Questioning Your Vocation

Welcome to Catholic Stuff You Should Know, a J-10 Initiative.

Hello World, this is Father Jacob.

This is Father Sean.

Do you know what Hello World comes from?

What are my references?

Hello World, it sounds like a song, but I really don't know.

It does sound like World.

It's like the first web page that you learn on your coding and you start with Hello World.

I think that's right, I don't know.

It just came to me, I don't know if that's true, I make some things up.

I apologize for that.

We forgive you.

Just good stories, just good stories.

How are you doing Father Sean?

I'm doing pretty well.

Just enjoying my Lenton season so far.

Ash Wednesday was good and first week of Lent down.

The time this comes out, it'll be what the second or third week of Lent.

Things are great.

Just, I don't know, first confessions.

Just busy.

I'm actually going on retreat.

I'm actually going on retreat.

My personal silent retreat next week.

Oh nice, congrats.

So by the time this is out, it'll be over.

But Patrick's Corde, I'm super pumped.

Let's pretend let's role play.

Hey Father Sean, you just got back from retreat, right?

How is that?

It was horrible.

I was in desolation the whole time.

So you're going to Patrick's Corde.

That's where I went last year.

Father Ryan Mack will be there as well.

Not that we're doing retreat together, but we'll be there at the same time.

It's such a peaceful place.

I love that place.

Yeah, I'm excited.

I haven't been on retreat in a while, so I mean annually.

But it's been a year, so it's been a while.

It's been a year.

Do you ever wonder that?

This sounds funny, but when people come to confession,

they're like, forgive me Father, for I've sinned.

It's been a month.

Do you think they mean like it's been a month?

They're like, oh, it's been a month.

It's been a month.

Oh my goodness.

Let me tell you.

I got a whole list for you.

So anyways, it's been a year.

Wow.

Yeah, it has been a year.

It's been a good year, but a full year.

Because your year, we're coming up on the end of your first year

at St. Thomas More.

Yeah, because I moved April 1st, which was early.

So I have my one year anniversary in the parish on April 1st

is like Holy Thursday this year, or maybe it's Spy Wednesday.

These are the fifths, so do the math.

I'm like, so Spy Wednesday.

There you go.

Yeah, I don't know.

Yeah, that's a fourth year is a priest.

Fifth year.

Fifth year is a priest.

Man, time flies.

It's been five years.

It's been five years.

Anywho, enough about me, Jacob, what about you?

Yeah.

How are you doing?

How are you?

I am doing somewhat okay.

And I'm excited.

I got some new mountain bike pedals that I put on my mountain bike.

And so I'm excited to use that because I've been skiing twice this year.

At sunlighterware.

Once it's sunlight, once it's snowmass.

Father David Hall and father Ryan Mack are coming up.

I know somebody who works at Aspen, ski co.

So they got me $50 tickets, which was awesome.

So I get to get those guys out.

But it's crazy expensive, otherwise it's just like.

And we didn't have great snow.

But I'm excited to ski with them.

Go up to Aspen.

Aspen.

A place called Aspen.

We're Father Joe Grady's at.

I saw Father Mateo.

He was visiting Father Joe Grady last week.

So I got to see him.

I didn't know with them.

That was good.

So I got getting some good priestly fraternity in up here.

You know, Father Sean.

Living the Charism.

It's hard to do when you're up in Glenwood in the middle of nowhere.

I will say every time I use my ski pass this year because the snow has been so bad,

I just calculate the cost.

I'm like, okay, my ski pass was $700.

If I use it once, that's a $700 day ticket.

If I use it twice, $350.

If I use it three times, like it just keeps going down.

You got to get it down to under 200 even be day rate.

That's true.

I mean, day rate is like 150 to 200 right now.

It's bonkers.

How about the hockey team?

So amazing.

I'm laughing.

I love the game was awesome.

We totally, I'm not going to say it.

U.S. got totally outplayed.

But we won.

So that's great.

I watched the replay.

But I was laughing.

I hate that it's being made a political thing.

I'm realizing I say something.

Like, yeah, go USA hockey team.

I just meant like go USA hockey team and then people like are putting a political spin on it.

Or like when I didn't watch the Super Bowl.

People like, oh, yeah, you didn't watch it because of the halftime show.

I was like, no, there was curling on.

And I wanted to watch that instead of the Super Bowl.

I just didn't care about the teams.

But it was like all of a sudden I was part of making a political comment.

And so I've just kind of just said that everything has a political code now.

And so I can't say anything without being coded one way or the other.

That's true.

If you don't watch the Olympics, then you're un-American.

And if you don't watch the Olympics, then you're un-American.

And if you don't watch the Super Bowl, you're also un-American.

But if you watch it, you're un-American.

That's right.

I don't know.

That's right.

No, but the hockey was really good.

We've talked about this on a few other podcasts.

We can leave it there, but high quality H2O.

I'm more excited just for playoffs again.

We got the nuggets rolling.

We've got the abs rolling.

It's going to be another exciting playoff season with the, uh,

or the Colorado teams.

Not the Rockies.

Rockies, we might, we might try and be in fourth place this year, maybe.

The Rockies might make playoffs in 20 years.

A whole new team that hasn't been born yet.

Oh, the Rockies.

They break my heart, but, hmm, oh well.

My life's not sports.

I had a realization.

This was back when, uh, paid manning was what the Broncos.

And I was enjoying watching them win and whatnot.

But I would like watch the game at a friend who had, um, season tickets through

her parents.

I got to go to a couple games and it was always fun.

But I was following the Broncos more than I had probably since.

And when they'd lose, my Monday was totally fine.

But like the city was just super down.

And I was like, this is weird.

That this is such a desolation for people because the team lost over, uh,

my life's not really any different.

How much weight people put in those things?

And I mean, people talk about the real psychological damage of you wake up Monday morning.

And it's like, uh, my team lost Sunday night.

Like, like, work productivity goes down.

And it's like, really?

Just because of an NFL team.

Like, like, don't you have more important things in your life to care about?

Yeah.

Yeah, maybe.

Maybe not.

I don't know.

No shade.

No judgment.

I don't know.

I'm just looking.

We should change it up.

We're looking for good vibes.

We got to find the good vibes while they're showing.

I hate that.

When people are like, it's the, the, that's like the modern secular way of saying I'm praying for

you.

I'm sending positive vibes your way.

I've been thinking about you and I've been sending positive vibes your way.

Just say I'm praying for you.

Vibes everywhere.

I just, I counter back.

Like, yeah, I'm vibrating too.

I was like, that doesn't even sound good.

That's, I don't even know what's going on.

This is, it's just such a weird term.

I'm vibrating because of the 5G and the error that just like, exactly.

My brain's a scramble.

You're one of those.

You're 5G sickness.

I mean, I always, I've always been in, I've always been in conspiracy theories.

I did just get a new phone and it does have, it does have a 5G on it.

Oh, this is the first time you've been on 5G, okay?

Well, let me know if you get sick.

I, I felt okay.

I mean, I've had headaches every day.

Just kidding.

I saw, I saw, I can't even remember where it was.

Some online article is claiming that the preeminent art form of America is the conspiracy

theory.

I thought that was an intriguing idea.

We do like to throw them out.

There's a lot of conspiracy theories around hiding in plain sight.

What's your favorite one?

I don't have a favorite one.

My favorite one.

Birds aren't real.

They're all just CIA robots.

I'm down for that one.

I thought you were going to say we didn't go to the moon and I was going to have to fight

you.

Fight me.

No difference.

Different podcast.

No difference.

No difference.

All right.

Well, with that transition, today, Father Sean, I want to look at, well, some, some sacraments.

But first, I'm going to give you a little pop quiz, sacramental pop quiz.

We've been prepping our kids for confirmation, so some of that's just sacramental theology.

So see if you pass the test.

How many sacraments do we have?

Seven.

Now, how do we distinguish them, kind of differentiate them into kind of three categories?

So of course, we have the sacraments of initiation.

Then we have the two sacraments of healing.

And then we have the two sacraments for mission vocation.

You're so smart.

You crushed it.

Thank you.

I could be in your confirmation class right now.

You could be.

So I want to focus on the two sacraments for mission.

What are those, Father Sean?

So we have holy orders.

Or a deacon priest bishop.

One sacrament, three degrees.

And then we have matrimony or marriage, the sacrament of...

And the sacrament of marriage, yeah.

Why do we call them sacraments of mission?

You actually love this because typically, when we think about vocation, we're like,

oh, this is so that I can be happy.

I just want to be married so that I can be happy.

But the catechism, when it talks about this, is so clear.

I don't remember the paragraph number, but it says paraphrasing here is something like

this.

Then there are two other sacraments that remain.

And these two sacraments are not meant for individual salvation, but it's meant for

the salvation of others.

So marriage and priesthood are not about individual holiness, it's actually about the service

to the other, which I love.

So the mission of the priest is to save souls, all souls, to offer sacrifice.

The mission of the married person is to get their spouse to heaven.

It's for the sake of the other, not for themselves.

And not just the spouse, but the children that they accept loving them as up.

It's the, it's kind of the both end.

And I don't, yeah, there's a sanctuary there.

I always talk about this in marriage prep because I get really passionate about this.

I actually, I actually don't fully agree with like when people are like, oh, the purpose

of your, your marriage is to get your spouse to heaven and your kids to heaven.

I actually don't believe that.

Now, this is a little black and white, but I'm like, the purpose of your marriage is to

get your spouse to heaven, fundamentally, period.

Your job in rearing and educating and raising your children is to get them into their vocations,

which will get them to heaven, their future spouse or their vocation to be a religious

sister, a priest.

But if you get too focused on, I need to get my children to heaven.

It's like, well, they have free will.

And your job is to educate them and bring them to meet Jesus Christ.

Your job isn't to get them to heaven per se.

Their vocation will do that for them.

So yeah, I would challenge that your spouse also has free will.

And it's neither that I get to control the other, but in the two becoming one, the unity

of the mission and the unity of the two persons becoming one in marriage, I think there's

a tighter tie there.

But I think a real part of that in a missional aspect is in a real way married couples

in welcoming children and educating them, baptizing them are in their way fulfilling

the divine commission to, well, first commission of marriage to fill the earth and subdue

it, but then the divine commission to preach the gospel, baptizing in the name of the

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

So I think it is that the family unit becomes the building block of society.

And so raising a healthy and faithful family, sanctified in the life of the church is a

strengthening of the church as well as a missionary activity for the world.

So it is kind of that in that regard, it's a missional as well.

But I would agree the principal sanctifying mission is spouse to spouse, but then the

whole family becomes a principal mission of the parents and then the family itself, a

building block of society, you know, building block of the church and missionarily witnessing.

So it's on the right to qualify what you said in my, that's my sense.

And when I talk about this in marriage prep, I do qualify that, but my point in marriage

prep is always if you get too focused on your children, you lose sight of the primary

mission.

And the secular way of saying this is, I live vicariously through my children.

They're really athletic, they're really good at sports and now I'm living vicariously

through them so that I could never be a professional athlete, but my kids can be.

It's like, no, you're missing the point.

So.

Well, and if we forget to love our spouse or, you know, in that regard, there's going

to be a breakdown down the line and there's a really vulnerable moment in marriages when

the kids are out of the house.

That initial empty nest phase, I've in my short ministry have found and encountered the

challenge of couples whose entire kind of focus and energy has been on the children and

getting the children, you know, raised and educated and out of the house.

And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, and where do we stand?

And who are you?

And you're different than you were 25 years ago.

And all of our folks and energy has been kind of on the kids and we've forgotten that

principle relationship that can happen sometimes, not always, but it can happen.

So maintaining that throughout the marriage is super important.

Yeah.

So where I want to go though is at the, every sacrament has a right with it and there's

often a questioning and then the kind of a stating of intention before, especially in

marriage and then ordinations, there is a questioning.

It's called the promise of the elect in ordination and then it is the questions before the consent.

And so I kind of want to look at the questions before consent and then what is being promised

in the consent spouse to spouse and then I want to look at the questions of the elect

and kind of the promises that this is for preordination, they're slightly different

for deaconate ordination and I haven't looked at the episcopal ordination, but looking

at just the priesthood, the right of ordination for the priest, the promises that we make

as priests and then the questions before consent and then the consent of the married couple.

Just as if you didn't know this, if you haven't been at a wedding or an ordination, this

is what we are kind of questioning so as to direct and order ourselves as to what this

mission is about.

That sounds good.

That sounds great.

I think just the reminder too though that what makes a sacrament is the matter in form.

I don't know how much we've gone into this before in a podcast, but these are like auxiliary

to the actual sacrament.

But they're still important for the sacrament.

What would we say?

It's a teaching part of the sacrament, but it's not the matter of the form of the sacrament.

Yes, so the questions before consent are not the consent.

The consent itself is part of the matter in form for the couple, exchanging consent and

receiving consent, you know, the kind of the right of marriage where they become married.

But the questions before yes, they are not the sacrament and the questions of the priest

candidates are not the sacrament.

The sacrament, the ordination happens with the prayer of ordination from the bishop over

the candidates and the laying on of hands, right?

Correct, yeah.

So at the beginning of Mass as normal for marriage rights, you know, we welcome everybody.

We hear some readings, Father Sean preaches, everybody's in tears, both sentimental and

from laughing because he's just such a good preacher and then he calls him from pain.

He calls forth the couple and the bridal party and then he says person and person, name

and name, whoever it is.

Have you come here to enter into marriage without coercion freely and wholeheartedly?

The first question, then they respond individually.

They don't respond together at this point, they respond individually, I have.

So what's the key point of this first question?

Freely without coercion, in order to make a free gift of oneself, I can't be forced.

And so when it comes to marriage, one of the questions we ask even long before the actual

wedding day is like, is anyone forcing you to get married?

Because if you're under coercion, it's actually not a free, free yes.

You're not free to make that decision, you're being coerced.

So in order to make a promise and to really love someone well, you have to do it out

of your own free volition, no one's coercing you.

For it to be covenantal, for it to be a vow, I have to be free in it and I freely give

myself.

And once I freely give myself, I'm given and that's binding, but I have to be free to

be able to do that, right?

And then we move on, are you prepared as you follow the path of marriage to love and

honor each other for as long as you both shall live?

And they say, I am, what's the principle here?

Say the question one more time.

Are you prepared as you follow the path of marriage to love and honor each other for

as long as you both shall live?

To me, it seems like that would be faithful and forever.

So thinking of the three goods of marriage, it's going to be forever, meaning it's

indesoluble until death do us part, but then there's also fidelity.

There's faithfulness that I promise to be faithful to you and you alone.

I'm not going to intermingle.

And that's what purity of heart means is like to be pure of heart means I love this person

and this person only for purity, blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

I love God and only God, he's my pearl of great price and I set my eyes on him and

don't look at anyone else.

Yeah, and I love that it's as you follow the path of marriage, it's like you've each been

journeying a different path, an individual path to this point, but now at this marriage

you guys are going to be united and sent out on mission in the path of marriage.

The marriage day is not the most important day, but the life lived together is more important

because now you're entering on the path, the journey of marriage.

And then there's a mission aspect to the other right here and it's to love and to honor.

And so this is what we're speaking about at the beginning.

This is your principle mission in marriage is to assist your spouse and how do you do

that by loving and honoring and what does it mean to love kind of at the maximal level?

I mean, we define it as charity, so Aquinas would say charity is about friendship, friendship

with God, but even in the midst of that we would say charity is of the will, meaning

it's a choice.

So love is about eye desire, what's best for the other person.

Yeah, in a simple way to will the good of the other for the other.

And then in the context of the common good, what is good for another is good for me.

And so I'm willing the good of our marriage by willing your good and what's the ultimate

good is union with God.

So to love and to honor isn't to take and to grasp, but to love and to honor is to will

the good of the other.

In participating and sharing life with this person, I'm I'm drawing them towards Christ.

I'm trying to love them, willing the good that is God in their life through our mode of

living, which is now marriage.

And so there's a very very missional aspect of this, but it's ordered towards that sanctity

and that ultimate salvation, the greatest good that you could desire for somebody.

If you love something, there's there's kind of a desire to possess the good, but then

to love somebody is to will their good, their ultimate good, and recognizing that I am

not the good ultimate good of my spouse, God is.

And so to will that even.

And in doing that, we honor them and give them the respect and care they deserve.

Anything else for next question?

Let's go on to the next question.

Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according

to the law of Christ and his church?

I am.

So this again, missional action oriented to welcome children lovingly as gifts from God,

to bring them up, to raise them in the law of Christ and the church that we entering into

this, we recognize that one of the goods of marriage is the procreation and education

of children.

And so to actually receive them, to be open to receiving them, now families might struggle

with infertility and that's a great cross to bear and the course by which they live

out, the love of their marriage in service to others and to children maybe by adoption

or maybe through other means of mission, but normatively by welcoming children and

to raise them in the faith.

Again, this is that second notion of mission that I was talking about before.

Yeah, I think I'd be curious to know your thoughts on this, but one of the things I really

wrestled with lately in marriage prep is marriage is, it's a natural institution.

It's written on our hearts.

It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that marriage is about a man and a woman.

And for, especially for the offspring of children, the procreation and education of children,

yet because of how disordered society has gotten and has now such a big misunderstanding

of what marriage is, people are confused coming into marriage prep.

But anyways, one of the questions that I've been getting more and more about is, why do

I have to have children in my marriage?

What if I never want to have children?

I just really struggle to answer that.

Sometimes, the easiest answer is, because that's what God teaches us.

This is what marriage is in Scripture and naturally, but what if I don't want to have children?

What if I'm that poor that I can't afford them?

We don't want to be fruitful because we're just going to time NFP perfectly and just

not engage in the marital act when we're fertile at the time of the month.

I don't know if you have a good answer there other than just the trump card of, this is

what God says that marriage is, why are children necessary for marriage?

Yeah, I think there's a number of ways you can go about this, but the natural law argument

that ordered naturally, ordered, the husband and wife's attraction to one another, especially

into the sexual union, is ordered towards the procreation, the continuation of the species.

That's every living thing is striving towards the continuation of itself.

The nutrition and procreation are the two principle modes of living things and that all are

naturally ordered towards that.

It's actually good to continue the human race and to continue yourself through your children

just by who you are as a living being.

Even before we talk about divine command, this is just natural law written obviously by God,

but it's natural law that it's properly ordered to desire this.

To not desire it is manifesting in me either a selfishness or a despair.

I think a lot of times it's a despair.

I think if we're entering into a lifelong mission, if we're entering into a vocation,

it has to inherently be united to hope that I'm doing something, I'm building something,

I have to have hope that it's worth doing, I'm going to accept it, I'm going to go

through the challenges of it, that there's a hope for my life, for my marriage, for the

world, rather than a despair that says, oh, well, all the things that are going on would

even be just to bring children into the world.

This is a very, very disheartening kind of expression of despair.

So that's kind of the first mode that I would go.

Secondly, just on your question of like, well, we could do NFP and not sin against chastity

by using contraception directly, but never actually be open.

Well, I'll just name it, the sin that they're actually engaging in, it's a fault of charity,

it's a sin against charity.

It's a selfishness, it's not being open to receiving one, what I promised, you're making

yourself a liar if you're actually married in the church and you said, yes, but then

you're not, you know, you're not intending what the church intends, you're not intending

what God intends with marriage, so your marriage actually might even be possibly in question

at that point of validity, but hard to possibly pursue, prove in that case, but it's a fault

of charity.

It's a fault of giftedness of self, a fault of welcoming lovingly what God has for your

mission and your plan of marriage, so it's a fault of charity, of love, of willing good

because it's better to exist than not to exist and so to give life, to participate in God's

creative act is a beautiful thing, it's a frightful thing, there's a risk, but God's creation

itself is risky because He created us with free will and He takes that risk and we messed

it up, Adam and Eve sinned and we all sin, God takes that risk, He still creates, He's

not going to wipe it out again, you know, He wiped almost everything out with the flood

and He said to Noah, I will not destroy it this way, I will redeem it, but He's still

taking that risk with every human being that, you know, He creates and that the parents

co-create, there's the risk of the child not actually following the law of goodness

and following Christ and you know, causing a lot of pain to family and other people and

there's a great risk there, but we take that risk out of love and out of charity.

Yeah, I like the point of risk, I also like the point of hope, I find it interesting

that you say like despair leads people not to have children because as opposed to selfishness

but because often what people say is, or not often, but what some couples have told

me is like, we're afraid to have kids because we're going to be more heroic to go and adopt

children from Africa or something who are, or even America who are in dire need of parents

and homes and the fostering to your point when you said like, if I bring children into

this world, this world is like broken and they're suffering and there's depression and

how can I bring more souls into this world? And I mean, I think part of it for me is like,

well, what's, again, what's the purpose of marriage and to, you know, you have to get

them to a place where you kind of say like, I don't know if you understand marriage the

way that God has designed it. But it's always super delicate. And again, like I struggle

even to do that because people, they think they know it. And I think I know it in some

ways, but it's just like God is constantly revealing this newly to us. Like this is,

this is how it revealed what marriage is. This is how it revealed, but even priest it

is. So yeah, and I think it's interesting how some people will go, always go to the

extreme of like, well, we could do this. So why do I have to do that? And it's like,

we could adopt 19 children from Africa who are starving. So why do I have to have kids?

And it's like, well, are you going to go adopt 19 kids from Africa? Is that actually

your mission and your calling? How are you enacting that? Are you going to go, you

know, you could go live right now. You could go serve it in orphanage and care for these

children today. Or is this just, I'm looking, I'm searching for moral high ground for a decision

that I've already made out of some other motivation. And I don't know. In my mid 30s, I'm

getting more direct. And I don't know if that's good or not, but I'm not afraid to just

kind of say it how I see it. And I might not be perfect. And that's not, you know, in

cruelty. Like I'm trying to say it in charity. But like I will challenge those disordered

ways of thinking that we all inherit. And it's not just, it's not just, oh, those people

getting married. It's like me in my own view of my own vocation as a priest. What have

I inherited falsely about what is actually okay when I should actually be living in a

different manner? Like I need to convert in my own vocation every day.

Absolutely. Yep. No. Sorry. No, no, no, that's good. So then the consent obviously is

ordered in the same way to be faithful to the spouse and good times in bad and sickness

and love and honor until all the days, all the days of our life. So there is that just

reaffirming everything that we promise. But we're going to do this. We're in it. We're

giving ourselves, I give myself to you. I receive myself from you. I can't remember

who I was in. I was, I was helping with some marriage prep and somebody brought it up

that the ring that you wear as a married couple that's blessed at the wedding. They asked,

you know, what's what's the meaning of the ring? And they said, Oh, well, it's circular.

So it's showing kind of this eternal, eternal nature like this forever type thing. And it

reminds me of the promise that I, you know, I've made. It's like a reminder for me that

I'm married and it tells the world that I'm married. And it's like, yeah, those are all

kind of it. But what's the actual direct thing? Take this ring as a sign of my love and

fidelity. The ring you're wearing is a reminder of your spouse's faithfulness. It's not

yours. It's not that you like take your ring off before you cheat because you're, you're

taking off your promise. It's like, no, you're throwing away the promise, the gift of

the other to go, you know, do whatever else. So when you're wearing that ring, it's a reminder

of the faithfulness of the spouse who's given that to you, who's given you their consent

and in their life. So I thought that was beautiful. That is beautiful. I've never thought

of that or heard that before. All right. So now we move to the priesthood. The promise

of the elect and the ordaining bishop will say, dear sons, before you enter the order of

the priesthood, you must declare before the people, your intention to undertake this

office. Do you resolve with the help of the Holy Spirit to discharge without fail the

office of priesthood in the Presbyteral rank as worthy fellow workers with the order of

bishops in caring for the Lord's flock? I do. So we got here. What's our first intention?

We could say that the bishop possesses the fullness of priesthood within his diocese.

And I only am a priest in so far as I have an extension. I'm an extension of the bishop.

So the bishop ordains priest so that he can have an extension of himself throughout his

diocese. But therefore, like I'm obedient to my bishop, I'm called to help the mission

and vision of my bishop to reach my parish boundary. And in this case, St. Thomas

Moore. Yeah. And it's in cooperating with the bishop as a fellow worker, faithfully

discharging the office of the priesthood. So all of the preaching teaching and governing

that we take on with this office, all ordered towards what? The caring for the Lord's

flock. And that that's what we're we're assisting the bishop in doing all of these things,

all the things that we're taking on that we're receiving authority and responsibility

with the bishop from the bishop, only with the bishop, why to care for the Lord's flock.

So we're already entering that, that missional mode. So in the second question, do you resolve

to exercise the ministry of the word worthily and wisely preaching the gospel and teaching

the Catholic faith? I do. I do. Yes. This has to do with the word, as you said. And I think

I don't know if this is exactly the same phrasing as the deaconate promise we made, but deacons

are called to proclaim the word. That's why they proclaim the gospel every day at Mass

or every Sunday. And priests are called to continue that as well. But yeah, we're called

to take the word of God, the good news and spread that to evangelize, to bring the good

news to the ends of the world. Yeah, preaching the word worthily and wisely. I appreciate

those words because worthily is like, you know, I feel the tension sometimes when I'm like,

man, I'm not living, I'm not living up to what the gospel's asking me and what I'm going

to be preaching about this week. And there's like a call to conversion in myself sometimes

and oftentimes I'll preach him like, guys, I'm preaching to me and you right now. Like

this is, this is Jesus saying, y'all need to do this, including me, right? And so to

wordly preach the word is to also live what we, to believe what we read, to preach, to

do what we believe, to preach, you know, what we actually act, right? So we're the

ly and wisely. And then preaching what? The gospel and the teaching of the Catholic faith.

We're not getting up there. We get a, we get a somewhat captive audience, depending

on how dynamic of a preacher you might be. For me, I put people to sleep, Father Sean,

he gets, he gets them going. But I don't even know if that's true. I'm so in the like

thinking about what I'm saying that sometimes I even, I'm like, not making contact. I find

it better. It's like, I actually have to intentionally try to make some eye contact with people

while I preach to kind of like engage myself into who I'm speaking with it. I'm actually

not just sharing ideas. I'm proclaiming and preaching the word, right? But it's not my

message. It's not my mission. I'm not preaching the gospel of Jacob. I'm not preaching some

other idea or ideology. I'm preaching the gospel and the Catholic faith. And that's what I'm

promising. So next question, do you resolve to celebrate faithfully and reverently in accord

with the church's tradition, the mysteries of Christ, especially the sacrifice of the Eucharist

and the sacrament of reconciliation for the glory of God and the sanctification of the Christian people?

I do. Yeah, again, I think it's just, I love these priestly promises and every year we get to

renew our priestly promises at the chrism mass, which this year actually because Archbishop

Gokal will be installed by then will actually renew our priestly promises with him.

But I just love this. Do you intend or however it's phrased to faithfully celebrate the sacraments?

And for me, it's like, do what the text says. Like, it's that simple. How do we faithfully celebrate

the sacraments? Like, what do we say? Do the red? Say the black. Yeah. Do the red say the black,

which all has to do with in the sacramental books, the red will tell you what to do. Like,

and then the priest facing the people, bows his head, extends his hands, and then says this,

and then it turns to black text, and it's like, read the black. Like, it's just that simple.

And then obviously, what are the things that only a priest can do? Only a priest can hear confessions.

Only a priest can celebrate the Eucharist. I don't know why they didn't include,

anointing of the sick in there for whatever reason, but only a priest can hear confessions and

say, Mass, like, that should be the majority of our time in some sense of all other things can

be delegated so that the priest can have a clear schedule to celebrate Mass and hear confessions.

And hear confessions. I'll take a look at this one. I'll edit at this point. Where did you end?

That I did end. I don't remember. It probably will save. It was going to save.

I just didn't know. I'm going to cut out, and then I'll come back in,

and then I'll just edit that. So that's kind of where I'm just going to cut whatever that was.

You were talking about that the only two things that the priest can do.

Right. Correct. I was like, 38 minutes. Just look at the minute mark.

Exactly, Sean. And that's all it's the mission. It's the mission of the priest, right?

It's that we are going for the sanctification of the Christian people, and this is what we are

asked is priests. Only we as priests are given to do, but it's part of our mission. And that's

why the priest is not for me. The priest is not principally for me. Now, living my vocation is a

priest well. We'll aid and be part of my sanctification, but it's in living it for the others as

a ministerial priest on mission for the sanctification of the people. And so to forsake

that, yeah, that responsibility, the obligation to hear confessions to do the Mass. If I'm just

like, yeah, I'll celebrate Mass once or twice a week. And I'll hear confessions if people ask me.

It's like, whoa, that's no, I promise to like do this to the glory of God and the sanctification

of the Christian people. Yeah, exactly, Jacob. Next question. Do you resolve to implore with us,

God's mercy upon the people entrusted to your care by observing the command to pray without

ceasing? I do. Yeah, that's tough. Praying without ceasing. I don't know. I don't know if I live

up to that one. Now we strive, obviously, by praying the literature to the hours, which we've

kind of promised to do and we pray. And that's one way that we continue the prayer of the church

and we pray without ceasing. But yet to be prayerful people is part of our promise and mission.

Yeah, I mean, I think praying without ceasing, I think, can be tricky to understand. I think when

we're kind of young in the faith, we're like, all right, I'm sitting down and eating lunch.

Lord, should I drink this Pepsi or should I have Coke? It's like, no, just like make a decision,

like just choose. Like, praying without ceasing, I think means we constantly just have an awareness

that God is near me. God is next to me. I live in the presence of God at Mullen, at Lissalian schools,

the way that they start prayer is they'll say, remember that we are in the holy presence of God,

or let us remember, sorry, let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.

That's how you start prayer in a Lissalian education, Lissalian school. That's what we did every day

at Mullen of like, we remember. And to pray without ceasing means I constantly have God in my mind

in the sense that when I fall in love with someone, I can't stop thinking about that person, right?

Like, when you fell in love with your first girlfriend, you're like, I just want to text her all

the time. That might have been before texting for you, Jacob, but you're like, I just want to call her.

I was either dating really young, or I'm younger than you think I am, because it was definitely with

texting. Totally. I think you're pretty in any ways, but I still remember the butterflies in

the stomach when you had your flip clamshell phone, and you only had 250 text messages a month,

and so you had to use them well, and you're like ignoring other friends because you're waiting for

your crush to text you. So that's what I remember. Totally. And when we truly fall in love with the

Lord like that, we're like, Lord, I just want to talk to you right now. I just want you to speak to

me. Now again, it can't just be this like weird thing of like, think about God all the time,

think, think, think, it just, it happens organically and naturally, just kind of flowing out of us.

I was recognizing the Christian reality that the Holy Spirit indwells in us when we're in

sanctifying grace that we all things are actually kind of working and being ordered towards

towards our good and salvation when we're living in sanctifying grace and with God and striving.

Oftentimes I hear people say like, I just need to make God the center of my life. And that's true,

but I think sometimes the image is like, I've got to go find him and then put him in the center of

the my life. When I think part of it is this recognizing that I'm already, my entire life is

surrounded by an encompassed in God. And so all that I do, God is present too. And I want to do this

now to glorify him and the Spirit can pray within me and groan within me, you know, as we read in

scripture and kind of that dynamic reality of what it means to be a Christian living all things

ordered towards God that God is already at the center. And then we live out of that rather than

you know, looking for him and saying, I'm going to sue through some herculean effort put him at

the center of my life. It's like, no, actually, he's already here. And so then now I'm going to

drink from that well. So my my prayer, my time in the morning, whatever kind of morning offering,

recollection, placing the day in God's hands, asking for guidance, whatever it might be,

however you pray in the morning, becomes a recognition of what God's already doing. And then

entering into that for the rest of the day. All right. Final. And again, not that I always do

these well, I'm preaching to myself here like I'm looking for herculean ways to make God the center

of my life when I just need to abandon myself more to his will and love in my life and listen to it.

So do you resolve to be united more closely every day to Christ, the high priest who offered

himself for us to the Father as a pure sacrifice and with him to consecrate yourselves to God

for the salvation of all? I do with the help of God. That's a tall order. Resolved to be united

more closely every day to Christ, the high priest offering himself for us to the Father as a pure

sacrifice and with him to consecrate yourself to God for the salvation of all. That's really the

I think the crux of the priesthood that we are to be sacrificing, making our life a sacrifice

united with Christ for the sanctification, salvation of all. Our life doesn't make sense without

doing that, but it's a tall order, which is why we add with the help of God.

Yeah, I mean, we would say the essence of priesthood is sacrifice to sacrifice

on behalf of the people to God. We take the prayers of the faithful and we offer them back to the

Father. I think one thing that's powerful to remember here is to say there is only one priest

in his name as Jesus Christ. All others are his ministers. So I'm a minister of Jesus Christ.

And that's important to remember because people will be like, oh, we'll pre-start married because

they're married to the church. No, we're not married to the church. We don't marry. In some

way, you could say in a very, very distant way, Jesus Christ is the true bridegroom. He is married

to the church. In some way that I partake in his and participate in his priesthood, I'm married

to the church. But I don't even like that. I'm just like, no, like I'm totally given to Christ

and I offer a sacrifice to God for the sake of his people. I'm not married to the church. I'm

more espoused to God than I am to the church. It's just as a false understanding.

The priest becomes more of the friends of the bridegroom, more like the apostles with Jesus

helping to assist and to serve. In one sense, in Christ being the bridegroom and the church

being the bride, it's more that the spousal reality for all souls is that individual union with God.

And we get that when Jesus sank. They're asking him who this person, this woman married a guy

and then he died. And so she married his brother and then he died. And then down the line, there's

like seven marriages in heaven. Who's she going to be married to? And they're trying to make some

argument against the resurrection of the body. And Jesus says, no, in heaven, there will be no

giving and taking a marriage. Because all of us will be entering into a certain sense,

in August sense, that the nuptial union with God, that the soul will be united to God,

marriage is an image, a sacramental sign of the faithfulness of God and God's union with us.

And so it's pointing to a reality in the future that is heaven where we are united as the

soul with Christ. And so in that way, it's the image of us being married to God is that's every

Christian soul in beatitude. Not per se is like priest because I'm priest. Priest is more the

the servant, the friend of the bridegroom, the one assisting the bridegroom. So I don't know if

that's a hot take, but that's how I've come to know it. No, I think I don't think it's a hot

take. I just think people don't understand this because again, they look at priests and they're like,

oh, you're married to the church. This is like, I'm married to my spouse. It's like, no, it doesn't

work that way. So I think you're spot on. I think it's a matter of educating people. But again,

I think the point of this question, the promise that's asked, like, do you resolve to unite yourself

every day with Christ? How do you do that? Well, I think part of this is the daily sacrifice of the

mass. Like I offer like Jesus Christ becomes both priest and victim. He is the priest that offers

the sacrifice, but he also becomes the victim, which is the very sacrifice itself. And so the priest

at mass in persona Christy becomes both priest and victim. Like there's an offering of himself,

the unbloody lamb now, the unblooded sacrifice, but there's an offering of, I offer everything

back to the Father. And I'm offering in myself this gift. And of course, it's bread and wine.

But there's a transformation there. So yeah, it's I unite myself more closely with Christ.

Amen, brother. And then we have one other promise. A little bit after that, we go up, we kneel down

from the bishop, put our hands in his and he asks you, do you promise respect and obedience to me

and my successors? And we say, I do. I do. And that's a hard one, because that one ties us,

ties us to the place, ties us to the to the bishop, ties us to our diocese, the location,

that first question co-working with the bishop. You know, we're promising obedience to what we

already promised to be a co-worker, but then in a mode of obedience and that if they ask you to go

somewhere and do something, you're going to go share in that mission in that way, which can be

a challenging thing, but it's also a beautiful thing because Christ became obedient even to the

point of death. And just the question before to conform ourselves as Christ offered for the sanctification

of all. In that way, we become obedient even to the point of death. And we're imitating Christ

in that way as well. Yeah, I mean, I like to pray with respect and obedience, obedience is actually

easier than respect, because I can look at the bishop and be like, yes, I will go where you send me,

but to actually have the transformation of heart to say like, I don't maybe fully agree with

this decision, but I will respect you publicly and privately. I will seek to understand and seek

to conform my heart, but yeah, respect is a lot harder because obedience, I think you can just say,

yes, I will do that, but I love the promise of I will also respect you. I will also make sure I

don't sow seeds of division by gossiping or by whatever. Yeah, which reads, you know, the fruits of

division, Saint Paul comes heavy against those who are sowing division. When it says, what is sin,

one of the things he said is division, division among you. When you're sowing division, that is

one of the listed like principle sins that Paul's warning against. So yeah, division can be a really

challenging place. And obedience should be, you know, obedience in dialogue and there should be

mutual respect, but also recognizing that I participate in the bishop's mission, not the other way

around. And that I can express my hopes, my views, my desires for the diocese or my parish,

or whatever it might be. But if the bishop says, I hear that, but I need this. You're like, yeah,

I got it. I'm on it, you know. So that's what I've got for for today is unless you got something.

I was just going to repeat what you said and say, hey, man, brother.

I'm men, brother. So this is great. I think it's a lot to think about. And I don't, you know,

maybe just want encouragement for the listener land is like, young men often struggle with, am I

called to be married? Am I called to be a priest? It's like, well, I think pray with these promises,

like pray with the promises or the questions that are being asked, like, do you resolve to do this

in both the, the marital right? Like, do you, do you promise to have children? Do you come here

openly? Like, what does your heart do? And then when you pray with the

ordination, right? Like, what does your heart do? I think the Lord can really speak to us in

praying with these things. Yeah. So in light of that, especially in light of the obedience one,

I do have an announcement for you, Father Sean. Well, you already know, because I told you,

but to listener land, this just became public. And my parish last weekend, and I think and hope

the diocese has sent out notice by now. But I'm going to be reassigned myself. So two, two years,

just under two years, and my current assignment, which was a great joy to be at St. Stevens.

But I'll be, be heading out to Annunciation Heights as the new chaplain of the camp out there

for staff and all the visitors. Summer camp. Summer camp and fall camp and spring camp.

Yeah, it's kind of all year round up there. Dude, congrats. That's awesome.

I'm excited. I really appreciate it. I found out about this, like,

right around just a few days before Bishop Golco was announced. And so I was actually really

edified by his, kind of just his press conference, he said, I'm very excited to be coming to Denver.

I'm very sad to be leaving Colorado Springs. I promise I'll be more excited by March 25th.

That's kind of how I felt. That's kind of how I felt. I'm excited for this new mission.

I'm excited for what camp will do, but I am very sad to be leaving St. Stevens, especially,

I think, you know, it's my first assignment, my first parish. I've gotten to know the people here

was, you know, really getting going and diving in and all of a sudden you're like, oh, my plans

are changing. So it's been been a great pleasure to be here at St. Stevens. I'll be very

sad to leave, but excited to begin whatever that next mission is. So yeah, man, congrats. It's

it's hard to leave your first assignment. It sounds like you have a good resolve right now,

but maybe that's just because you don't want to cry on camera. I don't know. But yeah,

it's what a change. You went through it last year, kind of in a similar way, where I'll be starting

mine a little bit earlier because the summer camp will be getting going at the end of May. So I'm

actually starting my assignment earlier, which means I'm leaving my assignment earlier than normal,

normally July, first week of July is when the transitions happen. So you went through that too,

going to St. Thomas Moore, which is his own kind of unique challenge, but yeah, no off-cycle moves

are always more difficult, I think, but the Lord's Providence Guides and he'll give you the grace

to to leave well, but then to enter in well. Yeah. Well, with that, do you have any shout out?

I'd like to shout out Colette Zimmer, whom I saw at the fish fry last night, as well as her sisters

Angela and Teres and their father John Zimmer. Shout out to them. They are the best. That is all I'd

like to say. I was at my fish fry, our fish fry yesterday. So I'll shout out Hillary Chamberlain,

Bridget Ryan and Jane Carrington, three of our teachers. We had a trivia night and we were

challenging. Everybody, mostly the students, because there were questions for the their upcoming

quizzes from different grades, but three of our teachers ended up smoking them and winning first,

second, and third on the trivia. So shout them out. And then just to shout out in a broad way,

all the personers at St. Stephen here in Glenwood Springs, as I'll be departing in a couple months,

just want to shout you all, love y'all. Awesome. Catholic Stuff podcast at gmail.com.

Catch you next time.