Day 328: Stephen Is Martyred (2024) AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
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Episode: Day 328: Stephen Is Martyred (2024)
Author: Ascension
Duration: 00:23:53
Episode Shownotes
Fr. Mike reflects on Stephen's heroic martyrdom and points out how those around him refused to hear him and hardened their hearts, something we too can do with the Word of God. In the book of Romans, Fr. Mike also highlights the importance of offering our bodies as a living
sacrifice, responding to the call to love and to not be conformed to this world, and remembering that Christians have been grafted onto the tree of Israel. Today we read Acts 7, Romans 11-12, and Proverbs 27:13-14. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Summary
In this episode of "The Bible in a Year," Fr. Mike Schmitz reflects on the martyrdom of Stephen, emphasizing his faithful testimony amid fierce opposition, which highlights humanity's tendency to resist God's Word. The podcast underscores the significance of presenting oneself as a living sacrifice, drawing from Romans 11-12. Fr. Mike elaborates on the spiritual truth of Christians being grafted onto the tree of Israel, linking it to the broader narrative of salvation history and the importance of acknowledging God's unyielding grace for all believers, both Jew and Gentile.
Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Day 328: Stephen Is Martyred (2024)) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.
Full Transcript
00:00:04 Speaker_01
Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
00:00:13 Speaker_01
Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 328.
00:00:21 Speaker_01
We are reading from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter seven, all about Stephen, and Romans, St. Paul's letter to the Romans, chapters 11 and 12, as well as Proverbs chapter 27, verses 13 and 14,
00:00:31 Speaker_01
Only two verses for those of you who know that you like the slow drip of the Proverbs as opposed to having entire chapters of Proverbs. We just get, you know, little verses here and there.
00:00:40 Speaker_01
The Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
00:00:45 Speaker_01
If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates.
00:00:56 Speaker_01
and every single day delivered to your place where you listen to podcasts you get the podcast. Here we are day 328 we're reading Acts chapter 7 Romans chapter 11 and 12 and Proverbs chapter 27 verses 13 and 14.
00:01:13 Speaker_01
Acts of the Apostles chapter 7, Stephen's speech to the council. And the high priest said, Is this so? And Stephen said, Brethren and fathers, hear me.
00:01:25 Speaker_01
The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran and said to him, Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.
00:01:35 Speaker_01
Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.
00:01:44 Speaker_01
Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child.
00:01:53 Speaker_01
And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others who would enslave them and ill-treat them 400 years. But I will judge the nation which they serve, said God.
00:02:05 Speaker_01
And after that, they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day.
00:02:16 Speaker_01
And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs.
00:02:20 Speaker_01
And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt, but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household.
00:02:33 Speaker_01
Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction. And our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time.
00:02:43 Speaker_01
And at the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and called to him, Jacob, his father and all his kindred, 75 souls.
00:02:54 Speaker_01
And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died himself and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor and Shechem.
00:03:06 Speaker_01
But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till there arose over Egypt another king who had not known Joseph.
00:03:15 Speaker_01
He dealt craftily with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants that they might not be kept alive. At this time, Moses was born and was beautiful before God. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house.
00:03:29 Speaker_01
And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
00:03:39 Speaker_01
When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian.
00:03:50 Speaker_01
He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand.
00:03:56 Speaker_01
And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and would have reconciled them, saying, Men, you are brethren, why do you wrong each other?
00:04:03 Speaker_01
But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?
00:04:12 Speaker_01
At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
00:04:25 Speaker_01
When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight, and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.
00:04:36 Speaker_01
And Moses trembled, and did not dare to look, and the Lord said to him, Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
00:04:45 Speaker_01
I have surely seen the ill treatment of my people that are in Egypt, and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge?
00:04:59 Speaker_01
God sent, both as ruler and deliverer, by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
00:05:11 Speaker_01
This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. This is He who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke with Him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers.
00:05:24 Speaker_01
And He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts, they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, make for us gods to go before us.
00:05:36 Speaker_01
As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
00:05:47 Speaker_01
But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
00:05:58 Speaker_01
And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, and I will remove you beyond Babylon.
00:06:07 Speaker_01
Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.
00:06:15 Speaker_01
Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers.
00:06:22 Speaker_01
So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands.
00:06:35 Speaker_01
As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?
00:06:47 Speaker_01
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute?
00:06:59 Speaker_01
And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. the stoning of Stephen.
00:07:11 Speaker_01
Now when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
00:07:22 Speaker_01
And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
00:07:37 Speaker_01
And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
00:07:53 Speaker_00
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. The letter of St. Paul to the Romans, chapter 11.
00:08:05 Speaker_01
Israel's rejection is not final. I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means. I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
00:08:21 Speaker_01
Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him?
00:08:35 Speaker_01
I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. What then?
00:08:53 Speaker_01
Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened as it is written. God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear down to this very day.
00:09:06 Speaker_01
And David says, let their feast become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever. the salvation of the Gentiles. So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall?
00:09:24 Speaker_01
By no means. But through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous.
00:09:32 Speaker_01
Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now, I am speaking to you Gentiles.
00:09:44 Speaker_01
In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them.
00:09:52 Speaker_01
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. But,
00:10:08 Speaker_01
If some of the branches were broken off and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches.
00:10:18 Speaker_01
If you do boast, remember, it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. You will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief.
00:10:32 Speaker_01
But you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note, then, the kindness and the severity of God.
00:10:47 Speaker_01
Severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.
00:10:56 Speaker_01
And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
00:11:03 Speaker_01
For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree? Israel will be saved.
00:11:19 Speaker_01
Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren. A hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles come in. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written.
00:11:31 Speaker_01
The deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake.
00:11:44 Speaker_01
But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
00:11:53 Speaker_01
Just as you were once disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by mercy shown to you, they also may receive mercy.
00:12:05 Speaker_01
For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon all. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord?
00:12:21 Speaker_01
Or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
00:12:34 Speaker_01
Chapter 12 The New Life in Christ I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
00:12:47 Speaker_01
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
00:12:57 Speaker_01
For by the grace given to me, I bid everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.
00:13:08 Speaker_01
For as in one body we have many members and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
00:13:18 Speaker_01
having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
00:13:23 Speaker_01
If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, he who teaches in his teaching, he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who contributes in liberality, he who gives aid with zeal, he who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
00:13:42 Speaker_01
marks of the true Christian. Let love be genuine. Hate what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal. Be aglow with the spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope.
00:14:01 Speaker_01
Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
00:14:17 Speaker_01
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
00:14:30 Speaker_01
If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. No, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
00:14:49 Speaker_01
If he is thirsty, give him drink. For by so doing, you will heap burning coals upon his head.
00:14:55 Speaker_00
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. the book of Proverbs chapter 27 verses 13 and 14.
00:15:09 Speaker_01
Take a man's garment when he has given surety for a stranger and hold him in pledge when he gives surety for foreigners. He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice rising early in the morning will be counted as cursing.
00:15:27 Speaker_00
Father in heaven, we give you praise and thank you so much.
00:15:29 Speaker_01
Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the gift of these readings today. Help us to be yours. Help us to hear your words and put them into practice this day and every day.
00:15:39 Speaker_01
Help us receive your grace and be grateful for the fact that you have saved us and grafted us into the tree of Israel. Thank you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. We bless you. Please receive our praise. Please receive the blessing. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:15:53 Speaker_01
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. I want to keep this relatively brief because, you know, it's been kind of long these days, but I can't go anywhere without referencing Proverbs 27 verse 14. Oh my gosh.
00:16:04 Speaker_01
Did you catch this? He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice rising early in the morning will be counted as cursing. You bless your neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning is like cursing them.
00:16:14 Speaker_01
I love that because, you know, it's good to be happy in the morning. I think that's fine. But there are times when you're like, bro, it's early, too early. And your excitement and your blessing early in the morning is received like a curse.
00:16:29 Speaker_01
Does that make sense? I think that's pretty, pretty fun, pretty fun proverb there. We have Acts chapter seven. As I mentioned, it's Stephen, not only Stephen's martyrdom, Stephen's speech. How incredible is this?
00:16:40 Speaker_01
When we hear, in the New Testament, these people, like Stephen today, going over the story of salvation, and you know the whole, maybe you knew the whole story beforehand, maybe you knew most of the story, but here, as Stephen goes through, he goes all the way back to the call of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, and going to the promised land, and his son, and his son gets circumcised, and
00:17:03 Speaker_01
and all these things happen and his son's son Joseph gets sold and the whole shebang we get to hear the whole story and why we get to hear the whole story because this is the story of how God has called you now to say yes to him in the same way that God called the people of Egypt
00:17:21 Speaker_01
the people of Israel to say yes to him, but Israel said yes, and Egypt hardened their hearts. And basically here is Stephen saying, don't harden your hearts. You are a stiff-necked people, verse 51.
00:17:32 Speaker_01
Stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit. And it's not just a comparison with Israel and Egypt, but is that comparison of also those in the wilderness, their fathers, those who are Hebrews, right?
00:17:45 Speaker_01
who turned away from the Lord God who saved them to worship false gods, you know, the golden calf and whatnot. And so it's so, so powerful because Stephen is saying, that's what you're doing right now. You are, here's the God who saved you.
00:17:59 Speaker_01
He saved you through his life, death, and resurrection here in Jesus Christ. and you are hardening your hearts, you're turning away from this gift.
00:18:07 Speaker_01
And I love this last, I mean, I don't love it because it's the martyrdom of Stephen, you don't love that, but it's so powerful and so beautiful.
00:18:15 Speaker_01
It's incredible in verse 54 of chapter seven, it says, now when they heard these things, they were enraged, ground their teeth against him, goes on to say,
00:18:23 Speaker_01
In verse 57, they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Basically covered their ears because he is saying, I see in heaven, I see the glory of God.
00:18:31 Speaker_01
I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, at the right hand of God. And they're plugging their ears. We don't want to hear what you have to say. How often, gosh, you guys, how often is that the case where that could be us?
00:18:41 Speaker_01
That could be us saying, I don't know if I want to hear God's word. I don't know if I want to hear what God has to say to me today. because I've already hardened my heart. But that's also sometimes what happens around us.
00:18:52 Speaker_01
Here's Stephen, who has, as I said, has the face of an angel, who is full of grace, he's full of mercy. This moment, he's basically being just like Jesus as he says, Father, forgive them. Don't hold this sin against them.
00:19:03 Speaker_01
And yet even that innocent Stephen, even that holy Stephen, they don't want to listen to. They plug their ears and rush upon him and stone him to death.
00:19:12 Speaker_01
And as we say, we saw here, there's a young man named Saul, whose name will later on be changed to Paul. And he's consenting to Stephen's martyrdom, to Stephen's execution here. So a lot of stories in this, and just remarkable.
00:19:27 Speaker_01
You guys, if there's ever, there are some parts of New Testament writings that I just, I love more than others, you know, just because they hit you in the right way.
00:19:38 Speaker_01
Yeah, it was yesterday or the day before where we were reading in chapter 8, what should we say to this if God is for us? Who can be against us? How it talks about how, what should separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ?
00:19:49 Speaker_01
Tribulation or distress, persecution or famine, nakedness, peril the sword. That's chapter 8. In verse chapter 5, you know, we talked about God proves his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
00:19:59 Speaker_01
But if there's another chapter that I love, it's chapter 12. Chapter 12 of the St. Paul's letter to the Romans. Chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. I love it.
00:20:08 Speaker_01
I appeal to you, brethren, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
00:20:15 Speaker_01
You know, I don't know if you think some of our Catholic friends who are part of this community, you might recognize some of this language in a couple of the Eucharistic prayers, like at Mass. we ask God, God, make us an acceptable sacrifice to you.
00:20:26 Speaker_01
Like, make of us an acceptable sacrifice to you in the course of the sacrifice of the Mass. And so you might recognize that, but some of our non-Catholic friends, I want to let you know that at Mass, that's one of the things we pray for.
00:20:36 Speaker_01
We pray that not only we're offering the sacrifice of Jesus, the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus, but are also saying, Lord, help us to be part of that. As St.
00:20:44 Speaker_01
Paul says here in Romans chapter 12, verse one, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spirit to worship.
00:20:51 Speaker_01
And then the next verse, two, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. That is, again, so essential.
00:21:02 Speaker_01
It's necessary for us because if we think the way the world thinks, then it is highly unlikely that we're thinking the way God thinks. Lastly, in this one, verse chapter 12, the last lines from verse 9 all the way to the end of verse 21.
00:21:15 Speaker_01
It's often read at weddings. I don't know if you've ever realized this.
00:21:19 Speaker_01
A lot of weddings that I'll do, when they choose the New Testament reading, they'll choose Romans chapter 12, verses 9 through 21, where it says, love be genuine, hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.
00:21:29 Speaker_01
It goes on, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor.
00:21:34 Speaker_01
It goes on, and it's just so important if, man, these are the sections of the Bible sometimes you just like highlight, go back and write notes on the side is where you kind of pray and say, okay, God, how do I do this?
00:21:47 Speaker_01
How do I bless those who curse me? How do I live in harmony with one another? How do I not be haughty? How do I associate with the lowly? And it goes on and on as you note, as you know, because you just listened to it.
00:21:59 Speaker_01
Last thing, oh gosh, you guys, what a gift. Isn't this the craziest gift to be able to go through the whole Bible like this? Chapter 11, I kind of skipped over the chapter 11, but you can't skip over it. Here's St.
00:22:10 Speaker_01
Paul who's saying, listen, the people of Israel, they've not been abandoned. It's not that God has rejected them. That's not the case at all.
00:22:17 Speaker_01
And so any kind of trace of anti-Jewish sentiment, any kind of anti-Semitism, that has no place because Romans chapter 11 talks about God's plan. His love, His call, the gifts are irrevocable. That's chapter 11 verse 29. He's not taken back his love.
00:22:33 Speaker_01
He's not taken back his gifts. He's not taken back his call from the people of Israel. He is calling them forward though. Of course, he is calling them to receive Jesus as the Lord, but he hasn't taken back his promises.
00:22:44 Speaker_01
He has not taken back his blessing. And that's very, very important for us to realize that you and I, we have been grafted onto the tree of Israel.
00:22:52 Speaker_01
So it's not like, oh, there's a whole new tree here, this Christian tree that's next to the Jewish tree. Nope. As St. Paul says, it is that root. The root is the story that Stephen told today.
00:23:05 Speaker_01
The root is all the way back to Abraham, this faith of our fathers, and we've been grafted onto this tree. We're not by nature Israelites, but we have St.
00:23:15 Speaker_01
Pope Paul VI, at one point he said, spiritually we are all Jewish because we've been grafted onto the tree.
00:23:20 Speaker_01
And so we pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters that not only they realize that their promise is still theirs, but the fulfillment of that promise is also theirs. That fulfillment of the promise being Jesus Christ. our Lord.
00:23:32 Speaker_01
So we pray for those who don't believe in Jesus. We also pray for each other. I definitely, every single day, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.