Uh my name is Raymond Martinez II. I'm a seminarian for the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas. Um and yeah, me and my bishop and my vocation director were we're looking around at some summer assignments, um, and this opportunity just kind of fell into our laps. Um and so um throughout throughout my time applying, I had other summer assignments that I was kind of praying with and um filling out applications for, but um each of those fell through. Um and uh and I I I could really tell that this is what the Lord wanted me to do this summer. Um because yeah, um I got I got accepted and um yeah this was the only summer assignment that actually actually worked out. How long uh have you been in a seminary? I've been a seminarian for a little over three years. Uh are you in theology now? I'm I'm in college seminary. I'm going into my last year of college seminary. What um uh where do you attend school? I attend school at Conception Seminary College in northwest Missouri.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Okay. Um and so um uh with your bishop you said can I apply for the uh uh and when did uh what was it like between applying and hearing that you were gonna be uh Yeah, uh very similar to Mary Carmen.

SPEAKER_05 20:16

Um we applied I applied in October, I think I was a couple days before the due date. Um then I did an interview uh in October and then another one in November and found out in in mid-December that I was I was accepted. Um and so that was that was such a great joy um to to get to um be a national euch pilgrim. Um I've attended both uh I've attended both pilgrimages um in prior. Uh I attended the one in 2024 in Refugio, Texas. Oh wow. Um and then I also attended the one in that passed through my diocese in San Angelo, Texas, um, in 2025, um, as well as attend the National Euchantic Congress. And so um getting to be a perpetual pilgrim kind of um I've I've been praying and hoping that I I get this opportunity and um yeah, give the Lord a lot and he gives you even more back.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Absolutely, absolutely. And uh so you all met, I guess, eventually in St. Augustine, Florida, right? Um we actually had a retreat in January.

SPEAKER_05 21:15

Okay, beautiful um that we got to meet each other. Um and yeah, we had a we had a short little retreat. We actually got snowed in, which was kind of a wonderful opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Where was the retreat in January?

SPEAKER_05 21:25

It was in Tipton, Indiana. And so that was that was really wonderful getting to getting to meet the teammates and get to know each other a little bit before pilgrimage.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

And then uh the um it began in St. Augustine because that was uh where the first mass was celebrated, I believe, in the continental United States, right? Long before the country was founded. Uh and um so um uh maybe a few words about uh from there till now, what's the experience been like?

SPEAKER_05 21:49

Yeah. It's been it's been such a gift. Um getting to see people's faith and their yeah, their their faith of just being able to fall on their knees before our Lord and and worship him, adore him. Um and their faith to drive or fly hours upon hours upon hours to attend events um and their desire to be as close to them as possible. Um yeah, I just remember um on multiple occasions in in processions through nursing homes or um through through poor streets being able to um to talk about our Lord with with these individuals and their just their desire to to follow him in whatever way they possibly could.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Uh you're meeting people on the way as well, right? Yes, yeah. Um Zach, right? Yes, that's me. Tell us a little where you're from and uh and how you ended up as a pilgrim and how it's been going so far.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Yeah, I'd love to. Uh Zach Dotson is the name. I'm 25 years old. I'm also from Indiana, like Mary Carmen, but I'm from the great city of Hammond, Indiana, just on the south side of Chicago. Um and I grew up. What diocese is that? It's Gary Diocese. Uh Bishop McClurry. Yes. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

He's looking forward to getting the bears. He is.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

Probably gonna be only about like an eight-minute drive from my home parish. So um, yeah, and I I grew up Catholic, but my father passed away when I was 11, and um, which is so confused and and and angry. I I fell away from the church for over a decade. It was 23 when I came back, and um during my my first mass in over 10 years, it was Corpus Christi. He picked a good day for me to come back. And uh did you just decide to go back after all those years? I had been like wrestling. I think I kind of begrudgingly came to the fact there was a God. I did some research and it led me back home to the Catholic Church. And you know, the mass started, and I was kind of nervous at first because the liturgy of the word was it felt just very familiar, right? You know when to stand, you know the readings. Then the liturgy of the Eucharist starts, and I'm just I'm struck speechless. I can't believe what I'm witnessing. I get to be party to. And we get to a part of the Mass, of course, where um Father Ted is holding our Lord, and he says, Behold the Lamb of God, behold he who takes away the sins of the world. And I start to weep because I think for the first time in my life I truly did behold him, and I recognized, you know, who and what the Eucharist is. This is the King of Kings, our Lord and our Savior. I just knew right then and there I wanted to serve him in any capacity he called me to. I would tell him, just point and I'll run full steam ofhead. That's where I want to be. So um, a fellow parishioner of mine uh who's I have a great respect for his faith, he sent me the application for last year's pilgrimage, and I didn't even open it. I was like, this is pointless, they don't want me. Um I'll just you know spend this year in prison.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Had you been aware of the Eucharistic Congress? I was, yeah, being an Indian.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

I wasn't able to get down to it, but yeah, so I was like, they don't want Catholics like me. So when he sent it this year, um it was different though. I felt this intrinsic call to fill it out, and it was actually at our parish's pet blessing. I ran out to the car real quick and you know filled out the application. You should have told Father Casey that yeah, it's a very similar interview process. My first interview is a little bit different. We were supposed to go through, I think, 10 questions. I like to talk a lot. We only got through three questions, and I was like, well, there it goes. You know, shut that book, we're done with that, but uh move forward with the second interview and then being invited to um come down to Tipton for the retreat, and then was offered to be the assistant team lead for this year's pilgrimage.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

That's great. So um I would say guess that each of you um you know had some idea of you know what to expect, and uh um uh I'm sure some of that's uh been accurate and as expected. Uh what's been the biggest surprise or something that you didn't expect to see or experience or uh uh since Pentecost on your journey here to Patterson and uh St. Peter's Paris Church here in uh Parsippany? What's been the biggest surprise, sir?

SPEAKER_04 25:45

I think one surprise for me, a beautiful surprise, is the willingness of people to stop their lives, stop what they're doing during a procession and follow with us. Yesterday this man goes, What do I do with my car if I want to join? And we said park it. And he he ran back, he parked his car, and he was at mass with us at the stadium. And um, just in the just the openness of so many people's hearts. You know, it reminds me, you know, if tonight you hear his voice, harden not your hearts, and so many people are following that. And so many people are also moved to take this flame, right, this fire, and then carry it back wherever it is they're going, back to their home, back to their parish, back to other parts of the diocese. They're so moved to get into the community, to continue to serve our Lord, to truly become a monstrance themselves.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Uh Mother Olga, I never heard of Mother Olga before the uh Eucharistic Congress, and uh I go back to it. She started her talk with uh uh Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, uh uh pure and holy, tried and true. Uh with Thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary. Anyway, I'm a big fan of Mother Olga, but uh it's a beautiful hymn, but uh, but yeah, that we can be a sanctuary, right? Where we believe, we say it a lot, the body's a temple of the Holy Spirit, but um how often do we think, you know, that we're called to really be have the Lord uh in our home? I'm not worthy you should enter under my roof, right? Um and uh and he does uh in Holy Communion. So uh the uh you know so much in our faith we can take for granted, right? Growing up Catholic, or um, but these moments help to uh our focus. Um uh Mary Carmen and uh Raymond. Uh Raymond? Yes. Uh uh a surprise or something you didn't expect?

SPEAKER_01 28:05

I truthfully wasn't sure how many people would be attending these events. Um I have really been blown away. I think I shared at lunch that when we went to Washington, D.C., uh we had like over 2,200 people there with us.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Um outdoor mass was it?

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Outdoor mass and then procession. And um yeah, I've just been blown away by the numbers. Yesterday's procession here um was phenomenal just seeing the people come out in crowds um has just reinvigorated my own faith. And yeah, it's been it's been exciting to see the amount of people that have joined us thus far and we'll continue. I I can't wait for for Philadelphia. I think it's gonna be crazy.

SPEAKER_05 28:55

Yeah, very very similar for me. I I think um seeing seeing so many people and then seeing the depth of so many people's faith. Um because yeah, I yesterday for me um just seeing the joy of the procession was was reinvigorating for me, and then seeing um throughout throughout the pilgrimage, just seeing so many people come out um for our Lord, um and whether that means they have to drive many hours to get there or fly or whatever inconvenience they have to overcome to be present. Um I've seen throughout the pilgrimage, I've seen so many walkers and strollers and um and wheelchairs and canes, and it's wonderful that they are doing this for our Lord. They're showing that they are willing and desired to show up for our Lord who has shown up for them, who has who's given them so much. Um and so it's so wonderful to see um the desire the to for everybody to come out and um and follow our Lord no matter what they have to overcome to to follow our Lord, um, which is really inspiring me. Um, because yeah, I mean, just how much how much are you how far are you willing to go to follow our Lord? Um, well you guys are willing to go a long way. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Thank you for that. Uh and it hasn't all been on land, right? Uh uh across the Delaware? Uh I heard you got a little wet. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Really put the gospels into view living in the. Yeah, across when we crossed the Chesapeake Bay, um I was laying on the boat and I opened up to Matthew chapter 14 and was just reading the account of Christ walking on water, and I'm looking at at the water and thinking, what was Peter thinking? Like what must that what must that have been like to step out and walk on the water? And it's just a really tangible experience to to go across water with the Blessed Sacrament.

SPEAKER_05 30:49

Yes, for me this is what this was the first opportunity I've ever been on a boat before. Really? So um crossing from Florida Beach, Florida to uh to St. Mary's, Georgia was uh or Ferdinando Beach, Florida to uh St. Mary's Georgia was just really incredible. I I was really able to reflect on on Matthew 14 in that in that in a very real way because it was my first time ever being on a boat and um yeah, I was I was a little nervous, but um I really was able to to put myself into the gospel message and um yeah, that's shown that's shown me a lot.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Maybe we can conclude by just uh if our listeners or viewers um maybe just a few words about what you've learned about um the gift of the Eucharist, uh the real presence um uh that you would share and from the your own faith perspective and uh and and what it means that Jesus gave us this gift of his body, blood, soul, and divinity.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

Yeah, I think I would say that when we refer to the Eucharist as the source and summit of our faith, it's not an empty platitude, right? That's a radical statement, it's a radical thing to believe and to constantly affirm that belief, right? This is our Lord and Savior. He takes on this great humility to be here with us, he's not left us orphaned. I would say there's nothing that Christ wants more than for you to experience Him and His Eucharistic heart. He's waiting for you. The same Jesus that we've been traveling with on this beautiful procession is already in the tabernacle of your home parish, and he wants you to be there. He wants you to be properly disposed to receive him.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

And uh you also have a four-wheel tabernacle, right? In the van you have the uh that you're traveling in.

SPEAKER_04 32:33

Yeah, there's this place for the uh there is, and there's also an apparatus on top that secures the monstrance so we can have exposition while we're driving down the expressway or pulling up into the parish.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

Beautiful, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Um something about the Eucharist that you would share in terms of your faith and I think I have been called to reflect upon how we are to imitate the Eucharist, and the Eucharist um it's a sacrifice, it's Christ's sacrifice represented on the cross, and um we are meant to also be broken and blessed and given for the life of the world. Um we're meant to unite our sacrifices to him, with him, and uh that's something that you know in any pilgrimage there are going to be small moments of sacrifice or suffering or inconvenience, um whether it's you know lack of sleep or um I think I've been gaining weight because we've had so much great hospitality of the diocese. Um but I mean any inconvenience, whatever it may be, like it really they really are moments of opportunity to unite ourselves to Jesus and to continually offer ourselves for the people that we encounter.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

So Father Casey did a great job this morning, didn't he, with the young people in uh holiness, sacrifice and communion. Uh and um back to Mother Olga. She spoke about uh knowing Jesus in the knowing the broken Jesus, broken in the Eucharist, but she we experience brokenness in our lives, all of us. And and in some who are the most broken, um it's an opportunity um uh to experience the healing power of of his presence and his love um uh in the Eucharist. And um uh did you say to imitate the Eucharist, right? Yeah, yeah, beautiful. Um Raymond.

SPEAKER_05 34:27

Yeah, I think for me, um it's just being it's again going towards the point of seeing people's desire to show up for our Lord. Like um one of my teammates once said, like, we don't kneel on hot asphalt for for just a symbol, right? Uh we don't we don't process through the streets of of a really humid and hot town for just a symbol, right? Like we are we are going through this, we are showing up for our Lord, showing our love for him, and recognizing that he is truly present in the Eucharist. And we want all people to be able to see that and to want our joy, to want our faith. Um and so yeah, I think that's been that's been really inspiring and reinvigorating for my own my own faith is that like, yeah, seeing people's desire and their understanding of Jesus truly in the Eucharist, um, and yeah, it's it's recognizing that he is not just a symbol. Like we wouldn't just be doing this if he was if it was just a symbol.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

I uh I can still see Jonathan Roomy at the Eucharist in Congress with the Flannery O'Connor line on his t-shirt. If it's just a symbol to hell with it, right? Yes, yes. Uh yes, right. Uh it's not just a symbol, right? It's uh it's the real presence. And uh well, thank you so much, you know, for taking this time and uh but especially for your yes to the Lord and uh uh inviting, we're a pilgrim people, right? You know you have a new appreciation and over the next uh you got about uh three more weeks to go, I guess, right? Yeah, so uh uh thank you for um for all that you're doing and uh and wonderful to have you here and thanks for spending some time with us. So um we'll uh Jay usually takes us out, but uh I'll say uh thank you to all of our listeners and um and viewers, and uh please keep the pilgrims in your prayers, especially between now and July 4th. We'll be following you, uh social media and otherwise, and uh praying for you certainly. And please keep us in your in your in in please keep us here in Patterson in your prayers. And um to our uh viewers and listeners, uh thanks again for tuning in to Be on the Beacon. Follow us on social media and online and the website, and uh look to see you again. Um thanks very much and God bless you.