Question of Faith
A weekly question of faith answered by Cleveland Catholics. Fr. Damian Ference, Vicar of Evangelization and Deacon Mike Hayes Director of Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Cleveland co-host with frequent guests from the Diocesan Office who join in the conversation. Sponsored by Briefcase Marketing--check them out at https://www.Briefcase.marketing
Question of Faith
Is There a Gospel According to Ted Lasso?
Apple TV's Ted Lasso has much to teach us about humility and social etiquette? This episode takes us through the surprising and delightful ways Ted Lasso echoes many life lessons. We reflect on FD's seminary days, where they uncovered the nuances of social graces, and how Ted Lasso's curious nature rather than judgmental outlook influences our personal growth and understanding of faith.
Joe Cronauer strolls down memory lane, reminiscing about iconic sitcoms like "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Seinfeld," and "Friends," while recognizing Ted Lasso's unique charm. We delve into the potential Eucharistic symbolism of Ted's biscuit-sharing ritual and how it subtly transforms relationships through kindness. We draw parallels between Ted's thoughtful gestures and cultural practices like Italy's "bella figura," highlighting the significance of presentation and personalization in fostering connections.
Church Search explores a recent visit to Holy Family Parish in Parma.
This weekend's Christ the King Sunday celebration at St John Bosco in Parma Heights.
Readings for this Sunday can be found here.
On today's Question of Faith is there a gospel? According to Ted Lasso. Hey everybody, this is Question of Faith. I'm Deacon Mike Hayes. I'm the Young Adult Ministry Director here in the Diocese of Cleveland and I'm Father Damian Ferencz, the Vicar for Evangelization.
Speaker 3:And I'm Joe Kronauer, Manager of Communications here at the Diocese of Cleveland.
Speaker 2:Hey Joe.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm also around town on TV and radio as well too, so maybe you've seen or heard me, but probably not. I don't ever go into any place thinking that somebody has. That's right.
Speaker 1:I was at a party one time with a mutual friend of ours and someone just happened to have invited Tom Hanks to the party. He was a personal friend of theirs and he walked over and he put his hand out and goes Hi, I'm Tom Hanks. I was like, yeah, I know there's only a few people that don't need to do that, but think about the humility. He didn't assume that none of us knew who he was.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I would recognize him immediately outside of a context.
Speaker 1:Especially if he's dressing for a part or something. You know like growing a beard or you know whatever.
Speaker 2:And it's always polite and courteous to reintroduce yourself, because sometimes people have brain fog and they can't remember your name. So I'd much rather have someone say I know who you are. Why did you do that? I'm like, oh, just as a courtesy, it's always a good thing to do. We learned that, actually, in my senior manners classes in the seminary.
Speaker 3:They actually teach you that kind of grooming, so to speak, the good kind of grooming, how to shake hands with someone properly.
Speaker 2:You don't keep holding onto the hand. You don't keep going up and down like you're jacking up a car. It's one. Look a guy in the eye shake his hand. The other thing we learned was that you, as a gentleman, you don't extend your hand to a woman. It's her right to shake your hand or not, and she's the one who will extend the hand. But a gentleman can always go to another gentleman.
Speaker 1:Is that true after mass for you? Do you like have your hand extended after mass, even if it's a woman?
Speaker 2:No, I have my hand down, but if someone puts their hand out, then I'll, then I'll go for it.
Speaker 3:See, these are the kind of things that you pick up and you learn from places that you never thought you would necessarily. I mean you're getting groomed to actually use social graces in the seminary. I just never thought that that would be taught, and that's wonderful to hear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so many of us come in not even knowing how to use utensils properly. Yes, and then when you cut, you know you put your finger on the top of the knife and then you put your knife down yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of that. The other one I know we want to get to Ted Lasso, but this is important If you ever go out to a fancy dinner and you have to remember well which is my water and which is my bread, because you'll have two plates. So you make with your fingers a, b. You can't see me doing this, but I'm like making the OK sign with my left hand and my right hand. So the B is bread, that's your left, and the D it's a small D is drink.
Speaker 3:So you're saying B and D in sign language. Yeah, is that right? That's exactly right, ok, so that's how. Now you're saying B and D in sign language.
Speaker 2:Yeah, is that right, that's exactly right, okay, so B bread to my left and D to my right, and then I know my drinks on my right. But those things too. The other thing you're not supposed to leave your napkin on your chair. You fold it and put it on your table. That's another thing that I didn't know until I went to the seminary know until I went to the seminary.
Speaker 3:You're right, it's not sign language it just looks like the letter B and the letter D Got it, okay, and see, this is what we're talking about today, because we're finding inspiration in the least likely places. Absolutely, you never thought you would learn about which side is the bread, which one's mine, or which one's water, and this and all that, but you're finding it here on A Question of Faith, that's right.
Speaker 1:Everything we needed to learn about Catholicism we learned from Ted Lasso right.
Speaker 3:Finding inspiration in the least likely places. Be curious, not judgmental after all.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:So you two, I think, are the biggest Ted Lasso fans here at 1404. There's 207 employees, I think.
Speaker 3:And the Diocese of Cleveland, yeah.
Speaker 2:Both of you have a sign that says believe in your office and I saw it in there and I knew it was Ted Lasso. And Deacon Mike has been talking about Ted Lasso for as long as it's been out. I suffered a little bit of sickness a few months ago and a friend recommended I should watch Ted Lasso. And of course you already recommended Ted Lasso. And then you hear it from a few other people. I'm like, all right, it's time for Ted Lasso. So I will admit I have not made it through all three seasons. I've made it through season two up into the last episode. I am a binge reader but I'm not a binge watcher. But I'm here for what you have to say. So where are we going with this?
Speaker 1:First of all, if you can teach me how to binge read, I will teach you how to binge watch.
Speaker 2:Just saying I told Kayla Gill we were coming up doing this and she's like you can't binge watch because you can't sit still. I'm like that's not true. When I write or when I read I can sit still, but other than that I can't.
Speaker 3:Well, let's binge a little bit here and just let anybody that hasn't seen Ted Lasso. What's the show about? It's on Apple TV+. It's three seasons. The show revolves around an American football coach who's been hired to coach an English football team, so he's leaving the country and going over to England and sport Americans refer to as soccer. Okay, so the catch is Ted Lasso who's the coach knows nothing about English football, so he's got to rely on knowledge of human nature. Who's the coach knows nothing about English football, so he's got to rely on knowledge of human nature gleaned from his many years of coaching, to attempt to lead a team to success. That's the synopsis of the show.
Speaker 1:Right, okay, and Ted appears to the English to be like a goof Right, absolutely An American yokel, if you would.
Speaker 2:Exactly right, and he's David Sudeikis.
Speaker 3:Is that his name, jason Sudeikis?
Speaker 2:And was he on Saturday?
Speaker 3:Night Live. Yes, he was.
Speaker 1:He started on SNL and he's done some improv and other movies and the whole Ted Lasso bit was actually a commercial for NBC for a while to promote soccer.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, with the other creator of Ted Lasso, who plays the part of Beard on the show, so they both came up with it. But let's point this out too, as we're talking about this Ted Lasso is a show about soccer. It's a comedy. The language is vulgar, yes. Certain scenes are incredibly inappropriate, yes, and the lessons learned could be beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yes, sounds like life, exactly.
Speaker 3:Exactly. You know, we sometimes will blow off something or look past it because it doesn't fit the criteria that we think we need to further ourselves as far as getting more information from it, because we say, well, that doesn't fit, yeah, but you know, father, you continually open yourself up to the latest movies, the latest books, the latest music to find out what you can pull from it. That's of value and that's quality. And there's so many rap artists, there's so many musical genres I wouldn't normally listen to that. I'm like wow, that's powerful stuff. And the same goes with other movies. I will point out Star Wars. I didn't go in thinking I'm going to learn about good and evil, but I did. And I can watch the same thing about Lord of the Rings Tolkien, of course, an author of great faith, and there's so many biblical references and biblical allusions is what they call them in literature where he kind of uses the Bible as a skeleton script and builds characters around those same concepts. Yep, and it's beautiful. And the same thing in Marvel movies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, yep, deacon Mike and I have talked before when we did a show on Jordan Peterson, about archetypes, and you will find particular types of characters in film that are also present in the scriptures, and so it is an important part. And I don't think every Christian is called to do what I would call cultural research, because you really have to be grounded in your faith and community. You have to be studying the faith in order to enter in, so that you don't get sucked into the world and then lose your morals and your standards. But there are certainly things to learn, and that parts of, or the seeds of the gospel are present in good literature and good film and good TV and good music.
Speaker 2:And I know when Bishop Barron began his Word on Fire ministry, he was reviewing movies like the Departed or Fargo, which were rated R films, and he took some flack because there was cussing in there some nudity and he said he's not going to the films for that, but he's pulling out what's actually good. And so there is a discernment that takes place whether you are to watch this series or not. But we all have at least you guys have completed it. I'm almost there, and there is plenty of good to be had, and so let's talk about some of that good, yeah, what's some of the good to be had.
Speaker 1:So, Joe, what's some of your favorite episodes or some scenes? Maybe you know.
Speaker 3:I think the scenes that get me are the ones I didn't see coming and that's what the whole show is based on, I mean. And there's positive attitude all through it. That's that ridiculous optimism that Ted Lasso has. You know, that's what he shares constantly and you're like how can a guy be this optimistic when so many bad things are happening around him? But there's generosity to be learned, there's hope, of course, there's love, there's something called loyalty that we see over and over again in this, and then, finally, redemption and forgiveness. I mean it's huge but, father, you said earlier, that's what life's all about looking for the good among the bad. But we do that all the time with people, and I think we're called to do that. I know we're called to do that.
Speaker 3:Certainly, you know if you walked into a prison and you talked to a person who was a convict that was there that did bad things, there is some good in that person, absolutely. And I think we've all come across books that we judged by the wrong cover. We thought, well, this person is like this. And then you realize, oh my gosh, there's so much more to this person. Same thing with Ted Lasso. Gosh, there's so much more to this person. Same thing with Ted Lasso. I thought I had no idea it was going to be that good of a show with these kinds of depths of areas that I never dreamt that I would apply into my life. But I have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, I started watching it because it was a sports thing, right.
Speaker 3:And I was like okay, yeah, I'll watch this.
Speaker 1:Let's see what happens. And I was like everybody's talking about this, I guess I should watch it. And it was like in the middle of the pandemic when, I think, I started watching it and people were like oh this got me through the early stages of the pandemic. I was like, really this goofy thing, ok, and so I watched it.
Speaker 2:And then my wife, kind of like, walked into the room and she you say, surprises that come and twists, which is part of, as you mentioned at the beginning of the show, human nature and who knows what grace can do in someone's life when they accept it and when they cut themselves off from it, where it can take you to. You mentioned what lives can look like and you can judge them right away. Think of what St Paul was like before his conversion, or Mary Magdalene before Jesus drove out those seven demons, or St Augustine before his conversion. Thank God the Lord had mercy on them and brought them through. And you see a lot of this in the characters in this show too that people can develop and that we all want to be seen and known and loved, and when that happens, hearts break open and people become more human right.
Speaker 1:Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:I don't know if there's anything explicitly religious or with prayer there's a couple illusions there but a lot of what we're looking at is human development and human formation. Right, right for sure.
Speaker 3:If you're looking for a faith-based Christian message that is based on our Catholic upbringing, it ain't going to happen in the show. But if you're looking for, like you said, a renewal of human spirit and what a positive person can do among a complete negative environment, it's so inspiring it really is. And I will go on to say and I've said this before after watching the final two episodes of the third season, I think it is the best television I've ever seen. And that goes back decades. I'm a big fan of older shows I love. My favorite sitcom is the Dick Van Dyke Show. It's classic, it's awesome. It's smart Hogan's Heroes the same thing. Of course, we love Seinfeld and Friends and we love Everyone Loves Raymond. But Ted Lasso did something I never thought it would. It actually made me want to hang a sign in my office.
Speaker 1:It's a big one too. It's a huge one. Yeah, Mine just sits above the door frame. It's just this entire wall.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the entire wall, it's probably four feet by five feet and it just says believe. And he had that sign in the locker room as he was coaching these people that never believed in him.
Speaker 2:Or anything else.
Speaker 3:Exactly, Exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:It's infectious. The friend that recommended this show to me recently when I was sick said it's the Paschal Mystery. But you got to watch it all the way through to the third. So the dying and rising. So I haven't watched that far, so don't tell me the ending.
Speaker 3:Don't spoil it.
Speaker 2:But I think, when someone can recognize that, that there is a dying and a rising and a major transformation, that is, that's helpful art, that's good art.
Speaker 1:That's what things should be, and you've already seen it in some of the characters already. I mean, like Roy Kent is this angry, foul-mouthed kind of guy, but then you see him with his little niece and he just melts, but he also is.
Speaker 2:he cusses in front of her without recognizing it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no doubt, absolutely. He is Oscar the Grouch, all the way.
Speaker 1:Joe said that he A brunette. Oscar the Grouch instead of Lassus.
Speaker 2:That he wrote himself into the show. I didn't know that he was a writer.
Speaker 3:And then he said I, you're the guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he said I don't want this to be awkward, but I think I am Roy. They all were like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you are Exactly.
Speaker 2:I felt seen by him, because in the most recent episode it was Keeley, I think, who was commenting on his wardrobe. Now I wear my clerics often and when I work, but if I don't, I'm still usually in black and like him or he's like, this is deep charcoal. And when he said that so I thought, yeah, that's cool, that's kind of how I like to work. Guys, I do not want to make a theological stretch, but I do want to activate my Catholic imagination and ask a question about the show that I've been pondering. So one of the things that Ted does is he makes these little. What are they? Biscuits or something?
Speaker 3:Biscuits, and at first they're like cookies. English cookies, english cookies.
Speaker 2:Rebecca doesn't know where they're coming from and she in the first season, rejects them or refuses them, but then she likes them and he keeps making these throughout. I wonder if there is some sort of Eucharistic theme that's taking place within there. Maybe we can talk that out a bit, because he does it not because he has to, but because he wants to. So there's not a need on his part that he has to do this, which is what love looks like. There's no. When you really love, you don't love out of need. You love out of a complete gift of self, and I think that is one of the ways that he shows his love and affection for other people. It's nothing that he has to do, but he wants to do, and people delight in his gift.
Speaker 1:And in some ways sort of self-sacrificial, not only because he's making them, but he also doesn't know what Rebecca's doing to him. Rebecca set him up for failure. She was like let's bring this yokel in here who doesn't know anything about soccer and let's make him coach a team, and the team will be so bad they'll get relegated.
Speaker 3:And yet Ted continues to kind of give up himself, which changes her heart not necessarily his, his heart doesn't need to be changed and you know, it's those little things that we all do. It's those little things. I mean, he just makes these things before he comes into the office, gives them to her and again, we never see this. It's just one of these little nuances that happens. And oh, by the way, but think about the people in your life, the ones that show up, the ones that have candy in their bowl, and you're like, oh, that's really nice and you do that, but you don't realize that that is part of their ministry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were thinking of you when they bought the candy, or he when he. We don't see him ever making these biscuits or these cookies, but it takes time. The other thing, too, that I learned when I was in Italy the Italians are big on something called bella figura, it's the beautiful figure. So if you go to a candy store or a bakery, not only will you say I want this particular pastry or this particular cookie, they'll take it, they'll put it in tissue paper, then they'll tie a bow on it, then they'll put it in a box another bow and a sticker. So it's beautiful and that's part of it too, and I think Ted does that. He could easily put this in a Ziploc bag and say here, but he wants the presentation to also be beautiful, and those little things matter. He notices other people and he knows what matters to different people. You have a Deacon, mike. One of your gifts on Strength Finder is individuation.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So that you are able to. You don't just have like a boilerplate thing. You do with each person. You figure out how someone receives something and then you present it to them in that way, whether it's conversation or compliments or gifts, right.
Speaker 1:Gift giving and all those things, yeah, right. So I think he's got that. He's got that too, yeah, and the interesting thing with the biscuits for me is that one day he messes up the recipe right and puts salt instead of sugar, and he comes in and he answers. He goes, oh no, let's pretend that didn't happen. And and she like takes a bite out of it and she goes wait a minute, like initially. She's like wait, hold on. Oh you sneaky. It's like that's really good.
Speaker 3:No, there's a number of those scenes that, like we say, sneak up on you. It's a really good question, though, because I think you can attach a lot of things. I think there's a couple of moments that I think a lot of people across the entire world have pulled away. Be a goldfish, yeah Ten that you know yeah, it was.
Speaker 3:He was encouraging one of his players not to dwell unnecessarily on past disappointments and he says the. You know, the memory of a goldfish is that it disappears immediately. You know, there is no memory. They don't have a memory. So we need to be more like a goldfish. Be a goldfish, because you know, as I always say, that the rear view mirror is so small but the windshield is so big. We should not be looking back as much as we're looking forward. You know, we should keep that minimized, and I think that's a great lesson for all of us Learn from your mistakes.
Speaker 2:go forward, Because you can really get paralyzed if you get caught in the past.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, during our grandparents' workshop that we did a couple years ago now, one of the things I told grandparents who were concerned about their children not being Catholic, I said, well, what are they interested in? And I said, look, so this is Ted Lasso. If you've seen the show, be curious, not judgmental. If you wag your finger at them and say, why aren't you Catholic, why don't you go to church, they'll never go. They're just going to push back on that. And I said, but if you invite them into this by being curious about what really sets them up, I said here's a great example.
Speaker 1:I said someone, said someone went to their sense of well, what are you interested in? I mean, you know, I raised you in this way. I raised you to be a good person. You know what are you into. He goes. You know I really like feeding the hungry, he goes. You know I go down to the soup kitchen. I feed people at this place. You know, just like you know, our parish does that and he was like church that he didn't realize held that value.
Speaker 3:How many times in the Bible, in the Gospels, is Jesus curious.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know asking someone that he obviously knows the answer to. What do you want from me? What do?
Speaker 2:you want me to do for you. What do you want?
Speaker 3:me to do for you and you know, there it is right there. You know Jesus knew the answer to that, but we needed to put it in a form and a question or not a question, but a statement we need to go to the Lord. But yeah, that's a really good point. And that scene that you're referring to is the dart scene. I think it's one of the best scenes in television. It's so good because it is a come from behind underdog story where you didn't know Ted had dart skills and he proves it and he is so eloquent with it. He's not in his opponent's face, he's like you know, it's interesting, you know when he tells the story and it just makes you feel like oh my gosh, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:But again, I think that can be applied to so many things the passion of the Christ I mean, he didn't say a word. Jesus walked the walk, did what he had to do and proved to everybody. And you know, it's like in life we want to say the perfect thing. You know what I wish I would have said, but most of the time when you say little, you say more than anything. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And the thing about Jesus in the incarnation he's true God and true man, but he never used his divinity to overpower his humanity. Like people say, why didn't he go after the Roman soldiers? Why didn't he get himself off the cross? He's allowing the evil to come upon him so that he can respond, actually in a nonviolent way, just like Ted Lasso did, not by putting them down or insulting them, but by playing darts well and winning the game. And so, yeah, it was a beauty. It was a beautiful example of humility there, but also strength and power in a nonviolent manner which is really attractive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe last piece in this is you know, one of the things I think that the show has really done well is has kind of raised up mental health issues as being things that you know, that that many of us face and that many of us seek treatment for, and so the whole team goes to a sports psychologist and they all come out changed like, oh, this is great, dr Sharon, yeah, dr Sharon, which is great?
Speaker 3:The panic attacks that Ted goes through, the anxiety that he goes through and if anybody's listening and has ever gone through it, the depiction yeah it's all of us.
Speaker 3:It is so realistic how they presented that. You know, and I've talked to so many people and have done things I found on YouTube as far as dealing with those things. It's really good. Before we run out of time, I just want to run through a couple of quotes yeah, go for it. And just some great stuff that maybe you can take. If you're listening to this for the first time, you know you don't have to watch Ted Lasso. We're not saying you have to go watch it, but there's some really good things here. The man once said the harder you work, the luckier you get. I mean, that's just brilliant. Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong. Listen to your gut On the way down to your gut, check in with your heart. Between those two things, they'll let you know what's what.
Speaker 2:That was season two, episode 11. I just watched that one last night. I remember that it's so good.
Speaker 3:I think things come into our lives to help us get from one place to a better one. Yeah, Amen. Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing. These are little throwaways that happen and sometimes you have to go back and rewind because I'm like, wait a minute, did I get that?
Speaker 1:Was that a?
Speaker 3:reference to an Abba song and those things are thrown in. Yeah, there's a lot of cultural references.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of cultural references.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I like the one where he's talking about he's yelling at Jamie Tard about not going to practice because he's saying that he's hurt, he's faking and he does the whole.
Speaker 2:Allen Iverson thing.
Speaker 1:We're talking about practice. Man Practice, Not a game. We're talking about practice.
Speaker 3:And you know, if you're ever going through a sad moment and you feel like you're all alone, there's one scene where they lose and he said you know, I want you to be grateful. This is Ted Lasso. I want you to be grateful that you're going through this sad moment with all these other folks, because I promise you, there is something worse out there than being sad, and that's being alone. And being sad Ain't nobody in this room alone. Let's be sad now, let's be sad together, and then we could be a goldfish.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3:No, it's a great show and you know, what I love too, is that you both pull these shows in and references and, like I said, more than anything I love finding inspiration in the least likely places.
Speaker 2:Amen. I say if something matters to the culture, then it matters to the evangelist. So if people are watching this show, they may not realize exactly what they like about it or why they like it, but they may just say I just love that show and it's on us to help people understand and do some theological reflection on why that might be the case. So I love doing that. It's probably one of the favorite things I do so.
Speaker 1:Ted Lasso. Apple TV Check it out. Check out scenes on YouTube too, if you want to dabble first and then go back and look. It's always fun to do that, I think. So, yeah, I think I'll investigate this a little bit more.
Speaker 2:It's worthy yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:So church, church this week. I was out at Holy Family Parish in Parma last night and Dale Schaefer, who's a candidate for the deaconate, did his mass enactment. That's sort of like practice mass where he gets graded on whether he's you know. He knows all the things that he needs to do as a deacon. He did very, very well. Lovely church, kind of minimalist in terms of decor, it's modeled after a church in Florida. I think, oh, okay, yeah, it makes sense, a more modern church in Florida.
Speaker 3:It's right there in Parma, like you said, on the corner of Pleasant Valley and York Road. Yes, right.
Speaker 2:My mom grew up in like Buckeye neighborhood, either St Catherine or Elizabeth of Hungary. She went to Holy Name, but then her family moved out to Parma and that's where my mom and dad got married in 1970 at Holy Family Parma. Father Dave Stavars, a former student of mine, is now the administrator, or is he the pastor. I don't know if he's been installed as pastor yet, but he's there. Father Joel Spolny is there. It's a big church. They still have a grade school, although joe knows this because he grew up in parma too. At one point in time holy family in parma had like 5 000 or 6 000 households. Yeah, so did saint charles. But the suburbs have kept expanding. So now you've got like it's out in avon and Medina and Hudson. And what do you call it? We're St Barnabas and Northfield, so the first ring suburbs. The demographic has changed over the last 25 years, but still a great parish.
Speaker 3:And, by the way, great Chinese restaurant right across the street, really. Mandarin House, really.
Speaker 2:Now, have you ever Next time? Do you remember Mama Mia's? Oh sure, Okay, because it closed and then it reopened right During COVID. It didn't last, it didn't last. No Cinnamon and gravy. I like that place. How about Rita's Bakery?
Speaker 3:That's no longer there either.
Speaker 2:How about Perry's Rock Pile? No, remember that you go there and get your CDs and your booklets.
Speaker 3:The same area too.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah so right there.
Speaker 1:Anyway, Parma boys Next week on Question of Faith. Which restaurants in Parma were the best We'll bring Joe back Mr Hero's right across the street.
Speaker 2:Mr Hero, we're getting free advertising here and Tri-C is right across the street. Perspective sponsors.
Speaker 1:This is true, it is All right. So readings for this coming Christ the King, sunday End of 2024 liturgical year. Absolutely. By the way, young Adult Mass 4 o'clock on Saturday. So for the vigil of Christ the King.
Speaker 2:Sunday TV Mass on WUAB and the CW. Father Ferentze presiding 10 am All right.
Speaker 2:So you want to start? No, go ahead, okay. The Responsorial Psalm. The Lord is King. He is robed in majesty, and one of the things I like to consider on Christ the King Sunday is how strange a king we have, because he's actually not wearing a robe. Jesus was crucified not wearing anything. We cover him up for modesty's sake. He didn't have a golden crown, he had a crown of thorns. His throne was actually a cross. So he looks a lot different than what we'd expect a king to be, and he does so out of love. He empties himself so that we're not threatened by him and we receive him in our hearts. So that's where I'm going with my homily.
Speaker 1:How about you the first line?
Speaker 1:I'm not preaching this week, but the first line in John, pilate says to Jesus are you the king of the Jews? I'm just going to goof on this for a second, because I'd walk in all the time to a priest friend of mine. I would say, Father, I have a question, and he would say, are you the king of the Jews? And I would say it is you who have said it. And then we would laugh. But I think that it's interesting that Pilate asks Jesus sort of a secular question like are you this king that everybody's talking about? Are you a threat to Caesar? Because if you are, then I've got a problem, you know. And then Jesus refuses to answer and you know, it kind of all goes.
Speaker 3:I think it's one of the greatest courtroom scenes ever. Yeah, right, I mean truly, you think about that. Love me a good courtroom drama. I've never thought of it as a courtroom scene.
Speaker 2:But now I have yeah exactly. I just thought of something else, as you were saying this and I'm reading. So the title of the solemnity is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, king of the Universe, and you'll hear today it's common, especially online the universe says this, or the universe says that.
Speaker 2:People will talk about the universe as if the universe is God or is a person. But actually the universe is what has been created by God and Jesus is the king of it. So why go to creation when you could go to the creator? So I might go that way with my homily. I don't know yet I've still got time.
Speaker 3:It's Tuesday, yeah exactly Still in the oven. You don't know what biscuits you're baking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's still on the counter and I still have the ingredients. I haven't put them together yet.
Speaker 1:In case you were hoping, I'm not making biscuits with the boss, just so you know. You wouldn't want them if I made them, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:I don't eat biscuits I'd eat like beef jerky. Oh very nice. I like high protein stuff anyways.
Speaker 3:I like to know what's in my food and I have a better chance with biscuits than jerky.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. Well, my friends give me venison jerky, which is pretty good.
Speaker 3:They must, be dear friends, good night everybody. Mer-mer Don't.
Speaker 1:Joe will be here all week. Try the venison, exactly. All right, this has been Question of Faith. Check out Ted Lasso, check out Young Adult Mass this week, check out the TV Mass this week with Fr Damien as the presider, and we'll have this and a whole lot more next time here on Question of the Day.
