Welcome to the Catholic Influencers Podcast where we go deeper into Sunday's gospel reading to help you influence the world for Jesus. I'm Danii Sullivan.
And I'm Fr Rob Galea. And this podcast is presented to you by FRG ministry.
So good to be back on the Catholic Influencers Podcast where we continue to explore the word of God. Go deeper into what God has to say to us to be able to be people of influence. Are you a person of influence?
I want to be a person of influence. And what does it mean, Danii, to be a person of influence.
When you ask questions like this, I'm like, I wish you had told me I could have like prepared some wonderful response . I think,this is a personal thing, it's just been authentically you for good.
That's right . Like, yeah, be you, but I guess have the right mindset and the right attitude and the right desires to influence for good.
Ultimately, we're all influencers say like, we influence others by the way we treat others. By the way others treat us, we influence our family because they love us. We influence the world around us. When you're driving, you're influencing others because you're changing the world in a bit and in every part. But to be a Catholic Influencer, I think it starts with an understanding of where we are influencing people to pointing people to.
And as Catholics, I think we need to fall in love with a few things and first of all. That's Jesus. Second of all is the sacraments and his presence in the sacraments and in the teachings of the church and also the scripture, the word of God. If we understand that, then we can influence others that way towards God. If we don't, if we don't know this stuff, then we cannot be of influence in the right direction. We will always be of influence, but not necessarily towards , Catholicity.
Can you say that word Catholicity?
Catholeli...ahh I got half way though and was like, 'Oh I can't say this'. Cathollelle. No, can you please say it again?
Catholicity. Catholicity. There you go . Universal faith towards Jesus and God who loves us. And so
quite an introduction.
Hey, I thought so too. Should I put the music over that? When we're like, when we record the introductions, I know that I don't have an enthusiastic voice. I have an enthusiastic heart, but not an enthusiastic voice. So Fr Rob had to like sit there going like, come on Danii and like clap and cheer. And then I got like 16 seconds of enthusiastic and then I was like, now I'm done. I need to rest now. I sleep now. So thank you Fr Rob for that nice little intro. How have you been?
I've been, well. I just am glad I just had my coffee and I'm a bit more awake .
I was actually, you texted me before you came over to the office asking me if I had had my coffee and I thought that it like a little subtle, 'is it safe to enter'?
No, it was more like, can I bring you a coffee? And you did. Thank you very much. We have a coffeeshop really close to us and that's very good. Yeah. And I mean, I suppose a lot of people drink coffee and , what's your favourite coffee? Well, I think that's a really good thing about our office is that we do know everyone's coffee order by now. I hope so. You should know, I'm a flat white, Janine's an extra hot skinny cap, Amber is , I'm going to say a flat white or latte.
And I drink a long macchiato. Well, no sugar. None of us drink sugar in our coffee . But let's talk about the word of God. This week we're going to talk a little bit about faith and also what it means to be a person of faith and to serve Jesus through faith, through love rather than through law. So let's maybe Danii, if you'd like to read this Sunday's gospel reading.
You said that like, it's an option. Like disregarding the fact that I read it every week. I enjoy reading . I get to put on like my public speaking voice, which is different to my phone voice. But this scripture...
Your phone voice? My phone voice. What's your phone voice starting this job at FRG ministry, I did work in a call centre, which is really good it was fantastic, I actually loved the job, but everyone there just laughed at me because I'd be on a phone call and this is a very accurate representation. Can you pretend to call Father ? Ring, ring. Hello. This is Danielle. How can I help you? [laughing] Okay. People didn't usually laugh at my face. Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Alright Scripture this reading on Sunday, the gospel reading comes from Luke17:5-10. The apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith and the Lord said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, be rooted up and be planted in the sea and it would obey you.
Will any of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and sit down at the table, will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and put on your apron and serve me till I eat and drink and afterward you shall eat and drink. Does he thank the servant because he did what he was commanded. So you also, when you have done all that is commanded, you say, 'we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our Duty."
Beautiful. And so Danii, what did you get out of this study wise?
I've got a few things. Yeah and I think the first one and the most, I guess it kind of jumped out at me the most was that first line where the apostles, who had been traveling with Jesus, they knew Jesus. They'd seen miracles, they'd heard parables, heard stories, had chatted to him more than anyone else said to him, 'increase our faith'. It wasn't a question of like 'okay, what do we need to do to increase our faith?' They're not trying to find out how to do it. They just want more.
They've got this deep desire for more and they're just like, Jesus, you can do it. Increase our faith.
This hunger for God . And I think that's so beautiful that even, you know, even them who saw him every day and traveled with him and knew him personally wanted more. And then how much more should we want more as well?
Yes and I think this is one of the things I noticed in my relationship with God is that I have , the closer I get to God, the more I hunger for God. You know , I really thirst for the presence of God. I thirst for more faith. Lord, I believe that please help my unbelief. And I think this thirst , this hunger for God is a longing for heaven, a longing for perfection, a longing for unity with God.
Absolutely. Or something that I noticed in my own life is, you know, I'm very blessed with the gift of faith and I have been my whole life, which I'm beyond grateful for. But it's that faith of like, okay, I know that. I know that. I know that God loves me, that he's real. I know that in my head, but I want that faith just in my heart to increase exponentially.
And this is what Jesus talks about here and what the apostles are talking about, this gift of faith as you're saying. And it's a wonderful, I think it's important to understand that not everybody has the gift of faith. In fact, not many people have the gift of faith. And if you do have faith, faith in God, if you do have faith in the divine, if you do have faith in Jesus, you do as a gift. Okay?
It's a gift that you have and it's not to be taken for granted and it's not to be , something to be proud of in a sense, out of your own merit or strength. But it is been given to you by God and often instilled in you through your family. Cause faith, as we know is caught not taught. You cannot teach faith. And this is one thing that we FRG ministry work a lot in Catholic education.
So we create resources and we provide faith days and we create, we go and visit schools and we take people of faith because you see educators, teachers, fantastic. They can teach the faith but the greatest teachers, the greatest educators of the faith are those who have faith because it's contagious, that's where people can catch that faith.
And going back to the very start of this conversation when your were speaking about an influencer like yeah, you aspire to be like influencers and people that have faith, people that live out their faith and are enthusiastic and love it, of course that's going to be more attractive. And you want, you want what they have. You want to catch that.
Yes, that's true. But then there are two types of faith I think that Jesus is talking about here and there's the faith in believing in God so that faith, I believe that God exists, which is a beautiful gift. As I said, not everybody has, but then there's also a second kind of faith and that is mountain moving faith. That is the faith of the extraordinary. When he gives the example of you can take this sort of mountain and move, move the mountain, which is an impossibility.
Mountains don't move, but Jesus says, yes, it's going to be possible because you see, for God everything is possible. Even mountains can move because you see, this is what we pray. When heaven on earth, when heaven touches earth, the impossible becomes possible. Healings. You don't have seen so many healings when even through praying with people going to hospital, I've anointed people and I have seen miracles happen. I've seen blind people seeing again, I've seen legs growing.
You know, one person had one longer leg that's shorter leg than the other and praying and i see before my eyes. I saw that leg grow. And you see, so I , I have seen, I believe in this, this mountain moving faith , but it's not about the fact that I believe in it. Therefore it's going to happen. It's the fact that I believe in God, therefore it's going to happen. I believe that heaven can touch earth. And this is what Jesus is saying here.
Have faith, believe in me, but also grow in mountain moving faith because believe that I can do the impossible. God can do the impossible, not us.
But that's not easy. And you know, even those miracles that you were saying, father Rob, they're hard to fathom for people that haven't seen that. And even last week , Abraham said to the rich man in the parable that we heard last week, like they will not be convinced, even if someone should rise from the dead, like not everyone's going to believe because of miracles. So to have this increase of faith and this mountain moving , you know, tree uprooting .
Faith is such a hard thing to wrap our minds around, which I think as humans is something that we try to do. We look for the tangible, we look for the finite, but God is bigger than that. He's infinite. He's all powerful. He is omnipotent. He can do anything.
That's right. And I think we pray it in the our father every week when we say thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Now it's not just that . When we think of that kingdom come having peace on earth, but everything there is in heaven, we're praying, let there be on earth. So let that be peace. Let that be in the lack of suffering. Let there be no illness let their be no obstacle to us reaching to God. And so it's not just about moving a mountain.
But if that is necessary to bring heaven on earth, then even that can happen. Impossible can happen. And we believe that every time we celebrate the Eucharist, heaven comes on earth. It's the transubstantiation, the real presence of God. It is not bread and wine. It is not a symbol. It is an absolute mountain moving miracle that happens every time we celebrate the Eucharist, that the bread and the wine become the body and the blood of Christ, they become heaven on earth.
Everything that is contained and everything that contains heaven is right there before us on the alter , which is at the core of what we believe. So faith, there's the normal faith in God and and the faith in the Eucharist button. Then there's also faith that God can do the impossible in our lives. God can heal us. God can move mountains. God, and the thing is we're not required to have something extraordinary. What does Jesus ask us for? Just, just a mustard seed of faith.
You know, small, little, almost, it's like if you looked at a mustard seed, you think, how, that's not even possibly going to be a tree. Mustard seed this tiny. It's like, I don't even know how to explain the size of it, but it is tiny. It can get lost in your nail even, you know what I mean? It's tiny and yet it can become almost a tree. And so all that God asks of us is just this little, this little faith. And then this faith becomes something extraordinary when we put God in it.
When we put the spirit of God, when we cultivate this in, in the soil of faith.
And then with this faith there also comes like the Duty, which Jesus goes on to talk to his apostles about in the second half of this scripture that we're commanded to serve.
Yes. And he uses this imagery of being in a plow, you know, a servant doing their work and out in a field. And then the guy comes from the work and he wouldn't come in and say, Hey, I've done all my duty. I'm so good. I'm going to sit at your table. I know we have just done our duty and it's out of overflow. And the thing is a person who understands that it's not about the award or the reward, but it's out of overflow.
We've received so much from God , so much grace, so much love, so many gifts that has a consequence we want to serve and we want to give to others and we want to love others.
And even just, I, when I was reading through this, just I was struck with the honor and the privilege that it is to be a servant for such a master that yes, you know, you come in from the field, come in from plowing and do whatever else is asked. But this master, you know, he looks after servant , he cares for and...
And it's about him ultimately asking us to act out of overflow out of love, you know, I just see so many people, you know, like even for example couple of our staff have kids, but you know, just seeing the dedication of the mamas , you know, and the dads that give and give and give. And I just hear about how they're giving and I'm getting exhausted. I'm thinking, how do you have the strength to give?
But you see after they've given and after they've served and after they've washed the clothes and then after they served dinner and after they've done this and taken this and all their wage goes to buying a new dress for a and this and that, yet they don't sit down and say, Hey kids, let's sit, sit down and thank me.
No, they just give and continue to give cause it's out of love and this is the way we, I see in them the beauty of how they serve their children and how they serve their spouses and how they serve each other and how that is an example of acting out of love rather than out of law. The things that okay, I deserve my pay. And so this is what Jesus asks us. He asks us, ultimately fall in love with me, have a relationship with me and you cannot act out of love if you don't love God.
You act out of duty, if it's about religion, if it's about the things you should and shouldn't do. And the thing is the church for too long has acted out of religion, has acted out of duty. Has acted out of the things they think they should do because they don't have this relationship with God. They don't spend time daily with Jesus. Just letting Jesus love them.
I think one of the big differences between, you know, acting out of love and acting out of duty is our attitude to what we deserve. So if you act out of Duty, then you expect thanks, you expect reward and you know, there's a sense of entitlement. Like I did what was asked and now I, you know, I get some kind of prize or award. But if you act out of love, then it's just a desire. You just want to keep loving. You want to keep serving. And I think that's so beautiful.
And even at the end there where Jesus says, like you say, we are unworthy. I just think of the Centurion like Lord and we say it at mass every week like, Lord, I am unaware that you should enter under my roof. Like it's not that we, you know, the Lord doesn't want to enter under our roof , but it's just that humility to know that I am unworthy and yet you're here and he loves me. And that's the difference between like this service because of the law and Duty or service because of love.
Exactly. And so this is what the Sunday's gospel is about. It's about falling in love and letting God love you. And the thing is you cannot, you cannot love, you cannot act out of love if you yourself have not been loved.
And so I think it's important even for families, for parents and for people who are busy with life, even priests or nuns who are busy with sharing the faith with others, how important it is for me, even as I give to stop and to let God love me, to let God embrace me, to let God tell me that he loves me.
Because if I'm , if I'm not going to spend this time letting God love me, then it's going to be so difficult for me to act and to serve God out of love becomes out of duty, becomes out of religion so to speak about I'm keeping up appearances and it's a about to expectations. Then we burn out a.
Absolutely and part of his love is getting to know Jesus and that's why such a joy to go into scripture because that's where he's revealed. That's where we find out who he is, who we love. We find out more about him.
We actually, yesterday we were filming at a school we're doing like Vox pops for this video and we got some students they were from year, seven and 10 and we asked them how do you get to know someone and almost all of them answered straight away with like, Oh you find out about them and you find out their interests and you find out what you've got in common and find out you know who they are, what their personalities are and that's exactly what the word of God does it.
It reveals to us who Jesus is.
Yes, so spending time reading the word of God and one of the ways we can do this is take the scriptures and read one chapter at a time. In our chapter, you know a few verses of a chapter and this is what we're doing in this podcast. We're going through chapter by chapter and even after you listen to this podcast , go find a quiet place. Sit down with the word of God that is next week. There are apps that you can get this from the scripture apps as universalis as well.
There are some devotional books you can get them from the American bishops conference websites, there are so many places you can get the gospel reading. Go get it. Read the word of God, reflect on the word of God and take today's gospel and read it and see what Jesus has to say to you because God is speaking, God is speaking and he wants to reveal who he is so that we can fall in love. The thing is, if we don't know who Jesus is, then we're never going to fall in love.
We are going to act out of the law and not out of love .
And even like, as you were saying, father Rob, you know, with this Sunday's gospel reading , you can do that every day. Like I love the Catholic church. I love the Catholic faith. It's so rich and so beautiful. And this is, I don't know, I feel like I'll never learn enough about it to kind of satisfy what I want to know. But one thing that I love about it in particular is that I guess the universality , is that every day around the world we're reading the same readings this together.
Yeah, absolutely. So you're sitting down with the gospel reading every day, not just on Sundays, but if you can find time every day, you are doing that with the global community of believers. Like how incredible is that, that we're all learning the same thing at the same time. And yeah, what a beautiful community that we can be part of with people we may never meet until God willing, we reach heaven.
Exactly. And we're all studying, getting to know Jesus in the same kind of way. Okay. And I think the one thing we need to understand that as well, when understanding scripture is that we understand the word proclaim to us. We'll listen to God's word and God's speaking to us. For example, as we were doing in the historical critical method in this podcast, not so much this week, butter throughout the other weeks.
We talk about the context and and why Jesus says, and what the Pharisees would have understood and what the apostles would have understood. That's one great way of doing it, but there's also an rather than the historical critical method, there's a thing called rhematos Christie , and that is listening to the word of God to us. It's about reading the word of God and listening. What is God saying to me today in my, in my life, in my faith or my lack of it.
And so it's about sitting with that word of God and letting it impact me internally as well as my mind. But my heart too.
Of course, like that's so true. But there's also, I don't know anyone listening, I really feel convicted to say that if you are listening you're like , well I don't have that desire for that increase of faith. Like I'm pretty comfortable where I am. Pray for that desire
Yes, Lord, I want to want.
Yeah. You know, you may be like, well father Rob and Danii, like I don't have that desire to grow or to have more faith like I'm where I am is okay or I'm scared of more faith. Like there is miracles that father Rob was talking about. They seem pretty intense. Like yeah, they are, but that's the God that we believe in. He's an intense and radical God. And just because you might not have that desire doesn't mean that that's not instilled in your heart.
That is something that just by being human, you have the capacity for that desire. So pray for that desire. If you don't have it.
In fact, maybe what we can do is we will pray for, for these people. We pray particularly for those of you who desire and faith or maybe don't have this desire but desire to desire it. And so maybe we'll say a little prayer for you, so we'll pray in the name of the father and of the son, the Holy spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this gift of faith, the faith that you give us to believe in you, but also the mountain moving faith.
But I pray and I lift up to you, particularly those listeners now who are struggling with their faith, struggling with faith, to believe in you, but also to believe in that you are a God of the extraordinary. Lord, I pray for those who want to want to know your word, but maybe haven't put in the effort, haven't had the conviction to take this step forward.
Pray Holy spirit, I pray that you give them this grace to desire you, to thirst for you, to hunger for you, that Lord, that they may not be satiated in this life, that they may pursue you chase after you and relentlessly Lord, that they may just have this such this desire to know you and approach you through the word of God. Open their hearts to be able to be disciplined, to be able to pick up your word, to open your word and to listen to you speak to them.
I thank you Lord for the amazing gifts that you have in store for us when we just stop and receive. Come, Holy spirit and Lord, we also pray for the intercession of Mary, our mama, who is the first receiver of the word of God, the first holder of the rhematos christi, the first tabernacled first person to study the word incarnate. And so we'll pray for her intercession for you. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thy let's start there amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Jesus, Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now at the hour of our dead. Amen. In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. Amen.
Thanks father Rob for leading that prayer. So thank you so much everyone for joining us this week. We love having you listen and please get in touch with this social media. So Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at FRG ministry. Send an email [email protected] or snail mail to PO box 96 Strathdale Victoria 3550 Australia. Thank you very much. Subscribe, subscribe. Tell your friends to subscribe. I feel like I'm stealing your line Father Rob. Okay. God bless you.
You'll hear from us again next week.